Uneven quality and repetition makes Record of Agarest War more of a chore than it should be.
The contract between Dyshana and Leonheartd lends to one of Agarest's most advertised points. Soul Breeding allows the player to determine whom Leonheartd will eventually marry and have the child of the next generation with. This is done by decisions that the player may make during the course of story, each of which influences the affection of one of the particular brides-to-be. This system works very well and gives plenty of time for the player to get to know each of the brides, despite the trial and error that will need to be done to ensure that a certain bride will be yours after your current journey comes to a close.
It is a shame that the aftereffect of choosing a bride, the child, is poorly implemented, however. After each generation ends, the plot jumps several years into the future and switches its attention to the child of the hero of the previous generation in an entirely different predicament. The player is quickly ran up to speed, but the generation shift is done just like that and the events become rather jarring for an hour or two. This would not be all that big of a deal normally, but Agarest relies on this method of plot progressing entirely too much throughout the game and refuses to switch it up even after using it multiple times. Such repetitiveness becomes disappointing and becomes predictable and irritating to the point where any change of pace would be a welcome addition.
Alas, repetition exudes almost every facet of Record of Agarest War, particularly the plot. There are some truly inspiring moments in this game, but a great deal of it consists of the same, boring military discussions among the various kings and other important figureheads of the land. To make matters worse, the light vs. dark plot is milked a little bit to extend the games length artificially by throwing similar events and missions at the player over and over again. Factor in two to three battles before almost every story event and you get a simple plot that takes its time before getting anywhere, oftentimes making insignificant tasks take much longer than usual.
Not all is bad in the lands of Agarest, though. Scattered throughout the world map are events concerning certain characters that are often more stirring than the actual plot itself. Characterization is done extremely well and it is hard to not become enamored by the discussions and high jinks that some of these characters get into. It is obvious that each and every one of them are good friends and are drawn to one another in a strange, yet drawing way. The only annoying thing about how Agarest handles such scenes is that you can easily miss them if you do not follow a guide to ensure that each bride is at a certain affection level and keep grinding to a minimum to conserve turns that increase after each random battle, though the latter is avoidable in the American release if you train inside a quest area. Excluding some tasteless, albeit hilarious, sexually suggestive scenes scattered throughout the game, the characters of Agarest War is the best part of this video game.
The battle system is simple fare for a strategy role playing games, with a few exceptions. During every battle, you are allowed to field up to six units that become "linked" if placed in the right positions. Linking characters allows them to chain a vast variety of different attacks against an enemy or pull off unique combination attacks when certain skills and characters are used to chain an attack. While relatively simplistic, battles are usually knocked up a notch by the games sometimes back breaking difficulty, but it can be a great experience learning about all the different skills, characters, combinations and strategies there are to use in battle. Regrettably, battles quickly get in the way of enjoying Agarest. Many enemies are palette swaps of other enemies that have been beefed up to provide more of a challenge and several monotonous battles before each story event often makes it a chore to even keep up with the story. The battle system is otherwise strong, but seemingly uninspired battles the lacks variety makes it very difficult to have any attachment to fighting at all.
There is little impressive when it comes to battle visuals, but the opposite is true for many other areas. Beautiful, detailed character renders of most of the main characters are used in a visual novel-esque fashion to provide the foundation for cut scenes and numerous character artwork can be unlocked by viewing certain events. But it is a little odd that such quality is not carried out throughout the entire game. Of note is the handful of backgrounds used during cut scenes - there are just too few of them and it is sometimes distracting when they have used the same forest artwork for every single forest that you have been to.
Record of Agarest War is a niche title that combines several different Japanese oriented categories to form a strange, yet compelling game. But while it is interesting for a limited amount of time, Agarest is like a jack of all trades, master at none. Nothing introduced is given adequate polish and the end result is a game that can easily grate on ones nerve. Fans of Japanese role playing games may enjoy this game, but a other more casual role playing enthusiasts may find a barrier to enjoyment.