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Alyssa's TRINITY: Souls of Zill O'll Review
TRINITY: Souls of Zill O'll
Not that there's much to expect, but please at least try.
Ahh, Omega Force... the land of Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi, and anything else that plays exactly like the second Dynasty Warriors (for those not in the know, the first Dynasty Warriors was a fighting game not unlike Street Fighter - the second Dynasty Warriors was when they turned you into a one man army). Yeah, they've definitely got their own style that they're not at all willing to change... until now, with this game known as Trinity: Souls Of Zill O'll... the first Zill O'll game to be released in English. Unfortunately, given the review scores, perhaps it was better off staying in Japan? Actually, it's better off back in the development stages, just to refine a decent amount of content. Far from a horrible game, but I wouldn't consider purchasing this over Dragon Age 2 or even Ar Tonelico Qoga. To put it bluntly, this game is mediocre.
However, the game would actually rise above mediocrity, had its story been worked on! It begins with a prophecy that the emperor will be slain by his grandson, so the emperor sends his armies out to kill his sons and daughters... but just as they kill the last one, the mother and two sons escape. Many years later, we turn to the game's hero, Areus, half elf with slicked back orange hair (sheesh, cut back on the hair gel a bit), who fights at an arena, but is advised to expand beyond it, so he joins the Adventurer's Guild, a band of adventurers who protect people from monsters. Along the way, he meets up with the other two people on the cover - Dagda, the giant with the golden heart; and Selene, the chick who is at least not just a pair of tits with legs (in that she can, umm, do an adequate job of defending herself, at least), who is on a small but big quest of her own. Eventually, the three join the Dyneskal Mercenary gang in an effort to get closer to the emperor, so Areus can get his revenge...
...and from there on, the rest of the story pretty much tells itself. It never really twists or breaks the fourth wall in any way - it's completely played straight! They try to bring in xenophobia with elves hating humans and everyone hating half elves, and even one of the antagonists tries to convince Areus's friend and commander to turn against him purely based on race, but Namco had already beaten Omega Force to the punch, and suffice it to say, Namco did a far, far better job... probably because Tales Of Symphonia's story is actually interesting! Seriously, I think these writers just rushed out a story so that it could be considered a full game. The execution does not make up for it for two reasons - 1) Most of the time, it opts for a visual novel style with character portraits and text, but with no voices and long winded text... not to sound like I have ADD (because I don't), but having to mash on the X button to get the text to move along isn't exactly my idea of compelling storytelling, and it's due to *drum roll* 2) The writing feels really... awkward, like they just pieced it together at the last minute. Reading the visual novel segments or listening to the scenes that have voices often makes me wish I could have a word with their English teachers. There is nothing snappy or memorable or even interesting; instead, it's writing that tries to appeal to everybody when it appeals to nobody, done by Japanese people who are still trying to come to terms with the English language. These two reasons perfectly sum up why this game's story fails so miserably, especially in conjunction with its predictable content.
No need to worry, the gameplay should save this game... sort of. The game is usually considered an action RPG by reviewers, so let's start with towns... wait, that's this, I just select a town and then select which place I want to enter through a series of menus? Well, you can still talk to townspeople... or rather, listen to them, as most of them don't actually talk to Areus. Oh well, at least you can buy equipment, spells and items. Oh, and receive quests from the Adventurer's Guild building. This is like the bare minimum, and by 2011, I'd at least expect something more interesting than some trivia about the world this game takes place in!
Then again, at its core, Souls Of Zill O'll is a dungeon crawler, and as such, expect to go through dungeons to kill monsters, gather treasure, and sometimes escort people somewhere within said dungeons. The dungeons themselves are linear and standard in design, so you don't have to go out of your way to find the right way only to be lost... well, not completely linear, as there are some alternating paths (though I do mean SOME) that can lead you to treasure and/or more enemies. There are maybe a couple of puzzles to solve in the entire game (with one needing to be done over and over again - but they occur later in the game), but beyond that, it's all about slaying enemies and finding treasure.
