Didn't know about this game until a few days ago. Released on the 18th of October.
Somewhat of a spiritual successor to Valkyrie Profile.
About 15 hours into it, so semi smallish review so far
Story so far: An immortal demon/god? is split into 12 and gets to earth and is infused with people from Tokyo. These get transported to a place when the caretaker of a place that gathers souls uses her power to get the demon back. He is evil, but in order to get free he grants you his powers and aids you. The people become immortal too. The place is supposedly sealed and you're only able to leave if dead, so being immortal makes that a problem. You then set of to collect crystals to give to the caretaker of the planet to get her power back after she spent all of hers to drag the demon's spirit back. Gathering these crystals gains world exploration abilities. I think there is one personal crystal for all characters + regular ones.
Exploration: You explore the world sort of similar to Odin Sphere, 2d maps you side scroll on. Also becomes more platformy a few hours in. The mobs move in pre-set patterns as red orbs, attacking it, or entering it, will initiate a battle. When it is over, the orb will turn white and continue to move in its pattern. You will get the ability to freeze that orb in place, then another ability that lets you use that orb as a burst jump. This is how you gain access to more of the areas on the maps (so no need to worry about exploring zones until you do get the skills). You also get higher level missions on the same maps, so while you can redo missions on lower difficulties to explore them, you will also get lower level loot.
World map (so far at least) consist of several zones in three areas. No movement on it, you just select a map/mission and go. Can redo maps as all of them have the option of "kill the zone boss", which also respawns. Exiting a map without finishing a quest or escaping battles has a negative impact on the affection status between the main character and the others. Not sure what affection does yet, but it rises from having people in your party, or of the characters you don't use do something while you're on a mission (they explore on their own) which triggers a little event.
Battle: Turn based. You attack with AP, where unused AP is saved from not guarding or having any left over from an attack round. Guarding at the right time instead of immediately can make your characters intercept enemy attacks and cancel their attack.
It is easy to just spam the strongest attacks, but that is where the risk/reward factor comes in. If you launch an enemy and hit it, red orbs can drop which increases drop rate. If you hit an enemy on the ground, it drops blue shards which increase exp. However, overkilling an enemy has a chance to increase the "risk". This also adds to your drop rate. Drop rate will increase to a max of 60% , 20% titles and 20% ex titles (weapons/armors with + abilities). The Risk % is tied to a 1/1 chance of you losing your drop rate increase, which is saved between battles. So a 50% risk will make it so you have a 50% chance of losing your counter on being hit after a guard break, or if your attack gets intercepted by an enemy guarding.
Characters use SP to increase their skills (no ability to refund). You can slot these skills to add abilities to attack, guard, 2x support and drop increase. So far I have not found a way to increase SP other than leveling, and there are a lot of skills. From the menu, it also seems that multi-classing is possible, but not sure yet. Would suggest saving up to level the classes with maybe an added attack skill. Classes are tied to melee/ranged and magic.
Characters also have ultimate skills, where you build up the trigger for it while attacking (getting hits lowers the counter). Unlike drop rate, this resets after battles unless you have a skill that gives a % chance to save it to the next. So can spam this when you can.
Loot: Tons of it, especially once you increase the drop counter. I've stopped looking at it, and rather after ever 5 or so battles, enter the menu and hit "optimal equip" for the party members. Then after a mission, I use optimal equip again on all characters, then sell off any duplicate weapons, armor or accessory. You get a currency of sorts with them, but not unlocked a store yet.
Some mobs have extra loot that can be obtained by exploiting a weakness (displayed by a locked chest on their name)
Graphics: ... Meh? Not bad, not good. + for having graphical representations of new weapons.
Overall, seems ok so far. Story is interesting with being a "neutral" party carrying an evil, fighting a bigger evil (earlier your demons ally) and helping the one who dragged you to this place against your will who has motives I am unsure of yet. Combat is ok, and becomes more tactical as the risk rises. Bonus breaks sucks.
Not sure what the price is in USD, but it was 20% off two days ago (PS+) and, already not at full price. So $35?
PS: Hardly any Wikis or information about what things do when you search, so don't expect to easily find item/skill guides and the likes.I don't think many people play the game.
