Magi Nation
Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 4:36 pm
This isn't so much a review as a bunch of comments I have on the game. I'm going to be mentioning a few spoilers. Plot ones don't start until the "Plot Holes" section. The rest are Gameplay related, but I'm warning you now.
My team as of shelving the game
1. Lava Balamant
2. Sabreback
3. Sea Jile
4. Timber Hyren
5. Cave Hyren
6. Flame Hyren
7. Deep Hyren
8. Ormagon
9. Chaos Jile
10. Orothan F.
Pluses
- The monsters designers had some serious talent. Even the poorest monster design is infinitely better than any of the fourth generation Pokemon we've seen.
- A very interesting battle system concept.
- For the most part, amazing graphics.
- Some of the music was enjoyable, like the Boss theme or the first battle theme (why it was dumped in the last 2/3 of the game for that headache is beyond me. Mega Man X: Command Mission did that same thing, though the first battle theme wasn't much better).
Minuses
- Even though I didn't find it as slow as Flying Omelette did, the battle system could get pretty tedious. The final boss has a series of spells that don't seem to do anything, just take a minute to cast against all of your monsters one at a time.
- Some of the sprites were really dopey looking. The most bastardized were the Chaos Jile and the Ormagon.
- Other than Zet, the game's a total joke. And you can trample Zet without leveling up by getting a couple Hyrens.
- I wouldn't call it absolute crap, but the overall soundtrack was kind of lousy. Still, my least favorite song is the Vash Naroom town theme, which was still better than the Flower Fields theme in Paper Mario.
- Battle text doesn't scroll on its own, so you have to be constantly pressing A.
Stupidities
- Somebody forgot to put in a way to get the Arderial Hyrens. You also can't get the Core Hyren because of this, because it needs a Thunder Hyren animite to make the ring.
- In order to get an Orothan creature ring forged after you leave Orothe, you have to pay the Ferryman 300 animite to get to Orothe, then another 300 to get back to Weave/Cald, which leaves you with 399 animite, which probably won't buy you the ring you wanted. And if it's a Coral/Deep Hyren, you might not have the necessary Infusion Animite, which means you'll have to spend ANOTHER 600 animite to come back after you get the animite (the Orothe Hyrens are not found in Orothe).
- After spending three hours in the Shadow Hold, I used a Shadow Key on the wrong door and had to reset and try again. What the hell?
- It seems it's also possible to run out Star Keys and be unable to complete the 5th Shadow Geyser, which unlike the Shadow Hold is required to beat the game.
- The Gem items can be bought for 5 animite, then sold for 18. Maybe this was intentional because of how friggin' expensive the ferryman is.
- You need a Blast Urn to get to the Naroom Hyrens, but it can only be obtained in a shop that's opened by talking to Gia after getting out of Cald. If you fail to do this, the shop won't open, you can't get the Blast Urn, and you won't be able to get the Naroom Hyrens. Then again, I actually never obtained a Leaf Hyren, and I thought the Timber Hyren was really gay. Seriously, look at that body and that pose. Wasn't that great of a monster anyway.
- Who the hell came up with the Ormagon process?
- I have the feeling somebody didn't program the dominancy wheel right, as it seems to be reversed. A fire attack is strong against a Water creature, and a water attack is weak against a Fire creature. And an Earthquake not only hits a flying creature, but is super effective against it.
Questions/Plot Holes
- Why was the Magma Jile's name changed? It's not like "Magma Jile" didn't fit or anything.
- What was with all the radioactive bodies in the Shadow Hold?
- How was Tony able to understand Agram without the translation bracelet?
- Was Tony really Kyros, or wasn't he? The game flip-flopped on this so much I thought John Kerry did the story.
- Why did the Arderials want to be isolated?
If anybody wants to ask me something about anything in this post, go right ahead.
Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!
[ June 10, 2005, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: CodieKitty ]
My team as of shelving the game
1. Lava Balamant
2. Sabreback
3. Sea Jile
4. Timber Hyren
5. Cave Hyren
6. Flame Hyren
7. Deep Hyren
8. Ormagon
9. Chaos Jile
10. Orothan F.
Pluses
- The monsters designers had some serious talent. Even the poorest monster design is infinitely better than any of the fourth generation Pokemon we've seen.
- A very interesting battle system concept.
- For the most part, amazing graphics.
- Some of the music was enjoyable, like the Boss theme or the first battle theme (why it was dumped in the last 2/3 of the game for that headache is beyond me. Mega Man X: Command Mission did that same thing, though the first battle theme wasn't much better).
Minuses
- Even though I didn't find it as slow as Flying Omelette did, the battle system could get pretty tedious. The final boss has a series of spells that don't seem to do anything, just take a minute to cast against all of your monsters one at a time.
- Some of the sprites were really dopey looking. The most bastardized were the Chaos Jile and the Ormagon.
- Other than Zet, the game's a total joke. And you can trample Zet without leveling up by getting a couple Hyrens.
- I wouldn't call it absolute crap, but the overall soundtrack was kind of lousy. Still, my least favorite song is the Vash Naroom town theme, which was still better than the Flower Fields theme in Paper Mario.
- Battle text doesn't scroll on its own, so you have to be constantly pressing A.
Stupidities
- Somebody forgot to put in a way to get the Arderial Hyrens. You also can't get the Core Hyren because of this, because it needs a Thunder Hyren animite to make the ring.
- In order to get an Orothan creature ring forged after you leave Orothe, you have to pay the Ferryman 300 animite to get to Orothe, then another 300 to get back to Weave/Cald, which leaves you with 399 animite, which probably won't buy you the ring you wanted. And if it's a Coral/Deep Hyren, you might not have the necessary Infusion Animite, which means you'll have to spend ANOTHER 600 animite to come back after you get the animite (the Orothe Hyrens are not found in Orothe).
- After spending three hours in the Shadow Hold, I used a Shadow Key on the wrong door and had to reset and try again. What the hell?
- It seems it's also possible to run out Star Keys and be unable to complete the 5th Shadow Geyser, which unlike the Shadow Hold is required to beat the game.
- The Gem items can be bought for 5 animite, then sold for 18. Maybe this was intentional because of how friggin' expensive the ferryman is.
- You need a Blast Urn to get to the Naroom Hyrens, but it can only be obtained in a shop that's opened by talking to Gia after getting out of Cald. If you fail to do this, the shop won't open, you can't get the Blast Urn, and you won't be able to get the Naroom Hyrens. Then again, I actually never obtained a Leaf Hyren, and I thought the Timber Hyren was really gay. Seriously, look at that body and that pose. Wasn't that great of a monster anyway.
- Who the hell came up with the Ormagon process?
- I have the feeling somebody didn't program the dominancy wheel right, as it seems to be reversed. A fire attack is strong against a Water creature, and a water attack is weak against a Fire creature. And an Earthquake not only hits a flying creature, but is super effective against it.
Questions/Plot Holes
- Why was the Magma Jile's name changed? It's not like "Magma Jile" didn't fit or anything.
- What was with all the radioactive bodies in the Shadow Hold?
- How was Tony able to understand Agram without the translation bracelet?
- Was Tony really Kyros, or wasn't he? The game flip-flopped on this so much I thought John Kerry did the story.
- Why did the Arderials want to be isolated?
If anybody wants to ask me something about anything in this post, go right ahead.
Where are these lemmings going? The Super Nintendo Super Shire! Hop in line and follow them there!
[ June 10, 2005, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: CodieKitty ]