Well, I sort of like Children of Mana, so I dunno'. Yeah, it's just a dungeon hack, but it isn't bad if you like dungeon hacks really. Anyway, Dawn of Mana is a straight action/adventure platformer, pure and simple.
GSpot's review is out and I have to say I disagree with most of what it presents, just as I did with most other reviews so far. The first things he complains about are the "scant" RPG elements, and he mentions these elements throughout the review, but I fail to see them at all. There are no RPG elements to this game whatsoever. If he's referring to the fact that you "level up" through the course of a level (which gets reset to nothing the next level), he's just as stupid as most of the other reviewers. This isn't borked RPG design, it isn't RPG design at all. It means you have to progress through a level a ways before you can throw around the stronger enemies and bigger objects. Just because it's called "level" doesn't mean it has anything to do with an RPG. There are plenty of schmups and other action games that have "levels" of stuff and have nothing to do with RPG gameplay. Well, add Dawn to the list.
Dawn of Mana's RPG elements are so thin as to be almost nonexistent. There's a simple leveling system here, but you're inexplicably bumped back to level one at the beginning of every chapter.
News flash moron, the RPG elements ARE nonexistent.
Secondly, he complains about the targeting system, like everyone has. I really don't get this. I've used it for about 2 levels and have encountered zero problems with it. You don't need it that often really, and when I have needed it, it's worked fine. I really don't get the complaints. It's like when Cobra complained of the Dead Rising roll move happening too often. I know what he was saying, but it never happened to me. Sort of same thing here. It just doesn't seem to be a problem for me. *Shrug*
Thirdly, while I do find the controls to be a little stiff, I don't find them quite as bad as everybody else, apparently. I'll definitely agree that they could use some work and that the game would be more fun with better controls, but I don't think they make the game that unplayable or frustrating. It just makes jumping a little weird. Still, it's worth mentioning that they're less than stellar, I'm just not quite so full of hate over them as others seem to be.
The camera I agree with. It blows. Not any worse than any other game with a camera that blows, I guess, but it still blows.
Anyway, what really gets me is that though he mentions the nice graphics and art design in the review, as well as the absolutely stunning (so far) musical score, here's what he says in the game's synopsis:
The Good: You can fling monsters around.
The fuck is that? I'm sorry, but that just isn't right. Even if you still hate the rest of the game, most agree that the story is nicely done, there are a lot of good cutscenes moving things along, the levels are pretty and the enemies animate well, and the music is fantastic. How do you not mention that up there, especially when music is such a huge draw for Mana fans in the first place? I don't know, maybe it's just my inner fanboy getting pissy, but that seems negligent.
Anyway, a lot of the complaints I guess are valid, but for whatever reason I just don't find the game that horrendous. Maybe it'll get worse as things go on, but the other people I've talked to who've liked the game are much further than I and still enjoying themselves.
So yeah, it seems like more fanboys are pissed than are happy, so don't attribute my saying this to pure fanboyism. I'd suggest anybody interested rent it first and see whether or not they find this stuff to be too problematic for them. Otherwise I think the game is really nice, and I find it disheartening that people are screaming at Koichi Ishii as though he is being a total lazy bastard and doesn't give a shit about the franchise anymore. I don't think that's even remotely fair, or the game even remotely that bad.
As a final note, the physics stuff is actually fun. I thought it would be more gimmicky. It doesn't work perfectly 100% of the time, but it's pretty easy to get the hang of in my experience, and you can really get creative with flinging enemies and objects around. And there are just random fun objects to play around with, including exploding elemental acorns (that are huge) and different fruit from the Legend+ games that do stuff.
I'm just happy I don't hate it. I was pretty convinced that the experience was going to suck when I went into it, and I've been very happy to find that I don't feel that way about it at all. I'm quite sure that part of it is how little I was expecting given the reactions to it, but I still don't quite get the angst. I know everybody wants another "true" Mana action RPG (though to be honest these games have always been more action/adventure than RPG, kind of like Zelda), but jeez, it isn't that bad people.
EDIT - This game is completely awesome and anyone who hates it should have their fucking head examined. I completely, absolutely, wholly do not understand why people hate this game. Not on any level whatsoever. A few levels aren't as good as the others, but I can't put this game down. I have never been so mystified about the response to a game in all my life.
