Post by wafflerevolution on Sept 9, 2013 16:24:34 GMT
by wafflerevolution
TO THE ARENA! TO THE DEATH!
Subject: Gladius on Gamecube, XBOX andPS2.
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Genre: turn-based RPG
Released: October 2003
with A&D up, I was reminded how awesome and over-looked this game is. it seems that Lucas arts doesn't sell well if "Star Wars" isn't in the title... which is sad because Lucas Arts almost ALWAYS hits home-runs with well made and well scripted games. this game is no exception, their foré into TBS was a great one.
The game "Gladius" takes its name from a popular gladiatorial sword known as a gladius. (bet you couldn't guess that) You get to choose one of two paths in the beginning, the story of Ursula or the story of Valens. The story of Ursula is the "easy" mode and the story of Valens is the "normal" mode. The story modes in the beginning are completely different with Ursula starting in Nordagh and Valens in Imperia. Ursula starts with only her big brother, Urlan as a "school" member as where Valens starts with his childhood friend Ludo. And once in the Windward Steppes the story becomes almost entirely the same. The story itself if very compelling and keeps you interested from beginning to end. (makes me wish that the second part wasn't cancelled)
So now I'll tell you what I thought of the game itself. The main graphics are so so, the cut scenes are slightly low quality but keep the "customized" colors and outfitted equipment. The world map is a little strange with a giant gif walking on a map with other giant gifs which are all interactive. The battle graphics are where it really shines. It has very well put together fields to fight in, all with completely customizable characters.
The Gameplay is very fun and interesting; it takes elements from RPGs action and my personal favorite, strategy. You choose the characters to bring into battle from any at your school or hired from the local recruiter, you place them where you wish and start the fight. Each attack has its own method of execution which usually requires pressing the correct button at the right time. (it's like a minigame each attack) The game guarantees at least 100 hours of Gameplay, but if you do all the sub-quests and beat every league and don't skip anything you will get over 1000 hours of Gameplay! I personally got 1500+ hours...
The sound effects are awesome in almost every way. The voice acting has some big voice over actors doing a great job for who they played. The music is decent but I'd rather listen to actual music....
There is also a 2-4 player mode where you can go against a friend using your School data verses their School data. it's basically a free battle mode where you fight your friend. it's pretty entertaining if you know someone else with the game. The Gamecube and XBOX versions featured 3 or 4 players which the PS2 version did not. I don't think it would have been to hard to take advantage of the PS2's muti-tap... they didn't though...
This game has the distinguished honor of not varying at all while being ported not once but twice! The graphics were the same on all three platforms, the sound was the same on all three platforms, the controls were virtually unvarying even with the different controller layouts and somehow none of the games got any kind of unique features specific to the consoles. The only this that varied at all was the multi-player which was lacking 4 players on the PS2 version which was probably because the coding had it set for 4-player on-console and writing new code for a multi-tap would have been too much work. The world may never know… At any rate; what this means is; no matter what console you play Gladius on, you will have the same amount of enjoyment.
All in all the game is well worth the original MSRP of a 20 dollar price! Now a days you can find it on the cheap and it's still worth a play.
there are a few final tidbits I'd like to leave you with... there was a demo placed into many demo discs on the PS2 and XBOX as well a few games on the XBOX but the gameplay was changed after the demo. so the demo featured the correct graphics and voices and the basic gameplay. but the actual fight system was fundamentally altered before the games release.
Lucas Arts used Gladius as its main attraction at E3 in 2003.
There was a "Gladius Online" MMO in the works by a British company at the same time but Lucas arts didn't want them to use the name... I'm not sure what the out-of-court settlement was about that...
Lastly, most people are unaware of this; but there was a sequel slated to be made... there were even some screens and word of the voice-actors being re-hired. but it was cancelled by the end of 2004 because of how poorly Gladius sold despite high review scores on nearly every website and magazine.
Collectors Interest
Gladius is NOT compatible with the X360.
... is becoming quite uncommon.
... is given a user score of 8.4 on GCN and Xbox and 8.1 on PS2.
...as of this post there are 12 copies available on Ebay for $3-$17.
