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Rondo of Swords It is a really good game with lots of depth. The level up gliche is the only way to beat the game though. I enjoyed the game because it has allot of different characters and has good reply value.
This is a great game don't get me wrong. Unfortunately I had to grind alot (which I do not enjoy in strategy games but I DO enjoy in turn based rpgs) The beginning is very daunting and makes you feel weak and like everyone is after you (which they are) and the story is hard for me to follow. It takes strategy games in a new direction and has TONS of characters to choose from. It's long and enjoyable. Overall, if you like a complicated story, invoating gameplay and a challenge you will love this. However if you are new to the strategy genre, and don't like long drawn out (sometimes unfair) battles you may want to pass this up for something easier.
So you've played a map and then the map ends and only THEN do you found out if you lost all of your cash or not. Rondo unfortunately is mixed game that you might want to avoid. Like many others here, I like these types of turn-based strategy games. This is not fun -- it is only needlessly annoying. It requires lots and lots of trial and error and patience. You cant just buy items you need: you have to send some of your troops to the market and the game will decide whether the shopping trip went well or not. Other aspects of the game are similarly and needlessly annoying. Its a darned shame because there is a really solid game under the hood.
No equipping your people. Gameplay in Rondo of Swords moves from map to map without ever letting you have a break. Granted, this is part of what makes the game difficult (IE impossible without a walkthrough or several restarts), but it also makes it not-so-fun.Also, if you are just playing along, going with the flow, its very easy to miss the ability to recruit key characters and very easy to get to the 10th, or 11th stage, and be UNABLE to continue since you don't have enough people to put on the battlefield and complete the other objectives. Yes, this adds to the stategy - IE, making sure that you keep your people alive, so that they can fight in the next battle, etc.
Very good.But this game needs to give you a break. However, the other RPG elements such as shopping, outfitting your people, sidequests, etc. while present require you to sacrifice those people from the next battle, and there's never a time to do anything but battle. I am a long time follower of Atlus releases, one might even call me a fanatic about it ;) But this game falls short of the usual greatness that I expect from Atlus, though it just barely misses the mark.By barely missing the mark I mean, this game, with a few very minor tweaks, would indeed be what I expected from an "epic" Atlus title. All you can do is start the entire game over and try something different. etc.
If you play with a walkthrough, it becomes somewhat bearable.The combat system. New, unique, refreshing, different, cool.Skill customization on characters.
Which after the 3rd or so time, gets frustrating.I know what you're thinking ~ but seriously, I'm a veteran gamer, have been playing RPGS and now tactical RPGs for over 20 years, this isn't "the game's too hard for me" - I'm an Atlus fan, I expect it to be difficult, in fact the challenge level in most Atlus games is what keeps me coming back for more. Battle, after battle, after battle.
An essential element of any RPG is the ability to stop, go back, do something other than the main storyline arc to beef up your people if you're having trouble. No random battles or training area in which to lvl up under levelled and/or new people.
Etc. If you have trouble in this game.
But more than challenging, this game is Punishing, and its very easy to get yourself into a position where continuing is impossible.
Even after you learn the game well, you'll still find yourself facing it often. I don't know how powerful the CPU on a DS is, but you can literally count the seconds while an enemy thinks about the next step to make in stages with a lot of enemy options in it. The storyline is thin but somewhat interesting. To an earlier review that said mages are useless: you just haven't built them up enough.
There are slow, laborious ways to make your way through some levels without getting killed (e.g. Some quick hints to max out the enjoyment for those who try this game: get the archer, and get Cotton. The battle system is innovative and mostly enjoyable, as it building up the characters. However, one of the redeeming features of the game is the ability to restart the current battle without losing any experience you've gained. So you'll find yourself putting the game down and doing something else for a while, leaving it running, so that you can come back to it when the enemy turn is finished.
Some enemies will knock you out in one hit. Be warned that this is not an easy game: until you learn the intricacies of how everything works, you will face 'Game Over' many times. I might even suggest that the game is unwinnable without using this feature a lot.The major drawbacks of this game are:* The music is horrible and annoying. Also, powerup Marie and Margus.
Overall, this is a very good game. Which could be literally 5 minutes later.* The shopping/quest system is poorly designed and the game would probably be the better without it.* It would have been really nice if there were a visual indicator of how far each ally and enemy can move during a move. This is very important knowledge, and can be figured out manually by seeing how far a unit can move and then counting squares on the screen, but this can get tedious.* The game is difficult, but a little more on "stupid difficult" than "challenging difficult". the archer plus healer yo/yo move), but doing so gets real old real quick.I know that's a lot of negatives, but the game is fun for a while. Each attack is done with a long animated sequence which can be bypassed, but only after it starts up. The rest of the characters don't really matter too much, although another magic user is handy later on, and someone with really long movement (e.g. At higher levels, their long-range makes them indispensable.
10) can be handy as well. Worse, there is no option to turn off the music and keep the sound effects, so you'll quickly play this game with the volume turned all the way down* The combat can be slow. Worse, the enemies can take a long time to attack, and go one by one. Use a cheat site to figure out how to get them. Having Cotton makes the game difficult instead of nigh-impossible.
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