As for the actual combat, it's pretty simple. You have three attack buttons and a jump button. Now, where you may be expecting something akin to Dynasty Warriors or perhaps Ninja Gaiden, you actually get something even simpler than Enslaved. Alongside a basic melee combo, you have three special attacks, and eventually, you'll gain two additional Souls with four attacks of their own (though aside from the first three attacks for their initial Souls, you must buy the attacks). To make matters a little more complicated, you can only have three attacks at a time... well, technically, six, but it's more like 'you can only have two sets of three' than having six attacks. On top of that, each Soul has three passive skills each, like "5% less damage from certain attacks", or something along those lines. Surprisingly, it's very easy to get the hang of it all, as all that's needed is the press of a button to initiate the attack, and some experimentation to see what combo works best for you and the situation. Oh, and an equalizer? Why not? Just fill up that bar near the character portraits by attacking, and when you're in deep shit, just press R1 and L1 at once, and there you go. Overall, the combat engine seems complicated, but it's rather simple, and yet it's a reasonably well done system because it simplifies what could've been fairly complicated, and it's not a nuisance or anything, either. The best way to put it is this - it's good.
However, that's all you do. You enter the Adventurer's Guild, accept a quest, do as the quest says, and kill the boss that spawns at the end of each quest. I'm not joking - that's it! But hey, it's worked before, with the most recent case being Enslaved. However, Enslaved wasn't a 30-50 long game with a poor story; it was a 6-10 hour long game with a fantastic story and an engaging combat engine that never wore out its welcome. With Souls Of Zill O'll, though, it wears out its welcome... and then something happens... and then its welcome is worn out again.
So what gives the game its wings? Well, the same thing that gives MMOs their wings outside of whatever social element they may have - that "just one more quest" flavor, where you keep promising yourself you'd do one more quest and then study for your finals... and you never get around to studying for your finals because, even though the quests are repetitious, you just can't help but to keep doing them when you get new ones (and with that, I say "shame on you" because you ought to be studying, mister), mostly because they're so simple in concept.
Of course, that's if you get past the first 10 hours of the game... see, the game saw it fit to have what is essentially a 10 hour long tutorial to ease you into the game. Although it's not as bad as Final Fantasy XIII's 16 hour long tutorial on an even simpler battle system, it's still an annoyance because 10 hours of dominating every monster you come across with the same 3 or 4 techniques each of your characters start out with is just boring! After a while, you'll be able to buy more attacks, spells, and even gain new Souls, allowing you to gain even more attacks, and also allowing you to mix and match Souls! But I don't expect too many people to get to the second chapter.. thanks boredom.
The graphics are a mixed bag. The good news is that, for the most part, it is at least aesthetically pleasing, and there are a few interesting monster designs here and there. Color usage isn't half bad, either, as at least the game looks colorful without overdoing it. The bad news is that the textures seem like they were ripped out of a PS2 game, rather than a PS3 game. It just has that dated look that, although it never takes you out of the game, always ends up bugging you a little because you expect something better. Oh, and Omega Force, please fire the artist who thought of applying some ugly filter over most of the game. Seriously, there's this pale, mossy filter that's always in the way, coming in and out at varying opacities... it looks *bleep*ing ugly, and probably contributes to the game's dated look.
Like the graphics, the audio is a mixed bag. The soundtrack is fantastic. There is not a single tune that I would want to destroy; actually, there is not a single tune that I can get out of my head. It tries its best to give the story the correct mood for the setting, whether its a sombre tune for a sad moment, or an epic tune for a boss fight. I just wish that much care and attention was put into the voice acting, because it always finds a way to put me in and out of the story. Like, it's already in the wrong for being badly written, but to add insult to injury, the voice cast act like they just got the script fresh out of the mail and had to quickly record their dialogue because Omega Force procrastinated until the last minute. As a result, the voice acting feels forced, monotone, and oftentimes, oddly paced, with pauses where they shouldn't be! No way is this realistic, folks; it's just shoddy voice direction doing its job.
Trinity: Souls Of Zill O'll is the sort of game that makes mistakes as a reward for doing good things. The combat is simple yet sweet, but it takes too long before it becomes challenging, and is pretty much all you do throughout the game. The graphics look fine from an artistic standpoint with the technicality of a PS2 game, not to mention that ugly filter. The soundtrack is fantastic, but the voice acting ranges from mediocre to horrible. The story is poorly written, badly told and very predictable, but it's so easy to ignore in amongst all the questing you'll be doing. What it all comes down to is how much importance you place on story, and how easily addicted you are to a simple game. Again, it's mediocre; not bad, not good, just average.
