Agarest is a shining example of JTRPG - Japanese Torture RPG

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(TL;DR? Now that I have done my playthrough, you can skip to the end of this review and find my summary, updates are left here to show how I got to those bullet points)

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Total playtime (so far): 50 hours.

- Time spent researching how to craft a skill/weapon on wikia: 15 hours.

- Time spent dealing with endless and often pointless battles: 15 hours.

- Time spent trying to keep characters on roughly the same level: 5 hours.

- Time spent navigating between shop/blacksmith/adventurer guild just to build an item: 5 hours.

- Time spent loading old save because blacksmith can randomly fail alchemy (this is a feature): 2 hours.

This left me with less than 10 hours of actual enjoyable gameplay, even less was spent on character development and plotline. Given the complexity of Agarest's various gameplay system, it's a real shame to find none of them produce the joy they intended.

So in the end, this is more like a piece of torture porn than anything else: Do it only if you are into this kind of stuff.

(unfortunately for me, 10+ years of JRPG experience has taught me the patience required to enjoy such sadistic gameplay, so expect update when I actually finish this damn game...)

Update on 75 hours mark.

Finally done with 2nd generation (3 more to go), let me add some more comments:

1. Auto-battle is crucial yet miserable: there are many instances where you wish AI can take over the manual labor. But leaving it to its own devices, will consistently turn cakewalk battles into deadly struggles (no XP rewards for casualties).

2. Seriously, you need a true end guide: as with most role-playing, it might be tempting to play this game "your way". But Agarest couldn't care less about your preference, you will, because of the tight requirement for CG/event trigger, miss out on 50~80% of actual content.

3. Less than 10% players ever manage to get the achievement for completing 2nd generation (just completing it will grant you that achievement). I think this goes to show many reviewers have not given this game a long hard look before recommending...

4. Story-wise, Agarest is an ok game, there are moments that will redeem your manual labor (once again, use guide, or it may just be manual labor). Though I personally prefer more character development instead of "more new characters"...

My verdict still holds though: this is a game for the persistent fools, such as myself.

Update on 110 hours mark.

With Gen 3 over, time for some personal thought:

1. Auto-battle is useless at this point. AI controlled team will pile on the same monster, over-overkilling it for no good reason, leaving the rest of enemies free to attack.

2. Avoid battles as much as possible, there is no fun in setting up the same combo routine every time.

3. Stop grinding for levels, under normal difficulty just a minimal walkthrough will give you enough experience, given you stick with the same 4/5 non-heroine members.

4. On the other hand, spend some quality time on crafting and researching, they bring in far more stats than leveling up. And save before handing your hard-earned materials to blacksmith's random algorithm.

5. Number of players managed to finish Gen 3? 3.5% of total players.

6. Oh yes, there are unlockable CGs to fill my sored & empty heart, but the requirements are often strict and weird: this heroine has too high an affection for you, so you DON'T get to see her CG, what?

Unless you have 1000+ free hours at hand to experiment with its magical dialog tree and light/dark meter, your best bet is the True end guide: even though the guide will force you into picking choices you don't like (so that True end and CGs are unlockable...)

Alright, onwards to Gen 4.

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Review summary (on 158 hours mark).

I have finally got to the true ending (on normal mode), it's time to reflect on my journey with Agarest.

What I Like:

- The subtitle "Generations of War" is aptly named, this game does deliver a sense of longevity as player battles through continents.

- Vast number of well-designed characters.

Unfortunately, these seemingly strong points result in larger flaws, both in terms of core mechanics and plot narrative:

- It should have been 30 hours, by spanning battles throughout 5 generations, only 1.7% of all players manage to got to an ending, less than half of them got to the true ending.

- Battles quickly became the main source of frustration, and in my opinion, not the good sort. Agarest follows the transitional "just one more boss" JPRG motto and by end of it, I was completely burnt out from grinding.

- When you have 5 Lead Actors and 15 Lead Actresses, lost of focus is unavoidable. Just as I got attached to a hero, another came along to replace him, in the end none of them really sticked with me.

