And i gotta say... Damn.... this game is quite the odd-ball, even for a tri-ace game...anyways i finally figered out how to adjust my 360's Res while using my PS3's HDMI cable and looking for options on thar blades and found the 480i to 720p thing, so once i made everything all sexy again on my 360 (had it for awhile but it switched to 480i for some reason and was to lazy to tweak it back to 720p.) i remembered... "Hey... i never did finish IU...) so before i continue with Dissdia i slapped IU in mah 360 because just wanted to see if the ending is as hard as i heard it was... and i was somewhere around disc two already.
Futhermore i was getting hyped because all of tri-aces games are made of win and sexyness (graphics) and they all have great music... but what was about to happen on the HDTV was nothing short of lolwutness...
THIS IS NOT A REVIEW...
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Im gonna review this game later on the chartz but i just wanted to bring up some simple pros and cons about this JRPG that (at first.) got me interested in the Xbox 360, of course after SO4 was annouced X360 exclusive that sealed the deal, but IU was the bonus prize... or so i thought...
Cons - - -
This Games main character - is quite a sissy which is never good there worse then emos!
The Gameplay - felt like a watered down version of phantasy star portable on PSP.
The Graphics - I've got to say Dissidia: Final Fantasy overall looks much nicer then this game, for an HD Console game many areas were jaggy and very PS2-Like, infact im fairly certain PS2 or even PSP could render this game to some degree very a 360 game (HD goodness) this was a big let down.
The Story - Normally in Tri-Ace games the story isn't quite epic, but there good... SO3 was enjoyable IN MY OPINION, and Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria was fantastic! but the story in IU is less then steller. basiclly cut chains so the moon doesn't hit the plannet. ... really... what the fuck?
The Voice Acting - Holy shit... those freaking twin kids and Kamachi was horrid, so were many of the games main bosses (Knights.) very poor acting quality for about half of the overall cast.
The Frame-Rate - its shit, whenever 3 or more characters on screen use a skill move the frame-rate goes to hell.
The Side-Quests - Not worth it, very boring.
The Item Creation System - Each Tri-Ace game shows some sort of innovation by creating something somehow somewhere, and when IU tries to take a shot at the target of Success, well... it misses the hit... infact it went into a river or something ir was so far off, there was no was of knowing your % rate and there was no way of leveling up creation skills at all meaning getting new materials is a wasted effort since some items the really good ones normally have an unknown yet random Success rate of becomin' created. we dont like this ladies and gentelmen not one bit.
The Final Battle's - I heard this game has a unforgiving barrage of boss battles, so wanted to see what all the fuss was about, and to be quite honest... i PWNDED all those sad excuse for bosses, one after another, infact only ONE of the bosses really gave me trouble and the trouble was low to say the least. very underwhelming here.
Glitchs - This game is full of them, long story short, it seems capall loves to take a delightful stroll in walls and rocks and mountains and anything where humans should not be.
Control of Characters - In the end, you only really ever control one character throughout the entire game, and thats the main character himself.
Chain Combo system - It was good but needed more work, certain chains were flawed and unable to connect when they should have.
The MENU SYSTEM - This was by FAR the worst issue that broke the game for me, the Menu system was utter crap, you have to FREEZE in a single area while the crooks smack you around in the backround while trying to heal or revive other memebers of your party, because of THIS huge ass flaw ALONE i won't be coming back to even try to deal with the Seraphic Gate extra dungeons.
The FINAL BOSS - This guy... well hes the "GOD" of this game so they say... and really... i don't know who made his design but i question there mental state at the time aswell as the sexual preferece, if you guys all thought Sephiroth was a Drag Queen wait till you get a load of ... Vero!
Really? Purple Dreadlocks? holy marching boots batman!
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Pros = = =
The Main Character - Near the middle / end-ish of disc 2 Capall becomes a badass out of know-where, it was cool because all his shouts and commands all become and focused on hatred and ebilness, he was pissed basiclly and it was the first time throughout the entire game where he could be deemed a badass very enjoyable part imo.
The Innovations - I liked the fact if you crit the crooks the "Crit" word turns Bright Green, like the color of the Xbox 360 Logo, really enjoyed that, also when chain combos works correctlly it becomes fun to see how high you can get them at, i think i maxed out at around 47 -50-ish range.
The Characters - Some of these characters are very memorable IMO, for example Edward reminds me of a Squall wannabe and i found Aya to be a charming character overall, and the main crook of the series has the most badass outfit i've ever seen in a JRPG next to sephiroths cloak.
The Graphics - The game was indeed very very unpolshied and bland, but there was moments were it shined like a star, for example the final area you vist "The Underwater Palace" has got the shiny "in the presence of a gawd" kinda feel to it that VP2 had on PS2, also the FINAL and i mean very last place is BEAUTIFUL it was like sex for the eyes! very pretty ending stage.
The Voice Acting - Even though around half of the Voice acting was BAD, there was regular Tri-Ace voice acters doing this title and they were quite good as always.
The Weapons - Almost every weapon has its own skin, meaning its not some generic sword that always stays there as its default! (Im looking at YOU dissidia.) this was indeed one of the better innovations of IU, made it feel very Elder Scrolls-ish from this aspect of view.
The Music - I have got to say, this soundtrack of IU is truly something beautiful, Tri-Ace always and more then likely will be one of the best when it comes to music... theres not much else to say other then it was fantastic.
The Sound Effects - Nostalgia anyone? Many sound effects were used from games like Star Ocean and Valkryie Profile... but this... is a good thing, brigs back de' ol' mem-or-riz.
The Animation - It reminded me of Valkyrie Profile 2: Silmeria, which is infact a good thing. its rather outdated now but it was sort of nice.
The Art-Style - This is BY FAR the only reason i kept playing the game, IU's Art-Style has one of the nicest art-styles i've EVER seen in awhile, its not to over-the-top like final fantasy were every dood looks more girly then the actual girls, IU's art-style is a mix between real-life looking and valkyrie profile, very well done Tri-Ace you made a solid art-style and juding from RoF it got better.
Tri-Ace could very well end up becoming the next SquareSoft if they team up with sega FULLY. Quote me on it!
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In Conclusion, from all the HD JRPG's i've play this gen, IU falls in Enchanted Arms area of quality, there was quite a few innovations but in the end its those very same innovations that ended up stabbing itself in the back, I honestly regret getting this game for $30 from gamestop new but now its $20 everywhere or slightly under (around $18?) ...
So with that said at a price point at $20 and under i reccomend it, every 360 owner who likes JRPG's should atleast give this one a try, it was, at the very least worth it, but its one of those games you most likely wont be playing again.
