Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Instant classic"

This game is probably one of the best games on the PS2 and maybe ever released. If you have a PS2 or PS3 please do yourself a favor and go pick up this game. Atlus once again has localized an awesome game.

Story: There are five characters in the game that you will play as and each has their own story. The stories of each character are presented very nicely which is the games best feature in my opinion. The plots of all the characters are not isolated from one another and do branch into other characters plot which is nice. I will not talk to much of the stories as they may spoil the plot but some of the world is based on ancient Norse mythology.

Gameplay: Combat is done in real time on a circular 2-D plane which is straightforward and easy to learn. Your character will level up by defeating enemies where you will then be able to collect Phozons which is essentially experience points. Alchemy is also present in the game which is very useful. Items can be "grown" in the plane of the battlefield but require free spheres, so its up to you where you want to invest the Phozons. You can't change your weapons or equipment but you can add accessories to enhance your attack power for an example. You can regain your health by drinking potions or by eating food (which can be purchased from the Pooka restaurant later on in the game). The enemies are not that hard to defeat although there are some bosses that are annoying as hell to defeat. Unfortunately as you switch characters you will have to restart from the beginning in terms of stats. Your increased health for example will not carry over to the next character. The only flaw this game has is that when there are a lot of enemies on screen the game will start to slow down a lot (framerate) which will make it even harder/frustrating to defeat enemies and/or bosses.

Sound: This game has one of the best soundtracks ever. The music can be very soothing at times while at other times it can be very exciting (not sure that's the right word to choose but I hope you understand what I am trying to say). The soundtrack adds a great amount of importance to the atmosphere. These are the types of OST's that you would want purchase separately.

Graphics: One word, Beautiful! The game is simply gorgeous to view from start to finish. You would think since this is a 2-D game that it would look average in this category but that is not the case. Also the sprites and text boxes look absolutely amazing. The animations are also very nicely executed. Each character also has their own unique atmosphere which is a good thing because the game will not become boring to view. Some bosses and some characters that are not controllable have really large sprites that may cover like half the screen! These enormously large sprites look amazing and are also highly detailed like the rest of the game.