Product Description

Cross Edge features characters and storylines from popular franchises including: Darkstalkers, Disgaea, Mana Khemia, and Spectral Souls. Cross Edge is action-packed with memorable characters, amazing items, and over-the-top battles to deliver an once-in-a-lifetime gaming experience.

Story
The story of Cross Edge follows the adventures of hero and heroine York Neely and Miki Aiba. Awaking in a strange world, they are soon sought out by a little girl named May. She tells them that the world around them was created from souls gathered from other worlds and that if this stealing of souls from other places does not stop, sooner or later those other places--that is reality--will disappear forever. To stop this from happening they will have to defeat this new world's evil master by releasing all the souls now confined to his nightmare world. To do this they will need all the special abilities that they possess, as well as the help they will gain from others that they meet on their travels.

Gameplay
Cross Edge is a traditional Japanese role-playing game complete with world map, random battles, level grinding, item combining/creation using alchemy, etc. It also features heroes and villains from game franchises published by Gust, Capcom, Nippon Ichi, Namco Bandai and Idea Factory. As players set about freeing the trapped souls supporting the nightmare world that they are stuck in, they engage in turn-based team battles. This is where the characters from previous games come in. Players must enlist them to join in party-based battles. Success in these battles is based on the ability to string together specific moves into chain attack sequences, which in turn unlock even stronger combinations when successful. Players can also increase their characters' stats and abilities by acquiring additional costumes called 'forms' and redressing their characters in them. Female characters physical a

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3612 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: Tecmo Koei
• Released on: 2009-09-25
• Platform: PLAYSTATION 3
• Format: Unknown format
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .26 pounds

Manufacturer's Description
Cross Edge is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between five major Japanese game publishers. Nippon Ichi Software, Capcom, Namco Bandai, Gust, and Idea Factory have joined forces to create a Strategy RPG unlike any other and exclusive to PlayStation 3.

Costume system that increases character potency. View larger.

Combo driven attack system. View larger.

Classic RPG level and stats. View larger.

Cross Edge features characters and storylines from popular franchises including: Darkstalkers, Disgaea, Mana Khemia, and Spectral Souls. Cross Edge is action-packed with memorable characters, amazing items, and over-the-top battles to deliver an once-in-a-lifetime gaming experience.

Story
The story of Cross Edge follows the adventures of hero and heroine York Neely and Miki Aiba. Awaking in a strange world, they are soon sought out by a little girl named May. She tells them that the world around them was created from souls gathered from other worlds and that if this stealing of souls from other places does not stop, sooner or later those other places--that is reality--will disappear forever. To stop this from happening they will have to defeat this new world's evil master by releasing all the souls now confined to his nightmare world. To do this they will need all the special abilities that they possess, as well as the help they will gain from others that they meet on their travels.

Gameplay
Cross Edge is a traditional Japanese role-playing game complete with world map, random battles, level grinding, item combining/creation using alchemy, etc. It also features heroes and villains from game franchises published by Gust, Capcom, Nippon Ichi, Namco Bandai and Idea Factory. As players set about freeing the trapped souls supporting the nightmare world that they are stuck in, they engage in turn-based team battles. This is where the characters from previous games come in. Players must enlist them to join in party-based battles. Success in these battles is based on the ability to string together specific moves into chain attack sequences, which in turn unlock even stronger combinations when successful. Players can also increase their characters' stats and abilities by acquiring additional costumes called 'forms' and redressing their characters in them. Female characters physical appearances can also be changed based on the form they're wearing.

The goal of the game is to release souls. You can find and collect souls by searching around area maps. Exposure to souls can grant players items or unlock events. Along with soul related events, maps will also point players to other helpful locations such as event points, points at which other events may occur, and save points, where you can save your game as well as buy, sell and trade items.

Key Features

• Cross Edge combines classic RPG combat with a grid-based Strategy RPG combat to create a hybrid battle system. In combat, a square grid will appear beneath the units. Some units are better at close combat and others at a distance, so players must strategically move their units to battle enemies.
• In combat, some units can toss up enemies and chain combo various moves for extra damage, like in a fighting game.
• By using characters from Gust titles, players can use alchemy to craft weapons.
• Change costumes to increase character’s stats and abilities, and in some cases revealing cut scenes.
• Explore dungeons to run, jump and attack.
• Cross Edge is bilingual. Players have the option to choose between English or Japanese voiceovers.
• Add to your PlayStation trophy collection as you play through the game.

Customer Reviews

Not for everyone, but for some this will be an ideal game
[This review is for the NTSC version, which is identical to the PAL version]

At the time of writing Cross Edge has an average critical review score of 47/100, making it one of the twenty worst RPGs of the post-NES era. It also has an average user rating of 8.0 on GameFAQs (only 0.2 points behind Final Fantasy XII), with almost 50% of the votes being 9/10 or above and almost 80% of the votes being 8/10 or above, making it the fourth best RPG of this generation so far. I'm not sure of the exact significance of these numbers, but they're definitely telling me something...

Speaking of numbers, Cross Edge is a numbers game. Levels go up to 999, HP maxes out at 999,999 and the damage cap is well into the billions. There are hundreds upon hundreds of weapons, items, accessories and pieces of armour, almost all of which have to be synthesized from rare items (the only things you can buy are those which have previously been synthesized). Before ten hours have passed you'll be dealing with more than a dozen party members, each one of whom can learn up to ten unique skills. Each skill can be combined with a number of other skills to form a combo, which can then be combined with another sequence of skills to form another combo, and so on.

