Rogue Galaxy Anime

(ローグギャラクシー, Rōgu Gyarakushī?) is a science fiction console role-playing game developed by Level-5 and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 2. The game was first released in Japan on December 8th, 2005, and later in North America on January 30th, 2007. The European release was initially expected in 2006 but after a series of postponements it was released in most European countries on 5 September 2007. Release in the UK and some other countries followed on 7 September 2007. A Director's Cut version of the game was also released in Japan on March 15, 2007. The Director's Cut included all the added features and improvements of the North American and European localizations.[1]

Rogue Galaxy enjoyed immense critical success upon its initial release in Japan, scoring a 36/40 in Famitsu and an 85 average in Dengeki, two of Japan's most popular gaming magazines. Sales were also very strong for an original IP RPG in Japan, with sales totaling over 350,000 units in just three months.

Plot and setting

Story

The story begins with Jaster Rogue, a young boy who was abandoned on the planet Rosa as a child. He was raised by a Priest named Raul, who is like a father to Jaster. His long time dream is to travel around space and be a space pirate. One day a huge monster comes and attacks the town; a man known as the Desert Claw, the best Bounty Hunter in the galaxy, shows up and helps Jaster defeat some monsters that outnumber him. After the battle, Desert Claw spots two pirates from the crew of Space Pirate Dorgengoa. He gives Jaster his weapon, the Desert Seeker, one of the Legendary Seven-Star Swords, which causes the pirates to mistake him for Desert Claw. They soon help Jaster defeat the boss monster (the Scorching Alchemist: Mark VIII Salamander) that attacked the village. After the battle the two pirates, Simon and Steve, tell Jaster that their Captain, Dorgengoa, wants to hire him to his crew. The next day Jaster decides to leave Rosa to join the pirates. After leaving Rosa, Jaster meets up with the rest of the Dorgenark crew: Kisala, the captain's daughter, Steve, a robot, Simon, a space pirate and finally Zegram, a mercenary who agreed to join the crew. On their way to Zerard, the Dorgenark is attacked by beasts near the Rose Nebula and is forced to crash on the jungle planet Juraika, where the crew must find gather an ingredient for Booster Oil in order to leave the planet and continue to Zerard. As their journey continues Jaster meets new friends from different planets such as Lilika, an amazon from Juraika, Jupis, a hacker from the advanced planet Zerard, and finally Deego, an Ex-Longardian soldier from the mining planet Vedan. Eventually Dorgengoa reveals his true intentions: Finding the legendary phantom planet Eden, which is supposed to have vast amounts of treasure and the Immortal Soul that allows people to be immortal. On their journey, they discover that artifacts known as the Great Tablets are connected to Eden.

They also learn that they need keypieces from ancient kings who ruled specific planets years ago. They also don't know that the president of Daytron is also after Eden, though as the story progresses the true motive of the Daytron president, Valkog, is revealed. Jaster and his party search for the 3 relics of the ancient kings: one on Zerard, one on Vedan, and one on Juraika. After finding all three relics, the relics are returned to Rosa. Jaster fights Seed, an artificial human created by Daytron to open the gate to Eden, and defeats him, by harnessing a mysterious power inside himself. Jaster then opens the gate to a labyrinth containing the secret to Eden, using the same power. While in the Rosa labyrinth, Jaster and Kisala discover that Kisala is actually Princess Irieth of Eden, really named Le Marrie Glennecia or Mariglenn for short. When the party leaves the ruins they see Valkog, Daytron's president, attacking the town Jaster grew up in. Raul, Jaster's foster father, tries to stop the attacking ship but is killed, but not before he gives Jaster an artifact which points him towards the Kuje Desert. In the Kuje Desert they discover the illusionary town of Johannasburg. The party discovers that Johannasburg was frozen in time and the memories of its inhabitants had been changed by a woman named Johanna in order to protect it from a plague killing its villagers. In the town they meet the ghost of Johanna, who turns out to be Jaster's mother and also a descendant of the Star King, an ancient ruler of the galaxy. Jaster then fights his mother in order to unlock his own powers and wins. Afterwards, Jaster and the others run into Desert Claw again, who turns out to be Jaster's father whose real name is Mizel. Mizel describes how he came to Johannasburg and met Johanna and that they fell in love and had Jaster. However, after giving birth, Johanna died from the plague after having left the protection of Johannasburg, and Desert Claw left Jaster with Raul in order for Jaster to find his own destiny. Mizel knew Jaster would be the one to bring peace to the galaxy and save it. He tells them to continue to Mariglenn in order to find the way to save the galaxy.

