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A solid RPG that is weighed down a bit by an over complicated combat system.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 59 / 64
Date: December 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The biggest deal about this release of the Korean designed & developed RPG Mana Carta: Tears of Blood is the inclusion of character designs based on renowned fantasy artist Hyung Tae Kim. Not to mention that this is the first Korean RPG that I can remember ever playing (they usually come from Japan).

The game comes with a beautiful 100 page booklet that features tons of custom artwork by Hyung Tae Kim in addition to a brief strategy guide that takes players through the 1st few hours of this game.

Hyung Tae Kim has a very distinct drawing style in which his male characters have a decidedly un-masculine approach to their appearance that also somehow keeps them from seeming like they're gay at the same time. (A lot of reviewers have stated that they think the male characters in the game look like females, but I didn't think so, though they don't look like your typical butch male characters either).

As with a lot of fantasy artists as well, his female characters are beautiful with usually something like triple E size breasts. It literally looks like they're smuggling water melons under their clothes. But this is commonplace in the fantasy genre though it bugs me that developers still think that the majority of RPG fans are teenage nerds who haven't ever kissed a girl or seen a girl naked. I'm a 30 year old male and while I don't mind huge breasted women (more of a butt & legs guy actually), the way they're drawn by a lot of fantasy artists is just a wee bit distracting in the breast department and keeps a lot of people from taking the fantasy/RPG genre seriosly.

But I digress. Now onto the game.

The game itself is kind of hodge podge of almost every element from modern famous RPG's. You got something similar to the "judgement ring system" from Shadow Hearts, the graphics style of Legend of Dragoon, the characterizatios from FFX, and a bit of the free roaming aspect from Star Oceans' battles.

The battle system itself is what seems to be drawing a lot of love it/hate it opinions from people. I'll be honest, on the surface and upon playing the game for an hour or so, I hated it. The fact that you can only control 1 character at a time in the battles and the other ones just stand there really irked me. Plus, I just couldn't quite get a handle on the whole "Chi" thing that the game flaunts in your face from the get go.

Add to the fact that the game kind of just throws you to the wolves without really getting accustomed to the battle system. There is a character that takes you through a tutorial of sorts but it goes by so quickly and there's so much to take in that it really isn't beneficial.

But as I've played it more and begun to understand it more, the more I actually like it. Unlike Star Ocean which was a real time and non-turn based affair, Magna Carta takes a turn based approach to that type of battle system.

I do wish that you could have your other characters do something else than just stand around while your main character is attacking since at the beginning it seems like it just leaves them open to attack. But the more I familiarized myself with what was going on the more I liked it.

The only element is that your attack styles are tied to certain environmental elements or "Chi" that is really confusing and weighs down what is otherwise a pretty novel approach to RPG battles.

Basically, this isn't an RPG that welcomes you with open arms. It has an extremely steep learning curve and takes some time to get into it. I can completely understand people hating it and people loving it. There really isn't an in between. But I also think that a lot of people who have given this game 1 star reviews didn't stick with it like I did. Trust me, it takes a while to truly understand what's going on.

As for the story, it's pretty much your basic FFX type story with the same characters who are out to avenge someone or something. Generic, but it's also done with a lot of style and heart.

The graphics at first appear to be behind the curve of last generation PS2 games, but the more you play it, the more the graphics become very cool and appealing, not to mention detailed.

Anyway, here's how I weigh the pro's and con's of this particular Atlus released title:

PRO's:
+ Great character designs
+ Innovative if sometimes troublesome battle system
+ great music
+ great plot.

CON's:
- "Chi" aspect to battles is really, really confusing.
- Women characters look like they're water melon smugglers in terms of their gargantuan breast size.
- Game is a bit too linear and could use a few more side quests.

If you're looking for something truly different in the RPG world, try this game out. It's certainly unlike any other one that you've played before in terms of its battle system. Whether that's a good or bad thing will depend on the individual player. But just stick with it for a while before passing judgement!