- Agarest doesn't like players finding out their totally-awesome super-secret heroine events, unless you follow the perfect path to true ending, be prepared to miss out on a lot of them (I got only 49% after true end). Sadly number of unlockables != replay value.

- There are also minor issues preventing me from enjoying this game, such as combo system dependency on team formation, deep hierarchies on crafting system, subpar translation and that damn Blacksmith.

In the end, these drawbacks are bad enough to stop me from playing the next game in Agarest series (even though I have already bought it), at least not for now...

It's sad to see Agarest failed to deliver what it aimed to, and sadder for me still, to admit that metacritic scores (45/100) are probably well-deserved.

All I can say at this point is: there are many games you can play for 150 hours instead of Agarest: Generations of War, and in hindsight, many of them might have been a better choice.

Hi everyone, here is the review for Agarest: GOW

To start with, this game is essentially a mix between a tactical role-playing game, visual novel and dating sim, all in anime style presentation.

Features of this game:

1. Deep tactical chess board type battles
2. Party movement based on a world map
3. Story told in visual novel form
4. Wooing of girls occurs in choices and cutscenes

Things that I liked about this game:

1. Battles require strategy and planning
2. The art is attractive
3. Ability to customize party member's gear and stats
4. Character personalities are interesting
5. Solid storyline spanning lots of hours
6. Multiple endings
7. Dating sim is a nice distraction
8. DLC makes things alot easier if you are playing just for the storyline
9. Polished with very few bugs
10. Total Japanese voice acting

Things that I thought could be better:

1. Learning curve is steep. Instruction manual is good to read but not included in the game
2. Lots of grinding. If you don't like grinding then this game is not for you
3. Dating aspect more a distraction in this game, could have been more fleshed out
4. Unexpected spike in end game difficulty
5. As an older game, the resolution isnt as crisp
6. Music slightly repetitive only because of the countless hours spent in game

Overall, if you are a fan of anime art, visual novel story-telling and tactical role-playing battles with a bit of dating sim, I recommend this game to you

Very long running strategy RPG with an large roster of characters and a huge selection of monsters than can be captured and also used as party members. Lots of combined attack combinations and specials and a high level post-game can keep one playing for quite a while.

DLC is most definitely not required to play as it is mainly for making the early game significantly easier. (And in fact the vast majority of the DLC items lose their massive advantages by the end of the 4th act and are out-performed by upgraded 5th act or post-game equipment.)

It does have a few downsides I'll admit. It is very slow to start and early on characters are incredibly fragile leading to considerable frustration if you don't know what you are doing and attempting a first run hardmode playthrough to get access to all the endgame content as fast as possible. Additionally you will need some quest area grinding to unlock certain titles that give you recipes and special unlocks.

More a game for those with some patience rather than instant gratification.

I'm enjoying my playthrough of Agarest: Generations of War.

Now, you might wonder why I'm not recommending it but enjoying it at the same time. I think the short answer is simply that I don't think many other people would enjoy it. It's a fine line to walk, Agarest has its highs, but it also has a *very* deep low.

Let's get that negative out of the way first:

Combat.

The combat is visceral and flashy. The "Combo" system is well designed and extremely satisfying. It's *really* close to being an absolutely awesome combat-oriented game...but it's not, and this is due to one critical flaw:

Every map is the same.

Yes, every battle map is exactly the same. It's a flat 20x40 (or whatever) area. There's no elevation, there's no obstacles, and besides backdrop changes (used sparingly, I might add) every battle is exactly the same. I've got some experience in tactical tile based games coming into this and I was expecting something along the lines of Final Fantasy Tactics, Disgaea, Vandal Hearts, or even Vanguard Bandits. The first battle started and I saw how the combat played out and I was extremely impressed! Excellent animations and attacks that felt *extremely* powerful and were visually satisfying. I was pumped to see a "real" map to try out after what I assumed was the training map of a flat grid. But the next battle was the same, and the one after that, ad infinitum.

And this makes combat very boring.

Luckily, there's an "auto-battle" system in place. You simply let the game fight for you! So I don't even need to grind out the terribly repetitive combat.

