LT: I knew pretty early the scope of the universe, the level, and the script, so I made my dream soundtrack. For example, I would take a level and would want to write three environment tracks, two battle themes, and one boss theme. I do that for the whole game and — one by one — I’d write the track for five years until the end.

This is what's so nuts to me about this soundtrack. It's not only quality; it's quantity too. Those who have played the JRPGs that inspired this game know: for the entire game, you get a few regular battle themes, a few boss themes, and a final boss theme. Some of the consensus top soundtracks in the genre aren't this big. Yet this single composer did multiples for each level. Only the biggest projects in the genre get this kind of treatment.

I'm glad Broche gave Testard so much run for this game, and gave him the tools to make it sound great, too.

[–] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 4 points 23 hours ago

I need someone to translate it all

[–] Pilferjinx@lemmy.world -2 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

The gameplay is mediocre but the storytelling, soundtrack, and atmosphere are amazingly good. One of the few games I want to finish in quite some time.

[–] Chronographs@lemmy.zip 22 points 23 hours ago (2 children)

I loved the gameplay as well, it seems like a fresh take on the classic turn based jrpg formula

[–] mysticpickle@lemmy.ca 2 points 15 hours ago

I mean, Super Mario RPG did it first. But yeah it's a winning formula :>

[–] WhiteBurrito@lemmy.world 4 points 22 hours ago (2 children)

How is it mediocre?

[–] Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world 1 points 21 hours ago (5 children)

Im pretty early into the game so my opinion might change but I simply cannot believe how important dodging and parrying is to the outcome of pretty much any battle. I cannot survive any battle without dodging or parrying pretty much every single attack. Id say I get one-shot by like 75% of enemies I face and can survive at most 3 hits from everything else. I literally never have used Gustaves overcharge at full charge because I haven't had a fight last long enough to fill it up. I either parry and counter attack to win. Or can't time it right and die instantly. There's virtually no in between so far.

Again, this might change later and maybe the difficulty is the problem (I'm trying it on expert) but I'm genuinely surprised at how vital it is to dodge and parry so far. Every fight just comes down to whether or not I can dodge every attack. Still liking the game and all but dang, kinda rough gameplay.

[–] mysticpickle@lemmy.ca 4 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

I'm trying it on expert

Sounds like a skill issue bro.

[–] Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

Lmao I love this take. Must be a skill issue. I don't have a problem with the parry window or the difficulty parrying. It's fine. The issue I have is that there is absolutely no strategy in the game so far besides, parry/dodge and counter attack. No skills matter at all, no proccing, no synergy, no need to even think about elemental weaknesses. Everything just comes down to whether or not you can parry/dodge.

Again, this may change as I'm only a few hours in but it is surprising (imo) in a game like this to see none of that matter really at all.

[–] azertyfun@sh.itjust.works 9 points 20 hours ago

The main difference in difficulty between the modes is the parry window. If your problem is the parry window, switch to normal mode.

I find in normal mode the game is not very hard for main quests, but extremely punitive with the many optional bosses. So if you still want a challenge, they're right there.

[–] gonzo-rand19@moist.catsweat.com 9 points 20 hours ago

Maybe you're just not an expert yet?

[–] calabast@lemm.ee 7 points 21 hours ago

Try switching down from expert mode for one fight.

[–] Ashtear@lemm.ee 7 points 21 hours ago

It's fairly one-note at first, but you will get options later that will allow you to soak some hits. Make sure you're keeping your pictos updated.

That said, yeah, in a game with a fully developed dodge and parry system, you're going to be expected to at least dodge almost everything when playing on high difficulty.

[–] Pilferjinx@lemmy.world 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

It's turn based with timed triggers. It's not bad.

[–] goodeye8@fedia.io 2 points 19 hours ago

In the realm of turn based combat it's pretty good. It has pretty easy to understand skills and mechanics that make it easy to pick up, but then you also get tons of modifiers (pictos and lumina) where the combinations can significantly alter how your character plays. And the timed triggers removes probably the worst aspect of turn based combat, the passivity. You can't just sit there and wait while your character does a thing and then the enemy does a thing. You have to time your attacks but more importantly you have to identify what attack your enemy will do so you'd know if you need to dodge, parry, jump or gradient counter and then also time them correctly. It's far more engaging than your average turn based combat.

The mediocre part of the gameplay are the side activities usually related to gestrals. I'm gonna vent now because my experience popped into my mind and it pissed me off again. Nothing infuriated me more than that stupid beach volley ball. Thank you for putting a fixed camera at an angle where it's really hard to see the middle gestral throw and also your position in relation to where the gestral is going to land. The amount of times I lost the hard volley ball because I couldn't see the middle gestral until it was too late really made me question how this even passed QA. And the reason I couldn't just focus on the middle gestrals was because I had to focus on making sure my attack would actually connect with the gestral. The marker on the ground is just purely decorative as I had multiple occasions where I would attack squarely on the marker only for the gestral to still land and take a point away. AND FOR THE LOVE OF SOPHIE DO NOT THROW OUT GESTRALS FASTER THAN I CAN ATTACK. I almost beat the hardest volley ball match, except I didn't beat it because I literally could not attack fast enough to send back the last gestral. I would just sit there, in perfect position, punching the attack button like a maniac and then watching how the gestral lands on the ground because the attack simply would not happen. Fuck beach volley. End of rant. Actually no, fuck beach volley again stupid fucking minigame. Now it's over.

TLDR: gameplay good.