Sands of Destruction review

[Rudo]

I mentioned to Silver Phoenix that I might play Sands of Destruction on DS while waiting for Lunar to come out (since it's been delayed). I told him I'd let him know if it's any good. However, I'm not sure I'll play it now. One of our reviewer at RPGFan just reviewed the game and it's underwhelming... Here's the link for Silver Phoenix or anybody else interested in the game.

http://www.rpgfan.com/reviews/Sands_of_ ... index.html

The game seemed full of potential... it sucks that it doesn't seem to deliver as much as we wanted.

[Silver Phoenix]

I had read some comments on GameFaqs previously from people who played the Japanese version, and most said it was just "ok." A very average rpg, which is a shame because it could have had potential. I liked what I saw on Amazon's video for the game listing, but did some research.

First of all, I'm really sick of the plethora of rpgs ending up on handhelds and they tend to be average at best. Maybe if developers would put some time into a new console based rpg their creativity may be heightened. I don't know anymore though, because JRPGs really seem to be sucking major balls this generation. It's like no one has the care to make something great, or they're just burned out.

I'm glad I didn't put anymore thought into the game after I had read some comments, but I wanted to see your take on it as well. I never play rpgs anymore, that's why I always anticipate something amazing that will hopefully satisfy my void. I guess I'll have to research rpgs on the PSP, but man I am not a fan of handhelds.

Thanks for the link, Rudo.

[Sonix]

From what I've heard, the story, characters and soundtrack (Yasunori Mitsuda himself) are great, but the combat is supposedly rather broken.
I haven't played it so I can't comment on it.

[whitedragon_nall]

I've considered picking this up once I empty out my DS backlog. I, like SP mentioned, am sick of all the mediocre handheld RPG's we get. For every 1 great JRPG, we get 5 mediocre ones.

[Rudo]

I hate to say this because I've always been a diehard JRPG fan but it looks to me like the genre is dying. The only saving grace for me is that I started to give a chance to western RPGs in the last decade (starting with Knights of the Old Republic) and I've found myself becoming more and more of a fan. A lot of the great RPGs on consoles nowadays are all coming from the west. Dragon Age, Mass Effect, Oblivion, Fallout 3, etc. During this time, we keep waiting for that great JRPG to knock our socks off and it's not happening. It's flop after flop. The only original JRPG I enjoyed recently was Suikoden Tierkreis on the DS but once again it's on a handheld and not on a console. Oh well, at least we'll have Lunar soon .

[Silver Phoenix]

For me it's really depressing. Years ago we had choices as far as multiple releases of good JRPGs, but now the only place we have a possibility is on a handheld. To me that is utter failure on the part of Japanese developers. There is nothing traditional anymore as far as console rpgs are concerned, and everything has become a horrible hybrid. I don't want traditional rpgs played out as an action game, or only one party member selectable while everyone else is run through the AI.

Not everything new has to change the formula because people need to be tested. I want to take my time and enjoy selecting what magic and attacks my party members use. Traditional rpgs can be just as exciting when you make the decisions, but it takes creativity to blend the old with the new without it being forced. I would hate to see Lunar become a combat fiesta with combo raping, and stupid gimmicks to make it "new." If it ain't broke don't fix it!

The only thing I'd want to see in Lunar is combo spells, or combo attacks using multiple party members for big bangs. It doesn't have to play out like Street Fighter. Magical School Lunar did this, but it could be done even better.

[whitedragon_nall]

I don't know why, but I can't seem to get into WRPG's. Oblivion lasted me about 10 hours and Fallout 3 looks uninteresting to me. Mass Effect seems fun, but the 3PS part of it turns me away. Dragon Age: Origins is the only exception.

The 2 best console JRPG's I played this gen are Demon's Souls and Valkyria Chronicles, but they are FAR from traditional. I wonder why there has been such a shift to handhelds for JP developers. And you would think if they decided to focus so much on handhelds, they would try do a decent job at it.

