A couple of years ago, I would have sternly refused to play
Pandora's Reflection without playing its two prequels first. But the times, they have a-changed; and since my gaming instinct was dead set on playing that game and wouldn't be swayed, I had no choice but to comply and play. And I'm glad I did, because I had an instant crush on
Pandora's Reflection. I mean, it was simply impossible
not to have a crush on an RPG that let me fight my first battle after two minutes and grind my party to level 15 in the first hour of play. It also looks deliciously PSP, with that unmistakable PSP fuzziness — and the annoying collateral effect that you cannot take screenshots. Last but not least, it has that telltale Sting quirkiness, with a weapon appraising system reminiscent of
Hexyz Force and a fighting system that's an uncanny mix of RTS-lite and QTE-meets-Rhythm game.
Back when I got my paws on the
Generation of Chaos PSP trilogy, I remember being annoyed by the fact that
PR was the only entry that didn't get a physical release on our shores; but now that I'm playing it, I somehow understand why. This is a
very bare-bones game whose development budget was probably close to non-existent: graphics are 16-bit level, the whole story is told through fixed screens with not a single cutscene in sight, and the gameplay is barely deeper than your average phone game. (On the other hand,
PR is fully voiced, which makes me question Sting's and IF's sense of priorities.) The series has been dormant ever since the release of
PR, so I guess that game was really Sting and IF trying to scrape enough money to give the series an ultimate instalment. Or maybe they wanted to ditch the series altogether and used that opportunity to go budget and try a couple of gameplay mechanics that were not typical of the series. Who knows?
At any rate, I'm enjoying that game. I love simple games as a rule, and I love grindy games as well; and given than
PR is both simple
and grindy, we very much have a match made in heaven there. It should surprise no one that I'm fighting Free Battles by the truckload, reaping metric tons of XP and fun in the process. But hey, how do you expect me to be fulfilled with one mere battle at a time? I know that's how SRPGs roll, but hey, I want
more. It should also surprise no one that my grinding focuses solely on Claude and Yuri and that I've been playing solely with these two so far: they were the first two characters introduced, and as far as I'm concerned, they are the game's true heroes. Everybody else is a mere extra that may not even stick around till the bitter end for all I know; so as long as the game doesn't go all
Luminous Arc on me by pitting me against a cheated boss, I'll cruise with Claude and Yuri alone. And mind you, I'm not sure I could play otherwise even if I wanted to; multitasking is not my strongest suit, and I already have enough trouble as it is keeping track of my duo's and their foes' manoeuvres without throwing extra units into the mix. So let's hope that Claude and Yuri alone
will do the trick and that I won't come back to you with
PR tidings involving extra units or untimely quitting, dear fellow gamers. Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!
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