Cross Edge

Video Game Review

Cross Edge 1
Now let’s guess what company is Vivi?

Whilst I was planning on gaming today, I instead offered to convert all my old VHS videos onto DVD, which mean’t a day infront of my laptop. This gave me some time to look into the events surrounding the removal of Cross Edge and problems relating to other games such as Mirror’s Edge and Edge for the ipad. Now, I don’t claim to have any knowledge in business, having only done a single subject in business at uni when I first started, but it does shock me these events and hopefully the issues shall be resolved through, being a gamer myself, hopefully it favors the gamer, since come on, we don’t care about trivial matters as consumers. That is all I shall say on that matter since I am sure if you typed in any of the games mentioned above in Google, that you will get a much more detailed analysis and description that I could give you.

Anyway~ For those after the game from countries where it has been taken off the shelf, take these words from an Aussie who has spent years hunting for hard to find games, especially from such good companies as Nippon Ichi Software America and Atlus, if you want to find the game, just don’t give up, even if it is not on store shelves now, you will most probably find it sitting on some shelf in a store you randomly visit. Seriously, I had that success with games such as Persona 3 FES and Disgaea: Hour of Darkness. Where there is a will, there is a way!

As a gamer, I do hope these issues with games do not continue, as in the end, no gamer in their right mind gives a f–k about what the game name is, in the end, true gamers care about gameplay, and that is what most game companies are hunted down to provide, it is up to us to judge with our eyes  (At least in my opinion).

Now, after the jump is my old review of Cross Edge that has been redone with the new marking system which is a bit more detailed, in dedication to this game that provided me with several dozen hours of enjoyment.

Cross Edge 2

Cross Edge is what happens when five companies high in Japanese Tactical Gaming come together and form a game, not as rivals, but as allies in order to show what they can achieve as one unit. These five companies are Capcom, Nippon Ichi, Namco Bandai, GUST and Idea Factory. Was their teamwork effective or was it a bombshell? Read on to find out what I thought

Cross Edge 3 I have very mixed feelings about the graphics of the game, since they do retain the quality I would expect, however not all the graphics work out so well.

To start off with, the character portraits are actually really high quality for all characters (There is a lot of them as well) and they are also more diversified by the ability to change ‘Forms’, which is essentially changing the character of your choice from their normal outfit that they wear (Mostly in the game they originally came from) to other ones, mostly surrounding the cosplay, swimwear, fanservice areas. These are large in number are are also very well designed, such as the cute Etna Prinny Cosplay that can be seen in the image above. For the characters unique to this game, they are also very well designed and there are no complaints from me.

The overworld map in the game however is very very bland. The character York is the one one that appears on the map and you essentially walk around dull environments to roam to different events. I would say they were appropriate for what they were getting at, however in all honesty they just bored me to look at them.

Cross Edge 4The battle system graphics are what I would expect from these five companies, no fancy graphics that you would expect from games from most current gen games but instead focusing on the pixel style artwork for the main characters. My only peeve with this system is that they only made the old style art for the characters and attacks with enemies and the background seeming like a cheap attempt at 3D art. Then again, this does have its charm. Attack animations are fairly good however, no real complaints considering that there is a diverse range of skills for all 20+ playable characters and there are also combo skills to consider.


The Opening Sequence (Japanese version, only difference is company and character name languages)

In relation to the music, some really good tracks among the track list however I did find that a number of the tracks were forgetable and not something I would listen to hours on end. The games theme song “Blade of Tears” was most probably the most enjoyable track within the game and “Blood on the Street” the best instrumental track.

The storyline for this game is also something that seemed to be tacked on at the last minute to compensate for the reason why everyone appeared in this game. The game starts with original characters York and Miko who wake up to final themselves on a strange floating island, they also find May, a young girl who claims she can free souls and that she can help get them off the island once they collect enough. So that is what they do, constantly adding to their roster of old and original characters until they reach an end point which you spend most of the game not knowing what it is. Anyhoo~

Cross Edge 5Gameplay also varies unfortunately. I have never ever seen any game besides maybe the Disgaea series to have so many playable characters, more than that, only allowing you to use 4 characters at a time in battle. To the left is the entire female cast with another 10 or so male characters added on. However thankfully they kindly allowed all characters to level up together, however those outside your party will level up at a delayed rate.

