After much delays, this game is finally being released in Europe in the next week or so. It's been around in Japan for yonks and in the US for a while now too. It seems to garner universal praise everywhere, but sounds like it can be cruelly difficult at times. Has anyone played this one, and would you recommend it?
Wow this game is hard. But fair I think. I've created a Royal character and its proving a great mix of sword play and spells. He does die rather a lot though.
I've got through the first level (1-1) and taken out my first boss though (Phalanx, or Legion or whatever it's called) which made me feel that I was starting to crack this game. Numerous stabbing, burnings, tumbles off of ledges and being splatted into paste by a giant knight has since changed that view...
Anyone else playing this?
I haven't played it but I have wanted to try it. My cousin has it and doesn't play it much. I may borrow it just to see what the fuss is all about.
Meej, you wanted to know about this game. Well its a lot of fun I have to say. It IS difficult, and you do die a lot, but it seems quite fair with that. I tend to walk around with my guard up all the time; its safer that way.
Gameplay wise, its a mixture of up close hacking and ranged shooting. I'm playing as a Royal, which is like a battlemage I suppose, with some combat and magic skills, so I can dish out the damage oh yes. I have pretty crummy armour though, so I can be killed very quickly. This makes combat quite tense I can tell you.
The online element is like nothing else I've seen. As you play your game, you can sometimes see ghostly outlines of other players if they're in the same part of the world as you - its as if each player's game is a parallel dimension. There is an option to cooperate with other players; you can summon another player into your game as a Blue Phantom, or be summoned into someone else's game as one. But it's not a straightforward matter to link up with friends online. You have to arrange to be at the same place at the same time in your respective games and then go through the summoning ritual. in theory if another player was doing the same thing in the same place in their game, they could be summonied into your game instead. Players can also invade your game as Black Phantoms, in which case their mission is to kill you (yikes!). I've not seen this in action yet. Another nice touch is that you can leave messages on the ground for other players to see, so when playing online you can get advance warnings of traps sometimes.
I'm not sure if there's an option to link online between EU and US players though...
Its maybe not for everyone, but if you can get your hands on it for loan I'd certinaly give it a go.