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Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2; Kickass
Topic Started: Feb 6 2009, 03:17 PM (554 Views)
Deleted User
Deleted User

So I've been playing RM2 the last few days. Yes, it's in Japanese but like RM1 it's completely playable (though I'm unfortunately missing out on the skits, which there are an ABSOLUTE TON OF this time around AND there's at least double or triple the amount of voiced skits compared to the last game :( ).

The game's drastically improved, getting rid of most of the flaws or improving on them as much as possible. The battle system is near-TotA speed now, and finally allows more than one person to hit an enemy at the same time (which was obviously annoying in RM1, especially since spells took priority and you would whiff your melee attacks while the spell goes off). At mid-teens my party has gotten off 30 to 40 hit combos already, all the way up to 120 hit combos on bosses. Furthermore they've increased the TP pool of everyone (which was woefully lacking in the first game, even with the US version's TP cost reduction) so now it feels more combo-friendly and skill-friendly.

They've also sorted out the whole BS behind the slow levelling from the first game; even if you go into an equal-level dungeon, you can level from 1 to 15 in a mere twenty minutes, although after that it slows down considerably. However, they don't penalize you anymore for having high-level members in the same party as you so it's VERY easy to get a new job (which always starts at level 1) up to speed since you just put it in a group with high-level members and go to a tough dungeon.

Surprisingly enough they've also managed to keep all the characters from feeling like clones of each other. You'd think there can only be so much you can do considering most of the main characters have similar movesets (demon fang, tiger blade, etc) and mages cast similar spells, but Bandai outdid themselves. EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER feels different, both in terms of how they attack (their swing speeds are different as well as the number of swings. Hell Cless even keeps his two-hit normal attack rather than three-hit) and what they equip (Cless and Reid can equip axes without any reduction to speed, unlike most mains).

Yes, the characters can now equip items finally, so you won't get the feeling that they're useless late-game when you get or forge powerful equipment (RM1 characters could not equip anything, so despite their enhanced stats they fell behind your character quite a bit once you got high-level armor and stuff). Furthermore, the way characters execute their attacks and even the TP costs for said attacks are different. Cless for example has a slightly smaller but faster demon fang than Guy (Tales of the Abyss), and Chloe, despite having the traditional hero moveset, plays COMPLETELY different from the rest of the similar-set characters. Chloe doesn't hit hard at all... but is instead an insanely acrobatic and combo-high queen. Her sword rain hits for as many times as Reid's did in Eternia, despite Reid getting slowed down for this game. Also, all her attacks tend to be ridiculously cheap yet doing several different techs in one attack. One allows her to start with sword rain, go into demon fang, go from there into a Beast-like attack, and finish with Tiger Blade.... all for a mere 8 tp.

I know I went on about her for a bit, but she's the perfect example of how they made everyone feel so different while having the same or similar movesets. The same can be said of mages as well. They all have access to different magic sets, and interestingly enough while they do share some magic, there are multiple versions of the same spell. For example, one mage may use Ice Needle and send three ice thorns at an enemy, while another's ice needle instead showers a small area with randomly placed icicles. It's pretty cool.

The quest system... well, it's still there, and you can only do so much with it. They fortunately reduced the stupid stuff a lot; the "find person in dungeon" quests are few and far between (and now serve to develop characters as you traverse the dungeon), and most of the quests involve slaying now. This obviously does get redundant, but it's far more fun than the other types that RM1 had and is made somewhat better due to the fact that you have 50 people to mix and match in your party. Fortunately you don't need to do them to earn the different recipes to improve armor or make food (unlike RM1) and instead can earn those things by buying them with your Grade (which actually serves a purpose in this game unlike RM1).

The class system is also a lot more fun, as you have access to all but three of the classes from RM1 at the start (rather than a puny 3 as in the first game), and not only have they gotten overhauls to balance them out and make them compatible with the more combo-heavy game but they've also been made easier to get. Now you just need to level certain jobs up to 15 or 30 to gain access to other jobs (Pirate for example is level 15 thief and archer). This sounds like a lot, but remember that levelling has been sped up so it really will only take an hour or two max to access the job you want.

Oh, and one last thing: Asch is surprisingly different from Luke. In Tales of the Abyss he was just Luke with access to spells and additional skills, but here he plays completely differently, focusing more on spells (and lacking the six-hit combo that Luke has like in the original game) and his melee attacks focus more for knocking down enemies and area-clearing rather than Luke's comboing or juggling attacks.

Anyways, just wanted to give the heads up on the game. It kicks ass.
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