Some distinctive pros: -There are several different builds with distinct play-styles for each character. They all work and are enjoyable. Ex: a character will have a build for spellcaster, archer and dex-based melee. -Different types of weapons and armor will have different magical and non-magical bonuses. Ex: two-handed hammer with bonus damaged based on percentage of your strength and a one-handed sword with bonus to accuracy and dodge. -Very customizable game: choose attributes, skills, combat arts, and equipment. Make combat art combos and socket your equipment. I have fond memories of exploring the world of Ancaria and doing side quests while listening to metal music. Some cons: If you don’t invest in magic find on your equipment and the trading skill, most of the items you find from enemies or stores is trash. It gets worse on higher difficulty levels. I rarely changed my gear and relied more on my innate build. There was less worrying about the RNG of loot, I guess. Traveling through the map might be slow for some players. With planning, forethought and jumping combat arts it won’t be a problem. But some will feel upset from the lack of portals, warp-to-town mechanic, and move speed. I feel like playing the higher difficulties, gold, platinum, niobium, is pretty boring and pointless. Maybe it’s just me.
To me, it is mainly a puzzle platformer played for the story. The first thing I noticed about the game was the incredible graphic style made by joining good pixel art with high quality special effects. Love the wind and rain. It immediately attracted me. Second was the atmosphere that is a well made dark and sad atmosphere created by uniting the graphics, music and chilling sound effects. The sound effects were really good (and loud). The puzzles and exploration might remind older gamers of the PS1 era resident evils and silent hills. I recommend finding the Pain Crystals and listening to the Storytellers tales. Great story, lovely narration, plenty of things to find, and an ending that is both sad and happy make this a great artistic game that people should play. “Do you remember it? That tale about flowers?”
This was the second indie game I played, that was back in 2013, so it has a special place in my heart and brain. It’s a puzzle platformer, with a time controlling mechanic and a nice story. It’s made with love and care, and it shows. Graphics are good. Contrary to what some say, I liked the graphics very much. The backgrounds look especially nice. It’s like you are in a painting, haha, very intentional. Music is nice. The music is calm and soothing. This fits the in-game scenario and helps keep your mind calm while trying to solve the puzzles. The platforming, puzzles and time mechanics are fun. The game gives you, at a proper pace, the knowledge and tools you need to beat it. They are well thought out. At the end of a world you will meet a brown dinosaur called a Greeter. I love the Greeters and the things they say. World 4 Greeter is the best, poor dino. The story is great. The plot twist at the end is a wow. The ending is alluded to so it doesn’t come out of nowhere. Read the books at the beginning of each world. Think about them. Pay attention to the paintings. Greeters’ dialogues are part of the story.
This was the first indie game I played, that was back in 2013, so it has a special place in my heart and brain. It’s a puzzle platformer with a dark atmosphere and it does both things right. It’s made with love and care, and it shows. The puzzles are well thought out. Some are more direct/obvious and involve crates, switches, buttons, and levers. Others are more environmental, and involve traps, falling platforms, deadly obstacles. Some are more mechanical with automatic guns, electric floors, buzz saws, and moving gears. There’s also enemies that require fleeing or facing. The atmosphere is eerie. It feels threatening, like you are in danger, but there isn’t something directly and immediately trying to kill you. You are a defenseless child in a dangerous world. Several puzzles seem like they are fears of the child. I love how the game does “darkness” without making everything hard to see and claustrophobic. It’s a black foreground with a white faint glowing background. Few games get this right. The music and sound effects are good and match the situation. There are times when the music picks up or gets louder to help bring the moment to life. Examples are when you flee from three enemies, when you meet and “solve” the flying bug, the mechanical sounds in the factory area, and the music when you find the last glowing egg in the darkness. You will die a lot, but the checkpoints are well placed and fair. No worries. “Running off will get you nowhere”
