I spent three hours troubleshooting this game. Found out it doesn't work on Bluestacks or LDplayer but Mumu. Went to Mumu and found out it's only compatible with NVIDIA GPU's.
Excellent game HyperGryph. Thanks.
Excellent game HyperGryph. Thanks.
this game feels unfinished with its performance issues & how dull the story is
ill probably return to it when most of the issues are fixed but there’s nothing really pulling me towards it besides the combat
ill probably return to it when most of the issues are fixed but there’s nothing really pulling me towards it besides the combat
I really appreciate Hypergryph's first steps into 3D and new IPs beside Arknights. The game feels weird from time to time but the overall idea is good and the lore is deep. I trust in Lowlight for the upcoming DLCs.
This review contains spoilers
Could have been great, if not for that absolutely horrendous 2nd chapter, which takes half of the game if not more.
Played on a Galaxy S21 FE on version 1.1.0. From what I understand it fixed a lot of issues and I didn't have any particular one. Optimization seems "fine" in most case except for some stuttering on 60FPS mode, which is better than the 30FPS mode having huge FPS drops to nearly freezing for no reason. If your phone supports it, use 60.
Artistic direction is the big pro of this game (not for chap2), especially during chapter 3 where they've gone all out to impress you, and it worked. Beautiful sceneries, zones/towns and that final boss was ART.
Story and OST are "ok". OST doesn't stand out and is forgettable but does its job as nice background noises. Only memorable ones are final boss last phase and the opening (it spoils a lot so I advise you to skip it before you begin the game).
Story is a little confusing, nothing big, you follow it pretty nicely (again, not for chap2) but you'll surely forget it one week later .
Characters are bland. You have 6 main characters, half of which are absolutely useless. Zero² have nearly 0 dialogue after chapter 1. Deterrant joins very late and is a walking wikipedia, you will have no interaction with him except when he is explaining something. And Manganese is a bird I nearly forgot existed because you never see him too, but even less than Zero².
Yan, Roy and Vi² are ok. Pretty bland but they have nice interactions with each other’s and Vi is cute.
Combat is pretty good. When it works.
You'll altern between two phases: attack and defense.
You attack by using (=button mashing) skills. You defend by clicking the big red (dodge) or blue (parry) circle when an enemy attack, both of them having their own advantage and some attacks being only countered by one of those two. Each character either dodge or parry so you'll have to change which one you want at the front to tank the enemies’ attacks. Pretty simple. Pretty fun. If only it would read your tapping correctly. Attack combos suddenly stop for no reason, meaning you just wasted a turn. And it's even worse when you need to defend because sometimes you tap the big button but your character decides to do absolutely nothing and you take damages. Or even worse, when you need to swape character but the game just doesn't want to let you change the frontliner and the enemy use a "only dodgeable/parry attack" with you have the wrong character for that type of attack, meaning you literally just CAN'T DO ANYTHING against it. Really cool when your enemy suddenly change its attack type.
Other than that, game is actually easy and even tell you when to exactly use the defend button, never had a game over during my whole playthrough. The only difficulty is the platforming, especially when the platforms are moving and Yan needs 10 seconds to gather her courage, jump aaaand too bad the platform already left you jumped into the void too bad lol my god who thought it was a good idea.
You'll use the same party and the same skills combos for the whole game after chap1 but it's pretty dynamic so you won't get easily bored. Doesn't need to farm too, you can max level your 3 characters without problems. Relics for the Conjugate systems are useless, you can beat the game with the early one because even the late-game ones aren't that great.
Now. Chapter 2.
This is HORRIBLE. I was pretty hyped when I learnt Arknights dev were doing a premium, paid, no gacha money grabbing scheme game. Chapter 1 was cool, I was hooked. And then it came.
The zones are uninspired, bland, not look-worthy. Everything is sand, sand and more sand. And then came the 3 towers. Also bland, but you'll climb the same towers THREE TIMES. And THREE TIMES you do that for nothing because the scenario decided that "oopsie you were too late the big villain (he is a villain because...stuff? The justification was nearly inexistant like the whole scenario in that chapter) already escaped lmao". Which leads you to the final dungeon (with the same uninspired bland interior as the 3 towers) and the peoples who made it needs to be fired. Extremely long for nothing. I said chap2 was half the game? This is half of chapter2.
