You can avoid battles if needed, because you can actually see where the monsters are (Other RPGs take note), and if you do decide that you want to tear the monster's a new one, you have several new ways of doing it. Thanks to analog controls, you can push gently towards the enemy, sneak up behind it, and attack him without the monster realising you are there, giving you a huge advantage in battle - not to mention an achievement if you do it 100 times. Who would have thought an RPG would take on Splinter Cell elements?
Also, you don't have to fight just one monster at a time like you do in most games. If you push the RT button, you can bring up an attack ring, and select multiple monsters to fight at once. These monsters might help each other and attack you, or they will start a "Monster Fight," kill each other, allowing you to obliterate whatever is left after they fight. It's such a simple little addition but it works so beautifully. Fighting in this fashion makes enemies seem to have their own personality, and differentiates the hundreds of enemy types considerably.
Once you've decided what you're going to fight and how you're going to fight it, you're led into the Battle System. Like the rest of the game, at first glance it seems like it's been ripped out of every other game, but there are neat little features added in to evolve the mechanics. You can either attack normally or charge up an attack for more damage. The longer you charge, the longer it takes for you to get your next turn, and actually changes the turn order.
This give-and-take can totally change how battles are fought and won. You can also assign formations across your five characters, placing your fighters in the front line, and your support characters in the back, reducing their damage, but also reducing their strength and range. Also, your characters aren't restricted to gaining experience in any particular class, so you can teach fighters to use white magic, or assassins to learn barrier attacks, or anything else that your current battle requires - another great feature, which really opens up your options.
When your battle is done, and you've come out the other side of it relatively unscathed, if you jump into another battle, you can get a combo bonus! The more battles you fight in consecutively, the more chance you have of getting a random bonus. This could be restoring your health and magic, increasing an attribute, or learning a new spell. Also, your experience is multiplied by the amount of consecutive battles you fought.
Article comments
1 - Michael
I love these in depth reviews. makes my decision whether to buy the game or not that much easier & this looks like one game I'll be paying out for. many thanks.
2 - Andrew Ogier
Thanks Michael, I try to cover all the important aspects (both good and bad) in my reviews, and with a game as expansive as BD, then that means the reviews can get a little lengthy.
Some people like the long ones, and some prefer more of a "snapshot" review...but I always try to write about what I would think is important as a consumer, and that means covering some of the little details, as well as the big picture. I'm glad you agree.
Happy Holidays, and I hope you enjoy BD as much as I did.