So, I'm going to come out and say it: I was wrong about this game.

Now that I'm playing it in English, and some of the complexities around the stories and ideas are making more sense to me, I rather like it. The presentation is a little like Nier in the sense that it's very much like an opera. The plot is deliberately vague and subtle, charaters are tragic and there's a violence to this game that's quite transgressive. It's nothing like Castlevania in that sense: that series is as generic as they come. Pandora's Tower is at its best when it isn't being a game.

Of course, it still plays terribly. Really, really badly, stupid pointer controls and all, but as an experience there's a dark beauty to this game that puts it above the far less original Xenoblade (JRPG take on Skyrim? I'll just stick to Skyrim) and The Last Story (sorry buddy, but you can't out-Final Fantasy Final Fantasy)

@ChocoGoldfish Wasn't expecting to hear that!

When I played the Japanese version I only really have the gameplay to go on. With RPGs my Japanese isn't nearly quick enough to understand everything going on in the plot unless I replay the game a few times, and I certainly don't have the time to do that.

That's why I hold off on reviewing the games until the English version where I can reassess. Pandora's Tower in terms of the story, presentation and world building itself reminds me of Nier, and anyone who knows me knows how much I adore Nier.

If only the gameplay didn't suck. In fact, if only this was a PS3 game.

i hope pandoras towers good but is it hitting the usa if not thats ok cause atleast we got xenoblade and last story

Question: Have you played God of War, Dante's Inferno, Darksiders or Nier?

I have. And I have a feeling I'm going to like Pandora's Tower more than God of War, Dante's Inferno and Darksiders combined. As for Nier, well, that game was horrible so I don't a reason to even continue discussion on that particular game in this topic.

I hope Pandora's Tower comes to the states. It would suck to have to import it from Europe. Sure, it's not on my most anticipated game-to-play list but the Wii doesn't have a huge selection of hack 'n slash games in its library, so it would be nice to play something different for a change. (I also think the last hack 'n slash I played on Wii was No More Heroes 2 back in 2010. Holy crap.)

And I have a feeling I'm going to like Pandora's Tower more than God of War, Dante's Inferno and Darksiders combined. As for Nier, well, that game was horrible so I don't a reason to even continue discussion on that particular game in this topic.

Yeah well you have different taste in games to me. Congrats etc et.

Actually @Chrono_Cross, Pandora's Tower will be at least the ninth hack'n slash title available on the Wii console. I think that's a pretty good selection. I mean, that's almost 2 hack'n slash titles per year, since the Wii was launched.

Oh well, I ended up giving it 5/5.

Most difficult review to write. I hated the game but I loved the game.

That's probably the most offensively wrong thing i've ever read. Skyrim isn't even a videogame compared to Xenoblade, it's an unbalanced mess of glitches and unsatisfying empty quests in a world with no purpose or meaning.

Furthermore, The Last Story pushes RPGs forward in a brand new way and does a much better job than the disaster that was FF13, so yes, it directly has out Final Fantasy'd Final Fantasy. It even took some elements from FF12 and expanded on the whole interactive direction that was starting to surface, which FF13 completely poo'd on with it's on-rails garbage and a story that punished the player for having an imagination.

Regarding Pandora's Tower, it's nice to see a game like this that actually uses motion controls.

I don't really want to start yet another argument, so I'll let this one slide.

No man, I want to hear you out. You have a reply for everything. You would be my lawyer if I could afford you.

I promise you, my legal services are dirt cheap.

They also don't come with any guarantees that I have a clue about 99% of the law.

Lol, well I am sure you could whip something up.

Yeah, I whip the law like I whip cream

Wouldn't Skyrim be a WRPG take on Xenoblade since, you know, Xenoblade was released a year and a half before Skyrim.

Oh, good point.

Xenoblade (JRPG take on Arena, Daggerfall, Morrowind, Oblivion and Skyrim, otherwise known as the Elder Scrolls series? I'll just stick to Skyrim)

That's more the point I was making there

Fair enough

@ChocoGoldfish From what I've seen it seems it would be pretty easy to outclass Final Fantasy at this point. You'd have to do pretty badly to lose out against FF13.

Xenoblade seems more like an RPG trying to take more elements from MMORPGs than the Elder Scroll games. If anything, it looks more like both the Elder Scrolls and Xenoblade are taking inspiration from the same source rather than each other.

Haven't had a chance to play Pandora's Tower, but it seems pretty close to God of War (and Devil May Cry?) in terms of gameplay.

I agree that the combat of Xenoblade is MMO like, but the main strengths of Xenoblade, the sense of scale to the world and the focus on exploration is far more reminiscient of an Elder Scrolls game. I preferred Skyrim's world.

I don't think Skyrim borrowed from MMOs at all. In fact, I think the game is quite stubborn in sticking to the Arena/ Daggerfall style gameplay, which predated modern MMOs by a considerable margn. Surprisingly retro, that Skyrim. I give Xenoblade full points for the combat system. That is way, way more interesting than Skyrim.