I've seen on here and on the steam page that this game has been compared to Evergrace. It's what got me to pick this game up, and while aesthetically I could see the comparison at a glance, Spartoi Meadow is very much its own game with little in common with the PS2 RPG other than "they're both kinda bad games that I still really enjoyed".
The faults with the game are obvious and really hard to get around. The camera in this game, especially during combat, is uniquely awful. The translation for the game is machine-translation tier incomprehensible. The game is cryptic and the game just sort of ends after twoish hours. None of this is better than it seems once you get behind the wheel.
None of that is a dealbreaker for me. The combat and movement is janky, but never annoying. The two main characters move quickly and their attacks are responsive. Random encounters are plentiful, but being able to effectively skip them on the overworld helps the game keep up its solid pacing. There's a ton of little secrets and side areas that reward the player for taking the time to explore. The music, again, while not sounding like anything Kota Hoshino would have put out, kinda bangs and if anyone has a soundtrack upload I'd love to grab it. There's a fleshed out NG+ system, a cosmetic system, there's just so many little additions to the game that it's really hard to root against Spartoi Meadow, despite it having zero polish whatsoever.
If there's anything I'd really like to see from this game, it would be a better english translation. I don't expect a more faithful script to blow me away, but I enjoyed the plot and the cast from what I could decipher. There's been plenty of other games I've payed $5 for that didn't come close to giving me the same enjoyment Spartoi Meadow did. It's such an eager game that swings for the bleachers, while having just enough quality of life considerations to make all the rough parts go down smoothly.
The faults with the game are obvious and really hard to get around. The camera in this game, especially during combat, is uniquely awful. The translation for the game is machine-translation tier incomprehensible. The game is cryptic and the game just sort of ends after twoish hours. None of this is better than it seems once you get behind the wheel.
None of that is a dealbreaker for me. The combat and movement is janky, but never annoying. The two main characters move quickly and their attacks are responsive. Random encounters are plentiful, but being able to effectively skip them on the overworld helps the game keep up its solid pacing. There's a ton of little secrets and side areas that reward the player for taking the time to explore. The music, again, while not sounding like anything Kota Hoshino would have put out, kinda bangs and if anyone has a soundtrack upload I'd love to grab it. There's a fleshed out NG+ system, a cosmetic system, there's just so many little additions to the game that it's really hard to root against Spartoi Meadow, despite it having zero polish whatsoever.
If there's anything I'd really like to see from this game, it would be a better english translation. I don't expect a more faithful script to blow me away, but I enjoyed the plot and the cast from what I could decipher. There's been plenty of other games I've payed $5 for that didn't come close to giving me the same enjoyment Spartoi Meadow did. It's such an eager game that swings for the bleachers, while having just enough quality of life considerations to make all the rough parts go down smoothly.