OFFICIAL BLOG #3: High Level of Polish

[AtlusAram]

OFFICIAL BLOG #3 : High Level of Polish

Guess who’s back with a brand new blog invention? No, not Vanilla Ice. He’s never coming back. It’s me, Clayton, Project Lead for Hexyz Force. The first two blogs were just breaking down the amazing amounts of story and value that you were going to get out of Hexyz Force’s two different storylines. Now I’m going to talk about the some of the amazing stuff that Hexyz Force does right as a game. This is what our PR Staff wanted to refer to as a “High Level of Polish”, but I thought referring to it like that would confuse our fans in Poland. (“What is this?” they would say. “There is nothing Polish about this game!”)

Glory to Hexyz Force, too!

Instead of ignoring the third dimension like most portable RPGs, Hexyz Force dives right into the stunning world of THREE-DEE, while still keeping the clean visuals and charm that 2D portraits have. Battles, exploration, and conversations will all take place in the polygonal realm.

In addition, there are some pretty sweet animated cutscenes included in the game to drive home the story at dramatic points. This is the kind of stuff that you see parts of in most portable RPGs, but you rarely see it all come together in one nice package.

When you look up “drama” in the dictionary, you’ll see this. (Yeah, you have a weird dictionary.)

Then there’s the combat. For the most part, an RPG veteran is going to find all the turn-based combat comforting and familiar, but because this is Sting, you can expect some twists. First of these little wrinkles is the Hexyz Charge. As I stated in a previous entry, there are three Divine Aspects. Most attacks in the game fall into one of those Aspects. If you chain the attack Aspects properly according which Aspect is strongest, or keep using the same Aspect, you’ll build up the Hexyz Charge gauge.

(Crimson -> Pearl -> Cerulean -> Crimson)

When you finally break the Charge, that attack will benefit from the power that has been built up to that point. The enemies can use this power, too, so know when to build, or you’ll get your butt killed.

Another wrinkle is the weapons themselves. As is the case in most Sting games, weapons are not permanent. In Hexyz Force, though, the Ragnafacts are indestructible, but all other weapons are not. These destructible weapons, known as Forcefacts, have to be made by your floating animal companion, because there are no “stores” in Hexyz Force. So, keep equipment durability and construction in mind when you’re slogging through dungeons.

Sharp visuals, animated cutscenes, a solid soundtrack, addictive combat, and (hopefully) well-written dialogue are all here in one marvelously refined UMD-shaped package. So, what are you waiting for? Pre-order it today! I don’t want to have to slash your tires.

Refined, but not THAT refined. I’m not making anyone any tea.

Hexyz Force arrives on May 25th, only on PSP®(PlayStation®Portable) system.

—by Clayton S. Chan, Project Lead

[Vyse of Arcadia]

I do like the somewhat chibified THREE-DEE visuals. They remind me of Grandia II.

[jeffx]

^They sure do.

I'm not too hot about the lack of stores or breakable weapons in standard RPGs.

[Manly Biceps]

Originally Posted by jeffx

^They sure do.

I'm not too hot about the lack of stores or breakable weapons in standard RPGs.

You can still use the busted weapons as components to fuse into stronger ones. It's not as bad as you're thinking. It's just different.

[Enzeru]

I always liked that Sting! games have bonuses that are for you AND the enemy. It increases the challenge in an undeniably fair way.

[Vyse of Arcadia]

One of my first RPGs was Final Fantasy Legend, AKA Makai Toushi SaGa. When I went on to play other RPGs my reaction was, "wait, the weapons don't break? Wtf!"

[videoman]

It also has a Jakenpo advantage thing swords are weak against spears axes are strong against spears for example!