The Guided Fate Paradox

 PlayStation 3
User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 64 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 64
  2. Mixed: 20 out of 64
  3. Negative: 6 out of 64
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  1. Darkjolly
    Apr 22, 2014
    9
    *About 18 hours put in so my score might change if the game gets better or worse.*

    *UPDATE After 60 hours of gameplay 22/04/2014* Being a fan of the Disgaea series, when I saw the guided fate paradox I was instantly intrigued. Similar art style and crazy epic moves. Though being a rougelike game unlike Disgaeas turn based gameplay changes a lot. The problem people end up disliking    *About 18 hours put in so my score might change if the game gets better or worse.*

    *UPDATE After 60 hours of gameplay 22/04/2014*

    Being a fan of the Disgaea series, when I saw the guided fate paradox I was instantly intrigued. Similar art style and crazy epic moves. Though being a rougelike game unlike Disgaeas turn based gameplay changes a lot. The problem people end up disliking this game is that they come in to this game expecting it to be like Disgaea in terms of forgiveness and easiness like fellow reviewer down below ''RileyWRussel''. Though it's looks like Disgaea in terms of art style your better of comparing it to its spiritual predecessor ZHP. This is a ROUGE GAME not an SRPG

    That being said it means, It's harder, a lot harder.

    In the guided fate paradox you never feel safe, no matter how good you think your character is equipped there is always that fear of an enemy doing way more damage than you expect thus killing you and stripping you of all your gear and half your collected gold in the dungeon. Yes it sounds unfair but to me thats where the fun lies.

    The tension, the fear that this new enemy your about to face is either going to outpower you or you will come out victorious and get a nifty drop from it. It's a gamble. But don't get this wrong it's not about luck its about tactical skills. It's about positioning yourself so you can hit as many enemies at once while not getting surrounded. You enter each dungeon with a angel companion each with their different skills meaning you have access to a wide variety of tatics.

    The story is actually very good and intriguing filled with many twists, much to my surprisde. and and the Music is superb, better than any disgaea game soundtrack. Sorry Tenpei Saoto but its true.

    The characters are still 50/50 Renya the main character is awesome, he doesn't follow any generic hero traits like being emo, he acts like any normal person would. He is a very rare breed of RPG protagonists cause he's so damn realistic. Instead of the cliche motive to fight most jrgps heros follow like "I fight for justice or to protect the weak" He's more like "F you guys for dragging me into this, I'll fight so I can just go home"

    Others characters (Not all) did not have too much if any character development so you didn't really care about them.

    Voice acting was very decent , except the Villains. Their voices were superb, True bad ass voice acting their.

    and of course this being a NIS game, post game is where things pick up. With Cameo battles, survival dungeons and a whole lot more.

    This game is amazing and I fully recommend you try out, Its addicting, witty and pure fun

    *UPDATE    … Expand
  2. CelesTial
    Dec 18, 2013
    6
    I was seriously excited when I read about the Guided Fate Paradox, as I'm a huge fan of both the Disgaea series and various roguelikes (Nethack, FTL, Rogue Legacy to name a few). Expectations were high, but as I played, I couldn't help but feel increasingly disappointed. Yes, it has very little in common with the Disgaea series apart from the sense of humor. That's fine. But the roguelikeI was seriously excited when I read about the Guided Fate Paradox, as I'm a huge fan of both the Disgaea series and various roguelikes (Nethack, FTL, Rogue Legacy to name a few). Expectations were high, but as I played, I couldn't help but feel increasingly disappointed. Yes, it has very little in common with the Disgaea series apart from the sense of humor. That's fine. But the roguelike elements also failed to really click with me, the whole experience felt like a rather shallow attempt at mixing different genres (and failing, for the most part).

    The game starts out as being way too easy, with little challenge until the boss of the second chapter (called a "lesson".) The single levels that make up the "dungeon" for each lesson are tiny, some can be completed in a couple of minutes, and while the different lessons do a good job at representing different themes with varying looks and room layouts, they're pretty much copy paste of each other within the same theme world. Just like the levels, there is very little variation in monsters within the same 8-level dungeon. You'll Encounter the ecactly same 4 or so monsters over and over again, with the same skills, and same strength. The difficulty increases a lot, eventually, BUT: see below.

