Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blood? - http://www.mmcafe.com/ Forums


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jmcc
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"Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blood?" , posted Sun 13 Nov 00:39post reply

Is it any good? It's an Atlus game, so it's prudent to pick it up now rather than later, since they always underprint. But, being a strapped for cash collegian, I'm loathe to drop $55 (there's some kind of nice packaging or something) on a game sight unseen, so to speak, especially when there's a glut of other great games out now.






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Maou
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"Re(1):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Sun 13 Nov 02:41:post reply

Back when it was coming out in Japan, I was excited about it...till I read about the actual game. Hyungtae Kim's wonderful art is really 99% of anyone's draw to Magna Carta, and if you were to, say, look even at the mass of Amazon Japan Reviews, let alone 2ch, I think you'll find this one seems to be hit or miss. The system seems to be wretched--especially in that it's amazingly slow and tedious, a critique I keep hearing--even if the art is nice and the story is supposedly interesting.

edit: spelling ex alpha turbo





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[this message was edited by Maou on Sun 13 Nov 03:23]

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"Re(2):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Sun 13 Nov 05:44:post reply

Did anyone play it though? I need to make up my own mind on something like this since rpgs tend to be based on perspective. And I need an english review like from gamespot or something so I can at least read it.

The gamestop release date is 11/15. The package comes with over a hundred page strategy guide and artbook. I have mine pre-ordered so I'll post impressions after I try it out. I did read an article about Magna Carta from Play magazine. (it was their last coverstory current being DQ8) The article praised the trinity circle (?) combat system for being interactive, intuitive, deep, and fun. (easy to pick up, hard to master)

It's supposed to be rhythmic based involving timing and stuff I think. Sounds more interesting than another FF system. Besides I keep hearing that art/story/music/characters are great and the production values are supposed to be really high.





[this message was edited by Phoenix on Sun 13 Nov 05:57]

Maou
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"Re(3):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Sun 13 Nov 05:53post reply

Yeah, I'll definitely want to hear how it turns out for you! I can usually deal with a lame system if the story is good enough, though what I heard about MC more than anything was that it's amazingly sluggish and clunky, so that battles that could be fast take far too long, and that it hampers the flow a lot. That, and I realized that I was being sold mainly on the beautiful art like many people are. But I'm looking forward to seeing how it strikes you!





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"Re(4):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Sun 13 Nov 06:19post reply

I have actually played it, for six hours even, and I'm still not sure if I can recommend it or not. The battle system has some great things going for it, but it doesn't quite gel in my opinion. It feels quite unrefined. The game's pacing is slower than it really should be, but the story is actually well done and interesting. At least its far from the mold of a generic FF clone. I think how much you'll enjoy it will depend on just how much you want a combat system different from the usual turn based fare. If you're sick of menu driven stuff, I can see you overlooking the more awkward elements.





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"Re(5):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Sun 13 Nov 10:57post reply

I played it previously for about 5 hours. As already mentioned, the battle system was really really slow and stupid. I stopped playing because I couldn't stand the long and sluggish battles anymore.





jmcc
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"Re(6):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Sun 13 Nov 22:44post reply

quote:
I played it previously for about 5 hours. As already mentioned, the battle system was really really slow and stupid. I stopped playing because I couldn't stand the long and sluggish battles anymore.


I have to wonder if it was tweaked for the US release or something. There's reviews of it showing up on Gamerankings, and they all mention how the battle system is fairly interesting. Shadow Hearts 2-esque one of them claims. To me it sounds like Gladius' battle system, whose children I wanted to eat, though, so I'm still going to wait for the 'Spot's review, I think. The 100+ page artbook that comes with it really isn't making it easy to hold off though.





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"Re(7):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Mon 14 Nov 16:36post reply

Semi-off topic: I am let down that Atlus didn't include the Japanese audio, but it was expected.

On topic: I maybe will get the game after my first pay check on my new job. So, I'll give a review if I do.





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"Re(8):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Tue 15 Nov 02:08post reply

Just so nobody gets off track, it'd be a bit incorrect to call this an 'atlus game', considering it's only released in the US by atlus. And it'd make sense that they didn't use the japanese track, as it's the 2nd dub to begin with, and they don't own the rights, since it was released by Banpresto in Japan.

It's a korean game by Softmax, originally released in 2001 on the PC, then ported to PS2 (also by softmax). So the first dub would be korean. They could've opted to keep that though, I agree.





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"Re(6):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Tue 15 Nov 05:12post reply

quote:
I stopped playing because I couldn't stand the long and sluggish battles anymore.



I have a question: Are battles slow, but the average number of battles that has to be fought is as high as your average RPG, or maybe they're slow, but not that many, making the whole comat time about the same as another RPG?

Also, are battles "slow but interesting" (need some strategy, are varied, visually good...) or on the contrary, they're just slow, and nothing really interesting? I'd rather fight a slow and interesting battle (specially if there aren't many, like my first question asks), rather than a fast "mash X" series of battles.





