Can you believe it took me over a month to beat this game? (It's because it really wore me out at points). There's just so much of this game!
Which is a bit of a problem. The in-an-MMO structure means a lot of the story is spent on the story within the story rather than the actual story, which really kept me from getting as invested. I think if they cut out the second area/dungeon it would have made for a snappier experience and wouldn't have made the third area feel so fast paced with two similar dungeons one after another. If you got one ability from exploring and one from a dungeon, that'd probably speed things along well enough.
It's fun to move around and figure things out by moving around, but the sprites while beautiful never feel clear on what area of verticality I'm on which can make getting around pretty confusing at times. Likewise every puzzle in the game is timing based which can get to be frustrating, and I think it could have been broken up with more puzzles that let you sit and think about a solution and put it together rather than hectically and frantically relying on execution.
As for the cast, you control Lea which while it is fun to see how she will use new words after she learns them, I kinda wish the player could find words for Lea to learn, and make it feel like you're helping her get verbal communication. That said she's an alright moeblob as she is. The rest of the cast are all alright with no real standouts but no one I really hated either. They were enjoyable enough and like the environments the sprites are very good.
Bosses are fun and I like that they incorporate puzzle elements into them. It's satisfying to learn them and setting up your circuit board to the way you like is great. I only wish changing your circuit board was more accessible as you're not given much liberty in your experimentation. I'd also hope the elements would have you do different things beyond different special moves as it'd make finding a new element more exciting and truly change up Lea's combat style from slash slash slash slashslash.
Music is solid, story is alright even if the end basically said "okay so to continue from here you need to buy the DLC" and I definitely enjoyed some of the dungeons and combat, but there is such a thing as too much of one game I feel, and this hits that for me. Or maybe it's not as much that but more it could have used more gameplay variety. Something, but it's by no means a bad game.
Which is a bit of a problem. The in-an-MMO structure means a lot of the story is spent on the story within the story rather than the actual story, which really kept me from getting as invested. I think if they cut out the second area/dungeon it would have made for a snappier experience and wouldn't have made the third area feel so fast paced with two similar dungeons one after another. If you got one ability from exploring and one from a dungeon, that'd probably speed things along well enough.
It's fun to move around and figure things out by moving around, but the sprites while beautiful never feel clear on what area of verticality I'm on which can make getting around pretty confusing at times. Likewise every puzzle in the game is timing based which can get to be frustrating, and I think it could have been broken up with more puzzles that let you sit and think about a solution and put it together rather than hectically and frantically relying on execution.
As for the cast, you control Lea which while it is fun to see how she will use new words after she learns them, I kinda wish the player could find words for Lea to learn, and make it feel like you're helping her get verbal communication. That said she's an alright moeblob as she is. The rest of the cast are all alright with no real standouts but no one I really hated either. They were enjoyable enough and like the environments the sprites are very good.
Bosses are fun and I like that they incorporate puzzle elements into them. It's satisfying to learn them and setting up your circuit board to the way you like is great. I only wish changing your circuit board was more accessible as you're not given much liberty in your experimentation. I'd also hope the elements would have you do different things beyond different special moves as it'd make finding a new element more exciting and truly change up Lea's combat style from slash slash slash slashslash.
Music is solid, story is alright even if the end basically said "okay so to continue from here you need to buy the DLC" and I definitely enjoyed some of the dungeons and combat, but there is such a thing as too much of one game I feel, and this hits that for me. Or maybe it's not as much that but more it could have used more gameplay variety. Something, but it's by no means a bad game.