Now things are getting interesting.��
Listed on Nintendos japanese site
IGN eyes on trailer and screens
A lone warrior chopping through an army of robotic warriors with an outsized Cloud Strife-like energy sword. Colossal war machines advancing though a misty canyon, shooting anything that moves. The few remaining human defenders hiding behind simple wooden shields that are no match for high-energy weapons. Welcome to the world of Monado.��
The debut trailer for Monado: Beginning of the World premiered today at E3: 2009, and first impressions for the new Wii RPG are that the beginning is going to be pretty exciting. Things kick off with that canyon-set battle, revealing more and bigger enemies with an interesting steampunk design. Things likely don't end well for our lone warrior, as we soon segue to a young blonde hero discovering that energy sword - now inert - only to see it flash blindingly to life the moment he picks it up. Your standard JRPG Hero's Journey (tm) is definitely in full effect here, with just a dash of King Arthur.��
Gameplay appears to be open-world, where you'll traverse lush jungles, glowing forests, climb sheer walls, and encounter the crumbling remains of a conquered people. It looks nicely textured and details pop, animating at what looks like a smooth 30 fps.��
Players will pick up two partners in their travels, and while combat initially looks turn-based, we saw all three party members attacking simultaneously. Transitions into combat are completely seamless; characters approach enemies, draw weapons, and it's on. One scene showed your team (wielding much smaller edged weaponry) surrounding a lizard-man enemy, who didn't make much of a dent in their lifebars before it was downed. A much larger lizard-man (a good twenty feet tall) and giant mutant crab monster probably fared better.
(back up link - check the japanese site first link in post for proper quality trailer)
Hit the HQ option.
Not sure, but you have plenty of areas left. But most of them are less open field and more 'dungeon' like. But even then you are not quite there yet. I say you are about half way.
Time to break the silence here.
I am 140 hours in level 78.
I fought against a boss that was level 75, I was the same level back then. But it did not matter what I did, I could not beat it. The problem is the shielding. It just takes ages to kill the thing because of its shielding. There are some orbs floating around, take them out and the shielding is gone, but those orbs have shielding too. And by the time you take one or two out, she respawns more of them. I tried everything to remove the shield but nothing worked. I tried fighting it and twice I got close, but the battle lasted for like 20 minutes! I did not feel like doing that again and again.
All the bosses so far where fun and I could even beat enemies that were like 6 levels above me, why can't I beat this one that is on the exact same level? There must be something wrong! I tried looking at the internet for strategies, but to no avail. Nothing, gamesfaq has some guides, but nothing about that perticular boss.
So I gave up and decided to do the brute force approach. Something that I did not have to do until now. Basically I will need to level up. Luckily this game has a ton of sidequests and you can level up that way, instead of grinding. So I am doing sidequest, there are a ton of areas open to me with level 90 enemies. I am also going around previous areas defeating monsters that used to be too strong. Like the giant baboon that walks around Gaurs Plain.
I actually defeated a monster that was 6 levels above me, by stipping one of the characters in his undies. Yeah you heard it right there is a character running around in its boxers owning people. I recently found out that when you find all the landmarks and locations in a map, the whole map will be revealed to you. So no need to hug walls and fill in a map that way. Wish I knew that before I swam around an ocean for an hour.
Besides that one boss this game is pretty much perfect.
Sort out that boss then tell us how to deal with him in detail. I haven't been able to play this week at all but I will get started again today or tomorrow.
Done some more sidequesting. I beat an boss like enemy that was seven levels above me! I did this by using strategy and clever gem use. I still can't understand how that boss can be such a handful, it does not make any sense. I also beat an enemy that was 8 levels above me.
I am now level 80 and 150 hours in, will do some more sidequest and kill more high level enemies later on.
I beat that infernal boss, by being 5 levels above it and decided to end the game. The bosses after that were much easier, not sure what happened there. The ending is awesome reminds me of a comic I read. Yoda would love the theme of this game. There is even room for a sequel if they want to do that. Will write down pro's and con's of the game later.
PROS and Cons
Pro
+Awesome and varied environments that are fun to explore
+Awesome Battle system
+Huge amount of content
+Addictive side missions
+The music. OMG at the music
+Depth in battle, strategy and customization
+Some sidequest require you to choose
+Story that looks like it is cliché, but throws curve balls at you
+Japanese voice acting is incredible, British is funny
+No annoying Emo characters
+Awesome rewards for completing sidequests
+No frustration in dying
Cons
-No Bestiary
-Most sidequest are a bit simple
-Sometimes difficult to find a certain person
-Almost impossible to find out who trades what without a guide
-Swimming could have been a bit faster
-Affinity raising between characters is too slow
-That one annoying boss
-character models look fugly up close
Verdict
Well let me tell it this way. I played Chrono Trigger and The World Ends With You shorty before playing this game. And it blows both of them away. GG usually does not like over complicated RPGs, but he can't stop playing.
So in short buy this game, it is awesome. One of the best RPGs ever.
I'm 60 hours in and on Valek mountain.
Don't like it much, pretty fugly but nice music.
Holy crap when that character appeared on P.Island!
Valak looks beautiful at night and there is some awesome story development there. I actually figured out that 'that person' will appear. You have not seen anything yet.
I don't like the way the camera puts you at jaunty camera angles on Valek.
Also, going down rather than up a mountain isn't that good as you can't see the landscape scaling in front of you. Sword valley is okay.
After Eryrth sea the environments seem more linear and not that interesting to explore.
The environments will now mostly be more dungeon-like and linear. The battles will become thougher and more interesting though. But there are still a ton of sidequest to do, just make sure you find all the collectables and fill up the map completely in sword valley and Galahad fortress before moving on.