Dungeon crawlers are probably one of gaming’s most old types of games. Apart from the simplistic nature of some, others bring to mind visuals inside castles and undergrounds which oftentimes signify lack of technology and therefore an indicator of their long existence. Ray Gigant, with its modern approach and its graphics which are incredibly reminiscing of those of anime, tries to redefine the genre as one which is fresh and appeals to newer generations of gamers.
Previously released only in Japan, the game was pretty popular before it made its way westwards, so it raised quite a bit of awareness when its localisation was made official. It already promised something fresh to the genre, and it certainly kept its promises even when finally releasing in English. Basically, the premise of the game is as simple as they come, and it is also quite cliché too; the setting of the game is futuristic Japan, and obviously these massive creatures have decided to set their sights on our beloved home planet and invade it, so it is now up to a group of teenagers with some sort of supernatural powers to save the world. Pretty original right? Jokes apart, if the game was simply a matter of story, it would have already been dumped for ever in the reals of forgottenland. Luckily, it is not.
This is because Ray Gigant, behind all of its anime visuals and story as linear as a straight line, hides quite an interesting battle system which takes the game to a whole new level. Battles take place in the standard, turn based format which gamers have come to know and love, but Ray Gigant introduces a new mechanic which imposes quite a substantial limit on the possible actions which can be carried out. Briefly, the whole squad uses an AP meter, and every time a character commits to an action, this AP meter decreases according to the cost of said action. So far so good. Where it all takes an impactful twist is that this AP meter is shared among the whole squad, so it becomes a matter of micro management to successfully use the bare minimum AP to win a battle and leave enough for the next battle. Luckily, there is a wait command in the battle itself which lets a party member idle for a turn to recover a set amount of AP, which can be used simoultaneously on different characters at once to regain significant portions of Action points to then unleash your attacks on the Gigants, which as we have not said before, are these huge titans who are threatening to extinguish life on planet earth. Another method of regaining AP, which is far more satisfying than waiting around, is to defeat the Gigants in the first few turns of a battle, netting you a bonus which slowly disappears as you battle the enemies.
As mentioned before, the narrative of the story is honestly very plain and predictable, but it still is entertaining enough to keep the ones who manage to stick to the game to the end. Dialogue is carried out in normal, talking portraits, which suits the game but is a bit awkward since it fails to deliver the action which is happening in real time in the game. Conversely, the game’s soundtrack does discretely enough to bring out a better tone to the game, to make gamers enjoy more anything which is not battle related.
As mentioned a couple of times earlier, the Ray Gigant hits a couple of excellent points while also nearly missing another one. The story is very linear and will not surprise even a hermit who’s been away from civilisation for half a decade. The things which it does get right though, meaning the pleasing visuals and aesthetics and the deep and intelligent battle system will have gamers hooked and will keep them coming back for more.
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