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[GorillaJu]

I haven't finished the game yet but it feels like I've progressed well deep and here are my thoughts:

+ The dialog and story moves along at a nice pace, I like the character designs and there's lots of personality in the world.
+ Combat is very reminiscent of Chrono Trigger
+ It runs super well on PS4, no bugs or weirdness of any kind, load times are super short and menus operate smoothly
+ A lot of the "throwback" stuff comes off well to me.

- It's easy. Like, ridiculously easy. So easy to the point it almost feels automated, there's very little meaningful choices to be made in terms of strategy or equipment, it's just a matter of how hard you stomp your enemies.
- The music is pretty, but it's piano, piano and more piano. It feels like there's one someone in the room playing piano tracks along with the games events. To some, this may be a plus.
- I feel like despite the snowy environments, there's a real lack of atmosphere due to the extremely flat lighting. It's pretty in a quiet way as snow is, but there's not much visual emotion aside from that.

It's cute, it's a fun nostalgia trip, but it really feels it could have been bigger and better. Not in a AAA way, but more environmental variety, more unpredictability, just more complexity over all. As a first game for these Tokyo RPG Factory guys it's a worthy use of $40, but when you compare it to Bravely Default, it's really lacking.

 

[Freezasaurus]

So does everyone gain EXP or only active party members? I know the old games required you to swap people out to level them up.

 

[Labadal]

Still waiting for my GMG key.

 

[Arthea]

Still waiting for my GMG key.

the keys are in already, check your account on gmg, instead of waiting for e-mail, maybe?

 

[robotzombie]

So um, is the game not available on steam yet? I just put in my key from Green Man Gaming, and I have the game on my list, it says purchased today, but there is no option to install/play...

nvm, unlocks in 3 hours it says

 

[GorillaJu]

So does everyone gain EXP or only active party members? I know the old games required you to swap people out to level them up.

Gotta swap the members. It's easy to swap them though you can do it at any time outside of battle

 

[ChaosZeroX]

I haven't finished the game yet but it feels like I've progressed well deep and here are my thoughts:

+ The dialog and story moves along at a nice pace, I like the character designs and there's lots of personality in the world.
+ Combat is very reminiscent of Chrono Trigger
+ It runs super well on PS4, no bugs or weirdness of any kind, load times are super short and menus operate smoothly
+ A lot of the "throwback" stuff comes off well to me.

- It's easy. Like, ridiculously easy. So easy to the point it almost feels automated, there's very little meaningful choices to be made in terms of strategy or equipment, it's just a matter of how hard you stomp your enemies.
- The music is pretty, but it's piano, piano and more piano. It feels like there's one someone in the room playing piano tracks along with the games events. To some, this may be a plus.
- I feel like despite the snowy environments, there's a real lack of atmosphere due to the extremely flat lighting. It's pretty in a quiet way as snow is, but there's not much visual emotion aside from that.

It's cute, it's a fun nostalgia trip, but it really feels it could have been bigger and better. Not in a AAA way, but more environmental variety, more unpredictability, just more complexity over all. As a first game for these Tokyo RPG Factory guys it's a worthy use of $40, but when you compare it to Bravely Default, it's really lacking.

To be fair, they probably didn;t have much more budget working with Square Enix. Look what happened to Star Ocean.

 

[Bladenic]

Streaming for about an hour this morning. More later tonight. https://www.twitch.tv/chriswvu

Edit: UGH accidentally hit yes on a new character's name. Now he's gonna be named as is while everyone else is named after other JRPG characters. I was gonna him Palom too. My save file is only half an hour back but screw it, not a huge deal.

 

[Reluctant-Hero]

Looking forward to playing as I had preordered it on PSN. But I'm 32 hours deep into Trails of Cold Steel. So Setsuna will have to wait a while.

 

[DKHF]

My trophies are in japanese, is this normal?

I think it's because Square Enix still hasn't uploaded the English trophies to PSN yet/made them public. Which is weird considering the game is out everywhere now.

 

[Arthea]

I think it's because Square Enix still hasn't uploaded the English trophies to PSN yet/made them public. Which is weird considering the game is out everywhere now.

not everywhere! we still have to wait for an hour (steam)

 

[DKHF]

not everywhere! we still have to wait for an hour (steam)

Oh my bad. Well it's out on PS4 so it's weird that the English trophies aren't up on PSN.

 

[Labadal]

the keys are in already, check your account on gmg, instead of waiting for e-mail, maybe?

