Warning! This game contains sexual situations and nudity not appropriate for anyone under 18 years old.

Record of Agarest War Mariage is a turn-based RPG originally released on the PlayStation Portable (PSP), and the 4^th installment in the Record of Agarest War series by Idea Factory to come to the west. I’ve never played any of the other games in the series, but as a lover of RPGs, I was excited to give it a go.

In Agarest society revolves around the myth of Yiris, the Larva also known as the Sacred Princess, who blessed the world and fell in love with a human. She was then punished by the creator. Then the Archdemon arrived and Yiris’ lover pledged to destroy the evil Archdemon with the Ciel Blade. Each generation a new Chosen One is born, given the Ciel Blade, and tasked with killing the Archdemon. You play as Rain, the newest Chosen One, who was given the task of defeating the Archdemon. Joining you on this adventure are 3 maidens, one of which will become your bride.

The story seems pretty cliché, but the writing is very well done. Each of the 3 maidens has a unique personality. Kunka is very mischievous. Felicia is quiet and slightly afraid of everything. Panina is bold, blunt, and brash.

The gameplay is almost entirely menu based. There’s really no exploration, the only movement being on various map screens. You move around the world map, a series of points in a line. The points can be dungeons, towns, or treasure chests. Random battles occur between the points on the world map, and between individual points on the dungeon maps.

When in towns you can sleep (and other things) at the Inn, buy items, materials, and armor at the Shop, acquire new skills or enhance existing skills at the Shrine, take and report quests to the Guild, or talk to various townspeople in the Café. It sounds boring, but it’s actually very enjoyable.

One of the most important aspects of Record of Agarest War Mariage is the relationship building with your maidens. There are 3 ways you can do this. The first is by giving the maiden her favorite items, designated by a heart icon. The second is by having private time with each maiden at the Inn. This private time can be a normal conversation, a flirty conversation, or when the relationship level is high enough, the Unification Ritual.

The Unification Ritual is sort of like a mini-game that upgrades certain stats or unlocks new abilities and weapons. Performing the Unification Ritual also causes them to remove an item of clothing in battle. In the first Unification Ritual, you move up and down the maiden’s body, touching various points of your choosing. The object is to make the maiden feel good, in a sexual kind of way, while simultaneously growing closer to their heart.

The combat is pretty straight forward for a turn-based RPG. Your options are Attack, Skill, Item, Guard, and Escape. For Skills, you have Class Skills, Sacred Arts, and Link. Class Skills are specific to the class the maiden belongs to: Defender, Attacker, Healer, or Supporter. Defenders will jump in front of other party members to protect them and have skills that prevent elemental damage and status ailments. Attackers have powerful counter-attack skills and offensive Sacred Arts (magic). Healers get healing skills and a few offensive Sacred Arts. Supporters get skills and Sacred Arts for buffs, debuffs on enemies and setting traps.

Regardless of class, every character gets a Link Skill. This allows you to do team attacks, and when Rain does a Link attack with one or more maidens, he builds his relationship with the maiden or maidens involved. This is the third way you build relationships with your maidens.

When you’ve reached max relationship with one of the maidens, you’ll get married, and have a child who inherits their parent’s stats and abilities. You then continue the game as the child. There are also multiple endings, depending on which maiden you have a child with.

The graphics aren’t special, but they are pretty nice for a PSP port. While lacking in details, they are colorful and clear. The soundtrack is nice with upbeat tunes to pump you up during battles and softer, slower tunes during private time with the maidens. While I wouldn’t search out the music to listen to on its own, it never got repetitive or boring. The game is fully voiced in Japanese, and even though I couldn’t understand it, I actually found the voices enjoyable.

All in all, I enjoyed this game for the most part. I’m not fond of games with a ton of fan service so, at first, I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get into the story. I was pleased my concerns were unfounded. I thoroughly enjoyed the story and the characters, and while the fan service did reduce my enjoyment of the game, there were bigger problems.

First, the game is riddled with difficulty spikes that make it a chore to progress. Second, the random battles are removed from certain areas at certain points in the story, making it almost impossible to grind and force your way past those areas with high difficulty. The final problem is the keymapping itself. While the controls are pretty simple, I never could figure out how to open my menu outside of towns, so I couldn’t heal my party between battles. This killed my enjoyment of the game after a while.

If beating your head on the same battle over and over makes you mad, you won’t enjoy this game. However, if you are a turn-based RPG fan, who doesn’t mind some struggling to progress, you’ll enjoy Record of Agarest War Mariage. Which is available now on Steam for $29.99. The deluxe version, which comes with the soundtrack, character art book, event art book, and wallpapers for PC and mobile, is also available on Steam for $31.98.

A PC review copy of Record of Agarest War Mariage was provided by Idea Factory for this review.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Record of Agarest War Mariage

$29.99

6

Score

6.0/10

Pros

• Simple, Controls
• Interesting Characters
• Engaging Story

Cons

• Difficulty Spikes
• Too Much Emphasis on Touching
• Almost Impossible to Grind
• Keybindings Not Explained
• Next Step Not Clearly Defined