Magna Carta

[matrixsucks]

Ok, so this isn't for the PSP, but for ps2.

Deal with it.


The PS2 has so many RPGs that many can be indistinguishable from each other. When I go to buy an RPG I usually just pick at random. Most give me decent a decent story and easy gameplay, and that is exactly what I expect from a decent game. I was highly anticipating Magna Cartaââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s uniqueness, so when I put in the PS2 disk I was blown away. Well, at first I wasââ‚Âà ‚¬Ãƒâ€šÃ‚¦

The world in which Magna Carta lives in is called Efferia. In Efferia lives two races, Human and Yason. The humans and the Yason are almost exactly the same, with only differences being the Yason are slightly more in tune with nature and have unordinary ears. Of course, the humans hate the Yason, and the Yason hate the humans. Calintz, the main character of Magna Carta, is heading up a mercenary †˜Tears of Bloodââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ group that helps in a supposed final attack against the Yason. Of course the final attack doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t work out like it was supposed to and Calintz meats Reith, a girl who has extraordinarly strong healing powers (final fantasy 7 anyone?). Reith however has lost all memory of her past, so throughout Magna Carta you discover where her powers come from and what effect she has on the world. The story in itself is extremely intriguing and I was fascinated in how Magna Cartaââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s story came together. Each characterââ‚ ¬â„¢s personality is unique and all of them are for the most part great.

The graphics are decent at worst, but spectacular at times. The scenery is satisfactory, but gives no †˜wowâà¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã¢â€žà ƒâ€šÃ‚¢ factor; it is kind of just there. The cut-scenes make me go †˜OMGâà¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã¢â€žà ƒâ€šÃ‚¢ and whine like a little baby since they look so drop dead gorgeous. In addition, the character design is some of the best I have seen in a long time, albeit the main character, Calintz, looks like a woman. The girls have some features accentuated, but then again most people that play video games are guys; why please the minority? Also, the animations of attacks/spells are pretty good, but they get old extremely fast.

The voice acting in Magna Carta is perhaps the worst I have ever heard. It just doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t sound believable. There is just way too much space between each word, and almost no emotion into each phrase said. It seems improbable that such a good script could be butchered that horrible. After the first hour of play I decided to turn off the sound and listen to the music of my choice. Magna Carta became immensely better. I suggest if you do buy Magna Carta to turn off the sound immediately, since you wonââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t be missing anything good.

Almost every great RPG I have ever played has mostly short easy battles that level you up. These battles, along with the story, string you between Boss battles. Now, while Magna Carta does have battles with which level you up, but these battles are longer and frustrating. The battles arenââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t frustrating because they are easy or hard, but more so because they are incredibly boring. You canââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t just x button mash, since developer Softmax decided to implement a timing battle system. First, you wait a long time to have your teamââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢s †˜leadership barââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢ fill up which enables ONE character to select an action (either do the characterââ‚ ¬â„¢s normal move or use an item). In order to attack you must press three buttons in a specific order and timing. This complication makes the battles longer, and makes you think while doing so. Although this actually breathes air into the genre, softmax also decided to let the player move around as well as doing this. The player can only control one character, so thus two of your three party members are standing around looking pretty. When your character moves the †˜leadershipà¢ÃƒÆ’¢â€šÂ¬Ã¢ââ‚ ¬Å¾Ã‚¢ bar doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t fill up, so I ended up having only one character move to the enemies in a battle. By the same token I had the exact same guy go to the enemies for the majority of the game, thusly further eliminating the teamwork of battle. Softmax apparently decided to hinder battles even more by having †˜chiâà¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã¢â€žà ƒâ€šÃ‚¢. Each characterââ‚ ¬â„¢s fighting style (everyone can gain more than one style) is in conjunction with a form of †˜chiâà¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚¬Ã¢â€žà ƒâ€šÃ‚¢. If the chi runs out in battle, than that character cannot attack or heal (depending on each style). This is a great idea in theory but in execution isnââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t so great, sort of like Communism. Each chi is represented by a letter in a circle on the top-left portion of the battle screen, but basically it takes forever to remember who has which chi. Magna Carta would have been great if I wasnââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t allowed to move my characters on-screen, and if Softmax took the chi system away.

Another fault with Magna Carta is the horrible camera angles: these angles ruin almost all of the battles and traversing the land becomes less engulfing. At times, the camera angles during battle are so hideous that you canââ‚Âà ‚¬ÃƒÂ¢Ã¢â‚¬Å¾Ã‚¢t see all of the enemies, therefore making you guess on which strategy you would go with. This can cause deaths, and in turn you might have a gameover. The camera angles within towns and the countryside are piss-poor. For some reason Softmax decided to make the angles so horrifying that one would rather traverse by keeping his/her eyes peeled on the map than to actually look at the countryside.

I got to play with the †˜trade demoââ‚ ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢ of the game, which means Softmax could make minor adjustments before the final version is sold to the market. This, however, doesnââ‚ƚ¬Ã¢â€žÂ¢t mean that Softmax could, or would, change all of its huge flaws, only minor glitches. Stay away, stay far away.