Lord of Arcana (USA) ISO

I originally downloaded this because it was referred to as a "Monster Hunter clone".

It definitely isn't. I was disappointed in that regard, but I ended up liking the game anyway.

While it has the same basic idea, this game goes a different direction very quickly, with spells, storyline, actual RPG leveling and battles in which overworld monsters are representative of the monsters you'll be battling if you touch them. Of course, this is a game by Square, so... It's really a Monster Hunter-esque JRPG.

My main problems with this game are:

• To beat a boss you'll need to be good with quicktime events. Instead of joy, I feel some kind of nervous agitation when I see "Melee Dule" pop up on the screen.

• You'll spend the first half of the game asking "When can I upgrade this?" and the latter half saying "Really? I still can't upgrade this? I can upgrade everything I DON'T use, but not this?"

Aside from that, great game.