Just started the game this morning, and I'm about an hour in. After just having tried to play Magical Starsign, I'm very happy to have a more traditional RPG in my hands. The stylus-only controls of Magical Starsign sucked, and I didn't really enjoy the battle system.
Nostalgia is a very traditional game, at least on first impression. The first sewer area reminds me so much of Eternal Sonata, I was curious if they had the same developer, but they don't. I like the battle system, and there's certainly nothing to fault in the game's graphics.
Time will tell if I continue liking the game, but I've got high hopes. I'm a big traditional RPG fan.
Just finished the game a little while ago. I beat it at about 32 hours, with all of my party members between levels 50-54. I messed around with a few more quests from the Adventurer's Association, but quit in the middle of rank B.
Final verdict: I liked the game. I happen to really enjoy old-school turn-based RPGs, and the story was decent enough to keep me moving forward. The dungeons were varied and interesting, and the variety of weapons and spells was a pleasant surprise. The boss battles were almost always really great, especially later in the game. For the most part, the game was fairly easy, but in the final 3rd of the game, it kept me on my toes well enough.
I could easily recommend it to other folks who enjoy traditional RPGs, but this game is quite old-school. It may not be especially memorable, but it was still a good time.
[quote name='willardhaven']This game really proves the value of Square-Enix's artists and designers. I have not played it but to me the art and in-game graphics aren't so hot.[/QUOTE]
I have to disagree with that statement. I thought the game's graphics were really good for the DS, and it made me really excited about what the 3DS will be able to do.
[quote name='Dead of Knight'] There's nothing truly horrible about the game except the asstastic story, characters, and dialogue, but it is very generic and mediocre.[/QUOTE]
Perhaps my standards weren't that high, but I didn't find the story that bad. Although sometimes situations resolved a little sloppily and I would have liked a more serious perspective on the storyline, it was still sufficient enough to keep me interested. My favorite segment was probably discovering
Pad's heritage, although again, I wish it had resolved a little more conclusively.
[quote name='botticus']Yeah, there's one more dungeon following that before the one I'm entering.
Edit: Which doesn't have a save point before a boss battle. [/QUOTE]
Yeah, I was soooo unhappy when I went into that room which triggered a boss battle. The game got us used to being able to save and heal before virtually every other boss battle, but at least this battle wasn't too bad.
[quote name='botticus']Just beat it, 25:30. Last battle was pretty intense. Keep your health topped off as much as possible. Annoyingly that was the only time I had a dead party member at the end of a battle.[/QUOTE]
You did better than me throughout the game, then. I had a couple party members die during a couple other boss battles, and I just left them dead, focusing on the more valuable members of my party. Namely, Melody died during the final boss battle, and I just left that useless sack dead. She just wasn't any use to me. Eddie and Pad had great attacks, and Fiona is ESSENTIAL for healing and Holy damage.
[quote name='botticus']But on the bright side, dungeons were small enough or save points plentiful enough that you didn't generally need to worry about losing much progress - except for the unwinnable and unescapable high altitude airship battles, which were the only thing I hated.
[/QUOTE]
I entirely agree with this point. I found high altitude airship battles ridiculously impossible if there was more than one enemy. It wasn't worth the money to buy the horribly expensive healing items for the airship, when you could easily spend $8000+ in the battle but win back less than that. I ended up saving all the time while flying, just in case I encountered a really hard airship battle. Started carrying around Flee Stones just for fleeing from airship battles.
It amazes me that as much as they touted the awesomeness of the airship, it ended up being the game mechanic I hated the most.
[quote name='2DMention']If you're looking for JRPG comfort food, you could do worse.[/QUOTE]
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