Scratch That Strategy JRPG Itch With Agarest 2
A few years after consoles
Hello and welcome to this news post on Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Today we'll be telling you about Agarest: Generations of War 2 [official site], a tactical RPG from Japanese devs Idea Factory. Agarest 2 was released on Steam a couple of days ago.
That was all a bit matter of fact, wasn't it? Phew! I wasn't sure I could make it through an entire paragraph without breaking into sympathetic melodrama. But I did!
If you're unfamiliar with the Agarest series (Agarest: Generations of War in Europe, Record of Agarest War elsewhere), the gist is it's a TRPG which utilises dating sim elements in what is dubbed the, er, "Soul Breed" system. This basically means pursuing relationships between characters until a wild sexual congress appears, at which point their child inherits certain stats from them and becomes the protagonist of the next generation of characters.
The strategy side of things sounds interesting, with positioning and linking strikes being an important component of the game, although some players have grumbled about the pace and complexity of combat throughout the series. Such grumping aside, the developers have pedigree for this sort of thing: along with their parent company they've been making tactical/strategic RPGs for almost two decades. So forewarned is forearmed: if you're after something accessible and breezy this is probably not a game for you. If you're up for jumping a few cultural hurdles and getting stuck into something sprawling and demanding, this may be for you.
Here's a trailer which shows you absolutely nothing of the game itself, but does feature lots of anime characters, some with animated bosoms. Oh dear.
