Agarest: Generations of War

54%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,196 reviews
  • story
  • gameplay
  • grinding
Agarest: Generations of War Game Cover
An old-school strategy RPG merged with dating sim elements, Agarest's complicated and difficult battles combined with its anime themes will put all but the most devoted SRPG fan off
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"Agarest: Generations of War" is a single-player fantasy role-playing game with a fabulous story, good gameplay, graphics, and soundtrack. The game features lots of grinding, humor, and emotional moments, with a high level of replayability. According to the game's description, it takes place in a new world created after a great war between the forces of light and darkness, and it includes unique features that cannot be found in any other strategy role-playing game.

  • PC
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

54%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,196 reviews
story239 positive mentions
grinding218 negative mentions
  • Engaging story that spans multiple generations, allowing for character development and choices that affect future protagonists.
  • Unique battle system that incorporates combo attacks and character positioning, adding depth to combat strategy.
  • Attractive character designs and a decent soundtrack that enhances the overall experience.
  • Repetitive combat that can become tedious, with battles often feeling drawn out and lacking variety.
  • Poorly explained mechanics and a steep learning curve, requiring players to rely on external guides for optimal play.
  • The presence of DLC that can break the game's balance, making early gameplay too easy and diminishing the challenge.
  • story775 mentions

    The story of "Agarest: Generations of War" is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating its ambitious multigenerational narrative and character development, while others criticize it for being clichéd and poorly executed. The game features a unique mechanic where players' choices affect the lineage and abilities of future characters, but the pacing is often bogged down by repetitive battles that detract from the storytelling experience. Overall, while some find the story engaging and enjoyable, others feel it lacks depth and coherence, making it a polarizing aspect of the game.

    • “Agarest: Generations of War is a captivating strategic role-playing game that boasts a dynamic and immersive storyline.”
    • “The story's twists and turns are captivating, and the player's choices have real consequences that can ultimately shape the fate of the world.”
    • “The story is great, offering you many choices that actually affect the narrative.”
    • “But, then... the story is just flat out bad with arbitrary endings to chapters that sometimes make no sense whatsoever.”
    • “The writing is extremely shallow, relies on cheap harem protagonist humor and leaves too many gaps to tell a coherent story.”
    • “The plot was very poorly written, pretty much a huge collection of clichés and cheesy dialogue.”
  • gameplay325 mentions

    The gameplay of "Agarest: Generations of War" is a mixed bag, with some players praising its deep mechanics and strategic elements, particularly the generational system and combo attacks, while others criticize it for being slow, repetitive, and overly reliant on grinding. Many reviews highlight the engaging story and character interactions, but the combat can feel tedious and unbalanced, leading to frustration for some players. Overall, the game offers a significant amount of content and complexity, but its execution may not appeal to everyone, especially those seeking a more streamlined experience.

    • “The gameplay mechanics are both challenging and rewarding, making it a must-play for any fan of the strategic role-playing genre.”
    • “Fun and engaging tactical gameplay, but can be very hard at times.”
    • “The gameplay manages to combine the long setup and playtime of strategy RPGs with the constant random battles of normal RPGs, providing a unique experience.”
    • “The actual gameplay is so mind-numbingly bad that I can't stomach to stick around for anything else.”
    • “I aged 10 years per battle; that's how slow this gameplay is.”
    • “The gameplay is slow and monotonous; there is little to no strategy involved, and the game seems to revolve around 'playing' your way from one contrived plot event to the other.”
  • grinding218 mentions

    The reviews highlight that the game is excessively grindy, with many players finding the grinding tedious and repetitive, often detracting from the overall enjoyment. While some appreciate the charm and depth that grinding can bring, others criticize it as a chore that hampers progression and makes the gameplay feel slow and unfulfilling. Overall, the game seems best suited for dedicated JRPG fans who enjoy extensive grinding, while those seeking a more streamlined experience may want to look elsewhere.

    • “Unfortunately, progressing is so grindy and the fights are so time-consuming that it becomes a tedious chore to play.”
    • “The one setback to the game is tediously long battles that cannot be escaped and must be fought through to progress.”
    • “It sincerely feels like they made the grinding in this game insane to strongly encourage buying the god-tier items.”
  • graphics129 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many praising the vibrant anime art style and character designs, while others criticize the visuals as outdated and reminiscent of older gaming systems like the PS1 or PS2. Some players appreciate the colorful battle animations and smooth transitions, but note that the overall graphical presentation can feel repetitive and lacks depth. Despite the appealing artwork, several reviews suggest that the graphics alone do not compensate for the game's other shortcomings, such as gameplay mechanics and storytelling.

    • “The graphics were colorful, the characters well drawn, and the characters were well written for the most part.”
    • “Brilliant gameplay, a deep skill tree, and beautiful graphics are all reasons to buy this port of Record of Agarest War.”
    • “The artwork is stunning.”
    • “The graphics are lazy.”
    • “Graphically, the game is awful; the battlegrounds are generic and poorly detailed, as are the characters.”
    • “The graphics are comparable to the PlayStation 1 capabilities.”
  • music109 mentions

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some praising its energetic and fitting soundtrack that enhances the fantasy experience, while others criticize it for being repetitive and generic, leading to listener fatigue over time. Many players appreciate specific tracks, particularly during battles, but feel that the overall variety is lacking, making the music feel monotonous during extended gameplay. Overall, while the soundtrack has its highlights, it often fails to maintain engagement throughout the game's lengthy sessions.

