Kartia is another attempt to place a strong strategy RPG game in the console marketplace. Previous Atlus games have excelled in complex gameplay and great storytelling. Unfortunately, this latest attempt is so unbalanced that it falls far short of what it could have been.

The storyline is the strongest aspect of the game. There are two complete and intertwining stories told from the viewpoint of different characters. The major events are the same, but each viewpoint is incomplete. The player must play through both stories to get the full experience.

The world of Rebus is in turmoil as rebel factions attempt to gain a magical power to create Eden. Unfortunately, its creation will also destroy the world. Behind this plot are otherworldly forces that have their own agenda. The tension builds, leading to a final confrontation that is paralleled in both characters' stories. The strength of this plot line rests on the excellent characterizations. The characters all have feelings and noticeably grow emotionally during the game. It is this intimate aspect dealing with change and tragedy that adds a humanity to the game and gets the player involved in the story. Unfortunately, the exceptional strength of the story is not supported by exceptional gameplay. I would have preferred to get rid of the gameplay entirely and just had Kartia be a graphic novel instead of a game.

On the surface, the combat system resembles that of Final Fantasy Tactics. A limited combat field appears with your enemies on one side and your troops on the other. Unlike FF Tactics, there is little variety to the human characters. They are all the same class and possess the same abilities, differing only in magic usage capability. The game ends when any one of your human characters dies. The majority of combat takes place using Phantoms, which are created through use of the Kartia cards. This is where the only variety comes in. Kartia combinations are made through acquiring text found on the battlefield. As the game progresses, you get stronger combinations and are able to create stronger phantoms and stronger magic attacks.

There are three types of Phantoms called doll, common, and shadow. These correspond to a paper, scissors, rock combat system. The player needs to use this system to effectively eliminate the phantoms of the other side. Later on, as your human characters become much stronger, the Phantom troops become useless. One human character will be powerful enough to eliminate a whole army of Phantoms with little trouble. This seems to negate the whole point of the combat. Battlefields also offer little variety and the landscape effects only have minimal impact on the outcome of your actions. The other aspect of fighting involves using Kartia to create weapons and armor. Different combinations can create stronger weapons, although most mixing doesn't have much effect. Generally, though, most battles are too easy with the only real challenge occurring in the last battle, which is incredibly difficult.

The game flows in a linear pattern. There are a total of 18 chapters for each character story. Each chapter begins with a story segment, followed by a battle, and then concluded with another story segment. The game also gives an option to read over already completed story segments to easily remind the player of what is going on. Without the story, the gameplay aspect would quickly grow stale and boring.

Graphically, Kartia is not exactly impressive. Characters are small and sprite-based which allows little sense of facial expressions on the figures themselves. Most emotion is relayed through hand waving. Fortunately, during dialogue, the character portraits are shown above the dialogue box and these change depending on what is being said. There are also a few very good FMV sequences, notably one big one at the introduction and the rest before each chapter title. However, most of the FMV has little to do with the story and serves only as decoration for the chapter title. Towards the end of each character story, there are some useful sequences that are involved with the story, and these are the most enjoyable.

The only other excellent aspect of the game is the beautiful orchestral soundtrack. Parts of it are very memorable and work well to enhance the story. However, this is only valid during story segments. During battle, the music is very repetitive and annoying.

Overall, Kartia tries to deliver on all fronts. However it fails in the end. This is why I view this game as very unbalanced. The quality of both the storyline and soundtrack is outweighed by dull battles and easy gameplay. No matter how good the story may be, without good gameplay, the game will fail. After all, this isn't a graphic novel but a video game. Atlus seems to have forgotten this. I hope their next attempt will be more successful.