Lots of random mobs because you need battles and even more shitty puzzles. Everywhere. At every rooms. And there is only one type of puzzle : you need to move big blocks to specific locations, that's it, do that every 2 minutes now. There is also one where you can get softlocked and you don't even know it until the last step. If you really like puzzles, some of them have little side challenge where you can unlock bonus chests buuuut they are impossible, and I don't say that because I'm a brainlet but because they REALLY ARE impossible due to how they are constructed. At least 3 of them were like that. They didn't even test them.
Chapter 2 really killed my whole hype about the game. Chapter 3 is way, way better and you can see that’s where all the work has gone, but it can’t salvage all the damage ch2 did before.
Is it worth? If you want a short (~15h) mobile JRPG for $10 and can stomach an awful half of the game, why not. I hope they’ll learn from their mistake and not just say “we failed, we’re going back to gachas” because there is room for improvement, and seeing chapter1 and 3, they can make really good things.
Played on a Galaxy S21 FE on version 1.1.0. From what I understand it fixed a lot of issues and I didn't have any particular one. Optimization seems "fine" in most case except for some stuttering on 60FPS mode, which is better than the 30FPS mode having huge FPS drops to nearly freezing for no reason. If your phone supports it, use 60.
Artistic direction is the big pro of this game (not for chap2), especially during chapter 3 where they've gone all out to impress you, and it worked. Beautiful sceneries, zones/towns and that final boss was ART.
Story and OST are "ok". OST doesn't stand out and is forgettable but does its job as nice background noises. Only memorable ones are final boss last phase and the opening (it spoils a lot so I advise you to skip it before you begin the game).
Story is a little confusing, nothing big, you follow it pretty nicely (again, not for chap2) but you'll surely forget it one week later .
Characters are bland. You have 6 main characters, half of which are absolutely useless. Zero² have nearly 0 dialogue after chapter 1. Deterrant joins very late and is a walking wikipedia, you will have no interaction with him except when he is explaining something. And Manganese is a bird I nearly forgot existed because you never see him too, but even less than Zero².
Yan, Roy and Vi² are ok. Pretty bland but they have nice interactions with each other’s and Vi is cute.
Combat is pretty good. When it works.
You'll altern between two phases: attack and defense.
You attack by using (=button mashing) skills. You defend by clicking the big red (dodge) or blue (parry) circle when an enemy attack, both of them having their own advantage and some attacks being only countered by one of those two. Each character either dodge or parry so you'll have to change which one you want at the front to tank the enemies’ attacks. Pretty simple. Pretty fun. If only it would read your tapping correctly. Attack combos suddenly stop for no reason, meaning you just wasted a turn. And it's even worse when you need to defend because sometimes you tap the big button but your character decides to do absolutely nothing and you take damages. Or even worse, when you need to swape character but the game just doesn't want to let you change the frontliner and the enemy use a "only dodgeable/parry attack" with you have the wrong character for that type of attack, meaning you literally just CAN'T DO ANYTHING against it. Really cool when your enemy suddenly change its attack type.
Other than that, game is actually easy and even tell you when to exactly use the defend button, never had a game over during my whole playthrough. The only difficulty is the platforming, especially when the platforms are moving and Yan needs 10 seconds to gather her courage, jump aaaand too bad the platform already left you jumped into the void too bad lol my god who thought it was a good idea.
You'll use the same party and the same skills combos for the whole game after chap1 but it's pretty dynamic so you won't get easily bored. Doesn't need to farm too, you can max level your 3 characters without problems. Relics for the Conjugate systems are useless, you can beat the game with the early one because even the late-game ones aren't that great.
Now. Chapter 2.
This is HORRIBLE. I was pretty hyped when I learnt Arknights dev were doing a premium, paid, no gacha money grabbing scheme game. Chapter 1 was cool, I was hooked. And then it came.
The zones are uninspired, bland, not look-worthy. Everything is sand, sand and more sand. And then came the 3 towers. Also bland, but you'll climb the same towers THREE TIMES. And THREE TIMES you do that for nothing because the scenario decided that "oopsie you were too late the big villain (he is a villain because...stuff? The justification was nearly inexistant like the whole scenario in that chapter) already escaped lmao". Which leads you to the final dungeon (with the same uninspired bland interior as the 3 towers) and the peoples who made it needs to be fired. Extremely long for nothing. I said chap2 was half the game? This is half of chapter2.
Lots of random mobs because you need battles and even more shitty puzzles. Everywhere. At every rooms. And there is only one type of puzzle : you need to move big blocks to specific locations, that's it, do that every 2 minutes now. There is also one where you can get softlocked and you don't even know it until the last step. If you really like puzzles, some of them have little side challenge where you can unlock bonus chests buuuut they are impossible, and I don't say that because I'm a brainlet but because they REALLY ARE impossible due to how they are constructed. At least 3 of them were like that. They didn't even test them.
