There was a time when gamers turned to RPGs for great storytelling. They’d spend 40+ hours fighting through massive dungeons just for a few minutes of CG movies and an hour or two worth of text. Though you’d spend most of the journey playing the game, it was the story that ensured you’d be there till the very end, regardless of repetition or unexpected annoyances.

Soul Nomad and the World Eaters, another strategy/RPG from the long list of NIS releases, ponders the opposite. There are story segments, voice-overs and the common batch of SNES-style graphics. But Soul Nomad is not your typical strategy/RPG – this is a game you’ll watch more than you play.

Where Nomad Has Gone Before

Soul Nomad combines several different RPG elements for a semi-enjoyable, semi-unique experience. Revya, the main character, may be male or female. The game unfolds similarly regardless of that character’s sex, but I’ll refer to Revya as a guy for consistency purposes. Once you’ve gotten through the opening sequence, the game introduces Revya’s best friend, a girl named Danette. The two argue and quickly end up on a grid-based battlefield. Soul Nomad looks pretty common at this point. You won’t have seen anything out of the ordinary (yet, but everything is on the same level of quality as the other NIS strategy/RPGs.

Players attack, use items and special moves by moving along the grid as in any other strategy/RPG. Close (melee) attacks can only be executed when your character is standing next to the enemy. Projectile attacks have a slight distance advantage, but neither Revya nor Danette has that ability.

When an attack has been made, most strategy games show the effect right there on the grid. But in Soul Nomad you are transported to a side-scrolling battle view. No controls are used at this point – these attack visuals are not to be altered mid-action. As the attacker, you move first. Your opponent retaliates immediately afterwards from the same side-scrolling view, and vice versa when you’re the one being attacked. Thus, in a one-on-one battle, each character has two chances to strike (even though you are only entitled to one attack per turn).

A look at Soul Nomad’s battle map.

But you won’t be limited to one-on-one battles for long. The game quickly introduces its manikin system, Soul Nomad’s version of the unit creation system found in Disgaea and other strategy/RPGs. Manikins serve two important roles: they can be added to your party and be used to form new parties. This is possible because each attack group, referred to as a “room,” can store a specified number of units. Rooms show up on the battle grid as individual units. The unit shown is your captain, the most important unit in each room. If he or she is killed in battle, that room is destroyed. You can get it back after the battle has been won, but it cannot be used until then. If Revya dies the game automatically ends.

Rooms are “designed,” as the game says, by placing manikins (and any main characters) on any of the available spaces. These character slots are randomized and fall under one of three categories: front (F), middle (M), or rear (R). If your room can hold four units, the setup is likely to have two Fs, one M and one R. But you could end up with one F and three Rs or some other combination. Unit position is an invaluable part of each battle for two reasons: (1) It determines who receives each attack and (2) each unit has a different attack style, or no attack at all, for each position.

Thus, you may want to stick your Clerics in back because they cast Heal All from that position. They’ll only heal one character from the middle position, and perform Big Strike (a basic attack) when placed up front.

Once the room is moved into attack position, the game takes charge and performs each move for the player. All room inhabitants perform their moves automatically. Ally spells (such as Heal All) are cast first; attacks (including spells against the enemy) are performed second. This also applies to when you receive an attack – you’ll be hit first, then your Cleric(s) cast their appropriate spells, and then your other party members attack.

Next on the Soul Nomad Broadcasting Network: Extreme Room Makeover.

I’ve Got Soul. But I’m Not a Soldier.

The first five hours are exciting, original, and will keep you engaged. It’s a very consuming experience … until it runs out of gas. First of all, the story doesn’t go to any spectacular places. You may like the characters but you’ll never love them – you’ll never feel like their life or death is overly important.

That’s because Gig, the can’t-be-killed scumbag that’s taken over the main character’s body, plays the part of the main character. It’s supposed to be Revya, but Revya is supposed to be you (the player), who is possessed by Gig. And you can’t speak. Therefore Revya receives no voice-overs and speaks (in text) only when necessary, which is usually when he needs to answer a rhetorical question. Gig, however, constantly insults everyone around him. As a villain, he’s not supposed to be likable. But he doesn’t feel like a villain, not when you are in control of the one he possesses. None of these elements – nor the annoying voice track from characters like Levin, who I wish would just shut up – make for a great story.

Second, the game isn’t very effective at being a strategy/RPG. Most turn-based strategy games allow players to move their units at any time during their turn. Soul Nomad acts like a standard RPG by making every character’s turn separate. This doesn’t sound like a big issue until you have one unit standing in front of an enemy you’d like to attack. Suppose that in this case your unit – the one currently under your control – can only reach the enemy from one spot on the grid, the same spot that’s blocked by an ally. That ally cannot be moved until his turn. Therefore you’re stuck with what you’ve got. You can’t exchange places, you can’t attack the enemy, and you’re most likely going to lose a few party members as a result.

Third, the gameplay can be broken down to quick moments where you make a selection (ex: move Revya next to an enemy and attack) and lengthy moments where you are left to sit and watch the action develop on screen. The average attack viewing time per room, against or from the enemy, is 17 seconds. You will usually fight more than 5 rooms per battle. Most battles involve a minimum of 8-10 turns before completion, but let’s be fair and assume that the best players will conquer most battles in 5 turns.

Do the math – that’s still 5 x 5 x 17 seconds = 425 seconds, or roughly 7 minutes of time spent watching the game per battle. Mind you, this is an extremely conservative estimate that only considers the enemy’s attacks when there are only 5 enemy rooms. It does not consider your own attacks, which add to the watch time, nor does it consider the times when you’re fighting more than 10 enemies. More often than not, you’ll spend more than 20 minutes of each battle watching the game play itself. If these moments were filled with interesting story developments, it might be a welcome addition. But since this viewing is only dedicated to gameplay, you won’t stay excited – or engaged – for very long.

Gameplay: 6.0
Fun at first but not for long, Soul Nomad doesn’t have enough “play” in its gameplay.

Graphics: 6.0
Not the best character models. Most of what this game presents could’ve been done on the SNES. I know that’s the trend for PS2 RPGs. But while some games make effective use of old graphics, Soul Nomad just looks dated.

Sound: 7.0
Good music that’s over played. The voice acting is a mixed bag of quality and annoyances, but the bland story leaves few reasons to care either way.

Difficulty: Medium
Soul Nomad isn’t like most RPGs, which give you a way to level up your party at any time or place. By being restricted (and forced to endure many difficult battles without first upgrading), Soul Nomad’s challenges are significant.

Concept: 7.0
A great concept that took a turn for the worst, Soul Nomad’s side-scrolling battle animations are too long for their own good.

Overall: 6.2
Soul Nomad appeared to have a lot going for it. The gameplay was interesting and fairly different from the norm, and the story seemed to have promise. But it isn’t long before you realize that the game isn’t going anywhere. The story developments and battle viewing are not much more than a process. Games need to be a bit more than that, especially when you’re expected to stick with the journey for 30+ hours.