REVIEW: Trillion: God of Destruction


Title	Trillion: God of Destruction
Developer	IDEA FACTORY / COMPILE HEART / PREAPP PARTNERS
Publisher	IDEA FACTORY INTERNATIONAL
Release Date	March 29th, 2016
Genre	Strategy RPG
Platform	Vita
Age Rating	Teen
Official Website

When I first saw Trillion: God of Destruction I didn’t really know what to expect. This seemed very different from your usual Idea Factory title. I mean a boss with a trillion hit points and permadeath! Poor Neptune would be shaking in her boots. Later I discovered that Disgaea 4 director, Masahiro Yamamoto, was on board with this project and I had to check it out. But is different always good? Let’s find out.

The story opens with citizens of the underworld living a free life but always being in conflict with the heavens. Then a much more dangerous threat arrived, Trillion: God of Destruction. The Great Overlord of the underworld Zeabolos and his forces were no match for this new foe. Being near death a voice rang out to Zeabolos, “Are you willing to offer your very soul to defeat it?” Though his body was mangled and his fighting ability completely gone, he was revived by the mysterious girl, Faust. She will now work alongside him and other overlords to defeat this seemingly impossible foe.

While the general premise of the story is pretty plain, it’s the interactions between Zeabolos and the overlords that make the game really stand out. You will have to gain affection points with each of the gals before sending them into battle. This reveals a lot about their backstory and you really feel like you get to know them, right before you send them out to face Trillion to maybe meet their doom. The death scenes will really tug at your heart strings. I had not hated a boss so badly in a long time. The localization team did a stand up job here of really bringing these characters to life and getting you to connect with them.

Graphically this game is just about as basic as you can get. There is one randomly generated dungeon (that looks almost the same no matter what) with a different layout on each visit. The boss battles with Mokujin and Trillion are the only environments to be found. The character and enemy models are very basic as well. They don’t do anything offensive, but they don’t really stand out either. The one bright spot here is the character artwork during cut scenes and the CG artwork is all top notch.

The best way I can describe the music in this title is that it sounds very Disgaea like. I felt every tune in the game was done in that style, which is not a bad thing at all and I found most of them quite enjoyable. You can check out some examples over at the official site. There’s some English voice acting in the game and it is very well done. There’s just a lot of it that is not voiced in English. To be fair I can see why, since there’s a ton of dialogue in this game. This is one of the most text heavy games Idea Factory International has done. The Japanese audio is included as well for you purists out there.

The gameplay consists largely of stat and skill building. When Trillion consumes part of the underworld he will eventually sleep for a number of cycles (weeks). This is the time when you can train your overlord. There are different training events and each will raise a particular stat. Doing training will add to your overlord’s fatigue and this will lessen your chances of getting an “Excellent” result while you buff up. So you will want to rest at certain times to keep this level low as getting three “Excellent” results in a row will activate fever time, where you always get the bigger stat boost for seven days. You will also notice little icons above certain training events. These mean the other characters are helping train you in this exercise and you will gain a larger stat boost from that as well. After each training session you will obtain a Training Medal regardless of the result. You can spend five of these to enter the one randomly generated dungeon, The Valley of Swords, to obtain some useful items and equipment.

Your time training is not only about building stats; you will need to gain affections points with each overlord as well. This is done by giving gifts from the underworld or by spending time with them via the ‘interact’ option under the rest menu. During these events you will sometimes be given choices and they can have a major impact on how your character grows. Choosing the right option might give you a ton more affection points or maybe even give you a great new skill. You will also receive these events randomly based on the day or through some of the other activities as well. Spending time with the overlord will decrease you fatigue level slightly but sleeping will drop it a lot more.

During this time you can also shop at the research lab. In the shop you can purchase some new equipment, items, and devil envoys to help you in your battle against Trillion. Devil envoys perform different support actions depending on which one you equip. Some will dash forward and attack while others will do ranged attacks. You can also visit the blacksmith to upgrade your weapon and attach various seals to it. Seals will provide a wide range of effects to your weapon such as HP/MP boosts, stat bonus, bigger attack range, and more.

Before you take on the great beast Trillion you must first take part in some mock battles with Mokujin. Think of him as a Trillion training dummy. In these battles you will move on a grid based map and enemies will move as you do. If you ever played a rouge-like like Sorcery Saga this is exactly the same. While I don’t mind combat like this, the controls here are not set up very well. You end up having to move the camera around in order to move diagonally some of the time and overall it just feels a bit clunky.

Trillion has several nasty moves at his disposal and these will change depending on which form he is in. The map will display where these attacks are gonna land so you have a chance to avoid them. I suggest you do so because they really freaking hurt. I found the best way to do this is with special moves that move you multiple spaces. Damage will first be dealt to your affection points before damaging your HP. You can run away from Trillion but only if you have affection points remaining. If your overlord falls in battle with Trillion they are permanently killed; though they will get a last ditch move that offers various effects, from having that character’s ghost help you out in the next round to a massive damage attack. However a lot of the stats and abilities from the fallen overlord will be passed on to the next one, so you won’t be starting from scratch when the next candidate is up.

I have to say this is one of the most challenging games I’ve played in a long time. It has a very unique setup and the writing is fantastic. However, I feel this one is really only for fans of this style of game or someone looking for a challenge. Casual players of rouge-like games like this will likely be turned off by its text heavy nature and difficulty. I don’t think this is a bad game by any means but I feel it has a specific audience that will love it. I spent about 30 hours in my two unsuccessful attempts to defeat Trillion. Though this time will likely be extended when you defeat him and unlock new game+, which has character specific endings and such. In the end, if you love a great story and don’t mind the difficulty, then this is likely for you. If not, you may want hold on to that $40 for another of Idea Factory International’s offerings.