Ubi Soft is bringing both Evolution games to GameCube in one package. Take a gander at what we saw at E3.
Well, I have to admit they didn’t show much. Ubi Soft treated me to a pair of headphones and a chair (very rare at E3), but the demo itself was somewhat limited.
Someone else had been playing before I got there, so I started out by walking around the town and talking to some villagers. Every character you meet has spoken lines as well as text which takes some getting used to. I quickly found my way to the nearest dungeon which I later found out is randomly generated. In other words, every dungeon you enter is created on the fly: the computer creates a new map and scatters enemies and treasure chests throughout.
You explore the dungeon in a party of three and can choose to explore from either an overhead camera or a camera that’s down in the trenches with you. I found it easier to navigate with the closer camera since the overhead camera had to be readjusted every time I took a turn. Graphically, it doesn’t seem to be improved over its Dreamcast counterparts, but that may change before its final release.
I don’t think I got a full understanding of how the battle system works in the time I had. I did notice that enemies appear on-screen before you go into battle mode. So you don’t have to worry about annoying random battles. Once you’re in a battle it also appears that you can use a turn to move your characters around the area like on a chess board.
Overall, the game felt rather empty and I didn’t see a whole lot to differentiate it from other RPGs. Still, I think I’d have to say the same about most RPGs if I was just tossed into a random town and dungeon without any context or story. I’ll keep my eye on it and see how it develops.