Right now I'm pretty into the game.
I am taking on Therion, the thief to start. Without spoilers, here are some observations:
- The game takes a lot of cues from SNES JRPGS obviously, but seems most closely in admiration of Final Fantasy VI
- UI feels very clean, menus are nice, text is very nice.
- The dialogue has that kind of naive punchiness to it of old SNES jrpgs (where people are kind of spunky and melodramatic)
- The first thing I did was turn the voice acting all the way down. This made it feel much more like the old JRPG it's trying to be, and I enjoy reading more than listening to voice actors.
- Exploration is fun, dashing is fun, using your skills opens up a lot of interesting effects.
- Battle is very satisfying. Once you figure out the break system it's fun developing strategies to kill enemies. There is a tempo to it, a variety of ways to approach and this layers as you get more skills. Finishing battles swiftly, getting untouched bonuses has a kind of Persona 5 flow to it.
- JP system feels nice and old school, simple but robust.
- Music is solid- certainly an ode to old JRPGS (seems to have been designed to unfreeze the past and evoke childhood emotions?)
Early takeaway: Definitely and ode to SNES era JRPGs combining the look, feel and sound effectively. Even the narrative has the timbre and tonality of an old JRPG so if you liked FFVI, Chrono Trigger, Star Ocean this might be right up your alley.
What might be concerning: Is the story actually any good? I am enjoying the high stakes opening of the thief's arc, however I want to know more about how the pieces fit together. A big JRPG like this needs a compelling and intriguing narrative alongside a good cast of characters- the question is, does it deliver?
