Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll Review

Hack-and-slash RPGs are often rated poorly due to their heinous repetitive combat that may seem never ending. But if there’s one developer that gives gamers mild satisfaction in the hack-and-slash genre, it would be Omega Force, the developer of the Dynasty Warriors series. Of the many Dynasty Warriors games that are currently out on the market, the majority of them received good feedback, although there were a few that got poor reviews. In Omega Force’s follow up title to Zill O’ll Infinite on the PlayStation 2, released in Japan only, Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll is a prequel to the first game that was never released in the West. Fortunately, this prequel is coming out in North America to give fans an experience of this unique game.

Knowing that Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll is a hack-and-slash RPG, should players be wary of this title, or does it exceed the typical expectations of the genre? Let’s find out in the HOTs and NOTs of our review of Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll.

HOT

Story
Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll takes place several years before the events in Zill O’ll Infinite. Since Zill O’ll Infinite never made its way in North America and Trinity is a prequel, there is no need to play the first game to fully embrace the story. Players will follow the stories of the three main characters in the game, each of whom has his/her own unique story to be told. The game begins with the prophecy that the Emperor of Dyneskal Empire will be slain by his own grandson. Fearful of the prophecy foretold by Chancellor Zofar, Emperor Balor ordered his own daughter to be slain along with her unborn child and his son, Prince Lugh, whose son managed to escape from the clutches of Balor. Twenty years later Areus, the son of Prince Lugh, sets out on an adventure in the city-state of Liberdam where he’s determined to be strong enough to defeat his grandfather. Areus will take job requests from the guilds throughout Vyashion where he will fatefully meet two mysterious characters that will aid him in his quest, Dagda, a carefree Boldan warrior, and Selene, a member of a mysterious clan known as Darkeneith.

Gameplay
Aside from being a hack-and-slash game, Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll offers a real RPG experience where players can customize the abilities and skills that the three charactes acquire throughout the game. Players can expect to see a lot of RPG elements from other games, but one of the downsides of Trinity is that there are no towns or world maps to explore. Instead of explorations to the many beautiful cities in Vyashion, players will have to travel from one place to another via the menu’s point and click system. While gamers who are used to RPGs with a lot exploration to do, it may take some time to get used to the style Trinity has to offer. In every town, players can visit the tavern to hear gossip that will eventually give them a mission. They can also stop by the Adventure Guild to take quests that vary from collection to hunting, or visit one of the many shops where players can customize their characters’ equipment.

When a quest is taken from someone in town, players will have to go through dungeons that have multiple areas. Depending on the story progression, some of the areas of the dungeons may be closed and will only open after certain areas are reached. At the end of each dungeon, there will be a boss that awaiting the players. For players familiar with games such as Dynasty Warriors or God of War, the battle system in Trinity will feel similar. Players will have to deal with the hack-and-slash gameplay, but one thing that makes the battle system less repetitive is the numerous ways players can kill enemies. With over a hundred different enemies in Trinity, players will have to identify and attack their weak spots to make them more vulnerable. A marker on the enemy will glow red whenever it is at a state where it has taken heavy damage. By inflicting enough damage to the enemy, it will go down for several seconds, thus giving players the time to successfully take it out.

Each of the three characters in the game has his/her own abilities and skills the player can upgrade. After successfully defeating an enemy, players gain power ups that can upgrade the characters’ abilities. The three characters, while in battle, can be used anytime in the game, as each of them has his/her own abilities that will be necessary when exploring dungeons.

Presentation
The graphics of Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll don’t offer any breathtaking visuals that players can appreciate. While the character models are done in 3D, the environments and scenery are done in painted, cell-shaded graphics that may look odd at first. When exploring a dungeon, players will notice right away the painting design, but when it comes to the cut scenes, at least these are very well polished. Equipped with decent voice acting and great use of music, players can feel the story and the emotions of the characters. Expect to see a lot of emotional cut scenes in the game, but most of the time players will engage in conversations between the NPCs.

Tons of Quests
In order to advance through the story, players must do several quests from the Adventure Guild or by anyone in town. For players who are looking for a long play through, Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll will offer a lot of quests that they can take part of. If killing monsters or collecting something for the NPCs isn’t the player’s preference, there is an Arena waiting at Liberdam where players can enter and win a cup for successfully finishing each match.

NOT

Bad Camera Angles
During an intense boss battle, bad camera angles can lead to a player’s downfall. While players can fully move the camera at any time while exploring the dungeons, the camera moves by itself during a boss battle, no matter how many times you try to reposition. Sometimes the angle will rotate and focus on the wall while you’re fighting an enemy. This is a big strike against Trinity, as the game is so centered on combat that the poor camera angles can ruin the total experience.

Slow Story Progression
With so many quests that players can undertake in the game, one of the consequences is a slow story progression. While the story of Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll is decent, it gets killed by the slow pacing of the game. In order for the next chapter of the story to unfold, players will have to deal with a lot of unrelated quests, such as killing a certain monster and reporting back to the Guild for money. If you love doing mindless quests that don’t have anything to do with the story, then this might not be a bad thing. However, if you are focused on the story and don’t enjoy questing, then be prepared to spend a good deal of Trinity bored and anxious to progress through the main narrative.

Where’s Co-Op? / Bad AI
For a game with three usable characters in the game, a co-op option seems essential for this game. When any of the two characters are not used in battle, players will have to get used to the bad AI the game has to offer. Players must not rely on defeating a flock of enemies with the two AI-controlled characters, as they will not do their job in combat.

No Exploration
As mentioned earlier, there are no towns or world maps to explore in the game. Since I’m used to RPGs where I can go into towns and interact with people, I was really disappointed that I didn’t find any of these in this game. It takes a lot of time to get used to this old style of exploration, so don’t expect to grasp it all within the first hour of game play. When playing this game, players might even be reminded of those classic tactics games back in the PS2 and PS1 era.

VERDICT

Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll is a decent RPG game. The only thing that can be a hindrance while playing the game is the bad camera angles that can cause players extreme annoyance. Overall though, the game is well balanced. As mentioned earlier, there are a lot of hack-and-slash RPG games that get old very quickly, but Trinity: Souls of Zill O’ll isn’t one of them. Players can expect a well driven story, but don’t expect a town or world map to explore because you won’t find them here.

[Editor’s Note: Triniy: Souls of Zill O’ll was reviewed on the PlayStation 3 hardware. The game was provided to us by the publisher for review purposes.]