ShibuyaRiver's Blog

The "other RPG" that came out this month, a week after Final Fantasy XIII came out.

The world is set in a world where mankind has destroyed the environment, and thus the world's population lives on a giant tower in the sky, called Basel (named after Babel).

The game opens with a girl attempting to commit suicide via jumping off a building. An orphan teenage boy saves her from her attempt. Over a year later, the three protagonists are introduced: Vashyron, Zephyr (the boy who saved Leanne), and Leanne (the girl who attempted suicide). All three are mercenaries, who's main work consists of carrying out various duties for the Cardinals (the wealthy elite).

Gameplay involves guns and acrobatic maneurvering, with some action-styled and turn-based elements mixed into it. Characters don't gain in strength per say like most other games. Rather, as they gain EXP, they're allowed more weapon attachments, dual-wielding guns, accessories, etc.

The world map is unlocked similar to a puzzle. After you win certain fights, you gain more puzzle pieces for the world map, allowing you to open new areas. There are few cities in the world of Basel, but numerous places to explore, such as dungeons and small buildings. Unfortunately, they're all pretty bland.

Overall, RoF is a good game. Compared to other RPGs I've done, such as FFXIII (granted, only 3 hours into it) and Dragon Age Origins. RoF definitely has the inferior story compared to the two. It's not a bad story, but during the first half of the game, you'll be wondering whether there's really any plot at all (the casual humor is nice though). Luckily, after the game ends, everything finally comes together. In terms of Gameplay, I'd probably prefer Rof over DAO. RoF doesn't offer as much "choice" as DAO does. Interestingly enough however, in RoF, you can change your three protagonists appearances, from their hair style/color to the clothes they wear (their appearance is reflective in the cinematic scenes as well). Though you can't change their personalities (thankfully, I liked all three protagonists)

Sound/Music: 7.5/10
Story: 6.5/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Replayability: 7.5/10
Visuals: 8/10

Overall: 7.5/10

Everything has been said or is self-explanatory. For visuals, most of its credibility comes from the in-game cineamtics. It's immensely entertaining to see your characters un-realistically jump around, flipping their guns in their hands while saying some cool one-liners.

Unfortunately, this game will drastically undersell, since it was released a week after Final Fantasy XIII's release and was released on the same day as God of War III. But from what I've done so far of Square's latest title, I think RoF > FFXIII. Ironically enough, RoF was originally intended to be published by Square. However, the developers of RoF (tri-Ace) decided to have their game published by Sega instead, because Square wasn't "open" enough.

Pros:
+innovative, deep, strategic gameplay
+great in-game visuals
+numerous diverse side-quests (to give an idea, more than XIII but less than DAO)
+nice humor in story

Cons:
-Mediocre story
-bland cities and dungeons/buildings
-steep learning curve