One of the greatest things about developer Sting Entertainment is that they always push the boundary and differentiate themselves from other RPG developers. Yggdra Union and Knights in the Nightmare are perfect examples of the unique style the developer normally strives for. Unlike those games, Sting’s latest title, Hexyz Force, is incredibly traditional and basically has nothing that distinguishes itself from other RPGs.

Hexyz Force takes place on Berge, a world that is forced to decide its path. Long ago, Delgaia, the God of Destruction, threatened to demolish Berge, but divinities known as Hexyz were able to seal Delgaia by sacrificing themselves. Norvia, the Goddess of Creation, allowed this under one condition: that Berge would eventually face the hour of judgment. The hour of judgment is finally upon Berge. Will Berge choose the path of creation or destruction?

The narrative is split into two perspectives: Levant’s and Cecilia’s. Levant’s tale begins with the King of Rosenbaum getting ready to put a halt to the conflict between humans and Halbs (non-humans). Things go wrong at the peace ceremony as an assassination takes place. The Rosenbaum Kingdom believes the assassination was caused by Halbs, so they burn down the forest in which the Halbs reside. Levant, a Cerulean Knight, is imprisoned and ordered to be executed by the Rosenbaum Kingdom after being caught aiding Halbs fleeing the forest. A Halb rebel group helps Levant escape, and having no choice, Levant joins the Halb group and is determined to find the culprit behind the assassination. In Cecilia’s tale, Cecilia, a cleric from the Holy Temple of Palfina, is tasked with protecting the monoliths after gaining possession of a legendary staff. If all of the monoliths are destroyed, the God of Destruction will be resurrected.

Although they have different objectives, their journeys entwine with one another and share the same fate. You see, both Levant and Cecilia have inherited the powers of the Hexyz, so it is up to them to decide Berge’s future. Every action you take – whether it’s choosing the dialogue or participating in side-quests – helps to alter the game’s ending.

Each story takes about twenty hours to complete, which brings the total playtime to forty hours. However, going through just one of them is sufficient. As I mentioned before, Cecilia and Levant’s adventures entwine with one another, so they will meet at several points. Whenever they meet, they share their side of the story, so you get a clear idea of what happened in the other story. Furthermore, the tedious dungeons in both campaigns are identical, so there’s practically no reason to play through both stories. Out of the two tales, I would recommend going through Levant’s, since the story takes itself seriously, and the characters are well-developed. Cecilia’s tale – while good for a couple of laughs – can be skipped thanks to its generic and unlikeable characters. The overall story is decent and it’s certainly worth a look, especially for avid JRPG gamers.

Speaking of JRPG gamers, many of them should feel right at home when it comes to combat. Hexyz Force wields a traditional turn-based battle system, but adds a few twists to proceedings, with the main one being the Hexyz Charge. Each skill possesses one of the three elemental affinities: pearl white, cerulean, and crimson lotus. Successfully using skills in the correct order increases the damage of the subsequent attack. Of course, this feature is useless since battles are pathetically easy. Maybe the Hexyz Charge becomes helpful in the hard mode, but both stories have to be completed before the hard difficulty can be tackled. I was completely exhausted after my second run through thanks to the monotonous dungeons and feeble battles, so it's unlikely that many people will endure another play through.

Aside from the Hexyz Charge, Hexyz Force implements the Force Burst (which is your special attack), and any attack dealt – whether it’s on you or the enemy – fills up the Force Burst gauge. The Force Burst is nothing new and makes the game a whole lot easier, since the gauge rapidly gets filled. The last twist Hexyz Force presents comes in the form of weaponry. Each character can hold up to four weapons, and weapons come in two forms. Ragnafacts – standard weapons for the protagonists – consume Ragna Points (RP), and you can no longer utilize Ragnafacts when RP depletes to zero. Of course you rarely have to worry about your RP dropping to zero thanks to the abundant amount of purifying spots that replenish your health and RP at no cost. You can spam battles with powerful skills that consume a hefty amount of RP, and then go to a purifying spot to regain your RP. Spiritfacts, on the other hand, are weapons obtained via fusion, and they pretty much work the same way as Ragnafacts. Instead of RP, Spiritfacts use durability, and the weapon breaks once durability hits zero. I rarely found myself crafting and relying on Spiritfacts, because my Ragnafacts alone contained all that was necessary for battles.

Of course, not everything in Hexyz Force is mediocre. The visuals are lovely, with its beautifully drawn anime cutscenes and portraits, and charming 3D character models. The soundtrack is pleasant to listen to as well, with the only flaw in the sound department being the voice-acting, which can sometimes be annoying or will feel out of place. Fortunately, voice acting is kept to a minimum, and you can turn off battle voices whenever you like.

All-in-all, Hexyz Force is just another run-of-the-mill JRPG. The gameplay is simple, but the excessive repetition and lack of difficulty kills a lot of the fun factor. Any feature or twist Hexyz Force includes fails, mainly due to poor implementation or easy exploitation. The story is adequate, but its dual-storyline approach falls flat since you get the gist of both stories in one playthrough. The only good thing about the game is its presentation, but of course, graphics aren’t everything. Unless you’re in dire need of JRPGs, Hexyz Force has very little to offer.