Yoru no Nai Kuni, or The Land Without Night, is an action game by Gust Corporation. Gust is best known for the Atelier games and its many spin-offs, and IIRC this is their first action game. YNNK is delightfully Gust, in both good and bad ways.
Good include attention to detail and a refined, subtly complex but not overwhelming upgrade system; the game also benefits of a good pacing, unlike some of the Atelier games. The bad include floaty controls (though they are tighter than usual) and the fact that Gust's inexperience with action games shows even during the first moments of the game.
The story develops around humans battling demons. Humans were able to defeat the Ruler of the Night, but his blue blood rained upon hapless people, turning them into monsters able to steal night-time from others. Players take control of Arnas, a hunter for the church. Arnas cae in contact with the Ruler's blood, but rather than turning into a monster, she gained the power to enslave and summon monsters and the ability to suck hostile monsters' blood to grow in strength.
The monsters Arnas is able to summon are called Servans; she starts off with two of them, a small dragon and a fairy, but quickly gains two others Servans. Servans will help Arnas in battle until their death, and essentially act as an AI-controlled party; Servans can't be ordered around individually but there are four tactics to give them some direction.
Arnas herself is a competent fighter; she starts off with a very basic set of attacks (normal, lunge, area attack that consumes SPs) but her repertoire grows larger as she collects blood and spends it on new moves. As the game goes on, Arnas also gains the ability to change into different forms; right now I only have unlocked her fire-based demonic form, and based on menu structure there are at least three other alternate forms.
Combat is fast, but not particularly good. Arnas' and the enemies' attacks lack weight, making difficult to judge if something hits you or you hit something. The lock-on helps in minimising camera movement, but it doesn't lock on new enemies once one is defeated; this is not a big deal against bosses, that usually act alone, but it is a problem against mid-bosses, that usually bring along a good number of cannon fodder enemies. In these situations, targeting what you want is particularly difficult, as the lock-on seemingly jumps to random enemies, rather to what's on front of you or toward what you're pointing the right analog stick at. The right analog works for camera control, but once locked onto something (R3), you can switch targets by flicking it.
There is no jump or guard button, but you can dodge attacks with a roll.
From the first two hours, I'd say that the combat does its job, but there's a lot of room for improvement. Maybe things will become more interestng when alternate forms and more advanced techniques are unlocked. What I can say, it's not bad, it's just shallow.
The game graphics scream "Gust!" all over the place. Character models and animations are very well crafted, as enemies are. Attention has gone into those alone, however, environments are very bland. Few locations, like the Hotel where Arnas lives and serves as a world hub, are finely detailed, but locations where missions take place are devoid of all but the most basic details; the few details that are there are indestructible and have some nasty pop-ups. On the plus side, the game runs at 60fps (at least on the PS4), although there are few hicchups when particle-based effects (like cut bushes) are involved.
Music is somewhat unsual for a Gust title, featuring a lot of electric guitars and a rockey feeling to it; Gust is not new to rock tracks, but those are usually short intermissions for special attacks; the BGMs work in the game's favour, but are overpowered by effects and voices.
Good include attention to detail and a refined, subtly complex but not overwhelming upgrade system; the game also benefits of a good pacing, unlike some of the Atelier games. The bad include floaty controls (though they are tighter than usual) and the fact that Gust's inexperience with action games shows even during the first moments of the game.
The story develops around humans battling demons. Humans were able to defeat the Ruler of the Night, but his blue blood rained upon hapless people, turning them into monsters able to steal night-time from others. Players take control of Arnas, a hunter for the church. Arnas cae in contact with the Ruler's blood, but rather than turning into a monster, she gained the power to enslave and summon monsters and the ability to suck hostile monsters' blood to grow in strength.
The monsters Arnas is able to summon are called Servans; she starts off with two of them, a small dragon and a fairy, but quickly gains two others Servans. Servans will help Arnas in battle until their death, and essentially act as an AI-controlled party; Servans can't be ordered around individually but there are four tactics to give them some direction.
Arnas herself is a competent fighter; she starts off with a very basic set of attacks (normal, lunge, area attack that consumes SPs) but her repertoire grows larger as she collects blood and spends it on new moves. As the game goes on, Arnas also gains the ability to change into different forms; right now I only have unlocked her fire-based demonic form, and based on menu structure there are at least three other alternate forms.
Combat is fast, but not particularly good. Arnas' and the enemies' attacks lack weight, making difficult to judge if something hits you or you hit something. The lock-on helps in minimising camera movement, but it doesn't lock on new enemies once one is defeated; this is not a big deal against bosses, that usually act alone, but it is a problem against mid-bosses, that usually bring along a good number of cannon fodder enemies. In these situations, targeting what you want is particularly difficult, as the lock-on seemingly jumps to random enemies, rather to what's on front of you or toward what you're pointing the right analog stick at. The right analog works for camera control, but once locked onto something (R3), you can switch targets by flicking it.
There is no jump or guard button, but you can dodge attacks with a roll.
From the first two hours, I'd say that the combat does its job, but there's a lot of room for improvement. Maybe things will become more interestng when alternate forms and more advanced techniques are unlocked. What I can say, it's not bad, it's just shallow.
The game graphics scream "Gust!" all over the place. Character models and animations are very well crafted, as enemies are. Attention has gone into those alone, however, environments are very bland. Few locations, like the Hotel where Arnas lives and serves as a world hub, are finely detailed, but locations where missions take place are devoid of all but the most basic details; the few details that are there are indestructible and have some nasty pop-ups. On the plus side, the game runs at 60fps (at least on the PS4), although there are few hicchups when particle-based effects (like cut bushes) are involved.
Music is somewhat unsual for a Gust title, featuring a lot of electric guitars and a rockey feeling to it; Gust is not new to rock tracks, but those are usually short intermissions for special attacks; the BGMs work in the game's favour, but are overpowered by effects and voices.
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