Thoughts So Far...

[Mobiusx2]

Really liking it.
Music is better than I expected.
Pixel art is great though monster designs could be better.
Lighting is fantastic.
They fixed the movement speed issues I had from the demo so transversal feels good.
Combat is pretty much the same as the demo, so I already knew it was going to be good(have yet to see how it progresses over the course of the game)

So far, the only real thing that has hampered my experience so far is the writing. It's borderline fanfic. "Show don't tell." is not a hard concept to grasp and yet a lot of these indie games fail on this. I get you're trying to simulate real conversations to show bond building, but in stories bonds are formed through trials and tribulations that are mostly show to player and the characters are conveyed through their manner of speech, moral convictions, and actions they take.
Regardless, I will just skip through it so as long as the aesthetics and gameplay hold up I will likely clear it, I just find it unfortunate that it doesn't learn from the game it is inspired by how to manager proper scenario writing.

[Pickle Bath]

Not every game can be Disco Elysium when it comes to writing. Definitely does seem generic so far, but pretty much every JRPG has a terrible story and awkward writing

[Stoibs]

Just made it past the flashback prologue and yeah I have to agree with the rudimentary writing and narrative so far.

U R Teh Chosen Ones Or Something, Come Train At this Academy that is eerily absent of literally any other pupils for an indefinite period of time - though probably a decade judging by how much you aged, which almost qualifies as kidnapping since I don't recall asking parental consent

Maybe a lot of this gets explained in time and I just need to hold on and wait for the story to retroactively catch up, but yeah the entire opening act had me with sort of scrunched-face 'Wha..?' feeling all the way through.

On the fence about the combat so far also. I like my traditionally turnbased JRPG's to be.. traditionally turnbased. Not have extra QTE's attached to them.
The tutorial stressed that it's 'Totally optional lulz so don't worry about it' but it's not really, not when certain locks to break enemies have multiple Blunt or Edged icons to them and you literally miss out on 2x hits if you miss the QTE. It's kind of a big deal and I wish there was a way to auto-resolve these or something from an accessibility menu - since it's obviously too late to code the entire game without this unwanted element. (I thought one of those starter Relics you get would do this honestly..)

It looks really pretty no doubt, but between stuff like this lackluster writing/opening, ~meh combat decision, no controller icon toggle, no instant text speed option etc. I'm wondering why the entire internet has blown up about this one to be honest compared to other JRPG's lately.
Maybe I should have gotten Wrestlequest or Rhapsody 2/3 instead..

[rofflesvanwagon]

Originally posted by Thunderman:

Not every game can be Disco Elysium when it comes to writing. Definitely does seem generic so far, but pretty much every JRPG has a terrible story and awkward writing

Stupid comment confirmed.

[Decay]

Originally posted by rofflesvanwagon:

Originally posted by Thunderman:

Not every game can be Disco Elysium when it comes to writing. Definitely does seem generic so far, but pretty much every JRPG has a terrible story and awkward writing

Stupid comment confirmed.

This is not a stupid comment. I must agree. What it it with JRPG being terrible tropes of story telling. I cant think of a good JRPG that kept me interested in last 10 years

[Mobiusx2]

Originally posted by Thunderman:

Not every game can be Disco Elysium when it comes to writing. Definitely does seem generic so far, but pretty much every JRPG has a terrible story and awkward writing

I'm not looking for good writing in the sense of Shakespeare or anything when I play games. Just good plot action with minimal unnecessary exposition and awkwardness. Same as when I watch a TV show or movie.

I do agree that many JRPGs do fail here. I can usually overlook it if everything else is good like Octopath Traveler 2.

[Mobiusx2]

Originally posted by Stoibs:

Just made it past the flashback prologue and yeah I have to agree with the rudimentary writing and narrative so far.

U R Teh Chosen Ones Or Something, Come Train At this Academy that is eerily absent of literally any other pupils for an indefinite period of time - though probably a decade judging by how much you aged, which almost qualifies as kidnapping since I don't recall asking parental consent

Maybe a lot of this gets explained in time and I just need to hold on and wait for the story to retroactively catch up, but yeah the entire opening act had me with sort of scrunched-face 'Wha..?' feeling all the way through.

On the fence about the combat so far also. I like my traditionally turnbased JRPG's to be.. traditionally turnbased. Not have extra QTE's attached to them.
The tutorial stressed that it's 'Totally optional lulz so don't worry about it' but it's not really, not when certain locks to break enemies have multiple Blunt or Edged icons to them and you literally miss out on 2x hits if you miss the QTE. It's kind of a big deal and I wish there was a way to auto-resolve these or something from an accessibility menu - since it's obviously too late to code the entire game without this unwanted element. (I thought one of those starter Relics you get would do this honestly..)

It looks really pretty no doubt, but between stuff like this lackluster writing/opening, ~meh combat decision, no controller icon toggle, no instant text speed option etc. I'm wondering why the entire internet has blown up about this one to be honest compared to other JRPG's lately.
Maybe I should have gotten Wrestlequest or Rhapsody 2/3 instead.. :conwayshrug:

I still find the music and transversal to be somewhat unique and redeeming but I'm skipping most dialog. I usually don't like QTEs like Legend of Dragoon, but they're not too bad here and there is an accessory that makes it so you don't have to do them I believe.

