Perfected the game and had fun…so why is this review negative?

Hello perspective buyer- I figured I should write a review now that my journey through chamber of time is over. I have opted to give this game a negative review because even though I enjoyed it, I simply cannot in good faith advise this game to you- There is basically a 90% chance you will not enjoy this game (literally 12% of owners got the 1st achievement). I liked this title, but I acknowledge that is not a great game, and I wish I could give it a neutral rather than a good or bad, but I feel inclined to rate it bad to warn you about the many shortcomings of this game.

So let’s start with the good:

• If you are a fan of the film/series, this is a fun way to revisit the characters. This game takes place in-between season 1 & 2 and has a lot of the character interaction charm that the series had.
  
• Game is fully VA’d by original Japanese cast. (As far as I know at least)
  
• Spell animations, character animations, and the school are nice.
  
• There are very short but new/fully animated sections that give you just a bit more of anime content.
  
• Original story.

Now for the bad, and sadly there is a lot of it. The gameplay is where this game does NOT shine:

• Lousy first impression followed by an average/mediocre game Many reviews here will tell you that basic attacks do more than magic and that there is a cart they cannot get off in a mine. These are players who didn’t even get 3 hours in. Later in the game, magic is the only thing that does do damage. As for the minecart, there is a steam guide. It’s literally up, down, up and its easy once you know, but the point stands. Most people quit that fast because they are unimpressed by the gameplay.
  
• One big fetch quest Most of this game is running from place in the school to talk to people and/or deliver/pick up items. You have from 7am-12pm to do whatever tasks you can which are listed as events on the map. However what events are available for you to do varies on the time of day. The game is kinda groundhog day, so you can use the knowledge you learn from the day before to help you on the next day. In short, you are going to spend a lot of time running across/or warping across the map. While this a neat and unusual mechanics, I think most find it annoying and it can be at times.
  
• Bad design There are a lot bad choices in this department. Here are all the examples I can think of:
  1. Quests are marked by a beacon to tell you were there is a quest for you. The issue is the ones that are relevant to your current quest are colored the same way but are only partly brighter and it’s hard to notice because they blink. I literally played 30 hours without noticing that quests that need attention are lit.
     
  2. The map does not show you as a blip on it, and only lights the floor you are on. The map page is stationary but the map in the top right of the screen rotates which means its hard to tell which side of the floor you are on since the floors are more or less symmetrical.
     
  3. You will need to pitch equipment but you cannot sort the items in your bag by level or by rarity which would have been the best way to sort things for selling.
     
  4. Mash A. There are many parts where you need to mash A while standing in a circle to make things happen. Performance is often spotty if you do not do it fast enough. The cart, I mentioned before is one of these.
     
  5. Useless mechanics. There is an enchantment system in this game, but I used it a whopping once because you are gong to go through equipment fast as you level up. Not to mention, the stats on equipment don't matter much, other than item drop %, item quantity, and raw. As long as you get S/A rank gear you should have no problems. Likewise, the game doesn't really tell you that a book on the table tells you what monster are what type, but you can beat the game without acknowledging these or strategizing much.
     much
• ...Easy Game Even on higher difficulty. The other half of the game is dungeon crawling, which is alright but kinda unintelligent most of the time. The stats on your equipment only matter some as mentioned prior, and as long as you get yourself the good spells like Rapid Fire, the gravity laser, etc then the dungeons should be cake. Likewise, if you get akko's 3 special spells, you can kill the final boss in by using the 3 in a row.
  
• The Tower To get all spells in the game and to get the achievement for it, you need to beat 75 dungeon levels. They aren’t hard, but its tedious.

And that is more or less everything. Again- I enjoyed this game, but there is a lot of flaws you need to look past and a lot of things you need to teach yourself in order to get through this game. This is a game you need to want to beat. If you are a person who gives up at the first sight of a meh game, then Chamber of Time is not for you. It’s really not that bad- It’s just painfully average, which is what harms it the most. This game likely would have been much better received as a VN. If you can look past all of this and use the steam guides when you get stuck, you should be fine and perhaps you might join the 1.6% of people who finish this game completely, as I have chosen to. This game isn't bad- but it should have been a lot better.

Lastly, make sure not pay full price for this game. I got it for $5 on sale- it is not worth $40 (go buy NieR:Automata or something at that price).

