I think when talking to a friend about this game, we eventually settled on it being to Animal Crossing what Rune Factory is to Harvest Moon in terms of basically being an adventure RPG version of a comparatively chill franchise. The comparison is by no means perfect, but Ever Oasis had the cute animal people city management aspect I enjoyed about Animal Crossing alongside a more guided adventure-y structure that held my interest for far longer.
I had a whole lot of fun with this game for the main story, and had every intention of going the whole mile and getting all the residents... but honestly, the fact that the postgame consists almost entirely of delving into the horribly repetitive and not particularly fun labyrinths made me really not want to 100% the oasis.
Which is a shame, really, as I liked the main game quite a bit. The characters weren’t particularly deep, but they were charming, and I really did like the setting quite a bit. The story itself was also pretty simple but well told, and it did a pretty good job of being emotionally effective. Or maybe I am a sap. Nah, it’s got some genuine gut punches throughout.
The story dungeons are pretty alright, though they don’t quite do the best job of signposting what skills and weapons you’ll need going in. It’s not too big of a deal since you can warp back to the oasis and shuffle your party around without losing your place, but it can get a little annoying. The music is definitely a strong point, though the battle theme itself can get a little repetitive. The oasis’s theme doesn’t have the same issue in my opinion, since it’s kind of fun to listen to it evolve over the course of the game.
The town management aspect of the game is definitely pretty fun, and I enjoyed the little side stories that accompanied upgrading each seedling’s shop. I think the major criticisms I have of the system is that I wish the side stories had some kind of level recommendation since I found myself slamming into monsters that were way too high a level for me on some of the sidequests. Another criticism I have is that I kind of wish the non-seedling residents got to have their own sidequest storylines, since I definitely liked the designs of all the different peoples and it was kind of a bummer that only one storyline-relevant Lagora, Drauk, and Serkah each got to have their own little story arc.
Anyway, it’s a shame this game felt like it got slept on a bit, because I really do wish it could develop into more of a franchise and iron out the rough bits, not unlike the aforementioned Rune Factory series. Who knows, maybe it’ll happen on the Switch someday despite all expectations. I sure hope it will. There’s definitely potential in the ideas and setting, and it’d be nice to see Nintendo messing around with a new IP.
I had a whole lot of fun with this game for the main story, and had every intention of going the whole mile and getting all the residents... but honestly, the fact that the postgame consists almost entirely of delving into the horribly repetitive and not particularly fun labyrinths made me really not want to 100% the oasis.
Which is a shame, really, as I liked the main game quite a bit. The characters weren’t particularly deep, but they were charming, and I really did like the setting quite a bit. The story itself was also pretty simple but well told, and it did a pretty good job of being emotionally effective. Or maybe I am a sap. Nah, it’s got some genuine gut punches throughout.
The story dungeons are pretty alright, though they don’t quite do the best job of signposting what skills and weapons you’ll need going in. It’s not too big of a deal since you can warp back to the oasis and shuffle your party around without losing your place, but it can get a little annoying. The music is definitely a strong point, though the battle theme itself can get a little repetitive. The oasis’s theme doesn’t have the same issue in my opinion, since it’s kind of fun to listen to it evolve over the course of the game.
The town management aspect of the game is definitely pretty fun, and I enjoyed the little side stories that accompanied upgrading each seedling’s shop. I think the major criticisms I have of the system is that I wish the side stories had some kind of level recommendation since I found myself slamming into monsters that were way too high a level for me on some of the sidequests. Another criticism I have is that I kind of wish the non-seedling residents got to have their own sidequest storylines, since I definitely liked the designs of all the different peoples and it was kind of a bummer that only one storyline-relevant Lagora, Drauk, and Serkah each got to have their own little story arc.
Anyway, it’s a shame this game felt like it got slept on a bit, because I really do wish it could develop into more of a franchise and iron out the rough bits, not unlike the aforementioned Rune Factory series. Who knows, maybe it’ll happen on the Switch someday despite all expectations. I sure hope it will. There’s definitely potential in the ideas and setting, and it’d be nice to see Nintendo messing around with a new IP.