Elder Scrolls: Legends - Bethesda gives it a try too

This review should have been done last week and I even said publicly in the Something podcast that I will write it for last week. Problem is that I really struggled with this review. What to say, how to make it useful on what to accent. After all it is just another digital CCG, but then again when I played it I felt it is worth it to tell you about it so...In the end I decided to just do the same I did with some of the previous CCG reviews which I did. I will keep it short and accent on the things which make it different. As in previous reviews games for comparison will be Hearthstone and Magic: The Gathering. Here we go...

As you can guess from the title this is Bethesda's card game and it takes place in the Elder Scrolls universe. I was not overly excited when I heard about it as I am not really a fan of Elder Scrolls, but my love for CCG games prevailed and I subscribed for the beta. I will kind of spoil the review but after I played it I actually like it and think it is really good and interesting CCG. 

First ESL have tutorial merged with an interesting and well done, for a CCG, story which will give you not only cards but few whole decks and bunch of crystals to craft cards with if you so desire. In other words - really great way to learn and start the game is to play the story. Always a nice thing to have.

The core gameplay differs from other CCGs too. You still play on board against your opponent (being player or AI) but here the board is separated in two lanes and each can have certain passive effects which affect it. For example most of the times left lane will be normal, while the right will be Shadow lane, in which every minion played cannot be target by another creature for one turn. In the solo campaign you will see other effects too. The two lanes really change things and you will have to constantly think where what to play, to focus one or to try and play on both etc. It takes some time to get used to it, but it makes the game deeper and more strategic. This deep and strategic gameplay gives a more of a Magic feeling to the game. You know I heavier card game. To some degree the rich lore which can be felt from the story and even from the cards contribute also for this "Magic" feeling.

Another interesting innovation is that ESL has two Arena modes - one solo and one versus other players. This again shows some deep understanding of how card games work and how hard is to learn when you start. The solo arena costs the same as the other variant, but you play against AIs which become more and more powerful the more wins you get. In the end you fight a boss AI at the end of the Arena. 

Elder Scrolls: Legends use the same class system as Hearthstone, but here they are races instead. By playing different races you unlock different cards depending on the colours this race use mainly. The big difference is that some cards (marked with green arrow in the top right corner) you can level up when you level up. When you level a card you will get two possible choices and will have to choose one. The differences can range from stats to abilities. Getting one of the two variances of a card does not stop you from getting the other from packs so you can end up with both variants.

And last but by all means not least is probably the most unique mechanic Legends has and that is the runes. When you fight around the portrait of your character you will see blue runes. For every 5 health which you lose one rune breaks and you draw a card. Affected by this are two types of cards - ones which tells if a rune was broken this game somethings happens and the more interesting ones are the ones having the keyword "Prophecy". If you draw a "Prophecy" card from broken rune you may play it immediately for zero mana. 

Speaking about keywords something else which made me feel like playing Magic are the amount of keywords and subtypes. Every race from Elder Scrolls is present in the game and then some more like beasts and certain animals. This opens the possibilities for a lot of decks built around those subtypes and new keywords. 

And while on the subject of deckbuilding there are some things which should be mentioned. ESL's decks are bigger than those in Hearthstone - they can go as far as 70 cards. Also they can contain two colours of cards (should I even mention Magic here?). The colours determine to some degree the style of play the cards tend to be. For example red are aggressive and purple are more control oriented etc. 

Conclusion

I went in a bit more details than I intended but that is why conclusions exist. Elder Scrolls: Legends is a sibling of Magic: The Gathering for players who look for something faster and more casual but at the same time caring the same feeling and depth which MTG have. At the same time it brings a lot of new things to the table as well as some improved mechanics which have stood the test of time. You will find everything you like in a CCG and then some more. Try it, it is free and at the time of this review it should be already in open beta.

  

Where to find:

Official site

I am Setsuna - What sacrifices are made for this revival attempt

This is going to be one strange review...because the obvious thing to do with Setsuna is to compare it to other JRPGs. And if you do that it’s really easy from there. The problem is I almost haven not played any other JRPGs and those I have played - I did for very short time therefore comparison is not possible. But if you are not new to this blog I believe you are used to it as this is not the first such case. Anyway...

Created by Tokyo RPG Factory and published by Square Enix I am Setsuna is a game trying to revive the JRPGs while at the same time using modern technology to bring great experience to the player. This is what it tries to do...

In the game you...no, you are not playing as Setsuna...you are a mercenary - Endir (or any name you choose for him) who is hired by mysterious person to kill a girl which is about to be sacrificed. Why someone will want to kill someone else who is about to die anyway? Well that I leave to you to learn. The whole story is filled with a lot of feelings - past regrets, sorrow, happiness and new hope...may be even too much feelings. Despite that the story is rather good it has few interesting twists and puts some moral questions up. There is also a nice pallet of characters both the ones joining your party and NPCs you will meet around the world. There is also a good bit of character development. Sadly although you are present with dialogue options it almost does not matter what you will say especially in important situations. There is only one right answer and if your choice is "wrong" someone of the characters will literally correct you. This was the first disappointment for me. I can only imagine how much better the story would be if your choices mattered.

Another thing that impressed me from the start of the game is how cute it looks. Both characters and enemies are really cutsy and funny. At the same time the game looks great. With a lot of small details which add to the already beautifully drawn scenery. Together with this also goes great soundtrack which you will quickly find yourself humming while playing.

And before someone say that I am trying to distract you with the beauty of the game, because the gameplay is bad, let us take a look at the game mechanics. And oh my does this game have mechanics?!

As in every JRPG you will gather a party of characters, equip them with items, manage inventory etc. You know, RPG stuff. Usually here I will also include improving skills or something along those lines, but in Setsuna this is a bit more complex. Skills are called Tech and for Tech you need Spritnite which you will buy with the different materials you collect from enemies. When members of the party have certain Techs they can trigger combos and unleash devastating attacks. Additionally there is something called Flux which improves the Techs in various ways. But even if you do not have special combos with the skills of your party you can always use Momentum which also triggers bonus effects based on the skills with which you use it.

Something which I have not seen in other turn based games is how the characters behave during the fight. What I mean is for example the fact that enemies will randomly wander around the battlefield while their ATB fills up this way surrounding party members and ruining AoE attacks. The same goes for your party also. Sometimes after an attack someone may remain among the enemies also certain moves like backstabs will separate characters from the others. This together with the ATB bars brings very interesting dynamic to the fights. Setsuna is supposed to be inspired by Chrono Triger and to some of you this may be familiar but as I said I am not well versed in this genre.

Other than that the game offers some pretty standard things like cooking recipes, Overwolrd map, airship to travel around, hard bossfights and nasty save system. The game does not use auto-save and honestly as someone who gets caried away in games I am not sure which is worse - this or only auto saves. And because this is not enough you can save only on special places which thankfully are always close to important fights. You can also save in the Overworld map.

Mentioning the Overwolrd map there is almost nothing to explore on it. This was my second disappointment.

Conclusion

I am Setsuna is a JRPG with great looks, interesting story and polished mechanics which tries to revive a genre loved by many. To me this is the first JRPG which made me play it for so long.  And while I understand this might be because I do not compare it to others from the genre I think it is a good game on its own and its worth it if you are fan of the genre. Also it is not very long as people report it is around 20-25 hours. There were some things which I did not like - the meaningless dialogue options and the lack of places to explore. Which sadly give this feeling of a rushed game. Which is a contradiction to some degree as the game works well and looks like a finished product in every other area. 

Where to find:

Official Site

Steam Store