Chapter 2 really killed my whole hype about the game. Chapter 3 is way, way better and you can see that’s where all the work has gone, but it can’t salvage all the damage ch2 did before.
Is it worth? If you want a short (~15h) mobile JRPG for $10 and can stomach an awful half of the game, why not. I hope they’ll learn from their mistake and not just say “we failed, we’re going back to gachas” because there is room for improvement, and seeing chapter1 and 3, they can make really good things.
I was planning on going in-depth in a video on this game, but this game really doesn't have a "story" or an angle you can go on about. It's ambitious, has great art direction and environmental design. It has great immersive features that helped me to self actualize in a way akin to Death Stranding.
Gameplay:
But ultimately the gameplay loop is unbelievably dull and poorly explained. It's a turn based RPG that has combo moves, like Indivisible or Valkyrie Profile and each action takes up an AP value. The issue is, that's all there is and each character is incredibly limited. For most of the game you'll be doing A into B into C, over and over and over without variation or intrigue.
Defensively, there's a timed dodge or parry, but it's wayyyyy too telegraphed with enemies showing the exact ideal timing with a flash of light. They often only attack once per turn too, and the variety of attacks is one or two total per enemy.
The exploration rewards you with a bunch of random craftables you won't care about, and the puzzles are a repetitive copy-pasted slog.
Story:
The story is a bunch of lore dumps and exposition heavy reading. The characters barely exist, and the ones that do exist are all stoic and unemotional, except for Vi. The actual "events" that take place are comparable to side quests, with the characters doing uninteresting chores or trying to overcome a setback.
Performance:
This is probably where things get the worst. The game has some pretty bad stuttering and loading issues, and beyond that the game has compatibility issues meaning that a lot of people can't emulate it or even run it. Most people don't have phones designed for gaming, and this game is certainly not optimized for the average person.
Conclusion:
I really wanted to love this game, and tout it as an ambitious consumer friendly entry to the mobile gaming space, but ultimately it's just a gimmick and there's very little to latch onto.
Gameplay:
But ultimately the gameplay loop is unbelievably dull and poorly explained. It's a turn based RPG that has combo moves, like Indivisible or Valkyrie Profile and each action takes up an AP value. The issue is, that's all there is and each character is incredibly limited. For most of the game you'll be doing A into B into C, over and over and over without variation or intrigue.
Defensively, there's a timed dodge or parry, but it's wayyyyy too telegraphed with enemies showing the exact ideal timing with a flash of light. They often only attack once per turn too, and the variety of attacks is one or two total per enemy.
The exploration rewards you with a bunch of random craftables you won't care about, and the puzzles are a repetitive copy-pasted slog.
Story:
The story is a bunch of lore dumps and exposition heavy reading. The characters barely exist, and the ones that do exist are all stoic and unemotional, except for Vi. The actual "events" that take place are comparable to side quests, with the characters doing uninteresting chores or trying to overcome a setback.
Performance:
This is probably where things get the worst. The game has some pretty bad stuttering and loading issues, and beyond that the game has compatibility issues meaning that a lot of people can't emulate it or even run it. Most people don't have phones designed for gaming, and this game is certainly not optimized for the average person.
Conclusion:
I really wanted to love this game, and tout it as an ambitious consumer friendly entry to the mobile gaming space, but ultimately it's just a gimmick and there's very little to latch onto.
I went to this game with decent expectation, I expected it to be at least mid, I didn’t think it would be one of the worst game I’ve ever played. And it’s not the fun bad kind, it’s the dull and boring bad kind, which is the bottom of the barrel for me.
The game starts out okay. I was actually quite enjoying some of the aspects, but after I put a few hours into it, it became repetitive and a slog to play.
I will try my best to avoid spoilers, I don’t think I wrote any spoilers here, but if I do I’m sorry.
COMBAT
Combat is pretty great at first, it’s turn-based but you get a certain amount of Action Points (AP) you can use each turn, and AP can be used to cast skills. Skills have a few important properties, the main thing to consider is if skills can only hit an enemy on the ground or in the air and if it can knock down or launch enemies into the air. Certain skills will also be able to recover AP, Starting Skills will recover AP if used at the beginning of the turn, then there’s skills that will recover AP depending if the enemy is knocked down or airborne.
All these properties create a very fun combat, you can try mixing combos and get the feel of which combo you like the most. The problem is that, once you get a good combo, you’re gonna stick with it for a LONG time.
