the entire game is one big caveat, i should add. i am not sure why i was compelled to play almost seven hours of it today outside of some horrible mental disorder. it's not a good game.
what is good:
+ areas and monsters look great
+ mixing and matching weapons and styles is fun
+ synthesizing weapons discharges the ocd glands
+ greasy naked blubbering fatties that snuffle around like pigs are the most disturbing enemy in any game ever
what is bad:
- camera
- each character's quest takes maybe 8 hours to beat
- it is pure grind
- ...including the boss fights, a pair of which can take over 30 minutes each
- the last boss is killed quickly with hits from a specific skill spoiler (click to show/hide)
flesh spear. yes, that's the skill name. lulz. it summons a giant fatty impaled on a spear from the ground to poke the foe in the butt for MASSIVE DAMAGE. i am NOT JOKING. this game hates fatties.
- gimpy eq drops
- no real stats -- put all yer attribute points into sp and a bit into luck. hp is worthless and you can get ridiculous boosts from synthed armor
- duane is worst character in any game ever -- the devs thought it would actually be fun to give you the chance to play as a dumb fat guy who falls over when attacking at random and whose seemingly cool firearms take forever to warm up to attack. if that wasn't insult enough, you play a dumb suikoden-esque "guess the counter response" mini-game between levels with him
- jesus the camera is awful
balrog took forever. i didn't use
spoiler (click to show/hide)
flesh spear
but i DID use the gamefaqs recommended method of blasting him in the face with my kusarigama when he reared up to do his stupid charge (which was more annoying than damaging).
Lemme get this straight, dcharlie. Your wife told you to play with your
spoiler (click to show/hide)
flesh spear
and that's how you managed to "beat it"?