When they arrive on Mariglenn, they learn that the planet has been removed from the entire Wilhelser System to encase the ever growing Rune as well as Mother, an evil entity that is made purely out of Rune. Jaster and Kisala meet Kisala's father, the king, but he is mutated into a beast, but is defeated. Before perishing, he awakens Kisala's Drigellum, an aura made out of the memories in people's hearts, and tells them they must awaken the other Drigellums inside the hearts of Kisala's friends to craft a sword powerful enough to defeat Mother. When the sword is created, Jaster's group faces Mother deep within her lair. She is defeated, but transforms into her true state, which causes the Star King to take over Jaster in order to talk to Mother, who was once a sorceress, Ilzarbella, working for the Star King. Mother is defeated for good with the legendary Drigellum sword, but Valkog's ship appears over Mother's lair and the Rune seeking a new host drags Valkog, his two assistants Norma and Izeland their ship into the lava, transforming them into the Demon Battleship, a gigantic monster that is the new host body of the Rune. Kisala's mother appears and gives Jaster the Drigellum of Prayer, making a new sword for him. Together, Jaster and his friends take down the Demon Battleship's weapons one after another and finally destroy it completely. Mariglenn returns to space after they leave and they go see it. Unfortunately, Kisala decides to become the new Queen of Mariglenn and is separated from her friends. Everyone except Jaster, Zegram, Monsha and Dorgengoa return home as whatever is left of the group heads off to claim their "ultimate treasure" on the new Mariglenn: Kisala. The final scene tells that this was the final mission the Dorgengoa Pirates ever pulled off as pirates.

Characters

• Jaster Rogue

The main hero of the story and the first playable character. His home planet is the planet Rosa, a planet that is mostly desert and currently under Longardian rule. His dream since he was a boy was to go out into space someday and help change the universe. Jaster lived in the town's church which is run by his adoptive father, Raul. One day, a giant beast breaks through into town and Jaster rushes out to stop it. He meets a mysterious man who helps him until he meets Steve and Simon. Witnessing his battling skills, Steve and Simon mistake him for the legendary hunter "Desert Claw" since they spot him holding one of the legendary Sever-Star Swords. With their help, Jaster slays the beast and is offered a chance to join the Dorgengoa Pirates. He accepts the invitation and joins the crew as they head out into space. He and Kisala are romantically interested in each other. His main weapon is a sword while his sub-weapon is a pistol.

• Kisala

The daughter of the pirate captain, Dorgengoa, and the only female onboard the Dorgengoa when Jaster joins. While she has an innocent appearance to her, Kisala is a tomboy and doesn't mind being around space pirates. Jaster and Kisala meet for the first time when Kisala saves Jaster from desert beasts on Rosa. Most of Kisala's history is unknown until it is discovered that Kisala is the princess of the planet Mariglenn, known widely as "Eden". When Kisala meets Jaster, she too believes that Jaster is Desert Claw, but was uncertain at first since she pictured Desert Claw to be more rugged. She is romantically interested in Jaster. Kisala's main weaponis two twin daggers and her sub-weapon is her high heeled boots.

• Zegram Ghart

A bounty hunter who joined forces with Dorgengoa long before Jaster came aboard the crew. Out of all the crew members, Zegram's home planet is never revealed (but a cutscene near the game's end could indicate that it is Zerard). When Jaster joins, Zegram has his doubts that Jaster is really the famous "Desert Claw", but he ignores the facts and starts to bond with Jaster like the other crew members do. While Jaster and friends are often winding up in trouble or need Zegram, he is often seen mysteriously alone communicating with someone. It's revealed later on that Zegram was in leagues with the Daytron company since the start and his actions causes a fight between him and Jaster. But when they meet again on Rosa, Zegram re-joins them just as they are battling Seed for the final time. Zegram's main weapon is a sword while he wields a throwing star as his sub-weapon.

• Simon Wicard

One of the first Dorgengoa crew members to meet Jaster on planet Rosa. Simon's home planet is Zerard and he is seen as a sturdy short man with a mask covering his face. His true identity isn't revealed until near the game's end when it is found out that his real identity is Sho, who was in a major accident that cost him his face. He joined the Dorgengoa Pirates after that, while at the same time leaving his wife and daughter behind. Simon accepts Jaster right away when he is mistaken for the "Desert Claw". He speaks with a heavy Scottish accent. Simon's main weapon is a flamethrower and his sub-weapon is a multi-missile launcher.

