Alliance Alive is a fantastic Atlus RPG and one that as a player, I’ve highly enjoyed. It is a highly polished game, and the characters are really well designed and interesting. With nine different characters for the player to choose from in making a party, there is a lot of room for customization. Alliance Alive wants to be a game that is fully customizable
Alliance Alive tells the story of nine characters who are coming together to change the world and unite the realms. The player is at first introduced to the main hero Galil, a young man who is part of the Night Ravens. His childhood friend, whom he loves, is Azura as such he does whatever she asks. After a tumultuous encounter with a villain, the pair is thrust into a journey, meeting others who venture out at the same time. It is interesting seeing these party members come together after playing as them separately.
Alliance Alive is deceptively challenging, as it plays rather simply. There is a certain way to play it that makes it even better and that involves learning a rather intense system. Though, it is only intense because it turns a lot of RPG standards on their head. The characters in this game don’t level up traditionally, their moves instead do the leveling. Using a move makes it stronger and level up, by using the right moves the player can also gain new ones. This is such a change because it changes how grinding works.
Characters also have different weapon preferences and abilities that can make either their magic or physical attacks even weaker. It can be quite frustrating dealing with this type of gameplay, as it is up to the player to figure out how the system works, and use it to their advantage. It is good that every character has different preferences as it makes arming your units far easier.
There are also special attacks that the player can awaken, that do insane amounts of damage. Though using one of these attacks will destroy the player’s weapon, really it’s best to use these when the player’s back is against the wall. It’s also not a bad idea to have doubles of favorite weapons in case the player needs to use this power as a last-ditch effort.
The game itself is also quite well made and looks amazing. It is crazy to see the different realms and how different they are from each other. The player jumps from realm to realm to unite them and seeing how every realm works helps. It’s magical knowing that while all the realms are different the people will eventually all join forces.
Another thing that makes this game different is the inclusion of guilds. There are 5 different types of guilds all with their own unique effect on the game. These guilds become friends with the main characters and use their powers to aid them, from decreasing monster spawns, to upgrading spells and weapons, these guilds have the player’s back. It is also up to the player to make the guilds better by bringing on new members. The player never knows who will join a guild, so it is important to talk to everyone. Better guilds mean better support and that is why guilds are so important.
There are also a variety of vehicles that the main characters pilot throughout the game. Some are very straightforward, like the ornithopter, which hovers. But there are also unique things like the robotic Duck Swan Song or Snow Rabbits. Vehicles change how the game is played by allowing the characters to explore previously unexplorable regions.
There is one downside to this game, and that is the lack of voice acting. There isn’t a stitch of voice acting in this game at all. There are plenty of moments where voice acting would really make this game even better, and it disappoints me that Atlus decided to totally forgo all voice acting. Atlus is usually amazing with voice acting, so really it surprises me that they decided against it this time. Though it really doesn’t take away from the game itself it just seems like a missed opportunity.
Alliance Alive is certainly an amazing game and one that is really worth playing. Like all Atlus games, it has a solid story and the characters work well together. This game is another classic Atlus RPG and one that works to turn the RPG standards on their head. With a massive world and 9 characters to play as; Alliance Alive is worth playing whether the player is a newbie or a die-hard RPG player.
Disclaimer: A review code was provided