46. Record of Agarest War Zero (PlayStation 3)
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Record of Agarest War Zero follows our hero Sieghart during a time of war when basically you're trying to save the world from evil. During that time he tries to save a young girl named Mimel, dies in the process, and is then revived. This game spans two generations and has many playable characters.

This game is a rather complex strategy RPG game. It involves linking characters and AP points. Each character has extended squares that it can link to, and if a character is placed in one of those squares, the characters will be linked. Linking characters allows them to perform on the same turn. So if you have all six party characters linked, they can all attack on the first characters turn instead of waiting for their turn. It's a bit more complicated, but that's the gist. This game also has a dating sim aspect, and the hero of generation 2 will be the result of whoever you end up with in the first generation out of three possible bachelorettes. The second generation hero can be matched with any remaining party member. Relationships can be improved through dialogue choices or through vacation days by chatting with the characters.


General impressions:
This was my firs Agarest War game and what got me in to the series. I like dating sims and I like dialogue choices and this has both! It also has a political story that for once I didn't have trouble following and I liked the dialogue for the most part. It's characters seem pretty stereotypical, and in some cases are, but I was happy to see most of them had some depth. It also had a good sense of humour to it. There were only 2 generations in this game, which on the one hand was good because you had more time to decide on your future bride, but on the other I would have liked it to have more than that. The worst things about this game are the difficulty, the sheer amount of battles you need to fight, and the fanservice. But on the brightside, it wasn't nearly as fanservicy as I was led to believe, although it is very much there.

Story:
A good story, but not the best video game story by any means. It was good for me because I'm terrible at political dramas, but this one was clear and easy to follow, which I really appreciated. It's a very character driven story, which is something I'm also fond of. Overall it was enjoyable and I liked it, but it wasn't anything special.


Gameplay:
Worst thing about this game for me. So many fights. SO MANY FIGHTS. Just to get like 5 minutes of scenes. And I played the game for the scenes. Add that to the fact that I suck at strategy games and there was no easy mode. Each fight would take me like a half hour and you usually have to do 3 or 4 just to get to the 5-10 minute story event. There was an auto battle but you needed to fight enemies weaker than you, so it was for the most part useless. Also bosses WILL kill you. It's kind of designed in to the game unless you're massively overleveled, and death only gives you a point boost for your special attacks. This game is not easy to just get stronger than the enemy, you need to actually know what you're doing.


World:
Not good. You travel to dots on the map. The battle backgrounds and town backgrounds get very repetitive. On the plus side, it has vacation days that let you explore, but not really. Not good for those who want an open world to explore.


Characters:
One of my favourite things. I like dating sim elements and having the hero be based off of your previous coupling. The characters seem pretty shallow but most of them surprised me with some added depth to them, which was great. I loved the interactions and I loved seeing how my dialogue choices would affect the relationship ratings.

Favourite character: Alice Lt7h7V1.jpg
Honourable mention: Routier, Sayane kqOtIJS.jpgBZVGwyH.jpg

What I like about Alice is she's just a good, normal person. No exaggerated personality. She cares about her friends, she works hard, she makes jokes, but it's never in your face or shoved down your throat. Plus she has a demi-God demon crab-man servant and that's something special. And her battle shuffle is adorable. Routier is just a sweetheart. I expected to be annoyed with Sayane because it seemed they were trying to hard to make her perfect (look, she's beautiful, smart, kind, and funny!) but she wasn't overbearing in the least and was actually beautiful and smart and funny and kind. Pretty impressed with the cast overall.

This game has long, complicated, difficult gameplay, and too much fanservice, but it's worth it for the story and the characters. Very much enjoyed, I just wish it was easier.