Written By:
Patrick Orquia
TITLE: The Alliance Alive
DEVELOPER: FuRyu
PUBLISHER: Atlus USA
GENRE: JRPG
NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1
RELEASE DATE: 22 June 2017 (JP)/27 March 2018 (Worldwide)
PLATFORM: 3DS system
PRICE: $39.99
The
Alliance Alive is a JRPG for the Nintendo 3DS developed by FuRyu, the makers of
the Legend of Legacy, also a JRPG for the 3DS released in 2015, and published by
FuRyu in Japan and Atlus USA worldwide. Like most other JRPGs, the player must
control a party of characters as they traverse a world full of monsters and
other enemies and fight bosses, with interesting twists and turns to encounter
along the way. But unlike other JRPGs, the developers of this game included
unique elements to make it stand out from the rest.
The game is
about an unnamed world where humans and Beastfolk live that got invaded by otherworldy beings
called Daemons more than 1000 years ago. The Daemons put up a barrier around
the world which causes the blue sky to turn dark and a malignant flow of energy
called the Dark Current to settle in the oceans, causing the five realms of the
world to get cut off from one another. A girl named Azura wants to see the blue
sky again, or at least a picture of it, as she has never seen it before. Her
childhood friend Galil joined her, and together, they are tasked by a
resistance group called the Night Ravens to embark on a journey to resolve the
mystery of their world. As they travel, they meet other people belonging to different
resistance groups, or Guilds, living in towers scattered across the land. These
Guilds assist them in providing items and equipment, allowing them to rest, and
provide them additional info on where to go next. They also help in battles via
the Telegraph system. If they start a battle near these towers, they may get
additional assistance, like stunning enemies or making them have stronger
attacks. Azura and Galil reached the Ancient Museum, which possibly holds some
answer to their questions. Here, the group see a picture of the blue sky, and
they also recovered an artifact that looks like a mirrored cross. As they continue with their travels,
the mirrored cross apparently summoned an ark called the Brionac that crashed unto
the shore. The Brionac can allow them to travel through Dark Current to explore
the rest of the world. But their story is just one piece of the puzzle, and
other characters, who also have their own separate stories to tell, intertwine
with that of Azura and Galil’s, and more adventures are yet to unfold.
This unique
narrative style of the game allows the player to control a party of up to nine characters
from separate yet intertwining storylines. These party characters can be one of
the three races in the game: humans, Beastfolk, or Daemons. The game is divided
into chapters, with multiple chapters tackled by different sets of characters,
and these characters eventually join forces to create an ultimate group. The
battle system is turn-based, with the overworld showing the enemies roaming on
the map, which allows the player to either ignore or fight them. Multiple group
enemies can be fought in battles via the Battle Chains system, depending on how
many enemies that the party gets in contact with on the overworld. These group
of enemies must be fought one after another, given that the party is successful
from the preceding one. If the party gets wiped out, it’s game over, and the
game can be loaded from the last save point (either via saving the game from
inns or after significant game events or saving anytime in the game via the
dedicated save button on the 3DS touchpad)
The
leveling up system is quite unique, in which it is the Arts and Sigils (attacks
and spells, respectively) that level up instead of the characters themselves.
The more an Art or a Sigil is used in battles, the faster they level up and the
stronger they become. Some Arts and Sigils may use up SP (spirit/special
point). Additional Arts can also be learned via the Awakening system, as more
battles are fought, while Sigils can be learned by equipping Etheracts (weapons
with accompanying spells) or by buying them from certain NPCs. Additionally, Sorcery spells, similar to
Sigils but can only be used by Beastfolk, Daemons, and monsters, can also be
acquired the same way. After each successful battle, the characters may level
up Arts or gain more HP, SP, items, money, or talent points. Talent points are
used to improve weapon characteristics, acquire additional abilities, or learn
new Arts faster. This encourages the player to fight more battles. Also, after
every battle, HP and SP gain back lost points gradually, even for those who
fall in battle (i.e., their HP reaches zero). Certain characters may have
abilities to heal other characters or themselves, or they can use items to heal
or to add buffs like stronger attacks or defense. These items must be equipped by characters
for them to use in battles, the same way as gears and weapons are equipped. It
may come as an inconvenience as characters can only use limited items on battle
but this also encourages the player to plan ahead.
Each
character also has a special attack gauge that gradually fills up as they fight
battles. When this gauge gets filled, the character enters the Ignition State,
wherein the character can unleash a very powerful Final Strike attack. This
type of attack is so powerful that it breaks that character’s weapon that is used
for the attack. After the attack is successfully perfomed, the gauge goes back
to zero and the cycle starts again. This Final Strike may come as an equalizer
in battles, especially against a powerful boss, since healing and the use of
healing items are limited. This type of attack must only be used in moderation
or only during dire situations, as it can leave the character with a broken
weapon, aside from the fact that it will take a long time for the special gauge
to get filled again. Any broken weapon can be fixed upon resting in inns,
however, so there is no need to buy the same weapon again.
Weapons and
gears can be upgraded as the game progresses. Town and towers usually have
dedicated NPCs selling wares (weapons, gears, Sigils, Sorcery spells, items) and
they can also buy those that the player no longer needs. Certain gears offer
additional benefits, like added resistance to the elements, having more attack
or defense, or other
buffs, so it’s up to the player to mix and match defending on the environment
or battle strategy.
The
non-linear narrative style is something that is not seen frequently in RPGs. It
provides different points of view of the same story that makes the player see
why certain things happen and also see the different motivations of different characters toward a common goal. Also,
the unusually big number of characters that comprise the party offers much
diversity in terms of game style, attacks, attributes, and characteristics.
These characters can be further customized with different weapons (the player
can choose from swords, great swords, staves, bows, and shields (the characters
also have separate unarmed Arts)), gears (body armors, headgears, footwear, and gloves, plus
accessories that provide additional buffs and special attributes), and the
aforementioned talents. They can also be positioned in different formations
that could provide the most advantage during battles, depending on the play
style of the player.
Overall,
this game is excellent and very enjoyable to play. Despite it not being in 3D
(getting pretty common nowadays on new releases even for the 3DS system) or the
complete absence of voice acting, The Alliance Alive has a lot to offer that
makes itself stand out from other JRPGs. The level and character design,
soundtrack, and story are all top-notch. It may not be the best, but this might
as well be the last great JRPG that will be released for the 7-year old 3DS system
from a third party publisher that has consistently provided good games all
these years.
REPLAY VALUE:
high
PROS:
- Awesome story and narrative style
- Very good and diverse soundtrack
- Amazing open-world level design
- The character design is chibi-styled and it works well in the game
- Unique leveling up system
- Battle speed can be toggled up to 4x of the normal speed
- Attacks can be set to auto (makes the characters perform the same attacks/moves that they last performed)
- Not much grinding is needed, but if ever the player opts to do it, the battle speed toggle and auto attack option make battles less tedious or repetitive
- The 3DS touchpad is used very effectively, constantly showing the in-game map and dedicated buttons for saving and menu options
- The complex game customization system may get too cumbersome, even to those who have progressed further into the game, but this allows the player to plan ahead better and get the most advantage that the game can offer
CONS:
- (Mostly) Not in 3D. The opening screen is in 3D and some 3D effects are also used in the menu showing status of characters, but none in the main game itself. The visuals could have been improved with 3D effects and it is such a disappointment that 3D is not utilized
- Complete lack of voice acting. Though this isn’t really necessary, but it is quite expected for an RPG of this scale to have voice acting, even on a limited scale
RATING: 4.5/5 Awakenings
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