Posted: Tue May 07, 2019 5:44 pm
This might seem harsh, but I just do not think it was a very good game.
Pros
-Tons of stat-up items allowing you to grow your characters as you want.
-About 20 side quests.
-The music is nice. Nothing groundbreaking, but it does not detract from the game.
-You have a lot of accessories, giving the player freedom to try out different ones, and thus, different strategies according to the boss they are facing. Common for kemco games, but I feel like Kemco excels with that, giving the player a lot of interesting accessories.
Cons
-This is a 3D game, but there is no movable camera. For a 3D game, the world does not really feel all that open. In fact the opposite is true, much of the game consists of tight paths and corridors.
-You can see the enemies, but due to the tight paths/corridors it is very hard to pass them, if passing is what you want to do. Players at least deserve that possibility. They also stay still, no moving. Chrono Trigger in 1995 and Lufia 2 (also 1995) had view-able enemies but they moved, adding to the strategy and fun of dodging enemies and sneaking up on them! Sometimes you don't dodge, sometimes you do, but it added to the game! Missed opportunity for kemco here.
-TOO MANY boring, dull conversations. Really, very mundane. Sometimes it felt like every few minutes, your party would stop and talk about... something. Personally I just started skipping past the conversations. I just wanted to play the game!
-Which brings me to my next point: The game is based on an interesting premise but the story never fully takes off and feels forced (part of that are the constant breaks in the action every time you enter a new place or see a new portal, or go back to town, etc.). Their is no real depth to the characters either. I didn't care about any of them.
-Many of the mechanics have already been seen in other Kemco games: The garden where you plant seeds and get fruits later on, the weapon crafting with effects to add to your weapon. Both good ideas for one game, but they've been done a ton at this point. The magic and skill system seem all too familiar. You also have a limit break-like system where a gauge slowly feels to 100% but none of the skills/magic are very interesting/innovative so the limit break, though useful and showing off a long chain of skills, doesn't look all that interesting either, plus it makes the game very easy.
-You can jump. But only straight up and landing in the same place. And just to get coins. Other than that, this mechanic was not explored at all. In fact, the game had some decent ideas while on the field, but they never felt fully fleshed out. The small passages only the fairy could get to, the breakable boulders, the ropes only the girl could walk on, etc. You are introduced to each of these but you do not see too many chances to use them throughout the game. Another missed chance. You also have a few timed fairy obstacle courses. This could have been really fun, but again, you are just given a small taste and nothing more.
-Sound effects - Many are recycled from older games. Small gripe, but goes along with a larger theme, nothing really seems fresh in this game.
-As I said a lot of side quests, but nothing groundbreaking, just a lot of fetch quests and finding very specific monsters. This is common for kemco side quests though, nothing groundbreaking or adding to the story, just get 20 of these or kill 10 of those, etc.
Overall, I feel like this game was more of an experiment from Kemco and should have been offered as "freemium" with a small price tag for people who wanted to start the game with some in-game currency. This did not feel like a full game worthy of even a $5 and in fact, felt like a poorly made playstation 1 rpg from the mid 90s when the system was first released.
Pros
-Tons of stat-up items allowing you to grow your characters as you want.
-About 20 side quests.
-The music is nice. Nothing groundbreaking, but it does not detract from the game.
-You have a lot of accessories, giving the player freedom to try out different ones, and thus, different strategies according to the boss they are facing. Common for kemco games, but I feel like Kemco excels with that, giving the player a lot of interesting accessories.
Cons
-This is a 3D game, but there is no movable camera. For a 3D game, the world does not really feel all that open. In fact the opposite is true, much of the game consists of tight paths and corridors.
-You can see the enemies, but due to the tight paths/corridors it is very hard to pass them, if passing is what you want to do. Players at least deserve that possibility. They also stay still, no moving. Chrono Trigger in 1995 and Lufia 2 (also 1995) had view-able enemies but they moved, adding to the strategy and fun of dodging enemies and sneaking up on them! Sometimes you don't dodge, sometimes you do, but it added to the game! Missed opportunity for kemco here.
-TOO MANY boring, dull conversations. Really, very mundane. Sometimes it felt like every few minutes, your party would stop and talk about... something. Personally I just started skipping past the conversations. I just wanted to play the game!
-Which brings me to my next point: The game is based on an interesting premise but the story never fully takes off and feels forced (part of that are the constant breaks in the action every time you enter a new place or see a new portal, or go back to town, etc.). Their is no real depth to the characters either. I didn't care about any of them.
-Many of the mechanics have already been seen in other Kemco games: The garden where you plant seeds and get fruits later on, the weapon crafting with effects to add to your weapon. Both good ideas for one game, but they've been done a ton at this point. The magic and skill system seem all too familiar. You also have a limit break-like system where a gauge slowly feels to 100% but none of the skills/magic are very interesting/innovative so the limit break, though useful and showing off a long chain of skills, doesn't look all that interesting either, plus it makes the game very easy.
-You can jump. But only straight up and landing in the same place. And just to get coins. Other than that, this mechanic was not explored at all. In fact, the game had some decent ideas while on the field, but they never felt fully fleshed out. The small passages only the fairy could get to, the breakable boulders, the ropes only the girl could walk on, etc. You are introduced to each of these but you do not see too many chances to use them throughout the game. Another missed chance. You also have a few timed fairy obstacle courses. This could have been really fun, but again, you are just given a small taste and nothing more.
-Sound effects - Many are recycled from older games. Small gripe, but goes along with a larger theme, nothing really seems fresh in this game.
-As I said a lot of side quests, but nothing groundbreaking, just a lot of fetch quests and finding very specific monsters. This is common for kemco side quests though, nothing groundbreaking or adding to the story, just get 20 of these or kill 10 of those, etc.
Overall, I feel like this game was more of an experiment from Kemco and should have been offered as "freemium" with a small price tag for people who wanted to start the game with some in-game currency. This did not feel like a full game worthy of even a $5 and in fact, felt like a poorly made playstation 1 rpg from the mid 90s when the system was first released.