And that's where I've found enjoyment in this title. I spend time setting up my team, leveling them, equipping them, setting up everything and then when I enter combat I pick up my book and read while the game fights for me. I glance up every once in awhile and watch the pretty explosions go off.

The storyline is decent, and it has a real "epic" feel with the different generations you play in. Reminded me of something like Saga Frontier 2. The character interactions in between battles I also found to be enjoyable. Also, controller support is perfect.

It's just that the combat is so awefully repetitive. If you're like me and can enjoy a game even if the combat is really grindy and repetitive then Agarest might be for you to "play" while you vacuum your living room floor. Otherwise look for a different tile-based combat title, it's definitely not like what you were hoping for in that department.

First off: If you intend to play this game, increase the FPS to 45, at least. The game biggest downfall is that is is..slow. 30 FPS near the end may take you quite a while for every fight vs a few mins with 45-60 FPS.

Now, as for what works, the game remind me of diagaea and the idea of aging and new generations taking over is great. The game plays well, the combo and turn system is as good as any and the few bits of fan service may be appreciated or disliked depending on who's playing. The system is easy to get used to and the story, while not overly fleshed out will get a few good or even funny moments in. The out of combat moments, beside walking in the world map and towns, play like a japanese novel game. It is a decent buy for Tactical rpg fans.

P.S. disable most DLC on first play for a more balanced experience (bonus gold and ressources is fine, saves form farming).

-Lost

A tyrannical nation is invading a smaller, less militarized country in order to eliminate its citizens. You are a hero trying to save that country, by reaching out to potential allies and fighting the good fight on the frontline. By battling monsters and enemy soldiers, the hero grows stronger with each skirmish, gaining more and more confidence along the way. But the war is still ongoing and the longer it drags on, more innocents will be exposed to the pain and suffering that accompanies it.

So why am I currently sitting in a hot spring trying to woo over my female companions? Isn’t there a bloody war going on? Shouldn’t we be helping people? Geez, we must have a lot of spare time on our hands. No wonder the war has lasted this long.

Developed by Compile Heart out of Japan, Agarest: Generations of War is a strategy-RPG that follows five generations of male protagonists as they seek to bring peace to the world. Each hero is confronted with a new quest that in some way causes chaos, and he goes on a journey to gather companions and solve the problem at hand. Very traditional fantasy tropes and clichés are present throughout the story, yet it is not so much of a detriment as it is an expectation. If you were looking for an innovative and original story, please continue your search for another game that will satisfy your definitions.

Yet what Agarest lacks in terms of story it makes up for in how it is structured. Put simply, as you play through the game you have to romance and win over the hearts of at least one of your female companions in each generation. Whomever you choose in each generation affects both how the next protagonist will look like and what kind of character archetype they operate under. Romance a rogue in the first generation and the protagonist in the second generation will wear a red suit of armor and wield daggers in battle. And since Agarest contains multiple fantasy races, including multiple kinds of elves, your children will inherit characteristics of those races should you choose one of them for marriage.

It is a great, albeit limited feature that helps Agarest stand out from other RPG’s currently on the market. But one of the main difficulties that I encountered when reviewing the game stems from the dating sim elements that are incorporated into the story. Agarest contains content, especially during the romance scenes, that could be classified as erotic. Now in practice, the most erotic content that can be found within the game is a shot of cleavage or female characters wearing skimpy outfits that have no practical use. It’s most definitely not a game that could be rated PG, yet it’s not even close to being called a porn game.

So what’s the problem with that? If the content is not pornographic, why do you need to worry? Because by not tilting to one extreme or the other, Agarest ends up feeling like it’s trying to have the best of both worlds. It wants to be edgy, but also wants to be tame in order to obtain a larger audience. This means that the more adult scenes ended up feeling extremely childish, and makes them laughable in their attempts to be mature.

