Kartia: The Word of Fate

"Far from perfect, but a good game nonetheless"

Kartia was my fifth Playstation game, and it was a refreshing change from all the graphics-no-gameplay I had heard of and experienced before. It's certainly not the best game ever, but it isn't the worst either.
GRAPHICS: 7/10
Eh, not the best. It tends to be rather chunky and cartoon-like at times, and the characters frankly look quite exaggerated. The spells look okay, and some of the weapons and armor, but the rest is merely average.
SOUND/MUSIC: 10/10
The sounds effects are nothing to write home about. There really isn't much ''extra'' environmental effects. Swords hitting against armor make noise, and casting spells, etc.
The music is another story. While I will admit it starts out mediocre, around chapter 14 or so it begins to get better. The Eden theme and the music from chapter 15 of both quests compete for being the best music I have ever heard in a video game. It also does a good job setting the mood, because the sound certainly doesn't it. Overall, a good job.
STORY: 10/10
Very original and good. It has many twists and turns, and though the endings aren't great, they aren't too bad. I won't reveal them, but rest assured they're worth fighting for.
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
The game is entirely linear, and you have basically no choice except for to conduct battles. The battles are turn-based and not in real-time, which is a little phony (i.e. the enemies stand there doing this little dance while you pummel them.) Also, you can't move your characters outside battles, and you have no control over the storyline. In spite of this, it's okay.
The characters look fake, but they have definite personality. It gets to be that you can name who would say a certain thing without the dialogue box telling you who's talking. Troy is the cynical mage, Kun the naive knight, Lacryma the just and pure shrine warrior... simply captivating.
Another thing that was very new and innovative are these little cards named Kartia (the game is named after these.) You use them to almost everything, including healing, creating weapons and armor, summoning allies, and using attack magic. There are three levels, each possessing Text, which gets larger as your quest goes on. When you create the right combination, you get a spell, weapon, or whatever. Alternately, adding something to an existing piece of equipment or spell can boost its effectiveness.
You really never run out.
You can also summon these little guys named Phantoms to help you in battle. There are three types, and they use a rock-paper-scissors pattern to determine who is most effective against which type. In the beginning, they're helpful but later become useless as your humans can easily clear the field in under 10 turns.
This starts out being complicated, but after experimenting with it enough you begin to grasp the concepts of the game. Overall, a great job except for the downfalls listed previously.
CHALLENGE: 2/10
BOOM! This game bombed this category big time. This game is way too easy. Your humans eventually get so powerful they are immune to all weapons and magic, gain swords to decimate their foes in 1 hit, and can wield really powerful spells to kill multiple enemies at a time. I never died once, even on my first try. The terrible game AI makes this even easier, as the enemies with wooden swords fling themselves upon your knight (who is wearing War God Armor) and hopelessly try to wound him, while the knight casually kills them all as the ''strike back'' routine comes into play. Even the final boss was a bit too easy. Definitely below average.
OVERALL: 8/10
This game has some obvious flaws, but it has good music and is very original, and that deserves some credit in my opinion.
BUY OR RENT
I seriously don't know. You could probably beat the game in one night except for the plot takes up about 2/3 of the gameplay. I suppose you can do either.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/13/01, Updated 02/13/01