What's immediately clear, therefore, is that while Gust, Namco Bandai and Capcom may have their name on the box, this is a game by Nippon Ichi and Idea Factory. Both NIS and IF are known for making TRPGs (tactical role-playing games) rather than JRPGs (console role-playing games), and it shows. There are no NPCs to talk to, no towns to explore, no long-winded cutscenes and certainly no pseudo-philosophical overtones. 99.9% of your time in this game will be spent either fighting or tweaking your party to make them better at fighting. The other 0.1% will be spent saving, loading and staring at the game over screen. Almost all of the "cutscenes" (2D character portraits exchanging words over a static background) are light-hearted comedy sketches and have nothing to do with the "plot", which itself is little more than an excuse to continue fighting.

I don't want to give away too much about the battle system because (a) part of the satisfaction comes with figuring it out for yourself and (b) it's impossible to explain in writing anyway, but suffice to say that Cross Edge features perhaps the best combat I've ever experienced in an RPG. Literally every move matters, not least because the only way to acquire key items needed for synthesis is to "overkill" enemies (by KOing them, then knocking off another health bar in the same combo... yes I said combo, not turn). Each enemy can and will use special attacks, and one-shot KOs are not uncommon. The grid layout adds even more depth (bunched characters are easier to heal but more susceptible to area attacks, for example) and the incredible scope for customization means that there can be no right or wrong answers.

It's also not unnecessarily complicated, as most reviews would have you believe, it's just poorly explained. In fact, some aspects of it aren't explained at all at any point in the game. Personally I loved this hands-off approach because it meant that I could get on with the game and learn through experience (there's nothing more annoying than a game halting your progress to inform you that "X is used to do Y" when you've already read it once in the manual and again in the options menu). Granted, it's a little more challenging than choosing between Attack, Magic and Item, but I honestly can't see a fan of the genre encountering any significant difficulties with the interface. If you aren't psychologically traumatized by the prospect of functions like "guard break" and the aforementioned "overkill" then you've nothing to worry about.

It's difficult to explain exactly why I've given Cross Edge five stars and why I love it so much. All I can say is that I can't recall enjoying the basic mechanics of a game this much for a very long time. Every minute I spend with it is enjoyable in a way that makes me want to keep playing it more and more. Clearly there are negatives if you go looking for them - the graphics are primitive, the plot is effectively non-existent, exploration is extremely basic, level grinding is a necessity, aspects of combat are poorly explained etc. But why go looking? It is what it is: a deep, challenging JRPG/TRPG hybrid with an awesome battle system, humorous character interactions featuring some familiar faces and a customization system so ridiculously vast that it puts most others to shame. If (and only if) you're a fan of the genre, do not hesitate to buy Cross Edge. You won't regret it.

Gameplay over graphics
Cross Edge does exactly what you'd expect. It delivers a host of interesting characters, a good 100+ hour storyline and an excellent battle system. If you're a fan of RPGs that put more emphasis on gameplay than graphics then Cross Edge is definitely a must have item!

Cross Edge has been the subject of a lot of mixed reviews (especially from the press). I thought I'd address one or two of the issues that have been raised.

One common complaint about Cross Edge is that there are too many characters and it's difficult to get to grips with them. This couldn't be further from the truth. Yes, there are a lot of different characters. However they are broken to you in a way that assumes that you won't recognise them. This means you really don't have to have played any of the games Cross Edge draws upon in order to enjoy it.

Graphically it's not a particularly pretty game, but If you know anything about the companies that made it that won't surprise you. I can't believe anyone even bothers to raise this complaint to be honest. For RPGs graphics are definitely the least important thing. The graphics are good enough that the moves are still cool, and you can tell what's going on. Do you really need more than that? (on a side note I should probably say that the character portraits are really good and are probably the biggest graphical achievement)

It can be a difficult game (especially at the beginning), but whoever wanted an easy game? If it wasn't difficult there would be nothing to learn or engage with. I think complaining about the difficulty of Cross Edge is to miss the point of it entirely. It is a complex game with different systems to learn, but that is why it is rewarding.

Overall It's a great game with a lot to offer, but Cross Edge is definitely not for everyone. If you have played games like Disgaea before that rely on a 2D sprite system then Cross Edge will provide you with endless hours of entertainment. If you are a raving Final Fantasy X fan looking for the next emotional saga then this is definitely not for you. There's nothing wrong with the storyline in Cross Edge, but it's a lot more light-hearted than the last few Final Fantasy games.

Difficult Game
This is the worse game that I have personally ever played and I feel that I must review it so that other people are aware of the more complex or difficulty in accessing the gameplay.

The graphics seem unusually weak for a PS3 game and in the dungeons it becomes 2D styling. The storyline seems quite weak, and conversations are primarily by way of people popping up and talking rather than within the gameplay itself.

I found the gameplay frustrating beyond belief, as the manual failed to explain the details of fighting clearly for me and the in-game instruction did not improve my understanding. I found myself unable to figure out what I was supposed to be doing and spent half the time within the menu button-bashing. I died endlessly whilst I tried to figure out what I was supposed to be doing, and why some characters suddenly became useless.

If you are happy to spend a lot of time trying to figure out "how to play the game" and aren't into the fancy graphics of Final Fantasy and the like, then this game may be for yourself. But if like me, you prefer a game to give you a bigger hint as to how to play it and like some decent graphics and story, then you may be best looking at an alternative game.