More fun than it looks

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 16 / 17
Date: December 02, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Despite what the other reviews here maybe have you believe, Magna Carta does have a lot to offer. It's true the game may be hard to get into, but trust me, once you do, it becomes a lot of fun.

This is not a game for the traditional RPG inclined. It's a game which looks typical on the outside but has a lot of depth under the surface and beautiful graphics and music to go along with it. Speaking of the graphics, they're beautifully rendered (even making the trees/water/grass in the enviroments swing and sway, along with your character's clothing) with very natural movements of walking and running on the map. The battle graphics aren't as big as what you may have seen in Final Fantasy but aren't horrible either. The CGI, if you could say that, is mostly just in the opening sequences, the rest of the game using buffed up cut-scenes to good effect, even coloring flashbacks in grainy sepia-tone. The music is also well done, understated but not forgetable, catchy but not annoying.

Now, onto the battle system. If you want a simple explaination, the system is a cross between the Judgement Ring from Shadow Hearts and the more action style of Star Ocean 3. It takes a bit of getting used to but once you do it becomes pretty easy. My only complaint is with the "Chi" system of energy each character draws from for their power (whether it be attacking or magic); it just limits a very unique battle style, weighing it down unecessarily.

Some people seem to have complaints with the voice acting but besides a bit of stilted (read: odd, dramatic pauses in sentences) I found the voice acting pretty good; nothing to write home about but, like Star Ocean 3, listenable and at least decently acted.

The storyline, as it goes, seems to draw from a different place than most war-oriented RPG plots do. It focuses on the individuals on both sides (including the enemy) and makes war out to be more realistic, where both sides have something to lose and in the end, are just protecting themselves and their land. It raises a lot of questions about who is really the good side in battle, which I found a lot more intriguing.

My only other complaint besides the "Chi" system is with the character designs. Sure, they're gorgeous and unusual but with the kind of time period the game is set in, they seem too bright and out of place, as if they're outfits you know they really wouldn't wear into battle but I quickly forgot about them getting caught up in the mix of the story, they just blend in with the characters themselves, who are also different and unique.

The game runs a lot like Star Ocean 3, in that to get to one town, you must cross through winding roads and through other towns to get where you need to go. Along the way you have a stealth-like system for detecting enemies on the path: A orange ring surrounds your character, small usually, allowing you to run quickly, but at the risk of heading blindly right into an enemies path, though you can widen the ring significantly with the push of a button to see ahead of you, causing a walk instead of a run so that you can sneak up on opponents or avoid them alltogether. Also, when you're playing during a key event in the game, the roads/dungeons you travel in, will not respawn monsters once you have killed them all, which leaves you, usually, at just the right level to defeat whatever boss you have to fight.

Lastly, the game is pretty linear in style, the story unfolding and taking you along with it, only allowing for a side-quest (usually to obtain items for a special weapon) every now and then, even going so far as to stop you from entering places that have no bearing on your current mission, which may bother some who like more freedom.

I have not played all the way through yet but here my list of Pros and Cons so far:

"Pros"
-Beautiful Graphics
-Subtle but memorable Music
-Unusual Character Models
-Unique Combat System
-Interesting Storyline

"Cons"
-Combat Weighed Down by "Chi" System
-Slightly Overdramatic Voice Acting
-Mostly Linear Gameplay
-During Key Events, No Monster Respawn

I wanted to love it but I just can't

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: December 07, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Just to clarify, I have been waiting for this game since the first incarnation (Magna Carta The Phantom of Avalanche) was released in Korea years ago. I too am a big fan of Hyung Tae Kim's artwork so I will not be discussing whether or not the character designs and art style are appropriate enough. You either like it or you don't. I wanted this game to be better than it was but crippling gameplay has soured me to the whole experience.

