Platform: Steam
Genre: RPG
Completed: 19/08/2024
Now this is one title that I had installed on my desktop for a very long time.
I had attempted to play it back in 2017 but after putting some time into it, I stopped playing. Then I tried to get back into the game in 2022. I restarted and started playing only to have the same result. Why might you ask? Because on both occasions I got tied up trying to recruit all the citizens instead of playing the game and the frustration I felt for it taking "too long" put me off.
This time, however, I decided I would load the game back up, continue where I left off, and give primary focus to the story and some of the side quests. If there were a potential to recruit someone, then I would do it, but I would not stress myself in collecting them all.
If it hadn't been for that, I am sure I would have completed the title during my first run.
The game had been enjoyable and had strong vibes reminiscent of Earthbound. It was quite noticeable during the combat sections.
There was also a Pokémon vibe, particularly with the recruitment of the citizens. Sure, you're not using a special tool to "capture" them and there aren't tons of the same citizens to capture. But, each citizen had their own unique set of skills. They also had an affinity that strengthened them against some enemies but weakened them against others.
This made building your team of three rather versatile. And, leveling them up wasn't that hard. While enemies could be strong, they never felt overpowering towards a citizen who hadn't been leveled up as often as other characters. As long as the characters used had skills that exploited the enemy's weakness, you were golden.
Now for the story, the game does not require you to recruit everyone, however, two sections require you to have specific characters to progress further.
The recruitment process was the element that took the longest portion of time in the game, especially if you aim for all 40 citizens. To recruit, you needed to speak to the citizen and then either complete a task or meet a requirement.
Some were easy:
To recruit mother, you turn off the TV.
To recruit the psychologist, you have your dream analyzed in his office.
To recruit the musician, beat his mini-game.
Others were time-consuming or down to chance:
To recruit the crazy cat lady, find her five lost cats.
To recruit the teacher, answer a quiz about the game correctly
To recruit the weather girl, walk around during a thunderstorm (random occurrence) and she MIGHT appear and talk to you. (Yeah, this was the one that really frustrated me)
When I focused on the story, I found it was nothing that hadn't been done before (think Earthbound) but at least what made it stand out was the humor. You play as the vice president who is an idiotic narcissist. But at least he does head out to solve the goings-on in his neighborhood, otherwise how else would his constituents re-elect him?
Another area of humor was the different puns used for enemy names: Catctus; Honey Bear (a bear literally made out of honey) and many others.
Overall I enjoyed it. Technically it's not a difficult game to platinum, but while that is the case, I simply want to enjoy my games and move on to the next as soon as I can. (Not getting any younger here). The good news is, that once you complete the game, there is a post-game section, which you can then use to wrap up any outstanding side quests or unfinished recruitments.
The game also has a New Game+ mode, so maybe if I don't return to it and finish it off, I can hand the reins over to my daughter and she can pick up where I left off.
Now, time to move on to the letter D - Dark Seed 2.
留言