TO THE ARENA! TO THE DEATH!
Subject: Gladius on Gamecube, XBOX andPS2.
Developer: LucasArts
Publisher: LucasArts
Genre: turn-based RPG
Released: October 2003
with A&D up, I was reminded how awesome and over-looked this game is. it seems that Lucas arts doesn't sell well if "Star Wars" isn't in the title... which is sad because Lucas Arts almost ALWAYS hits home-runs with well made and well scripted games. this game is no exception, their foré into TBS was a great one.
The game "Gladius" takes its name from a popular gladiatorial sword known as a gladius. (bet you couldn't guess that) You get to choose one of two paths in the beginning, the story of Ursula or the story of Valens. The story of Ursula is the "easy" mode and the story of Valens is the "normal" mode. The story modes in the beginning are completely different with Ursula starting in Nordagh and Valens in Imperia. Ursula starts with only her big brother, Urlan as a "school" member as where Valens starts with his childhood friend Ludo. And once in the Windward Steppes the story becomes almost entirely the same. The story itself if very compelling and keeps you interested from beginning to end. (makes me wish that the second part wasn't cancelled)
So now I'll tell you what I thought of the game itself. The main graphics are so so, the cut scenes are slightly low quality but keep the "customized" colors and outfitted equipment. The world map is a little strange with a giant gif walking on a map with other giant gifs which are all interactive. The battle graphics are where it really shines. It has very well put together fields to fight in, all with completely customizable characters.
The Gameplay is very fun and interesting; it takes elements from RPGs action and my personal favorite, strategy. You choose the characters to bring into battle from any at your school or hired from the local recruiter, you place them where you wish and start the fight. Each attack has its own method of execution which usually requires pressing the correct button at the right time. (it's like a minigame each attack) The game guarantees at least 100 hours of Gameplay, but if you do all the sub-quests and beat every league and don't skip anything you will get over 1000 hours of Gameplay! I personally got 1500+ hours...
The sound effects are awesome in almost every way. The voice acting has some big voice over actors doing a great job for who they played. The music is decent but I'd rather listen to actual music....
There is also a 2-4 player mode where you can go against a friend using your School data verses their School data. it's basically a free battle mode where you fight your friend. it's pretty entertaining if you know someone else with the game. The Gamecube and XBOX versions featured 3 or 4 players which the PS2 version did not. I don't think it would have been to hard to take advantage of the PS2's muti-tap... they didn't though...
This game has the distinguished honor of not varying at all while being ported not once but twice! The graphics were the same on all three platforms, the sound was the same on all three platforms, the controls were virtually unvarying even with the different controller layouts and somehow none of the games got any kind of unique features specific to the consoles. The only this that varied at all was the multi-player which was lacking 4 players on the PS2 version which was probably because the coding had it set for 4-player on-console and writing new code for a multi-tap would have been too much work. The world may never know… At any rate; what this means is; no matter what console you play Gladius on, you will have the same amount of enjoyment.
All in all the game is well worth the original MSRP of a 20 dollar price! Now a days you can find it on the cheap and it's still worth a play.
there are a few final tidbits I'd like to leave you with... there was a demo placed into many demo discs on the PS2 and XBOX as well a few games on the XBOX but the gameplay was changed after the demo. so the demo featured the correct graphics and voices and the basic gameplay. but the actual fight system was fundamentally altered before the games release.
Lucas Arts used Gladius as its main attraction at E3 in 2003.
There was a "Gladius Online" MMO in the works by a British company at the same time but Lucas arts didn't want them to use the name... I'm not sure what the out-of-court settlement was about that...
Lastly, most people are unaware of this; but there was a sequel slated to be made... there were even some screens and word of the voice-actors being re-hired. but it was cancelled by the end of 2004 because of how poorly Gladius sold despite high review scores on nearly every website and magazine.
Collectors Interest
Gladius is NOT compatible with the X360.
... is becoming quite uncommon.
... is given a user score of 8.4 on GCN and Xbox and 8.1 on PS2.
...as of this post there are 12 copies available on Ebay for $3-$17.
