Reiha and Aldo grew up together as brother and sister on the tropical island of Jarazi, among a race of people with beast-like features. There they learned to commune with the Nature Spirits that surrounded them. One day, the Spirits began acting strangely, prompting Reiha and Aldo to investigate. Their quest to find out who or what is behind the corruption of the Spirits will lead them back to the human lands where the cataclysm first brought them together.
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The semester is out for break.
I've been pretty much locked in my room the past few days. The reason: I've been so sucked up in this game. This is truly an awesome action rpg slash dungeon crawler for the DS, and it might have just become one of my favorite gems for the system. With a surprisingly heavy story, that deals with real world issues (albeit in a fantasy world setting), and the wonderfully woven and intricate progression system, I think this one is a keeper!
It starts out with enough naivete. A brother and his loving sister, or a sister and his loving brother, notice something is wrong in their hometown. The spirits are out of wack. So they go on an investigation across the land - yet, I wasn't prepared for how dark the story got.
It truly surprised me, it goes a lot into the ugly issues of this fantasy world, a place where most JRPG'S would dare to go. Indeed, I would say it actually does tackle some pretty heavy themes of discrimination and racism, between the two main factions of the game. I don't know if it was trying to tackle these very real issues intentionally, but it did really affect me. I don't bring this up lightly, that is to say.
This takes place in a literally animist society, that is, where spirits are everywhere and control the balance of the world. That plot point isn't too unexpected from a JRPG. However, here's where it diverges: there are two main factions in the game, the humans and the Kazcusca and they have been at war. The humans have essentially been putting in factories many spirits in order to fuel their... infrastructure or something, and they also experiment on Kazcusca.
We start out thinking the humans are uncomplicated evil, since they have been enslaving the spirits and using them to power their civilization. However, as the game goes on, they ultimately show a sympathetic side. They had been duped. I loved how it had that aspect of being caught up in a complicated, grey area. I genuinely cared to see where the story went next, and there wasn't a second where I felt the plot wasn't developing in an very absorbing way.
The mechanics are just light enough, but they feel like a genuine article JRPG. I was at first shaking in my boots to hear the terms "skill tree", "crafting", "summoning" and the like; however, this game makes all these aspects feasible and digestible. I must say thanks to it for this.
Since, for the around 11 hours it took me to beat this game, I never felt overwhelmed. I will admit, the battle system did get a tiny bit repetitive at times, and the difficulty spikes were a little jarring. It's far from perfectly balanced. Yet, why can't I help but love it? For one the digestible and friendly mechanics lighten the load quite a bit, there isn't a single moment in this game that I would say is unbeatable even for a first time player. However...
------------------THE BOTTOM LINE-----------------------
It's really the story that sold me on this. It actually has the power I've been missing from a lot of JRPG narratives. It tackles it's issues in very mature, real world terms. I was once holed up in another room, from sickness (I won't disclose the details) - and during that time I missed videogames, and had envisioned a JRPG similar in plot to this one. I didn't want escapism, but I didn't want harsh realism either. A kind of soulful reimagining, reframing of real world issues, that while far from solving them or even being a properly nuanced handling of them, gave me hope.
This game gave me hope. It reminded me of that envisioning. The divisions of this games society and the very human nature of the characters. It was so simple, but it just hit so hard.
I've been pretty much locked in my room the past few days. The reason: I've been so sucked up in this game. This is truly an awesome action rpg slash dungeon crawler for the DS, and it might have just become one of my favorite gems for the system. With a surprisingly heavy story, that deals with real world issues (albeit in a fantasy world setting), and the wonderfully woven and intricate progression system, I think this one is a keeper!
It starts out with enough naivete. A brother and his loving sister, or a sister and his loving brother, notice something is wrong in their hometown. The spirits are out of wack. So they go on an investigation across the land - yet, I wasn't prepared for how dark the story got.
It truly surprised me, it goes a lot into the ugly issues of this fantasy world, a place where most JRPG'S would dare to go. Indeed, I would say it actually does tackle some pretty heavy themes of discrimination and racism, between the two main factions of the game. I don't know if it was trying to tackle these very real issues intentionally, but it did really affect me. I don't bring this up lightly, that is to say.
This takes place in a literally animist society, that is, where spirits are everywhere and control the balance of the world. That plot point isn't too unexpected from a JRPG. However, here's where it diverges: there are two main factions in the game, the humans and the Kazcusca and they have been at war. The humans have essentially been putting in factories many spirits in order to fuel their... infrastructure or something, and they also experiment on Kazcusca.
We start out thinking the humans are uncomplicated evil, since they have been enslaving the spirits and using them to power their civilization. However, as the game goes on, they ultimately show a sympathetic side. They had been duped. I loved how it had that aspect of being caught up in a complicated, grey area. I genuinely cared to see where the story went next, and there wasn't a second where I felt the plot wasn't developing in an very absorbing way.
The mechanics are just light enough, but they feel like a genuine article JRPG. I was at first shaking in my boots to hear the terms "skill tree", "crafting", "summoning" and the like; however, this game makes all these aspects feasible and digestible. I must say thanks to it for this.
Since, for the around 11 hours it took me to beat this game, I never felt overwhelmed. I will admit, the battle system did get a tiny bit repetitive at times, and the difficulty spikes were a little jarring. It's far from perfectly balanced. Yet, why can't I help but love it? For one the digestible and friendly mechanics lighten the load quite a bit, there isn't a single moment in this game that I would say is unbeatable even for a first time player. However...
------------------THE BOTTOM LINE-----------------------
It's really the story that sold me on this. It actually has the power I've been missing from a lot of JRPG narratives. It tackles it's issues in very mature, real world terms. I was once holed up in another room, from sickness (I won't disclose the details) - and during that time I missed videogames, and had envisioned a JRPG similar in plot to this one. I didn't want escapism, but I didn't want harsh realism either. A kind of soulful reimagining, reframing of real world issues, that while far from solving them or even being a properly nuanced handling of them, gave me hope.
This game gave me hope. It reminded me of that envisioning. The divisions of this games society and the very human nature of the characters. It was so simple, but it just hit so hard.
cute rpg
This is my first Summon Night game so idk how it stacks up to the rest but it's ok to play and the story didn't grip me as it is just a late 00's fantasy anime in game form. The presentation, music and color usage is good quality stuff.
I have to say the devs tried really hard to entertain the player and I would have totally been into this if I was 14 but I'm an adult who'd rather not tap a DS screen to attack a sponge-y monster over and over.
I have to say the devs tried really hard to entertain the player and I would have totally been into this if I was 14 but I'm an adult who'd rather not tap a DS screen to attack a sponge-y monster over and over.
Man, Summon Night is so good and I wish we could go back to the time before Gaijinworks started localizing these and doing a terrible job with a franchise that's just bursting with charm.
Anyway, Twin Age is weird! Kinda goes for Diablo-style combat and exploration, but it works surprisingly well, and is ultimately a really sweet, breezy little adventure.
Anyway, Twin Age is weird! Kinda goes for Diablo-style combat and exploration, but it works surprisingly well, and is ultimately a really sweet, breezy little adventure.