As soulful as Evergrace but with a lot more digestible plot and a bit more action mechanics, though I prefer the story of Evergrace more. Stringing combos of palmira actions is pretty enjoyable, but the execution of it can be quite wacky at times. A number of systems in this game are wacky, such as the defense system and hilariously grindy upgrade system, but the soul gauge along with unique character abilities and equipment conditions are quite endearing and ambitious for its time.
The art direction is warm and nostalgic, and the character designs are very cool, continuing the unique style Evergrace is known for. The soundtrack is simply incredible; Kota Hoshino truly refined the sound of Evergrace and made an ost of earworms from start to finish. Overall, love this game just as much as Evergrace and hope that one day From can work with the artists of this game on a new project channeling the vibes felt only in this series.
The art direction is warm and nostalgic, and the character designs are very cool, continuing the unique style Evergrace is known for. The soundtrack is simply incredible; Kota Hoshino truly refined the sound of Evergrace and made an ost of earworms from start to finish. Overall, love this game just as much as Evergrace and hope that one day From can work with the artists of this game on a new project channeling the vibes felt only in this series.
Can't remember when I started playing, but I'm not very far. Anyway this game is at least as charming as evergrace but in a totally different way. I love it and I'm excited to continue.
Somehow FromSoft increased the vibes and aesthetic threefold from the first Evergrace (although they also made it a decent bit different so you might not personally agree with that) and improved almost every aspect of the gameplay and were way more ambitious and innovated a dozen gameplay systems and made this game a double prequel and did all this shit while also having a far more cohesive and comprehendible plot and story than the first game, probably because it was written by Mie Takase, the person who also wrote the Evergrace prequel novel, which this game itself is a prequel to. She's a published author who also worked (or still works?) on the Kirby novels. Yes, that Kirby.
This doesn't count as a review I think but I dunno what to say because I'm dumb and stupid. Basically this game is good, fuck the haters, plus the ost bangs so fucking hard dude how does it bang so hard PLEASE
It's also a dumb game sometimes. Actually a lot of times. Your party having a shared health pool and some attacks doing more than half of your HP upon hitting one character leads to points in the game where you just die instantly, which isn't fun, but I'm a cheater and used a lot of save states, so I don't care. This game would probably be a lot more infuriating if you decided to play by its rules, but I didn't and feel no remorse for not doing so.
Good game/10. The soul levels are off the charts, even compared to the first Evergrace.
also play the game in japanese byeeee
This doesn't count as a review I think but I dunno what to say because I'm dumb and stupid. Basically this game is good, fuck the haters, plus the ost bangs so fucking hard dude how does it bang so hard PLEASE
It's also a dumb game sometimes. Actually a lot of times. Your party having a shared health pool and some attacks doing more than half of your HP upon hitting one character leads to points in the game where you just die instantly, which isn't fun, but I'm a cheater and used a lot of save states, so I don't care. This game would probably be a lot more infuriating if you decided to play by its rules, but I didn't and feel no remorse for not doing so.
Good game/10. The soul levels are off the charts, even compared to the first Evergrace.
also play the game in japanese byeeee
It's arguably a terrible game but it's really memorable the way its kinda melodramatic story, at times really good art direction and linear flow come together. Strong atmosphere despite uh... spectacularly bad fundamentals.
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A shockingly bad action game that somehow is worse to play than Evergrace 1. It's a shame because the Japanese voice acting and story make it pretty fun to follow.
A notoriously unsolved problem in 3D is how to handle 3rd-person combat and aiming. It's very hard to judge depth from enemies and where attacks are going to hit. The modern approach, of course, is lock-on: this has the effect of hackily flattening the game into 2.5D combat, where the other problems (judging depth/attacks) are further band-aided by the use of dodge rolls and iframes, combat becoming a visual Simon-Says.
Forever Kingdom (Evergrace 2 in Japanese) has no lock-on, it also has tiny weapon hitboxes. You're constantly whiffing your attacks, having to switch out weapons when one of your attacks heals the enemy.
These problems aren't a game-breaker - they plagued Evergrace 1. This game is built around using elemental skill combos by triggering two other NPCs' attacks - but you can't line up their attacks that easily since they have AI which tends to stand back and guard.
That still makes for a playable game, but where I draw the line is how poorly the camera is handled in interiors. I have programmed cameras for 3D games before (including a technical platformer) so I'm aware of how tricky it can be, but the way the camera is handled in this game is actually broken. The game seems to have some kind of prediction system of trying to find the best 'view' for a scene - the result is that when walking through corridors or empty areas, the camera will just start gradually swinging or jutting forward. The result of course, is motion sickness!
The game expects you to use R2 to swing the camera forward - this is what Evergrace did, and while clunky (The R-stick is right there... why not use it??) it was fine. In Forever Kingdom, almost always after using R2, the game will just randomly swing off to some other direction.
There's also screenshake from a lot of stuff for no reason. The worst offender is an early dungeon where a troll is rampaging about - never mind that you can't even evade this troll - but every time it steps (4 times a second), the screen shakes a lot - which of course is more motion sickness!
