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Magna Carta 2
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Graphics & Sound:
For RPG fans, especially the particular sub-genre of J-RPGs, the offerings on the Xbox 360 have been feast or famine. Early on, many complained that, although there were good titles available in Japan, many of them were not making their way across the Pacific Ocean to the eager gamers in America. Then, seemingly overnight, a sudden bloom occurred. Where there had been a decided lack of games, there now appeared games such as Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Eternal Sonata, Tales of Vesperia, Enchanted Arms, The Last Remnant, and Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Now, Namco/Bandai Games, publishers of two of the previously mentioned games, enters another title into the fray with Magna Carta II.
As expected from a J-RPG game, the graphical style is heavily influenced by Japanese anime. Magna Carta II features designs by Korean artist Hyung-Tae Kim, who works in a style known as manhwa, which disregards anatomical accuracy to achieve a specific feel to the character. This style works well in the game and makes for some nice looking characters. Environments are equally pleasant to travel through, with interestingly animated creatures and nice particle effects. There is nothing truly ground-breaking here, but there is also nothing that really detracts from the game either. The sound equals the graphics in quality. The battle effects are nicely done and the main characters are all given individual voiceovers, but, as is typical in J-RPGs, the music and the voice acting are a little over-dramatized. As a package, Magna Carta II provides a satisfying, if not wholly original, visual and aural experience. |
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Gameplay:
Magna Carta II offers a rare and intriguing storyline. You begin the game as a quiet young man who has lost his memory, with no idea of his past or how he came to be on his new island home. Adopted by the locals, all is well and good until a civil war disturbs the peace and awakens a strange new power within young Juto...
Ok, so the story is pretty much the same one that is used in nearly every J-RPG on the market. As noted above, young Juto is drawn into the war due to circumstances that occur on his home island. Once he has joined the exiled princess in her quest to regain her throne, the game plays out pretty linearly. Aside from the main story, there are side quests to accomplish, but, as with so many RPG games, these quests are really just filler and do not offer much to the game other than just expanding the playtime (which is not a bad thing). The player controls a group of adventurers, with the ability to interchange the party members on the fly. Through fights and quests, experience is gained and levels are increased. Besides the typical rise in statistics, players also earn skill points which can be used to purchase new abilities and increased statistics in each character's individual skill trees.
One of the more interesting new elements of gameplay in Magna Carta II is the ability to chain attacks together to increase the overall effectiveness of the party members. These chains become not only a novelty, but a necessity in the more advanced areas of the game. The ability to enhance weapons is also included in the game for those craft-minded players, although it seems that this was added as a bit of an after-thought and is not as fully fleshed out as it could have been.
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Difficulty:
Magna Carta II is not a difficult game to get into. Most fans of the genre will immediately feel at home with many of the aspects of the game. Combat feels a bit clunky at times and is probably the biggest detractor. Choosing the appropriate stance/style for each character is very important. At times, it feels as if the need for a certain style in order to advance the story dictates which way the player must spend their hard-earned skill points. The most difficult aspect of combat is the "chaining" of attacks. Players can attack continuously, using stamina for each attack. When they use up all their stamina (which regenerates rather quickly), they go into an overdrive state. This causes the attacks/spells to be much more damaging, but when they complete the attack sequence, they lapse into an overheated state in which they cannot do anything other than move. The manual states that using overdrive effectively is key in some of the bigger battles, and that is certainly true. However, going into the overheated state quickly becomes annoying and can, in some cases, swing the tide of battle. To counter this effect, characters can "chain" attacks. Without elaborating on the details, suffice it to say that chaining attacks successfully will eliminate the overheated states of characters and greatly improve combat efficiency. Unfortunately, the timing of these chain attacks is a little tricky (and a lot frustrating) to learn.
Other minor annoyances include the ever-present camera gremlin, who loves to move the camera to just the right angle so that players cannot see what is going on. Collision detection is also a bit strange, often allowing characters to run up stairs, but not step over a twig or small rock. Lastly, the save system is still checkpoint-dependent, done by using pillars where characters can "save their memories." These pillars are distributed fairly commonly throughout the game, but the continued failure of games to include "save anywhere" features is really quite a bother.
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Game Mechanics:
The game mechanics of Magna Carta II are fairly straight-forward and, as mentioned above, most fans of the genre will become comfortable with them in short order. The game includes a lot of general exploration of areas and monsters can be seen before they are engaged, so players have a good amount of control over which engagements they wish to partake in. Should the player see a monster that they do not wish to fight, they can simply run by the creature and keep moving, usually out-running any chasers fairly quickly. This same tactic is also useful in combat, as players can simply circle the battlefield while regaining stamina should chaining prove too much of an annoyance. Other game controls are mostly generic, with movement and camera being controlled by the thumbsticks and actions being controlled by specified buttons. On-screen instruction is provided for all object and item interactions, buying and selling of goods, and general actions, alleviating any possible confusion.
Combat is the single largest facet of the game, though it can be broken down into several sub-categories. As mentioned previously, characters are awarded skill points during their journey and these can be used to purchase and improve various spells and abilities. Each character has two skill trees which correspond to a combat style. Spending the points wisely is key to developing a cohesive and effective fighting unit. Each style has a signature move which can be performed during combat under the right conditions. These conditions differ for each move, so learning what the conditions are is very important. Chaining of attacks, which is described above, is the key to success in battles, as stamina quickly drains from the characters if they continuously attack without resting. Signature moves and special moves will drain stamina faster, so understanding and being able to perform the chains and chain-breaks becomes very important to the success of the party. Once this is mastered, the game quickly becomes a much more enjoyable experience.
In the end, Magna Carta II does nothing to really stand out from the crowd. It is an enjoyable game with some interesting graphical elements, but the storyline is the same as so many others, combat is mostly boring and character progression is not nearly deep enough to keep hardcore RPGers interested. That is not to say that fans of J-RPGs will not enjoy the game, but with the current feast of RPGs available, Magna Carta II is a shortbread cookie sitting amidst a table full of chocolate chip, sugar and oatmeal cookies. |
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-The Mung Bard, GameVortex Communications AKA Buddy Ethridge |
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