About 17 hours into Gundam True Odyssey now. Excellent rpg so far.
The battle system is quite good and the boss battles require strategy over level. Fights, especially bosses, play out a lot like SMTIII and DDS battles. They require you to play defensively at times, putting up chaff fields, beam fields, charm fields, etc...and then strike back when there is an opening. Speed is also really important because the higher speed mecha unit attacks first and if you're quick you can get in an attack before an enemy goes into their block animation. The battle system also has interesting specials that both you and the enemy tend to use called "counter zones". These put one character into a blocking position and for the next round all opposing characters are forced to only attack that one mecha (which will take guard damage and do a counter attack). Also similar to SMT/DDS there is a lot of buffing/de-buffing that goes on with attack / defense / speed going up or down 20%. Basically it seems like this development team was inspired by SMTIII and that's not a bad game to work from. The bosses don't have super high HPs, but instead they do heavy damage so if you don't play smart you die. Because of this fights are really intense and when you take down a boss it's quite satisfying. There may be some units/weapons down the line that are broken and make the battles easy, but as of now the game has a good level of challenge.
Another strong point of the battle system is that while you have 6 characters, only 3 are visible and fighting at any time. But! Similar to FFX/SH2 you can switch characters at any time. But again! Unlike these other games, Gundam True Odyssey has all 6 characters actively participating in the battle! The three up front and fighting are just the front row whereas the back row still exists and gains EP (energy points) each round like the main members do. Also the back row regains HP slowly each round. Not only that but you can equip parts that do all kinds of things like heal status effects when in the back row for a turn, or increase HP regen when in back row. So since the game is actually quite challenging (especially at bosses) you'll need to be consistentlying switching around your characters each turn and basically playing as if you had SIX full active members. It's really really well done and by far the best party-switching ever in an rpg.
The customization is also a paradise for number crunchers like me. First you have your pilots stats, then you have your mech stats, then you have your equipment stats. These all add up for your total attack/defense/speed/etc... power in battle. So if you're like me you spend tons of time assemblying your mecha body for the best stats in your character's field and then finding the right weapon within space considerations to gets the highest numbers. Since there are hundreds of parts and you equip like 9 parts on any mech (left shoulder, right shoulder, left arm, right arm, feet, and 4 optional parts [go on back usually]) you have so much to work with. Especially because most strong parts give a negative stat in some other stat (+20 SHOT might come with -10 SPEED).
And all that has nothing to do with Gundam! Just on its own as an rpg it's very well made from a strategic point of view. Then you have all the Gundam stuff (if you're a fan) and it becomes even more exciting. I mean normally in rpgs you aren't looking forward to the new enemies in the next dungeon ("OMG WILL THE SLIME BE PINK!!?"); but here you're always excited about what type of enemy you'll be encountering next. Partly because it's cool seeing all these mecha from different series over the last 30 years, but also because sometimes enemies drop "mecha info" about themselves. Collect 50 pieces of info and use a ECAP(L) item and you can make it!
Speaking of making stuff not only can you get weapons/parts from treasure chests, battle drops, and shops; but you can also use special ECAP(S) items found to make new optional parts!
Story plays out nice and quickly like a 16-bit rpg. Short 2-3 line text dialogues here and there, but no lengthy cutscenes anywhere. So the game is always moving and always gameplay. In fact outside of battle, the game feels the closest to the DQVremake as it's almost like playing an rpg from the 16-bit days. Short and straightforward as it is, the dialogue is still cute and charming yet people still die when they lose to stay in Gundam tradition which keeps it a bit more serious.
Load-times could be a bit better, but they aren't a deal breaker.
Basically just a really good game so far. Even if it wasn't Gundam, it'd still be a really cool game; but as a Gundam game it's completely awesome for Gundam fans at this point. I'll update this as I finish it, but as of now it's a very go! go! for purchase if you are a Gundam or rpg fan.
The battle system is quite good and the boss battles require strategy over level. Fights, especially bosses, play out a lot like SMTIII and DDS battles. They require you to play defensively at times, putting up chaff fields, beam fields, charm fields, etc...and then strike back when there is an opening. Speed is also really important because the higher speed mecha unit attacks first and if you're quick you can get in an attack before an enemy goes into their block animation. The battle system also has interesting specials that both you and the enemy tend to use called "counter zones". These put one character into a blocking position and for the next round all opposing characters are forced to only attack that one mecha (which will take guard damage and do a counter attack). Also similar to SMT/DDS there is a lot of buffing/de-buffing that goes on with attack / defense / speed going up or down 20%. Basically it seems like this development team was inspired by SMTIII and that's not a bad game to work from. The bosses don't have super high HPs, but instead they do heavy damage so if you don't play smart you die. Because of this fights are really intense and when you take down a boss it's quite satisfying. There may be some units/weapons down the line that are broken and make the battles easy, but as of now the game has a good level of challenge.
Another strong point of the battle system is that while you have 6 characters, only 3 are visible and fighting at any time. But! Similar to FFX/SH2 you can switch characters at any time. But again! Unlike these other games, Gundam True Odyssey has all 6 characters actively participating in the battle! The three up front and fighting are just the front row whereas the back row still exists and gains EP (energy points) each round like the main members do. Also the back row regains HP slowly each round. Not only that but you can equip parts that do all kinds of things like heal status effects when in the back row for a turn, or increase HP regen when in back row. So since the game is actually quite challenging (especially at bosses) you'll need to be consistentlying switching around your characters each turn and basically playing as if you had SIX full active members. It's really really well done and by far the best party-switching ever in an rpg.
The customization is also a paradise for number crunchers like me. First you have your pilots stats, then you have your mech stats, then you have your equipment stats. These all add up for your total attack/defense/speed/etc... power in battle. So if you're like me you spend tons of time assemblying your mecha body for the best stats in your character's field and then finding the right weapon within space considerations to gets the highest numbers. Since there are hundreds of parts and you equip like 9 parts on any mech (left shoulder, right shoulder, left arm, right arm, feet, and 4 optional parts [go on back usually]) you have so much to work with. Especially because most strong parts give a negative stat in some other stat (+20 SHOT might come with -10 SPEED).
And all that has nothing to do with Gundam! Just on its own as an rpg it's very well made from a strategic point of view. Then you have all the Gundam stuff (if you're a fan) and it becomes even more exciting. I mean normally in rpgs you aren't looking forward to the new enemies in the next dungeon ("OMG WILL THE SLIME BE PINK!!?"); but here you're always excited about what type of enemy you'll be encountering next. Partly because it's cool seeing all these mecha from different series over the last 30 years, but also because sometimes enemies drop "mecha info" about themselves. Collect 50 pieces of info and use a ECAP(L) item and you can make it!
Speaking of making stuff not only can you get weapons/parts from treasure chests, battle drops, and shops; but you can also use special ECAP(S) items found to make new optional parts!
Story plays out nice and quickly like a 16-bit rpg. Short 2-3 line text dialogues here and there, but no lengthy cutscenes anywhere. So the game is always moving and always gameplay. In fact outside of battle, the game feels the closest to the DQVremake as it's almost like playing an rpg from the 16-bit days. Short and straightforward as it is, the dialogue is still cute and charming yet people still die when they lose to stay in Gundam tradition which keeps it a bit more serious.
Load-times could be a bit better, but they aren't a deal breaker.
Basically just a really good game so far. Even if it wasn't Gundam, it'd still be a really cool game; but as a Gundam game it's completely awesome for Gundam fans at this point. I'll update this as I finish it, but as of now it's a very go! go! for purchase if you are a Gundam or rpg fan.
