I bought this game on a whim after seeing it for the first time on the release date and I don't regret it for a second. The chrono games are one of the few JRPG series I can tolerate and I saw many comparisons in the reviews. Safe to say I was not disappointed.
This game takes a lot of what I consider obnoxious about playing JRPGs and streamlines it. The greatest example being automatic healing after all battles which removes the dread from dungeon encounters and allows all encounters to be more interesting on average. I personally really enjoyed the battle system. The overdrive meter was weird initially, but I think it added some necessary depth so you don't just mash your best skills. There are some times where the combat got a bit grating and that was during backtracking and some sky armor sections. The sky armor combat is decidedly less fun for me. Also there is effectively zero grinding. Bless.
The story is serviceable, and it's not really anything to write home about. It never really goes above and beyond. You'll begin to notice some patterns and tropes that can be distracting. The writing has some low points and sometimes some more modern slang slips in that feels out of place.
What this game does NOT streamline is the MENUS. I began to groan every time I got new equipment and skill points to spend because the obscene amount of menus it entails. Skill points is only really an issue when you hit a critical mass of party members, but equipment can be brutal. There is a gem system that involves collecting, combining, and embedding effects into your equipment. It is not very intuitive to do and can get really overwhelming. My biggest issue was spending a bunch of time upgrading and embedding by weapons just to find something better in the next dungeon. Thus I would have to upgrade and move gems all over again. All this exacerbated by the menus being really weird in general.
I encountered a number of goofy bugs but nothing that ruined or crashed the game. Apparently most of this game is by one guy so I can forgive some jank for all it does well. It's not often that I can enjoy a whole 60 hours of a game. Big ups to this one.
This game takes a lot of what I consider obnoxious about playing JRPGs and streamlines it. The greatest example being automatic healing after all battles which removes the dread from dungeon encounters and allows all encounters to be more interesting on average. I personally really enjoyed the battle system. The overdrive meter was weird initially, but I think it added some necessary depth so you don't just mash your best skills. There are some times where the combat got a bit grating and that was during backtracking and some sky armor sections. The sky armor combat is decidedly less fun for me. Also there is effectively zero grinding. Bless.
The story is serviceable, and it's not really anything to write home about. It never really goes above and beyond. You'll begin to notice some patterns and tropes that can be distracting. The writing has some low points and sometimes some more modern slang slips in that feels out of place.
What this game does NOT streamline is the MENUS. I began to groan every time I got new equipment and skill points to spend because the obscene amount of menus it entails. Skill points is only really an issue when you hit a critical mass of party members, but equipment can be brutal. There is a gem system that involves collecting, combining, and embedding effects into your equipment. It is not very intuitive to do and can get really overwhelming. My biggest issue was spending a bunch of time upgrading and embedding by weapons just to find something better in the next dungeon. Thus I would have to upgrade and move gems all over again. All this exacerbated by the menus being really weird in general.
I encountered a number of goofy bugs but nothing that ruined or crashed the game. Apparently most of this game is by one guy so I can forgive some jank for all it does well. It's not often that I can enjoy a whole 60 hours of a game. Big ups to this one.