• Steve

Steve is an android robot designed by Dr. Pocacchio from planet Zerard. He is the navigator of the Dorgenark. Steve is first met on planet Rosa along with Simon and joins the party along with him. Like the others, he too believed that Jaster was "Desert Claw" due to him carrying Desert Claw's legendary blade. Steve, out of all of Dr. Pocacchio's inventions, is considered his favorite since Steve was the first android of his kind to care for others as well as his creator. Steve secretly carries a data replica of Mark, his creator's deceased son, which can only be seen when on a virtual transmission with the doctor while in Sleep Mode. Steve's main weapons are his robotic fists and his sub-weapon is two laser robots.

• Lilika Rhyza

An amazoness from the planet Juraika, Lilika is the only other female crew member to join. She meets Jaster, Kisala and Zegram when their ship crash lands on Juraika after engine trouble. Although no one from Juraika will listen to outsiders, Lilika sees Jaster and his friends differently and helps them get into Burkaqua Village. She is the only crew member to have a little sister, who lost her sight after a vicious beast attacked and killed their mother long ago. When Lilika must sacrifice her sister to the Star God, she discovers that their "god" is really the same monstrous beast that attacked them when they were children. Lilika joins Jaster and Kisala in killing the beast and is "banished" from the village for "interfering with the ritual of the Star God". In truth, the chief sent her out in hopes of her learning what path their people should take. Finally free, she joins the Dorgengoa Pirates after the ship repairs are complete. Her main weapon is her bow and arrows while her sub-weapon is a hatchet. However, her bow uses her sub-weapon ammo.

• Jupis Tooki McGanel

Jupis is the only playable character who is first fought as a boss in the Starship Factory on Zerard. Jupis is a lizard-like alien known as a Granshee. A while ago, he was a great scientist and genius who devoted his entire work to science when working for Daytron. His assistant, Tony, got him involved in an accident while working on a theory that could revolutionize time/space energy. But his data was lost when coffee was spilled on the system and Jupis took his entire frustration out on Tony. He was then fired and went slightly insane. He later takes over the Starship Factory and gains control of all of the machines within the factory. It was only through the combined efforts of Jaster, Lilika and Steve that he is finally defeated, even when fighting with his giant robot Johnny. He tries to make his escape when the police come in to capture Jupis. With nowhere to go, Jupis escapes aboard the Dorgenark and becomes a crew member. Jupis' main weapon is a spear while his sub-weapon is a disk launcher.

• Deego Aegis

The final playable character to be recruited to the team. Deego comes from the planet Vedan, which is a large industrial mine planet. Deego is an ex-military man and he looks like a well muscled boxer dog with an robotic arm. He retired from the Longardian army and is usually seen hanging out at Angela's Bar, owned by his friend, Angela. His other friend, Gale, had joined up with the Morarty Family, a crime organization that controls all of the city of Myna. After Angela's bar is burned down by Junia, the son of Zax Morarty and lackey of Gale, Deego joins Jaster and Kisala's party in order to punish Gale. They manage to reach the bottom floor of the mines, where Deego confronts Gale in a final showdown. After the battle, he discovers that Angela is trying to leave Myna. He manages to catch her and reveals how he really feels about her (she wanted to leave so Deego could learn to stand on his own two feet again). With Angela remaining in Myna and his friendship restored with Gale, Deego joins the Dorgenark crew. His main weapon is a giant axe while his sub-weapon is an arm-mounted machine-gun.

Gameplay

The game's engine features a continuous environment with no load time and battles taking place in the overworld in real time. The graphics bear a resemblance to other Level-5 RPGs, most notably Dragon Quest VIII and Dark Cloud 2/Dark Chronicle.

[edit] Combat

Battle screen from the U.S version of Rogue Galaxy.

Combat is handled very much like in a Western RPG; enemies roam the playing field and there is no transition between battle and exploring the game world. The player controls a single character, but can change the other party members attack patterns using the team command function. In addition the player can switch characters and access their skills on the fly.

Some of the Combat's features are as follows;

Revelation Chart

Each character has his/her very own revelation chart. The chart has unlockable AP commands and upgrades. Each character starts out with an empty box with an outline of an item. Completely fill the certain slot with the correct item, you can now use that AP command. When a slot is filled, another one or more opens.

