Record of Agarest War 2, known as Agarest Senki 2 (アガレスト戦記2, Agaresuto Senki 2) in Japan, is a tactical role-playing game developed by Idea Factory and Red Entertainment. It was published in Japan by Compile Heart on November 18, 2010 for the PlayStation 3. It is the sequel to the 2007 game Record of Agarest War and the third game in the series. A PC version under a title Agarest Generations of War 2 was released via Steam on February 19, 2015 with Engish subtitles.
Plot[]
One day, the world was enveloped by a mysterious blinding light. The destruction it caused was terrible, even as the light itself was sublime in its beauty, and it made those who witnessed the awesome display think of the unrestrained rage and fury of the divine.
The central continent, from where the light is believed to have originated from, went silent, while at the same time demons began to spread throughout the world like a plague. Amongst the survivors of the catastrophe, that fateful day became known as the "Day of Light."
Sometime after the events of the Day of Light, a young man by the name of Weiss, who had lost all memory of himself, encounters an enigmatic woman named Eva, who introduces herself as an Agent of the Divine. It is from her that Weiss learns that he has committed the grievous sin of deicide, and that in order for him to atone for his crime he is to become the "Vessel" in which the power of the divinity he had slaughtered will be stored. For it will be that power that will be used to resurrect the god whose life he stole.
World[]
The official site describes the following Record of Agarest War 2 lore:
The world of Agarest was brought forth by the twelve divine children of the ultimate god, Lenion.
Although it was meant to be a physical manifestation of the perfection of the god's ideals, relentless in-fighting eventual led to the division of light and darkness, corrupting their creation. It was out of this turmoil that the three great wars of the gods began.
The first war divided the world, and the gods themselves, between light and darkness.
The second war introduced chaos and strife into the world.
The third war saw the god of light defeat and imprison the gods of darkness.
While the gods of light were finally able to claim victory, it came at a terrible cost. The world they fought to protect was devastated by years of conflict and the races they had created were threatened with extinction. Overcome with grief and horror, they sacrificed their own bodies to not only replace the world they had destroyed and to seal the gods of darkness away, but to create a new species to replace the ones they had inadvertently slaughtered.
That new world is the Agarest of today.
Before they departed for their own realm, the gods of lights left groups known as "guardians" on each continent and entrusted them with the tasks of watching the "pillars" in which the dark gods were imprisoned. Since that time, they have continued to fulfill that duty. And although they were also given the responsibility of guiding and nurturing the new race, the guardian clans eventually grew estranged and isolated from the rest of the world's peoples.
Time continues to flow towards its incomprehensible end and several eons have passed since the rebirth of the world. The truth has been transformed into barely remembered legends teetering on the edge of irrelevancy, and the authority and influence of the guardian clans has all but faded away.
For those who betray the divine will pay for their sins in the space which separates salvation and damnation, as will their progeny...
Characters[]
- Weiss
- Aina
- Victoria
- Felenne
- Eva
- Fiona
- Jainus
- Schwarz
- Vanessa
- Li-Ra-Lua
- Yumil
- Jude
- Ignis
- Mervina
- Grey
- Lizerotte
- Sophia
- Georg
Gameplay[]
The official site describes the following features:
Battle System[]
The Agarest War "Extend" battle system has changed significantly in Record of Agarest War 2. Players can assign attacks to specific buttons, allowing them to control multiple party members simultaneously. It's basically Cross Edge.
Ultimate Strike: Ultimate Strikes are bonus attacks that are activated once you fulfill certain conditions. Taking advantage of your enemy's weaknesses as well as skillfully chaining together continuous attacks is the key to triggering an Ultimate Strike. If you time things right, you can take down even the strongest of enemies without worrying about be attacked in turn!
System Basics[]
Formations: Your battle party will always fight from a Formation. Each character has their own unique formation and the formation used at the start of every battle will be that of your party's leader. Formations have different types of effects attached to them and every character who is a part of the formation will receive the benefits from those effects.
In addition, in order for a character to participate in an Extend Attack they must be a part of the party's current formation.
Ring Commands: There are seven actions that you can perform via Ring Commands. As battles will be paused until you confirm a command, take time to carefully considering your plan of attack before taking action.
These include Attack, Standby, Leader, EX Skill, Switch, Support, and Escape.
Wait and determining Action Order: Every skill has a Wait value attached to it that will increase every time the skill is used. The Wait value will determine when a character's turn will come around again once their current turn ends. The character with the lowest Wait value will have their turn come before any of the others.