Thanks, that worked.

One hour left for it to unlock!

 

[Tohsaka]

Should I just be selling all my materials? I've only been playing like an hour and a half so far, I'm liking the game.

 

[Bladenic]

Should I just be selling all my materials? I've only been playing like an hour and a half so far, I'm liking the game.

Yes. At first I was worried you had to sell a certain material to earn the techs, but you can just sell everything you have and it'll still count towards any specific tech that the item counts towards. It's the only way to make money, anyway.

 

[J4g3r]

- It's easy. Like, ridiculously easy. So easy to the point it almost feels automated, there's very little meaningful choices to be made in terms of strategy or equipment, it's just a matter of how hard you stomp your enemies.

How far in are you, hours wise?

Have you at least noticed some progression in difficulty?

 

[Bladenic]

I can't remember his name since I named him Basch, but the bulky swordsman guy has an attack that hits hard and causes paralysis (and bosses so far don't seem to be immune to status effects). If used in Momentum mode, the attack also does a party wide heal for a lot of health. He's awesome.

I haven't had many dual techs and no triple techs yet, but looking at all the possible dual and triple techs, there are a ton. Can't wait to unlock more.

 

[Nachtfalke]

Since it is a Unity game, how is the performance on PS4? 60fps? Stutter or Unity engine issues in general?

 

[Durante]

Someone bought the game for me at the US GMG price, thanks for that!

 

[jshackles]

Just got my key from GMG and activated. What sucks is I'm stuck at work for the next 10 hours, and I've gotta work super early tomorrow (6am) so I won't get much time with it tonight.

The weekend couldn't come soon enough.

 

[Jetfire]

- It's easy. Like, ridiculously easy. So easy to the point it almost feels automated, there's very little meaningful choices to be made in terms of strategy or equipment, it's just a matter of how hard you stomp your enemies.

Non-specific spoilers, I guess:

Spoiler

You'll run into a couple bosses in the later half of the game that will stomp the shit out of you and basically force you to go and think "oh wait, what are all these subsystems again?" It's a rather jarring brick wall, but once you learn a couple key spells (esp. Wall, and the ones that return HP on a timed attack) you'll be okay.

 

[Rad-]

- It's easy. Like, ridiculously easy. So easy to the point it almost feels automated, there's very little meaningful choices to be made in terms of strategy or equipment, it's just a matter of how hard you stomp your enemies.

That's really disappointing and I was scared of this because that's what it looked like to me from the videos.

 

[bahamut zero]

Do I still get the background themes if I buy it now on PS4?

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Sorry to hear it's so easy. Maybe somebody will manage to hack the PC version to up the difficulty.

 

[aravuus]

Heh, I must be the only one who doesn't mind it being easy. I tend to enjoy fairly easy JRPGs, like the PSX era FFs, more than very hard ones.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Chrono Trigger is pretty easy also. But I really wish that they had difficulty options. Like on the default difficulty, I think Blue Dragon's not all that great, but on hard mode, it's a lot of fun with many interesting combat situations.

 

[Panda Rin]

Will pick it up down the line. Reviews were as expected.

Chrono Trigger is pretty easy also. But I really wish that they had difficulty options. Like on the default difficulty, I think Blue Dragon's not all that great, but on hard mode, it's a lot of fun with many interesting combat situations.

Sooooo, Cosmic Star Heroine...when ;P?

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Sooooo, Cosmic Star Heroine...when ;P?

Working on it. Not playing any other games until it's done. Setsuna is high up on my list for after I finish (right after Tokyo Mirage Sessions).

 

[Jetfire]

*sheepish* so, so people post their reviews here? I liked the game quite a bit.

 

[robotzombie]

anyone else having a problem getting it to install on steam? It keeps timing out while preparing the files for install...

 

[ZeroX03]

To be fair, they probably didn;t have much more budget working with Square Enix. Look what happened to Star Ocean.

Bravely series had a tiny budget too, fortunately they could make it work for the most part.

 

[Munba]

anyone else having a problem getting it to install on steam? It keeps timing out while preparing the files for install...

Yes, same error..

edit
Solved, try now.

 

[Chinese Cartoons]

How easy is the game?

 

[robotzombie]

Yes, same error..

edit
Solved, try now.

yup, got it

 

[Zafir]

the keys are in already, check your account on gmg, instead of waiting for e-mail, maybe?