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Other design quirks - half of the treasure chests are empty, or trapped with a little imp that latches onto you for poison damage (You can't get it off or attack in this state). Enemies drop chests with collision, sometimes boxing you into a corner. 90% of these chests contain nothing.
Stores are accessed via a save point. In the store is 6 small stores, staffed by identical tiny blue elephants. Sometimes the elephants aren't there. So you can't buy headpieces at one save point, while you can at another... furthermore, the music cuts out whenever you open a shop menu or the pause menu, which is frightening...
Anyways, if you don't use R2 too much the motion sickness is manageable, but it's still a pretty rough game (and there's a bunch of other small complaints...) Worth trying if you liked Evergrace 1 (Forever Kingdom does have some great music and visual vibes), but if not then I would just pass!
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A shockingly bad action game that somehow is worse to play than Evergrace 1. It's a shame because the Japanese voice acting and story make it pretty fun to follow.
A notoriously unsolved problem in 3D is how to handle 3rd-person combat and aiming. It's very hard to judge depth from enemies and where attacks are going to hit. The modern approach, of course, is lock-on: this has the effect of hackily flattening the game into 2.5D combat, where the other problems (judging depth/attacks) are further band-aided by the use of dodge rolls and iframes, combat becoming a visual Simon-Says.
Forever Kingdom (Evergrace 2 in Japanese) has no lock-on, it also has tiny weapon hitboxes. You're constantly whiffing your attacks, having to switch out weapons when one of your attacks heals the enemy.
These problems aren't a game-breaker - they plagued Evergrace 1. This game is built around using elemental skill combos by triggering two other NPCs' attacks - but you can't line up their attacks that easily since they have AI which tends to stand back and guard.
That still makes for a playable game, but where I draw the line is how poorly the camera is handled in interiors. I have programmed cameras for 3D games before (including a technical platformer) so I'm aware of how tricky it can be, but the way the camera is handled in this game is actually broken. The game seems to have some kind of prediction system of trying to find the best 'view' for a scene - the result is that when walking through corridors or empty areas, the camera will just start gradually swinging or jutting forward. The result of course, is motion sickness!
The game expects you to use R2 to swing the camera forward - this is what Evergrace did, and while clunky (The R-stick is right there... why not use it??) it was fine. In Forever Kingdom, almost always after using R2, the game will just randomly swing off to some other direction.
There's also screenshake from a lot of stuff for no reason. The worst offender is an early dungeon where a troll is rampaging about - never mind that you can't even evade this troll - but every time it steps (4 times a second), the screen shakes a lot - which of course is more motion sickness!
---
Other design quirks - half of the treasure chests are empty, or trapped with a little imp that latches onto you for poison damage (You can't get it off or attack in this state). Enemies drop chests with collision, sometimes boxing you into a corner. 90% of these chests contain nothing.
Stores are accessed via a save point. In the store is 6 small stores, staffed by identical tiny blue elephants. Sometimes the elephants aren't there. So you can't buy headpieces at one save point, while you can at another... furthermore, the music cuts out whenever you open a shop menu or the pause menu, which is frightening...
Anyways, if you don't use R2 too much the motion sickness is manageable, but it's still a pretty rough game (and there's a bunch of other small complaints...) Worth trying if you liked Evergrace 1 (Forever Kingdom does have some great music and visual vibes), but if not then I would just pass!
If you can look past a slighty clunky combat system, there's something really great and worth experiencing under here.
The whole game has a beautiful atmosphere backed up by a great soundtrack. There were some really great standout areas and dungeons, especially the palace zone, and the valley of the dead. The story suffers from voice acting that was common for the era, but the story itself is really nice, and worth it.
Overall i came out of the whole experience really happy to have played it, i hope this world/style is something Fromsoft revisits in the future.
The whole game has a beautiful atmosphere backed up by a great soundtrack. There were some really great standout areas and dungeons, especially the palace zone, and the valley of the dead. The story suffers from voice acting that was common for the era, but the story itself is really nice, and worth it.
Overall i came out of the whole experience really happy to have played it, i hope this world/style is something Fromsoft revisits in the future.
fromsoftwares second game developed by their b-team based at the tokyo metropolitan matsuzawa hospital
Forever Kingdom manages to be worse than Evergrace. This game is just awful. By far the worst From Software game I have played.
Two individual stories from Evergrace is replaced with three characters you can swap between at will (with a single shared health pool). This actually doesn't matter much other than that each character has a magic attack assigned that you can execute at will. Each character has individual equipment, so you could conceivably specialize them for fighting certain enemies, but I didn't find this to be that feasible without a ton of grinding.
Combat is astoundingly bad, even worse feeling than Evergrace.
Camera control is just as awkward and unwieldy, with only the ability to center the camera behind you while you run around monsters avoiding their attacks and setting up your own.
Every attack has extreme, vulnerable windup and extreme, committed recovery and every hit you take knocks you back and onto the ground for a tedious stand up animation. Your attacks can be chained into combos, but the timing is severely punishing and you are just as likely to get knocked out of your combo by the enemy anyway. Additionally, enemies do ludicrous amounts of damage with 1-2 hit kills being very common even if you are wearing the correct armor. There was never a point where I enjoyed anything about the combat and was simply frustrated for my entire playtime.