    There is little variety in loot drops, as well. For instance, every single zombie hat is exactly the same as every other zombie hat that will drop, and you'll see a lot of them drop, because the items are as copy paste as the levels and the monsters. All of them only give you skills, and those skills are as similar to each other as everything else. You don't hit Monsters with the sword you equipped, it only allows you to do damage to a mob on any tile up to 3 tiles in front of you, for instance. Or maybe it's a T, or every adjacent square, and the damage type varies, but that's it. You still basically hit with your fist despite Holding a sword. Every single equipment slot does the same things. Yes, pants generally give you damage skills too. There's the occasional heal or mini-teleport but overall, there is very little variation. And the worst part of it is that if you use those items too much, their burst gauge fills up and when it's full, the item's skill is only half as effective until you go upgrade it. It is considered a valid "strategy" to rush past Monsters Level by Level all the way to the boss, and only start using your items there. Not my idea of fun.

    The Guided Fate Paradox is too simplified to really "click" as a challenging roguelike. There are no secret levels or bonus rooms to discover (I found ONE shop room in a dungeon in some 12 hours of playing, and it only sold the same cookie cutter items I already had too many of). Yes, it gets "hard" after the first few lessons, but it's not a kind of challenge that requires you to think and plan your strategy carefully. Monsters respawn, you can grind for as long as food lasts, and then use an exit item to head back to the base, sell, bank, and go back in. You can even use exit items anytime and anywhere if you're about to die. I suppose they intended for this to ease the difficulty and frustration, but it really just turns the "challenge" into a repetitive grind. And as described before, the dungeons are too simplistic to make x repetitions of them fun.

    You could argue that Rogue Legacy is grindy, to a degree. That's true, but it works because its overall "character progression" (expanding the starter castle) is much more varied than the Guided Fate Paradox' character development system. Rogue Legacy allows you to gradually unlock bonuses like new starting classes with different skills, resistances, critical hit chance and so on. The Guided Fate Paradox, in comparison, only lets you permanently improve 4 basic stats. You don't get new skills, as those are tied to equipment only. There's holy artifacts, as well, but you can only power 3 of them at most, and their effects aren't that interesting.

    What was truly enjoyable, to me, is the story. NIS did another great job at delivering an absolutely hilarious plot full of self-irony ('sup? I'm god.") The story Progresses in small episodes after most dungeon Levels, but only on the first playthrough. Overall, it wasn't enough to keep me motivated through the repetitive gameplay drag for longer than the first few chapters. If you're looking for a challenging roguelike without grind, look elsewhere.    … Expand
  3. spencerhctt
    May 29, 2014
    8
    TL;DR version: An original game brought down a peg by petty niggles.
    I make a habit of picking up as many new NIS IP's as I can, as I have enjoyed many Atlus/NIS games in the past. If you have ever played an NIS game, you will immediately recognize many elements, including storyline tropes, static cut scenes, and a difficulty curve that can be called byzantine at best. That being said,    TL;DR version: An original game brought down a peg by petty niggles.
    I make a habit of picking up as many new NIS IP's as I can, as I have enjoyed many Atlus/NIS games in the past. If you have ever played an NIS game, you will immediately recognize many elements, including storyline tropes, static cut scenes, and a difficulty curve that can be called byzantine at best. That being said, The Guided Fate Paradox is a very original game that should be explored on its own merits.
    The game is, put simply, a modified rouge-like. The turn-by-turn walking, the energy attrition, and the "lose everything if you die, so for the love of God (HA!) don't die" features of gameplay are all familiar. The partner system, however, is a nice change. Each partner has fairly varied abilities and uses. I found myself only really using one or two, however, because it became a pain to keep them all well equipped. The abilities system is also really cool. Every piece of equipment you pick up not only boosts your stats, but it also gives you a new special ability to use while it is equipped. The level up system, once you get a hang of it, is great. You reset to level 1 every time you enter a new dungeon, but as you level up in the dungeon you gain "total levels." These, along with the level-ups from your items, turn into stat boosting tiles that can be sued on a large checkerboard. I can't possibly do the system justice, it being very complicated, but it becomes very intuitive and rewarding later on.
    My biggest complaint with this game is how long it takes to actually make any progress. You can attempt a dungeon six times and get to the same floor every time before the enemies just get too hard to deal with. This isn't a big deal when working with the extra dungeons, but it frequently causes the story to come to a complete halt for five hours while you go grind more. It can be a major distraction. The story can also be a little shallow at times, or just underwhelming. Some voice actors are incredible, but others feel very budget. The discrepancy is really distracting, and it can pull you out of the game pretty hard.
    I have plenty of complaints with the game, yes, but I still think it deserves a high score, if for nothing else than for its originality. In a time when most big developers have Madden syndrome and re-release the same game once a year, it's really refreshing to see something new and exciting, especially something that refuses to coddle players.    … Expand
  4. Demonik420
    Nov 5, 2013
    9
    [This review is pending changes if necessary once i complete the game, all material here is impressions of the game SO FAR (over 14 hours in at this point)]

