Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 53:44

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44

Main battle starts at 26:36

Once upon a time, a company named "Idea Factory" was born from several employees of the (now defunct) company known as "Data East". DE was always an interesting company to me because they made quite a few decent games, but they also made a lot of mediocre games too. Looking at IF, I see that the trend that followed DE has also made its way into IF. North Americans would eventually get IF's popular "Spectral" and "Chaos" games (to a degree), but what if there was another game in IF's lineup that was worthy of becoming a series besides those? In many regards, Rebirth Moon is such a game, but it just never caught on, even on the Xbox 360.

Here's a little story...One day, a traveling peddler named Reglight hears a loud noise and finds a young boy named Ires Lufard (hero) at the bottom of a crater. Of course, Ires is not sure how he got there and all he can truly remember is his name so Reglight raises the boy as his son for six years. Now 17, Ires has some experience and can handle a sword. Being the type who usually likes to solve his own problems, Ires seems a little blunt at first, but he just doesn't want to be a burden on others...so when Reglight disappears before his eyes one night after battling a young man named Juan Millworth (a fighter of "Tempest", some type of order society), Ires wants to find him alone.

However, he soon gets joined by others and joins a resistance named Sleipnir. Eventually, Ires will unravel the mysteries of the "Black Cube" that Reglight had gotten from a man on the verge of death. Cubes were discovered in ancient ruins sometime ago and they can transform ordinary weapons into powerful "virtual tools". Anyway, certain religious stuff comes up...Trees of Yugu...Noise Net...Guild...I don't have time to explain...RPGfan has some info.

Visually, the game isn't so bad for an IF game. The artwork is great and the game is sharp and clear. However, the animation sucks, even in the environments (water barely does anything for example). Thankfully, the special effects help a bit and make the game a little more appealing. The game also has one of the better IF opening movies (not like Neverland Card Battles, which was more of a slideshow than anything), but you can't see it here due to the song in it being blocked by YouTube. The audio is nothing to write home about; it is serviceable and nothing more. Although Ires is voiced by Minagawa Junko (Mahou Sensei Negima, etc.) and Raika Yuzurugi is voiced by Tanaka Rie (Gundam Seed Destiny, etc.), the voice acting as a whole is only average and the music is somewhat limited and repetitive. Gameplay wise, RM might be a bit different from what you've come to know from IF.

There is a lot to be said about RM. Unfortunately, I can't fit everything. The game has a lot of random factors to think about and on the surface, the game has a sort of "Phantom Brave" interface. You go into ruins with random layouts, random enemy numbers, random strength, random floors (the dungeon could have four floors...could have seven or more), and you get VERY high stats that also go up randomly. Different events that happen on a day to day basis change what's sold in shops, whether a ruin is opened or closed, and more. As you might expect, RM can be a VERY annoying game because of this, but at the same time, it can be very interesting. RM is a game that will require patience. Without understanding Japanese, the game can seem overwhelming with lots of technical jargon and loads of confusing numbers. However, when you dive into the game a little bit, you will find things become a lot easier to understand.

Stats are gained by attacking and using magic (there is no experience system) and skills are mostly learned through the "Skill Shift" system. You can buy skills in the shop, but the idea is to buy basic skills and let them transform into other skills, which happens when you use a skill during combat. A skill will randomly "shift" into another skill. So you might be wondering...how would I keep a skill I like if it keeps changing into other skills? By using the interesting "LOCK" system. Once you find yourself with a skill you like, you can "LOCK" it (which is shown if a skill has a key symbol next to it) and use it forever or put it away for use later. You gain weapon and magic proficiency by using the same weapon a lot and using any magic. The higher your weapon level, the more advanced skills you can obtain through skill shift. Later on, you can strengthen weapons and armor using chips and merge weapons into other weapons and do lots of stuff. The system is actually one of the best I've encountered from an IF published game. I also like the movement system and the combination attacks as well as being able to attack over ten times in one turn with one character. The game is very slow paced though, so again, If you've got patience, then Rebirth Moon may be one of the better games in IF's lineup.