Mildly Chaotic
0~3 Entertainment brings JRPG crossover goodness Stateside, but will anyone actually care?
Published: June 21, 2008
It seems like every time I start talking about Chaos Wars, I end up commenting on the fact that it's part of a curious trend in Japan: the crossover RPG. While Idea Factory's take on things is nowhere near as "mainstream" (or at least as mainstream as you can get for a bunch of Japanese role-playing game characters), it nevertheless manages to cull together a handful of different characters from different games into something entirely now.
Unfortunately, that also means that the game's appeal is fairly limited to the roster of characters that have been assembled here, and give that the majority of them are from Idea Factory's own Neverland series of strategy RPGs, the pool of potential fans of the series isn't exactly Olympic-sized. That isn't to say the games can't be enjoyed on their own merits, but as a straight SRPG, the appeal isn't going to be anywhere near the same level as what fans of the games involved are going to get because, well, this is a game that's meant as fanservice.
Those games happen to be Shadow Hearts 2, Gungrave and, as mentioned before, a plethora of Idea Factory games. Something like two dozen characters total have been mixed in with the denizens of the game's crossover-centric world to varying levels of success. Again, familiarity with these characters and their games is a good thing, particularly because they tend to bring some of the pre-established rivalries with them, and they'll echo a little more strongly if you've experienced them in the past. As a fanservice offering, though, the meat of the game's interactions are nice and solid, playing up personalities to great effect.
It helps that the actual game itself isn't half bad either. Idea Factory has been churning out strategy RPGs for what seems like ages now, and though Chaos Wars doesn't exactly break the mold in how it executes most of its ideas, the light relaxation of normal SRPG trappings like a grid-based movement system helps give the game something of a more free-flowing feel.
The idea is that characters are free to move around anywhere they want within the battle areas until they use a skill, be it to attack, cast a spell, support or what have you. The more distance they cover, the more the Wait Time gauge is built up, meaning they get shoved farther back in the turn order, thus delaying when they can make another move. It's an interesting system, and because the normal limits of movement are stripped out, the game becomes even more about tag-teaming enemies than before.
That too is a good thing, because just having characters near each other opens the door to letting other teammates jump their normal place in line and deliver a very specific attack that, in a very welcome touch, you can choose. There are a few provisos, but in most cases if the target is in range for an extra attack, it's usually valid. This is a good thing, because in Chaos Wars, the characters don't really level up in the traditional sense of bagging experience and then hitting a new level and collecting the requisite HP or Attack bonuses.
Instead, levels are gained on the fly depending on the kind of attack used. Thump on enemies with physical attacks until they're nothing but dust and you'll notice they grow into more of brawler. Cast spells from afar and magic abilities will go up. It's not always clear how these things happen, which is a shame, but the leveling aspect, like the more open movement, are welcome changes to the normal SRPG template.
Unfortunately, that also means that the game's appeal is fairly limited to the roster of characters that have been assembled here, and give that the majority of them are from Idea Factory's own Neverland series of strategy RPGs, the pool of potential fans of the series isn't exactly Olympic-sized. That isn't to say the games can't be enjoyed on their own merits, but as a straight SRPG, the appeal isn't going to be anywhere near the same level as what fans of the games involved are going to get because, well, this is a game that's meant as fanservice.
Those games happen to be Shadow Hearts 2, Gungrave and, as mentioned before, a plethora of Idea Factory games. Something like two dozen characters total have been mixed in with the denizens of the game's crossover-centric world to varying levels of success. Again, familiarity with these characters and their games is a good thing, particularly because they tend to bring some of the pre-established rivalries with them, and they'll echo a little more strongly if you've experienced them in the past. As a fanservice offering, though, the meat of the game's interactions are nice and solid, playing up personalities to great effect.
It helps that the actual game itself isn't half bad either. Idea Factory has been churning out strategy RPGs for what seems like ages now, and though Chaos Wars doesn't exactly break the mold in how it executes most of its ideas, the light relaxation of normal SRPG trappings like a grid-based movement system helps give the game something of a more free-flowing feel.
The idea is that characters are free to move around anywhere they want within the battle areas until they use a skill, be it to attack, cast a spell, support or what have you. The more distance they cover, the more the Wait Time gauge is built up, meaning they get shoved farther back in the turn order, thus delaying when they can make another move. It's an interesting system, and because the normal limits of movement are stripped out, the game becomes even more about tag-teaming enemies than before.
That too is a good thing, because just having characters near each other opens the door to letting other teammates jump their normal place in line and deliver a very specific attack that, in a very welcome touch, you can choose. There are a few provisos, but in most cases if the target is in range for an extra attack, it's usually valid. This is a good thing, because in Chaos Wars, the characters don't really level up in the traditional sense of bagging experience and then hitting a new level and collecting the requisite HP or Attack bonuses.
Instead, levels are gained on the fly depending on the kind of attack used. Thump on enemies with physical attacks until they're nothing but dust and you'll notice they grow into more of brawler. Cast spells from afar and magic abilities will go up. It's not always clear how these things happen, which is a shame, but the leveling aspect, like the more open movement, are welcome changes to the normal SRPG template.
