Threads of Fate

"Threads Of Fate is a charming embrace of Squaresoft's flawless storytelling. Period."

It is not often you get a blend of a innocently sweet story with comfortable gaming, and sadly, Threads Of Fate is not an exception.

Squaresoft, or now announced Square-Enix, are the most highly confident and successful company to arise in the video game market. A billion selling company with the global franchise Final Fantasy, Square have conquered success with every product they have made. The fact that they have so many other favourite RPG's under their belt other than just Final Fantasy makes them one of the most efficient fixtures to the genre. Without Square the RPG would be in a very desolate place. Threads Of Fate is another game constructed by Square. And a very cute one at that.

Like any food made from a Home Ec class by learning students, Threads Of Fate proves to be a rather acquired taste that not everyone will adapt to. The innocence and different plot will arouse some, but the momentum lags when it comes to challenge and length - the game's largest downfall. But whatever the case, Threads Of Fate makes a nice entry into the RPG genre and a good addition to the C.V of Square. And while the game was never a great comercial advertisement (a comercial flop in some countries, the UK being one of them), it is a pleasant game to play overall.

The story begins in the village of Carona where people lived peacefully in the very abnormal idyllic way compared to real life terms. Their man tradition was trading, their way of making a living. The village archaeologist, Dr. Klaus had been excavating information regarding relics from the nearby ruins. His findings could have been unveiled to be of massive proportions as the little village was hardly bustling. Two adventurers were to be brought together to find this magical relics.

Rue was a man of mystery, shrouded in the woods with Claire, a woman who had saved his life when she stumbled upon his body, close to death. Subsequently he allowed Claire to become part of his life. And for once, he was content with himself, banishing his own demons from his past. In disasterous twists that often happen in everyday RPG character's lives, Rue's content was disrupted by a snowstorm and a bizarre demon attacked. Rue fought with all his might but could not break through the demon's strength. Looking like his last moments on the earth, Rue was near to being killed until suddenly Claire hit the beast with an axe. It did not even make him flinch and as a result, he murdered Claire. Rue then succumbs to introversy and stays in the mystique he once lived in. He searches for the relic to ressurect Claire, as the relic can achieve miracles.

RPG players are sick of the stereotypical Princess role often accompanied in the genre. So meet Mint, the other major character. She's cantankerous, arrogant, greedy, conniving and a manipulating little bitc- uniquely shown Princess!. Making up for the Kingdom's loss of noble character was her younger sister Maya, who represented everything the Kingdom wanted (but RPG players hated). The day Mint was to be anointed as the next Queen sent turbulence through the Kingdom. Luckily for the taxes and the peasants, Maya announced unsuprisingly that there had been a unanimous vote for her to leave the castle, signed his truly from her Father. Destined to be a lowly servant making pancakes or the exile theme, Mint's rage and arrogance forced her to run away, stealing magic rings with the intent to wreck havoc on the Kingdom. She ends up in Carona after two years of searching for the relics to help her in her quest for revenge.

The style of Threads Of Fate is confined as an action RPG that is shared in two separate characters. Yes, that's two different plays yet the length is still condensed and premature. It is systematically, an action RPG amoung the popular likes of Alundra but more so in the fashion of ther previous popular (and outrageously tongue in cheek!) title Brave Fencer Musashi. Like Alundra, most of Threads Of Fate is based in one town and consisting of many quests. Because of the rather simple gameplay, this makes Threads Of Fate very lacklustre in challenge - this is one of the critical blows to the game's worth as well as the surreal sense that Threads Of Fate is an RPG in a totally different class.

In the usual fashion of this genre, Threads Of Fate's doesn't exactly consist of levels but several paths the characters have to visit. Thoroughly linear, it's easy to see that Threads Of Fate was designed for children. The challenge rate is very simple and most and the weapon selection is relatively low. There are Harvest Moon-esque relationships with the villagers as you can give and sell them items. The bosses are close to being lame, with the only challenge being is memorising their attack pattern and enemies can only inflict HP damage - ruling out status effects and curative items. Worse still, Threads Of Fate almost borders into the platforming genre by scattering extra live coins around, enabling you to ressurect yourself where and what you were fighting. Why is this bad?. Well in other titles, this is a problem because it it means you have to start from a save point to get back to where you where and you might have not found that pleasant. In Threads Of Fate, this option is a problem because the game is so simple to beat. Even the last quest is questionable in bothering the gamer. Tis a pity Shakespeare would say.

