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.
- bad level randomization
- 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