The Alliance Alive 3DS Review

Official Site

This game was given to the site in purposes of review, a humble thank you to both Cattle Call, and Atlus USA.

The old fashioned style of JRPGs seems to be the new old for the genre in a whole that has of recently seemed linear and uninspiring. Cattle Call is not a new face to the market, and has time to learn from their previous projects like: Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits, Arc the Lad: End of Darkness, and Legend of Legacy. Therefore, you are either going to get a grand slam from refinement to their style of JRPGS or just a bland overall game that leaves nothing to offer. In this case, I will say from the introduction of the character development; I have seen a ton of attention to detail and open-ended nature to The Alliance Alive (for the sake of my fingertips initials TAA.) You start off as a pair of young teens named Galil and Azura; who live in the world of divided Realms. There are several realms, with them residing in the realm of Rain. The backdrop for the game sets a pretty interesting plot for the game and its set of protagonists. As I am trying to be limited as possible in terms of spoilers here, you can have up to over five characters in your party at a time and several extras to mess around with (9 total), building your ultimate team.

The game itself has so many elements that make it a very good JRPG. It’s not super amazing, but is a step in the correct direction. You step into the game with an idea that always works wonders in typical RPGs. Your skills increase with strength as they are used during combat. So it becomes effectively a grind to build your characters on every front, trying to discover what can build your characters faster. Is it a little recessive? The answer is no not really. You are not given cookie cutter characters and each can evolve almost ( I say almost) how you see fit. I already glanced at a few of the characters you start off with (Galil, Azura, Barbarosa, and Renzo) seeing what I could do to shape them. Adjusting, carving into their structure what they can be. As a example, I made Azura a pure healer without a second thought. Then Galil into a Warrior/DPS type, with greatswords, then only using axes. When it comes to weapons like swords and shields have their own unique abilities attached to them. As far as staves go for me; I used them with Azura and another playable character you gain called Vivian to enhance other members like the main tank and the off tank. I loved the freedom in my choices of character evolution. Adjusting to my liking, and having several characters to test out new builds(up to nine in total). The game for many JRPG fans might need a slight adjustment, if they are not used to character crafting. Bad choices are not fatal. However, there is quite a bit of bothersome farming to follow up with a route that does not go your way in terms of survival or solid synergy. Over soon then not, enemies begin to smack you like freight-trains. Once you get a good setup going the game feels even, and flows with a fun challenge, and progression gets addicting.

Bits and pieces of the game grow on you, the characters all have their own gimmicks or traits that stand out as per usual to the troupe JRPGS have in common. The shy type, the loud type, the rude type, the bubbly dumb type. The list tears into the fabric of the normal trend here. The games cutesy style adds personality to the game, but then the game takes a dark turn with it’s blend of dark themes within the story telling. Alliances formed for a greater good, the class card all play a role into the games nature. Where demons, animalUpload Files humanoids, rule over humans, a now limited race. Uprisings blossom from the games chaos of culture clash, and in turn we get a story of perspective understanding and unraveling of the world around yourself and the protagonists. The strongest suit of the game was the witty conversations in between the characters in light-of-the-moments. I am a big fan of good humor in basis of gaming. If you can set a broody mood, then throw some humor into it to lighten up the smog of the down times it sets a complex and great tone. While I would want to provide some examples I hate, and I do mean HATE to ruin too much depth into the plot of games in general in terms of story, because I would feel grief in spoiling that experience for others. A bane of my brain that would spoil over if done at all. So If you are looking for some better detail, I am sorry, but no I will not. I will talk about mechanics all day, but just so much with the story, other then light setting. Anyway, The political evolution of the game worked just right, but again as I said earlier was not enough to say its the best I have ever seen obviously, just enough to keep the pace going well.

Beyond the passable story you ask what else is there? Well, the game has some depth behind its normal spread of turned based combat, via turns, etc. You are offered guild towers among the games world that give you buffs, enhancing your parties stances. Those range from recon, blacksmith, library, tactical, and Sigimancy. All offering great benefits when you need that extra edge. Which trust me; you will need it early on for monster farming to get stronger. Leveling in the game has a great enemy stack up system where the more you aggro or have attack you; the more experience you earn in the tally page. Meaning if you see a group of enemies running after you in the over world, or in a dungeon, two plus means bonus talent points to spend in the game. The points in turn used to give you passives, that enhance your characters attacks, and spells, like buffs, debuffs, as well as weapon and shield strength. This all plays a strong part of progression. As I mentioned earlier, it is not as easy to re-roll if you mess up the soup here in this case. Luckily the game offers some nice on screen information you can toggle if stats are not as clear and can guide you along with what to put into what. If you are a veteran of Dungeons & Dragons status building is a refreshing keynote for make or break in how the flow of battle occurs. Apposed to pre-made roles for characters. Much like games like FF3, or others out there. My favorite part of the game is this expression freedom to do whatever the hell I want with my toons. I can not express this enough for the turn of combat.

In Closing:

The Alliance Alive has a lot to do, with all the time in the world for you to explore and character/toon grind. Gear building felt lacking or the blacksmiths guild was not as useful for me other then repairing broken gear. The story was well enough to get through as you wondered along, giving that classic vibe. The plot in points became a bit dark, specially for younger crowds, despite its cartoonish looking nature. If you love a fun, charming, and do not mind a bit of time extra grinding on characters to spend time on a RPG, get a hold of Alliance Alive!

-Recommended!-