I decided to play this, and it’s been a decent third person action RPG so far. I’m currently on chapter 3 (out of 9) which only took me a few hours to reach, so I’m guessing that it’s not a really long game. Perhaps that’s because it all takes place in one city area. The city is big, but kind of bland and same-y looking. The dungeons have been kind of same-y as well. The story and characters have been ok, the combat and traversal are the best aspects of the game IMO. Combat is fast and fun, and traversal takes place both on the ground and vertically with platforming elements. There’s a decent amount of exploration with a lot of loot to discover as well.argyle wrote: ↑Tue Aug 15, 2023 9:18 amIt's a bit of a slow starter, but once you get your first party member it really opens up. The combat becomes much more interesting, since different enemy types are weak to different types of attacks (aka different party members) and you can swap members on the fly. But even more than that, the exploration really starts to open up. The first dungeon you get to after gaining your first party member is very vertical, with lots of stuff hidden above & below the main path. If you decide to play it, don't judge it until you get to this point - and be aware that it takes 3-4 hours or so.
The graphics look like a PS3 game which are pretty dated by today’s standards, but it has a somewhat charming anime aesthetic which I like. The character dialogue constantly switches between voiced and non-voiced which is kind of annoying, and Adol is a silent protagonist once again which I find off-putting since he’s the main character. There’s dialogue choices during conversations, but they seem pretty pointless.
I like that the different party members each have their own unique abilities, but once they join the party any of the characters in the party can do their same abilities which doesn’t really make sense since you can switch characters instantaneously with a press of a button. It would make more sense to have to switch to specific characters to use their abilities, because it seems kind of weird that all of the characters in the party can use the same abilities. The only real reason to switch characters is during combat because they each have their own attacks which are stronger or weaker against certain enemies.
I’ve been enjoying the game enough to stick with it for now, but I’m not enjoying it as much as Ys: Memories of Celceta or Ys VIII. Perhaps it will start appealing to me more when I make it further, we’ll see.
I almost bought this when it was on sale, but I decided to pass on it since all of the selectable characters are male. It’s gotten to the point now where I don’t really want to play a game unless I can play as a female character, or have female companions in my party. There are exceptions of course such as with games like Days Gone and Ghost of Tsushima where the lead roles only work being male and they’re appealing characters, but for the most part I just don’t really like playing as guys in games.argyle wrote: ↑Tue Aug 15, 2023 9:18 amI was still in the mood for an indie tho, so I popped in another one I picked up earlier this year - Souldiers. Wow. It's a Metroidvania with very strong RPG elements, to the point where I would say it's as much action/RPG as it is Metroidvania. You even pick your class in the beginning (I'm playing as the archer) and there's a full skill tree, equipment, stats, everything you'd expect from an RPG along with the typical Metroidvania tropes like exploration, backtracking, and gaining abilities that open up new areas. Oh, and it has some of the best looking pixel art I've seen, with tons of little details and awesome animations.
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