Does Magna Carta's tedium ever end?

[cj iwakura]

Seriously. I've owned this game since it came out. I can barely stomach to play it for more than an hour at a time.


And now for the past four areas, it's been constant back-and-forth with Calintz's and Reith's party.


Go through one huge area with Calintz, reach a cliffhanger, then go back and do the same thing with Reith's group.

Take that and factor in the frustrating battle system, time-consuming travel that practically forces you to walk through huge maps so you don't get blindsided, and going through the same areas over and over again, and I'm starting to wonder why I'm wasting my time trying to finish this train wreck.

[Neveryll]

Ouch! I have that game somewhere in my stack of "To be played when I get around to it" games... Its sounds like this one would be a contender for worst combat next to Beyond the Beyond back on the PSOne. I hated how I couldn't walk more than three steps before I had to fight another battle...

Thanks for the heads up.

/moves the game lower on his to be played list....

[cj iwakura]

I've since given it some more time, and it's a shame, because the game's story is pretty good, and the general visual/audio design is way above average. The in-game models can actually convey different expressions that look genuine, and some of the environments are beautiful.

It's just a shame it's weighed down by tedious gameplay and unending repetition.

[TheLD]

What is this game about? I've been looking into some of the smaller PS2 RPGs and my local game store has one in like mint condition for about $15. The artwork seems like serious manga (which I'm a fan of, being graphic novel person as well as an anime fan) and being a history buff the title is appealing to me to. But whenever I ask people about it they always tell me that they too haven't gotten around to it yet. Is it really that tedious?

[Elizabeth]

I played this game for two hours and never touched it again. Worse. Combat. Ever.

[Saishu]

I stopped playing it after the very first tutorial battle. I just couldn't do it, and the voice acting was pretty bad.

[Delition]

It's good to see that I'm not the only one who can't get past a few hours of this game. I didn't think it was terrible; I just can't get into it, just like with Lunar 2. I didn't think either one was bad, I just can't get past a few hours of each.

[anbu]

hope they change the battle system with the next game coming soon. love the character design and all but the battle system is something else.

is stella deus the same thing, interms of gameplay... is it as bad as this or much better, cause i like how that game looks too but im worried about the gameplay. i wont be trick twice. lol. damn that nice cover art~

[DamageCity]

And now for the past four areas, it's been constant back-and-forth with Calintz's and Reith's party.


Go through one huge area with Calintz, reach a cliffhanger, then go back and do the same thing with Reith's group.



That's where I got to when I quit. I like the big breasted characters but everything else about this game blows.

[SomethingDifferent]

I've since given it some more time, and it's a shame, because the game's story is pretty good, and the general visual/audio design is way above average. The in-game models can actually convey different expressions that look genuine, and some of the environments are beautiful.

It's just a shame it's weighed down by tedious gameplay and unending repetition.

SO. TRUE. The story and soundtrack are up there with the best on the PS2, and the graphic style is really nice, but talk about repetition and lack of freedom to do pretty much anything. Can't escape battles 90% of the time, can't run instead of walk without being ambushed by invisible enemies, can't do anything in battle besides attack (and the style system could have been so awesome had it been more varied and used only as part of the battle structure...)

I still love the game for its good parts, but god... gameplay-wise, this is the worst RPG I've ever played along with Suikoden III. Funny thing is, no one complains about Suikoden III's just as awful gameplay while Magna Carta gets all the #### from players. Oh well.


is stella deus the same thing, interms of gameplay... is it as bad as this or much better, cause i like how that game looks too but im worried about the gameplay. i wont be trick twice. lol. damn that nice cover art~

No, it's not as bad. Not even close.
Think as Stella Deus as being that SRPG that brings absolutely NOTHING even slightly new to the battles, but doesn't have any outstanding flaws either (voice acting aside). I highly recommend it if you're into the genre.

[anbu]

No, it's not as bad. Not even close.
Think as Stella Deus as being that SRPG that brings absolutely NOTHING even slightly new to the battles, but doesn't have any outstanding flaws either (voice acting aside). I highly recommend it if you're into the genre.

really?! cuz i hear mostly negative stuff about it. is it like hoshigami for the ps1 then. cuz if it is, its a shame. i really really hate that game.

so can you compare the gameplay with final fantasy tactics on the ps1??? since it doesnt bring new to the table.

i really like the anime look to it of stella deus but im afraid i might get burn by it. atlus games are hit or miss but mostly hit though.

i was gonna buy that game but i was afraid of the review, they say you need to do alot of grinding. lol.