This means that if a character's Wait value is low enough, they can sometimes perform consecutive actions. By paying attention to each of your party member's Wait value, it would be possible to take out an enemy without giving them the chance to retaliate.
You can reduce a character's Wait value by increasing their AGI or through equipment bonuses.
Overwait:Occasionally, a character will be allowed to act before their Wait value has been reduced. Should you continue to act, you might enter a state called Overwait. Once in this state, you won't be able to control that character, let alone participate in an extended attack, until their Wait value goes down to a certain level. Because Overwait significantly weighs down the forces of the entire party, one way to get around it is to hang back until the Wait value decreases while at the same time conserving AP.
Attack Skills[]
Button Attributes: Set a skill for each button, and use AP to unleash a variety of attacks. Each button has a unique characteristic; the T button triggers a Burst attack move which throws an opponent in the air, the S button unleashes a Stun attack move which temporarily puts an opponent in an unconscious state, the X button performs a Down attack move which knocks down the target, and the C button fires off a versatile Ranged attack.
You can continue to attack until you run out of AP (Action Points). The longer you can continue to maintain a combo, the more damage you will inflict upon the targeted enemy.
One thing to keep in mind is that with the exception of the attacks triggered by the C button, only attacks that correspond to the target's current state of being. For example, if the target has been launched into the air with a Burst attack, only attacks performed by pressing either the S or C buttons will connect.
Original Skills: In addition to using basic attack skills to inflict damage on opponents, there are offensive skills known as Original Skills. Each character has a unique Original Skill that they can unleash for serious damage by pressing either the L1 or R1 buttons. These types of attacks require both AP and special technique points to use. When you reduce an opponent's break value to zero, you will earn one special technique point, also known as an Ultimate Point (UP). Even if you fail to break through a target's guard, half of the Ultimate Gauge will roll over to the next turn.
Three Types of Battle Bonuses: When attacking with skills, taking special actions will get you various bonuses like AP and SP, as well as Wait reductions. These bonuses include: Motion Bonus, Limit Bonus, and Strike Bonus.
Differences/Improvements[]
There are many changes and improvements from the original Agarest games.
- There are only three generations in this game.
- There are eighteen playable members in this game; seven in the First Generation, six in the Second Generation, five in the Third Generation.
- Featured in the game Trinity Universe, Agarest uses the AAA (Active Animation Adventure) system, which is more fluid than Agarest War Zero.
- Every party member now has relationship rating.
- Only up to four party members can be on the field instead of six, but they can be switched during combat.
- Party members who are not in play will still receive a portion of the earned experience points.
- One member of the active party must be appointed leader. Each party member gives different bonuses when leading the party and the leader can be changed during combat.
- You can choose any bride regardless of relationship level. There are three marriage endings for every bride (forced, happy and true).
- The world map acts similar to the dungeons from the first game.
- The battle system has been changed to battle engine Cross Edge uses.
- There are only two EX Skills, now called Original Skills, which can be intercharged.
- Will Powers, now called Extended Skills, can be chosen.
- EP has been removed; everything EP was used for now uses gold.
- GC events are now slightly animated.
- Minigames for improving relationships.
- The five original continents from Record of Agarest War are accessible from the first generation. The continent from Record of Agarest War Zero is unlocked during the third generation.
- This game uses HD sprites, which are a far improvement over the original ones.
- The game features three endings this time: a Normal Ending, a Bad Ending and the True Ending.
Reference to other games[]
It is never revealed whether this game is a sequel to the others or not, although this game makes reference to the games. Here a list of some of the references given (some spoilers are given):
- Gods still can only be sealed with the Oathsworn.
- High elves are extinct, with the exception of Fiona, just as it was predicted in the first game.
- Fiona mention that before she fell sleep, she used to visit a old Ryulent and Rem Lorient. This might be a reference to Thrisasaz and Apli. If one was to speculate, this could also indicate that she is related to Alice and that tens of thousands of years has passed while she was in her seal.
- Faz says that goblins and orcs had once worked together centuries ago as they did in the past via Garvel/other type of leadership linked to the forces of darkness. This is a reference to the first 2 games.
- It is mentioned in the game how the larvae used artifacts to combat the darkness but became corrupted by them and became the gurgs in the past, an event shown in Record of Agarest War Zero.
Limited Edition Pack[]
Record of Agarest War 2 will launch with a Limited Edition version that includes the following content.
- Inflatable Felenne Doll
- Compressed 8" x 12" Hand Towel
- Collectible Artbook titled "Heroic Trials from the Land of Agarest".