There really is no climax and barely a plot at all. Fortunately, the story never spirals out of control like so many other JRPGs, but it does the opposite. Additionally, aimless fetch questing and a general lack of actual plot detail hamper the experience. In a game about destroying a world, a believable or at least intriguing setting would have been appropriate. Worst of all, the setting is merely a stage set piece, a 2D wooden cutout used only to provide the faintest sense of atmosphere. It instead floats in that realm of JRPGness so irrelevant to the human experience, where elemental guardians and unexplained magic forces replace human emotion and thought. Focusing on destruction, creation, and redemption, the plot never connects with what it means to be human. Promising, but the plot consists of far too many fetch quests that amount to nothing, characterization is weak, and the story fails to evoke emotional or intellectual responses. The World Annihilation Front sends its deadly ambassador to bring Kyrie into the fight and use him to end the world. Their plans get a boost when Kyrie, a callow youth from a quaint country hamlet, unleashes a mysterious and destructive power after being threatened by questioning and told to “run” by a mysterious voice. To the mistreated and practically enslaved humans, the world seems a wretched, ugly place, and The World Annihilation Front seeks to destroy it and end the reign of the Beastlords.
One of SoD’s most immediately remarkable elements is the premise: the world, dominated by tyrannical Beastlords, is one not worth keeping. All others will only see it as the mediocre experience it truly is.
SoD is a playable JRPG, but only recommendable to the most tolerant or starved JRPG fans. Sands of Destruction boasts what some believe to be an impressive development team, but evidently their minds have grown tired and dull if their latest game is any indication. When does it stop? Not with the latest generic JRPG offering on the Nintendo DS, that’s for sure. Mediocrity continuously adds more to its heaping bulk, all consuming and never satiated, kept alive by torpid artists toiling under rotten creeds and consumers without discretion. If anything threatens to destroy the world, it is the unstoppable monster Mediocrity, whose viscous vomit of pulp, shovelware, and other detritus grows weekly with each new media release day.
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