First, let's start with what I was expecting. What I was looking for in a game this time around was a good story to tide me over until FF 12 will be released. I have previously played Star Ocean 3: Till the End of Time and Radiata Stories which had excellent battle systems but slightly less satisfying story lines. This game is probably the complete opposite of those two because it excells in story telling and character developement but completely massacres itself in the battle system. Even reading the directions and going through the useless in game tutorial, this battle system will punish you mercilessly. Once, you've messed up i.e. missed a button or let a character die, you're pretty much screwed even in regular enemy battles. In fact, regular enemy encounters can be tougher than boss fights for the sheer fact that there are more enemies and if you are suprise attacked and your characters don't love your leader, you won't even get a turn in to correct any mistakes. A status effect will handicap you to the point of rendering the rest of your party useless as the enemy's attack bar gets shorter and yours gets longer. Once things have gone bad, they will probably stay that way. That said if you always get the first attack, your characters love you, there's the right kind of chi in the area, etc. then you will go through the same repetitive botton pressing series that you've done in nearly every other fight. You cannot customize the order of your moves so oyu will do the same lame attacks in order to get to the stronger ones. I will admit, this is the first button pressing trinity drive game I've played myself. After I got used to it, the only mistakes I've made is when switching between characters and styles.

There is no open ended gameplay to be had. Trivial sidequests for getting weapons by fighting more enemies in your area just about covers it. Also, it is hard to just go out and level up because enemies don't regenerate unless you reload your game. Plus, there aren't enough different enemies in the game to prevent this from just becoming a chore. Basically, gampeplay is just the vehicle for propelling the story without being an end in itself. Maps are simplistic and don't invite you to explore much besides just getting from point A to point B.
Basically, I just thought I would suffer through the battle system to get to the end of the story because it is very engaging and I would like to see the conclusion. However, the Counter mode has now made that hope impossible. At one point near the end, you are forced to use the Counter mode, which I have never used in regular battle because I have found it too bothersome, to advance in the storyline. Well, even with help from the guide, I keep missing button presses because they fly by quickly. There is no in depth tutorial either in the books provided or in the game itself to tell me what I am doing wrong and how to correct it. Right now, I am at a complete standstill and don't think I will ever finish the game because of this. I will admit that I am not very good at Judgement Wheel type controls but for me to spend 70+ hours on a game that frustrates me at every turn and to get stuck like this, is just wrong.

As much as the story itself is well thought out and enthralling, I just can't reconcile the fact that I should be frustrated like this over a game that is supposed to be fun. I'm giving it two stars because of the story and collectable art extras provided but I would recommend for any consumer to try this game out for yourselves before buying it. $55 is still a lot for a poster and a mini artbook.

Help, my thumb is caught in the controller.

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 12 / 15
Date: June 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Last year, I bought tears of blood and played about one third of the way through it before running into a bug when the game allowed me to do several things out of sequence. I wasn't all that thrilled with the game and put it aside for some day when I would feel more motivated. It only took a year for me to come back, invest some 80 hours in game play to realize that not only was I not thrilled, but I disliked it intensely.

Let's start out with the good things. The general level of animation and graphics is very good. Although there is not nearly as much CGI as the trailer promised. The story, which is about a long conflict between humans and elf-like race galled the Yason is a good one, with complex characters who have many sides. So - a pretty face, an interesting plot, and, unfortunately, a director (Yeon-Kyo Choi) from hell. This is the first game that I can honestly say feels like the development staff was dedicated to irritating the player. The game suffers from interface woes, in particular, a live mapping system which often shows the player moving in the opposite direction from the camera shot. Something to which I never quite got accustomed. And the story is full of those strange moments when characters do something that makes no sense.

The story is interesting, but the flow through the game is forced. There is a level of parallelism, since there are usually two teams in the field and you can switch between them, but the progress is really inexorable - there aren't any alternative branches. For example, you can kill a boss who is supposed to beat you - the game just ignores the whole event and continues on. On fault of the two party approach is that you are often forced you through exactly the same paths twice, complete with the same tired monsters.

