ARGH Galaxy.
I had an avid interest in this game during its development. After all, Dragon Quest VIII was a breath of fresh air to the stagnation I've been feeling toward JRPGs over the years. I was one of the kids that grew up on Chrono Trigger and Suikoden and usually whenever I heard the phrase "Western RPG" I'd scoff. Now I'm feeling pretty stupid. Square was always hit or miss and as I figured, eating up Enix meant less Enix-like games. So Square-Enix is now even more hit and miss. Even the Suikoden series, one I held dear, is forever trying to flirt with popularity and killing off its cult fanbase, slowly, game-by-game. The Chrono series is practically dead. What is a waning JRPG fan to do? Well, go Western I suppose. And I have somewhat. Oblivion and Mass Effect are both amazing. But that's not the point.
Rogue Galaxy seemed a savior of sorts. Dark Clouds 1 and 2 weren't bad for their time periods and DQVIII, as I already said, was pretty amazing. Level 5 was looking like a sure bet.
And now I finally have it and Rogue Galaxy is not a bad game at all. It's quite well-made in fact. The thing is, every narrative, artistic, or game-play decision made rubs me in such a terrible way.
Maybe I'm just too irritable lately, but Rogue Galaxy doesn't seem to have a single original thread to it. You look at any aspect and you see something else. One: it looks like Dragon Quest VIII and in some ways plays like it. Two: The battle system is somewhere between Kingdom Hearts, FFXII and Star Ocean 2; three games I abhor. Three: Star Wars. Oh and the whole flying pirate ship thing? Skies of Arcadia. There you go. That's Rogue Galaxy.
They then try to add to this by introducing a bunch of small ideas that remain that: small ideas. There are a bunch of things you can do in this, but none of them are all that in-depth, or heck, even fun. If they maybe stuck to one or two aspects, like say hunting and item-creation, ironed out some of the kinks and removed some of the repetition involved, RG might be fun. It's not fun though. It's a damn chore.
The character designs are exceptionable. The thing is, the only part I'll remember about any character is that they looked cool. Even Zegram, the anti-hero type, and otherwise very cool-looking bad ass, puts me to sleep. These characters are not only cliches, but dulled cliches, through dialogue, etc. OH and Kisala? I'm getting tired of the Yuna rip-offs; please stop Japan. Now.
The sound is okay. The music is typical and does nothing for me. The voice acting is annoying only in the choices made. I'm sorry but I don't exactly want to listen to Eric Matthews jabber on for 40 odd hours. I'll go watch Boy Meets World for that. Oh and the fact that these characters mutter little "asides" in-game that are somehow supposed to be connected to the task at hand is blatantly annoying. One: They repeat one of three things every 10-15 seconds. Two: It is never helpful. Three: It's occasionally not even related either. The characters just sound stupid. All the time.
Oh yeah. "Hey, Jaster, you just got a power glove that can move heavy objects. Now we're in front a heavy object. Maybe those power gloves will move this heavy object." This was an actual (paraphrased) conversation in this game. Please leave the filler-dialogue to the 16 bit era. Seriously.
Is Rogue Galaxy a bad game? No. It's not. As much as it annoys me, I'm sure it is pretty amazing to someone else.
But I freakin' hate it.