Ragnarok Odyssey first came out about a year ago in some countries for the PSVita only. Now they have expanded it to play cross-platform on the PS3 and PSVita, as well as added some new things to enhance your gameplay. While I did not play the Vita only version, I can completely fill you in on Ragnarok Odyssey Ace.

First off, you’ll need to create your character. You can choose from male or female. After that you’ve got 9 different skin tones, 23 faces, 27 hair styles, and 20 voice choices. You’ll also be able to choose your job from Sword Warrior, Hammersmith, Assassin, Mage, Cleric, and Hunter. The outfit that you have depends on the job that you choose (as does the weapon that you can use), but there are four different color choices, so you can still customize a bit even within the same job. As you can see, you can really customize characters as you like. This doesn’t mean that the built-in NPCs are boring by any standard. They provide a wide range of characters ranging from a normal barmaid to some very odd people, like Ottar. The graphics are very bright and appear more on the anime side than the ultra-realistic look. Personally, I like that. They can have huge, over-sized weapons that fit in just fine. The characters all look like your typical anime. The creatures that you’re going to run into are quite colorful and varied. You have to deal with enemies on land and in the air, so keep your eyes open.

If you listen while you’re roaming around, you can hear some of these enemies because of the sound of their wings beating or heavy footsteps or other such clues. Other times, you will won’t be able to hear anything, but you can see them on the map. In the background, you’ll hear upbeat, medieval chamber sounding music. It fits nicely with the game. The NPCs will speak to you, but mostly it’s just a word or two and you’ll read the majority of the conversation on-screen.

Ragnarok Odyssey ACE is set in a time and place that has recently been devastated when giants came through and killed everyone in their path. The monsters followed the giants and have caused lots of problems as well. King Tristan VIII has hired your group to clear the front lines of monsters because they saved a town when the knights failed to save another town, so he figured they could be of help. You are a new recruit to the band.

The game is basically divided into quests. There are two types of quests: missions and requests. Requests are usually smaller things from individuals, like hunting items, and missions are bigger, more important and must be done. After each quest is complete, you will automatically be returned to town. If you want to go back out of town again, you will have to accept a quest. There is no free roaming of the countryside. Life is just too dangerous out there.

The big enemies that you will fight are the giants. They started this war and have killed countless humans. There are three different types of giants: Hill Giants, Frost Giants, and Flame Giants. They each have a leader and then there’s a big boss over all of the giants, Hrungnir. You’ll have to start with helping the blacksmith on developing weapons that will really take on giants before you can do much good against them, so don’t try and take one on too early! There are many other things you can (and should) do in town, like visit the Tailor so you can wear more cards or visit the Item Shop for various goods. You can also choose to join or create your own multiplayer games in the tavern. These can be great just for having people to go with you for the companionship or to help you get past a hard spot.

There is no choice on your difficulty in Ragnarok Odyssey ACE, but the game is easy enough when you start. They teach you all the controls on extremely easy enemies. Once you get into the real game, if you find yourself having trouble beating the quests, simply replay some to level up. As with pretty much any RPG, you can grind levels to get more experience and find items to make life easier. In Ragnarok Odyssey ACE, you really don’t level up, but instead change rank, which can take a while. To make your life easier, you’re going to want to learn how to use the right gear. You have your normal weapons to fight with, but in this game you also have special skills and cards.

The cards are equipped onto your clothing. The more you upgrade your clothes, the more cards you can equip. The cards make a huge difference in your gameplay. The right cards can make a level as easy as pie, while the wrong cards can get you killed in under a minute. You can find cards in the levels when you defeat some monsters, but mostly you will buy them at HQ or in the tavern. Cards can be very expensive. You will also need to note that not only is there a limit to the number of cards you can equip, but also on their value, so be careful about what cards you want to combine. At least for me, cards made the biggest difference in the ease of gameplay.

When you start Ragnarok Odyssey ACE, they do a good job of walking you through the controls, as well as teaching you to play the game while combining it with short quests so that you don’t get bored with a tutorial. Personally, I found the default controls on the PS3 a bit clumsy, but then I found that you can change the control set. There are 6 different options to choose from, so chances are at least one of them will suit your tastes. On the PSVita, I was fine with the default controls. For me, I preferred playing Ragnarok Odyssey ACE on the PSVita. The nice thing is that you can cross-save your game between the two platforms so that you can use whichever one you choose. There is even an automatic upload feature that will let you choose what time you want to upload your game each day, if you want.

Ragnarok Odyssey ACE is a pretty basic RPG. The story is a bit generic. It doesn’t really suck you in from the beginning and demand that you keep playing because you must find out what is going to happen to your characters, but you don’t necessarily have to have that from every game that you play. Ragnarok Odyssey ACE is perfect for carrying around on your PSVita so that you can just pull it out and run a quest or two in your spare time. Plus, you might just find yourself going back over and over to play online with others. If you’re looking for a good, solid RPG that is easily portable, check out Ragnarok Odyssey ACE.