We store cookies, you can get more info from our privacy policy.
3DS

North America

Unchained Blades

by Carmine Red - May 9, 2012, 8:54 am EDT
Total comments: 7

It's all too tempting to lose oneself in this RPG's dungeons when it has so many features, mechanics, and zany characters.

The promotional materials for Unchained Blades keep comparing it to Wizardry, the classic first-person series of dungeon crawling games. I have to confess, I haven't played the Wizardry games, but after my short time demoing Unchained Blades, I can't help but feel I must've missed out. Point me to a Wizardry game where I can recruit monsters to aid my party in battle, mine resources and craft new items and gear, and help a fallen dragon-lord-turned-human exact revenge on the whimsical goddess who cursed him, and I'll get right on it!



I suppose the main reason for Unchained Blades’ connection to Wizardry is genre: both are in the retro category of first-person dungeon crawler RPGs. This means that when exploring the multi-floored dungeons in Unchained Blades, you have a first-person view of the rooms you move through, and the entire dungeon is essentially a grid you progress through one space at a time. You'll come across treasure, locked doors, puzzles, hidden resources, and even other characters as you steadily explore the monster-filled dungeons, and the urge to obsessively explore and map every nook and cranny is definitely a large appeal of the game.

But despite the emphasis on exploration, it doesn't look like players need to worry about getting lost. As you explore the world on the 3DS's top screen, the bottom screen automatically maps out every corner of the dungeon you've visited and every point of interest you come across, sometimes even emitting a visual pulse around your location to show you're getting close to some hidden secret. I never became stuck in the dungeon I explored; I could leave by finding the original entrance, using special items to exit immediately, or using a special crystal I found set up in the dungeon. Back at town, I could select different locations to visit in order to buy new items and armor, sell treasure, and rest at the inn. Town also offered me the opportunity to talk to NPCs, pick up and complete optional side quests, or even craft new gear out of resources I'd harvested in the dungeons.

These additional features add some much-needed spice to dungeon exploring and monster battling. The optional side quests added secondary objectives to my dungeon gameplay, and once I figured out what I needed to do I actually revisited a dungeon with precisely the intent to complete one of my beginner quests. Crafting proved a wonderful diversion as well, since the dungeons are littered with hidden resource mining areas for me to seek out; maybe if I pay attention to what I'm collecting, I can save some money and craft better equipment for my party.

The game's backstory mysteriously refers to the dungeons as "titans."

The monsters in Unchained Blades add a different dimension to the game's random battles. Instead of simply defeating everything you come across, you occasionally get the chance to recruit monsters to join and battle alongside your characters. Represented during battles as small portraits next to those of your characters (their "masters”), these monsters occasionally boost character attacks or even block enemy attacks directed at your character. The latter is, frankly, a welcome occurrence.. It quickly became clear to me while playing that it would be worthwhile to manage the monsters each character in my party kept as pets; they could easily tip a battle in my favor when correctly handled. In fact, I even came across a challenge in the game that wasn't a regular RPG encounter, but an automated battle of my followers against dungeon monsters combined with a fast-paced rhythm game. Since even your own pets have important stats , it's easy to imagine that a player who cared could discover an additional layer of depth in managing the monsters you let come along for the ride.

But wait, there's more! After battles, players are occasionally presented with a remark one of these pets makes to the character it follows. The game offers four different responses for the characters, and depending on whether you pick the "right" or "wrong" response, your character or monster's stats might go up or down. This comes on top of each character's regular stat and level progression, as well as each character's personal skill tree of abilities.

This mechanic shows that, despite all this gameplay depth, a huge portion of Unchained Blades is the story, and characters involved in it. The main story revolves around the transformation of a powerful dragon emperor into human form by a whimsical goddess he's been disrespectful towards. In fact, the player’s party is filled with monsters of one shape or another—most of them are just in their childhood forms like the main character. The world of Unchained Blades is populated by clans of monsters like dragons, golems, or medusae, but they must all go through a humanoid "fledgling" form when they're young before they transform into their more traditional monstrous incarnations. This is why the main character, the dragon emperor, is so riled up: he used to be a powerful dragon, but has now essentially been trapped back in the less-powerful body of his humanoid youth!

The game's main character, before his untimely transmogrification.

The interactions of these zany characters and their monster followers throughout the story could be another way to keep players glued to the game for hours. They're certainly a collection of personalities, but that's not surprising given this interesting fact about the game's development: the game's main characters were actually each designed by individual artists from the Japanese anime, manga, and video game communities. A smattering of the titles the artists are known from include the Shining series of games, the Lunar series, Bastard!!, and Someday’s Dreamers. It's also worth noting that famed ex-Square Enix composer Nobuo Uematsu, of Final Fantasy fame, contributed the game's theme song.

It's almost a little exhausting to describe this game; just an hour spent with the title exposed me to countless examples of game mechanics, backstory mythos, and development trivia. But it's impossible to end these demo impressions without mentioning one last thing about the game: it will be released as a downloadable eShop title later this spring for the 3DS. It was originally a retail 3DS release when it came out in Japan, but somehow XSEED is planning to cram all that game, and all that voice acting, into a digital download. They don't know just how many blocks of memory on the 3DS that's likely to take up, but I think it's safe to assume it'll be a lot.

I personally can't wait to find out.

Talkback

Fatty The HuttMay 10, 2012

Sounds very cool indeed.
Really interesting that it's a download. Wonder how the pricing will go? I guess this will presage the "full retail game" downloads Nintendo will soon be introducing (August for NSMB2).
Very interested in this.

Quote from: Fatty_The_Hutt

Sounds very cool indeed.
Really interesting that it's a download. Wonder how the pricing will go? I guess this will presage the "full retail game" downloads Nintendo will soon be introducing (August for NSMB2).
Very interested in this.

Maybe this will be the most expensive eShop game yet? It was essentially a retail game in Japan.

Chocobo_RiderMay 11, 2012

Awesome write-up, Kairon.

I also can not WAIT for this game!!!!!

MorcantMay 13, 2012

Sounds kind of interesting, like Skyrim-lite. Yay, I was the first person to draw the Skyrim comparison!

Chocobo_RiderMay 13, 2012

Yea, I came back and read this again.  I can't wait for this game.  Hope the price is sensible.


Is it wrong for me to say that I end up walking away from preview events and game demos incredibly hyped for the games I'm supposed to cover? I've already resolved to DL this day one!

NintendoFanboyMay 14, 2012

Dl exclusive? HUH? if no US retail release, will it have to be $40? or can xseed get nintendo to let them sell it for 25 or 30

Share + Bookmark





UnchainBlades ReXX Box Art

Genre RPG
Developer FuRyu
Players1

Worldwide Releases

na: Unchained Blades
Release Jan 03, 2013
PublisherXseed Games
RatingTeen
jpn: UnchainBlades ReXX
Release Jul 14, 2011
PublisherFuRyu
Rating12+

Related Content

Got a news tip? Send it in!
Advertisement
Advertisement