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Rogue Galaxy: An RPG to Remember

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: March 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I am a huge fans of PS2 RPG's. There have been many fine titles in this genre such as the Suikoden, Final Fantasy, Xenosaga and Grandia games. RPG fans also know that Level-5 has also made its fair share of contributions, most notably Dark Cloud, Dark Cloud 2 and Dragonquest VIII. While I enjoyed all of the previous Level-5 titles, Rogue Galaxy takes it to the next level.

Rogue Galaxy combines all of the finest elements of an RPG: solid gameplay, appealing graphics and replayability. The basic RPG systems here including weapon & armor upgrades, buffs & abilities as well as character stat increases are all nicely done. The use of the so-called "Revelation" system of chracter skills upgrades ties treasure and item purchases to stat upgrades...it is clever(and it works).

The visuals are all very well done. From beautiful jungles and dank mines to bustling metroplises, one gets the sense of being very small in very big worlds. The characters that you meed add flavor and purpose to the adventure, and they are well-conceived.

I see that some here have complained about the adventure being too "linear". While the adventure paths are fairly straightforward, don't believe for a second that means the game is limited in scope. There are a wealth of mini-games such as a factory where you build custom items, insectron games where you capture and battle with insects and a magical companion that can synthesize new weapons for you(and that's just for starters).

Too many RPG's are set in a DnD style fantasy, medieval-esque world. Rogue Galaxy, much like Xenosaga games, nicely fuses a modern, high-technology futuristic setting with RPG mechanics. In fact, I believe this game does it better than all other PS2 RPG's that attempt to do so.

The game is charming and I highly suggest that you buy it. Seeing the Level-5 label on it was reason enough for me to purchase it...but it is definitely the cream of the crop in their catalog. Games like Rogue Galaxy are proof that the PS2 still is alive and kicking!

Get the game...and enjoy the trip with Jaster!

Game sacrificed too much to remove load times.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Style - The animation and the character designs are definitely very nice. The dungeons however are unimaginative and lazily designed. Each dungeon is unique but you'll be seeing slight variations of the same hallways and rooms over and over again within those dungeons. This was probably done by design to allow for their world to be seamless and eliminate the need for load times, I personally would have like to had more interesting dungeons and load times than bland and repetitive dungeons without load times.

Load times - There are none, but considering how repetitive the environments are on each planet, this isn't a great accomplishment...you can explore whatever you want without load times like it said but don't expect to find much.

Combat - The combat was definitely the highlight of the game for me. It fast paced, very dynamic (for a jrpg anyway) and takes place on the map, there is no special battle screen you have to load. They even throw in random "Challenge Battles" that reward a special prize for completing, these challenges will usually be things like "Kill all enemies in XX amount of time" or "Kill all enemies using *character name* only in XX time". There is no penalty for not completing these, its just something that keeps combat more interesting as you progress.

Unfortunately although you will find yourself having to grind, grind and grind some more for hours on end if you are trying to complete the lesser hunter quarries which amount to 4 or 5 different "Kill 30 of XX enemy". Some of these enemies you will be lucky to see 1 or 2 of for every 10 battles you fight. I would suggest just passing these mini-quests up but they are sadly convenient because...

If you want to create new weapons (which is done by combining two similar weapons) you will have to first "MAX" the skill on both weapons first which translates to running in circles for an hour while your skill with that weapon slowly reaches MAX. By the time this happens you'll find you have killed 21/30 of a certain enemy and if you're like me you won't want to leave that undone since its almost complete...once you complete that you'll find you've killed 23/30 of another type...40 minutes later you can move on if you just give up on it or if you're lucky.

Story - As interesting as playing as space pirates, collecting bounties across the galaxy may sound the story is weak and follows your typical RPG story outline. Boy leaves home to explore the world...check, boy meets hot girl...check Boy meets more characters along the way who inexplicably decide to follow him in his travels...check Boy and co discover evil plot, then thwart evil plot...check, game end.

The characters for the most part aren't bad, just recycled archtypes you've seen in every other RPG, none of them stand out. The ones who do stand out stand out for all the wrong reasons...bad over the top accents, annoying personality, etc.

Conclusion
The combat system, the weapon creation system, the "insectron" mini-game are all definitely fun and have quite a bit of depth but they really aren't enough to make me recommend this game to anyone except to people who love RPG's and have a tremendous amount of time to waste. If you're looking for a really in depth RPG, with good story and characters I recommend Disgaea 1 and 2 if you haven't already played them.

Fun, Entertaining

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was skeptical at first, but loved the Dark Cloud series and decided to give Rogue Galaxy a shot. I was pleasantly surprised! I had so much fun my husband had to plead and beg for me to stop playing so we could go to bed at night. Even then I would carefully unplug my PS2 and sneak out to keep playing! I was hooked. There was some campy moments, that advanced the plot line - but it wasn't unbearable. I found that unlike the Dark Cloud series (also by Level-5), there was PLENTY to do - insectron tournaments, hunting records, climbing to the top of the hunter charts, the factory system, unlocking new and more powerful spells, creating better weapons with toady...and I admit, took me three days to defeat the ending sequence(it's hard!). I did find the ghost ship a pleasing reward however.