Why? Because there’s only 2 enemy types, one that can be launched in the air, and one that can’t. So all you need is just one combo that can launch enemies and comboing them in the air and one that doesn’t.
Another problem is that you gain EXP so slowly (Astrite they call it here), therefore, you gain new skills at literal snail pace. Normal encounters will only net you a measly amount of EXP, so much so that towards the end, I actively avoid enemies when I can.
(Pro tip: Go to the menu if an enemy is on to you, wait a few seconds, then continue, it will reset their aggro. Doesn’t always work, but it helps.)
Then there’s a parry and dodge mechanic, most if not all enemy attacks can either be dodged or parried. There will be a circle above the enemy head, if it’s orange then it can only be dodged, if it’s blue then parry, if no circle then just parry, dodge is useless.
Seems fine and fun? Yep, at first. Until you realize that no matter what the enemy does, all you need to do is watch the circle and the flash (you dodge/parry slightly after the flash) and you’re golden.
There also will be times where you have to have a godly reaction to be able to dodge/parry because the camera doesn’t move fast enough to show what the enemy will do. Though maybe it’s because I use Samsung FOLD and the screen is square instead of landscape.
One last thing, using items doesn’t cost a turn. You can use 999 items and it will still be your turn.
BOSSES
There are 3 major bosses in this game, a few minor ones. All 3 sucks, storywise and mechanic wise. All 3 are not so different from other normal enemies, in fact, every boss is the same as any other regular monster. The only difference is that they have a lot more health and they hit harder (if they can hit you).
Each major boss has more than one phase, two phases for the first 2, and three for the final boss. Again, there is no difference at all between each phase, you just get a cutscene in between phases, they heal their health back to full and the fight continues. There are no transformations, they are literally the same model just healed back to full, no noticeable difference in their attack.
The only exception is the final boss where she gets a slight palette swap and it’s last phase got rid of the circle above the head that signals if you should dodge or parry (which is stupid).
EXPLORATION
I will sound like a broken record here, at first, I find it interesting. I like the block puzzle, the “platforming”, and the environment. Until I realize that the only puzzle is the block puzzle, the platforming is ass, and there are only 3 types of environment (White, Orange, and Red).
The maps are confusing, there are no mini-map, there are NO MAP. If not for the constant objective marker, I will be lost in the convoluted dungeon design.
Special shout out to the 2nd city you visit because it’s a maze.
UI/UX
This one aspect isn’t so bad for me, mostly because I’m used to obtuse UX design from retro JRPG. Though the HP display in combat is stupid, because you can’t see your party HP you can only see if it’s green or red. I mean you can, but it’s stupidly placed behind the character so the only way to see it is if you squint.
STORY, or rather, WRITING
This is why I hate this game so much. The writing is so bad it’s offensive to me.
There are a lot of made up terms in this game. This by itself isn’t so bad if the game properly explains what each term means and gives you ample time to absorb them. But no, they bombard you with it, from beginning to end they will give you made up gibberish like Astrom, Astrite, Shadarrish, Allindos, Troglodyte, Storm, Nazara, Coxswain, and many more. Some of this will make sense later on by context, but most can only be understood if you read the archive section.
Again, it won’t be that bad, if the archive section’s UI/UX is great. Instead of the tried and true method of having each term have its own entry, this game opted for vertical scrolling. I don’t know how to explain it better, just know that it’s hard to find a specific entry quickly.
Then characters, all of your party members feel shallow. None of them feels like they earned their place in your party, not even Yan, the main character. Their motivation is hard to decipher, they seem to just join you on a whim (except for one character). And once in your party, they barely have a personality, even Yan.
This problem also applies to the antagonist, there are 3, all 3 are the major bosses. I got all their goals, but the writing made it really hard to understand (the 2nd one is the worst one). Not to mention that none of them feels threatening, sometimes they will just casually walk on you, initiate conversation and then walk away, poof, no tension, no fear, nothing.
Then once you actually fight them, I don’t feel anything at all.
The game starts out okay. I was actually quite enjoying some of the aspects, but after I put a few hours into it, it became repetitive and a slog to play.
I will try my best to avoid spoilers, I don’t think I wrote any spoilers here, but if I do I’m sorry.
COMBAT
Combat is pretty great at first, it’s turn-based but you get a certain amount of Action Points (AP) you can use each turn, and AP can be used to cast skills. Skills have a few important properties, the main thing to consider is if skills can only hit an enemy on the ground or in the air and if it can knock down or launch enemies into the air. Certain skills will also be able to recover AP, Starting Skills will recover AP if used at the beginning of the turn, then there’s skills that will recover AP depending if the enemy is knocked down or airborne.
