Posted by Panda Jenkins on 23 Dec 2009, 12:15am.

Back in 2001 a Korean developed game called Magna Carta was released. The game had some extremely mixed opinions. Some said they found it to be a very interesting a unique RPG while others claimed it to be one of the worst games they ever played. Despite it never being particularly successful a sequel was made earlier this year exclusive to the Xbox 360. From most reviewers the game has been harshly criticized and biasedly judged. Magna Carta 2 is by no means an amazing Eastern RPG, but it still delivers a good experience for those who enjoy the genre for what it is and it deserves a bit more respect than it gets.

The story in Magna Carta 2 works like most Eastern RPG series, that is it doesen't connect to the previous game so there is no prior knowledge needed. Also the story follows a rather typical and cliche path. The story follows a boy named Juto who has lost his memories. He quickly gets dragged into a war between two opposing forces known as the Northern and Southern Forces, which he sides with the Southern Forces. As the story progresses the mystery about Juto's memory unfolds and of course, he aims to save the world. Like I said it is cliche, but fans of the genre enjoy this and cliches can still be done well. The earlier part of the game isn't particularly exciting though. There is a decent amount of time focused on pushing back the Northern Forces and it just isn't that interesting. As you get into the second disc however you start to learn about Juto's past in a lot of depth and I must admit, it was quite interesting not to mention it hooked me in. I found that the story was much more engaging towards the later half of the game and it made me a lot more excited in playing.



The combat is what makes Magna Carta 2 stand out though. It has a unique and interesting system. It does one great thing, and that is encourage the player to use multiple characters in combat rather than just sticking to who they find most powerful and such, as well as force the player to think things through. You fight enemies in Real Time, so unlike some Eastern RPG's you do not go into a combat arena. They merely walk around and you shift into combat mode. In combat you can use three people at once (out of six in total). Each character as a normal attack, a signature attack for the weapon style they use, and special skills which they can get from leveling up and such. There is a stamina bar which differentiates in size depending on your stats. It goes up by simply attacking normally, or using special skills (signature attacks however do not make it rise). When it reaches the top your character will go into an overheat state, where they cannot attack or use items until a full bar of overheated stamina depletes. If a combo goes over the overheat mark then your character will do extra damage and go into overheat state once the combo is over. It may sound like you should just simply not let it fill up the entire stamina bar but there is more to it. If a character goes into an overheat state after using a special attack you can switch to another character and they will form a chain. The character you chain to will do extra damage. There is still another special trick to this system though, and that is the chain break. If a character is chained to, he can cause a chain break which will allow both his and the overheated characters stamina bars to completely deplete and be refreshed. However they can only form a chain break if the chained character does a combo which ends with a special attack, and breaks into the overheat status themselves. But this combo must be the first one they use after the chain. Utilizing this system is the most effective way to play in combat, and I think it really makes the game stand out.



Another big thing about combat is Kan. Kan is the essence you use for special skills. There is two types of Kan, that is Strength Kan and Magic Kan. The two Melee characters use Strength Kan which builds up inside their bodies. They can store it and save it for fights. Magic Kan however builds up around the characters, and can only be used while in the area that it is created. Also the four characters who use Magic Kan have their own elements (wind, water, fire, and lightning) so they cannot share Kan. Both types of Kan are simply built up from attacking, though breaking certain items in some areas will cause an element type of Magic Kan to appear in the Air. While playing, you need to make good use of your Kan depending on the situation.

The combat has some flaws though. For one, a lot of the NPC's are not that smart and stand around barely attacking a lot of the time. The only big challenges I had were some of the boss's towards the end of the game. Also, even though there is a good variety in enemies, you fight the same Northern Forces troops over and over again throughout the entire game which gets dull sometimes. There is also complaints that the system is too slow for some. One little thing that annoyed me as well was that when a character uses a special attack, you must watch the animation until it finishes. Sometimes I just wanted to switch to another character straight away so it got annoying.



There is a good amount of character building in this game. For a start each character can use two different kinds of weapons, For example Juto can use either 1-handed or 2-handed swords which have different bonuses. For each weapon type there is a skill tree you can build up with points you earn from leveling up. The skill trees add some good variety to character building rather than just learning certain skills at certain levels. There is a big range of weapons to earn throughout the game, all with their own look. Though sadly the only character whoses look changes throughout the game is Juto at certain points. For each weapon you can use enhancement on. In Enhancement you use things called 'Kamonds' which have different bonuses. Enhancement becomes very important later in the game because it determines how you build your characters.

The visuals in Magna Carta 2 are a mixed bag, Nothing is amazing, but there is some things that look quite nice, while other things look horrible. The character designs are done by a famous Korean Artist and personally I quite like them though I know some do not find them appealing. My only complaint with them is that the art work looks way better than the actual in-game designs, not to mention the size of the main girls boobs are deceiving in the art work which may be a let down for some. The environments feel quite inspired and in some cases have quite a lot of detail. The textures are however weak in a lot of places, not to mention texture pop-in happens all the time. There is a ton of load screens though thankfully they are all rather fast. Dialogue sequences are rather bland, they simply have a character on the left, and another of the right and they have simple and very repetitive animations. Luckily most of the dialogue is spoken which saves it from feeling completely dull. The CG cut-scenes are usually nice but there is very few of them and they are insanely short. For me the best part of the visuals were the special attacks. Most of them were not too complex but had some nice cinematic shots. The ultimate finishers attacks are quite insane though and look plain awesome.



The sound work in Magna Carta 2 impressed me more than I thought it would. The game comes with only an English Dub, which for people like myself is usually a bad thing. However Magna Carta 2's dub is actually decent. Some of the voice actors pulled of the roles very well, though there is still a few duds. Like I said before, a lot of the dialogue is spoken too which adds to the game. The music is your typical Eastern RPG music, though that isn't a bad thing. The music is always nice to hear but it definitely isn't anything that stands out greatly.

Magna Carta 2 isn't a bad game, nor is it amazing. For fans of JRPG's it should definitely please. The game takes 35+ hours depending on how fast you play through it, though there is plenty of side quests which make the game longer and more entertaining. Magna Carta 2 is definitely a game I enjoyed, despite it being flawed and nothing amazing. I don't think it gets as much attention as it deserves, but for those who enjoy JRPG's, this is one to look into.

 Xbox 360, Magna Carta 2, Korean, Eastern, RPG, Underrated