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I am limited on my experience with RPG's - mainly due to how "picky" I am about how it plays, looks, sounds, etc.... This game has been very enjoyable for me and it ranks as one of my favorites.

This game has it's good and it's bad, but in the end the good won.

GRAPHICS: 9
The graphics of this game are wonderful - comparable to the Chrono Trigger (backgrounds) and better for the characters themselves - the overall look is clearer with plenty of background movement. BUT I did enjoy Chrono and Co. getting "fidgety" if you don't move them - it won't happen here - they just stand still. There are 3D touches in the game though, but they are limited to the map and a few spells. I love the Dragons and how they animate!!!!

GAME/STORY: 8.5/9
Hard to tell on this - it may be the hardest part for me to evaluate. As I am thinking back on Chrono I am left with an idea that plagues many RPG's recently; this is that many "push" you into your destiny - like Suikoden, you will be basically "sent" to your next objective with little "sight-seeing" - it is not as bad here though.... You may want to put it as once you see a town, you rarely NEED to go back, and if you are looking for puzzles -- don't... I have not needed to find a rare stone or herb to enchant anything yet, no hidden walls, etc.... It may not be absolute since I have run into a character in a cave who serves no purpose in my game yet - and one of the towers is a "maze", so there may be things I have not gotten to. The first part of the game seems too easy, but it certainly gets tough closer to the end. Loading is (to me) not what I've been hearing - it seems almost the same as SNES for waiting, it may just be the "CD Loading Time" curse that makes people look at whether it is slow or not - I don't notice much difference. It would still be nice though if there were more places to go - I did like that about Chrono, but there is plenty to do and see all the same.

STORY: 10
I do love the story, especially in the second part with Kia dragging Pike around and Eka getting jealous.... I like the addition. One thing that puzzles me is how they got it past a rating board with Kid to Adult rating.... it leaves many adult oriented things in the game - such aas "Sake" and alcohol in general and I'm not sure if "Bastard" can be said in a game yet... no complaints it's actually kinda cool. I will say that most of the townspeople are not much more than comic relief - it is nice, but other than the main characters, talking to townspeople is an "option" not a need in many cases. It would be nice if it were necessary to talk to every person in the town.

SOUND: 10
I have to - it really is good although the tower fight music does get tiring (organ music) - other than that I listen to the CD... you can play some of the songs from it in a CD player - and here the narration from the intro. I love the added voices and sounds - from the drunken pirate to Krishna's whip.... it's nice to have.

BATTLE: 8.5
Some of the lower-end spells are less than beautiful, but later on.... WOW. The animations and sounds are great - right down to the deaths of the enemies - it would be nice to "rotate" the characters to optimize their growth, but I think it would take challenge from it. Understand I am being very "PICKY" with this. Battles very enough to keep it interesting - sometimes enemies focus attacks on only one character.

NOTE:
There seem to be many items that are of no use yet or I can't figure where to use them... and my game froze up twice in the East tower - due to "rushing" I believe.... I was hitting buttons trying to zip through it. Not a major problem, but I do have to defeat the East tower again since it froze on a black dragon on the way out (loaded the battle scene, but could not fight - no music or anything - just the characters standing ready to fight). This has happened in other games so - it is not just this game - or this system...

OVERALL: 9
I still LOVE this game - other than Dragon Force it is all I can claim to liking for both Playstation and Saturn - I have tried the others, but none got me excited - I am a big "Action" freak - I want all the characters on the screen, drawn well, animated well, with plenty of "character", some adventure - not just battles, laughs, tears, etc... This game delivers a healthy balance of these in reply to Suikoden, it is nice but it pushed me into battles and had a dull beginning for me... I cannot comment on Wild Arms since it did not offer a story I wanted to play and the battles seemed less than exciting. I hope more RPG's are made like this and better, it is great to see a "step up" instead of doing a clumsy leap to 3D; skipping the possible beauty a 32 bit system can provide for traditional RPG's. The 3D touches in the game were good and the extended movement of the characters make this game fun to watch. Dont' take this review too seriously, if I have not given a great deal of "GREATS", I am pointing out every bad - as I said the good won in the end and it is one of my favorites. Great for beginners and a breath of fresh air for veterans.