Kinda tempted on Agarest ZERO, but it's the second game in the trilogy, right?
Anyone got any opinions on ZERO?
I've spent about 150-200 hours on it over the past few months so I'll chip in.
First of all, it's set before Agarest 1 so there's no issue with it being the second game. You'll actually get more insight into the story / some of the characters by playing ZERO first.
Secondly, it includes a slightly stripped down version of Agarest 1 as an extra (requires a New Game+ or clear data from the first game). It cuts out all non-important battles, a few events and forces a waifu upon you in each Generation rather than giving you a choice. Despite these points, I think I'd actually prefer it to playing the 'full' Agarest 1 because it removes a lot of the less interesting filler and the pseudo time-restrictions. You also get the True End regardless which means you don't have to worry about your choices so much.
The combat system seems basic and repetitive initially but once you start building up skills and combos it becomes much more entertaining. In the late game it takes me a few minutes to plan my order of attacks to make sure I get the best possible combo skills. I prefer it to something like Disgaea.
Even without the DLC ((5 characters for £2) x 3) there is a huge number of (largely female) characters for you to form a party of 6 from. Though you'll need a decent amount of in-game currency and/or a New Game+ for many of them. You can capture pretty much every monster (including some post-game bosses) to use as well.
The characters and story in ZERO are largely terrible. Agarest 1 is better in both respects.
Murmina is the best character and anyone who says otherwise is wrong. Production values are about what you'd expect given the developer(s).
If I had to name one thing about it that impressed me the most, I'd say it's the sheer amount of content. For £10 it's a no-brainer.