The battle system regardless is solid. You are allowed up to four attacks depending on the weapon you have and the type of the skill you have. It also allows you to do combo attacks with the characters in your party or using the same character which is vital for some bosses to give you the advantage, especially at the end of the game where one hit can kill everyone in your party. You are given a grace period of a few seconds between attacks else the combo chain is broken and the enemy can counter. Makes for quick strategy in planning out your attacks, as well as challenging you to make the right character choices to facilitate these combos. I was able to survive most of the game using the same combination however of Lyner, Aurica and Meu and then subbing in the occasional other character, which by end game was Anesha.

The overworld system, despite the quality of the battle system is rather lame. Quite often you are just given a map that you would find in most old PS1 RPG games such as Final Fantasy and then you randomly run around the map hunting for souls or events with your radar. Then you have the occasional dungeon which is actually pretty interesting to find hidden items or weapons, which are quite often good. The menu systems within the game are extreme. You have a seperate menu for everything essentially, except for most probably the one you expect to be a separate one only to find that it is merged with something else, such as the status screen that you can’t allocate points to (You need to press triangle over a certain option then click another option to Distribute Points), and skills, which is under the equip menu (Which I only found out after randomly looking for it). Despite this, the menu system, once mastered it gives you really good control over your characters, and even has a mode where you can take part in a mock battle against mannequins which let you see what skills offer in terms of combos and finding the team to match them, quite suitable considering the number of characters available to them.

Now, in terms of replayability, I think it actually goes beyond what I would find that I want, which is I suppose a good thing in its own way. The only way you are able to reach the true end on the first walkthrough is if you have a guide directing you to certain events and souls as well as playing in hard mode. I can tell you right now, that if you don’t follow a guide word for word or arent extremely lucky, then you will end up not recieving a number of characters and you will be given a rather short normal end, as well as being locked out of any post-game content. Normal or Easy on the true end takes you up to a point in post-game then locks you out of it. Essentially, this is something you should play the first time without anything, getting a feel for the game then secondly following a guide and unlocking everything on hard. I believe I missed out on the true end because I attacked a boss enemy I shouldn’t have which locked me out of getting a character, inevitably ending to me not caring during this walkthrough.

Cross Edge 6There is also DLC content available in this game, both free and paid for. The free content include content such as small item packs (May I suggest you unlock these only when you start the game you want to reach the true end on), bonus dungeon levels which provide you with new items to collect and very small stat boost packs which provide you with a small amount of gold, EP, TP et cetera. The paid content include more epic equipment and items, large amounts of a certain stat which almost guarantee you a set of trophies or a large number of achievements, voicesets, auto unlock gallery and more importantly for most, extra costume packs which each contain highly statted and quality designed costumes for about 7-8+ characters in each pack, an example of which is to the left for both Miko and May. Depending on your region, the cost will vary significantly.

What is my opinion of this personally? I don’t hate this game personally, however there are times within the game, especially nearing the end where I could chuck my controller at the TV screen screaming bloody murder at the top of my lungs. I wouldnt call this a game for anyone new in the genre however it is definitely worth a look at by someone who is either into the genre, want to see all the characters in a game together or who want a challenge, I doubt it would be much of a disappointment at all.

Overall Score

Characters: 7
+ Wide variety of characters to use, around 30 in total from the five companies as well as some original characters created for this game!
+ The characters retain their charm from their original games.
+ The new characters are likable and are the key factor within the game.
– There seems to be preference over certain characters then others, with Nippon Ichi and Idea Factory characters seemingly disappearing mid-way through the storyline in terms of importance.

Storyline: 5
+ Implements the use of the other games characters in the most effective way.
– Storyline seems messy after a while and could be improved.

Music: 9
+ Good voice acting, at least the characters from games I have played seem to retain their voice actors.
+ The music is varied and is overall enjoyable.

Graphics: 7
+Graphics retain the charm that can be expected from the series involved.
+ Portrait art is really good and does allow costume changes.
– Map design is uninspired and boring.

Gameplay: 7.5
+ The battle system is interesting and requires a considerable deal of strategy to succeed.
+ A large number of characters means that you need to delegate who is on your party effectively.
+ A varied variety of collectables such as portraits, characters, weapons, armor, monsters etc.
+ A synthesis system which requires the same level of dedication as games in the Atelier series.
– The battle system does end up boring after a while, especially if you end up playing the same characters the whole game.

Replayability: 9
+ Three modes of difficulty
+ A special Truth End mode which almost requires a walkthrough to achieve.
+ A level system going up to level 999, with monsters to complement it.
+ A title system which takes hundreds of hours to complete fully (Not that I have completed them all).

Personal Opinion: 8

Overall: 7.5

 

Sam
Sam
Founder of The Otaku's Study. I have been exploring this labyrinth of fandom these last fifteen years, and still nowhere close to the exit yet. Probably searching for a long time to come.

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