A breath of fresh air when it comes to your every day RPG.
The main character, Calintz, is part of a mercenary group known as the "Tears of Blood". Tragically (gasp!), his past haunts him as the Yason (the enemy kingdom) did something terrible to him, which empowers him with this need for revenge. The game starts out with a simple enough mission to go and protect some Wizards as they meet and prepare for this "Ultimate attack" that will save the Humans from the Yason. Unfortunately, it goes bad and the attack back fires. This is where the story... sort of... begins. Together with your cadre of mercenary buddies, you complete quests, fight monsters and do pretty much the same thing as you would do in Final Fantasy, Star Ocean, or any of your other run-of-the-mill RPG's.
The thing that seperates Magna Carta from the rest is the use of a "timed" battle system. A wheel, presenting a combination of different button presses, forms when you wish to attack a target. Once the first button has been pressed, you need to time it correctly for the other button presses as the wheel turns at a reasonably fast rate - creating the desired effect. The bad part about it... well, if you mess up and miss a button or time it incorrectly, the attack fails and you lose your turn. This change from your ordinary turn-based fighting style lends to the uniqueness of Magna Carta, as its presented well, but requires practice - making the whole combat thing and defeating enemies more enjoyable as well as rewarding. Other fighting styles are default for certain characters, but many more must be learned and they can be mixed and matched to your character, since only 4 styles can be used in a battle - each with their own up's and down's. It's also important to note that battles are also run by "Leadership". Whether or not a character likes your main character, which is determined by socializing at save points, determines how fast that character can attack. Every character runs off this Leadership system, and as more enemies are present, the Leadership is lower. Think of it as morale. Your characters can attack more often if their morale is high and you are winning the battle, but if you are losing, you'll lose attack chances - enemies also use this Leadership system.
Magna Carta also makes use of this "Chi" system, where opposing "Chi" deal more damage to eachother, and complimentary Chi aid eachother. In battle, its crucial to plan ahead and determine what type of "Chi" each enemy possesses, as well as whether or not they are more or less vulnerable to your attacks. As a character attacks, whatever Chi he is strong with will deplete. If the Chi is gone, the character is unable to attack until the Chi regenerates.
The only thing that irks me about Magna Carta is that you control one character in battle, but 3 can be present. Magna Carta likes to use something similiar to a "paper-rock-scissor" effect - giving you the option to use whoever you want in battle, but sometimes requires you to switch to another character as the "Chi" depletes itself or an enemy just happens to be strong to the type of "Chi" your character uses. While it sounds impressively imaginative, whatever characters you aren't using just stand there and look pretty. This knowledge comes in handy, as you'll now be prepared to use every character, every chance you get since you will want to make sure he levels up his styles and isn't a wuss when he is really needed in a battle.
The visuals, simply put, are outstanding. While men and women are tough to distinguish from one another sometimes, don't let that discourage you in the least, as Magna Carta is full of vibrant and interesting local's and characters.
The music is also well done, and whether or not the intro song turns you off, it grows on you after awhile and you'll find yourself wanting to listen to it again. The background music and battle music is also well done, but isn't anything out of the norm when compared to other RPG's.
Magna Carta is a breath of fresh air to the RPG world, blending a myriad of different gameplay ideas into one impressive game. While it suffers from some tiny things, the game by itself is fun and compelling enough to keep you interested.