The narrative is more straightforward and actually makes sense. The characters and motivations are more clear and some of the world is explored here. It is kind of a bummer that the game is so unplayable, because I wouldn't mind seeing where it goes, even though it is pretty simple and predictable (at least as far as I played).
There are some beautiful scenes and the game looks much better than Evergrace.
The paper doll system returns, and it seems like they did away with the related puzzle mechanics for the most part. This game is just keys/locks and (really awful) combat. The actual level design is uneventful fields and repetitive dungeon mazes.
Evergrace is bad, but tolerable. Forever Kingdom throws what was tolerable out the window in favor of one of the worst feeling action combat systems I have used.
Even though the narrative has its legs under it this time, don't play this game.
Two individual stories from Evergrace is replaced with three characters you can swap between at will (with a single shared health pool). This actually doesn't matter much other than that each character has a magic attack assigned that you can execute at will. Each character has individual equipment, so you could conceivably specialize them for fighting certain enemies, but I didn't find this to be that feasible without a ton of grinding.
Combat is astoundingly bad, even worse feeling than Evergrace.
Camera control is just as awkward and unwieldy, with only the ability to center the camera behind you while you run around monsters avoiding their attacks and setting up your own.
Every attack has extreme, vulnerable windup and extreme, committed recovery and every hit you take knocks you back and onto the ground for a tedious stand up animation. Your attacks can be chained into combos, but the timing is severely punishing and you are just as likely to get knocked out of your combo by the enemy anyway. Additionally, enemies do ludicrous amounts of damage with 1-2 hit kills being very common even if you are wearing the correct armor. There was never a point where I enjoyed anything about the combat and was simply frustrated for my entire playtime.
The narrative is more straightforward and actually makes sense. The characters and motivations are more clear and some of the world is explored here. It is kind of a bummer that the game is so unplayable, because I wouldn't mind seeing where it goes, even though it is pretty simple and predictable (at least as far as I played).
There are some beautiful scenes and the game looks much better than Evergrace.
The paper doll system returns, and it seems like they did away with the related puzzle mechanics for the most part. This game is just keys/locks and (really awful) combat. The actual level design is uneventful fields and repetitive dungeon mazes.
Evergrace is bad, but tolerable. Forever Kingdom throws what was tolerable out the window in favor of one of the worst feeling action combat systems I have used.
Even though the narrative has its legs under it this time, don't play this game.
To beat the final bosses, I had to grind cash to upgrade an electrical attack. This electric attack would clip through the floor and damage the bosses even during their "invlun" states.
A fitting sequel to Evergrace that's slightly less inept. The new character designs are fantastic. The voice acting is still "Josh from QA, we need you to voice a main character". The shared health bar doesn't have enough impact to warrant its inclusion, which is preferable to it being actively detrimental to gameplay. There are actual cutscenes and setpieces, and while nothing comes close to the credits of Evergrace, it has its moments. The soundtrack is a minor step down from Evergrace, but most people who praise that game's OST remember the CD print, and not the in game soundtrack that sounds closer to Forever Kingdom's.
Couldn't recommend this game to anyone, even people who sat through the first game. The game's sheer ambition and confidence, even if it totally fails, prevents me from rating the game any lower.
A fitting sequel to Evergrace that's slightly less inept. The new character designs are fantastic. The voice acting is still "Josh from QA, we need you to voice a main character". The shared health bar doesn't have enough impact to warrant its inclusion, which is preferable to it being actively detrimental to gameplay. There are actual cutscenes and setpieces, and while nothing comes close to the credits of Evergrace, it has its moments. The soundtrack is a minor step down from Evergrace, but most people who praise that game's OST remember the CD print, and not the in game soundtrack that sounds closer to Forever Kingdom's.
Couldn't recommend this game to anyone, even people who sat through the first game. The game's sheer ambition and confidence, even if it totally fails, prevents me from rating the game any lower.
A soundtrack so immeasurably good and soul-shocking has no business being attached to a game this soul-sucking. My god.
I wanted it to at least be a vibe yknow ;-; but the sound mixing has it to where the music is all drowned out! Undub doesn't really even fix the issue, the first 20 minutes are suitably ~ethereal~ and then it succumbs to what feels like beta project monotony. My heart SUNK when the main gimmick of shared party health was immediately circumvented by health items that Full Restored Every Time.
I wanted it to at least be a vibe yknow ;-; but the sound mixing has it to where the music is all drowned out! Undub doesn't really even fix the issue, the first 20 minutes are suitably ~ethereal~ and then it succumbs to what feels like beta project monotony. My heart SUNK when the main gimmick of shared party health was immediately circumvented by health items that Full Restored Every Time.
A character-driven prequel to Evergrace, Forever Kingdom is another linear action-RPG that somehow handles more awkwardly than its predecessor, brought down by clunky hitboxes, insufferable enemies, and stiff movement clashing with its frenzied pace. Besides a strong focus on elemental defense, the only thing going for this monumental drag is the Valkyrie Profile DNA in its combat. However - that isn't enough to rectify the poor gameplay.