Didn't find any large reviews of it, so here is a random one
Somewhat of a spiritual successor to Valkyrie Profile.
About 15 hours into it, so semi smallish review so far
Story so far: An immortal demon/god? is split into 12 and gets to earth and is infused with people from Tokyo. These get transported to a place when the caretaker of a place that gathers souls uses her power to get the demon back. He is evil, but in order to get free he grants you his powers and aids you. The people become immortal too. The place is supposedly sealed and you're only able to leave if dead, so being immortal makes that a problem. You then set of to collect crystals to give to the caretaker of the planet to get her power back after she spent all of hers to drag the demon's spirit back. Gathering these crystals gains world exploration abilities. I think there is one personal crystal for all characters + regular ones.
Exploration: You explore the world sort of similar to Odin Sphere, 2d maps you side scroll on. Also becomes more platformy a few hours in. The mobs move in pre-set patterns as red orbs, attacking it, or entering it, will initiate a battle. When it is over, the orb will turn white and continue to move in its pattern. You will get the ability to freeze that orb in place, then another ability that lets you use that orb as a burst jump. This is how you gain access to more of the areas on the maps (so no need to worry about exploring zones until you do get the skills). You also get higher level missions on the same maps, so while you can redo missions on lower difficulties to explore them, you will also get lower level loot.
World map (so far at least) consist of several zones in three areas. No movement on it, you just select a map/mission and go. Can redo maps as all of them have the option of "kill the zone boss", which also respawns. Exiting a map without finishing a quest or escaping battles has a negative impact on the affection status between the main character and the others. Not sure what affection does yet, but it rises from having people in your party, or of the characters you don't use do something while you're on a mission (they explore on their own) which triggers a little event.
Battle: Turn based. You attack with AP, where unused AP is saved from not guarding or having any left over from an attack round. Guarding at the right time instead of immediately can make your characters intercept enemy attacks and cancel their attack.
It is easy to just spam the strongest attacks, but that is where the risk/reward factor comes in. If you launch an enemy and hit it, red orbs can drop which increases drop rate. If you hit an enemy on the ground, it drops blue shards which increase exp. However, overkilling an enemy has a chance to increase the "risk". This also adds to your drop rate. Drop rate will increase to a max of 60% , 20% titles and 20% ex titles (weapons/armors with + abilities). The Risk % is tied to a 1/1 chance of you losing your drop rate increase, which is saved between battles. So a 50% risk will make it so you have a 50% chance of losing your counter on being hit after a guard break, or if your attack gets intercepted by an enemy guarding.
Characters use SP to increase their skills (no ability to refund). You can slot these skills to add abilities to attack, guard, 2x support and drop increase. So far I have not found a way to increase SP other than leveling, and there are a lot of skills. From the menu, it also seems that multi-classing is possible, but not sure yet. Would suggest saving up to level the classes with maybe an added attack skill. Classes are tied to melee/ranged and magic.
Characters also have ultimate skills, where you build up the trigger for it while attacking (getting hits lowers the counter). Unlike drop rate, this resets after battles unless you have a skill that gives a % chance to save it to the next. So can spam this when you can.
Loot: Tons of it, especially once you increase the drop counter. I've stopped looking at it, and rather after ever 5 or so battles, enter the menu and hit "optimal equip" for the party members. Then after a mission, I use optimal equip again on all characters, then sell off any duplicate weapons, armor or accessory. You get a currency of sorts with them, but not unlocked a store yet.
Some mobs have extra loot that can be obtained by exploiting a weakness (displayed by a locked chest on their name)
Graphics: ... Meh? Not bad, not good. + for having graphical representations of new weapons.
Overall, seems ok so far. Story is interesting with being a "neutral" party carrying an evil, fighting a bigger evil (earlier your demons ally) and helping the one who dragged you to this place against your will who has motives I am unsure of yet. Combat is ok, and becomes more tactical as the risk rises. Bonus breaks sucks.
Not sure what the price is in USD, but it was 20% off two days ago (PS+) and, already not at full price. So $35?
PS: Hardly any Wikis or information about what things do when you search, so don't expect to easily find item/skill guides and the likes.I don't think many people play the game.
Didn't find any large reviews of it, so here is a random one