Not that there's much to expect, but please at least try.
Ahh, Omega Force... the land of Dynasty Warriors, Samurai Warriors, Warriors Orochi, and anything else that plays exactly like the second Dynasty Warriors (for those not in the know, the first Dynasty Warriors was a fighting game not unlike Street Fighter - the second Dynasty Warriors was when they turned you into a one man army). Yeah, they've definitely got their own style that they're not at all willing to change... until now, with this game known as Trinity: Souls Of Zill O'll... the first Zill O'll game to be released in English. Unfortunately, given the review scores, perhaps it was better off staying in Japan? Actually, it's better off back in the development stages, just to refine a decent amount of content. Far from a horrible game, but I wouldn't consider purchasing this over Dragon Age 2 or even Ar Tonelico Qoga. To put it bluntly, this game is mediocre.
However, the game would actually rise above mediocrity, had its story been worked on! It begins with a prophecy that the emperor will be slain by his grandson, so the emperor sends his armies out to kill his sons and daughters... but just as they kill the last one, the mother and two sons escape. Many years later, we turn to the game's hero, Areus, half elf with slicked back orange hair (sheesh, cut back on the hair gel a bit), who fights at an arena, but is advised to expand beyond it, so he joins the Adventurer's Guild, a band of adventurers who protect people from monsters. Along the way, he meets up with the other two people on the cover - Dagda, the giant with the golden heart; and Selene, the chick who is at least not just a pair of tits with legs (in that she can, umm, do an adequate job of defending herself, at least), who is on a small but big quest of her own. Eventually, the three join the Dyneskal Mercenary gang in an effort to get closer to the emperor, so Areus can get his revenge...
...and from there on, the rest of the story pretty much tells itself. It never really twists or breaks the fourth wall in any way - it's completely played straight! They try to bring in xenophobia with elves hating humans and everyone hating half elves, and even one of the antagonists tries to convince Areus's friend and commander to turn against him purely based on race, but Namco had already beaten Omega Force to the punch, and suffice it to say, Namco did a far, far better job... probably because Tales Of Symphonia's story is actually interesting! Seriously, I think these writers just rushed out a story so that it could be considered a full game. The execution does not make up for it for two reasons - 1) Most of the time, it opts for a visual novel style with character portraits and text, but with no voices and long winded text... not to sound like I have ADD (because I don't), but having to mash on the X button to get the text to move along isn't exactly my idea of compelling storytelling, and it's due to *drum roll* 2) The writing feels really... awkward, like they just pieced it together at the last minute. Reading the visual novel segments or listening to the scenes that have voices often makes me wish I could have a word with their English teachers. There is nothing snappy or memorable or even interesting; instead, it's writing that tries to appeal to everybody when it appeals to nobody, done by Japanese people who are still trying to come to terms with the English language. These two reasons perfectly sum up why this game's story fails so miserably, especially in conjunction with its predictable content.
No need to worry, the gameplay should save this game... sort of. The game is usually considered an action RPG by reviewers, so let's start with towns... wait, that's this, I just select a town and then select which place I want to enter through a series of menus? Well, you can still talk to townspeople... or rather, listen to them, as most of them don't actually talk to Areus. Oh well, at least you can buy equipment, spells and items. Oh, and receive quests from the Adventurer's Guild building. This is like the bare minimum, and by 2011, I'd at least expect something more interesting than some trivia about the world this game takes place in!
Then again, at its core, Souls Of Zill O'll is a dungeon crawler, and as such, expect to go through dungeons to kill monsters, gather treasure, and sometimes escort people somewhere within said dungeons. The dungeons themselves are linear and standard in design, so you don't have to go out of your way to find the right way only to be lost... well, not completely linear, as there are some alternating paths (though I do mean SOME) that can lead you to treasure and/or more enemies. There are maybe a couple of puzzles to solve in the entire game (with one needing to be done over and over again - but they occur later in the game), but beyond that, it's all about slaying enemies and finding treasure.