Beyond the romantic elements within the game, Agarest is from top to bottom your classic strategy RPG. You move around the world map via nodes that connect towns and fields together, and you enter battles either through random encounters in dungeons or entering battle nodes that are found on the map. Battles themselves are based around chaining together attacks between allies in order to create special combo attacks that deal more damage or to simply use as many attacks as possible to eliminate an enemy quickly. It’s functional combat that encourages experimentation and repetition in order to hone your skills. More often than not, however, I found myself rushing through battles in order to experience more of what the story has to offer.

Unfortunately, the story happens to move at an extremely slow pace. Whenever I encountered a story node in the first act for example, I received anywhere from one to five minutes of talking before being forced to spend 15 minutes in battles in order to reach the next cut scene. If the story didn’t move like a sloth, I would be far more inclined to enjoy the battles which make up the core of the game.

Another detriment to the battle system is the incredibly lackluster terrain in which you fight on. Every map is on a flat grid with no height or terrain advantages to speak of, meaning everyone fights on the same flat plain no matter what. And while the background may change from say a forest to a mountain every so often, it doesn’t help the fact that it remains remarkably boring. The characters and their sprites themselves are far more detailed, and they remain a constant positive at every point in the game.

Agarest: Generations of War has an interesting central concept that never manages to create anything special with the tools it has available. While the dating sim portions of the game do succeed, even if they are overly awkward, the slow pace of the storyline combined with a lack of clear innovation does more harm than good. But, if you want to play an RPG that will last you an extremely long time, and are unconcerned with its pace, then you could do far worse than this.


Be sure to check out Nerd House Gaming for more reviews!

This game has received criticism and praise from members of the Steam community and elsewhere, so I thought I'd put my two bits in.

Characters - Very Good
Despite a massive cast of around 35 party characters and at least 40 more supporting characters, they managed to make each character distinct, someting I, as an amateur writer, found quite impressive. Murmina ftw. 5/5

Generations - Mostly Good
One of the most interesting parts of this game was the different sections of the world that you explored over time, and each place with a different descendant. Ultimately the game if divided into five different stories, each 24-30 hours long. The generations also vary greatly in quality, from really good (Gen 3) to really bad (Gen 2). For the most part it managed to keep things interesting over the ~140 hours this game takes to complete. 4/5.

Story - Somewhat Good
The game's story is mostly character-driven, with the plot itself being a somewhat cliche "Forces of Light Vs. Forces of Darkness" routine. I personally found the story enjoyable in tis own way, albeit somewhat monotonous at times. If you came here thinking Agarest is like Final Fantasy Tactics you're in for an unpleasant surprise. 3/5

Combat - Somewhat Good
For a game that has so much combat, the system seems somewhat half-baked. Most battles are on a static, flat arena with your party on one end and the enemies on the other. The game has an innovative way of attacking, requiring that you create formations so you can layer on immense combos and artes. I found the whole arte component quite well done, leaving me with no shortage of fancy combinations I could use. However, there became little point when I started to uncover artes like Abyssal Fear, which can literally wipe the entire enemy party with little effort. I would strongly reccomend looking at a guide for the combat system, since the tutorial is pretty bad and it took me forever to learn how to not lose at least one party member per fight. 3/5

Turn System - Mixed
Not much to say here. By fighting battles and the like on the world map, a turn counter increases its count. While there are some events and the like that can only be viewed before a certain turn count is reached, it has little effect overall. 3/5

Fan Service - Mostly Bad
If you've ever googled any of the Agarest games, what you'll get is a flurry of pictures of scantily clad women, not pics of the battles or story. This game just has that much service. While most of it can be avoided, there is always a suggestive scene at the end of each generation (except maybe the last). The fan service even reaches the point where it begins to subtract from the overall plot, and can be just plain tasteless. 2/5

Crafting - Bad
This is one of the game's biggest criticisms. The crafting system is very counterintuitive, requiring the player to remember what each item converts into and remember which enemy drops which items. Most of the time I need a guide just to figure out how to make the simplest weapons. If they improved their logistics and made some items easier to farm then I would have a much more enjoyable time upgrading my gear. 1.5/5

Dungeons - REALLY BAD
A part of the game I really wish they'd left out. The dungeons are lackluster and sparsely populated with aesthetics; the rooms are used and re-used from a small set of templates, sometimes with minor modifications to make them look different. You can run through any dungeon virtually unopposed, since the time until an encounter is reset in a new room, making dungeons a bland 10-15 minute hike if you put in any effort to avoid random encounters, some of which can take a full minute or longer. Some dungeons, like Gen 3's Frozen Woods, are way too confusing without a map and require a guide or a good deal of luck to navigate them with any success. 0.01/5

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Overall - Mostly Good
All in all, this is a decent game considering its length. If it happens to be on a 50% off sale or better, there's really no good reason why you shouldn't try this game.