Rue and Mint both have their individual special moves that are next to futile in battle but more useful when exploring areas or for some bosses. Rue can morph and Mint can uses magic spells. The battle system like most action RPG's is pretty straightforward but there is one boulder of a problem - the control buttons. Threads Of Fate's controls wreck havoc when you're both exploring and fighting an enemy. The clunky and unresponsiveness lands you endlessly into ditches and glitches and allows the enemy to make a laughing stock out of you. This would be the strongest difficulty in the game over the enemies. Now that is pathetic isn't it?. Yet...

Following closely in the footsteps of Brave Fencer Musashi, Threads Of Fate also enables you to sell your defeated enemies and the HP and MP gauge progresses not by experience by absorbing damage. Now, explain to me and the rest of the gamers why this is a good idea?. So you're fighting the last boss and you want to be smacked around so you can build your HP?. How does anything get done in the game?. This was another reason why the game's balance in the battle system fails miserably. For older gamers, it certainly leaves a lot to be desired and a great persuasion to play. But for children, and beginners to the genre, Threads Of Fate has all the elements that titles such as Kingdom Hearts went on to glorify.

Sadly, the bulky 3D graphics are so blocky and disconcerting to the Playstations RAM that only the N64 could enable (though the graphics here show that the PS2's Grandia 2 could have been for the PSone). Square should not put this on their C.V for visual masterpiece because Threads Of Fate looks cute but the line is scratched there. The facial expressions are up to standard (cross breading comic manga to anime) and the enemy designs are quite neatly animated also. The exploration and surroundings are also greatly textured and with good use of the polygons but sadly they get repetitive and leech a lot of the life out of the game. Also, there are no FMV's whatsoever which is disappointing for a Square title. To sum these section up, Threads Of Fate is a different graphical approach that works in some areas, but fails in most.

As always, Square produce another great soundtrack for this little underrated story. Most of the songs are quite illustrious to upbeat songs but neither are as memorable as their formidable Final Fantasy series. Again this is one of their cute areas that Threads Of Fate does reasonably well and luckily the soundtrack adapts to the theme of Threads Of Fate extremely well. And hey, some of the songs are rather catchy although similiar to other titles. As for sound affects, decently everything is done. Voice acting. Now, how do I put this?. Brave Fencer Musashi and Grandia did the voice acting fine but Threads Of Fate seems like a half done, rushed job. Mint's actress plays up to the part of being totally self revolved and as you would probably expect with a moody princess, exhaustingly annoying. But for Rue it sounds little tongue in cheek. Overall, the music and sound department is toned, but just not boisterous and breathaking as Square usually knocks out.

So why buy Threads Of Fate if it is nowhere near perfect or close to tapping their other titles?. The story is the utmost selling point of the game, fundamentally being humourous to touching throughout. The two main protaginists are equally endearing, Rue being courageous and estranged and Mint being recklessly outrageous. Also Square have also tried to steer away from the cliche of saving the world yet again by littering the story with a hearty cast and unusual plot holes that were ejected from other games. Weaving all this together makes Threads Of Fate a thick blanket of both fun and satisfaction. That said, the suprising story will not compliment the gameplay because they are inbalanced. The story fits the quota of appealing to older fans while the gameplay dissembles the same audience to a much younger age. Note that the gameplay is not macabre, not even close to being challenging. You could enjoy the adventure that the two characters have but the battle system tremendously crashes into being disasterous because of the unhoned controls. But for those wanting a nice little adventure outside of the bustling mainstream core of RPG's, then Threads Of Fate is a nice little investiment.

Although it's a watery thing to say at this point, Square have created another winner. Threads Of Fate is simply too adorable to dislike and is a breath of fresh air from the crowded scene. It is impossible to rate the game highly because of the story, that is the only exceptional thing about Threads Of Fate but everything else melds together just appropriately. The game almost get's away with a clean slate for the things it doesn't pull off, and the both childlike and reminiscence of Chrono Trigger charm make Threads Of Fate another classified winner for the moguls at Square. It is only a pity that it didn't have enough finesse in the gameplay to out qualify Alundra or even have an even bigger difference in quality than the condense Brave Fencer Musashi.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/21/04