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:
Няма коментари:
Публикуване на коментар