jro said:
GAH! I came in here looking for info... echoing pretty much the exact same thoughts as you both. $40 is nuts for a DS game, looks fun, though. Have a little cash to blow since I finally sold off my extra BD player.
I could do with a used copy of this, maybe, save $10 after Edge card. Christ, I can't believe I said that, I sound like a GS corporate or something.
Sorry.
I went ahead and picked up two copies, one for me and one for my wife.
I put about an hour into the single player and it is pretty good. It looks, sounds and plays really well. The only problem I encounter is that directional movement can suck sometimes because of the d-pad but nothing worse than any other game.
I have put several hours into the multiplayer and that is a blast. Your single player and your multiplayer files are different, so you can have a single player game when there is no one to play with and then jump into a multiplayer game when you have another player. Single player and multiplayer games do not connect in any way.
Multiplayer seems to be just like the single player with less story. You start off by creating a character (picking the class you want) and then one player creates a party, the other player(s) up to three more, then join the party. This works great and only takes a few seconds to boot up. Very impressive. There can be lag during game play from time to time but it really didn't bother me.
Initially you only have the main town (shops for potions, weapons ect) open and one level. As you beat a level (beat the boss) more options open and a new level opens. The levels vary in size and there are extra things you can do in each level or you can just take a quicker path to the boss. Player can explore each floor alone but can't leave that floor until all players meet up at that door. There is a radar/map in this game with dots that represent each character, so it is easy to meet up. Each character class has different abilities and those come in to play for puzzle solving.
After you beat a boss or two (I don't remember) you can start taking on King's Quests by talking to him in the castle. These are real quick quests that are usually timed and are a great way to make money, find potions and level up.
Game play is pretty standard for this type of game. Jump Button, Attack Button and then your potions are on the bottom screen. You can just tap on the one you want and hold the X button and d-pad to drag it to where you want it. (A circle pops up on the top screen, so you can place the spell where ever you want). You get healing potions/spells as well as attack spells that come in very handy.
Boss fights are really cool but have been pretty easy so far. I have heard when you beat the game in multiplayer, you can go back on hard and then very hard.
I really can't recommend this game for single player because of the $40 price point. However, if you have friends to play the game with it is very fun. I still think $40 is crazy for a DS game but my wife and I really enjoyed FFCC for the GC except for the GBA shit/cup carrier and thankfully this game doesn't have that.
From the looks of it, you can have lots of differnt characters for multi-player, in case you plan on playing different games with different people.
If you have any questions, let me know and I will try to answer them.
.... I want one of those copies when you sell them so PM me and I will have money ready immediately.