Final Fantasy Fans and turn based RPG fans will not find this to their liking as they would the Dark Cloud series on it's own, but anyone of the Zelda and Kingdom Heart series and if you loved the Dark Cloud series as well (Action RPG) will definitely find plenty within Rogue Galaxy to keep yourself occupied with hours of fun. (I clocked in well over 150 hours).

Space Pirate version of Dark Cloud 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Well, if you have ever played Dark Cloud 2, the similarities are striking; recycled menu systems, battle system, etc. Not that there is anything wrong with that. So, it makes for a very easy way to evaluate the game. If you liked Dark Cloud 2, you will undoubtedly like Rogue Galaxy. If not, then be warned!

Started off good then spiralled into repetitiveness and unoriginality

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: January 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

It is not hard to find the blatant similarities between Rogue Galaxly and Final Fantasy XII - both boasted huge universe to explore and quick pace action in a traditional RPG setting. However, Rogue Galaxy was more than that - it further include elements like Pokemon, Skies of Arcadia, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts. All those similarities could have made it a great game if mastered skilfully but Rogue Galaxy failed to accomplish that.

The game started off pretty well. However, once it introduced its Revelation system, it is not hard to link this with FF XII's License Board. However, there was enhancement - you can deploy your new skills immediately without saving up more cash to buy it, which is a huge improvement. Then later you have the Insector side quest, which basically is extremely similar to Monster Hunter and probably more so for Pokemon. This is when you start think of how much originality does the game have?

Space pirate RPGs - the most two notable ones are FF XII and Skies of Arcadia. Hm bounty hunting? Both checked for the other two games. A central hero looking for expansion of horizon in the starry oceans? Hm checked for both other games. Low HP with levelling up but huge damage from random enemies...hm not quite so for the other two games but wait, isn't that Dragon Quest (also by Level 5)? Change of costume...that sounds like an expansion of Dragon Quest (anybody remember Jessica's outfits?). Factory fusing new items and then available for sale - sounds like a mix of Dragon Quest's alchemy pot plus FF XII selling hard to find items to lure new items out from shops.

So what's left of the game in terms of originality...really not much. It still could be a good game if those aspects were exercised skilfully. However, there are quite a number of annoying factors that really taxed your game experience. For example, low HP but huge damage will only work in turn based RPG cos you can employ strategies but in an action battle system, all you can do is to use up your potions and resurrection items cos before you know, two hits your character is dead. Also there is no healing spells and resurrection spells. So stocking up healing items is essential cos you party can get wiped out in 2 seconds if you are not paying enough attention.

Another annoying aspect is the shifting of sub-weapons whenever you encounter enemies with force field barriers. This is especially annoying when you want to level up your new sub weapon only to find out that you have to switch back to yoru barrier break weapon which only does 0 damage and will run out of bullets in 4 shots. So if you missed, you have to wait for 10 minutes before it is recharged and by that time you'd have used up most of your healing items to keep your party alive because of continuous pounding from the invincible enemies.

Also there are a lot of useless characters that look tough but that's all. This is especially for the Deego dog. I think a chiwahwah can fight even better than he does. He is slow and low in defense. Two hit he is dead and sometimes you just want to leave him lying there dead to save up your healing items. And all those shouting and yelling during battles by different characters are particularly annoying. Especially when you need to craw through a long dungeon. They keep on yelling "Jaster!". You can turn off the chatting in the dungeon but not during battles. And also there are characters that if you want a good challenge, use them as your controlled character - Yes I'm talking about Simon, who only do 2 hits and then it runs out of action point and just need to stand there all the time.

Crawling dungeons is another hassle. They are long! Ok long dungeon is still ok but they recycle the polygons so much that you can only note the difference in areas by their colours and sometimes you don't even know what you are doing. You just feel like you are running in circles and then suddenly a new save point shows up and you know you are in a new area. The Twin Tower is the worst because after you finished the first one like after 10 hours of running around, you'll need to do it again to clear it another to move on. When you are looking at the same polygons again and again for 60 hours, the beauty becomes a nuisance.

However, although there were so many flaws in the game, the graphics were pretty (except for the dumb look of the lead character), the cut scenes were well done and the music was good. They can be said as the saving grace of the game, but still the flaws overshadowed the good parts of the game. Wanted to give it 2.5 but there is no such option.

Grow up final fantasy fanboys!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 15
Date: March 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Yup,another bulk of reviews that completely trash a cool game because they swear final fantasy is just soooooo much better!Look we all know that you worship final fantasy and that to you no other game will ever come close to the "incredible storyline","breakthrough combat system" or
"amazing graphics" of final fantasy....

