4.25★
Here is the review:
(+ +) The characters. The way they were designed, the way their stories were told, their personalities: everything is just perfect. The characters are all so different from each other with beautiful and at times tragic backgrounds. I loved finding out about each of them and their thoughts and lives.
My favorite was Stanley!
( + + ) The way of narrating the game. Everything in this game is told to you in such a subtle way that you have to think about it for a moment, and once you puzzled it together it really hits you.
( + ) The music and soundtracks created such a beautiful atmosphere, especially with each character having their own tune that fit them so perfectly.
( + - ) Farming materials and improving your stuff. Now I put this as a positive and negative at the same time because of the following: The game offers a huge variety of materials, fish, recipes, etc you can collect and it's huge fun for I would say most of the game, however...at some point it becomes noticeable that the game is trying to just kind of waste your time. At some point, all of the farming becomes tedious and exhausting, especially regarding certain quests.
( - - ) This might be just me, but it was something that pissed me off quite a lot of times while playing. The game loves making you confused about whether you can't do something because you are bad, or because you have not progressed far enough in the game. I'll name three specific examples to make it more clear, with the last one being a slight spoiler:
1. I spent ages trying to fish a really difficult fish in the fog area, only to figure out eventually that I needed an upgrade for it. The area was already unlocked for a while, but the game did not have the thought of maybe popping up a dialogue of "mhm maybe i need better equipment before fishing this first"
2. On the other hand, at other parts, I gave up trying on something quickly, because I thought it was the same situation and I need to unlock something first, only to find out later that it was just a difficult section and I had to try a little harder to solve it.
3. SPOILER: Sometimes, there were small islands on the far right or left of the screen that could only be reached with an additional ability: When using gliding, I always just barely missed the paltform, making me think that I just hadn't timed the jump right, so after trying multiple times, I left it be. Turns out I had to learn the dash ability first to reach it. All fair n square but why not place the platform a few meters more to the right so that I notice the first time that the gliding is not enough to reach it. Why make the players confused about whether they should keep trying or not. I could rant about this much longer, but it'll make this review too long.
Here is the review:
(+ +) The characters. The way they were designed, the way their stories were told, their personalities: everything is just perfect. The characters are all so different from each other with beautiful and at times tragic backgrounds. I loved finding out about each of them and their thoughts and lives.
My favorite was Stanley!
( + + ) The way of narrating the game. Everything in this game is told to you in such a subtle way that you have to think about it for a moment, and once you puzzled it together it really hits you.
( + ) The music and soundtracks created such a beautiful atmosphere, especially with each character having their own tune that fit them so perfectly.
( + - ) Farming materials and improving your stuff. Now I put this as a positive and negative at the same time because of the following: The game offers a huge variety of materials, fish, recipes, etc you can collect and it's huge fun for I would say most of the game, however...at some point it becomes noticeable that the game is trying to just kind of waste your time. At some point, all of the farming becomes tedious and exhausting, especially regarding certain quests.
( - - ) This might be just me, but it was something that pissed me off quite a lot of times while playing. The game loves making you confused about whether you can't do something because you are bad, or because you have not progressed far enough in the game. I'll name three specific examples to make it more clear, with the last one being a slight spoiler:
1. I spent ages trying to fish a really difficult fish in the fog area, only to figure out eventually that I needed an upgrade for it. The area was already unlocked for a while, but the game did not have the thought of maybe popping up a dialogue of "mhm maybe i need better equipment before fishing this first"
2. On the other hand, at other parts, I gave up trying on something quickly, because I thought it was the same situation and I need to unlock something first, only to find out later that it was just a difficult section and I had to try a little harder to solve it.
3. SPOILER: Sometimes, there were small islands on the far right or left of the screen that could only be reached with an additional ability: When using gliding, I always just barely missed the paltform, making me think that I just hadn't timed the jump right, so after trying multiple times, I left it be. Turns out I had to learn the dash ability first to reach it. All fair n square but why not place the platform a few meters more to the right so that I notice the first time that the gliding is not enough to reach it. Why make the players confused about whether they should keep trying or not. I could rant about this much longer, but it'll make this review too long.