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"Re(9):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Tue 15 Nov 05:18post reply

quote:
Just so nobody gets off track, it'd be a bit incorrect to call this an 'atlus game', considering it's only released in the US by atlus.


*slaps self*

Silly me.

quote:
And it'd make sense that they didn't use the japanese track, as it's the 2nd dub to begin with, and they don't own the rights, since it was released by Banpresto in Japan.


Which is why I said it was expected from Softmax.





jmcc
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"Re(9):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Tue 15 Nov 10:12post reply

quote:
Just so nobody gets off track, it'd be a bit incorrect to call this an 'atlus game', considering it's only released in the US by atlus. And it'd make sense that they didn't use the japanese track, as it's the 2nd dub to begin with, and they don't own the rights, since it was released by Banpresto in Japan.

It's a korean game by Softmax, originally released in 2001 on the PC, then ported to PS2 (also by softmax). So the first dub would be korean. They could've opted to keep that though, I agree.


Well, when I said "Atlus game," what I meant was that it may share the habit of getting real scarce and, as such, real expensive should I not get it right at release. But your point about no original audio is still a bit of a letdown.





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"Re(7):Anyone played Magna Carta: Tears of Blo" , posted Tue 15 Nov 21:31post reply

quote:
It's a korean game by Softmax, originally released in 2001 on the PC, then ported to PS2 (also by softmax). So the first dub would be korean. They could've opted to keep that though, I agree.


Actually, Banpresto remade the game pretty much from scratch, so the korean dub wouldn't match since the plot is substantially different. :)

(I was corrected about this by a Softmax fanboy, which are scary.)

quote:
Also, are battles "slow but interesting" (need some strategy, are varied, visually good...) or on the contrary, they're just slow, and nothing really interesting? I'd rather fight a slow and interesting battle (specially if there aren't many, like my first question asks), rather than a fast "mash X" series of battles.

They are 'slow to the the point they become uninteresting.' Basically, every fight feels that it takes about as twice as long as it really should, and while the combat system is interesting, it wears itself down over time to the point that after six hours I didn't want to fight another battle ever again, personally. Though if your the sort of person who likes DQ8's ancient battle system, it probably won't bother you.





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"Hyung Tae Kim" , posted Wed 16 Nov 06:35post reply

I'm really looking forward to this game, I expect it to be a really nice rpg, but above all, I must admit that the characters designs caught my eye much more than any other aspect of this game.

Damn, I really like Hyung Tae Kim's artwork, their characters look very charismatic and well done. Let's hope the story/character development in the game is good enough for its premises! Time will tell!

Now... time for me to buy Oxide2x (Hyung Tae Kim's latest artbook).





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Samson
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"Re(1):Hyung Tae Kim" , posted Thu 24 Nov 22:35post reply

I've been playing Magna Carta for a few hours.


Good Points
+ character design
Tae-Kim.

+ battle system
I find it deep, interesting, chalenging.
I will discribe it if you ask.

+ Trust management
Dialogue and gifts allows you to gain the trust of your comrades. This has a big effect on the battles (more trust = more attack oportunities)

+ Luck management
You can pay Fortune tellers to give you good luck or bad luck (random). This affect XP and money gain.

+ Chi
Each location is element related. Each character is element related. It's better to use the right character in the right place. It "forces" you to use every playable character.

+ Talisman merging
The Talismans are the potions of this game. They are related to the 8 Chi elements and can be merged to obtain new Talismans. LOTS of possibilities !

+ Healing
You can heal anytime between fights just by kneeling and waiting a few seconds.

+ Music
They're good !



Average/Bad points :
- Loadings
Not too long but frequent. Not that bad.

- Real time cinematics
Close-ups are not so great. Directing is so-so.

- English dubs (with subs)
Japanese or Korean voices would have been better, no doubt about that.

- No load/soft reset option
Clearly done to prevent "Luck and Trust mistakes" reload abuse. You'll have to assume your mistakes, or hard reset !


I can't judge the story yet, but so far it's good.
Characters seem deep enough.

For reference, I'm not a "hardcore" RPG player...Played a lot, finished a few.

Hope that helps.





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"Re(1):Hyung Tae Kim" , posted Fri 25 Nov 13:57post reply

quote:
Damn, I really like Hyung Tae Kim's artwork, their characters look very charismatic and well done. Let's hope the story/character development in the game is good enough for its premises! Time will tell!

Now... time for me to buy Oxide2x (Hyung Tae Kim's latest artbook).



Hyung Tae Kim's is the guy drawing those beautifull ladies?





hayaku!!

Arngrim
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"Re(2):Hyung Tae Kim" , posted Fri 25 Nov 16:33post reply

quote:

Hyung Tae Kim's is the guy drawing those beautifull ladies?




Yes he is ^^





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