Tech Attacks

These are team based attacks in which two or more team members combine their abilities into one devastating attack. They are unlocked on the Revelation Flow for each character and are unique for each one with various requirements for who must be present within the active party to be enabled in combat (á la Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross).

Burning Strike

In the Japanese release, these special attacks would occur at random, but this was changed in the U.S. release so that the player may activate them manually by collecting enough Burning Chips dropped by foes during combat to fill a special gauge. Once filled, the player may activate this ability at which point they must follow a series of prompts onscreen to string together attacks in order to generate a great deal of damage to a targeted enemy.

Throwing Enemies

The player can throw an enemy into another enemy to cause damage. Various obstacles and items also appear within the combat area for the player to use in like fashion in most instances.

Special Conditions

Several enemies are immune to damage unless made vulnerable through various means; some must first have their barriers destroyed by one of Jaster's guns. Others can only be harmed at very specific points to deliver any damage. Others must be jumped on to lower their guard. Still others must have their guard broken through the use of a strong attack. Players must be aware of this, as such enemies are invulnerable to even the strongest attacks in the game until made otherwise.

Dungeon exploration

Keeping in tradition with Level-5's Dark Cloud series, some areas contain puzzles. These can range from the mundane fetching of a key that matches the lock to more exotic ones, such as freezing a waterfall and then using created platforms in order to climb it. Unlike Dark Cloud and Dark Chronicle, the dungeons are not randomized.There are many different enemies that can be encountered in a dungeon. There are also treasure chests scattered around the worlds, but some may be booby trapped and some may be a strong enemy called a Mimic.

Many of the puzzles encountered involve "Thinking Circles" - areas with a question mark where the player directs the characters, is informed of a situation there, and then attempts to select the right item from the inventory to address the situation. Doing so unlocks other parts of the dungeon, summons important bosses, and so forth.

Dungeons in Rogue Galaxy are notably long affairs, and may have odd and specialized enemies in them requiring the player to determine the best way to deal with them.

Insectron Tournament

The Insectron Tournament is a completely optional mini-game (which is the perpetual successor to Dark Cloud's fishing aspect) where the player pits up a team of his collected and trained bugs against opponents in a chess-like board, turn-based combat. Bugs can be acquired in each of the worlds by setting up traps and using food items as bait. Some are more powerful than others. The insect system is almost identical to the fish tank system found in Dark Chronicle, however there is a longer time period in which insects mature.

The Factory

At a certain point early in the game, the player's characters get access to a reconfigurable factory. This Factory is a sort of successor to the Dark Cloud series' Georama gameplay. They then are able to find blueprints by talking to NPCs in the game (who have orange or blue icons over their heads). Using the blueprints, the player can set up factory equipment and raw materials to make new items. Upon completion of the item, the party gets a "sample" and the item will be available in certain stores in the game.

The factory layout is essentially a 2D flow-puzzle where the player lays out equipment and conveyor belts, hooks up power cables, and attempts to make sure the right materials are processed properly, and combined at the right time in the manufacturing process. Consideration of the materials used, how they are processed, and the time it takes is required for success. However, the materials used are not lost if the player sets the assembly incorrectly.

Weapon synthesis

The game also features a Weapon Synthesis system similar to the Dark Cloud series, albeit in a simplified form, which can be used to create powerful and effective weapons.

All weapons gain EXP from battles until they reach a level where they are "Maxed" and can be synthesized along with another similar weapon to create an even stronger one. This is accomplished by the use of "Toady", a strange frog whose exposure to the mysterious substance Rune has given him the ability to swallow weapons and regurgitate a new weapon. Toady can also analyze weapons and make suggestions for combinations, and will helpfully warn if a combination he's attempting to digest will give useless or negative results. He can only combine two weapons of the same kind.

After a weapon is "Maxed" on its experience, it continues to gain additional damage in specific "elemental" categories - fire, ice, lightning, wind, and holy. These can improve to a limited degree. When the experience and the elemental damage is at maximum, a weapon is considered "Mastered" and cannot be improved further. Improving these stats can mean a more powerful weapon is produced when Toady is used.

All playable characters possess two weapons: primary and secondary. The majority of the characters have a close-range weapon set as primary, while long-range weapons will be their secondary. However, Lilika has the opposite set up, and Kisala has no ranged attacks. Combining weapons is no different among characters.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue_Galaxy