Brian
Came into this one straight off a SOTN luck run and this one surprisingly really holds its own! A bit more of a Hollow Knight-style MV than SOTN-style since there's no RPG elements but this may actually be a little bigger than HK, and I think I might even prefer this to HK as the setting and environments are a little more compelling to me, there's no Soulslike mechanics (thank fuck) and I appreciate that this game swaps HK's mute world for thoughtful, interesting dialogue.
The platforming is no joke, and there was definitely a point about 70% of the way through where I never wanted to see another hallway filled with rotating knives again, and a LOT of those hallways led to a specific type of currency that I didn't ever come close to running out of. In retrospect it wasn't that bad but in the moment my patience was running a little thin.
I invested all of my resources into the amulets that increased sword power, cultivating athra and boosting athra surge damage, and that enabled me to kind of inelegantly brute-force myself through a lot of late-game battles. So maybe I didn't embrace the combat system as much as I could have, but there's a big difference between appreciating a cool boss fight and having to master the timing of a dozen different attacks just to scrape by—so I regret nothing.
I really appreciated how reasonable the difficulty was, and I felt a deep respect for the player through a lot of really great QoL mechanics—the memory shards, a liberal view of 'resetting' double jump and air dash abilities, being able to respawn right back into a failed boss fight and the ability to swing my sword and shoot arrows while perched on a wall. All of that really helps your mood when you're staring down your 3000th rotating knife hallway.
The platforming is no joke, and there was definitely a point about 70% of the way through where I never wanted to see another hallway filled with rotating knives again, and a LOT of those hallways led to a specific type of currency that I didn't ever come close to running out of. In retrospect it wasn't that bad but in the moment my patience was running a little thin.
I invested all of my resources into the amulets that increased sword power, cultivating athra and boosting athra surge damage, and that enabled me to kind of inelegantly brute-force myself through a lot of late-game battles. So maybe I didn't embrace the combat system as much as I could have, but there's a big difference between appreciating a cool boss fight and having to master the timing of a dozen different attacks just to scrape by—so I regret nothing.
I really appreciated how reasonable the difficulty was, and I felt a deep respect for the player through a lot of really great QoL mechanics—the memory shards, a liberal view of 'resetting' double jump and air dash abilities, being able to respawn right back into a failed boss fight and the ability to swing my sword and shoot arrows while perched on a wall. All of that really helps your mood when you're staring down your 3000th rotating knife hallway.
2019
This game has had so much potential. The combat rules. It's so unique, it looks great, it feels great, it just rules. They thank the Street Fighter 3 artists and animators in the credits and you can see and feel the influence. They did a good job of making any team composition viable—maybe too good of a job? Should I be bummed they're isn't a definitive best comp (unless you're speedrunning)? You have a LOT of options for combat and everyone levels up at roughly the same pace, which makes leveling up pointless but opens you up to experiment the whole time if you want.
The characters really carry the whole experience. Though some of them are more endearing or interesting than others, all of them look cool and have beautifully animated movesets full of clever details and personality. The characterization and VO is really top-notch, with a bunch of unknown-to-me actors in the lead roles, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's own Lieutenant Worf, Michael Dorn, as Ravannavar, the boss of the first 1/3 or so of the game.
The platforming aspires to Metroidvania but we don't quite make it there. The movement never really feels fluid and the maps are difficult to navigate. Everything looks the same, getting from one end of a map to the other takes forever and the minimap is not helpful. They tried to do linear paths through big sandboxes but they should have picked one or the other. The settings are cool and exciting but moving through them was my least favorite part of the game.
One of the things that makes this game so compelling is that you can see the ambition, you can see the lack of resources, you can see that they had a vision and some of it really works! And some of it doesn't. Like why go to the trouble of making an innovative, gorgeously animated combat system and then make combat so infrequent after the first half of the game? Why have exp at all if it doesn't really do anything? They tried to cram so much stuff in and while i love that ambition—doubly so because some of it is realized—it just needed more time in the oven. It's a shame what happened with the studio because a sequel could have been something very special.