    So far The Guided Fate Paradox is a great gaming experience, as per the norm when NIS rolls up its sleeves. If you are a lover of NIS games there is a lot to love here and IMO its the best take on a Dungeon Crawler Rougelike I've    [This review is pending changes if necessary once i complete the game, all material here is impressions of the game SO FAR (over 14 hours in at this point)]

    So far The Guided Fate Paradox is a great gaming experience, as per the norm when NIS rolls up its sleeves. If you are a lover of NIS games there is a lot to love here and IMO its the best take on a Dungeon Crawler Rougelike I've played in a long time.

    ~Story~
    The story is very intriguing and well written, I found myself drawn in immediately and felt right at home as if it was part of a series i had already played! The main protagonist Renya is comical and I actually really like him! As with most NIS games he is a breath of fresh air compared to the mains in a lot of other Japanese games and media. The Supporting cast are great too especially your fun loving and overly optimistic personal angel Lilliel. The visual novel style segments which are the main driving force for the story, are basically the same as any Disgaea game and show the same humor and excellent writing I'm used to.

    ~Gameplay~
    The game is a Dungeon crawler Rougelike and it plays like one, albeit a REALLY good one. the dungeons are fun, varied and surprisingly have a lot of story segments throughout which really makes for a nice experience. I wont go into detail about how it all works but i really like the system and how you actually have to eat food to survive and how objects can be thrown and moved. The combat is VERY FUN which i find surprising because most rougelike dungeon crawlers consist of walking into enemies. They have really revamped and made this basic mechanic fun, strategic and engaging. with the use of equip-able slots (head, chest, legs, shows, right and left arms) you can put on equipment. Each piece of equipment has a special move attached to it so its pretty awesome and makes finding loots fun! so you have your basic attack witch is hitting with your weapons and then you have a wheel to select your special moves from which range anywhere from skill ups to ranged shots to AOEs and so on. Its wicked fun!
    As usual its a game with an enormous amount of customization and hundreds of hours worth of game play if you choose to play it the way its meant to be played. However if you are more of a casual player then just like most NIS games the game can be beaten in less time, its mostly up to how to play.

    ~Graphics~
    The graphics are great IMO on par with or better than other recent NIS titles such as Disgaea D2. the characters designs (done by the artist of 'shakugan no shana') are fantastic and look great on screen. Its a lot of fun to see what they look like dressed up in different armors. The angel girls are so dam KAWAII especially in army helmets and other funny hats! Where some might complain about the graphics i think for most competent gamers graphics are only important to a certain extent as many of us still play classics and love them more every time we play because they are great games no matter what they look like. After all Final Fantasy 13 has amazing graphics but most Final Fantasy Fans myself included find it FAR inferior to any other FF game. Not to say its unplayable and in fact its not really TOO bad but when compared to other entries in the series it seems terrible.

