Tearring Saga Chapters 1 - 5: Initial Thoughts

                           After struggling to get the save states loading (no really, I spent several hours yesterday bashing my head against a brick wall trying to figure this all out. CURSE YOU PS1 EMULATOR!) I finally was able to progress from Chapter 1 to Chapter 5 and here are some of my initial thoughts playing this game:

Pros

• Unit Balance: So far nobody seems useless. Everyone can be used and can be expected to do something well. Training up certain units doesn’t seem too difficult which is good. I’ve been told that there are no Seth equivalent characters in this game which really got me hyped.

• Neat items: One idea that I had for my project, “The Dark Crusade”, was to add in shields. Well I was pleasantly surprised to see shields being used here in Tearring Saga. Granted these shields operate differently than what I was planning but at least they’re there and I like the idea of an item that increases defense, but has limited durability and reduces 1 use for each and every attack. That is awesome! 
  
  

                              Another neat item so far is the Charm. An item that can negate an attack that would otherwise kill you is also awesome! Granted, I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve had to use them yet, but having them around just in case is pretty cool. 

• Area of effect magic: Another idea that I’m implementing into my project is area of effect magic. I was pleasantly surprised to see this being wielded by an enemy boss in Chapter 5 here and I’ve never been so happy to get hit by an enemy before. This game is proof that area of effect magic is a good idea.

• Actual Recruitment Requirements: It’s nice seeing a game where recruitment requires more effort from the player than merely talking to them with your main character. This isn’t to say that this game doesn’t have it, it’s just that there are characters that either require a different character to recruit or there’s more that the player has to do. The reason why I bring this up is because Fates and Awakening don’t have this and it waters down the strategy a little bit.

Cons

• Clunky hit rates: Way too much missing going on for my enjoyment. Reminds me of Fates. I wish the weapon triangle were here.

• Bland plot, bland dialogue: I’ve been skipping over a lot of the dialogue because the bits that I have read are dull. I will gladly settle for “dull” after the atrocity that Fates produced both in terms of script and in story.

Low growths: Not a fan of all these + 1’s and + 2’s. Makes leveling up less enjoyable. Personally I’ll always be a fan of higher growths.



                   Overall:  So far Tearring Saga is enjoyable. This doesn't quite hook me in the way that the Tellius or the Jugdral games did but this beats Fates by a long shot. I'm looking forward to seeing what else the game has in store for me.