Title: Ragnarok Odyssey
Developed By: Game Arts and GungHo Online Entertainment
Published By: XSEED Games (North America) | GungHo Online Entertainment America (Europe)
Based On: Ragnarok Online (PC)
Console: Playstation Vita
Genre: Role Playing Game
Review Conditions: North American Edition, Download Edition
Special Thanks: XSEED Games for providing me with a copy of this title to review
Ragnarok Online was one of the first games that introduced me to the world of online gaming – and whilst the Australian servers are now long-gone I occasionally do log on to the still populated international servers which show no sign of closing down anytime soon. Aside from Ragnarok Online itself and Ragnarok Online 2 which was recently launched in South Korea – there have been a number of spin-off titles which have received an international release – some such as Ragnarok DS which maintain an aesthetic and gameplay more closer to the online game and some like Ragnarok Odyssey which whilst carrying over select elements are more like their own separate game.
The Otaku’s Study has been covering Ragnarok Odyssey since its Japanese release days and I was quite excited to finally be able to pick this game up and give it a whirl. But how did it actually play? Read on to find out!
Past experience is not necessary with Ragnarok Odyssey and you can more or less just pick it up and start playing without knowing too much into the storyline. The storyline itself retains some of the lore and style from previous releases however is not a prominent factor in this game and aside from select scenes you are left to your own devices. If you are willing to dig around a bit for storyline, there remains quite a lot of dialogue that can be optionally viewed after the completion of each mission by manually talking to NPC’s.
That being said, the game is pretty much mission based, with missions progressively unlocking as you complete the previous ones – split up into a number of chapters. These are mostly linear tasks primarily consisting of the same pool of generic tasks such as collect X of an item or defeat #Y of Z. The environments are generally the same for each chapter although whilst you progress through the missions you may be given the opportunity to take a previously unventured side route or be able to progress further through the same route. Looking at just game progression, it could have been better implemented to incorporate more storyline and exploration opportunities, but benefits from the occasional mission that poses a worthy challenge. The boss battles in particular were well planned out and posed just a right amount of challenge.
Gamers are able to select from one of six different character classes, each of which differing by the skills and weaponary available to them – Sword Warrior, Hammersmith, Assassin, Mage, Cleric and Hunter. Once selected you will be stuck with it for a couple of chapters, followed by the game allowing you to change classes at will without penalty (Asides from equipment usage). While having different names, they are representative of Ragnarok Online’s six primary 1st Job Classes with differences between them in terms of attack speed, power and other stats. The game also grants over a reported 20,000 possible combinations for character appearances with many aspects of your custom character customizable from hair and facial expression to voice (English dubbed).
The gameplay consists of some rather satisfying ‘button mashing’ action gameplay, although may not be to everyones tastes given outside of class changes it is not possible to edit your characters skills or attacks at all. Attacks are performed using a mixture of regular attacks (Triangle Button) and skill attacks (Circle Button) – in which depending on the number of regular attacks used before using skill attacks will determine what skill combo you perform. The game also allows you to perform air attacks and to dash around using the square button when the situation demands. The system is implemented well and offers quite a lot in the short term as the game throws new enemies at you – but in the long term it offers little appeal if you wish to stay with a preferred class.
Go into this game warned that no matter how many foes you defeat you will not obtain any levels – in-fact the only means of attaining levels is to complete each chapter which provides a moderate skill boost. Instead, to increase your power and thus increase your odds of completing a level you must turn to several systems which have carried over from the other games in the series – Cards, Equipment and Upgrades. Cards have been one of the more prominent elements of the Ragnarok universe, in which they can be added to equipment in order to grant you bonuses from stats to extra perks on the battlefield. Cards can have positive and negative effects attached to them, and can be added and removed from your character at any time outside of battle through the use of points – the better your equipment the more points you have to spend. It is a fun system and the game offers you plenty of opportunities to purchase or gather cards.
In addition, you can obtain or purchase weapons during your journey, and upgrade them using the built-in refine system. The game offers quite a bit in terms of these weapons by offering different stats built-in to some including element attacks, and can be refined through the use of loot gathered during missions. This loot can also be used to purchase weapons, new costumes (These unlock pretty slowly but some can be quite nice), Headgear and even music. While this may not appeal to gamers who prefer just to buy their goodies, it gives purpose to playing through and replaying specific missions.
While the game is a single-player experience, you are able to bring up to an additional three players to the field through the in-game tavern, allowing you access to both Wi-fi and Ad-hoc multiplayer. While I can see why it was not practical to implement more than one character in the single-player campaign, it very very fun to tackle the games levels with multiple players and I could have used more levels tailored for the multiplayer experience. The mode did vary in terms of lag – from some playthroughs being lag free to others it proved almost impractical to play.
Ragnarok Odyssey is in my opinion one of the better designed games visual wise, featuring a colourful art style that while differing from other games in the Ragnarok universe managed to retain the same sort of charm. The character designs work well given the games customisability options and despite being overused the environment designs work well and during single-player are almost always lag free. It also features a nice set of music that complement the game world well, and the included English voice acting for the custom characters were a simple but nice touch. While I don’t have an actual list of English voice actors/actresses supplying their voices to the game I did notice they included quite a few such as Johnny Yong Bosch, Sam Riegal, Karen Strassman and Wendee Lee. Japanese voice acting did not seem to be included.
While there are quite a few aspects of Ragnarok Odyssey which held it from being an excellent game – the solid designs, customizability and some of the more creative and challenging missions helped bring it up to being an above average game for the Playstation Vita. This may not be a game for everyone, but for fans of the Ragnarok line of games or those who are after a solid action-RPG on the console this might be just what you are looking for.
Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: D
Design: B+
Music/Voice Acting: B+
Gameplay: B
Replayability: C
Personal Opinion: B
Overall Score: B