I found another slight thing that's unfortunate. They give you an accessory that allows you to autoheal after battle AND gives you like double HP. I wish it was just the former or that they built the game around autohealing after battle (or limit it to using your avaliable food stash). This is pretty standard in this kind of JRPG.
I like giving players options, but I always fear that it gives developers an excuse not to optimize the total experience and take responsibility.

[Stoibs]

Originally posted by Mobiusx2:

I do agree that many JRPGs do fail here. I can usually overlook it if everything else is good like Octopath Traveler 2.

As a huge fan of Octo 2 who considers it my current GOTY; even I can admit that only *some* of the storylines were enjoyable and worth sitting through. (Stuff like Agnea's whole thing was a waste of time.. good thing her final boss makes up for it all )

Originally posted by Decay:

This is not a stupid comment. I must agree. What it it with JRPG being terrible tropes of story telling. I cant think of a good JRPG that kept me interested in last 10 years

Ironically I've found that it's just the tongue-in-cheek stuff that doesn't take itself seriously which are usually the better ones. Live a Live (The first 90% anyway), Rhapsody, Partitio in Octopath Traveller 2 etc.
Will need to get my hands on Wrestlequest at some point once the backlog has died down..

[rofflesvanwagon]

Originally posted by Decay:

Originally posted by rofflesvanwagon:

Stupid comment confirmed.

This is not a stupid comment. I must agree. What it it with JRPG being terrible tropes of story telling. I cant think of a good JRPG that kept me interested in last 10 years

Doubling down on the stupidity

[sorethroat]

This is why Chained Echoes overall, both story and mechanics is still the best throwback indie JRPG so far
Also Chained Echoes did make fresh UI and font choice compared to this game's attempt of emulating CT's presentation

[Mobiusx2]

Originally posted by sorethroat:

This is why Chained Echoes overall, both story and mechanics is still the best throwback indie JRPG so far
Also Chained Echoes did make fresh UI and font choice compared to this game's attempt of emulating CT's presentation

I tried to get into Chained Echoes, and while I didn't find too much wrong with except boring dialog, the gameplay loop just didn't grab me. Despite my gripes with the story, Sea of Stars game play feels pretty good. I really like how freeform and vertical field traversal is. It's actually quite rare in the genre.

[597]

It's still super early, but damn, the disconnect between how much I love the amazing visuals, music, combat, minigames and environments; and how much I loathe the writing, is getting worse every hour.

That part where we talk Malkomud into not being evil was written by someone's child. You cannot convince me otherwise.

Then Yolande.

Then some staff member's self-insert student at the Brisk inn, talking about the coffee... Someone wrote that, thought they were a genius and that it was somehow funny. Then it got through editing and proofreading along with all the typos.

I was never expecting another Xenogears or FFT story. Would have been happy with a Seiken Densetsu 3 kids' story, but so far we're below the worst plot threads in Legend of Mana.

[Mobiusx2]

Originally posted by 597:

It's still super early, but damn, the disconnect between how much I love the amazing visuals, music, combat, minigames and environments; and how much I loathe the writing, is getting worse every hour.

That part where we talk Malkomud into not being evil was written by someone's child. You cannot convince me otherwise.

Then Yolande.

Then some staff member's self-insert student at the Brisk inn, talking about the coffee... Someone wrote that, thought they were a genius and that it was somehow funny. Then it got through editing and proofreading along with all the typos.

I was never expecting another Xenogears or FFT story. Would have been happy with a Seiken Densetsu 3 kids' story, but so far we're below the worst plot threads in Legend of Mana.

Yeah. I think they should've have just played it really light and let the game do what it does best.

[Judge Cudge]

The writing and pacing are definitely the weakest points. I in no way needed to for a full hour play out a flashback of them getting their friend's eyeball poked and doing exactly the training they already mentioned in their campy 'school was lame' back and forth was so lame.

"Remember how lame back in time was! Yeah, we're just regular shmo's at heart, school is dumb, even if it's magic monk school in the sky to save the world. Anyways now to go back in time and spend an hour and twenty minutes in that lame boring location."

Game's great generally, and reeks of charm and dedication, but the writing fails to properly imitate what the aesthetic promises. It's not terrible, but it's a soft spot

[Mobiusx2]

Originally posted by Judge Cudge:

The writing and pacing are definitely the weakest points. I in no way needed to for a full hour play out a flashback of them getting their friend's eyeball poked and doing exactly the training they already mentioned in their campy 'school was lame' back and forth was so lame.

"Remember how lame back in time was! Yeah, we're just regular shmo's at heart, school is dumb, even if it's magic monk school in the sky to save the world. Anyways now to go back in time and spend an hour and twenty minutes in that lame boring location."

Game's great generally, and reeks of charm and dedication, but the writing fails to properly imitate what the aesthetic promises. It's not terrible, but it's a soft spot

I laughed out loud when I realized they were going to do a flashback after they literally just talked about it like it was left in the past. I laughed again when I realized that at the end of the flashback you arrive at the place where the game starts. I was like, "Why didn't you just start during the trial on the flashback then? lol"

[rockingandrollinghaj]

agreed the writing is the weakest point, and story telling is a bit watered down. They just blatantly tell you the characters are being manipulated, which is 99% of jrpgs over used tropes, but would've been better for the trope to be a twist as usual