MagnaCarta II takes place in the continent of Lanzeim, which was once ruled by the Queen, but then the Prime Minister ‘Schuenziet’ assassinated the Queen and a great war broke out. The war divided the continent into North (the apparent bad guys lead by Schuenziet) and South (the good guys who support the throne). The main plot basically revolves around a struggle between the two forces as they fight for total control of Lanzeim… did we mention this was a Korean RPG?
The other main focus is on ‘La Strada’, a floating battle ship that serves as an artificial paradise and it powers the world with Kan magic. This was created by the hero Strass 1000 years before the events of the game. Then you have six main characters to use with the most major ones being Juto, a young man with amnesia and Zephie, heir to the late Queen who now leads a Southern Army unit against the Northern Army. The game explores all of these playable characters and at certain sections they will each embark on their personal quests where you learn much about them and their past.
Get ready for yet another Xbox 360 RPG.
Long time Japanese RPG fans will find the plot and premise of MagnaCarta II to be very familiar, as it literally has all the clichés and conventions that have prevailed over the years. You’ve got a protagonist who suffers from amnesia and gets scary flash backs, a character who likes to act like a smart 'know it all', a tank character who is old and wise, a ninja who is grave and serious all the time and finally, female characters who show a lot of skin.
The game also features typical Japanese RPG style romance and heaps of emotional moments and clichés about ‘believing in yourself’, ‘don’t live in the past’, ‘you can change’ etc. Then there are the usual plot angles and twists that involve betrayal, sacrifices, good guys turning bad, bad guys turning good, characters who were believed to have been dead but were actually alive the whole time (gasp!), amnesia patient finally remembering dark past, dramatic deaths, characters dying and being born again, dream sequences, cloning and ancient conspiracies. MagnaCarta II literally has it all and long time Japanese RPG fans will probably feel like it’s ground hog day. The plot is ruined by weak writing and slow pacing (the story really drags on and on). The weak dialogue delivery makes it difficult to take the story or the characters seriously.
Moving on to the thing that matters the most, the gameplay, MagnaCarta II may look like a Japanese RPG but the combat mechanics and the overall structure of the game are based heavily on Western RPG conventions. Battles are conducted in real time with a seamless transition between exploration mode and battle mode by a simple press of the trigger. There are no random battles as all the characters and enemies are visible. This seamlessness alone really improves the flow and pace of the game as it keeps the action consistent and smooth.
The game features a seamless transition into battle mode.
The core battle system appears to be very layered and deep at first. The game will throw all sorts of terminologies at you such as Chains, Co-Op techniques, Overdrives, Overheats, Environmental Kan etc, fortunately the battle system is extremely straight forward and players will be able to grasp all the mechanics and techniques the very moment they are explained by the tutorial.
Battles are pretty simple, you use your basic attack button to create combos and the more hits you rack up the more ‘Kan’ you generate. The ‘Kan’ allows you to utilize a character’s special skills. Finally, each character also has their own signature move which they can perform by pressing ‘B’ as soon as the symbol flashes on screen. For example, Juto can perform a counter attack and Celestine can create a shield.
Another thing that is interesting is that the battles are not just mindless spamming of attacks. A stamina gauge limits the amount of attacks you can perform at one time and if it overfills, a character enters ‘Overdrive’ mode which increases attack damage. However, the consequence of an Overdrive is an ‘Overheat’ that follows right after. During this state, a character recovers stamina and is unable to perform attacks or use items. The best way to avoid Overheat is to use the Chain Attack system and this essentially involves quickly lining up skill attacks by switching between characters. This certainly adds strategy and saves the game from becoming mindless button bashing fest.
Chain attack system at work.
MagnaCarta II features a wealth of skills, techniques and moves for each of the six playable characters. These special skills look really impressive and as you progress and get stronger, you learn more impressive skills. Each character also has a breathtaking ‘Ultimate’ skill that will make long time RPG fans giggle like a school girl on her first crush. It doesn’t stop there as there are also some really impressive Co-op techniques that work with certain character and weapon combinations. Each character can equip one of two weapon classes (the two classes being unique for each character) with each class having its very own set of skills and attacks. With so many different types of skills and attacks, battles in MagnaCarta II manage to stay fresh and entertaining.
There is some character customisation involved, apart from the usual leveling up and the special skills to learn. The game features ‘Kamonds’ as the main resource, which are used for enhancing weapons by inserting them in slots (similar to what was seen in Final Fantasy X) and they are also used for creating items by ‘Crafting’.
MagnaCarta II is spread across two discs and is a massive game to say the least. The main quest itself is quite lengthy but like any modern Western RPG you will find yourself sidetracked on many occasions. The game features over 50 side quests to distract you from the main game and they certainly make it much easier to gain easy experience points, money and items. As we mentioned earlier, there are some character specific quests that will allow you to unlock new weapons, skills and techniques.
Overall, MagnaCarta II will take roughly 50 hours to complete especially if you spend some time level grinding to learn all the skills and also try to complete as many side quests as possible. The first disc takes around 15 hours to complete and the game really starts to show its true colours when you reach the second disc.
A wide range of powerful skills to use.
MagnaCarta II is powered by the Unreal engine. While we have seen some decent results with this engine, MagnaCarta II is quite underwhelming in the graphics department. The environments look bland, the texturing is weak, the character models and animations are simplistic and the special effects are nothing jaw dropping. Furthermore, the game features cut scenes that make use of the in-game engine, so no fancy CGI work here. That’s not to say that the game looks terrible, it’s still a decent looking Xbox 360 game but we have seen much better visuals in other RPGs of this generation.
The music of this game is decent but the track selection isn’t too diverse or varied and they are not something that will stay stuck in your head. The game is fully voiced in English but the voice work is awful and really starts to get on your nerves, especially the voices of Juto, Crocell, Celestine, Argo and… just about every single character in this game.
So at the end of the day MagnaCarta II is actually a fairly decent RPG that combines elements of Japanese RPGs and Western RPGs. The generic story, weak graphics, corny characters and forgettable music are glaring flaws. However, the entertaining battle system, the length of the quest and the amount of substance in the game (the side quests, weapons, skills, techniques, customizations etc) certainly makes MagnaCarta II a decent RPG package that offers plenty of gameplay for your buck. That said we can’t overlook the fact that it pales in comparison to other Xbox 360 RPG juggernauts such as Tales of Vesperia, Eternal Sonata, Lost Odyssey, Mass Effect and more recently Dragon Age: Origins.
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