Rogue Galaxy

[Galefore]

Well, after an infuriating quest to retrieve my lost data (as the memory card that contained it was destroyed by a unfortunately misled dog), I beat this game a couple of nights ago. Here is my short analysis and review.

(Warning: Spoilers are present. They will be coded, of course, but I warn you, they will make you facepalm.)

This game is, and probably will be for a while, already a member of my coveted and lifelong-kept Top Five List. Why? I had genuine fun with the main quest and side quests of this game. The Gameplay was amazing. I had no problems with it in design terms, and even the voice acting and some of the character design was slightly unique (despite having several characters being total ****ing ripoffs of FFXII characters, only some of them way better.). But, I will now list my problems with the story in spoiler form.

Spoiler.

Alright, issue one: I ****ing hated to see that every prediction I made was right. And we're not talking things I hoped would happen. No, every negative prediction came true. Taking every cliche it could find and ripping off a lot of its contemporaries, the story for this game was forgettable in several areas. The beginning hours were alright, but everything from around hour 30 and forward is almost comedic in how many RPG norms it spewed.

First of all, I could have guessed Desert Claw was Jaster's Father. In fact, I did. But when it turned out his dad had married a descendant of the Star Kind and that Jaster had this Star King's blood (complete with possessions by said king and dumbass super-sayajin like form, as well as enormous Cloud-esque sword in the final battle.), it got stupid. And then, a cherry on top, the game just leaves this as an entire ****ing plothole as it ends, never even mentioning the star king again after the final battle. He's this game's Vaan, but in every way, even with a dumbass past, he is cooler.

And then, it turns out Kisala was a Queen. Wow. Just wow. I was flabbergasted, not because I was shocked, but because that was just so stupid. And then she freaking LEAVES the group, and the ending gets really fickle as the game ends with Jaster and company going to KIDNAP her again. Why did they say "this is the best thing for her" and then change their mind in a really, really stupid way? It was almost funny.

And then there was Zegram. I liked him. He was like a mix of Balthier and Jack Sparrow, and emulated every character Steve Blum has ever acted. He was this game's suave anti-hero. And of course, he was a traitor who turned against you for a little while. Not as stupid as the other dumbass expected ****, but whatever.

There were some genuinely good plot points, but that **** just bugged me.

Now that the negative is out of the way, let me tell you: this game is packed with activity, loaded with playability. There's so much to do, and a lot to explore. There's several goals to attain, and an awesome secret dungeon. Don't let the flimsy plot fool you: this game is of very high merit. It just isn't the writers over at Level 5's best work.