[Rudo]

Yeah, in terms of traditional turn-based JRPG, there hasn't been that much on consoles in recent years. I wasn't really fond of Blue Dragon but I did enjoy Lost Odyssey. It really had that classic turn-based JRPG feel. Eternal Sonata also wasn't bad but it had some issues.

Now, as far as why japanese developers are turning to handheld systems, well, there's a simple answer for that. Money!

When the new console systems came out, developers had to decide where to make their games. They all expected the PS3 to come out on top (like the PS1 and PS2) but the install base wasn't big enough to offset the HUGE cost of development on the system. On the other side you had the Xbox 360 but a lot of japanese developpers weren't sure about it because of the lack of success of the original Xbox in Japan as well as once again the high cost of development. As such, most companies (like Atlus) continued to develop RPGs for the PS2 because it was easier to sell a decent amount of games because of the huge installed base of the system.

Now, the same logic applies nowadays with the portable systems. There are more than 120 million users of the Nintendo DS. Making a game for the DS isn't that expensive because you don't need to have big orchestral music, big CG cutscenes, mind-blowing 3D environments, etc. You can make simple little RPGs with a relatively small team for a reasonable cost and sell a TON of copy because of the huge installed base of the system. Look no further than that. Companies are there to make money and the money right now can be made with portable games. It's unfortunate but that's the way it is.

[Silver Phoenix]

This year the PS3 will start seeing a better flow of JRPG releases in the U.S. that have seemingly come out of nowhere, but none of them are traditional. Even Final Fantasy XIII is not traditional.

I also miss rpgs that give you a large party instead of only a few characters. I really liked FFX's battle system because you could switch people in at any time even though there were only three members at any given time. I also like having a train of people like in the original Lunar games.

[whitedragon_nall]

I'll be picking up White Knight Chronicles next week, but I could tell from game play footage that it's not traditional.

I saw that there is possibly a new Xeno game being made by Monolith Soft for the Wii and Mistwalker just announced The Last Story, also for the Wii. Wii (lol) shall see if they shape up into anything decent.

[Silver Phoenix]

If you have Little Big Planet they'll be releasing a White Knight Chronicles pack so you can dress up as the knights and some other things I think.

[whitedragon_nall]

Yeah, I saw that. Definitely gonna pick pick those up too.

[Sonix]

This year the PS3 will start seeing a better flow of JRPG releases in the U.S. that have seemingly come out of nowhere, but none of them are traditional. Even Final Fantasy XIII is not traditional.

There is Atelier Rorona with quite a traditional turn-based battle system.

[StrawberryFlower]

This kind of reminds of how I have no problem with turned-based RPGs of this era and how my boyfriend hates those kinds of games. He likes RPGs, but they must be action-based. I think he's missing out on a lot games with nice stories, just because of their battle system.

He likes Final Fantasy X's story, but he hates the game because the turned-based battle system - so if wants to see again, he'll make me play it. I'm surprised I got him to play a little bit of Lunar... He hasn't played that or Chrono Cross since because he keeps saying how he doesn't feel like playing turned-based games.

It does seem like most of the RPGs during this time are all real-time . They're bit too hard and chaotic for me unless I can change the difficulty or play with someone else. : P Strangely, there's not much I'm looking forward to this year game-wise except Lunar:SSH and maybe FFXIII. I dunno... Sorry about the rant. :3

[whitedragon_nall]

No problem with ranting. We must not let turn-based RPG's die! Sometimes, I just wanna relax and think about my battle strategy without having to worry about zombies, werewolves, dragons, or any other kind of crazy monster attacking me.

[ShindoW]

This is at my Gamestop and I only recently heard about it. I really want to pick it up for the fact that it is a generic RPG because I miss traditional turn based JRPGs and I can't get into WRPGs either (Fallout 3 was the only one aside FFXI I was considering). However, I got Nostalgia and grew insantly bored with it when I was really hyped for it.. don't want to waste the money even though I will get SoD eventually, especially since the anime is coming stateside.