As for the actual combat, it's pretty simple. You have three attack buttons and a jump button. Now, where you may be expecting something akin to Dynasty Warriors or perhaps Ninja Gaiden, you actually get something even simpler than Enslaved. Alongside a basic melee combo, you have three special attacks, and eventually, you'll gain two additional Souls with four attacks of their own (though aside from the first three attacks for their initial Souls, you must buy the attacks). To make matters a little more complicated, you can only have three attacks at a time... well, technically, six, but it's more like 'you can only have two sets of three' than having six attacks. On top of that, each Soul has three passive skills each, like "5% less damage from certain attacks", or something along those lines. Surprisingly, it's very easy to get the hang of it all, as all that's needed is the press of a button to initiate the attack, and some experimentation to see what combo works best for you and the situation. Oh, and an equalizer? Why not? Just fill up that bar near the character portraits by attacking, and when you're in deep shit, just press R1 and L1 at once, and there you go. Overall, the combat engine seems complicated, but it's rather simple, and yet it's a reasonably well done system because it simplifies what could've been fairly complicated, and it's not a nuisance or anything, either. The best way to put it is this - it's good.
However, that's all you do. You enter the Adventurer's Guild, accept a quest, do as the quest says, and kill the boss that spawns at the end of each quest. I'm not joking - that's it! But hey, it's worked before, with the most recent case being Enslaved. However, Enslaved wasn't a 30-50 long game with a poor story; it was a 6-10 hour long game with a fantastic story and an engaging combat engine that never wore out its welcome. With Souls Of Zill O'll, though, it wears out its welcome... and then something happens... and then its welcome is worn out again.
So what gives the game its wings? Well, the same thing that gives MMOs their wings outside of whatever social element they may have - that "just one more quest" flavor, where you keep promising yourself you'd do one more quest and then study for your finals... and you never get around to studying for your finals because, even though the quests are repetitious, you just can't help but to keep doing them when you get new ones (and with that, I say "shame on you" because you ought to be studying, mister), mostly because they're so simple in concept.
Of course, that's if you get past the first 10 hours of the game... see, the game saw it fit to have what is essentially a 10 hour long tutorial to ease you into the game. Although it's not as bad as Final Fantasy XIII's 16 hour long tutorial on an even simpler battle system, it's still an annoyance because 10 hours of dominating every monster you come across with the same 3 or 4 techniques each of your characters start out with is just boring! After a while, you'll be able to buy more attacks, spells, and even gain new Souls, allowing you to gain even more attacks, and also allowing you to mix and match Souls! But I don't expect too many people to get to the second chapter.. thanks boredom.
The graphics are a mixed bag. The good news is that, for the most part, it is at least aesthetically pleasing, and there are a few interesting monster designs here and there. Color usage isn't half bad, either, as at least the game looks colorful without overdoing it. The bad news is that the textures seem like they were ripped out of a PS2 game, rather than a PS3 game. It just has that dated look that, although it never takes you out of the game, always ends up bugging you a little because you expect something better. Oh, and Omega Force, please fire the artist who thought of applying some ugly filter over most of the game. Seriously, there's this pale, mossy filter that's always in the way, coming in and out at varying opacities... it looks *bleep*ing ugly, and probably contributes to the game's dated look.
Like the graphics, the audio is a mixed bag. The soundtrack is fantastic. There is not a single tune that I would want to destroy; actually, there is not a single tune that I can get out of my head. It tries its best to give the story the correct mood for the setting, whether its a sombre tune for a sad moment, or an epic tune for a boss fight. I just wish that much care and attention was put into the voice acting, because it always finds a way to put me in and out of the story. Like, it's already in the wrong for being badly written, but to add insult to injury, the voice cast act like they just got the script fresh out of the mail and had to quickly record their dialogue because Omega Force procrastinated until the last minute. As a result, the voice acting feels forced, monotone, and oftentimes, oddly paced, with pauses where they shouldn't be! No way is this realistic, folks; it's just shoddy voice direction doing its job.
Trinity: Souls Of Zill O'll is the sort of game that makes mistakes as a reward for doing good things. The combat is simple yet sweet, but it takes too long before it becomes challenging, and is pretty much all you do throughout the game. The graphics look fine from an artistic standpoint with the technicality of a PS2 game, not to mention that ugly filter. The soundtrack is fantastic, but the voice acting ranges from mediocre to horrible. The story is poorly written, badly told and very predictable, but it's so easy to ignore in amongst all the questing you'll be doing. What it all comes down to is how much importance you place on story, and how easily addicted you are to a simple game. Again, it's mediocre; not bad, not good, just average.
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