NOT
Story Could Be Better
Record of Agarest War 2 starts with you (Weiss) and a partner going for a sword. However upon getting the sword an angry god appears to deal with you. This ultimately leads to you killing him and setting the world on a path of destruction. To prevent this fate you’re tasked collecting that god’s power and becoming his vessel.
While the story might sound interesting, most of the plot is pretty predictable. This is especially true if you played the earlier games, since the stories are quite similar. Thankfully the story does have some twists and turns to make it worthwhile, though the time investment is quite high for something that might not hook you instantly. However if you’re only interested in playing the game, you’re always free to simply skip the story entirely.
Lag and Load Times are High
Easily the biggest problem in Record of Agarest War 2 is the load times. It seems no matter what you do you’re in store for some sort of wait. Sadly this is quite far from an over exaggeration of a minor problem and something you can’t avoid.
To give you an idea it takes about 50 seconds to just load the games data prior to getting to the start screen and an additional 17 seconds to load the game from a save. From here it takes about 21 seconds to load a fight, which is filled with slow downs / lag from loading. Once you finally get to the combat segment, you can expect random spurts of lag while fighting.
Sadly even the most basic things take a bit of loading. It takes about 5 seconds to actually load the games menu, plus another 5 to close it. All of this adds up into a lot of wasted time, plus the jittery look some things have is a real turn off. Thankfully they’re not the most apparent things in the game, so you might not notice it. Additionally you should get use to the lag over time, though it can take a while.
Tedious Random Encounters
One of the best things about the Record of Agarest War series is that it has several elements of a classic JSRPG from the past. With that nostalgia it also comes with annoying random encounters. For those who are not fond of random encounters, Record of Agarest War II will not please you, as fighting too many enemies before you get into town can get very tedious. Also the enemies that you have to fight feel uninspired, as they pretty much look the same and there is a serious lack of variety in the overall game.
VERDICT
Record of Agarest War 2 is certainly a fun game, but it’s quite difficult to get into. While the story has its moments and even a pretty shocking twist towards the end, it can be hard to get into. Additionally the load times can certainly turn off just about any gamer, but the combat is definitely worth the wait. Overall Record of Agarest War 2 will appeal to SRPG fans, but others might not have the patience to get to the good parts.
[Editor’s Note: Record of Agarest War 2 was reviewed on the PS3 platform as a digital download. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]