All these properties create a very fun combat, you can try mixing combos and get the feel of which combo you like the most. The problem is that, once you get a good combo, you’re gonna stick with it for a LONG time.
Why? Because there’s only 2 enemy types, one that can be launched in the air, and one that can’t. So all you need is just one combo that can launch enemies and comboing them in the air and one that doesn’t.
Another problem is that you gain EXP so slowly (Astrite they call it here), therefore, you gain new skills at literal snail pace. Normal encounters will only net you a measly amount of EXP, so much so that towards the end, I actively avoid enemies when I can.
(Pro tip: Go to the menu if an enemy is on to you, wait a few seconds, then continue, it will reset their aggro. Doesn’t always work, but it helps.)
Then there’s a parry and dodge mechanic, most if not all enemy attacks can either be dodged or parried. There will be a circle above the enemy head, if it’s orange then it can only be dodged, if it’s blue then parry, if no circle then just parry, dodge is useless.
Seems fine and fun? Yep, at first. Until you realize that no matter what the enemy does, all you need to do is watch the circle and the flash (you dodge/parry slightly after the flash) and you’re golden.
There also will be times where you have to have a godly reaction to be able to dodge/parry because the camera doesn’t move fast enough to show what the enemy will do. Though maybe it’s because I use Samsung FOLD and the screen is square instead of landscape.
One last thing, using items doesn’t cost a turn. You can use 999 items and it will still be your turn.
BOSSES
There are 3 major bosses in this game, a few minor ones. All 3 sucks, storywise and mechanic wise. All 3 are not so different from other normal enemies, in fact, every boss is the same as any other regular monster. The only difference is that they have a lot more health and they hit harder (if they can hit you).
Each major boss has more than one phase, two phases for the first 2, and three for the final boss. Again, there is no difference at all between each phase, you just get a cutscene in between phases, they heal their health back to full and the fight continues. There are no transformations, they are literally the same model just healed back to full, no noticeable difference in their attack.
The only exception is the final boss where she gets a slight palette swap and it’s last phase got rid of the circle above the head that signals if you should dodge or parry (which is stupid).
EXPLORATION
I will sound like a broken record here, at first, I find it interesting. I like the block puzzle, the “platforming”, and the environment. Until I realize that the only puzzle is the block puzzle, the platforming is ass, and there are only 3 types of environment (White, Orange, and Red).
The maps are confusing, there are no mini-map, there are NO MAP. If not for the constant objective marker, I will be lost in the convoluted dungeon design.
Special shout out to the 2nd city you visit because it’s a maze.
UI/UX
This one aspect isn’t so bad for me, mostly because I’m used to obtuse UX design from retro JRPG. Though the HP display in combat is stupid, because you can’t see your party HP you can only see if it’s green or red. I mean you can, but it’s stupidly placed behind the character so the only way to see it is if you squint.
STORY, or rather, WRITING
This is why I hate this game so much. The writing is so bad it’s offensive to me.
There are a lot of made up terms in this game. This by itself isn’t so bad if the game properly explains what each term means and gives you ample time to absorb them. But no, they bombard you with it, from beginning to end they will give you made up gibberish like Astrom, Astrite, Shadarrish, Allindos, Troglodyte, Storm, Nazara, Coxswain, and many more. Some of this will make sense later on by context, but most can only be understood if you read the archive section.
Again, it won’t be that bad, if the archive section’s UI/UX is great. Instead of the tried and true method of having each term have its own entry, this game opted for vertical scrolling. I don’t know how to explain it better, just know that it’s hard to find a specific entry quickly.
Then characters, all of your party members feel shallow. None of them feels like they earned their place in your party, not even Yan, the main character. Their motivation is hard to decipher, they seem to just join you on a whim (except for one character). And once in your party, they barely have a personality, even Yan.
This problem also applies to the antagonist, there are 3, all 3 are the major bosses. I got all their goals, but the writing made it really hard to understand (the 2nd one is the worst one). Not to mention that none of them feels threatening, sometimes they will just casually walk on you, initiate conversation and then walk away, poof, no tension, no fear, nothing.
Then once you actually fight them, I don’t feel anything at all.
command based game with action combat mechanics, endless bombardment of terminology surrounding a narrative with incredibly strong themes and lore but slightly clumsy structure, cool female characters - this is a final fantasy 13-like! 5 stars. feels nice to play a new roleplaying game written by people who have read a book before instead of just watching 4000 hours of meathead anime