Many of the characters are unlikeable. Antagonistic streetfighters, bossy, paranoid priestesses who dress up as eight-year-olds, and starry-eyed, overdeveloped waifs complete for your attention. The star of the show is Callintz, a cross-dressing mercenary, and Captain of the Tears of Blood, consumed with hatred for the Yason. Don't get me wrong, the Yason are just as bad as the humans - everyone gets demonized equally. To top this off, the voice acting is positively wooden. The battles are full of little phrases that, after a while, will drive you crazy. That and several not quite hidden Bronx accents.

Most of the blame for the game's failure is due to the battle system, which depends on the mix of eight powers (or chi) in the area of the battle and uses a fight wheel which requires that you enter a combination of X and O buttons at specific moments. This is a little like Shadow Hearts, but Tears of Blood carefully varies the timing to throw the player off stride continually. In addition to this standard mode there are two alternative modes that have you combining moves (12 keystrokes and up), or guessing what your opponent is doing to counter it. Both of the latter require a lot of finger coordination and hours invested into getting them right. Unfortunately one of them is required to progress through the game and it was only the discovery of a line of instruction in a downloaded walkthrough that kept me from giving up on the game for the second time.

The game simply lacks the magnetism to make you want to overcome all the difficulties that the Choi throws in your path. Which is one of the reasons it has never sold very well. There have been a lot of good RPG releases in the past two years. Unless you have lightening reflexes and the patience of a saint, save your money for one of those - you'll be happier for it.

You May Weep Tears of Frustration

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: March 22, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Magna Carta is game I've been eagerly anticipating for some time now. It comes from ATLUS, who have a great track record when it comes to localizing niche RPGs for the dedicated player. It features fairly high production values with its detailed environments and 3D character models. The CGI is gorgeous. Unfortunately, this is one of the most sluggish, frustrating games I have ever played. I hear Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu declared Magna Carta: Tears of Blood to be one of the worst RPGs on the PS2. I wouldn't go quite that far, as for all the teeth nashing I did, I still was able to play it until the very end.

The story of Magna Carta focuses on Calintz, leader of the Tears of Blood, a mercenary group with the corniest name ever. The Tears are helping to fight a long running war with the Yason, a magically elf-like race. Things go wrong during a mission, and Calintz meets Reith, a mysterious girl who can't remember anything. They strike up a rather awkward romance- awkward in the sense that Reith is the goody-goody peace-loving type, and Calintz, while dedicated to peace in his own way, peace to him meaning destroying the Yason. Reith tries to discover her mysterious origins and Calintz searches for the Magna Carta, a legendary super-weapon that can flatten the Yason. Despite the fact that this description features a ton of story cliches, the story is actually pretty good, even though it unfurls at a snails pace. This story is not shy about presenting the unpleasant consequences of war and is refreshingly lacking the black and white morality of most fantasy stories.

While the world of Magna Carta is quite the visual treat, the same can't be said of the aural experience. The background music is adequate but unmemorable. The game opens with a terrible song called Tears of Blood. The lyrics on this thing are really embarassing and cheesey. Voice Acting is usually a nice touch, unless its done wrong. Here its done really really wrong. This stuff could curdle milk.

While story is a very important factor in these types of games, Magna Carta drives home the point that you also need a good battle system to carry you through 50+ hours of gameplay. This is were Magna Carta gets really sluggish. It uses a quasi-real time system were you can move freely about the battle screen. A meter fills up and when it reaches a certain point you can attack. There is no such thing as simply bashing a monster with your sword. You must correctly time a series of three button presses, then the character will glow, say some line like "I have been trained to kill!", and then launch into a complicated looking attack. Sure it looks cool, but after the first few hours you'll wish things would move faster. Did I mention you can only control one person at a time and the others stand there like fools?

