Full Review for Riviera: The Promised Land by nintendo_punk

Introduction

Long ago, a war between gods and demons--Ragnarok--erupted, and the world was thrown into a state of chaos. Asgard, the realm of the gods, was overrun by demons and was on the brink of destruction. In desperation, the gods sacrificed their very lives to create fierce warriors known as Grim Angels. Each wielding a godly weapon known as a "Diviner," these angels quickly brought the war to an end. The demons were sealed away, but the gods would soon follow. However, the gods were able to leave behind their power in the heavenly isle of Riviera.

A thousand years have passed since the gods' demise. Signs of the demons' return have brought fear to this peaceful land. Without the gods, Asgard cannot withstand another war. And so, fearing their own demise, the Seven Magi, proxies of the gods, have made the fateful decision to actuate the Retribution, a cataclysmic event which will destroy both Riviera and the demons.

To execute the plan, the Seven Magi have again called upon the power of the Grim Angels, born anew for the first time since Ragnarok. Now, two angels shall descend to the sacred soil of Riviera... Little do these angels know of the darkness that will follow if they should succeed...

By Levar

Graphics

THe graphics is Incredible it a really cool rpg graphics are like Final Fantasy : Tactics but better. I have alot of sreenshots but I can't sumit them, but overall graphics rules I say it's the best rpg ever for sreenshots.......

Sound

In GBA games, audio I don't care for. So I never have the sound up to listen to it. What little I have heard of it, though, was pretty good. I don't count for or against a GBA game because of it's audio.
Visuals (graphics) however, are important. I'm not saying if a game has bad visuals that I won't play it, but it does make the game better. The lay out of the game looks very good, though sometimes the characters walking doesn't fit with the land. The battles look good, especially if you're using OverSkills. Ledah's looks awesome.

Gameplay

The game play is pretty good. Unlike most RPG's, you don't just walk around, gain experience, and level up. There are certain ways that you can go and certain things you can examine using TP. (I think it was Tp, Terrain Points or something like that. You get them from battles) You in battle party limit is 3, which is enough. It's not very hard, though some parts can be challenging. Sometimes, you have to avoid traps and other stuff with certain button combinations. If you are successful, you'll receive points for it. You received points for battle, certain items and events. Since you have different options and paths in the game, there are various different endings, making play-throughs more interesting. The only way to gain levels is by gaining experience using weapons. Say you have a Rapier with 3 experience required to grow a level with it. Use it three times and bingo. You'll only be able to gain a level with each weapon once, and certain characters can't gain levels with certain weapons. When your weapon level increases, you'll get an Over Skill. They're just more powerful attacks with better visuals. Over Skills require power from your Over Drive bar. It will increase when you deal damage to the enemy and take damage. Also, some characters, like Ledah and Ein (eventually), have very strong over skills, forgot what it was called but something like Executioner skills or something can't remember. These Over Skills are more powerful, and can be used at any point, but the higher your Over Drive level, the stronger and cooler the skill is. You don't run into a whole lot of monster, which most battle are tedious and are either only important for the story or for points. Since you can practice using your weapons, without losing items, a lot of battles aren't important. You can't carry a lot of items with you at a time, probably because they aren't needed. You can only take 4 items into battle with you, including weapons, so that kind of sucks. Never fear, battles usually aren't hard, so recovery items aren't very important, just in certain parts.

Lastability

Overall

I definitely recommend this game. Great story, decent play, interesting characters, good graphics, a very good game.Okay, I gave this game a 9 mainly because I'm in love with it's story. I think it'd be cool if they made a prequel (or however you spell it) to the game. Giving more depth to the story and characters. It had the potential to be a 10, but needed a little more work on it.

Rent or buy? This game, if you can find it, buy it for sure. You will not be disappointed. This isn't the most advanced or stat-heavy RPG but it is very different from anything you've seen before. Everything is done so well and there is a great story to tie it all together. By all means go out and pick this one up.

Final Score: 94%