How is Contact?

[savagepencil]

Seriously, my DS is atrophying. Is this game worth it?

[vysetd]

I've just bought it today, and I've been playing it for a little while. So far, I'm really enjoying it. Much different than what I expected, but with so many games that seem like more of the same to me, I find it to be a welcome edition to the DS library as it offers some new material. Good graphics, sound, and numerous gameplay mechanics which include:

- A SaGa-like growth system (You don't gain levels) You fight and according to how you fight, different stats are raised. You gain agility just by traveling!
- Quirky characters and humorous dialogue
- Kind of like Fable DS. You have Karma and you can be good or bad depending on your actions. Like Ultima:Exodus, you can kill villagers and destroy inanimate objects, etc.
- You can change clothes that alter your abilities and have different special techniques.
- Nintendo Wi-Fi support.
- Have to watch the food you eat due to a "digestion" system and some food temporarily changes stats.
- You can cook, fish, etc.

I'm still early into the game, but it seems like a lot of fun.

[joesteele]

Pretty much what Vyse said, except unlike Saga, you can actually understand what the hell is going on when you gain levels.

I just think its nice to see such a uniqe game for the DS, don't think we've had those for a while.

[Neo Rasa]

The game is an absolute must buy. The entire product is like a big throwback to the REAL classic RPGs like Ultima, Dragon Slayer/Xanadu series, etc. You even fight by activating Battle Mode and just getting in proximity of a target, the attacking itself being done automatically (a la many of the old Japanese PC-88 RPGs and many of the Ultima games). The music is very much in the style of the Super Famicom. There's even a Shin Megami Tensei 2 "encounter" type song that plays whenever you're near a hostile but not in Battle Mode.

There are lots of benign creatures around too like crabs, cattle, etc. you can kill to lower your alignment. It seems that if it lowers too much villagers will attack you on site (instead of running away/being mostly unkillable anyway like in Fable).

The levelling system is much more refined than any Saga game. It's more comparable to any of the oldest classic RPG series (most notably the Elder Scrolls franchise) since there's no mystery or nonsense regarding what stat levels up when.

Going online, you go into this one area that's in everyone's game, you can explore it and basically run into which ever other people (up to eight total) are there. Interacting with each other bestows new abilities and possibly stat upgrades!

[Malroth]

Alright, so how's the battle system? I was reading a review that said the "flow" of the game was interupted when you had to do a ton of level grinding.

[joesteele]

You may. I'm starting to see that now (second dungeon, gonna have to do some slight level grinding to beat the boss)

Btw, any tips on how I should get my cooking skill up? I can already see that that's going to be imperitive for doing well in the game, as healing items seem like they are hard to come by (though items you can cook with are very easy to come by)

[Neo Rasa]

Also notice that each "town" has a person or two that says they've always wanted to try ____ meal. Gotta see what we get for delivering on that.

I'd say there's no grinding at all. If you actually equip the right weapons and don't run from everything you should be prepared. You do need to actually/prepare some healing items though but that's no big deal.

If you keep killing skeletons, you can get a bone club type weapon. It's been extremely useful so far since it gives a huge bonus to you attack speed. So far I feel that's the most important combat related attribute in the game.

Also I love that the professor outright says about one of the bosses to "Try hitting the weakpoint for massive damage."

[simonbelmondo]

i got it on friday, so far i really like it. I've found that if you fry up meat or mystery meat to make BBQ, you can give it to this archaeologist in the Caldoza (probably spelled that wrong). When he gets it, he'll suddenly ditch his clothes and start eating, leaving you to take a new costume