Heirs of the Kings Review (Benkei Kuruma)
I don't know where those 12.5 hours at review time came from, but I feel like I've barely scratched the surface on this one. Lots to sink my teeth into here.
If you've played any other Exe-Create games, you mostly know what to expect. Only this game feels like it loosely belongs less with their SNES/PSX stuff like Asdivine or Alphadia and more with their 8-bit "Dragon series" (i.e., Dragon Sinker, Dragon Lapis, Dragon Prana). Almost as if this game was made in the same "engine" as those games, or a hybrid of the two classes, if you will.
There is a ton and I mean a *TON* of character customization through the Soul Map system, which is similar to the skill system in games like Path of Exile. Each character has their own specific Soul Map to purchase and upgrade passive and active skills, and they unlock more Soul Maps as the game progresses. For example, I just completed the "wind dungeon" and unlocked one of the character's Wind Soul Map, which gives him a bunch of wind-based spells and other passives.
I'll admit, I was actually blown away when I learned characters could use multiple Soul Maps, as I had been only investing in their "main" ones up until I noticed the "Next Soul Map" button. "Oh, so there's all the magic stuff!" Yeah, that's me, the veteran RPG player. <_>
I still have a long way to go, so I'll update my review once I've completed the game. So far, though, I'm having a ton of fun. The story is your typical JRPG stuff - essentially "save the world"; hero is generic naive dude with a sword, immediately joined by a mysterious mage girl with amnesia, a headstrong warrior girl with spear, and an adventurous aristocratic archer with a troubled past. However, the characters are cute and not annoying, and there is enough mystery for me to want to see what happens next. Exe-Create - and honestly, Kemco's other developers as well - always do a really good job delivering exactly what you expect: a B-Movie quality, cozy story with very little filler, endearing characters, tons of awesome combat and character customization, with ways to create completely broken characters by the end of the game. Yummy.