It's been a year since I tackle my First Impression review of God Eater, Namco Bandai's very own Action RPG that everybody thought of it is pretty much resembles Capcom's Monster Hunter
in terms of its “monster slaying” kind-of style. GE never reached the
light of day outside Japan but it was bound to be release for the US
with an improved version. More than 8 months after the release of the
first game, they release an updated version of it and titled God Eater Burst
where they expand more of the story and improved some gameplay
elements. It took another 5 months passing a new year before the game
was finally hit the US. The game is renamed again to Gods Eater Burst (with an S) for the reason to be less chance heated by religious concerns (because of the use of the word God).
Now that I finally
understand the game at full, It's time to re-analyze everything and see
if my impression would still be the same. Is the fast-phase,
slash-shooting and monster-devouring enough to make this game worth of a
playtime? Or would it just forever be labeled as a second-rate Monster Hunter game?
God Eater Burst (Yeah I insist to call it without an S) sets on a post apocalyptic Earth that has caused by creatures known as Aragami.
Mankind's only way of survival is from the hands of an anti-Aragami
organization called Fenrir deploying super human beings who wields the
only weapon that can fight off Aragami's called God Arcs. People who are
using the power of the God Arcs are called - "God Eaters". In the
story, you are a newly appointed “New-type” God Eater. The premise of
the story is focused on 6 main characters (including you) as they
protect mankind against Aragami and soon unfolds a conspiracy going on
behind the organization they’re serving.
If
you're familiar with Monster Hunter, the basic drill of the gameplay is
kinda the same. You choose missions to engage, complete the mission by
its given condition (which usually slaying specific Aragami's), collect
materials from slain Aragami's and craft stronger weapons out from it as
you progresses. Although the basic routines are similar but the overall
gameplay experience is totally different. GE's battle system emphasize
in much fast-phase action and versatile movements.
You are only equip with one weapon -- the God Arc,
that can do both melee (sword form), range (gun form) attacks by
switching them anytime in battle. You can also perform what they called
the Predator form where it is use to “devour” Aragami's to be able to
temporarily power-up (which they called Burst
mode) and adapt the Aragami's power as consumable bullets. Predator is
also use to collect materials from slain Aragami's. God Arcs are
customizable. Each aspects of the weapon has its own different types and
skills. Each types have its own pros and cons but all are basically
useful to any kind of situation. It all comes down to player's
preference.
At
first, battles seems okay without any strategy applied. You can
actually hack-and-slash (or shoot) your way at most missions. But as you
progresses, things would be more frantic especially when facing
multiple boss Aragami's in one mission. Dealing with multiple enemies at
GE is actually hard. If you don’t know what you’re supposed to do, you
would constantly be frustrated by it.
But
the difficultly can be compromise by making use of NPC's in battle. You
can bring up to 3 NPCs to aid you in battle. NPCs can help you either
in attacking, healing or even reviving you whenever you're down. You can
also able to use certain party commands to point them on what to do.
This is actually useful for strategic purposes especially when dealing
multiple Aragami's. For some, the use of NPC's is a cheap way to make
the game easier. Its true that having companions (whether player or
non-player) will make the gameplay a lot easier than solo effort but in
actuality, even with NPC's, there's no sure-fire in the game for
sometimes a number of or even large-size Aragami's can still get the
best of you. In my opinion, GE is most likely meant to play as
team-based action. Whether you're playing with your friends or rely on
NPC, that's how the challenge works at GE.
 |
"But now I reliaze that it's such an easy thing
to accomplish. I just have to become that haven
myself... and I'm ready to fight... to create it" |
GE
has an actual story to follow. The very story is actually interesting
and pretty much decent. For players who love some story-telling drama or
anything, then you might probably appreciate it though the voice
dubbing is not that top-notch and you would constantly see some flaws
like off sync of voice and lips of the character, and the delivered
emotions might get way off sometimes. It's honestly bad if you would be
blunt about it. You would probably wish that its better that they just
retain the Japanese voices and just put on English subtitles. But if you
are to able to past that, then its not half-bad if you think about it.
For me, its pretty much tolerable in the sense.
Unfortunately,
GE doesn't have much varieties to offer in terms of gameplay modes. You
may try repeating missions to have a best rank recorded in your
Player's card but it easily gets boring and it doesn't quite rewarding
in the sense.
Other
than customizing your weapon, there are few customizable features in
the game that are somewhat unique and interesting enough to make a fun
out of it. GE has a wide variety of outfits you can put on to your
character for your cosplay galore since it doesn't affect your
character's DEF status at all, you're freely to make fun of your
character's looks.
And
another customizable feature is the bullet customization where other
than buying bullets, you can actually able to create your own. It's one
of the neatest features in the game, in my opinion and I was kinda
overwhelm by it at first. It's not easy to create a bullet especially if
you're attempting to create a really fancy one. There's a wide array of
options to use for custom bullets ranging from attributes, angles,
types, and so on. The stronger the bullet you're creating, the higher OP
(Oracle Points for gun form) is required to use it.
To
wrap things up, God Eater Burst may not be the best Action RPG there is
BUT its still something that is worth of experiencing it. There were
few complains here and there but if you able to past those and
understand how the game works (not to compare it with another game that
we knew) then you will probably come to appreciate it. Let me say again:
God Eater Burst may not be original, TRUE. BUT its still a good game,
nonetheless!
For those players
who loves an Action RPG kind-of gameplay in a much different phase then I
would recommend trying God Eater Burst.
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