It's $39.99, MS. And definitely a steal, at that. With all the added content from the Japanese release, they could've easily priced it up to $50 to make up for whatever labor costs they'd need to. But, Level-5 pwns n00bs, so there you have it.

SCEA published games always sell for $39.99 on the PS2. I wish Nintendo would do the same with their first party sutff. =(

Hmm, so that would explain why the Ratchet & Clank games were $40, among others. I agree, with the tweaks and added content they added to the game, they would be completely justified in bumping up the price for it. I'm sure that even those who were put off by this game's elusive release will be tempted to pick it up due to its score and price point.

If the other two did what SCEA does in this case, the industry as a whole would definitely benefit from greater sales for those games.

Buncha reviews:
RPG Land - http://www.rpgland.com/games/roguegalaxy/review.html
GAMEPRO - http://www.gamepro.com/sony/ps2/game...ws/94097.shtml
gamespy - http://ps2.gamespy.com/playstation-2.../756988p1.html
Gamespot - http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/rpg/rogu...ml?sid=6163987

I don't care what the reviews say; I'm getting the game regardless.

Gotta wait for the PAL release. :(

Not like the reviews are bad, but that 6.5 really stuck out. Looks like someone pretty much hated this game (even though the review, even the conclusion don't really seem like it)

And he gave it a 6.5. In my mind, a 6.5 is pretty average. Truly, anything beneath an 8 could be considered average. Maybe what he considers "above average" is 1.5 points lower than what other people do, who knows. His review is by far the lowest I've seen for it, and largely in the minority.

The site uses a *true* 1-10 scale. Mathematically, 5 is the median and is therefore the average. A 6.5 there is like a 7.5 or possibly 8 on, say, IGN (where a 4 is the same thing as a 1, basically).
http://www.rpgland.com/games/criteria.html

Looking around at other reviews there, they need to slide towards the middle (read: 5) for the most part. Most games are neither abysmal nor orgasmic, often sticking around average. Going by this, titles would seldom grace the high 8s, unless they were really something (read: near classic).

That would make sense of not just this review, but many others (Radiata Stories got an 8!?)

We fired that guy and are in the slow and steady process of fixes his reviews.

I'm not even kidding.

Maybe it's just me but I get the feeling this rpgwebsite is biased when it comes to non Square-Enix games. Maybe it's because of that Cloud image next to the logo. :3

I finally got around to playing the demo and all I have to say is "FFXII what?" I can see my hours slipping out of my hands when I can get a full copy. I say though, that demo was crap. I couldn't even level up enough to finish that big earth lion.

Added content over the Japanese version? :tpg: I'm buying it just for that to support this trend. Seriously though, I love the graphics/visuals and it sounds like there's just too much here to pass up.

I think that's the best spam I've seen in a long time.

Anyway, after a bit of a struggle I managed to pick this up today. First I went to Best Buy where an employee tried telling me to check back next week, because sometimes they don't get new games in until a week or two after their release. He wasn't too thrilled when I started laughing. I ended up having to kill an hour at the mall in hopes that Gamestop's truck (which was already several hours late) would show up, and luckily it did.

Can't wait to give this a try later tonight.

Ahh, the joy of playing a good game.

I'm roughly 4 hours into it, and I can't wait to get off work tomorrow so I can play for far, far longer periods of time.

Since it's not much of a spoiler, I'll just say that I've just actually entered and saved inside Burkaqua Village. I've spent a good bit of time leveling up my characters and my weapons -- weapon synthesizing fuckin rocks. I went from having "Hey, these are pretty good." weapons to "Holy shit! Pwnd." weapons in a matter of seconds. Awesome.

Any word on a soundtrack release for this?

Soundtrack for this has been out for ages =o At least the original JP version

www.gamemp3s.net

Granted, but I was curious about the American version's soundtrack. With a whole new planet added, there's bound to be additional songs.

Hmm... I doubt they arranged new music. If they did, I wouldn't expect to see a domestic release of its soundtrack. But, then again, maybe JP will release that... Since they're getting this in Japan as Director's Cut version (a la FFVII).

I am about 1 1/2 hours into it and I like it very much so far. Space pirate RPGs rock. Also, the fact that there are talking cats into it just make the game so much better :) I think this will be fun.