    • “The most surprising element of the game is the soundtrack.”
    • “The music is actually good; this is a soundtrack that fits well with the fantasy genre and could be listened to as a standalone.”
    • “Great music, nice art, nice looking characters.”
    • “After not even an hour, combat becomes a boring slog, repeating the same motions over and over again, with the most generic rock music one could imagine playing in the background.”
    • “The music becomes irritating after five minutes.”
    • “The soundtrack is also lackluster and repetitive; I've known platform games to have a wider variety of music and sound effects compared to this game.”
  • character development37 mentions

    Character development in the game is a mixed bag, with some players praising the robust customization options and the evolution of characters throughout the story, while others criticize the lack of depth and rushed transitions in character arcs. The dating sim elements and anime-inspired designs add a unique flavor, but opinions vary on their effectiveness in enhancing character growth. Overall, while some find the character development engaging and well-integrated, others feel it falls short, lacking the depth expected from more narrative-driven RPGs.

    • “Additionally, the game's character development system is robust, allowing players to customize and evolve their heroes in a myriad of ways.”
    • “This is a story of epic fantasy, great character development, a robust skill system, relationship system, spanned across 5 generations.”
    • “Great game if you care about character development and you like long JRPGs.”
    • “But there's absolutely no character development, logic, or transitioning between plot sequences.”
    • “In terms of character development, it doesn't feel right and some characters don't have any real defining points, especially when they feel flat in terms of the heroines, specifically the first generation.”
    • “This left me with less than 10 hours of actual enjoyable gameplay; even less was spent on character development and plotline.”
  • replayability35 mentions

    Overall, the game exhibits high replayability due to its multiple paths, choices, and endings, which encourage players to explore different strategies and character interactions. While some players may find the prospect of replaying daunting, many appreciate the depth and variety offered, leading to hundreds of hours of potential gameplay. Features like new game+ and achievement systems further enhance the replay value for dedicated players.

    • “Infinite replayability with different choices at each event.”
    • “The stats, end game content, and choices allow for excellent replayability.”
    • “With hundreds of weapons, a giant pool of titles to achieve, some really cool looking combination attacks and several endings, replayability is written all over this game.”
    • “Although it appears to have all the elements for replayability, I found myself dreading the idea of going through any part of it again.”
    • “[replayability - why?]: you might as well just google the 'true ending' because even a few wrong choices during the multiple choice questions can cause you to get a different ending.”
    • “- replayability = zero”
  • humor26 mentions

    The humor in the game is a mixed bag, with many players appreciating its quirky dialogue and funny moments that often elicit genuine laughter. While some find the writing charming and engaging, others criticize it for being overly complicated or cringeworthy at times. Overall, the humor adds a lighthearted touch to the gameplay, making it enjoyable for those who appreciate its unique style, despite some gameplay frustrations.

    • “This is in my top 5 RPG games; it's funny, has good gameplay, plus a storyline.”
    • “The characters are cute, and the dialogue is funny in that weirdly translated sort of way... the silliness of it kind of helps you engage with it.”
    • “But the game is super fun to play; the battle system is as deep as any Japanese SRPG, the writing is funny and witty, and even through English translations, a lot of the humor still works great.”
  • emotional12 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game elicits mixed responses; while some players find the story and character interactions deeply moving and capable of evoking strong feelings, others criticize the overall narrative and character development as dull and uninspiring. Despite some heartwarming moments and emotional dialogues, many feel that the game's potential is squandered, leading to a lack of genuine emotional attachment. Overall, the emotional impact varies significantly among players, with some experiencing profound connections and others feeling disconnected.

    • “Officially completed the game, the story was very emotional, hilarious, and sometimes inspiring.”
    • “There are lots of funny, touching, sad dialogues, and it was very easy for me to sympathize with every character in my team.”
    • “Truly nothing has ever made me cry as much as this ending.”
    • “Boring battles, boring graphics, and most importantly, boring characters and story make Agarest: Generations of War one of the most tedious games I've ever played in my life.”
    • “Boring battle, boring story, dull game mechanics.”
  • optimization6 mentions

    The game's optimization has been widely criticized, with players noting significant performance issues such as sound skipping and stuttering, particularly in the PC port. Despite its rich content and features, the lack of adjustable graphics options and overall poor optimization detracts from the experience, making it frustrating for players who wish to enjoy its deep tactical gameplay.

    • “The game comes with all its content DLC pre-installed except for non-essential DLC, and has full controller support, optimized screen resolutions for big screens, and a good soundtrack.”
    • “Tl;dr: deepest tactical battle system out there, many characters, excellent growth, weapons/armor/accessories, weapon and item crafting, separate adjustable passive ability system, monster capture, in-game performance rewards, great end-game difficulty.”
    • “This is the kind of game I would love to spend hours on, but it is unbearable how poorly optimized it is.”
    • “Apparently a relic from the original console version, it is a shame to see the gameplay so poorly optimized for the PC port.”
    • “It's a very lazy port - there are no graphics options to tweak the game for performance on your computer (though the game does have very small overheads in that department anyway).”
  • stability5 mentions

    Overall, users report a mixed experience regarding stability; while some experience smooth gameplay with no lag or crashes, others encounter numerous glitches that detract from the experience.

    • “This runs great on my Surface Pro 4.”
    • “No glitches.”
    • “The only problem I've got is that there are far too many glitches.”
    • “In its native form, there were some technical glitches.”
  • atmosphere1 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is effectively enhanced by a dynamic soundtrack, featuring fast-paced tracks that maintain tension and slower, more solemn pieces that contribute to a deeper emotional experience.

    • “The fast beat tracks kept me on edge, while the slower, solemn tracks created a great atmosphere.”
    • “The immersive sound design and stunning visuals truly transport you into another world.”
    • “The haunting melodies and ambient sounds perfectly complement the game's eerie setting.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

48% average critic score

Play time

100hMedian play time
123hAverage play time
80-152hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 15 analyzed playthroughs

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