Record of Agarest War Zero - Limited Edition

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I played Agarest:Generations of War and I had to play this game. Like other reviewers say, it is quite similar to the original game. Although it only has 2 Generations instead of 5, The Free DLC Dungeons and storyline still gave me 120+ Hours of gameplay. The first playthrough is Normal and unlocks Extra mode to allow you to earn trophies and master the game the 2nd time around. The graphics are a small upgrade and a slightly better from Records of War. I was not disappointed and can't wait to purchase Agarest Senki 2 if it comes out in English.

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Note-I've edited this review as a 4/5 star from a 3 for -justthe Limited Edition and not the "regular", though the actual entry can't be changed in the review system. Between the goodies thrown in with the box and parts of the game that are very very fan-friendly JRPG and original Agarest players, it's downright a better product, so this review is kind of with the more 'serious' player in mind.

Anyway, this is actually a prequel to 2010's Agarest War, though no knowledge of the first is needed. The premise here is, for all intents and purposes, the same as the original-a rather epic (in length) adventuring campaign with a very sizable cast of characters and villains that spans generational gaps beyond the years of the original protagonist, drawn out by his offspring that you have some ability to mold through your actions. Good versus evil, light versus dark, all that good stuff. Character offspring is the "hook" to the Agarest series, where decisions made in dialogue raise and lower virtual affection levels of heroines in a way akin to a stereotypical Japanese dating sim. Awkward for some players, certainly, but there are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers. The outcome is -muchthe same regardless in the end, but see below for more info.

The other major selling point on the series, for better or worse, is a rather intricate battlefield system that will certainly cause some head-scratching amongst new players. Team tactics play a large roll and using combined skills of all types add extra damage that's an absolute must as things get harder. There are ~150 skill combinations in total and over about a hundred abilities to learn/research, where the player is limited to only equipping a certain number at any given time. The learning curve isn't bad, but that's partially because of the massively high number of total battles.

Here stands a large point of contention for me, at least-even though the hope is for combat to never really be entirely the same and for players to use all sorts of fancy attacks, it all feels so, so familiar as you move ahead. Drone-like, in fact. As you'll be fighting hundreds of times against what are essentially the same 20 types of baddie, it can become very draining. The sensation of "can we get on with the story now?" can become overwhelming at times. For players of the first, the combat system is almost completely unchanged and has only a few minor tweaks.

Another now-heavily recycled piece of the game is the equipment and upgrade/synthesis type. It's tried and true over several games now, and though there's nothing wrong with the user-friendly upgrading system, some kind of evolution would be welcomed. The interface is bland, items are notoriously hard to find materials for, and names of weapons and armor are almost a 100% copy-paste.

Add things up and the end result is almost exactly that of the first Agarest with no fundamental changes, and only a handful of surface adjustments. The sheer length of the game exasperates this all, though it does make the game a pretty good value. I'm not per say disappointed, but I may have hoped for more. Zero is by no means a "bad" game for RPG or strategy buffs, but it lacks a spark of something that would help to call it "exceptional".

For anyone that enjoyed the first, there's no specific reason why they should stay away from Zero, at least if they know to expect virtually the same game with new scripts and fonts. The multiple-ending system is back, and although I'm sure there'll be a guide as to how to get absolutely all content in one play-through, there's a pretty obvious assumption that the player will go at least a second round on "Extra" (difficult).

If you're looking at this edition, you've probably played the first or know the JRPG market... in which case it's your call on wanting to throw on a little more for a few toys, which include soundtrack and a rather snazzy card deck with characters on one side, and another depicting the protagonist class and secondary trait cards as seen in-game.

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The game is awesome and it's really fun to play with.

Although it's repetitive as hell and it's grind-fest game,

it's still the standard J-SRPG that we fans love.

Hoping to get more j-SRPGS in my collection

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My granddaughter was so excited to get this game. She has been wanting it for some time. She says it is a great game!

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Great game if your into turned based RPGS. The story is very interesting and I've been hooked on this game since it arrived. Guaranteed you will spend countless hours on this game!