We get hands-on with an RPG that has a distinct flavour of the east, in this full 3D turn-based battler…
It’s no surprise that I’m not really one for RPGs, though some do catch my attention, particularly action RPGs with real time battles. I’ve been playing through Aralon this week and I’m thoroughly enjoying its Zelda-meets-Oblivion style. By contrast though, Eternal Legacy, coming soon from Gameloft, is the other end of the RPG spectrum. Giving gamers a taste of Final Fantasy in both its presentation and gameplay style, the game utilises turn-based battles and a party system.
This style of game is not completely alien to me, as I’ve played turn-based RPGs like Pokemon and Final Fantasy Tactics, but generally the genre doesn’t float my boat, particularly the pacing and pages of menus to get through. Starting up Eternal Legacy was less daunting than I thought though, thanks to a very detailed, but not arduous, tutorial. It outlined the basics of the battle menu system for dishing out the attacks, utilising new skills and using items… it’s pretty intuitive once you get the hang of it. As you’ll see in the video below, you can queue up attacks in blocks of three, a useful addition to battles, which keeps things moving at a faster pace… However, there is a downside in that you cannot take those orders back once set, so if you find your opponent countering you witha particular attack, you may not have the required defensive manoeuvre in place…. giving the game some strategy for when to go all-out, or hold back and attack one by one.
The game’s look is a mix of fantasy and sci-fi, so you may find yourself fighting imps and monsters in the woods, or robots and machines on floating platforms in the sky. During time between battles you can roam the environments using the usual 3rd person Gameloft controls, and interact with people, to ask them to join your team, trade or buy items and of course partake in a battle or two. Particular attention has been given to the characters and the battle animations, each with their own distinct look and feel, they certainly look the part, and are far more visually engaging than some other RPG offerings on the AppStore.
Look for more coverage as we near the games release, and of course we’ll get a detailed review from one of our resident RPG nuts. In the meantime check out our hands-on gameplay footage below.