    ~Audio~
    The Music is good but nothing special for the most part. Compared to the AMAZING music in the Disgaea series the music in this game is just forgettable and bland but it does the job fine and i like most of it if not compared to Disgaea.

    ~Voice Acting~
    The voice acting from most JRPGs and Japanese games in general is VERY questionable and usually is just downright TERRIBLE. Japanese just doesn't translate well into English most of the time. However NIS has found some way of not following that trend. This game is no exception the English voices are actually great however I wouldn't say they Rival anything like Disgaea or Xenoblade Chronicles but they are pretty darn good for a Dub. Thankfully there is also a CHOICE OF JAPANESE AUDIO and I'm very glad that NIS continues to give us this feature for those, Myself included who prefer the original.

    ~interface~
    ITS SO DAM EASY TO USE AND THERE IS A SHORTCUT FOR EVERYTHING I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!!!!!

    ~In Closing~
    its awesome that there is still a JRPG developer out there that localizes all most all their titles without question.. when big developers like square enix only want to localize Final Hallway 13 and other garbage.. leaving gems like the dragon quest 7 remake and final fantasy type 0 un-localized and forcing Nintendo to do all the work at localizing bravely default flying fairy. its pretty pathetic and lame of them. Thank GOD NIS is around to scratch that JRPG Itch!

    The Guided Fate Paradox is a great outing and one that NO JRPG fan and ESPECIALLY NO NIS fan can afford to miss!    … Expand
  5. RileyWRussell
    Nov 11, 2013
    5
    Picked this up after seeing is described as a rogue like take on Disgaea. Extremely disappointed. The customization you come to expect from NIS games just doesn't seem to be there. The levels you play are tiny, and there just isn't the strategy found in something like Disgaea. I've played this for about 5 hours. I highly doubt I'll put in 5 more. Its just extremely bland.
  6. Tridus
    Mar 5, 2014
    5
    The game systems seem to work pretty well. The gameplay is pretty good, the soundtrack is pretty good. The writing is just awful, and the storyline ranges from silly to stupid depending on who is talking at the moment. There's too many flagrant moments where the game brushes aside questions of what is going on with "you'll find out later", and the main character just accepts that. There'sThe game systems seem to work pretty well. The gameplay is pretty good, the soundtrack is pretty good. The writing is just awful, and the storyline ranges from silly to stupid depending on who is talking at the moment. There's too many flagrant moments where the game brushes aside questions of what is going on with "you'll find out later", and the main character just accepts that. There's better games out there to spend your money on.… Expand
  7. VermillionHaze
    Dec 20, 2013
    7
    I'm a huge fan of Disgaea and was extremely excited about this for months. NIS seems to be going through a rough patch with it's other releases. The Last Rebellion and Time and Eternity were both huge disappointments and this was supposed to be a comeback of sorts. Unfortunately a extremely gimmicky leveling system undermines a otherwise solid game. You start each dungeon at level one andI'm a huge fan of Disgaea and was extremely excited about this for months. NIS seems to be going through a rough patch with it's other releases. The Last Rebellion and Time and Eternity were both huge disappointments and this was supposed to be a comeback of sorts. Unfortunately a extremely gimmicky leveling system undermines a otherwise solid game. You start each dungeon at level one and lose all of your items in the event of your death. This would not be a huge problem if not for the fact the game is insanely inconsistent. A level might be a cakewalk or impossible given your luck. I have started a level surrounded by 5 monsters and instantly was either decimated or forced to escape. You also never seem to get the satisfaction of becoming stronger that you usually associate with JRPG's. The story is equally stale which is a shame given the promising premise. While much better then some recent NIS offerings this is still a long ways from Disgaea quality.… Expand
  8. Elegroth
    Sep 6, 2016
    9
    I'm honestly not sure why so many people think that this game is difficult. It's a fairly easy roguelike game considering that you can actually grind in order to get stronger unlike most.

    I also noticed that several people mentioned that the stat boosts you get when leveling in the dungeons doesn't affect much, which is definitely false. Level 1 when you first start the game verses    I'm honestly not sure why so many people think that this game is difficult. It's a fairly easy roguelike game considering that you can actually grind in order to get stronger unlike most.

