I finally got my hands on an American copy (because I didn't nor couldn't wait till October for the PAL release), which proved to be quite a hellish ordeal... Importing from American territory (Canada also counts) and other countries like China is incredibly expensive in Spain, a brand new game which costs around 60 € at best (80,27 US $, 83,8 CAN $) while importing it from American territory ends up costing more than 100 € (133,71 US $, 139,66 CAN $).
Luckily (after a failed attempt at amazon.uk) I found that a Spanish online store I usually visit had it in stock (sells import games from time to time) and a with a decent price. One day later I already had it at home <3
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I haven't touched that much so far (since I'm in no condition for long gaming sessions much to my chagrin) a couple of story mode missions and side quests, so these are basically first impressions so far.
The first thing to mention is that the game has NO Japanese voice, the playable characters keep both English and Japanese voices, but that's it... the rest is ALL in English: Narrator (English narrator is cool, but the option to switch between both would have been appreciated), NPCs (that includes Rannie and all the AI controlled partners you find and resurrect in your journeys)...
Atlus is already messing with gamers again... They took the Japanese voices (but for the main characters thankfully) out of the American version (Japanese version has both voice sets) in order to make sure that Japanese gamers wouldn't go and buy the American version... Those of Atlus will never learn ¬¬
The gameplay takes a little to get used to. You need both joysticks and the D-Pad in order to control the whole experience, the left joystick to move your character, the D-Pad to select/use items and the right joystick to interact with scenario (send Rannie to open chests and doors, use runes, etc...).
One thing I LOATHE about the gameplay mechanic is that in order to run it's not enough with just tilting the joystick (or double tapping the D-Pad, since the left joystick and D-pad functions can be switched in the options menu) but you must also hold the melee button... which is a hassle when you try to use running attacks... (Or you make a running attack unwillingly in middle of town because of how it was implemented and end up in jail...)
But once you catch the gist of it is pretty funny, and thankfully there's a tutorial.
The character I've used most so far is the elf, she's quick, nimble and not as frail as it may seem at first.
Her personal action (every character has one: melee have a power smash that affect anything in a short radius but at cost of being disarmed for a short time, magic users have the heavy spells as personal action) is her archery she can shoot in the ground and airbone, she can even charge them...but arrows are limited (you start with 10) so you can't go in a shooting spree.
Her melee atacks are all kicks, heck she can even do the Genocide Cutter.
Elf can do this
Graphic wise the game is visually stunning as expected of a Vanillaware game and the game's OST has that fantasy/middle age feel that they were trying to achieve.
As for plot... Well... pretty simple yet effective: Adventurer arrives to new land in search of profit, adventurer joins guild, adventurer hacks and slash everywhere.
If you used to enjoy games like Golden Axe, the arcade Dungeons & Dragons games and other old school beat em' ups, you'll probably love this game. Also it's one of those game that is better to play it with someone else (I can't tell about online gaming yet since the option unlocks once you've beaten 9 stages).
.P.S.: Fun fact-> The Amazon puts that ass of her to good use (She uses a butt slam as a diving attack when disarmed).
