Surprised there was no first play for this given it's a well regarded series.
It's set 30 years after the last game (which I haven't played) and you play the kids of the heros of the last game.
I'm a big chunk of the way through the game now and the big overall plot is... you are on a journey to repair a broken glider!(!!!) It's clear there's a bit more to the overall story but I've put a good 15+ hours into the game now and the objective is still pretty much the same flimsy premise that was set up in the first 5 minutes.
That's not entirely a critisism, there's still clearly some big plot going on in the background but this is all revealed to objectives you get given as you're forced to get a bit sidetracked from the main quest to proceed... Then you're forced to get sidetracked from that.... and then you get sidetracked from that. I think I counted five levels of objectives you need to complete where I am currently:
.
The dungeons themselves are full of puzzles you solve using alchemy abilities. The random battles actually are less frequent than the puzzles you have to solve. The puzzles can be a bit creative but the frequency and simplicity of them make them a bit of a chore. You never really have to stop and think. Less frequent but harder puzzles would be more welcome. The fact you can only assign 2 abilities to quick access buttons is a pain given that most dungeons require 3 or 4 abilities to be used.
The battle system is quick, looks great (some of the best models on the 3DS) and is challenging but the Djinn system is incredibly confusing. You collect Djinn on your travels that you assign to get stat and ability boosts but confusingly adding djinns can cause you to lose abilities (problematic when you lose healing) and stat boosts aren't made clear. Also there's a standby system for summons and Djinn abilities that leaves me scratching my head. There was a tutorial but I couldn't make heads or tails of it.
Overall it's a quality RPG but it does take the piss a bit with how much of a slog it is sometimes. Issues with pacing and general slowness of dungeons stop this being a classic.
It's set 30 years after the last game (which I haven't played) and you play the kids of the heros of the last game.
I'm a big chunk of the way through the game now and the big overall plot is... you are on a journey to repair a broken glider!(!!!) It's clear there's a bit more to the overall story but I've put a good 15+ hours into the game now and the objective is still pretty much the same flimsy premise that was set up in the first 5 minutes.
That's not entirely a critisism, there's still clearly some big plot going on in the background but this is all revealed to objectives you get given as you're forced to get a bit sidetracked from the main quest to proceed... Then you're forced to get sidetracked from that.... and then you get sidetracked from that. I think I counted five levels of objectives you need to complete where I am currently:
.
The dungeons themselves are full of puzzles you solve using alchemy abilities. The random battles actually are less frequent than the puzzles you have to solve. The puzzles can be a bit creative but the frequency and simplicity of them make them a bit of a chore. You never really have to stop and think. Less frequent but harder puzzles would be more welcome. The fact you can only assign 2 abilities to quick access buttons is a pain given that most dungeons require 3 or 4 abilities to be used.
The battle system is quick, looks great (some of the best models on the 3DS) and is challenging but the Djinn system is incredibly confusing. You collect Djinn on your travels that you assign to get stat and ability boosts but confusingly adding djinns can cause you to lose abilities (problematic when you lose healing) and stat boosts aren't made clear. Also there's a standby system for summons and Djinn abilities that leaves me scratching my head. There was a tutorial but I couldn't make heads or tails of it.
Overall it's a quality RPG but it does take the piss a bit with how much of a slog it is sometimes. Issues with pacing and general slowness of dungeons stop this being a classic.
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