My advice, though: Have a walkthrough handy. It makes the entire experience more enjoyable.

7/10

Only for those that are fitting for the extremely long, JRPG feel, this game is for you! Multiple generations and character choices that affect your story throughout. If you want this, I hope you have time, patience, and a desire for games with that old "Tales of Phantasia" Or "Final Fantasy Tactics Advance" feel.

If you came here expecting some game like final fantasy tactic,you came to the wrong place

but if you expecting something like utawarerumono or tears to tiara,this is the one for you

a VN,strategy turn based game,you can choose your side,be it in the darkness,or light,have fun repeating this game to see each kind of story

Let me be clear: I thought long about actually purchasing it and the reason for that were the negative reviews. The reason why I still bought it in the end were the positive reviews, where almost everyone with a (seemingly) sense for this kind of games said it is still worth it.

After picking it up and playing some: I have to disagree! I am used to grinding a lot, I am used to face the same enemies in a row for some battles. But I am definitely not used to what this game wanted to do to me. The battles got repetitive after the second one! Yes, the second battle after the tutorial was already: "Oh, exactly the same enemies ... well, I guess I will do the same thing as last time then ..."

This is a really bad omen. But I continued, having glanced at the combination-system in battles, the item-upgrading and stuff and the character development.

I also had some weapons from some DLC's or so (The game doesn't tell you anything...) which were 10x as powerful as your other stuff. Which means I kept onehitting everything (I play on hard) with the characters that can equip such a weapon and couldn't deal any damage with all the other characters. I now know those weapons can be disabled, but seriously? This is such bad design, it is stunning!

There are issues on so many levels with the game that I really can't recommend it to even the biggest JRPG-fan. The combat-system has some potential, but the way you should be slowly approaching this potential is done so horribly wrong, I am not even interested in encountering this part of the game anymore. And that doesn't happen a lot with me. The story itself seems okay to me, however the way you interact with it is strange. Sometimes your girls ask you which one you like more. No problems in determining how each one of them reacts. But there are other decisions where you (as you don't really know enough) just decide something and then ".... ah, she likes me more. No idea why, but it said affection up WOW".

The next thing is the weird look. I don't know who had the idea to have the characters in a 2d pixel-style and the surroundings in a 3D modern look. With very poor details, by the way. It would help (and probably be a lot easier to make even) to have this consequent. By the way, this grass / wood- type area you fought in in the tutorial in a forest (where it makes sense) will reappear anywhere. Unless you are in a cave, then the area is in a cave and rocky. However, the are always looks the same. Oh, you were on a road, let me make that a forest clearing for you so we can use this area again. Really, this played a huge part in the repetitive feeling I got after some fights.

I am going to play some more tens of hours of Ogre battles now because that is how you do tactical and challenging combat with options! Or Fire Emblem, because I feel that even this brings me to care for the characters a lot more than agarest did. Which, in the end, is one of the worst things that can happen in such a game.

Overall, I can't really explain why I feel this bad about Agarest. Maybe because I was doubting first, then decided to go for it and am pretty disappointed now. Maybe the points I listed are really all big flaws or the game just doesn't suit me. I just feel that there are better JRPGs concerning combat, better ones concernign the overall story and plot and especially better ones in making me care about my characters. Which, as I said before, is normally where the incentive in those games lies.

