This one was one of those games that looks like it could be fantastic based on the trailer but then when you actually start to play it the game quickly becomes extremely disappointing. I can't put my finger on exactly what the problem is here but I think it could be a question of the developers attempting to bite off a bit more than they could possibly chew. The end result doesn't looked finished and right from the start the game is glitchy, has wonky controls, and the story is just entirely too long with tons of honestly, unnecessary dialogue.
When my allotted one hour of time trying this game was over, I was quite happy to hang it up and there is no chance I will go back to play it again.
Fans of anime might get roped in the same way that I did because the trailer looks like the game is going to have a pretty fantastic art style and the combat is a mixture of RPG and action, which is good but not really all the unique. To be honest, I don't really look for unique when I start a new game because there are certain mechanics that appear in most games that honestly just already work and we don't need to re-invent the wheel just because it is a new game.
The game starts out with an honestly, too long video intro that I ended up skipping as soon as it would let me because I had already seen the trailer and was aware of the fact that eventually I was going to be in charge of a group of team-mates that all had different skill-sets that made the semi-open world more of something that could only be accessed once you have found all of the other members.
I never made it beyond the 2nd character because I found the combat to almost immediately be super-repetitive and the forced platforming was so difficult to control that it wasn't that it was difficult, it was that it was just simply unfair BECAUSE of the controls. For example: Right out of the gate you are forced to traverse these vines while controlling the camera angle as well, and the vines are round with physics graphics that will make you fall if you get too far from center. Get too close to the side and you fall into a pit where enemies will endlessly respawn for you to fight as a bit of punishment. Since at that point in the game your combat options are "hit" and "block" this becomes annoying straight away.
By the time you get to the first new addition to your team you are so damn sick and tired of "punch punch punch, block for a while, punch punch punch" that you don't really care what the new person brings to the table... then things get worse when you don't even get to use the two characters as a duo such as in Trials of Mana or other games where the AI just takes over any character(s) that you aren't controlling.
The 2nd character you get your hands on at least has a ranged attack instead of just punching, but he has to recharge his mana or whatever they call it in this game every few shots or so. Even trash mobs can't be killed without constantly running around to recharge and while I understand that they were trying to introduce some action/adventure into the usual RPG formula, it just gets boring really fast.
The puzzles that they introduce are unnecessary and perplexing and on multiple occasions I encountered bugs where invisible walls would prohibit my progress even though I had already opened the door and it wasn't there anymore visually, but in code it was. They had to have seen this in the beta testing because it was at the entrance of the VERY FIRST CITY.
The level of customization that is available / necessary for each character is perplexing, too complex for a game that is this poorly made and it just adds another level of frustration to why I am not even going to give this game more than 1 hour of my time.
For anyone out there that thought this later turned into something amazing I am genuinely happy for you. However, the way that I play is that I don't want to go to school to learn how a game works, I want the tutorial to ease me into gameplay in an understandable manner that is also fun. This game was neither of those things.
The first character you control is named Chado and his special ability that is there solely for the sake of puzzle solving, is that he can summon 2 gigantic rocks in order to weigh down plates that will open doors. It's stupid, time consuming, and completely unnecessary at this really early stage in the game.
I'm not a fan of cutscenes but i am really not a fan of cutscenes that i have to read 800 words of dialogue just to get a whiff of what the story is. By the time my obligatory 1-hour was up I was more than ready to walk away from this game forever. There's just too many good RPG's out there at any given time to dive into what is bound to be a very complex 50 hour experience or so. The major flaw of this game is that it is clearly very complicated and that can be a good thing if the controls are tight and you are eased into learning said controls at a certain pace that is neither too repetitive nor time-consuming. Somehow this game managed to accomplish neither one of these things.
I gladly delete this from my hard drive forever....never to return under any circumstances. Honestly, I would rather go and exercise for an hour than be subjected to this game again.
Perhaps it sounds like I am being too harsh on Shiness but games need to allure the player right from the start and then find a way of keeping them there. It simply failed on all counts to the point where the anime-loving RPG fan in me was not about to continue playing this for longer than I absolutely had to.
I can't recommend this game to really anyone... even if you get it for free.
Games I have tried in my journey to play every PS-Plus Extra game for at least an hour
- Windbound (survival game with rogue-like elements - not recommended)
- Magicka 2 (top-down humorous multiplayer hack and slash-sort with immense spell system - maybe recommended)
- Tearaway: Unfolded (charming casual 3D platformer with inventive graphics and gameplay designed for all ages - recommended for casual players)
- Spiritfarer (casual simulation / resource-management style game with an extremely good story - recommended for all)
- Observation (point and click survival sort of... interactive game of sorts set in space - found it very boring after just one hour and do not recommend)
- Gabbuchi (simplistic puzzle game that I feel is better suited to mobile devices. Not recommended on consoles)
- The Messenger (8-bit style action/platformer that is a throwback to original Ninja Gaiden. It's simplistic fun. Recommended)
- Megadimension Neptunia VII (typical JRPG with some adjustments made to combat for uniqueness. Could be fun and I lukewarmly recommend for someone willing to dedicate 50 hours to a turn-based RPG)
- Monster Jam: Steel Titans 2 (monster truck racing game that will appeal only to people who are already fans of the sport - not recommended for any other people)
- Entwined (Visually appealing rhythm pace game that is very easy to pick up but gets repetitive after 30 minutes or so - recommended for anyone that can get it for free.)
- 2Dark (8-bit graphic survival horror/stealth hybrid. The game becomes extremely difficult really fast and therefore failed to hold my attention - not recommended)
- Virginia (interactive-cinema...not really a game and it is over in a couple of hours. Not recommended)
- Trials of Mana (simplistic action RPG that will definitely appeal to the casual gamer that is a fan of old-school RPG combat mechanics - recommended)
- Journey to the Savage Planet (FPS exploration game in a semi-open-world environment. The game is intentionally silly and I loved it - recommended)
- Resogun (arcade-style single-screen SHMUP that will get boring to most people after an hour or so. Not recommended)
- The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (point and click adventure game that doesn't work on consoles and is just irritating to play - not recommended)
- Mighty No. 9 (it's Mega Man but terrible. Definitely not recommended)
- Moving Out (delightfully funny moving company simulator. It gets boring and repetitive pretty quickly. Recommended for a short laugh)
- Last Day of June (a sad story done in 3rd person perspective that while an interesting story and/or life lesson, quickly becomes repetitive and dull. Not recommended)
- Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom (action adventure RPG with an inventive combat system that unfortunately becomes very boring very fast. Filled with bugs and invisible walls, I lost interest within the first hour. Not recommended)