Honestly, I think reviewers are hitting this game for being too derivative of the old Squaresoft formula, whether or not they're willing to say it. Or maybe there just aren't that many game reviewers who like SNES RPGs?
I've only played the first two hours, and I'll post more about it more later, but the only faults I can lay on this game are:
1.) too many random encounters, and no sound effect going into each one, just a fade in. Also, in each area there are only about 5 encounters, so you run into the exact same ones a lot.
2.) touch screen controls in combat a little wonky.
But here's the thing. These are the good points:
1.) beautiful graphics, somewhere between chrono trigger and Final Fantasy VI
2.) a combat system that gets almost as good as chrono trigger the second you get a second party member.
3.) good music, nice compositions in a unique enough style that it gives the game some character. Mysterious music
4.) talking to people in towns is actually fun, unlike almost every rpg of past few generations. You can reveal a lot about the story just by exploring and talking to people, and people have some hilarious things to say as well.
5.) It feels like playing an old JRPG that I somehow missed years ago, with one major difference. For the first time in my life, I feel like I'm playing a true JRPG in its original form -- in english. The feeling of translation is totally absent. Every joke works, no dialog seems a bit off, and both humor and more dramatic themes are clearly grounded in western culture. It's an incredibly interesting experience, and I think Black Sigil is the first game of its kind to achieve this.
Maybe the story goes downhill, I don't know. I'll post more impressions later. But right now I can't imagine those bad points weighing the good points enough to warrant such low reviews. This is looking like it could be one of the two or three best original JRPGs on the DS, whatever final scores it's getting.
