Gamertell

Mana Khemia: Student Alliance
Price: $29.99
System: Sony PSP
Release Date: March 10, 2009
Publisher (Developer): NIS America (Gust)
ESRB Rating: Everyone
Pros: Has an intuitive item creation system, no random battles.
Cons: An overabundance of loading times, lots of backtracking, lackluster voice acting, character growth closely linked to item creation and game often freezes.
Overall Score: One thumb up, one thumb sideways; 86/100; B; * * * 1/2 out of five. 

After I first popped this game into my PSP, I played it for about two hours and decided that I was done with it. The major vice that turned me off from continuing this game was the gluttony of loading screens that accompanied early every battle and setting change. The loading screens may feature original artwork of the characters but having to look at them every 5 minutes is a bit too much. Also, it seemed as though one character in my party was constantly ganged up on by enemies causing me to lose my advantage in battles.

I’m not sure what changed but I decided to give this game a second chance and, to my surprise, I haven’t been able to put the darned thing down.

Mana Khemia: Student Alliance (MKSA) is a handheld port of the Playstation 2 game Mana Khemia: Alcehmists of Al-Revis that was originally released on March 31, 2008. The two games are essentially identical except for the fact that MKSA features a multi-player mode as well as the addition of extra quests. If you already own the original PS2 version, there’s no need to pick this game up unless you want to have a portable version of this game to take with you on a long airplane ride of during weekly commutes.

Alchemy is at the heart of everything

Mana Khemia’s true strong point lies within its item creation system. It’s fun and addicting to tinker with all the different combinations to see what types of items and attributes will come forth from experimentation. The item creation system also plays a vital part to character growth though. Unlike most RPGs, characters do not gain experience nor do they level up after a number of battles. Instead, growth is determined by the number of unique items that the party can create over the course of the game. Such progress is tallied in the “grow book” - a graphical chart of synthesizable items. Creating different items unlock different stat bonuses and skills for each character and the goal is to reach 100% completion of the grow book for each character. However, in order to “pay” for these upgrades, you will need to make sure that each character has enough “action points”, which are awarded at the end of each battle.

Choose your battles wisely

When adventuring on the field map, players have a lot of freedom to decide whether or not they want to engage in battles with enemies. Unlike most RPGs, the player’s character is able to run and jump and this plays a key role when one wants to gain a pre-emptive advantage against a targeted enemy. Battles in Mana Khemia utilize a not so traditional turn-based system that features character and enemy cards that are visible at the top of the screen. The cards help players to determine when enemy and character attacks will land and also allows players to be able to delay actions in order to gain the upper hand against tougher enemies. Initially, a player’s party will consist of 3 characters. However, as the game progresses, so do the number of allies available to choose from. Players will ultimately be able to have 3 characters fighting on the front-line and have 3 characters ready to jump in at a moment’s notice or assist with an additional attack on the reserve line.

Burst your enemies’ bubbles

As characters become stronger and able to deal more damage, they will be able to make use of the many functions of the Burst meter. When the Burst meter fills, players enter into Busrt Mode - a limited state where characters inflict more damage and can later utilize Finishing Bursts. Each playable character has a specific Finishing Burst with his/her own animation as well as attack effects. Finishing Bursts range from devastating special moves that carve away chunks of enemy health to life-saving restoring spells.

Going back to school was never this much fun

The flow of the game plays out as a series of terms (semester, whatever) since the setting takes place at school. Each term consists of several weeks which usually begin and end with mandatory events. The event at the end of the term is usually marked by a climatic battle that results in the acquisition of a new party member or a new area to explore. However, between the opening and ending events, players must enroll in specific classes that usually serve as a tutorial or introduction to vital battle/synthesizing techniques.

After classes have been successfully passed, players are awarded Free Time and during this period they can can engage in private activities with individual party members and accept side-quests that reward money and new item recipes. However, should players not be able to pass classes with a satisfactory grade, the party will be forced to spend Free Time in detention which consists of a multitude of additional tasks to be completed.

Almost as bad as the BSOD

While MKSA is really an enjoyable game, it could be even more enjoyable if not for a handful of negative points that prevent this game from attaining stellar marks.

For one, the surplus of loading is horrendous because its original PS2 counterpart does not suffer from this vile evil. Of course, the PSP version does offer a small solution to alleviate this problem. If there’s enough memory on your memory stick, you can utilize the jump start function which essentially installs a portion of the game to make for quicker loading times as well as the inclusion of character voices during battles.

If you do decide to make use of the jump start function, you will inevitably - and unfortunately - run into another problem during your many hours of gaming. Every once in the while the game will freeze, usually during battles. You just can’t win with this game. It brings back painful memories of the blue screen of death (BSOD) and the utter helplessness that I haven’t experienced in a while, knock on wood. Basically, you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t.

Another nagging flaw to this little gem would be the fact that they failed to hire competent voice actors. I thought we had already paid our dues with the superfluous amount of horrible voice acting in the video game world, but I stand corrected. While many of the characters utilize actors with passable talent, there are two characters in particular that sound outright atrociously laughable: Flay and Roxis. Sure, they look cool, but the minute you hear them speak, all is wrong with the world. I’m not sure if they share the same voice actor but, with the amount of improper over dramatic wailing that spouts from these characters, I wouldn’t be surprised.

When are video game companies going to learn that they can’t skimp on the budget for voice actors anymore? It begs the question as to whether I should simply play this game muted at all times, or at least during spoken sequences.

To PS2 or PSP?

Knowing that this is a port of the PS2 version, you might be wondering whether to spend $20 on the PS2 game or $30 for the PSP version. Well, if you ask Cheapy McCheap, he would say that going for the $20 PS2 version is already a steal. Plus, you have a game lacking in loading times and freezing spells. However, Commuting Carla would say that $30 is well worth the price of being able to play whether at home or on the street and all you need to do is practice on your patience and save often.

I say that if you don’t already have this game, you might want to invest in the portable version so as to support the PSP from disappearing from existence.

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