[SomethingDifferent]

really?! cuz i hear mostly negative stuff about it. is it like hoshigami for the ps1 then. cuz if it is, its a shame. i really really hate that game.

so can you compare the gameplay with final fantasy tactics on the ps1??? since it doesnt bring new to the table.

I really don't know where you've seen such bad reviews about it, but believe me, it's a solid SRPG with a fantastic story and a beautiful world you won't want to miss out. Gameplay reminds me of FFT more than Hoshigami (as in: no permadeath crap, manages to actually be fun). The only downside to it is the horrendous voice acting, but voices can be turned off in the options menu by setting the volume to 0 so it isn't something worth complaining about. Oh, and the soundtrack is beautiful.

If you want a nice review that pretty much sums up my thoughts on the game, check the IGN one. It's one of the most accurate reviews I've ever read, or at least one I mostly agree with.

[anbu]

thanks for the advice.

i just bid for this game. hope i get it.

i cant seem to find a topic specifically for these. sorry for the off-topic.

[TheLD]

Stella Deus pretty much cleaned up all the crap Hoshigami had in it and made it what Hoshigami was supposed to be and being made by the same developer that makes sense. Though its got problems of its own (like some crappy voicing), but its a great game that I think any hardcore SRPG fan should try out.

...I should just make a Stella Deus topic since I talk about it so much.

Back to Magna Carta, I guess I'll pick it up one day solely for collection reasons, but that'll be far off when I actually have money in my pockets again!

[cj iwakura]

I've since beaten Magna Carta.

Funny, the last few hours went smoother than anything else in the whole game, because Calintz's final style destroys everything in one move.


The story was good to the end, and so was the ending.

Will I ever play it again? Highly unlikely.


(And I found Suikoden III's combat fun; this was just evil)

[SomethingDifferent]

(And I found Suikoden III's combat fun; this was just evil)

Suikoden III's combat is passable. It has nothing to do with the series' usual battle system, moves far too slowly, sometimes auto-battle doesn't work and I'll never unterstand why the **** the characters were assigned commands in pairs, but it's at least bearable. The real problem is the exploration.

I mean, there are about ten dungeons in the game and it's 50 hours long... which means there's LOADS AND LOADS of backtracking all the time. Especially since you can't skip locations in the world map until you get Viki. I lost count of how many times I had to do the Karaya Village > Plain Amur > Brass Castle > Zexen Forest > Vinay Del Zexay course, but I'm pretty damn sure it was more than a dozen. A freaking DOZEN. Add in the fact that toe first half of the game is played by three different main characters and you get to play the same (repetitive) game three times.

Also, the dungeons were ridiculously bland, overly drawn out collections of straight lines. There were almost no places to get items and few to no branching paths. And the characters, except for Chris, ran too slowly. >__>

Besides, everything in the game was as slow as it could possibly be. Even the dialogue boxes took too long to appear, for christ's sake. Just like Magna Carta, one of the game's biggest flaws is the slowness of everything. But in Magna Carta it's caused by a stupid design decision, while in Suikoden III it's more of a technical issue. Not that it's any less infuriating because of that, though.

[anbu]

short update: i won the bid for $34.99. is that worth the game stella deus? hopefully. this ebay bid stuff is kinda addicting and after registering here, i already bought 4 atlus games. wow. lol.

sorry for off topic again. since theres no stella deus.

on topic, i might play this game again. i stop playing around the cave thing, after beating that dinosaur-like of monster.

[Emilio Morales]

I have the game but I don't have time to play it. I must admit, though that Magna Carta doesn't attract me as other RPGs, I have to finish like 4 or 5 games and Magna Carta is one of them. To my opinion, the game is good, but the only thing is that I feel it a little bit slow and I spend a lot of time trying to get used to the battle system until I finally mastered it. The issue is, since I haven't played it since 6 month ago (I guess is even more time) I lost the touch with the battle system. >_<