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After long months of waiting, the first true RPG for the Saturn has finally arrived, and it was indeed worth the wait. Working Designs has proven once again that they can turn a not so great game into a masterpiece. Quality shines all over with excellent animations, beautiful music, great gameplay, & amazing hand drawn backgrounds.

Graphics-9.5
The graphics are superb! Every background is hand drawn. Buildings look different, bricks are discolored, fences are broken or worn in some places, and each city has its own distinctive features. There are also thousands of character animations. Each character has a different animation for each spell. They also do different animations when sleeping, frozen, stoned, poisoned, dead, etc.

Music-9.0
The music is great, especially on the CD tracks. All the music is played with real instruments. But the boss & fighting music can get annoying, especially in the 4 towers. Some of the best music is in the Air Castle, the factory town, Gigarl, & aboard the airship. The music really suits the mood of the game. This would have received a 10 if it weren't for the boss music.

Sound-10
The sound effects are the best I've ever heard on the Saturn. Each character, monster, & boss has their own war cries, death screams, spell chants, etc. They even sound different when they get hit or laugh. The background noises are cool, too. Fire really sounds like fire, water sounds like water, birds chirp, and all the other noises really add some realism to the game.

Gameplay-9.0
Gameplay is smooth & accurate, with almost no slowdown at all, even during big spells. I would have liked it if the characters moved faster, or had a dash button, like in Wild Arms or Vay. Load times are also a problem. Even though Working Designs was able to reduce them significantly, they're still pretty bad. I haven't played the import, so I don't know how bad they were before. Handling weapons, items, & spells is no problem with the smooth interface. There's not too many useless items in the game, but there are a few items that I don't know what they do. The clock during a game save was also a good idea.

Story-8.5
This is where the game is flawed. Despite the overwhelming Working Designs quality and the never-ending humor (which most of is sexual), the storyline falls short behind epics such as Lunar, Chrono Trigger, & FF3. Don't get me wrong, the story is great. Working Designs' trademark humor is abundant, and still keeps the storyline flowing. You can still understand what is going on and what you need to do next. The story is also pretty straightforward, unlike Chrono Trigger or FF3. This could be good or bad, depending on your taste. The main problem with the story was that it wasn't deep enough. You go to save your sister, and all of a sudden, your out to save the world. You can make choices that affect the outcome of certain events, although it usually turns out to have the same outcome.

Overall-9.0
This game is a must buy for both RPG veterans & beginners alike. A game of this quality hasn't been seen since Suikoden. Although it only took me 25 hours to beat, it was a great game. I'm playing through it again looking for side quests & trying to figure out what various items do. Congratulations to Working Designs for giving us another golden game! Can't wait for Rayearth!