I get it. I really do. It’s got a really nice early 2000s charm to it and some interesting themes. However, it has taken me 3 years to get to its final act and I don’t see the game turning out better. The story has gone on for about 20 hours longer than it should have with a lot of repeated plot contrivances and weak plot twists.
I usually don’t knock games for old/bad graphics if the devs work well with what they have but here I think it actively HURTS the experience. For the scale of the story, it really needed better visuals. If it had just a bit better art direction, I could see the aged graphics making it out ok, but a lot of the world here feels bland and boring and the characters are expressionless.
The game is also really easy. It has a lot of systems and mechanics that you can jump into but the enemy/boss design never required too deep of a dive in, making it all pointless. Kind of disappointed as this is my first Tales Game. I really liked the characters and some thematic threads but the game never tied its components together well enough to do them justice. I just hope the next Tales game I try is better.
I usually don’t knock games for old/bad graphics if the devs work well with what they have but here I think it actively HURTS the experience. For the scale of the story, it really needed better visuals. If it had just a bit better art direction, I could see the aged graphics making it out ok, but a lot of the world here feels bland and boring and the characters are expressionless.
The game is also really easy. It has a lot of systems and mechanics that you can jump into but the enemy/boss design never required too deep of a dive in, making it all pointless. Kind of disappointed as this is my first Tales Game. I really liked the characters and some thematic threads but the game never tied its components together well enough to do them justice. I just hope the next Tales game I try is better.