****spoilers**** A letdown

*This was originally in reply to the "hard game" post, but I decided to make a new post of it.*

It's a good game, but sadly I think it has way too many flaws, the biggest of them being absolutely *beep* character development.
Getting back on point, I do agree on the game being hard. Leveling up/gaining skill points takes a very long time, you run out of money easily, and your party is as smart as a squad of fighting roosters.

***SPOILERS***

To me the game feels like a false facade more than anything else (ie a mural painted to look like it has depth);
(I'm 60 hours in the game, and about to head to the shrine of kaddan a second time) as far as I can tell, the game's universe is meant to look HUGE (three federations/empires, multi-planetary in terms of location, etc...), but in the end leaves you with a false impression:

- Aldia is destroyed on its own, which makes the entire Aldian Empire nothing more than a dictionary entry

- You see the Vendeeni what, 3 times? And that's including the Vacation resort incident on Hyda 4.....the first 15 minutes of the game

- The entire mythology behind the kingdom of Aquor seems like nothing more than that: mythology. Nothing interesting Apris-related has happened yet, and from what I can tell, I doubt it's going to (with 4D beings as the creators and all...)
Unless something happens on my second trip back to Mosel, etc... "apris" is again nothing more than a dictionary entry as far as the game's story is really concerned (ie a promise which ends up leading to nothing)

- 60 hours into the game, and the Kingdom of Greeton is still nothing more than a barred door in Peterny

- An overall lack of exploration. Chances are you shouldn't even waste your time looking for anything in a [random] house, aside from a visible chest.
The beauty of other RPG's includes visiting a home and "exploring": finding objects and "clicking" on them to get some background info or tidbit. Here, aside from the occasional book you can "examine" (the SO2 Lucio stuff, etc...), you get virtually nothing even remotely worth your time

That aside, it really boils down to the story and the character development..or lack there of. The game starts off well, yet as soon as the 4d beings come into play ( a great premise, if only initially), the story boils down to this:

"I have to install a program in my world and fight the owner of the corporation who crated it"....a bit of a letdown, which could have been saved by good storytelling and great character interaction, but really wasn't.
(there is virtually no character development whatsoever; most of the characters change little, if at all during the course of the game. Level 60 fayt is identical in terms of personality as the kid in shorts you see on Hyda 4)

Still, as disappointed as I am, I did enjoy/am enjoying playing the game (the characters are likable, the story is [originally] interesting, and the overall gameplay is good) but frankly I feel somewhat cheated, because IMO the game has hardly any depth whatsoever.


Final verdict: good game, but heavily flawed. Buy it if you enjoy the "fighting" aspects of an RPG (leveling up, changing/creating items, etc...) and even with that being said...your battle party members are goddamned idiots.


**Of course, my verdict might change after kicking Luther's ass (if some revelation occurs), but the way things are progressing, I'd be surprised if things changed.**