izigame.me

why haven't you bought this game yet?
-active-time-battle-combat done right
-which goes hand in hand with excellent character-systems
you get stats over stats, like you'd expect in a much bigger budget titel
str (for raw damage), accuracity (important cause of other mechanics aswell), crit, counter, armor, etc.
it is all here;
but then it goes to REAL rpg levels with an extensive amount of gear choices.
while the weapon (type) is fixed per character the other slots are all open for "artifacts" (all gear basicaly)
and these artifacts are incredible well done:
on hit procs like blind or slow; armor or pure damage up/side grades, active turn buffs, increases to your stats, resists and whatnot: the list is on a level publishers/developers like Square can only dream of.
but it don't here: combat ain't just attacking, ability use and/or casting spells (summons), there is an ability point system aswell.
basicaly each attack you hit, each attack you deflect (active parry, but with an easy timeframe and good windup) nets you ability points for this bar, as does a kill or skipping a turn for the selected character (up to 3 points); this bar starts out at 10 and you can find upgrades (power cells) throughout the game to increase it's max.
each character has their very own unique abilities which use this bar as a ressource.
then there is the summon/capture system. basicaly nigh every standart or boss enemy can be captured (think SMT). bring down their health bar and use the capture-ability;
these summons are not quite like spells in other games like reviews claimed. they are more akin to summon.
your cast pool is quite low and at best you will be able to use summons 2 or 3 times per battle for much of the game (without popping consumables).
but their "spells" become ever more helpfull: standart damage spells (with an elemental affinity system), party wide buffs (protect, haste, etc.); for some of the optional stuff/bosses they are down right critical.
then there is the photo- or scan feature: two characters in your party can scan enemies or other people, critters, etc. out of combat; which nets you a neat photo (with a small descibtion in a photo-menu), but lets you see enemy health bars or serves as a collectathon for side-quests.
then there is a crafting system which lets you craft consumables and artifacts (gear). materials are dropped by enemies or bought in stores.
each dungeon is tight and doesn't overstay it's welcome. each area and dungeon feeling unqiue, not just cause of audio-visual design (excellent), but because each has their own little puzzle, riddle or gimmick.
there is minigames and while i usualy hate those in (j)rpgs i 100% each one i encounterd here cause they were actualy fun.
like the hover bike racing: think a very basic Wipeout 1 meets SNES.
you get your own spaceship, where your crew hangs out (for conversation) and you can travel between different planets, heck even warp to over systems all on a very neat looking "overworld" map.
and there is so much more.
all this looking stunning. beeing eldricht-alien-like factories, mechanical contraptions walking across endless fields of snow or lush and vibrant jungle planets, with a more deserty area beeing one of my favorites (the backround detail is out of this world): this is one of the best looking games i got in my collection.
the colors pop, the anmations are lovebale, each scene has clearly been designed with care, love and integrety. somone realy wanted this game to look good.
and to top it all off: the OST is brilliant. the quality and mixing make even something like Persona 3 Reload look old. electro bangers, deep base, mixed with more instrumental inspired compositions...this is an OST you can listen to while driving.
the plot also touches on some more intersting concepts and actualy managed to surprise me here and there; but despite what your first impressions might be: there is quite some murder, horror and thriller elements here.
the game starts out feeling more like your run of the mill artsy 2D/3D mini rpg
but it quickly turns into a real meaty game, developed with so much care and skill that it makes some of the "bigger" releases the last couple of years look realy bad.
it is downright ciminal how little attention this masterpiece has gotten. one of my all time favorites and well earned.