Magna Carta 2 is an underrated RPG for the Xbox 360.
The story. There is a civil war between the Northern Forces and Southern Forces. Of course, other sinister plots are developing along side of this, and they slowly unravel as you play the game. The main character, Juto, is an amnesiac who is attempting to regain his memories as he's thrust into the middle of this struggle. The story overall is good, with enough plot twists to keep it interesting and keep you wanting to see what happens next. The best part of the storytelling is the character interaction. The characters all have varied personalities and are well developed and unique. No one feels bland, they all are vividly created and you will find yourself caring about them as the game goes on. The developers did a good job creating the lore of the world, and it shows. The various races and NPCs you encounter are all unique. You'll learn alot about the world of Magna Carta 2 as you play, but you need to talk to everyone to get the most out of it.
A great aspect of this game is the battle system. It's a lot of fun. You control a 3 character party and you fight enemies in real-time, except for when you want to select a skill or an item to use, the game pauses and lets you do so. Unleashing the skill is in real-time though. Normal attacks are mapped to the A button, Skills are mapped to the X button, and special Signature Techniques to the B button. After a certain amount of attacks your character needs to cool down or they will "Overheat", causing you to not be able to do anything for a short period of time. You have to keep an eye on this to succeed in the game. Along with your basic attacks and skills you can "Chain Link" 2 characters skills together to do much more damage then they could do alone. This will prove valuable in boss battles, of which there are plenty. Your teammates AI is pretty good too, they will use skills when necessary and the healers will stay back and heal you, etc. Though occasionally they would stand there and just watch me fight without helping, which was a minor annoyance. You can also freely switch between the 3 characters and choose who you want to control, giving you some freedom there. The system overall is a lot of fun and you will find yourself attacking everything that moves in the game just to use the battle system.
As for the depth of this game there is quite a bit of it. You can enhance every weapon (of which there are plenty) with special "Kamonds", which are basically magic infused gems. They will add different attributes to your weapons such as Defense +2, Attack +4, etc. There are also skill trees that you use to gain new skills as you level up and gain the skill points needed to unlock them. The skill trees are divided into 2 parts, one for each type of weapon the character can use. Each character can use 2 weapon types, and have varying skills that pertain to each type. It's your choice which of the 2 type of weapons you want to use and develop the skills for. The equipment section is nice too, you get a main weapon, a form of armor, and 2 accessories that bolster your attributes. The equipment is plenty and you'll come across it for sale, hidden in treasure chests, after you defeat bosses, etc. It's fun upgrading your characters using these different techniques.
The quests are also an important part of the game, and there are a lot of them. You will gain gold (SID as it's called in this game), experience points, and items depending on the quest. Quests can be found all over the place as you explore each area, so it's important to explore the whole area and talk to everyone you can.
The sound is good, at times orchestral, at times groovy, at times ambient. The music during the first hour or 2 of the game on Highwind Island Shore is one of the standouts to me. All of the music fits well and immerses you into the game, which is the best thing that can be said about a soundtrack. It just does the job. The voice acting is good too, nothing to complain about. The characters do a good job of showing emotion when necessary. The graphics are beautiful, it's a very pretty game. All the different areas of the world look cool and the character designs are great, with a cool touch that each weapon in the game looks different and equally cool as your character uses it in the field.
Overall I'd definitely recommend this game to anyone who is a fan of RPGs. It's a fun game and pretty underrated by Gamespot.