Sands of Destruction impressions
By Hailinel 27 Comments
I picked up Sands of Destruction yesterday during my lunch break and have thus far put a little over three hours into the game. As far as DS RPGs go, this one is fairly unique for a number of reasons. Key members of its team were previously involved in Chrono Cross and Xenogears, the latter of which particularly shows through in the battle system. A Xenogears/Xenosaga-loving friend of mine and I have been waiting for the game to come out in the U.S. for some time now, and based on my early impressions, I'd say it's been worth the wait so far.
The game opens up with a scene establishing the game's world. In it, there are humans and beastmen, with the beastmen essentially the ruling class that treat humans as third-class citizens. Then the game introduces the character Morte, a reknowned criminal bent on destroying the world.
Gameplay opens up with the player in control of Kyrie, a teenager living in a small village. This early part of the game is more or less designed to get the player used to the game's battle system, as your first task is to go into a cave and fend off the creatures within while harvesting mushrooms. Combat is turn-based, and as each character's turn comes up, the player is given four options, each mapped to one of the DS's face buttons. The two primary actions are accurate attacks, which deals less damage but is more likely to hit, and power attacks, which deals more damage at the cost of accuracy. Characters get more than one action per turn, and thus can chain accurate and power attacks together in short combos, with critical strikes extending the number of actions the character can perform before the turn is up. Aside from these attack options, the player can press B to defend or A to open the item menu or perform skills like healing, buffing, or debuffing.
Once I finished this task, I wandered my way back out of the cave just as some fliers were falling from the sky, which triggers the real plot to kick in. The fliers claim that Kyrie has joined the side of the World Annihilation Front, the same organization to which Morte belongs, and more over, that he has the power to destroy the world. News to him!
After that, things get crazy. Kyrie is called to meet with the local beastman leadership to explain the meaning of the fliers, which of course he can't; he thinks they're a joke. However, as he's about to be led away to speak with the authorities and hopefully clear the air, he starts hearing voices in his head and is compelled to run (which of course makes him look like he's actually guilty). Cornered, a power envelopes him, and he turns everything in the region, the ruling lord's manor, the village, and all of the people within to sand. Captured by some soldiers, he is rescued by Morte, who hopes to use his powers to destroy the world, not realizing that her dream is going to have to wait since, well, Kyrie doesn't know what he did or how he did it.
And this is what sets Sands of Destruction apart from so many Save the World RPGs. Rather than embark on a quest to save the world, Morte leads Kyrie on a journey to destroy it, believing that a destroyed world is a better alternative to the world that exists. Yet, despite this grim concept, the game is actually fairly lighthearted, with comic dialogue and characters that prevent the game from becoming too dark for its own good. The graphics are lush and vibrant with color, and the music is also very well done so far. There's also a surprising amount of voicework in the game. The numerous major story events all feature full vocal dialogue for the characters. There's even a "quip" system in place that allows you to equip dialogue quips to characters that, when triggered by set preconditions during battle, cause effects like doubling the amount of experience earned at the end of battle or raising the speaker's defense.
At three hours in, Sands of Destruction has been highly entertaining thus far, and I'm eager to play deeper into it to see where everything leads. There isn't an RPG on the DS quite like it.
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