Most people do.
So I can't find tons of good screens, and I don't have time to scour the entirety of the internets, but a few are at least in order. Also, for the purposes of this new thread,
IGN is the only place with a video review, which gives you a decent look at the game despite not showing anything overly exciting.
So: the game has guns. You shoot them at dudes and they die. But it really isn't actiony at all, despite some of the comments I've heard here and there. When you actually control your characters, nobody else is moving. It's much like moving a chess piece across a board, or like having your little demon guy run five squares in
Disgaea, whatever. But the comments are right in that this game
is different, if not drastically. The difference is that since you're using guns and this is a tactical wargame in many ways, covering fire is being laid all across the map, so anyone that's moving around in range of an enemy unit is getting shot at. If they're in range of several enemy units, they're really getting shot at. If they're in range of a tank, they're... fucked. But it makes things much more urgent than your average SRPG because you can't sit around and check everything out leisurely. You've got the overworld map:
And that map is what lets you plan your tactics and watch them evolve. But select a guy on the map, and you run down into the third person mode where you start moving around and doing stuff. I really do like the whole firing system, because it does give you a decent feeling of urgency during the proceedings, and an approximation of return fire in what's otherwise not so different from a turn-based grid-counter. Also, when you fire at somebody, they get a chance to fire back. So after you've gone into the shoot mode, lined up your shot (everything pauses there), and taken your shot, your target will get a chance to blindly fire back if you didn't kill them. So the return damage may make it suicidal to use a unit for offense if their health is low, since the return fire could kill or otherwise compromise them. And since actual movement draws fire from covering enemies, that's another consideration. It's all well and good to run up and gun somebody down, but if there's too much cover fire, you may not be getting back out.
And as with any good cover mechanic, being outside of cover can get you killed fast. Cover makes you "immune" to headshots even if you get shot in the head. I.e. you just take a regular hit instead of super damage. It's a bit of an abstraction since you can be on the outside of cover rather than behind it, and while this doesn't help body shots, it still protects your head. Which isn't so bad, I guess, since you're ducking and at least in a pose that indicates you're trying to lay low and make yourself less of a target.
Anyway, the different classes all have different combat and movement ratings, not to mention armament. You can see a few different roles here:
The dudes with lances are... uh, lancers. Basically rocket jockies. These are your primary anti-armor units (other than your own tank, obviously), and a couple of them can take a tank down in 2 or 3 turns, or immobilize them with a well-placed shot. Shocktroopers like the chick up front make up the bulk of your regular assault, since they have OK movement ratings and pack a mean punch against infantry when up close (though the MG fire spreads too much to make them useful at a distance). I'm not sure if the other guy is a scout, but I'll just say he is. Scouts have really high movement ratings and are highly mobile compared to nearly everything else, and they aren't useless in combat either. While they will die very quickly under sustained fire, their weapons actually have much less spread, making them highly useful against single targets, or even small groups if there's sufficient cover. Not pictured are snipers and engineers. Snipers are about as slow as lancers, but in good positions can pop guys with instakill headshots regularly. Engineers are sort of your general jack of all trades, being almost as good as scouts in combat, having movement nearly as fast as scouts, and being able to fix your tank and distribute ammo just by brushing against your troops.
I mentioned the graphics being pretty, but they really are. They use a technique that you'd think would be used more often, but really isn't. Especially not this well. The last time I actually remember seeing it was on a PS2 game called
Stretch Panic, and while the effect wasn't exactly the same, it was fairly similar, only being applied to that game's main hub level and nowhere else (a huge disappointment to me, as it was easily the coolest-looking spot in the entire game).
For historical purposes:
But we've come a long way, and this game really knows how to properly go for the sketchy look. It doesn't use it everywhere, in fact, but mostly just in the shading. It really drives the game's premise that you're sort of reading a book (I mentioned this elsewhere, I think, but the entire menu system is basically a book, and even as you're playing the game and watching the cinematics you actually manually select them as though you had decided to "read" an entry), but the fact that it isn't done in excess gives everything a convincing physicality. Whatever... all I really need to say is that it works and works well. Also, the sketchy thing isn't the only thing. There's a painterly sort of feeling used somewhat frequently as well, like for skies or stuff in cutscenes that's supposed to be distant.
So a pretty wargame is all well and good, but you'll also notice that it's a pretty wargame full of pretty girls. Which is a little disconcerting. There are lots of guys in there too, but I noticed last night that I have a rather large roster full of attractive women. And what's better than a game with guns, tanks, and explosions? A game with guns, tanks, explosions, and pretty girls. But no, seriously. Like I mentioned earlier, it's shocking how much attention to detail there is in the characters. 50 side characters, and all of them look different and seem to feel different. I can't imagine that extends very far, but the game does what it can to make you feel like there's more to it than perhaps there is. For instance, each character has "potentials" that can come up during gameplay. Some are more comfortable around men or women, some are loners, some like to be beside their friends, some are allergic to pollen, some hate dirt, some are claustrophobic... you get the idea. There's a ton of these, and people have them in different combinations. I don't know that you have to pay close attention to it, but the fact that it's there is cool, and the game does a good job of telling you when these things come into play. Some also act like abilities, where you'll fire at a guy and a big thing comes up saying "Undodgeable shot!" or something like that. It helps you get a feel for your characters as you play with them, which is fun, and the fact that they all have different people they like to work with is neat also. I'm not entirely sure how that works, other than when someone has the trait that they like to be around their friends. In that case, their accuracy and such improves when they're standing near people they like. But I don't know if everyone can eventually get that trait, or if there's any other innate benefits people receive.
Anyway, it's cool that the sub-characters aren't throwaways, and the fact that they have animated, voiced introductions (just a greeting, introduction, and salute, really) when you pick them from the roster in the command room is a cool touch that makes them feel much more significant. I like that.
I got a chance to listen to the soundtrack more today, and I'm fairly impressed with it. As I mentioned before, it
is at times too similar to
FFXII's OST, at least for anyone who spent a lot of time listening to it. If you haven't, though, you're in for a treat. There are also a number of more unique tracks that all stand out as being very well done, and overall it's quite listenable stuff. Not as unique as, say,
Vagrant Story, but high quality and very much in line with the game's themes. Except for the pop track. I haven't heard it in the game, but damn I hate when they throw that pop shit into an otherwise-solid OST.
FFXII had that Angela Aki travesty composed by Nobuo Uematsu in one of his more questionable decisions, and this has some other thing sung by somebody named JUJU. Meh. Whatever. I heard a rumor that one of the characters in the game actually sings, which is... uh... I don't know. I'll reserve judgment until I see how its handled, but I suspect I'll be running for a Slayer CD post-haste.
Anyway... that's about as thorough an overview as I can give. Hope a few of you decide to give it a try. It's clearly an essential PS3 release at this point.
EDIT - Oh, and as a side note I should definitely mention that this game has all the usual JRPG trappings. I know that's obvious to most, but some people might get the wrong idea. I mean, this isn't a straight-up wargame without the other usual considerations. Like the sort of overt character themes, sappy stuff, broad strokes for villians, a rather ridiculous animal mascot, etc. So there's lots of that kinda' stuff, and also tons of dialogue and cutscenes that sometimes go on too long. Don't let the military theme fool you into thinking that this is any different in those regards.