This system is also effected by a myriad of other things like how much the characters like you at the moment, which is effected by things like what sort of gifts you give them and what the local fortune-teller said, the number of enemies and allies currently on the field, what kinds of chi is currently available, and how many times a friend or foe can block attacks. All attacks are based on one of eight types of chi. If your attack is based on a chi type that isn't available you can't do anything unless you happen to have a chi restoring talisman. The system is not difficult, but sluggish and cheap. A normal enemy encounter can last well over 30 minutes. That should not be!

Adding to the sluggish battle system is a sluggish system of exploration. You can explore in detect mode, where you roam at a snails pace but can surprise or avoid enemy in encounters, or run mode, where you move faster but will miss treasure chests and will be surprised by the enemy, effectively letting them pound you into Game Over. In Magna Carta, if you have to go somewhere it will be by foot. It takes a long time to get anywhere, because the world is expansive and you will be traveling the roads at the speed of a turtle. Couple this with the slow battle system, and it takes forever and a day to get anything done. More than once I wanted to rip my hair out.

Magna Carta is a game only for people with extreme patience. I imagine the vast majority of people who pick it up, will throw it down after a few hours. When I saw the end credits role, I for one was filled with great relief that it was over. Games should fun. Magna Carta just isn't.

Softmax's first PS2 rpg is a hit...very unique and exciting!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 10
Date: November 30, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Magna Carta is a breath of fresh air when it comes to your every day RPG. This game, to me, is something I look for in all my role-playing games. It's not "cute-sy" and has more of a mature look to it. Despite the fact that the main character looks oddly like a woman, the story, visuals and concept are worth the money.

The main character, Calintz, is part of a mercenary group known as the "Tears of Blood". Tragically (gasp!), his past haunts him as the Yason (the enemy kingdom) did something terrible to him, which empowers him with this need for revenge. The game starts out with a simple enough mission to go and protect some Wizards as they meet and prepare for this "Ultimate attack" that will save the Humans from the Yason. Unfortunately, it goes bad and the attack back fires. This is where the story... sort of... begins. Together with your cadre of mercenary buddies, you complete quests, fight monsters and do pretty much the same thing as you would do in Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, or any of your other run-of-the-mill RPG's.

The thing that seperates Magna Carta from the rest is the use of a "timed" battle system. A wheel, presenting a combination of different button presses, forms when you wish to attack a target. Once the first button has been pressed, you need to time it correctly for the other button presses as the wheel turns at a reasonably fast rate - creating the desired effect. The bad part about it... well, if you mess up and miss a button or time it incorrectly, the attack fails and you lose your turn. This change from your ordinary turn-based fighting style lends to the uniqueness of Magna Carta, as its presented well, but requires practice - making the whole combat thing and defeating enemies more enjoyable as well as rewarding. Other fighting styles are default for certain characters, but many more must be learned and they can be mixed and matched to your character, since only 4 styles can be used in a battle - each with their own up's and down's. It's also important to note that battles are also run by "Leadership". Whether or not a character likes your main character, which is determined by socializing at save points, determines how fast that character can attack. Every character runs off this Leadership system, and as more enemies are present, the Leadership is lower. Think of it as morale. Your characters can attack more often if their morale is high and you are winning the battle, but if you are losing, you'll lose attack chances - enemies also use this Leadership system.

Magna Carta also makes use of this "Chi" system, where opposing "Chi" deal more damage to eachother, and complimentary Chi aid eachother. In battle, its crucial to plan ahead and determine what type of "Chi" each enemy possesses, as well as whether or not they are more or less vulnerable to your attacks. As a character attacks, whatever Chi he is strong with will deplete. If the Chi is gone, the character is unable to attack until the Chi regenerates.

The only thing that irks me about Magna Carta is that you control one character in battle, but 3 can be present. Magna Carta likes to use something similiar to a "paper-rock-scissor" effect - giving you the option to use whoever you want in battle, but sometimes requires you to switch to another character as the "Chi" depletes itself or an enemy just happens to be strong to the type of "Chi" your character uses. While it sounds impressively imaginative, whatever characters you aren't using just stand there and look pretty. This knowledge comes in handy, as you'll now be prepared to use every character, every chance you get since you will want to make sure he levels up his styles and isn't a wuss when he is really needed in a battle.

