Well the most recent game I have bought and played is called Rogue Galaxy. It is sort of a SciFi RPG made by Level-5 which you may know from the Dark Cloud Series and also from Dragon Quest VIII and various upcoming DS Final Fantasy Remakes. It was released originally only in Japan and Hong Kong on December the 8th 2005, but was brought to America then Europe and eventually to my country of Australia in 2007. Alot of changes were made to the actual game from the original Japan release, also known now as the Directors Cut version.
When I first saw this game in my local EB Games I picked it up and looked at the back cover and thought, “Na” because it just didn’t look any good, but I got it anyway since it was only $50. It has very good graphics, sort of a cartoony look to the scenes and characters, which if I remember is what the Dark Cloud series was also like. The story starts on a planet called Rosa where the main character, Jaster Rogue, dreams of exploring space. One day he was approached by 2 people, 1 being a robot, who mistook him for the legendary hunter Desert Claw, and asked him to accompany him onto their ship because their captain wanted to hire him. He is taken onto the pirate ship, The Dorgenark and leaves his planet Rosa with the pirates.
So basically you control the characters much like you do in the Dark Cloud series in the same sort of way, and you go off with the pirates to different planets, ultimately set on finding a legendary planet which is said to hold all the secrets of a highly advanced civilisation that has enough treasure to let anyone who obtains it, enough wealth to own the galaxy. The battle system is again alot like Dark Cloud, where you can have up to 3 characters in yopur party at one time and you control one of them and basically run around and attack enemies by pressing X button to attack. Also you can bring up a sub menu to use abilities and items. Asides from the main weapon you use, you also have a sub weapon, which in Jasters Case is a Gun, which is fired when the Square button is pressed. You can get all sorts of different guns including fire shooting guns, freeze guns, and lots more.
At the bottom of the screen displays your 3 characters and there status including Battle Guage (which is basically telling you how much more action you can take, when it is empty you cant do anything until it is full), the HP and MP details. You can set the different type of attack patterns the characters do, and also you can switch between characters at any time during battle, but only between the 3 in the battle.
Another feature in Rogue Galaxy is the Revelation Menu. It is basically like the Final Fantasy XII License Board in a way, but not exactly. Basically you use Revelation to teach your characters new abilities and skills for use in battle. They learn this by using certain items to fill in the spaces on the Revelation Menu and once a section is complete, that character will learn a new ability or skill.
All in all this is a great game with a great storyline and I am thoroughly enjoying it so far. If you weren’t such a big fan of the Dark Cloud series, then you may wanna be careful before buying this, maybe go rent it first, but otherwise it is a great game for RPG fans.
I give it a 8.5 out of 10 and waiting to see whats going to be next for Level-5.
Buy Rogue Galaxy:
PS2 game - Guide - Soundtrack