I'm about 5 hours in (just beat Jungle tribal full-of-cliches land).

The story and characters are killing me, they're really quite unoriginal (and I normally can put up with anime/game cliches). I rarely talk to NPCs because they have absolutely NOTHING interesting to say.

The dungeons are long, narrow, and very repetitive. Since there's no "world map," these planets feel disconnected from one another. It's like playing Kingdom Hearts, where you just complete a claustrophobic set of rooms and eventually move on to the next set of rooms (painted with different textures).

The camera doesn't really follow your target, so you'll have to manually adjust all the time, keep hitting R1 and hoping for a camera swing-around, or just slash offscreen (using the radar to see). I find I barely need to even see the enemies, because when you level up a little bit into a new area, you'll soon be able to take out a whole set of monsters (almost too) easily by spamming your gun instead of your sword.

The graphics are reasonably nice (not as good as FFXII), the music is very forgettable for an RPG, but the voice acting is above par.

If the RPG genre could be compared to food, Rogue Galaxy would be considered "reheated week-old leftovers". It might taste good from time to time, but it's really just some scraps that you'd rather not be eating.

I'd personally give it a 6 or 7, I can't see myself getting through the whole game without wanting to die.

I kind of like the battle system. The only thing that I think is totally disastrous is the menu design and that it takes ages to change equipment and stuff like that. I don't see any problems with the story and the characters so far (although there is a HEAVY Star Wars resemblance), but I'm only like 3 hours into the game, so maybe the downside is yet to come.

And yeah, the voice acting is amazing!

I don't have a problem with the characters or story. I'm midway or so through the jungle planet and I'm absolutely in love with this game.

If any game had a Star Wars reference, it was DEFINITELY FFXII.

The graphics in this are fucking unreal. I love all the details, movements, mannerisms, and the slapstick situations. Combat is a blast, and I enjoy the mini-missions/bounties in addition to the ranking system. Plus, later on, you get around to crafting armor and weaponry.

To boot, the skill learning grid is fantastic. I'm glad it didn't go the way of FFXII or FFX's grid-system and allow you to FULLY CUSTOMIZE your fucking character.

And the voice acting? OMFG. Great job, guys. They nailed the voices. Perfectly

I love this game. It's fantastic =) Period.

I have a big problem with the jungle planet's storyline.


ARG it's just annoying, because I expected at least some innovation, story-wise. This is a game dealing with the vast openness of the universe and yet each planet is boiled down to a single genre (the "desert" planet, the "jungle" planet, etc...) and you only walk down corridors until you reach your next mission.

I'm roughly 18 hours into the game -- yeah, I had an off day from work. Ahem.

I'm definitely loving this game. Like you all've said before me, the voice acting is top-shelf work, and the graphics and art style of the game are truly something admirable. Arguably, this game's best feature is the battle system, which is why I've spent the better part of 18 hours just grinding out level by level.

Heard some comparisons between the battles in FF12 and Rogue Galaxy, and while there are some similarities, there are also very distinct differences. FF12's Gambit system acts more like...programmable AI. "For every event 'X', react with action 'Y'." That's essentially the Gambit system. In Rogue Galaxy though, it feels a lot more like an MMO than FF12 does, since the battle suggestions feel a bit more realistic.

Between Rogue Galaxy and FF12, I definitely prefer Rogue Galaxy. Travelling is quite a bit easier thanks to the teleportation system, and while that's extremely similar to FF12's, it's a lot more user-friendly, for lack of a better phrase. FF12's teleport-enable save points are scattered few and far between, but RG's are...well, every save point. It also makes grinding out levels and weapon levels a lot easier too, what with their being four or five save points in every dungeon. It might make the game easier, but the game itself is no cakewalk.

So yeah the story's a little cookie-cutter and so are the characters. Jaster longs of going into space, Zegram the eye-patch wielding lone-wolf mercenary, Kisala the daughter of the infamous space pirate captain, etc. etc. But that's not to say it's a boring story either.

The music is rather forgettable too, however for those who've played Dark Cloud 1 and 2, it's also quite familiar. I suppose this kind of music will be one of Level-5's trademarks.