Evolution: World Sacred Device

Another Turn Based RPG

I'm not sure why tried this game. Maybe beause it was an RPG on the Dreamcast the was relatively inexpensive. I paid roughly thirty dollars for this. I don't think I'm ready to pay the damned near 200 dollars for Skies of Arcadia. I guess I should have started with Grandia 2. It has a much better reputation than Evolution. Grandia 2 is generally held in high regard, Evolution is viewed as a charming but mediocre RPG. Maybe that's why I chose to play it. I wanted to play a simple, average, but charming RPG so that I may have something to compare every RPG to.

Simple but Charming

The description of simple, average, but charming is the most fitting descritption you can possibly give this game. The story is a typical and predictable affair in which you are an explorer that dives into dungeons for treasure. An imperial military shows up with interest in the same artifacts you are digging up. Turns out, you are both interested in an ancient, mythical, super artificat. You both bump heads over this super artifact and you defeat the military bad guys. There is one plot twist that, although not exactly unforseeable, is still interesting.

Mechanics

The gameplay mechanics is also typical turn-based RPG affair. You crawl through dungeons encountering creatures to fight. After a large number of floors, you encounter the boss and defeat it to claim the dungeon's prize artifact. There's no random encounters. So, you can avoid enemies if you choose.

Combat

I'm still not a big fan of turn-based combat, but I think it's interesting here. Positioning of both the enemy and your own characters plays a role. Each character in each party has three positions: front, mid, and rear. This generates a 3x3 grid for each party. Standing in the front position will give you a slight boost to attack at the cost of defense. Standing in the rear position has the opposite effect. The middle position is neutral, of course. Where position plays the biggest role is in some of the attacks. Some attacks will strick a single line of enemies. So, if two enemies are in front and one in the rear, an attack will only strike the front enemies and miss the rear one. There are also x-shaped and v-shaped attacks on the aforementioned grid. This is the most interesting aspect of the combat system.

Attacks

Just like any RPG, there's a simple direct attack, but an arsenal of magical or super attacks that cost Fighting Points (FP). You level up by defeating enemies which can unlock more magic or super attacks and upgrade your equipment. You can also find armor, new weapons, and other accessories to equip as you explore dungeons.

Frustrations

Perhaps my biggest frustration is that the dungeons are long, repetitive, and can even become tiring. You're just crawling through the same corridors fighting the same exact enemies over and over again. By the time you get to floor number 20, you've had enough and want it to be over already. There isn't much difference from one dungeon to the next except the background art style. Even the enemies don't vary too much. It's the same batch of wolves, bugs, and mice but with slight variations for each dungeon.

Charming, but There's Better

This is probably one of those games you would only play if you have already played all of the heavy hitters and want to play something simple, but charming. The art direction and the characters are indeed simplistic, but for some reason you end up caring about them. Maybe they strike at the core of being likable in their simplicity. I recommend this only if you ran out of RPGs to play or you're a noob at RPGS like me.