The Alliance Alive HD Remastered

I know it's not for everyone, but it;s my personal favorite RPG on the 3DS. I loved Legend of Legacy, but was a bit bothered by the lack of a clear story progression. Alliance Alive adds an engaging story and LOADS of secrets to find. The exploration aspect of this game hearkens back to the best SNES exploration-heavy RPGs, with loads of things to find on your own, while still providing a decent amount of direction if you want to just continue the story. The progression system is based on the power of your character(s) versus the relative power of what you are fighting. Instead of levels, your characters can gain points in skills, HP, or MP randomly at the end of combat. It rewards pushing forward, though occasionally still gives you bonuses in a lower-level fight. The thrill of getting a new skill or stat bonus is one of the best parts of the mechanics. I love this game, though I freely admit it's not for everyone. If you like classic RPGs with a fun (if not terribly original) story, an unusual progression system, loads of exploration and customization, and a load of cute characters, this is the one for you.

I had a lot of fun when I first booted up this port of an overlooked 3ds game. The intro sequence, music and animation had me feeling nostalgic. However after the first section finished up my attention dried up also. AA is a boring game on pc. The music is forgettable. The artwork isn't attractive. The story is too predictable. None of the characters are interesting. All you do throughout is grind and watch cut scenes. You don't get to grow the characters. They automatically gain skills and stats. You do get to unlock abilities, but you get so few points because they want you to play more than once. With the story and character progression completely on rails any more time with the game would be torture. I'm going back to my backlog.

Every review I've ever read for The Legend of Legacy (the game to which The Alliance Alive is the spiritual successor) has lamented its lack of story. The lead developer shares this concern, and has expressed in interview that he had to focus heavily on making the combat interesting in TLoL in order to make up for the weak storyline, something he considers a failing. Unfortunately for him, I want actual gameplay in my games. The Alliance Alive is a step backward from The Legend of Legacy in almost every relevant way. (For reference, I have both games on 3DS.) The SaGa progression system is present, and is nearly as good as it was in TLoL. Sadly, because the story keeps dictating who gets to be in your party, your effort keeps getting forcibly sidelined, a flaw TLoL sidestepped entirely by having a bare-bones story about being an explorer/mercenary who chooses his path and companions freely (you're free to swap party members anytime you're in town). TLoL challenged my old turn-based combat preconceptions by making the field fluid with every passing turn. The elemental properties of the battlefield vary depending on where you initiate combat, and both you and your enemies can command certain elements to dominate and pick sides, causing constant flux in what attacks are effective or even possible to execute (the entire magic system is limited by what elements your side controls; if the enemy steals fire from you, your fire spells will fizzle out immediately). The Alliance Alive dallies with an extremely dumbed-down version of this that involves no flux on the field itself and only depends on where you initiate. Where I was stance-dancing and worrying about my team composition and available spells via weapons and elemental stones in TLoL, I was mashing auto-attack and winning handily in TAA. If you want a grand overarching narrative with pale gameplay, TAA is for you. If you want solid exploration and combat you can sink your teeth into, pick up TLoL on the 3DS.

Summary: In a long ago war between the Humans and Daemons, the humans lost. In order to create peace and teach the humans a lesson the world was split into 4 areas using a Great Barrier. The beast folk of the world were given reign over the humans and Daemons ruled over all. The great barrier has stood for over a thousand years and prevents the humans from organizing. Or so the Daemons thought. The humans have started to come together via various guilds that govern a small but growing resistance looking to overthrow the Daemons long rule. Time Played: About 50-55 hours. Graphics: Cartoony, but they are well done and give the game a semi-unique look. Control: Work like they should. There are some quirks in the menu system that can be aggravating when trying to switch formations or change the party around. Gameplay: It is a standard RPG with a few mechanics that may not be apparent at first if you are not paying attention. If you want to get the most out of this game then it may be worth reading up on it / look at some of the guides out there. The short version is this: -Character growth is tied to equipment not levels. Characters randomly gain HP, SP, and new weapon abilities from battle. Battles are only guaranteed to produce AP and Money. -Most characters can learn any ability, but spreading points around to more than one weapon skill will make a weaker character as it can take a while to learn new abilities that way. Pick one and then focus on the support skills to decrease the use cost and increase the learn rate to unlock the best abilities. Use the second weapon slot for final strikes. -The Guild System is useful but unless the player wants to go through the trouble of collecting a lot of guild members it mainly serves as a buff / debuff system in battle. Having a full coverage of guilds can make some battles easier. All in all a fun and interesting JRPG that has a few quirks. Worth playing if you like the genre.