Relayer Advanced

I was very excited when I saw this title, which prompted me to buy the bundle. I was in the mood for SRPGs and thought this game would cure that itch. Pros: -The game starts off really strong with awesome mech combat and voice acting. -Watching the cool battle cutscenes was entertaining, at first. -There are a variety of weapons and the mech designs looked appealing. -Some of the characters were more likeable than others, but most of them were interesting enough to keep me invested. Cons: -The gameplay becomes extremely repetitive and mundane. Every battle essentially plays out the same with little variation. Wait, buff, kill stragglers, and then blitz. That is the formula I used from start to finish with the occasional passive skill modifications. -Cast of characters is too large, minimizing screen-time for heroes I preferred. -Ridiculously grindy. Relayer's only strategy to make the game more difficult is by raising the level of your enemies. I don't know what the level cap is but it's well over 100. -Story was mildly entertaining and felt rushed towards the end. -Variation in mechs is super limited. -Weapons are rather boring and lack variety. Conclusion: I honestly believe this game has so much potential to be amazing but it just fell short. If the devs decided to shorten the story and focus on more on robust gameplay, it wouldn't have fallen so flat. Instead of extending the longevity of the game, they should have improved the strategic elements of combat with greater variation in the abilities each character learns. Also, lessening the number of heroes to improve the quality of each would have been more impactful. However, if you're someone who enjoys a grindy game for the sake of it, then this would appeal to you. There's definitely a ton of content to be had, albeit mediocre. The DLCs weren't all that worthwhile, as it just gives you stronger mechs. Sadly, this title is a tough sell but I'll be looking forward to the changes in the sequel, if it's made.

The gameplay and story are dull. But not dull enough to drop entirely. It's a solid game to kill time while listening to music or podcasts. If you've already played the slew of excellent releases in the past couple years and you still need a taste of the genre, Relayer is barely good enough to get the job done. Also a very bare bones PC port. Options are pretty much 720 or 1080. You can play with a controller but it'll still show keyboard icons. [Shift] is Y/Triangle on a controller, you'll need it to put the dialog on auto. But you can go run errands as some of these segments go over half an hour and the characters & narrative a real nothing burger.

Over all the game honestly okay definitly not worth the price tag by any streach of the imagination, but its more of a visual novel than a game. with that being the case the pacing and the way the story is told is deeply important. this game missed that balance badly. you spend 30 min listening to a story for 5 min of game play that does not match what the story indicates is happening. which confuses the plot they needed to have more going on durring the battles allowing for them to help tell the story isntead of having them in a sense tacked on.

This games strength lies in combat strategy and gameplay. Characters are rather one dimensional and very stereotypic in a anime sense, you will figure that out quickly when starting to play the game. Furthermore story isnt anything special and neither does it grab you with it at any moment. It is more like something to keep gameplay going on and while not utterly bad, you really just dont care enough about it. Regarding combat and upgrading your mechas, you get to select and accuire different passive/active skills, purchase and equip different armors/weapons.. equipment will be unlocked with the story progress, skills are unlocked on skill tree and experiences you will gain on battles. After main story there is "end content" with quite a lot of alternative story and battles with it. Cannot comment much on that since my interest didnt keep on with end content, but it is worth noting there definitely is enough content for asking price. Play and stay for battles, not for characters or story.