Pier Solar and the Great Architects

in library

3.5/5

( 16 Reviews )

3.5

16 Reviews

English & 5 more

Overall most helpful review

Posted on: April 3, 2015

TyanmirRise

Verified owner

Games: 344 Reviews: 3

I so desperately wanted to love this

BUT.... The absolute tedium when it came to battle. The cookie-cutter story that doesn't seem to do much more than rehash old story beats from more famous JRPG greats. I got Pier Solar of a deal fairly recently after a LONG time of eyeing it on my Wishlist and have been quite disappointed. Especially coming off of something a tad similar like "The Legend of Heroes - Trails in the Sky" (I realize that this may not be a fair comparison but is the only one that comes to mind from the games I've recently played. Pier Solar has some good bits. The music both HDified and otherwise possesses a certain charm that is almost on par with the classics. The art style is actually pretty good when in HD visuals. Even the ambient sound design on FM or PCM are quite great. Again, sadly, that would be about it. When you have a lengthy adventure with a story that shows so many missed opportunities to shine. When your combat system is too tedious for its own good coupled with an atrocious random battle encounter rate. And when you're ONLY great characters are the main three that you meet early on (dependent on the flawed story of course).... Then there is a problem. Coming from a generation that enjoyed older JRPG greats like FFIV that Pier Solar was clearly trying to emulate, it's a great shame that it comes short at all.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: October 25, 2014

ArmVM

Games: 7 Reviews: 1

Old school RPG

If you like games like Lunar or cosmic fantasy, you will love this game for sure . To the person talking about the portraits, they're obviously better than the original ones and have been created by the character designer of the game. These portraits were already in the manual of the Megadrive game. If you're minsinformed, you should try the HD game because the original graphics and musics are also available in case you prefer them.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: January 14, 2015

RagingChaos

Verified owner

Games: 965 Reviews: 16

Solid Genesis-styled JRPG

After a few hours under my belt I gotta say I am reasonably impressed with Pier Solar. The story hasn't gotten overbearing or lost in the monotony of repetition like some JRPGs of yesteryear. It feels more believable and has more relateable characters than some of the more cliche JRPGs that tend to get shoveled around the market. There is very little hand holding(thank god) so you can easily get stuck if you don't pay attention to dialog. This game feels similiar to Phantasy Star, Shining Force, Lunar, Sword of Vermillion, and Landstalker with a few modern amenities. If you enjoyed those titles, you will likely enjoy this game. Speaking of amenities, the version of this game offered on GOG features an "HD" and a "16-bit" modes for graphics. The HD mode uses really nice refined textures for the environment and portraits BUT still has low resolution sprites. This... is jarring and inconsistent to me. I was unable to pay attention to the game's dialog when playing in this mode. The "16-bit" mode is essentially how it looked when they released in the Sega CD, which was in 2010 mind you! The 16-bit mode looks rougher but is more visually consistent and easier for me to enjoy. There is also two music modes offered FM and PCM. FM is how it sounded on the Sega and PCM is... maybe how it was originally intended to sound but couldn't since it was released on the Sega CD which had awful limitations on sound quality?? Yea, let's go with that. Regardless, FM mode sounds a touch closer to what you'd expect a 16-bit game to have, but certain instrument sounds are just cringe worthy. PCM mode sounds amazing on good speakers. It doesn't quite fit the 16-bit graphic style but it just sounds so pleasant . So there you have it, a solid genesis-like JRPG with multiple VIsual and Audio options to make it as modernized or retro as you like. Hats off to the developers for having the options to switch between the different modes on the fly in the middle of the game.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: June 10, 2015

Redfern

Verified owner

Games: 451 Reviews: 34

Actually, not so great

This game, just after it was released was one of my "Wishlisted for real" games. So, i got it once and...picture is bright, plot, from start looks nice, albeit way too filled with stamps, but after you get on you first expedition. Fights. A lot of them. All random. All repetitive. Quite boring. That was my first disappointment. Next, actual plot. It filled with holes, hints which quite hard to see, and situations with "i dunno that to do now". Whole story doesnt touching that much too. Balance is another problem. First "island" is easy enough, but on second you encounted powerful enemies with poison and game instantly get hard and so on. Dint get me wrong, i think developers really did put a lot of efforts, they even made pretty much working Linux port, even with gamepad REALLY working, but game overall just doesnt catch your interest. Maybe, it would be better with more ARPG style, then traditional, game would be faster and played would not losing all interest in repetitive battles.

Is this helpful to you?

Posted on: July 17, 2015

zeldafan2001

Verified owner

Games: 105 Reviews: 3

Fantastic Old scool turnbased rpg

This is an amazing retro turnbased rpg full of nostalgia. This game reminds me of many classics that i enjoyed in my youth many times over such as Lunar, Grandia, Final fantasy (the older better ones (10 backwards)), Dragon Warrior etc. The team that designed this game clearly loved oldschool RPGS and put a great deal of effort into this title. Some noteworther features are *16 bit graphics and hd graphics (switchable on the fly) *classic music resembling that of midi music found in 16 bit era *hand drawn visuals *great level design that encourages exploration A definate must buy for anyone who loves oldschool RPGS.

Is this helpful to you?

...

User reviews

Something went wrong. Try refresh page.

This game is waiting for a review. Take the first shot!

{{ item.percentage }}%

Awaiting more reviews

An error occurred. Please try again later.

Other ratings

Add a review

Edit a review

Your rating:

Stars and all fields are required

Not sure what to say? Start with this:

What kept you playing?
What kind of gamer would enjoy this?
Was the game fair, tough, or just right?
What’s one feature that really stood out?
Did the game run well on your setup?

Inappropriate content. Your reviews contain bad language. Inappropriate content. Links are not allowed. Inappropriate content. Content contains gibberish. Review title is too short. Review title is too long. Review description is too short. Review description is too long.

Not sure what to write?

You cannot save your review due to the following reasons:

You need to select star rating
You need to enter review title
You need to enter the content of your review

Filters:

No reviews matching your criteria

English Deutsch polski français русский 中文(简体) Others

Verified owners Others

Last 30 days Last 90 days Last 6 months Whenever

After release During Early Access

Discover CD PROJEKT RED games

Highlights

Featured

Close, but not an exact hit

Pier Solar and the Great Architects

Other ratings

Add a review

Edit a review

Delete this review?

Report this review

Additional Details (required):

Report this review