Yadda yadda yadda Go out and start a final fantasy cult if you want,but quit short changing excellent games that developers put ALOT of effort into creating and that ALOT of people enjoy.

You know I think I'm getting a serious case of deja vu here.Remember when FF 10 first came out?It was at the same time that a little known RPG gem was released called Shadow Hearts.The same thing happened because of the FF zealots;everybody said that Shadow Hearts was a total waste of time and so completely terrible when it was in fact a breakthrough RPG.

Look I said it once and I'll say it again;if you love playing final fantasy SO much,then play final fantasy!But don't get all whiney with other people because they are growing tired of a series that has been run into the ground.People like to try NEW,ORIGINAL games.

The plot to FF12(as well as the recent FFs) takes itself so seriously that it's incredibly terrible.And how many times do we have to see those annoying moogles and chocobos?

Me?I'd rather sail the galaxy with a group of space pirates and fight alongside a robot,an irish accented alien,and a scantily clad tribal chick to name a few.

Collecting bounties,visiting different planets,creating weapons,an easy to learn skill building system,cool soundtrack,funny voiceovers... Sorry final fantasy worshippers,but you're missing out.

I plan to completely play through this game (as well as a few other cool stand alone RPGs)before I decide to delve into the humdrum tedium of FF12

Glaring oversights, incredibly frustrating

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 6 / 24
Date: February 23, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I rented this game last week...and after putting four hours of my time into it, I discovered that I put the controller down in a worse mood than when I picked it up.

This game is a waste of time. It looks great, but just isn't playable.

The AI isn't capable enough to handle combat...at all. Your party members just walk into the enemy, swing, and die. Blocking is very effective...but your AI party members never do it. You spend over half the time in combat stopping to bring up the menu to heal or revive your allies.

I died three times in the second area of the game as well. Dispersed among the levels are absolutely terrible monsters that will can easily kill your party. The treasure chests attack you. And they annihilate you. They're by far the most difficult enemy in an RPG's early game that I've seen. One hit from them takes off most a character's HP, it can hit multiple characters, and can sometimes attack more than once per animation. The game also scales them up in levels to always be vastly stronger than you, and to top it all off, the game explicitly prevents you from running away from them (the run menu is greyed out when they attack you...) This is completely against the general exploration theme of RPG's...you're supposed to find and open treasure chests, not wonder if the chest contains an item or a practically guaranteed Game Over.

The game also froze once when I was playing it. Interestingly enough, it was when I opened a treasure box...the screen flickered, and just stopped.

Don't pay $30 for this game, it's not worth the frustration or the money.

Not Dragon Quest, but it is great in its own unique way.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Rogue Galaxy is another great game from Level-5 Inc. It may not be as great as Dragon Quest VIII, but to me it is a recovery from Dark Cloud 2, which was the most monotonous game I've ever played. Rogue Galaxy itself can be a little tedious, with repetitive dungeons and battles, but the complexity of the battle system makes the game very enjoyable. The plot is great and the voice acting is amazing and often humorous. The graphics and music are fine and the ability to create weapons in the factory and level them up adds a huge bonus to this game's fun factor. The synthesis is amazing, and searching for the legendary swords was exciting. Overall this game is a fun sixy-hour experience. I'd like to point out that, like many recent games, the back of the case tricks you into thinking that the game is 100+ hours. It is if you sit there and play it for 100+ hours, that is such false advertising (they say that on Disgaea 2 as well). Any game can be 100000 hours if you play it for that long. This game takes about 50-60 hours to beat, if you're slow like me.

Rogue Galaxy

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: June 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a great game. The story is solid and the battle system is well executed. The Factory is quite confusing, but the items produced are very useful. I did not like the Frog Log, I thought it was lame as there was not any tips or hints to the best upgrades and the guide didn't help either. Once you analyzed a weapon, it went into the Frog Log, and then you HAD to produce that weapon, or your Frog Log wouldn't be completed for the final rewards. The Flow Chart was a good concept and automatically encouraged you to farm enimies for items, thus ensuring your levels rose adequately enough to conquer enemies in the next levels. The game makes you wish there had been many more worlds to explore and conquer with more Marks to hunt. The game has great replay value.

Meh, Rogue Galaxy is playable.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: March 27, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I played it, invested 80 some odd hours into it, and ultimately beat it. Did I have fun? yeah. lots to do? yeah. cool boss fights? yeah. sidequests? yeah.

Would I ever play it again? No.

It has no replay value. The story is boring, the characters do not have enough development, and the ending is guaranteed to piss you off. So, while there's a lot to do, and while the graphics are nice, and while it's a long involved game, overall it lacks a lot, and you'll probably agree that one play-through is more than enough.

Graphics - 6/10
Cut Scenes - 7/10
Game Play - 6/10
Character Development - 3/10
Story - 3/10
Difficulty - 3/10

Rent it for a few days before buying it.

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