Code for Success?
Interesting and potentially innovative concept on paper, but how is it really?
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Cost- $15.99-40.00 (American)
Publisher-XSEED
Console- Nintendo DS
Players- 1 player
Type- Role-Playing
ESRB Rating- Everyone 10+
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There is no world to save. You have not been asked to jump around in an obscenely large suit of armor flexing your pixilated muscles all over the place with a huge sword obviously built in compensation for something else. Why is there no world to save? Well that’s quite simple. The world is about to end. That’s right, you heard me correctly, it’s the end of the world. Now don’t panic just yet, after all, you were called to do something. As such, it’s about this time when you meet a tiny little sprite with spiky-red hair who informs you that it’s actually your duty to go around through the world and record all that deserves to be saved for the new world. So again, you’re not saving the world… you’re preparing for the next one.
Of course it would be utterly impossible to do any of this without your trusty ‘book of prophecy’ which is a book that (as stated above) can scan and record anything via the smack of a button. Of course, after pressing this button, your character immediately jumps courageously in the air and slams the book down upon the nearest scan-able living or non living object. Such a discrete and unnoticeable activity that everyone, well, seems to not notice. How convenient!
You essentially proceed through the game with different objectives in mind and the first objective happens to be collecting the rest of the elemental spirits. Luckily, you’ve already met one. (Remember the red pixie with spiky hair that can apparently change his size at will?) The red pixie, whose name is Rempo, acts as your basic guide describing the various functions of the book of prophecy and informing you of what your next objective is. You essentially reach these objectives through crawling through strangely arcade-feeling dungeons (which only allow you to progress after fulfilling certain requirements like ‘defeat all the enemies’ or ‘flip all the switches’) only to reach a boss battle at the end which (usually) means reaching your objective and gaining a new ‘world question’. This question you, as the player, can then answer. Apparently this in turn affects what your new world will be like which can be viewable at the end of the game.
Now how do you answer such an important question? Well pretty much how you use the book of prophecy in general. Each item you scan possesses a code which is essentially made of a decent amount of little tiles placed in a small grid next to a picture of the person or thing in the book of prophecy. There's a picture of what I'm trying to explain below...
Using this one as an example, you see there is a fire code within the little grid. Now, removing this fire code changes the actual properties of the sword… So instead of being a ‘fire’ sword, it would become just a ‘regular’ sword. Additionally, putting other codes on it in specific combinations can in turn change the entire appearance of the sword making it something almost entirely different. You can even change the materials of the sword by putting bronze, silver, gold, or earth on it as well. This in turn actually changes the damage of the sword inflicted which you (As a player) can equip.
The same can be said about people. You can change their personalities. (At least on paper) But really… there are only some instances in which changing an NPC personality has any affect and those are ‘central love-interest’ NPCs. That’s right, an E for Everyone game with love interest. Granted it doesn’t show anything more than a hug or a kiss, but the option is there. Some benefits even exist through wooing one of the opposite gender including rare scans (like grass yippee!) and side quests. Some parts of the story will even change based upon who loves you more.
As for customizability, there exist various items (like belts, hats, head bands etc…) that you will be able to scan as you progress through the game which in turn allows you to equip them to have them appear on your character. They don’t provide any defensive benefit and are more for aesthetic purposes. Actually you can even acquire special recipes called “Metalize” which allow you to fundamentally alter the appearance of that item to the extent that the item no longer looks like the same item. (Like a flower head-piece item turning into a ribbon)
As for the combat, it essentially combines a few different combat styles (like swords, bombs, projectiles, hammers, fists…) which can be equipped and unequipped freely with the book of prophecy. Actually, your character never really levels up (besides scanning some occasionally special metalize which increase your MP and HP) and only really levels up the combat-style proficiencies. This in turn increases damage output of that select style of course. Now combine that with the fact that you can increase the damage of the weapon through editing its code… fun possibilities! Additionally yet another layer to combat is the ability to perform a ‘judgment link’ attack. This attack is essentially like Kiting a monster except to a whole different degree. You can actually kite a monster until they leave the planet’s atmosphere exploding into a barrage of fireworks for various MP, HP and item bonuses. Sadly, you can’t perform this on bosses.