The visuals, simply put, are outstanding. While men and women are tough to distinguish from one another sometimes, don't let that discourage you in the least, as Magna Carta is full of vibrant and interesting local's and characters.

The music is also well done, and whether or not the intro song turns you off, it grows on you after awhile and you'll find yourself wanting to listen to it again. The background music and battle music is also well done, but isn't anything out of the norm when compared to other RPG's.

Magna Carta is a breath of fresh air to the RPG world, blending a myriad of different gameplay ideas into one impressive game. While it suffers from some tiny things, the game by itself is fun and compelling enough to keep you interested.

Quite happy with the game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: January 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I've been waiting for this game to be released domestically for almost three years now. Not for the artwork in my case, but simply because the game sounded incredibly intiguing. So when it was finally released I made sure to preorder it. What I've found has been quite the enjoyable game.

Now I'm not sure about some of these complaints. Slow loading you say? I ahven't really noticed, about the same as all the RPG's who demand to put in battle transition screens these days. And I have not even heard a single one of these ear drum shattering "beeps of doom" others seem to mention. (You may want to check your PS2 real quick.)

The battle system meanwhile, is extremely tough, I think I failed 6 to 8 out of 10 times in attacks for the first half an hour of play and it took me several hours of gametime to even feel comfortable with starting to use combos, let alone the extra few hours it took to master them. But keep this in your mind, I don't think I've played a non-strategy or RPG game in almost a decade so I'm not exactly our resident button mashing master.

As for the graphics and sound and other less than important issues; the graphics are great, with cut scenes being very very nice looking and just quite impressive to me. The music itself is also very good and really fits into the game's experience.

Finally, I gave it 4 stars in fun only because the fighting system was difficult to get used to and it did cause some frustration at first, but that was the only thing for me and barely reason to lower the stars. Anyway, try the game only if you are also the same type to give a game more than 30 minutes to prove itself, or read past the first 50 pages before chucking a book out. This game has some growing pains, but it will definately repay you a hundredfold for the investment you put into it.

A love it or hate it rpg

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: January 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Magna Carta... A world full of prejudice people. Yep that's about right.

Okay, your reading this because you want to get an idea as to if you should get this game correct? Well I'm here to try and help guide you in the right direction and not give a bias opinion.

First off, what is Magna Carta about? Magna Carta is basically what my first line states: A world full of prejudice people. Seriously, if you can't see this, you are blind. There are two races here at war over land and much more. You can think of it as the white man versus the red man (Native Americans). In the game white man is the human race and the Native American is basically the race known as the Yason. Now don't get the wrong idea that Softmax used that event in history to cash in; oh no, the story is way more complex than that. That is basically just a shell but that is all that I can give without spoiling the story. There are many MANY plot twist and turns in this game.

Now the characters; you play as Calintz a 23 year old pretty boy who is the leader of a mercenary group called Tears of Blood. Okay, a lot of people complain about the character designs. The most complaint is on some the guys in the game feminine looks. Okay I too that Calintz was a female until I heard his voice, but I didn't ran around and bleat about it like a little wench. Another complaint is the women's busty bosoms and how unrealistic they are. Last time I check this was a fantasy game.

Gameplay; okay this is where the love and hate comes in. Gameplay is what killed the game for some people. First off, the game is very VERY linear. You've no control over the world map (not even moving the cursor key to a dot). If you leave a town or an area, there will times when you cannot go back to them. So, yeah you will follow the storyline pretty much beginning to end without any sort of side quests (expect for blacksmith quests which are not much of a side quest). Now when you are in dungeons or areas with enemies, you'll be able to see them, however the only way to see them is to be in detect mode. Detect mode is when Calintz have his sword out and walking around he will be able to see enemies. He then will be able to surprise them by slashing them from behind to engage in battle for first hits. You'll be in this mode for most of the game. Yes you'll walk and not run majority of the game. If you run in a dungeon, you'll not be able to see the enemy and thus the enemy will have the surprise attack and will be thrashing on you and you don't want that with the time of battle system this game have.

