Trillion: God of Destruction (PlayStation Vita)
Official GBAtemp Review
Product Information:
- Release Date (NA): March 29, 2016
- Release Date (EU): April 1, 2016
- Release Date (JP): July 23, 2015
- Publisher: Idea Factory
- Developer: Compile Heart/Idea factory
- Genres: Tactical JRPG
Game Features:
Trillion: God of Destruction is the latest PSVita JRPG from Compile Heart/Idea Factory released last year in Japan and coming to the west this week. It’s development team includes a lot of ex-Disgaea staff and this is reflected in the general tone and art style of the game.
Descent to Hell
The game starts off with the God of Destruction appearing literally just outside the Gate of Hell, threatening to destroy the Underworld, where you reign as Zeabolos, the Great Overlord and Satan’s heir. Your loyal brother, Astaroth, shows up to take the task of facing Trillion but in so doing loses his life on the battlefield. As the strongest fighter of the Underworld, you decide to put an end to Trillion’s rampage but even for you he is no match… And so you perish…
… Only to be revived after making a pact with a girl aptly named Faust. But your new body is weak and makes you unable to face Trillion in battle. The latter went in a dormant state after his rampage which gives you time to gather your subordinates, the Overlords, and devise a strategy to defeat Trillion...
It all comes down to this: the Overlord who manages to defeat Trillion will be throned as the new Great Overlord and will rule the Underworld in Zeabolos’ place. Now it’s up to you to choose an Overlord to manage, train and buff to face Trillion when he wakes up!
Underworld not Netherworld, Trillion not Baal
While going through the prologue, you can’t help but notice the similarities with Disgaea. The art style, the music, some recurring themes, light dialogues and a serious plot are all features shared by both titles. But that’s where the similarities end. With the combat system, I was even expecting one similar to Disgaea. However, I was surprised to come across a quite original one. It is turn-based and your actions function on a grid system (the controls are not intuitive and require some time to get used to them). However, unlike traditional JRPGs, you face the same opponent every time. That doesn't make the fight boring but the boss is strong. One trillion HP strong. And to face such an opponent, rigorous training is required!
Training to Trillion
During the time Trillion is in his dormant state, you have a set number of cycles before he wakes up. Each cycle is made up of 7 days during which you have to plan how to train and level up your Overlord. Training is mostly passive, and in the long run repetitive, where you select the training which will increase your desired parameter but from time to time you’ll be challenged by other Overlords for real combat. As you train, you amass experience points which can be used to strategically level up the Overlord’s stats and/or active and passive skills. There’s also the "Valley of Swords" which is a randomized mini-dungeon where you can collect items and defeat opponents similar to Trillion’s underlings. At the end of each cycle, you can test your skills against Mokujin, a huge training dummy. Should you fail to defeat Trillion when you face him, your chosen Overlord will die and you have to start training another one from the beginning. Harsh, I know but the fallen Overlord will execute a final attack on Trillion which will help you when you face him next time and also any damaged Trillion sustained in the previous battle is carried in the next as well.
However, while training you have to look out for the “Fatigue meter”. Your fatigue level determines how well you fare at the training and if you’re too tired, injury may ensue and you’ll be blocked from training!
That’s where the “Rest” option comes into play. Under this option you can choose to either Rest to relieve your fatigue, Interact to increase your bond with the Great Overlord, Order to increase your funds from civilians or try your luck at the Underworld Prize to get items. Using some specific items with specific Overlords will trigger some additional cut-scenes which can help in gaining some otherwise unavailable skills.
Preparing to face a powerful boss as Trillion sure is no easy task!
One Hell of a Plot
Like any JRPG, Trillion: God of Destruction relies on the plot and character development as much as the battles.
This one relies heavily on written conversations, sometimes a bit too much. For instance going through the prologue itself can take up to 10 minutes and it’s all text-based storytelling. Not that we don’t appreciate a good story background but with little animation to depict action, the whole storytelling part feels bland in the long-run. However the voice acting is varied and professionally done, as well as the background music. A nice additional feature is the ability to play the game in the original Japanese audio with English subtitles.
During your training, you get to interact with the other characters as well which moves the storyline forward and helps in character development. Your choices during certain dialogues can also determine your Overlord’s fate by triggering certain events, allowing the storyline to branch into different endings based on your actions (although some of the scenes tend to repeat). In this way, you get to know your chosen Overlord better and you can even feel some sort of bonding with her. I even had a feeling of helplessness whenever I brought my Overlord to her demise and unfortunately this is sometimes inevitable!
Verdict
- Prospect of facing a boss with a trillion HP
- Interesting plot and character development
- Original boss and fighting system
- Multiple endings possible
- Repetitive training and side stories
- Long dialogues with few animations
- Controls not intuitive