I as some of you know am a big fan of RPGs and the DS has been one of my favorite systems because of the fact that there is a very deep RPG lineup with a good number of games on the way. Naturally I am a big Final Fantasy fan, especially of the early 8 and 16 bit ones. Now the Final Fantasy series itself would not have come into being if not for the creative genius of game designer Hironobu Sakaguchi. I have always been a fan of Hironobu Sakaguchi's work and when he left Square I was a bit dishearted but when I heard he founded a new game company called Mistwalker and was making new RPGs I got excited. Now I enjoyed the first 2 game from Mistwalker Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, but those where both on the 360. I then caught word of a new game coming out soon for the DS and I finally got it today. So here are my initial impressions of the game.
Once I started up the game I noticed it's unique art style. It uses a form of Cel Shading in combination with a stock motion kind of character design similar to what was used in Blue Dragon. Now overall the in game graphics are about on par with Phantom Hourglass. The music is also good although not the best I have heard in an RPG. There is also a fair amounf of voice acting which is a nice touch. Overall I would say the graphics and presentation is good but not the best I have seen on the DS.
As for controls well it does not use the touch screen rather is uses the D-pad and face buttons. This makes sense considering how most of the gameplay is (which I will cover in a little bit). There is nothing too complex about the controls, Y opens the menu, A attacks, and X uses magic. It is simplistic but works well.
The story well from what I have seen it is a bit shallow and cliche but still seems well thought out and put together. I was not expecting too much in terms of a deep story anyway since these kind of RPGs are usually not known for it. Still the characters are interesting and I am looking forward to seeing what will happen in the story.
The gameplay is rather unique though. You see this is a basic dungeon crawler like the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon ones and Children of Mana, but with a twist. In Away Shuffle Dungeon the dungeon takes up both screens and at random the screens will shuffle around. You have to be careful not to be on one of the screens when it shuffles or else you will get thrown back to the start and lose health. Now once you get through the complex shuffling dungeon you fight a boss in full 3D rather than the 2D overhead prosepctive of the dungeon. This gameplay takes some getting used too but overall is not bad and it does add something unique to the game.
So far I have to admit this game is pretty good. It may be a bit simplistic at parts but it does have some unique aspects and I hope to enjoy it. My best advice if you are thinking of getting this game is this. Don't go thinking this is going to be a deep RPG like those found on home consoles. Instead look at it as a game built for portable systems, a bit simplistic but overall fun and easy to pick up and play.