Not long ago, I stumbled upon and bought a copy of Bleach: The 3rd Phantom, a turn-based strategy game for the DS, at a local game store. It was relatively cheap, had been traded in and I had never seen it before. Being somewhat of a Bleach fanboy and an avid turn-based strategy player, I was elated.
The game itself isn’t incredibly amazing by any stretch of the imagination, but having said that, it does plenty of things right. However, that’s not to say that it isn’t without flaws. If the game itself didn’t have the style and story of Bleach, it would probably be considered somewhat nonsensical and shallow. The simple fact that it is a Bleach game redeems it entirely and fans of the series should be pleasantly surprised with it. Anyone who hasn’t watched at least 200 episodes of the series will find this game completely lacklustre.
Luckily, I’m in the former category and can easily forgive the games flaws and have been enjoying it immensely since I bought it. That is, except for one annoying mechanic which causes a large multitude of subsequent problems, that although not exclusively to The 3rd Phantom, is especially prevalent and irritating.
I’m referring to the saving and continuing system in the game. Coupled with a frustrating lack of foreknowledge given to the player about what they’re expected to do next, it can be DS-screen-smashingly infuriating.
You’re actually given quite a lot of opportunities to save the game; however, due to the nature of the gameplay, you’re often stuck in ruts. You may find that you chose the wrong party for the job or that the direction you chose to send your troops for your initial attack was not really where you were supposed to go and subsequently the entire battle becomes unfair. This kind of thing can become apparent even 20 minutes into a battle as the scripted story plays out. Chances are, you didn’t save right before the battle either and will have to replay a whole lot of the game, cutscenes and all, in order to even get to the point you were at again.
I’m fairly cautious when it comes to saving in games, saving at any given opportunity, but the amount of times I’ve had to sit through the same scenes in The 3rd Phantom due to silly little things that I had no forewarning of makes me want to pull my hair out.
There is also an element to the game called ‘Free Time’ where you select character panels, each with their own number which indicates the number of steps a certain character takes on the top screen. There are certain squares you can land on that reap certain benefits as well as spaces that reduce the cost of the next move. Problem is: There’s no way of telling how much your next move will be reduced in cost when hitting these panels, sometimes resulting in an early exit from the Free Time mode, through ‘Exit’ panels. Not only that, but each panel has a different effect (again: you’re not able to tell what does what exactly) that may land you in battle, or simply have you watching a small story segment. Sometimes battles will be too strong for you to face at the time, or you may run into the problems I mentioned earlier related to the temperamental battle system.
All of these problems have the potential to have you shutting off your DS and putting it aside for months at a time, coming back only when you have regained the patience to attempt it again (after getting through all the story and small battles you’ve already done leading up to the point in which you got stuck).
There is a ‘Free Battle’ option you can select before battle, although this negates all story for the battle, and so I haven’t even experimented with it to see if it’s a viable option for grinding. Grinding really isn’t the issue here as much as is the unforgiving and sudden things the game throws at you, making the saving system almost a gamble.
Save in the middle of a battle and end up losing? I hope you didn’t save over your previous save (1 of 2 available) because chances are you’re going to be playing the whole game from the start again.
In any other game (and it does appear in some), for anyone, this kind of mechanic would be unforgivable and seems completely dated and amateurish, and due to that, I don’t recommend this game to anyone who’s not a fan of Bleach.
If you’re not a Bleach fan and have not played this game, be thankful, as you’re probably going to end up with a lot less grey hairs than me at the end of the day.
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