Operation Backlog Completion 2026

Let’s Talk About Earthlock

 Video games  No Responses »  Tagged with:
Jul 252018
 

Octopath Traveler might not have turned out to be quite what I hoped for, but there are quite a few RPGs out there aiming for that old school turn-based JRPG feeling.

I’d like to talk about a recent one I particularly enjoyed, Earthlock from Snowcastle Games.

Two years ago, I reviewed a game called Earthlock: Festival of Magic for MonsterVine. I appreciated its combat system and the inspiration it took from classic JRPGs, but its story fell short of the mark.

Eventually, the developers announced a “should have been” edition. This new version was simply called Earthlock, and owners of the old game got the new one for free. (Although I believe Wii U owners got the Switch version, since the new Earthlock never came to the Wii U.)

I once again reviewed it for MonsterVine, and I was blown away by the changes.

It still has the classic JRPG style and unusual combat system, but it added repeatable side quests, things to do on the world map, cute creatures to collect and populate the home base with, buried treasure to find, and optional conversations between the characters (something I always enjoy).

It also smoothed out the storytelling, filled in the gaps in the plot, and generally made it into a story I was much more interested in this time around.

Earthlock is on all major platforms now, and if you’re interested in nostalgic turn-based RPGs, I recommend giving it a look. In particular, if you decided to avoid the original Earthlock: Festival of Magic because of its reception, you should know that the improvements made to Earthlock are staggering.

The developers are working on an Earthlock 2, and I’m looking forward to it – not only because I enjoyed Earthlock and can’t wait to see what they do with its sequel, but also because I appreciate how they responded when their game didn’t turn out to be quite what it should have been at first.

Is a New Wild Arms Game on the Horizon?

 Video games  8 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Jul 232018
 

Today, Wild Arms fans’ hearts leaped as headlines appeared saying that the Wild Arms developer was hiring for a new PS4 RPG.

Could this be a sign that the mobile game isn’t the only Wild Arms game coming out and that we’ll finally see a new Wild Arms for the PS4?

Well, it might be a little early to get our hopes up.

Yes, Media.Vision is hiring a 2D designer for a PlayStation 4 RPG. Yes, Media.Vision developed the Wild Arms games.

However, it’s not like they’ve been silent ever since then and suddenly emerged from the shadows. Media.Vision has worked on many games since then, including Shining Resonance and Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth.

I mentioned those two in particular because they’re the most likely candidates for a connection to this job post. Since Shining Resonance Refrain just came out, it’s possible there will be another Shining game to follow it. As for Digimon Story, the producer already confirmed that a new Digimon Story game was in development for the PS4, with Hacker’s Memory made to keep fans interested in the meantime.

If I had to guess, I’d say the new PS4 RPG Media.Vision is hiring for is most likely the next Digimon Story game.

But still, we can dream of a day when Wild Arms 6 will be announced. Maybe it will still come true.

I’m Conflicted About Octopath Traveler

 Video games  2 Responses »  Tagged with: ,
Jul 202018
 

If you’d asked me a few months ago, I would have said I was absolutely getting Octopath Traveler. I even planned to pre-order it.

After all, it was one of my most-anticipated games of the year.

I figured there were three possibilities:

  1. You play as each of the 8 characters, and then they team up for an overarching plot.
  2. There is no overarching plot, but all 8 characters help one another with their personal stories.
  3. All 8 stories are completely separate.

#1 was always what I wanted the most, but after they revealed that you could recruit the other characters and see all eight stories in a single playthrough, I figured #2 was the most likely option.

What I hadn’t imagined was that all 8 characters would team up and still somehow have separate stories.

Now that Octopath Traveler has been out for a bit, the mystery of its overarching story has been solved: there is lore and worldbuilding shared across the stories, and there is a post-game dungeon that brings that together.

There is not a larger plot once you complete all eight stories, like some people thought there might be.

And that’s okay. However, what really bugs me from discussions and feedback about the game is that the story cutscenes pretend your party members don’t exist – to the point where some scenes refer to the character being alone even if you have companions with you.

You can recruit Octopath Traveler characters in any order and even skip them if you want, but I’m not asking for the game to have a unique scene for every possible party combination. Even acknowledging that the character has allies with them would be good. But it’s jarring to have multiple characters for combat and banter conversations, then switch to story scenes where the party members suddenly don’t exist.

But let’s forget about that for a minute. All right, so it’s effectively 8 individual stories, but you have a party for gameplay reasons. Okay. How are the stories?

When I played the first Octopath Traveler demo, the stories for Primrose and Olberic both had me interested. Unfortunately, it seems like there’s a general consensus that the story/writing is the weakest part of Octopath Traveler. People who love it praise the gameplay, but I’ve seen enough comments about the story being weak to make me worry.

I love a good turn-based JRPG, but the story and characters are what really keep me invested. Bravely Default has been heralded was one of the greatest returns to traditional JRPG gameplay, but I was so uninterested in the story and characters that I couldn’t stick with it.

What do you think? Octopath Traveler was one of my most-anticipated games of 2018, but mainly for the story. Should I give it a chance? Or is this one I should pass on after all?

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