While most RPGs tend to both aim more toward a plot and plot development or character development, Sudeki is an RPG that focuses more on combat. After playing many different RPGs and someone who takes a special interest in RPGs, I liked the idea of one that focused more on combat. However, while Sudeki's combat is a strong point in the game, it seems to have suffered some other flaws and because of this, it fails to meet the standards of many RPG fans.
One example is the overall weak storytelling and pacing. The story in Sudeki isn't really bad by all means, but the actual telling of the story is very weak and goes at an uncomfortably fast pace. Another aspect that is a weaker point in the game is the voice acting.
The Graphics overall are very nice. The game's characters sport unique, anime-inspired designs. The designs on each user-controlled character are a lot more developed than the NPCs but every character in the game look very nice. Each of the environments is lush, beautiful, and very colorful. Environments themselves range from a laid-back countryside, to a desert like region, to a vibrant castle town, and so on. All of the environments are nicely diverse. The overall artistic design in the game's visuals is unique; it is not overly realistic nor is it too cartoon-like.
One of Sudeki's strongest points is its combat system. In Sudeki, there are four user-controlled characters that have two different styles of combat. Tal, the warrior character, and Buki, the huntress, fight in the third person mode and are the game's melee fighters. Melee combat is executed by pressing the 'X' and 'A' buttons. Both Tal and Buki have three button combos using the attack buttons. There are also different types of combos that can be used, for example; simply pressing 'X-X-X' or 'A-A-A' performs a basic series of attacks. Other combos can be found out by experimenting with the three-button combo system. Some combos are 'juggle' combos that result in the character performing a continuous series of attacks as that basically 'juggles' the opponent. However, the attack can be broken if the timing is incorrect. Another combo is a much stronger attack. After this combo is executed, this move serves as a form of a One Hit KO move to very weak enemies and does considerable damage to other foes.
The other two characters in the game are Ailish and Elco. During combat, Ailish and Elco fight more in the first person perspective. Ailish uses magic wands and Elco uses guns. Both characters only have a standard attack that fires their weapons. Ailish and Elco have an assortment of weapons that the gamer find throughout the game, some have very high fire rates, others have medium fire rates, and others have very low fire rates. Generally, high fire rate weapons are weak but can be fired more often, low fire rate weapons are very strong but there is a lot more time between each shot.
All of the characters have a whole assortment of weapons that can be found throughout the game. Some are weapons that are obtained through side-quest, others are those found as the main quest is progressed. Each weapon can be customized using runes. There are different types of runes and at most 3 can be placed to customize a weapon, although most weapons only allow two runes. Some of these customized features include stronger standard attack, others increase the chance of a critical hit, some runes allow the user-controlled character to gain some HP as they strike, other runes will poison an enemy on contact. There are several other different runes found throughout the game and stronger versions of each rune can be found throughout the game.
Armor is also customizable. Each character gains three different types of armor specific to that character. Usually, each character gains a newer version of his or her armor via a cut-scene. No armor can be purchased. Some upgrades for armor include the ability to damage an opponent if they strike you, other runes grant immunity to negative status effecting like poison for example.
Another nice feature in Sudeki's combat are skills. As each character levels up, the gamer may purchase a skill for their characters. Each character has a unique set of skills. To activate a skill; press the 'Y' button during combat and a menu pops up. The game is slowed down significantly but the action is still going on. A list of available skills come up and after selecting one, a delay happens and then the move is executed. The delay is used for the gamer to position their character if the move is an offensive one. There are two main forms of skills. There are offensive ones and there are defensive ones. An example of an offensive skill is Tal's 'Shin Splitter.' This move is basically a powerful swing across a large arc in front of Tal. An example of a defensive skill is Ailish's 'Healing Kiss.' This move regenerates a certain amount of HP (Hit Points) for every character.
Aside from the skills, each character has two extremely powerful "Spirit Strikes." These are devastating moves that can generally clear an entire area of enemies. This move is rarely performed throughout the game since this move can only be executed after a certain bar found to the left of the character icons fills up. The bar is filled as fighting progresses.
The story in Sudeki is progressed by the gamer roaming freely from point to point on a map. The free roaming part of the game is fairly nice and the worlds found in the game are not too large nor are they too small. They are not too large in that walking to a certain point to another doesn't take hours (ex. Morrowind) nor does going from point to point take just a few minutes making the entire world feel cramped up. Aside from the main quest throughout the game, there are many different side quest that can be found and there are also treasures as well for those who like to roam around for a bit and not rush to the next objective. These treasures include orbs that increase a character maximum HP or SP to other items required in side quest. Most side quest includes gathering a bunch of special items that can be found by exploring an area in exchange for weapons.
One of the more enjoyable aspects of Sudeki's gameplay is character development. Unlike the character development found in other RPGs like Xenosaga, where character development is more of a pain than enjoyable, character development in Sudeki is simple and fun. As each character finishes a fight, they gain experience points. After a certain number of experience points are gained, the "Level Up" icon appear above the character indicating that the character may advance in stats. To level up, a character is given a certain number of orbs that they can spend to increase Heath, Power, Skill, or Essence or the orb can be spent to acquire a new skill. Health indicates the character's maximum HP, Skill indicates a character's maximum SP (Skill points, which is required to execute a skill), Power regulates how much damage a character's standard attack does, and Essence regulates how powerful a characters skill is. It doesn't take a considerable amount of time to level up each character, which saves a lot of time just going back to areas where enemies are found and fighting them off.
One of Sudeki's weak points is the pathetic puzzles found in the game. It does not take much thinking to figure out these puzzles. They seem to be annoying obstacles rather than challenging. Another bad aspect found in Sudeki is that in every major boss monster battle, only one character out of the four seems to tackle the foe. I seriously fail to understand this. Especially in the final boss fight, support from the other characters would be very appreciated. Also, each boss monster has a certain pattern to them. Once this pattern is figures out, the boss monster no longer becomes challenging.
Another weak point in Sudeki is not the story itself, but the storytelling. Some cut scenes are very nice, but everything feels like its rushed and there is hardly any conflict within the story aside from the main bad guy. There is some inner conflict in each character, however, the conflict is very shallow and is resolved almost the scene after the conflict arises.
Sudeki has a very nice music and sound department. The game's soundtrack is not annoying at all and it sets the proper tone for the scene. For example, when the gamer enters one of the towns in the game called "New Brightwater Village," a very peaceful tune is played and it fits well with the towns general laid back atmosphere. Voice acting is awkward to say the least. Each character has an obvious English accent. While this isn't really all that bad, most RPG gamers may be used to just switching to the usual Japanese dialogue with English subtitles. This game was made in the U.K., so no Japanese dialogue can really be expected. Some particular characters have very annoying voice-overs. Some of the dialogue isn't all that bad. Especially during combat when a skill is activated, the character will say something mildly amusing. For example, after activating Tal's "Shin Splitter," Tal will recite an amusing "I'll stain the floor with your insides."
Overall, I have found Sudeki to be a very enjoyable experience. While the game is not as epic as other RPGs, it can be a mere hint of better things yet to come. Sudeki had some very nice aspects to the game, but it also suffered some serious flaws.
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