Now as for the battle system, it is a rather interesting one. It is rather hard to explain but I'll do my best. First off the world of Magna Carta is base around chi (basically energy/elements). There are eight types of chi: celestial, wind, ice, water, mountain, earth, fire and lightning. Each character learn different styles base on different elements. In order to attack there have to be a certain chi in the area that corresponds with the element of the style the character is using.

Ex: If Calintz is using a style that uses wind, there have to be wind chi in the area for if there is none he will not be able to attack.

Also for the battle system only one character can act. Everyone uses a leader bar that fills up (think Grandia). So that was like a `wtf' for some people. To other it brought in strategy. Last but not least, there is a trinity circle (think Shadow Hearts' judgement ring) which you have to time your button presses in order to complete an attack. So if you miss a button press you lose a turn meaning your leadership bar goes back down and have to refill again.

In conclusion, Magna Carta is not the best rpg out on the market. There are better, but I wouldn't pass it up if you're pretty hardcore in to rpgs. The story is great and one of the best I've come across on the PS2 in an rpg. The battle system is not that bad. I actually like it, but I won't deny that it did get a little repetitive after 50 hours of game play. I would recommend it if you're very deep into rpg and want to play them all; if you are looking for a deep and complex story and something different than the tired turn based systems.

PS: Another flaw in the game is its load times.

In all honesty people

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: December 29, 2005
Author: Amazon User

You will read countless reviews on game sites and vendors that this game is mediocre and had so much potential. It is such an ignorant yet simple reaction to scorn a product because it did not live up to your ultimate expectations (i.e. final fantasy replica) but the person to blame is yourself for having the expecations in the first place. There are a few things that I did not perticularly agree with in this game, but same with Final Fantasy X, VII, and all the rpg's people revere as gifts from the gods. I am not a hardcore gamer but I do apreciate a good story with good characters, especially when done with style.

First, the environment that the game cultivates is simply beautiful. The environments are similar in look and quality to FFX. The character designs are fresh and original, so what if the male figures aren't juiced on steroids (save for a few) it adds depth and variety to the palette. The blend of CG, 3D animation, and 2D animation is very uniform and well executed. The moves in battle are a pleasure to watch and the sound effects are well done. The background music is fantastic, the peices were chosen very well to compliment the mood the story is trying to portray.

The mechanics of the game are more complex than the simple 'your turn', 'their turn', 'lets pick a spell'...that all of us are used to. It brings a fresh approach to add some actual action in the fights rather than having a convoluted version of a tactical rpg. The chi system I admit is a bit awkward to facilitate, but it is easy to learn. The load screens are frequent (and it does get redundant) but they aren't as long as some reviews state. Most loads take about 10 seconds. The opening movie is beautiful....but the song is truly as bad as everyone says. And I will substatiate that the voiceovers are absolutely horrible.

But the characters and the story is what defines an rpg from the rest of the genres and should be the foundation for why we purchase them. This game truly earns five stars for the characters and story, and a subtraction of a star for the poor voiceovers (but at least it has them!) Buy the game, the art book is worth the extra five dollars. Just because is wasn't published by Square-Enix doesn't mean it's a poor title. I am looking forward to future Magna Carta titles.

just a review

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: April 18, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Magna Carta: Tears of Blood is a good RPG. The soundtrack is good, minus the opening song. Voice acting good although sometimes it isn't as good as it could be. The battle system is intersting. It depends on the Chi, how much your allies like you, and leadership (and some other things as well) which will effect the timing bar. However, you are only able to use one character at a time, causing you to think strategicly. It also requires you to push the buttons on time. Too late or too early makes it so you cannot attack and you have to wait for the bar to refill. It's a good RPG and I reccomend it.

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