Can't get into my account on GMG. Freezes up when I try and log in on one device. Doesn't let me onto my account on a device I was already logged in on. :X

 

[Bladenic]

Bravely series had a tiny budget too, fortunately they could make it work for the most part.

Uh did it though? Bravely is gorgeous, has high quality music, and full voice acting.

As for easiness, I mean, Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy are both very easy outside of a few random bosses or areas maybe.

 

[Robert at Zeboyd Games]

Uh did it though? Bravely is gorgeous, has high quality music, and full voice acting.

The towns & dungeons are extremely simple and the series has extensive reuse of assets. It's obvious that it was made on a budget.

 

[ZeroX03]

Uh did it though? Bravely is gorgeous, has high quality music, and full voice acting.

Bravely's visuals are very low res (actually SNES res!), with a mix of great art direction. Doing art by hand is easier when it doesn't need to be huge.

And well, just look at the padding in the first game and the reused assets in the second. It's probably higher budget than Setsuna, but it's no big budget by any title. Little tricks like small locations, minimal NPCs, palette swaps. Quite a bit of discussion happened about how Second felt restricted by budget despite Default's success.

That you would think it isn't low budget is a testament to the developer's talent at hiding it. Also that music quality.

 

[Novel Mike]

FYI those playing on PC the controller support is broken for XB1/PS4 controllers atm. You can navigate the settings that pop up but after that you end up stuck on title screen unable to do anything.

Not the first time this has happened to a SE game either. Hopefully they fix it soon.

 

[LordGorchnik]

Skipped all the way to page 7 just to ask if this is up on PSN in NA today. I really really really need a good RPG to play.

 

[Durante]

Here's a short PC version impression/evaluation

The game starts with this settings screen:

The list of resolutions appears to be fixed, but at least they cover the common bases and go up to 4k. In-game, the visuals are clearly rendered at native res, and it uses pretty decent AA:

It runs at a locked 60 FPS while putting my GPU to sleep (<7% usage at 2560x1440) and my CPU is napping off too (13% usage on one core), so it's hard to make performance statements other than that it should be toaster-approved.

Edit:
Oh, and since someone asked about loading times earlier, they are <1 second even though I installed it on a mechanical HDD.

FYI those playing on PC the controller support is broken for XB1/PS4 controllers atm. You can navigate the settings that pop up but after that you end up stuck on title screen unable to do anything.

Not the first time this has happened to a SE game either. Hopefully they fix it soon.

I'm playing with a Steam controller in Gamepad mode and it's working perfectly. Let me try my XB1 pad.

 

[Corpekata]

Does this game use the right analog stick much?


It is borked on Xbox One pads like mentioned, which a lot of Unity games are as of late. Might switch to Steam controller if it doesn't have a lot of camera movement involved.

 

[Timeaisis]

Just got

Spoiler

Nidir

, but the only combo I have is X Strike with

Spoiler

and Aeterna

. Can I get more combos soon?

 

[dragn]

no fps lock here, getting 75

 

[GifGafIsTheBestGaf]

op you should link the review thread

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1248708


gonna wait for more feedback from GAF

 

[sora87]

You don't get the ps4 themes if you buy it now then? Damn

 

[Durante]

Lol, an enemy in the first map after the tutorial insta-petrified my only character. I haven't lost this much progress in a JRPG in a while!

Does this game use the right analog stick much?

Not at all so far.

It is borked on Xbox One pads like mentioned, which a lot of Unity games are as of late. Might switch to Steam controller if it doesn't have a lot of camera movement involved.

It's funny how Microsoft's own controller with their own API works far more sporadically than the Steam controller faking that API

 

[theMrCravens]

I'm not a fan of post-endgame sidequests in recent jrpgs, so when people state game is ~15 hours long, is it all main story campaign or combined with fluff stuff ?

 

[Bladenic]

Bravely's visuals are very low res (actually SNES res!), with a mix of great art direction. Doing art by hand is easier when it doesn't need to be huge.

And well, just look at the padding in the first game and the reused assets in the second. It's probably higher budget than Setsuna, but it's no big budget by any title. Little tricks like small locations, minimal NPCs, palette swaps. Quite a bit of discussion happened about how Second felt restricted by budget despite Default's success.

That you would think it isn't low budget is a testament to the developer's talent at hiding it. Also that music quality.

Well, they certainly hid it well! But yeah I didn't thought about the reuse of assets, small locations, and generally copy paste dungeons.

 

[jack_package_200]

op you should link the review thread

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1248708


gonna wait for more feedback from GAF

Linked it