So... MS Saga: A New Dawn (Impressions)

[Beavertown]

This was pretty much a blind buy for me. I've never played any Gundam games or watched the show. But I saw it for cheap and decided, what the hell, I'd give it a shot.

So, after playing for about four hours. I can say with great certainty that this is a solid game. I'm not really sure why it is getting not so great reviews. Maybe it's the Gundam stigma attached to it.

Quick rundown-

The game starts out with the Earth being destroyed and then being rebuilt. And without giving away any spoilers, the main character is out for revenge with his buddy Fritz. That's the setup and it's thrown at you within the first half hour, no long intros or boring cutscenes. With that said, I've just recently played thru DQ VIII and the shitfest that is Grandia 3, and I can confidently say, that the story, gameworld and characters in this game are a breath of fresh air and it doesn't take itself too seriously.

The battle system is good and actually requires a fair amount of strategy and logic. You won't be able to just keep attacking, attacking, attacking in this game. Defense is very important and you'll have to plan your attacks accordingly.

Mech custimization is awesome. You're able to mix and match parts and outfit your rig anyway you want from a pool of 39 different body types and who knows how many different weapons. It might sound a little overwhelming, but the way the game handles the outfitting makes it a breeze and it's nowhere near as complicated or tedious as the Front Mission games.

The graphics are very clean and presented nicely, nothing really mindblowing, but solid. The overworld map is charmingly similar to old 16bit rpgs and will invoke a strong sense of nostalgia in any rpg vets from the SNES era.

Sound effects and music are topnotch and fit the game well. I'm not much of a game music or soundtrack guy, so, I'll leave it at that.

I'll add some more after I play a bit more.

[Crush Crawfish]

Nice impressions. I thought this one looked interesting as well, though I'm really not much of a Gundam fan. it's good to hear that it's accessible to non-hardcore gundam followers. I'm planning on picking it up when it drops in price a bit....where did you find it for cheap already, if you don't mind me asking?

[s1lence]

Nice impressions. I thought this one looked interesting as well, though I'm really not much of a Gundam fan. it's good to hear that it's accessible to non-hardcore gundam followers. I'm planning on picking it up when it drops in price a bit....where did you find it for cheap already, if you don't mind me asking?

I was wondering the same on this one. It looks like a solid classically styled RPG, I just don't know about the whole Gundam thing.

[Beavertown]

where did you find it for cheap already, if you don't mind me asking?

The local GameXchange place had a disc only copy, so, it was marked down.

I was wondering the same on this one. It looks like a solid classically styled RPG, I just don't know about the whole Gundam thing.

I think the whole Gundam tie-in is more represented with the Mecha than anything else. The story, characters and gameworld all stand on their own.

[Lothars]

This game looks quite interesting

Thanks for the impressions, I will have to keep an eye out for it.

[Beavertown]

Had a chance to play a little more last night and noticed a few things.

The game actually takes place on Earth, I hadn't realized that. So, the world map is basically just an Atlas and has all the continents, it's pretty cool actually, and makes getting to where you're supposed to go easier. For instance, I was in the Middle East and had to get to Africa, so I just walked over to Egypt and walked across to get there.

I finally got my fourth party member and so the battle system changed up a bit. You can only have 3 people up front to fight at a time, the reserve member is held in rearguard and recovers HP as well as stores up energy, you need energy to unleash more devastating attacks, so it adds a little more depth to the already deep combat system. Switching members in and out is a snap and doesn't require any extra turns.

The story and dialogue are pretty Saturday morningish, but it's not too serious and it has a light tone to it.

I already touched on it before but, the game plays out just like a old school SNES rpg and that's what I like about it.