    I also noticed that several people mentioned that the stat boosts you get when leveling in the dungeons doesn't affect much, which is definitely false. Level 1 when you first start the game verses the end of the game is a HUGE difference. By the end, my total level was 689 and even without my normal gear my main ATK and DEF stats were 315 and 216 respectively.

    The base stats were 135 and 130, so that's over a 2x increase for ATK and almost 2x for DEF. It definitely makes things easier.

    Getting more into the game, the story, character development and gameplay are all superb. This RPG actually had one of the most likeable protagonists I've ever encountered, and the development of both the main protagonist and Lilliel (his assistant) are fantastic. The story slowly unfolds and is much deeper than originally shown, which ends up being on of the most memorable video game stories in a long time.

    The graphics are pretty awesome as well. The sprite art is well detailed all around and transitions between combat and events pretty well. The voice acting and SFX are pretty solid as well. Nothing ground breaking, but it was all good.

    My main gripe with the game is that the middle chapters can feel pretty long. Not very much goes on besides some sprinkles of story. They probably could have cut out two or three chapters and it would have been more enjoyable in my opinion.

    Ratings are as follows:

    Story 4.5/5
    Graphics 5/5
    Gameplay 5/5
    Sound 4/5

    So, overall I give it a 4.5/5. Great gameplay and story, although a little drawn out, but definitely a great time. Any fans of roguelikes and/or JRPGs in general will have fun with it.    … Expand
  9. TsukasaHiiragi
    Nov 14, 2014
    2
    Honestly, I have to agree with the other review here. This game could have been really great but the massive design flaws and various issues seriously hurt the fun, and make the game ultra frustrating. I would really only recommend this game to hardened Roguelike fans, as like with most RL games - Paradox can be extremely unfair and extremely unforgiving sometimes, and if you die orHonestly, I have to agree with the other review here. This game could have been really great but the massive design flaws and various issues seriously hurt the fun, and make the game ultra frustrating. I would really only recommend this game to hardened Roguelike fans, as like with most RL games - Paradox can be extremely unfair and extremely unforgiving sometimes, and if you die or fail an objective you lose everything - all items, even equipped items which can lead to many resets which ultimately leads to many lost hours, and unfortunately those system resets happen all too often, many times not giving the player any chance of survivability.

    The previous review mentioned the trap problem, and its true - you cannot detect traps period, you cannot see them, you have no clue they are there and they are random, and to add insult to injury they also cheat. Consider you walk on every spot in a room, no traps - keep on walking..keep on walking..boom then a trap appears? As I see it, the traps are there just to give your character an extra beat down occasionally, or even potentially killing your character! 2 Earthquake traps side by side anyone?

    The A.I in this game is also a travesty, it ranges from blithering idiot A.I for your partner to super computer intelligence for your opponents, you A.I will wake up sleeping monsters, run around attempting to kill everything in sight - jump across gaps to kill monsters and all the time, most likely dying in the process since you can't directly control your partner, just issue several orders which honestly - don't work very good.

    Whilst, your opponents work together to create traps, bottlenecks - use abilities and skills to the maximum effect. One prime example is on the 4th wish defending a knight in a large tower network, you have to defend him from 30 or so enemies, you have tower defenses available but for the most part, the enemies keep away from the most critical areas. The knight will only attack monsters which are 1 square away and he will not move, so one of the tricks the monsters do and its a deadly one is to charge the tower and have a mushrooms lead the charge - which have paralyze attacks and even exploded with AoE paralyze when killed, they'll have minotaurs set up guarding mobs which have ranged attacks - so the knight will be attacked at range, whilst you are paralyzed for many turns - then once your able to move, the minotaurs have knockback attacks which can constantly knock you off the tower, and remember here - each movement = 1 turn, so by the time you have climbed back to the tower - you guessed it, game over - the knight is dead - reset the system and waste another hour, and this is just one of the many examples - each dungeon really does require a very careful selection of items to bring along, such as food, healing items and status cures - Lets not even talk about the EX dungeons and how brutal they can be.

