08.08.07
Demolitionist
So, the Triumvirate of Demos, then. I started off with Eternal Sonata; more than anything, this was a game I’d been looking forward to for quite some time. I suppose the fairest thing to say about it is that it is a Tri-Ace game, which will tell the hardcore more than enough but might need a little more explaining. If you’ve played any of the more recent Tri-Ace offerings, specifically Star Ocean 3, then you’ve got a good idea of how the title plays; it’s a semi-active time battle system (units take turns, but get x number of seconds each turn to move/act as they see fit) as opposed to SO3’s real-time system, but other than that it’s got a few similarities. Visually, the game is gorgeous– easily the best-looking RPG I’ve played in years (and considering I was mighty impressed with how FF 12 looked, that’s high praise). It’s tricky to gauge difficulty based on a demo, but after a handful of easily-won battles, I rushed to the boss and got my A-double-flat handed to me. In any event, I’m more jazzed for this one than I was before, which is exactly the thing that a good demo should do.
On to Dynasty Warriors Gundam, then. I’ll be the first to admit that I know little about the Gundam universe; the only knowledge I possess is in regards to the so-called Cosmic Era timeline, and unrelated to the Universal Century canon that the series originated with. That said, I at least know who Heero Yuy is, which is good as he was the only playable character in the demo. This was also my first Dynasty Warriors game, as well, and so I was just a tad unprepared for the waves of faceless drones I was pitted against. I like to think I did semi-well for my first run; I took out Puru and roughly 300 other mechs before Milliardo separated my head from my body. I have to admit, I like the style of gameplay, and I think I’ll be seeking out a copy of Dynasty Warriors proper in order to get a little experience, but overall this game still is on my list– just at a lower priority. Namco Bandai gets props for including both English and Japanese voice acting, though.
Finally, we have Blue Dragon. I didn’t play this one to the Game Over point, namely because I found I just didn’t care enough after the pointless and hair-metal-infused boss battle. The demo apparently takes place late in the game, with a fairly high-tech fortress being the setting; the characters seem wildly overpowered, and the charge mechanism for battles is a little clunky. The small voice reading off every little battle message like “Counter!” and “Defeated!” is really, really irritating. And by ‘irritating’ I mean “I want to strangle whoever thought it would be a good idea”, which more or less is my standard definition of ‘irritating’. I don’t know, I really thought this was going to be a worthwhile use of my time. I thought, at the very least, it would make up for being a Toriyama game that’s not a Chrono Trigger sequel. As it stands it’s on the “rent if nothing else looks good, maybe” list. If this was the best that Japan could hope for in the way of 360 exclusives (until Eternal Sonata/Trusty Bell, that is), then it’s no wonder the machine is tanking there.
The bottom line: Three demos, two winners. One very, very happy fuzzy.