Perfected the game and had fun…so why is this review negative? Hello perspective buyer- I figured I should write a review now that my journey through chamber of time is over. I have opted to give this game a negative review because even though I enjoyed it, I simply cannot in good faith advise this game to you- There is basically a 90% chance you will not enjoy this game (literally 12% of owners got the 1st achievement). I liked this title, but I acknowledge that is not a great game, and I wish I could give it a neutral rather than a good or bad, but I feel inclined to rate it bad to warn you about the many shortcomings of this game. So let’s start with the good: [list] [*]If you are a fan of the film/series, this is a fun way to revisit the characters. This game takes place in-between season 1 & 2 and has a lot of the character interaction charm that the series had. [*]Game is fully VA’d by original Japanese cast. (As far as I know at least) [*]Spell animations, character animations, and the school are nice. [*]There are very short but new/fully animated sections that give you just a bit more of anime content. [*]Original story. [/list] Now for the bad, and sadly there is a lot of it. The gameplay is where this game does NOT shine: [list] [*][u]Lousy first impression followed by an average/mediocre game[/u] Many reviews here will tell you that basic attacks do more than magic and that there is a cart they cannot get off in a mine. These are players who didn’t even get 3 hours in. Later in the game, magic is the only thing that does do damage. As for the minecart, there is a steam guide. It’s literally up, down, up and its easy once you know, but the point stands. Most people quit that fast because they are unimpressed by the gameplay. [*][u]One big fetch quest[/u] Most of this game is running from place in the school to talk to people and/or deliver/pick up items. You have from 7am-12pm to do whatever tasks you can which are listed as events on the map. However what events are available for you to do varies on the time of day. The game is kinda groundhog day, so you can use the knowledge you learn from the day before to help you on the next day. In short, you are going to spend a lot of time running across/or warping across the map. While this a neat and unusual mechanics, I think most find it annoying and it can be at times. [*][u]Bad design[/u] There are a lot bad choices in this department. Here are all the examples I can think of: [olist] [*]Quests are marked by a beacon to tell you were there is a quest for you. The issue is the ones that are relevant to your current quest are colored the same way but are only partly brighter and it’s hard to notice because they blink. I literally played 30 hours without noticing that quests that need attention are lit. [*]The map does not show you as a blip on it, and only lights the floor you are on. The map page is stationary but the map in the top right of the screen rotates which means its hard to tell which side of the floor you are on since the floors are more or less symmetrical. [*]You will need to pitch equipment but you cannot sort the items in your bag by level or by rarity which would have been the best way to sort things for selling. [*]Mash A. There are many parts where you need to mash A while standing in a circle to make things happen. Performance is often spotty if you do not do it fast enough. The cart, I mentioned before is one of these. [*]Useless mechanics. There is an enchantment system in this game, but I used it a whopping once because you are gong to go through equipment fast as you level up. Not to mention, the stats on equipment don't matter much, other than item drop %, item quantity, and raw. As long as you get S/A rank gear you should have no problems. Likewise, the game doesn't really tell you that a book on the table tells you what monster are what type, but you can beat the game without acknowledging these or strategizing much. much [/olist] [*][u]...Easy Game[/u] Even on higher difficulty. The other half of the game is dungeon crawling, which is alright but kinda unintelligent most of the time. The stats on your equipment only matter some as mentioned prior, and as long as you get yourself the good spells like Rapid Fire, the gravity laser, etc then the dungeons should be cake. Likewise, if you get akko's 3 special spells, you can kill the final boss in by using the 3 in a row. [*][u]The Tower[/u] To get all spells in the game and to get the achievement for it, you need to beat 75 dungeon levels. They aren’t hard, but its tedious. [/list] And that is more or less everything. Again- I enjoyed this game, but there is a lot of flaws you need to look past and a lot of things you need to teach yourself in order to get through this game. This is a game you need to want to beat. If you are a person who gives up at the first sight of a meh game, then Chamber of Time is not for you. It’s really not that bad- It’s just painfully average, which is what harms it the most. This game likely would have been much better received as a VN. If you can look past all of this and use the steam guides when you get stuck, you should be fine and perhaps you might join the 1.6% of people who finish this game completely, as I have chosen to. This game isn't bad- but it should have been a lot better. Lastly, make sure not pay full price for this game. I got it for $5 on sale- it is not worth $40 (go buy NieR:Automata or something at that price).