There are a wide range of characters each with interesting (or annoying) personalities. Some include a creepy old man who gives you dating advice, a stuck up elf who thinks her race is superior, a sick girl who you can actually remedy with the book, a childhood friend who is a bit of a pickpocket, a princess with a strange fashion sense, the son of a famous warrior trainer who seems a bit of a pansy, and quite a few more! A lot of these individuals can actually be coaxed into a semi-romantic relationship as well. More information is also available on each and every single one of these NPCs through the book of prophecy. (Like likes and dislikes brief history etc…)
Did I mention that you can scan monsters and bosses? Well… you can. This allows you to see how much HP they have and actually LOWER this amount of HP through attaching ‘Ill’ codes which amount to an easier conflict. Now that I mention it, some boss battles are quite entertaining while some (one in particular) dragged on needlessly through a HORRIBLY specific way to ultimately destroy it. Trust me, when you come across it you’ll know.
The graphics are amazing for the DS. Although really we should expect no less from the same company who made the remakes of Final Fantasy in full 3D glory. The characters and landscape does come off as quite dull and occasionally polygonish/pixely but sadly that’s to be expected with the DS. So many limitations but XSEED really managed to pull out an amazing game despite the aforementioned limitations. The characters are beautifully coloured and animated quite nicely for a few (one reeeeeally really long) cut scenes.
All and all this game is quite nice. It’s relaxed with an intriguing atmosphere with an interesting (although slightly cliché) storyline. It has intriguing characters, quite nice side quests and activities with a healthy dosage of mildly innovative concepts. All and all Avalon Code is a pretty awesome game for the DS. Actually I remember a few people debating whether or not to buy Avalon Code over Suikoden Tekeris and personally (I bought both) I can say this game is FAR better. It’s funny, I know many of those people opted for Suikoden instead… I suppose that’s what comes with this slightly abnormal game from an almost unheard of company. But seriously, this game is worth the buy.
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Positives:
-Very nice art style with superb graphics for the DS
-Innovative concept
-‘Fun’ value in collecting as much data possible for the book
-Interesting characters
-Suitable amount of side quests
-Decent combat
-Variety of weapons
-Fun ‘crafting’ system
-Decent storyline
-Fun bosses and a variety of enemies
-Music is decent enough
-I really liked the opening song and video. Very glad they didn’t translate it into English.
Negatives:
-Graphics are sort of grainy at times
-One SUPER LONG CUT SCENE… Seriously… so long…
-Objectives can be unclear at times
-Complete the objective-styled-dungeons (some of which are confusing)
-Some people have reported glitches with their games (I myself found nothing wrong besides once when the bottom screen turned entirely white which was remedied by dying once)
-Music can be repetitive
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Graphics: 9/10
-Unique and simply stunning for the DS
-A rather large map
-Can seem simplistic at times
-Interesting character designs
-I can't emphasize enough how much screenies never seem to match the quality seen on the DS...
Sound: 9/10
-I loved the opening song D:
-Some music gets repetitive while others are fun to listen to
-Voice-overs are quite nice and I really enjoyed them for this title.
-Voice-overs do NOT occur for every freaking sentence like Suikoden Tekeris (which made me fucking hate one of the characters because I swear to freaking God it sounded like he was rushing through all of his goddamn lines which made me turn off the stupid sound all the time… but I digress)
-Decent sound track
Game play: 8/10
-Game remains easy-medium through mostly everything
-SOME BOSSES ARE FREAKING HARD FOR NO REASON (one boss comes to mind)
-Interesting side quests
-Funny relationship-inspired quests
-Combat is fun, sometimes annoying.
-HP and MP seems to run out very quickly at times
-Collecting info in the Book of Prophecy can become addicting.
Playtime: 8/10
-Again it depends on the player
-If you do the side quests, it will be longer.
-I myself had a playtime around 15 or so hours.
-Some interesting cut scenes (besides this one that was on steroids)
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"Like RPGs? Then buy it. Seriously.”
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[Review] Avalon Code -
07-11-2009, 01:08 PM
Hybrid Mode
