Hey everyone, we already had a few of these "my thoughts" posts here, so I thought I'd throw my two cents out there too. I will not mention any spoilers or any specific elements you wouldn't see during your first hour of play. Also note, that this is all my opinion. TL;DR at the bottom.
Preamble:
I gotta say, I'm truly baffled. Few games actually left me in such a state of joy and longing after completion.
This game is such a treat, something I'd even consider a 10/10 experience, and I am absolutely real with this.
Story & Characters:
I've had some concerns regarding the story, since I've read that a few people found it predictable or average-at-best. But after finishing the game myself I'm absolutely glad that I don't agree with these opinions at all (no offense to them though, people and opinions are different).
This game took me for a ride, and I enjoyed it fully. Every single character felt alive and thought out, every single twist hit me like a truck full of emotions and the plot as a whole is wonderfully crafted and thought out.
The way character's personalities are shown and developed is wonderful and makes me actually want to hang out with these people.
The pacing of the game is really good, especially considering how much of an impact the player can have on it through sidequests. Every time I wanted to continue in the main story, I could. And every time I wanted a break from the main story, I had enough other stuff to do. Never did I feel bored while playing or was forced to do something I didn't actually want to do.
I'm also glad I didn't spoil myself in any way, I strongly suggest any reader to do the same.
Gameplay:
The gameplay is so satisfying. At some point I ran loops, killing enemies and staying in combat for about an hour just because I didn't want to stop. Not because I needed to grind, just because the natural flow of the game kept me absolutely hooked.
The basics of combat are easy to understand, but combining said basics with each other and the more advanced combat features unlocked throughout the game requires a certain amount of thought and skill, which makes the game interesting even after hours of playtime.
And since the more complicated enemies are basically like mini-puzzles themselves and have specific patterns, I never felt like I could just run in and press the attack button a bunch of times. It was satisfying to figure them out and create strategies against them.
Puzzles:
The puzzles are awesome. Their difficulty ranges from challenging but easy at the beginning to straight up difficult in the end, but they are always feasible and enjoyable to solve.
New aspects and puzzle elements are always properly introduced for the player to understand them, so when the difficulty is raised and multiple of these aspects are combined, the player knows all of them and has all the pieces to solve the puzzle. This is very important for an enjoyable experience, and the game nails it.
But what especially left me impressed were the secrets and chests in the overworld, where even moving around in a familiar environment turns out to be a challenging task, effectively turning the well-known places the player traverses into puzzles themselves, often without even relying on switches and "puzzle elements".
Visuals:
The first thing that struck me when I first played the Early Access version was how much the game nails the pixel art. The colours are vibrant, the sprites are wonderful and the different effects during combat are really enjoyable to look at.
The environments are nicely designed and all distinct from each other. I really loved finding and exploring them throughout the game.
Soundtrack:
The soundtrack is so fucking awesome. I really can't express how fantastic it is, and just I wish I had 10 minute loops of every song.
Funnily enough, I felt kinda nostalgic when listening to the tracks in-game, since some of them strongly reminded me of Bomberman 64's soundtrack, a game which I loved as a child.
TL;DR:
This game left me speechless. It was the ultimate experience for me, and I am amazed by how well thought out every single aspect of it is. You can really notice the care and effort the devs put into this game and the wait for the final release paid off like I never expected it to do. Thank you, u/RadicalFishGames, you absolutely found yourself a new fan and supporter, and I really hope you keep up the outstanding work for whatever is to come.
Now I just have to wait for the post-game content :(
PS: To all readers who haven't finished the story yet: I don't know whether you'll find spoilers in this thread or not, so be careful down there.
Submitted April 28, 2019 at 04:59PM by Blue_Flame13 http://bit.ly/2INYShH
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