Nakor’s Rucksack

Synopsis

An engaging blend of exposition and game play. Although developed early in the PS2’s life and likely intended to be a showcase for the PS2’s “next generation” power, it also turned out to be a great game.

Platform

Playstation 2

Rating

8/10

Pros

• Interseting plotline and characters. Often, more questions will be raised than answered as the game progresses.
• Interesting character development. At the beginning, there is an set path for each character to follow. As the game progresses however, each character can be freely customized, given enough time and patience.
• Massive amount of content. I finished the game with 100+ hours on my savegame, and I certainly did not do everything. As an example, I was nowhere near powerful enough to defeat many of the monsters in the Arena.
• Fun, strategic combat system. Although only three party members engage at any one time, you can switch between them when needed.
• Customizable weapons and armor. This is pretty fun to mess around with, although you really can’t do much with it until late in the game.

Cons

• Excessive random encounters. This will drive you insane. Later in the game, you can get an item which inhibits random encounters, but until then, expect to be attacked. A lot. It sometimes becomes a chore trying to get to the next savepoint.
• Stiff animation in the “in-game” cutscenes. Characters sometimes literally move like robots. The only reason I mention it is because the “cinematic” cutscenes are so beautiful and it’s jarring when they switch back to the in-game cutscenes.
• Annoying mini-games. To obtain the ultimate weapon for some characters, it is required that you play (and “beat”) these games. They are fun for the first few times, but quickly get annoying.
• Main plot is somewhat easy. All of the really (insanely) hard monsters are in the Monster Arena. The endboss was quite easy for my team. However, this could have been because I spent a lot of time in the Arena getting materials to build custom equipment.
• “Hidden” chests. The designers of this game must have thought they were really clever hiding chests in places where you can’t see them because of the camera angle. They were wrong; it’s just annoying.
• Al Bhed is a language in the game that is initially unknown to you. You find Al Bhed inscriptions and speakers throughout the game. You gradually learn this language, but unfortunately, this means you have to play the game again to actually read most of the messages. I felt like I was missing out, but I couldn’t justify playing the game again just to see those messages. Also, the “primers” that you need to learn the language are typically in “hidden” chests, so I missed a lot of them.
• Massive amount of content. You will never find everything in this game without a walkthrough; even with a walkthrough, I missed some stuff. I suppose that encourages re-play, but I’ve got so many games and so little time, I can’t really justify re-playing these types of games.

Summary

Although there are some annoyances, this is a game worth playing. Fans of Final Fantasy will see plenty of influence from other FF games here. This is the first Final Fantasy game that I have completed, so I probably missed quite a few of the references. I would recommend playing the game on a regular basis, so you don’t forget too much of the plot between sessions. Since this game is ancient, it’s also dirt cheap. Go buy a copy and play it.