Spectral Force 3
 

While everyone else is out buying Star Wars Calibur 4, Atlus is releasing this little game (developed by Idea Factory):

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Spectral Force 3
...a sequel to a few Japan-only SRPGs (and the spin-off game Spectral Souls for the PSP, which came out over here).

Unfortunately, it's a full-price (60 USD) game when it should have been $40. However, it seems fun for what it is, a generic SRPG that has a very streamlined battle interface and gets rid of a lot of the downtime and menu/confirmation hell that goes into most SRPGs. Plus, we all know that "Atlus rare game curse" that means if you don't pick it up at launch, it may be tough to find in a few months.

There is a fun gimmick that separates this from most SRPGs, which is the AP meter. When you attack, you can choose to perform light/med/heavy attacks (1/2/3 AP each), so you can attack enemies multiple times per turn with each character. It's sorta like Xenogears' battle system.

Anyone else pick this up (or even know about this game before I posted this thread)?.

I plan on picking it up in a few days. Unfortunately, I wished they localized Blazing Souls...but then again I am interested in trying this out.

All I heard about this so far was from lists of "Atlus games they're not going to bother porting to Europe" which is a shame as there's a real lack of decent srpgs over here. Hell, even a few semi-decent ones now and then would be nice. :(

Well, I plan on picking up a 360 tomorrow, but don't really know what game[s] to pick up along with it. I'll definitely give this a look.

I'm dissapointed in Spectral Force 3. Graphics are subpar, the voice acting is just as bad as in Chaos Wars(meaning it ties with what is probably the worst voice acting ever), and battles so far have been very boring. I honestly would not recommend this game to anyone.

Woah, woah, woah. I would definitely disagree with that. I've played through a few hours of SF3 and from what I've heard so far, it's NOWHERE NEAR as bad as Chaos Wars (where they just used localization staff family members as VAs). This at least uses normal anime/game voice actors. Come on now, be reasonable.

True. However, amongst the characters you can also hear very familiar anime actors as well.

If you match Jade Curtiss with Casius. You'll notice that it sounds exactly the same. Which's Kirk Thornton. And sorry Celisasu, but I also disagree 100. No 110% with your comment.

I've only done the first few missions so maybe the voice acting gets better but at least for the initial bug fight(complete with a voice actor doing buzzing sounds for the wasp.....badly), the skeleton fight, and that first mission you do with the lead character and Diaz....yes, it's as bad as Chaos Wars.

The bigger problem though is that so far nothing about the game has entertained me. I need either interesting battles, a good story, or something to make me want to continue playing. When the voices annoy me, the story fails to pull me in, and the battles bore me, there's little incentive to continue. I'll probably do a few missions tomorrow(I had a double shift today so I just didn't have the time to play) but if something doesn't improve soon I doubt I'll ever finish this game.

And I've been wanting to strangle whoever plays Diaz.

Well, you could fix the voices thing if they really do bother you so much. Go to the options menu, slide the Voices meter down to zero. I did this for games like Shining Force Neo and it made the experience a lot better.

I think I'll try that.

Does the gameplay or story get better as you go on? I mean I understand a weak starting story. Especially when they do the "You're the newbie who's not been exposed to the world" stuff which seems to be the route Spectral Force 3 went. But do they better develop it and the characters or will it remain weak throughout?

And will the fights get more interesting or will it just be more of what I've already experienced?

-_-' Yes they do get interesting. I mean, c'mon what did you expect from an SRPG? You have to be patient and give these games some time. If you don't like it that much. Then don't bother playing it.