This game is the epitome of "takes a while to get going." Like, I thought Rune Factory 4 was bad with its 5 hour slog of an intro, but this game is on another level. The story for this game doesn't start to get good until chapter 2 (really chapter 3, because the prologue is as long as all of the other chapters). That might not sound bad, but when you take into account the fact that this 40-hour game only has 5 chapters (counting prologue and finale) the prologue and first chapter amount to about 12 hours of gameplay. In other words, the game only gets good about 12 hours in. That being said, once you get to chapter 2, the story is all up from there.
You may ask though: "It's nice and all that the story gets good 12 hours in, but if it takes that long, why did you stick with it?" To that, I'll say that the prologue and first chapter are each held up by a really strong character. For the prologue, that character is Estelle. Estelle is spunkier than the average Shonen protagonist, having a lot of fun one-liners and just the right amount of energy so that she's fun to have on screen without being obnoxiously cheerful like so many other JRPG protagonists are, which is good because she's the main character; she reminds me a bit of Sapphire from Pokémon Adventures, for anyone who gets that reference. The first chapter has Olivier to thank for its entertainment value; Olivier is pretty much just a D&D bard, and the fact that Second Chapter's Steam page advertises the sequel as having more Olivier in it should really be all I need to say to prove that he's a great character.
The gameplay is great too. As someone who, despite playing a lot of RPGs, always manages to struggle on even the easiest difficulty mode, I inevitably ran into a number of fights where I needed to adjust my strategy. When I did this, I realized something pretty cool about this game's combat: nearly all of your arts and crafts are useful to some extent. I tried just spamming arts for the first couple hours, and when that stopped working I started using crafts more, leading me to realize that crafts are actually an ample source of useful AOE attacks. It was here when I started to appreciate the practicality of all the moves that the game gives you. Even the weaker arts are still somewhat useful later in the game because the late-game arts tend to also be huge AOE attacks, and sometimes you just need a weaker attack for less EP to finish off a single enemy. Usually stronger magic attacks in RPGs just replace the weaker ones, so this was a pleasant surprise.
These factors that kept me going for the opening stretch of the game were of course still in place later in the game once the story started to pick up, so everything came together really nicely by the end. And I don't agree with the general consensus that this game's story is only good in that it leads into the next game's story. I felt that the political intrigue and strong character interactions developing from chapter 2 onwards were compelling enough to justify the game as an individual experience, separate from whatever the rest of the series might contain.
To continue with popular opinions I don't really agree with, I have to say, I wasn't a big fan of Joshua. At a number of points throughout the story, the guy displays a distinct and, considering that he's the game's deuteragonist, somewhat unsettling lack of empathy for others. He's not oblivious to this either, he goes out of the way to point it out to the rest of the party and the player. The game does sort of explain why he's like this at the very end, but it still doesn't make me like him any more. Nor was I really a big fan of Scherazard; the game uses her and Olivier to make a lot of, uh, let's say problematic jokes, but unlike Olivier she doesn't have the big D&D bard energy to make up for it. It doesn't help that her name sounds like a Pokémon. I largely liked the rest of the party though, and its strongest members (Estelle, Olivier, Kloe, and Zin) bring a lot to the game's writing.
Also, even though he's not a party member, while we're talking about characters I don't like, man is Cassius the worst. Not only is he apparently on speaking terms with every important person in the game, but everyone who knows him seems to credit him for being just the gosh darn greatest guy who ever lived. Everyone that is, but his own daughter, who he can't be bothered to give the time of day. What a guy. He also has the world's stupidest-looking mustache.
As one final note, because I didn't know where else in the review to stick this, I really like this game's soundtrack. It's got a subtle jazz flair to it, and there are a lot of textures going on with the different instrument choices, which is pretty unusual for a video game soundtrack. Listen to the percussion on the seaside town's theme to see what I mean.
You may ask though: "It's nice and all that the story gets good 12 hours in, but if it takes that long, why did you stick with it?" To that, I'll say that the prologue and first chapter are each held up by a really strong character. For the prologue, that character is Estelle. Estelle is spunkier than the average Shonen protagonist, having a lot of fun one-liners and just the right amount of energy so that she's fun to have on screen without being obnoxiously cheerful like so many other JRPG protagonists are, which is good because she's the main character; she reminds me a bit of Sapphire from Pokémon Adventures, for anyone who gets that reference. The first chapter has Olivier to thank for its entertainment value; Olivier is pretty much just a D&D bard, and the fact that Second Chapter's Steam page advertises the sequel as having more Olivier in it should really be all I need to say to prove that he's a great character.
The gameplay is great too. As someone who, despite playing a lot of RPGs, always manages to struggle on even the easiest difficulty mode, I inevitably ran into a number of fights where I needed to adjust my strategy. When I did this, I realized something pretty cool about this game's combat: nearly all of your arts and crafts are useful to some extent. I tried just spamming arts for the first couple hours, and when that stopped working I started using crafts more, leading me to realize that crafts are actually an ample source of useful AOE attacks. It was here when I started to appreciate the practicality of all the moves that the game gives you. Even the weaker arts are still somewhat useful later in the game because the late-game arts tend to also be huge AOE attacks, and sometimes you just need a weaker attack for less EP to finish off a single enemy. Usually stronger magic attacks in RPGs just replace the weaker ones, so this was a pleasant surprise.
These factors that kept me going for the opening stretch of the game were of course still in place later in the game once the story started to pick up, so everything came together really nicely by the end. And I don't agree with the general consensus that this game's story is only good in that it leads into the next game's story. I felt that the political intrigue and strong character interactions developing from chapter 2 onwards were compelling enough to justify the game as an individual experience, separate from whatever the rest of the series might contain.
To continue with popular opinions I don't really agree with, I have to say, I wasn't a big fan of Joshua. At a number of points throughout the story, the guy displays a distinct and, considering that he's the game's deuteragonist, somewhat unsettling lack of empathy for others. He's not oblivious to this either, he goes out of the way to point it out to the rest of the party and the player. The game does sort of explain why he's like this at the very end, but it still doesn't make me like him any more. Nor was I really a big fan of Scherazard; the game uses her and Olivier to make a lot of, uh, let's say problematic jokes, but unlike Olivier she doesn't have the big D&D bard energy to make up for it. It doesn't help that her name sounds like a Pokémon. I largely liked the rest of the party though, and its strongest members (Estelle, Olivier, Kloe, and Zin) bring a lot to the game's writing.
Also, even though he's not a party member, while we're talking about characters I don't like, man is Cassius the worst. Not only is he apparently on speaking terms with every important person in the game, but everyone who knows him seems to credit him for being just the gosh darn greatest guy who ever lived. Everyone that is, but his own daughter, who he can't be bothered to give the time of day. What a guy. He also has the world's stupidest-looking mustache.
As one final note, because I didn't know where else in the review to stick this, I really like this game's soundtrack. It's got a subtle jazz flair to it, and there are a lot of textures going on with the different instrument choices, which is pretty unusual for a video game soundtrack. Listen to the percussion on the seaside town's theme to see what I mean.