    Another problem is that your level is reset to 1 each time you start a dungeon, which is par for roguelike - the gimmick for Paradox is that you get to keep 'bonus' stat points for your total level, I have since found that these really play a very small part in the game, they do not really give your character any significant boost, and later really amount to another form of currency when the Total Level vendor appears. The actual gimmick is to burst level your items over and over again which not only makes the item more powerful, each burst also gives skill points to allocate - the obvious major flaw with this system is this becomes a major grind grind grind in order to achieve that all so important overpowered character feeling, if it wasn't so annoying dying countless times and losing all items it would be so bad - I think everyone who has played this game knows the feeling all too well, losing out on a nicely grinded weapon or armor piece.

    Overall, I'm very heavily disappointed with Guided Fate of Paradox, the moe-angel types are fun and cute for about 10 minutes but after that, their attitudes towards 'god' ie the player start to really annoy you. The story of Paradox is okay, whilst I've played many rpgs which have had really great storylines - Paradox is just so/so - it could have been much better if more time had been taken. Disgaea fans will probably enjoy Paradox for a while assuming they can get past the brutal gameplay - Paradox can reward the player if they have enough time and dedication, not to mention willpower to avoid totally dropping the game after countless game restarts but unfortunately I think for the most part, the average player here will most likely hate this game - I started out enjoying the game but the feeling you    … Expand
  10. Razgriz41
    Dec 24, 2015
    4
    I usually love NISA games published or developed (Hyperdimension, Disgaea, Atelier etc..) and JRPG's but this particular entry is not my cup of tea. I gave this game a good 10hrs or so but I could not get into it! This is most probably because I don't really like dungeon crawler games all that much but I gave it a shot anyways.

    I'd have to say that my favourite part of playing JRPG's is    I usually love NISA games published or developed (Hyperdimension, Disgaea, Atelier etc..) and JRPG's but this particular entry is not my cup of tea. I gave this game a good 10hrs or so but I could not get into it! This is most probably because I don't really like dungeon crawler games all that much but I gave it a shot anyways.

    I'd have to say that my favourite part of playing JRPG's is levelling up my characters / stats. This game takes a unique, albeit irritating levelling system in my opinion. Every time you finish a level you go back to the hub world but you reset to lvl 1 with a fraction of you stats staying with you. So you're grinding in the dungeons but you don't really keep your grinds. I wasn't a fan of this as I felt kinda ripped off because of it.

    Another part is in the items. It's really cool that each item (piece of gear) will make you character look different and sometimes funny but always fixing it was a hassle for me as it seemed like it always needed repair. Also if you die while in a dungeon get used to saying goodbye to all your gear. I found this to deter from experimentation as penaltys were severe if things went bad.

    Another irritating mechanic that I found was with traps. I'm not sure if later on there's a skill that'll help you detect them or not but they were so random in my experience. It's one thing if it's my fault for walking into a trap or hazard (assuming there's a warning or sign that there's a trap) but it's another to just walk into them randomly.

    Overall I found myself becoming quickly annoyed with this game compared to my love for other NISA titles. If you like dungeon crawlers (that give little room for error) and JRPG's then I recommend this game. but it was not a game for me.

    4/10 for me    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

71
#71 Best PS3 Game of 2013
91
#91 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2013

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 27 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 27
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 27
  3. Negative: 0 out of 27
  1. PlayStation Universe
    Aug 23, 2014
    80
    Lots of depth and replayability, but a few unexpected surprises like unusually poor voice acting dull the shine.
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  2. CD-Action
    Feb 10, 2014
    60
    Nippon Ichi tried to develop a game that would appeal to a wider audience but made it too complicated and therefore wearisome. [02/2014, p.70]
  3. GameCritics
    Feb 6, 2014
    85
    Wearing its weirdness and humour like a badge of honor, Guided Fate Paradox is a fresh take on the Roguelike genre with a quirky tale and dialed-back difficulty that ensures it's accessible to all audiences.
    Read full review
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