A grand brush has stroked across the canvas of Square Enix’s latest release, Unlimited SaGa, introducing “sketch motion,” a new, off-beat way of delivering two-dimensional graphics in a three-dimensional space. The eclectic style of Unlimited SaGa’s graphics is a visual treat, inducing an almost meditative gameplay with penciled lines and soft watercolors.
But be careful not to fall asleep. Tomomi Kobayashi’s artwork (you go girl!) lures you in, while you are lulled by the fantastic musical world of forests and waterfalls created by Final Fantasy X composer Masashi Hamauzu.
Unlimited gives you seven unique characters to choose from, with each character playing out a different adventure, from Laura, a 30-year-old widowed pirate, to Wizard Josef’s 10-year-old granddaughter Judy, to Armic, a Chapa tribesman chosen to collect materials for the tribe’s rain ceremony.
Unlike standard role playing games (RPGs), character development relies mainly on the equipment and weapons used. In essence, characters do not level up, but their weapons, armor and accessories do. Though the concept sounds logical and exciting, the element of “durability” hinders a smooth equipment development. All weapons and most accessories have a “durability” rating which limits the life of the equipment. As in real life, the more a weapon is used, the less durable it will be. Eventually, when the weapon durability reaches zero, it cannot be used on a mission or in battle until it is taken to a blacksmith and fixed (which requires you to synthesize it with another piece of equipment or element, if you have it).
This complexity in gameplay is refreshing, but nonetheless arduous for the player.
Game movement is pretty much static and extremely boring (particularly in the first half-hour of play), like playing a board game by yourself. Outside of towns, characters are represented as unanimated game pieces that move along predetermined paths to traverse and accomplish missions. Think Chutes ‘n’ Ladders.
Skipping around the gameboard is no easy feat either. Since there is no main map to refer to during missions, the player can only guess where to go next. Along the way, events pop up: surprise attacks, booby traps, treasure chests, etc. The only animated portions of the game are in battles and certain cut scenes — which, because the animation is so rare, become very precious events and leave the player begging to run into monsters.
That gets annoying too, since the battle scenes are simple 3D animation — which gets old after a few hours of playing. Ultimately the desire to battle, for the sake of the visual stimulation, overpowers the desire to accomplish missions.
Inside each town, the layout is a sketched and hand-painted static illustration with only two to four establishments to visit. There is no real-time interaction with the townsfolk, and the player can only pop back and forth between establishments to perform a limited number of tasks like shopping, getting missions and information, checking equipment and going to the blacksmith to create or synthesize equipment.
Adding to the frustration is the “reel” system, which is used heavily throughout the game to enhance the element of luck and chance. Though the concept is good and is supposed to be an integral part of the game, it acts more like an interruption. Similar to a slot machine, the spinning reel contains various actions which can have positive or negative outcomes. The reel appears during battle after attacks have been assigned and helps determine how strong an attack can be. During attack, the reel can be put on “hold” to create combo attacks. The reel also appears throughout the game when players run into traps and locked doors while traversing — where a negative reel spin outcome can cause damage to the player and a positive reel spin outcome will help the player dodge traps and unlock doors.
SaGa fans (who played the last two SaGa’s) will greatly appreciate the change in visuals and the same non-mainstream style of game development and play. Everyone else should wait for Final Fantasy X-2 or XI. Oh, and be sure not to have anyone sitting with you while you play, since the two of you will be lulled fast asleep, leaving no one to take over the helm.
RATING: 1 1/2