Hey, I gotta remind everyone every few days, just in case a n00b or two strolls on in

OK another comment...

In the X-box cut scenes, wht the hell is up with the hands???!? Everyone has HUGE hands! Yet the codpieces don't reflect the usual size association

FS

I noticed the huge hands as well. It cracks me up. As does Ursula's thong-straps.

The character models in this game are pretty much so-so, although they have improved a lot since the first screenshots were released.

I like Valens' constant Keanu Reeves expression.

"Whoa... Ursula. Like... whoa."

While the animated cut scenes don't really impress me i really like he stills with the voiceovers. Pretty decent artwork on those and i really like the art style on them as well. Tis a fun game indeed - although i tend to get lost on the world map and kind of muddle around a bit.

The main character's voice is the guy who plays young Lex Luthor on Smallville.

FS

Finally made it to the third section, the one with the archers... for some reason, most of the main characters changed into much more revealing clothes. Don't know why.

If you just do the minimum to get past a section, you'll probably only complete 1/3 of the available missions. Even doing the minimum, my main character (Ursula) hit the level 10 wall in the second part...

Anyone find the game with the swing meter on really easy? My level 4 Gungnir can kill a lot of things in one or two attacks with this long throw option.

You know, on those meters where you have to push the sequence of buttons... does anyone else get errors with the Y button on the Xbox? Sometimes I'll press the Y button where I'm supposed to, and it registers an error...

Okay, glad I wasn't the only person that saw that. Maybe because it's warmer in the Windward Steppes & Southern Expanse? It didn't look like it in the Steppes, though. *shrug*
Maybe your controller is on its way out? Have you tried a different controller?

Made it to the final Championships in Caltha last night...holy crap. I'm going to have to run around and see if I can level up a few more times first.

D'oh, I knew I shoulda kept this...mmmm....Ursula

About how many hours have you all spent on this? Is it a good 40-60 hours? I'm trying to figure out if this will last me 2-3 weeks at 3 hours a day

Probably, but then again you have so many games, it's hard to tell

When I finished the game, I had over 90 hours logged. You hardly ever have to load from a save game, so that's probably how much time I spent playing the first campaign.

Ok, i have a question. I have the Undead Summoner and saved up for his Grim Reaper skill. The thing is, it never lets me use it. I can have full afffinity and full action points and i never have a legal target. I can have line of site, be near them, whatever and it doesn't even give me the boxes on the field to show its range. So, has anyone used it? Kind of sucks now since it cost 40 job points

Btw, i love the game in all it's console goodness. Easily the most fun i've had with a game in a long time.

Does anyone know of any comparative reviews of this game between systems? I am very interested in getting it, but am wondering which version to plunk my money down on. I enjoy using the Wavebird a lot, so if all other things are equal, I'd go with the GC version, but if the PS2 or Xbox is significantly better, I'd opt for one of them - any help/suggestions appreciated. Thanks.

Gamespot says this:

OK, I just got into this game, and am learning the basics, but have a few questions.


1. I maxed out my characters in Nordagh, but want to play every battle. Can I leave, raise the exp cap, then go back?

2. It seems that when I hire a higher level guy, his skill selection is considerably worse than the guy I raise from level 1. If I hire level 1 guys only, will they get enough exp to level sitting in the character pool? What did you do? Should I stick to one culture only?

3. Who is bagordis? in a wilderness encounter, instead of the normal fight, it went to an wilderness arena page. There was no store, but it did let me hire this level 20 mongrel for 100 gold. Obviously, he could kill all 7 of my other level 6 characters single handedly. He has 150 init, moves 3 times in a row, nobody has yet hit him, and his reposte slaughters everyone? Is this a bug? maybe I should expel him, though I may give ursula his 57 damage thrusting axe. Also, can I get back to that wilderness arena? It kicked me out after the first fight, but there were some other battles that sounded interesting. One was called save someone or other.

You'll get to go back later, before you go to Caltha.
I hired people that were on the same level or higher than the rest of my school. Their skill set may not be as impressive as everyone else's, but at least you'll be able to use them in battles, and they'll level up quickly enough.
This is the first I've heard of this.

I just picked up the GC version of this game and am liking it a lot... Only thing I wish they had added were some hints/tips as to how/when to build your school, as well as explaining the skills a little better - Bear Form I - shapechange into a bear of lesser ability? I get that but how is Wolf Form different from Bear Form? Still, a very nice game, even if the camera gets a bit funky at times... Anyone know of any differences between the three versions?

I agree with you, I see a lot of skills that sound neat, but I don't really know what they do or what the benefit of them is. I would assume Wolf Form is faster and more agile than Bear Form, and Bear Form might have more HP and strength, but be slower.

I've been playing this off and on for about two weeks, I'll play a couple battles a night. I'm only about 6 hours in though. [PS2 version.]

