It is hard to talk about this game without talking about the downfall of Lab Zero. It is horrible what happened to the devs and truly a shame how one dickhead can sap the soul out of the production for such a promising game. Sad to see lab zero go, but so excited for Future Club to be able to continue being legends without the deadweight.
With that being said, let's start by saying that this is one of the first games I have ever backed. The concept, the music, the characters (Rip best boys Tanaka and Kogi), the story and the promise of lab zero going off the wall? Not to be too dramatic, but it was like a dream come true. Plus it was a platformer RPG! Having always been very bad at fighters, I finally had a chance to try out their games and not suck!
Few times have I experienced a roller coaster like the excitement I had for this game, playing the demo and reading the backer updates to finally land in grief after playing the finished product. The weirdest thing was: The game wasn't like bad bad, but somehow that was worse. It would've been so easy to just go Shit Sucks and move on, but because it was passable and fun at times, it really hurt when it wasn't.
The Art (character design, environmental work, animation and music) and Gameplay (specifically the fights) were fun and amazing to experience. The game was dripping with so much style and charm that the downstairs neighbor sent in a complaint about a leak in the ceiling. The mission to also have a practically everything-but-western cast in a SEA fantasy setting? My toasted sesame ass could not believe how much I needed to see that.
Admittedly it has been a bit since I played this game so take this with a grain of salt, but the writing and general level design... was fine, I guess? Certain character moments stuck out and I remember that spectacles fell just a bit short in execution, but that's kind of it. The platforming and navigation through areas was, despite movement options and amazing environment art, not that enticing and kind of a slog.
Because of this, most of my enjoyment of the game was exploring the environs, recruit characters and see how they worked in fights and begrudgingly go through the world to accomplish story beats that were just kinda bland and predictable.
Weirdly enough, even with all that, I don't regret backing the game. Yes, the final product is far from ideal and seeing the potential melt before my eyes was devastating, but the world would be duller without it. It is rough around the edges, but succeeded by giving us a colorful and bright world, inspired by all corners of ours. For what it's worth, after all these years, I look back on this game with a bittersweet fondness and grateful to the devs who stuck through it to make it happen.
With that being said, let's start by saying that this is one of the first games I have ever backed. The concept, the music, the characters (Rip best boys Tanaka and Kogi), the story and the promise of lab zero going off the wall? Not to be too dramatic, but it was like a dream come true. Plus it was a platformer RPG! Having always been very bad at fighters, I finally had a chance to try out their games and not suck!
Few times have I experienced a roller coaster like the excitement I had for this game, playing the demo and reading the backer updates to finally land in grief after playing the finished product. The weirdest thing was: The game wasn't like bad bad, but somehow that was worse. It would've been so easy to just go Shit Sucks and move on, but because it was passable and fun at times, it really hurt when it wasn't.
The Art (character design, environmental work, animation and music) and Gameplay (specifically the fights) were fun and amazing to experience. The game was dripping with so much style and charm that the downstairs neighbor sent in a complaint about a leak in the ceiling. The mission to also have a practically everything-but-western cast in a SEA fantasy setting? My toasted sesame ass could not believe how much I needed to see that.
Admittedly it has been a bit since I played this game so take this with a grain of salt, but the writing and general level design... was fine, I guess? Certain character moments stuck out and I remember that spectacles fell just a bit short in execution, but that's kind of it. The platforming and navigation through areas was, despite movement options and amazing environment art, not that enticing and kind of a slog.
Because of this, most of my enjoyment of the game was exploring the environs, recruit characters and see how they worked in fights and begrudgingly go through the world to accomplish story beats that were just kinda bland and predictable.
Weirdly enough, even with all that, I don't regret backing the game. Yes, the final product is far from ideal and seeing the potential melt before my eyes was devastating, but the world would be duller without it. It is rough around the edges, but succeeded by giving us a colorful and bright world, inspired by all corners of ours. For what it's worth, after all these years, I look back on this game with a bittersweet fondness and grateful to the devs who stuck through it to make it happen.