First Review and really wanted to get people into this game so I had to do it for Record of Agarest War. This game is an amazing tactical JRPG. It has the feel of Final Fantasy Tactics with the Story of a good Persona or Bioware game. I have over 350+ Hours clocked on this game for my Xbox 360. Beating it a total of 5-6 times. Including the Hard True ending mode. The stats, end game content, and choices allow for excellent replayability. The stats you can build on each character maxes out similar to Disgaea. I bought it on steam to show support for the gaming company with JRPG's being rare over here in America, and us not getting the Agarest War 2 on the 360. I'm happy to see this game, War Zero here, and Agarest War 2 coming soon.

Most people dont like JRPG"s , and turn based ones even less , but the game is surprisingly good . The story is great , not extremely original , but well done , and the fighting system could be a bit more entertaining , but otherwise , a great game . The character drawing style is extremely unqiue in my opinion and I would love to see more games with a simlar drawing scheme .

Bought this game because I was really missing the Fire Emblem series/Final Fantasy Tactics and needed to play something similar.

Pros:
- Long with each generation having it's own story line.
- Very Replayable. Choice of mate influences future characters and different possible story outcomes with Dark/Light and turn meter. Can travel back to previous chapters once completed.
- Art is very nice.
- Crafting system allows for a lot of ways to change up gameplay.
- Combat system is and engaging/interesting. Being able to string moves together to make combos (including ultimate moves)

Cons:
- VERY VERY grindy. Party AI in auto-mode is very reckless and will not use skills/items in context (person with Rez skill would attack instead of ressurecting teammate). So you cannot trust automode.Some bossfights are just completely unfair at times due to what the game expects you to be for the boss fight vs what the monsters leading up the boss are actually at.
- Steep learning curve. There's a lot of game mechanics that don't have a lot of good explanation, and some things that look optional are essential for progression.
- DLC weapons are insanely overpowered at the start of the game.


Other:
- Fully voiced japanese audio (with english subtitles)
- DLC is very optional, but very OP when starting out.


I haven't beaten the game yet, but I'm well over 100 hours total. I'd like to get back into it, but I think next time I'll start out with the DLC items to speed the start of the game up. This game will definitely eat up time

7.75/10

I am a hardcore Final Fantasy Tactics fan. As such, I have searched over and over for a game of the same genre and style that can live up to it's hype. Due to this bias, games like it are harder than normal for me to review. Agarest: G of W is not a game on par, but it is undoubtedly an exceptionally well done and well thought out turn based tactics game. I admit, I did feel the story is both a strong and weak point, but the first campaign alone was beautiful. Worth a grab if you can get it for 20 or under.

Totally worth the money.
Enjoy all the epic fights, hidden scenes, special events and romance in this amazing game...

It gets harder on each generation and there are multiple choices you have to make, choices that will change the ending into either a good, bad or normal ending.
(NOTE: You can also get some nice looking pictures into your gallery... some are very interesting indeed, including half naked pictures of girls and hot bath tub pics. But those might be considered as nsfw.)

As a huge fan of Strategy J-RPG's in general, I can only recommend this game to anyone, even people who have never played something similar before.

The intro is easy to understand and spot on, the fighting system is something refreshing (in account to the "combo-attacks").

The story is acceptable, nothing too fancy.

What I really like about this game is that they designed parts of the game like visual novels. You have discussions with your team membres from time to time where you can answer accordingly. Also, your wive(s) in the game can be chosen like that. But you will have to see that for yourself.

i giv dis gaem a 8 outta 5.

It's done.

I'm free.

FREEEEEEEEEEE!

Waifu Simulator 2000x Weaboo Version 1.0 with some RPG gameplay elements.

This game has boobs in it 10/10

A little upset I purchased this one. I was very much hoping it would be similar to the Disgaea series of games for the Playstation, but I was wrong.

The main problem with this game is the somewhat dull plot and boring battles... You end up fighting many similar battles in the exact same way. They take a while to do, and you start to feel like going through the game's content is more about work than it is about having fun.

For this reason, I have to give this game a thumbs down. Any game that makes me feel like I'm doing work instead of having fun is a bad game. I have played a few JRPGs and found myself enjoying them for hours, but this one just doesn't do it for me...