Couple comments:

* Seems like there's a lot of loading time, and sometimes it's inopportune [ie, tell me I don't have the proper eligible gladiators BEFORE loading in, and making me wait to load out of that screen.]
* I also wish Saving were more convenient, since I spend most of my time in Towns/Arenas.
* I do like the varied battle types, and varied requirements for battles. Adds a bit of intricacy to it.
* Although it does seem like the game gets repetitive pretty quick. That's why I can only play a few battles at a time. It's not repetitive in the long run, with different character classes, skills, etc., just in the short run [if that makes any sense.]
* I LOVE the tutorial and Ask Usus bits. Those really made getting into the game a little easier.
* I guess I need to save up money and hire gladiators who are *higher* or equal to my other guys' levels, not lower, because it's hard to win a battle or level up a level 1 person when every one else is 3, 4, or 5.
* While I'm not as enamored of this as I was of Final Fantasy Tactics, I'm enjoying it more than Disgaea [that is, I'm actually playing Gladius.]
* I turned off the swing meter two battles in--too annoying [for me].
* I like the intricacies of the graphics--it's not the best looking game, but people spin around when they die, move into fighting positions, etc. And the random spoken lines or text boxes are neat too.
* I'm traveling out in the wilderness, and sometimes I wish I knew where I 'should' go next [unless I forgot that detail in the plot.]
* Affinity--Again, maybe it's still too early, but I don't get much use out of Affinity yet. By the time I've charged up enough to use an attack, the battle's almost over, and i'm better off using a physical or combo attack.
* Same with the crowd appeal--I get 'Team ATK Up', and it drops back down before any of my people have a chance to attack.
* Equipping and purchasing--these two aspects are not real userfriendly/intuitive.

Gladius isn't a perfect game, but it's better and deeper, without being too deep, than a lot of others. Plus it is one entry in the all too small 'turn based strategy' genre, and it does have some new/interesting/different features. I got a deal on it, I wouldn't have paid fifty bucks for it, and maybe I need to get deeper/farther into it to really open it up, but so far I'd give it a 7/10.

I still haven't beat it.

Re: Loading. Wow I'm glad I have an XBOX. XBOX is the only vesion that shows blood as well.

Re: bear and wolf form. Bear is a large creature, wolf is a small. I think wolf is better, because the only time it makes sense for a barbarian to change form is if he is getting beat down by a heavy opponent. Also, changing forms heals you.

Re: Hirelings. I prefer to get them at as low a level as possible, because the computer makes stupid choices for leveling them.

Re: Attack meter. I really like how it makes you be involved in the game, but playing with it on just makes it too easy. They make it easiest to crit with heavy units by slowing the attack meters, and thus totally negating the advantages of light units, who are supposed to rarely get hit by heavies, but crits always hit, so its stupid.

My biggest gripe is the Soundtrack. You can't make a game that requires 100+ hours to beat, and then only include one song which is hardly a minute long. Its insane.

* I do like the varied battle types, and varied requirements for battles. Adds a bit of intricacy to it.
I liked the varied requirements for the tournament battles as they were the most interesting as it felt like handicapping, which was definitely needed to make the fights interesting. Out of all the tournament battles, there were only 2 that I couldn't beat. One had you pitted against 4 summoners and had a spellcaster requirement. The other was a 5 wave battle against the giant insects.

* Although it does seem like the game gets repetitive pretty quick. That's why I can only play a few battles at a time. It's not repetitive in the long run, with different character classes, skills, etc., just in the short run [if that makes any sense.]
Toward the end, the game does get a little repetitive because you end up using only certain characters. In my case, two bears and two spearchuckers could wipe out pretty much anything they went against.
And the VERY END of the game is intensely repetitive.

* I guess I need to save up money and hire gladiators who are *higher* or equal to my other guys' levels, not lower, because it's hard to win a battle or level up a level 1 person when every one else is 3, 4, or 5.
The beginning of the game seems to be the hardest part, for me at least. Heavies are pretty hard to take down on even fights. Thank god for my light bandit and her incapacitate heavy skill. When you enter the next area and pick up more guys, pick the lowest level ones so that you pick their skills.

* I'm traveling out in the wilderness, and sometimes I wish I knew where I 'should' go next [unless I forgot that detail in the plot.
Just follow the roads to the cities. The only reason I ever ventured in the wilderness was to do side-quests, but I don't think that I ever got anything good out of them.

* Affinity--Again, maybe it's still too early, but I don't get much use out of Affinity yet. By the time I've charged up enough to use an attack, the battle's almost over, and i'm better off using a physical or combo attack.
Affinity is very useful in the game. A level 3 affinity attack will freeze an opponent (except for fire, which does extra fire damage instead). Level 4 affinity will do damage to all the opponents. The key to using affinity is to have a high affinity weapon and to use combo 3 or 4 to charge up the affinity first. This works best with characters that have ranged weapons as their primary attack as they won't have to waste a turn moving. The first turn you do a combo attack and the next turn you affinity attack.

* Same with the crowd appeal--I get 'Team ATK Up', and it drops back down before any of my people have a chance to attack.
The crowd can get pretty fickle. I never did figure out if it was affecting the battle very much.

I enjoyed the game and would give it a similar 7/10. The ending sucked hard and I pretty much ignored the entire plot of the game, but the tournament battles were enjoyable. In the end, I played the game through 3 rentals and ~60 hours.