This was my second playthrough and I finally put down Qadira and Tungar to try Nuna and Ginseng & Honey. I'm not sure you really need a healer or support characters at all to be successful in this game but they're just adorable so we keep them around. I also enjoyed playing with Thorani a bit, she has fun mechanics. Maybe next time I'll finally figure out Zebei, Baozhai or Kushi. Razmi still rules.
The characters really carry the whole experience. Though some of them are more endearing or interesting than others, all of them look cool and have beautifully animated movesets full of clever details and personality. The characterization and VO is really top-notch, with a bunch of unknown-to-me actors in the lead roles, and Star Trek: The Next Generation's own Lieutenant Worf, Michael Dorn, as Ravannavar, the boss of the first 1/3 or so of the game.
The platforming aspires to Metroidvania but we don't quite make it there. The movement never really feels fluid and the maps are difficult to navigate. Everything looks the same, getting from one end of a map to the other takes forever and the minimap is not helpful. They tried to do linear paths through big sandboxes but they should have picked one or the other. The settings are cool and exciting but moving through them was my least favorite part of the game.
One of the things that makes this game so compelling is that you can see the ambition, you can see the lack of resources, you can see that they had a vision and some of it really works! And some of it doesn't. Like why go to the trouble of making an innovative, gorgeously animated combat system and then make combat so infrequent after the first half of the game? Why have exp at all if it doesn't really do anything? They tried to cram so much stuff in and while i love that ambition—doubly so because some of it is realized—it just needed more time in the oven. It's a shame what happened with the studio because a sequel could have been something very special.
This was my second playthrough and I finally put down Qadira and Tungar to try Nuna and Ginseng & Honey. I'm not sure you really need a healer or support characters at all to be successful in this game but they're just adorable so we keep them around. I also enjoyed playing with Thorani a bit, she has fun mechanics. Maybe next time I'll finally figure out Zebei, Baozhai or Kushi. Razmi still rules.
2023
Loved this. I never played Chrono Trigger or any Final Fantasies so maybe there were reference points I missed. They really nailed what I imagined those games might be like when i'd see them in nintendo power, though. Mission accomplished on nailing that very specific vibe as far as I'm concerned. Slow clap! Now pardon me while I download the messenger
I really enjoyed the amount of options you have to customize the difficulty of this game- it's been a nice run of games lately that really felt player-friendly: Jedi Survivor, Prince of Persia and this. It seems like it's becoming a trend and I hope it continues.
I beat this game and got the "true" ending without ever playing Wheels! Ok, I played it once and had zero interest in doing it again. Like why on earth would I play this when the rest of the world is so much fun to run around in? I'm sure it's great but it wasn't for me and I'm very grateful that the game doesn't require the player to play/win it to progress or upgrade anything.
I really enjoyed the amount of options you have to customize the difficulty of this game- it's been a nice run of games lately that really felt player-friendly: Jedi Survivor, Prince of Persia and this. It seems like it's becoming a trend and I hope it continues.
I beat this game and got the "true" ending without ever playing Wheels! Ok, I played it once and had zero interest in doing it again. Like why on earth would I play this when the rest of the world is so much fun to run around in? I'm sure it's great but it wasn't for me and I'm very grateful that the game doesn't require the player to play/win it to progress or upgrade anything.
2018
After playing Sea of Stars, I had to check in on this one and it really delivered! Instead of Chrono Trigger this one pays tribute to Ninja Gaiden and other side-scrolling action titles of the 8- and 16-bit eras with banging music and buttery controls. Nice challenge level as well, it nails that fine line betwen retro challenge and outright sadism. When the game has somewhere to go, it's 5 stars no question. When it becomes a metroidvania-esque open-world riddle-solving game, it's... not quite as good. It's more than a little disruptive to be moving forward with so much momentum and then just let it all dissipate. You have this great upgrade tree, and once you fill it—which 100% of players will do in the first half of the game without even trying—that's it. Around the same time you also notice that there's about 20 enemy types total in this entire 15-hour game, which imo is a missed opportunity. But fortunately it all comes roaring back together towards the end with some real showstopping setpieces and fun bosses. And then you see in the credits that it was made by a very small team and the whole thing becomes even more impressive.