Gaminez

I think i will do a game review today, the clone of monster hunter!! Lord of Arcana, i did hold high hopes for the game since it was published by Square Enix and screenshots of it does looks pretty cool. The truth after you play the game, it does not looks as great as it should have been. I will say it here, i did not complete the game given the ridiculous difficulty spike but i will still review it (played most of the game probably left the last chapter). Released on the psp, january 2011.

My rating: 6.8/10
Gamespot rating: 4.5/10
Estimated playtime: 10+ hours

Goods: Decent gameplay, no limit to crafting, satisfying boss fights, equipments does looks cooler as your level roses, after-game features

Bads: Poor storytelling, limited choices of weapons, small variety of monsters, uneven difficulty throughout, grinding is almost impossible
-Starting with the good parts as usual. Decent gameplay, its actually kind of fun once you grasp the idea of how this game works. Similar to monster hunter, you need to adapt to monsters attack patterns. Using that to your advantage, you can then do a quick counter attack like right after a roll or backstep. Gameplay's actually require skill and strategy unlike some games that you can just keep attacking them and they will always get knock back for good.

-No limit to crafting. There are millions of crafting ingredients, that is if you even bother to find them all. You can craft potions and many other stuff, which kind of made money felt useless in the game. Weapon craft, armor craft, orb craft etc. You can even craft cards, which can be real useful during tough battles.

-Satisfying boss fights. Boss fights arent easy shit, every single one of them put up a challenge. Either they have tanking ass hp or moves that are hard to block and still do serious damage. Worst case, BOTH!! Good luck on that~
-Equipment that looks cool shit. There is indeed cool shit equipment, only if you are above level 35 or so. Thats probably how action games works, unlike some that still gives you shit when your level 70!!!(If you know what i mean, white knight chronicles origin). Armor and weapons gets progressively nicer as you level faster, that of course requires the necessary ingredients as well.

-After game features. I did not not complete the game but i knew about it. Its nothing extraordinary, you get to fight more OP bosses thats all. Bosses that are even more OP than the story bosses, you may even take up to 2 hours just trying to take 1 of them down.
*Theres co-op multiplayer as well if you didnt know.
-The bad parts of the game. Poor storytelling, no cutscenes or whatever in between. Probably just the starting when they told you were once the strongest with all the arcanas powers. You lose your powers for some reason and in order to regain them, you have to destroy the 7 arcanas. Something related to world salvation, as you destroy the arcanas somehow your rescuing the world from monsters as well.

-Limited choices of weapons. There are only 5 weapon classes for you to choose, 4 of which are all melee and common. I am sure the developers could think of more than that, probably they are just being lazy. I will just list a few of what i wish to see, dual katanas/gauntlets/scythe etc. I spend less than a minute thinking of these weapon types, what are your excuses developers~

-Small variety of monsters. There are barely any changes in monsters despite the change in stages. Its only when i pass a few stages, then appears 1 new type of monster. 1 more type of monster, u know how stingy can this game get with monsters!!
-Uneven difficulty throughout. Probably the sole reason why i even quit the game. Game starts off okay, then comes the 3rd boss, bahamut to ruin the fun for you as he is fucking tough. Okay so i thought the following bosses would be harder, and it turns out to be easier maybe even too easy. Okay so i am near to end of the story, havent even fight the boss and i am already being pawned by cheap ass monsters on the way. 4-5 of them spitting fireballs at your face continuously when you are one end away from them. You even recieved chip damage while blocking, and to make things worse they even have tanking hp!!!

-Grinding is almost impossible. Normal mobs exp are pathetic and will probably just help you level once. Boss exp is just okay but a load of time is needed to kill it, sometimes its just not worth the time at all.
I am sure there are better similar types of games than this. Perhaps just the outlook design that looks really outstanding over the rest. There is a sequel to this game, 'Lord of Apocalypse' only in japanese for now. I will wait for the english version, hope it dont disappoints me!

Have a nice day!