Finally got around to playing the demo. I'm not a hardcore enough Strategy fan for this one, mostly because $50 just seems like alot for this. The Map everything takes place in is pretty small, even if it reuses the Map for 6 different Campaigns. Some parts of the game seem high budget like the Voiceacting but then other areas are more questionable, some aspects even feeling like this game would almost be at home on Mobile these days, like when you'd get Equipment after coming back from a Quest. Opening Cinematic was enjoyable, and I liked the general story setup and Spoken Dialogue quality, but it also screamed budget compared to similar Cinematics you'd get in games of this price tier. Read that there's like 100 Rune Knights to meet, so this next complaint makes sense as to why, but always bummed when Job Outfits are the same for every character who changes to said Job Class, and as far as I could tell there weren't as many Job Classes as you'd hope for to encourage diversity between those 100 characters. Mind you, I peeked around the map alot at the Nations the game wouldn't let me try, and there's some really sick character designs floating around. My overall impression was the game does an excellent job with its characters. My favorite Rune Knight of the lame ass Nation the demo forces you to play is apparently voiced by the same Japanese VA who does James from Team Rocket, so I'm guessing Voice Actors is where lots of their budget went. Monster designs are pretty great too, although how often an Evolution is simply a Palette Swap is a major bummer, and no Branching Evolution Paths is a second bummer when the Rune Knights get Branching Class Change paths.
I mostly enjoy how the strategic combat works. Gives you decent opportunity for taking Moves back to better plan your strikes and the UI works well. What bothers me is stuff like Monster Summons being different per Town, but unlike other Equipment you can't Equip them across Towns, so you have to waste time having units deliver them to who you actually want to use them, which wastes precious turns in a game where that matters and also runs into complications with Unit Limits. I didn't actually run into any issues here, but I think eventually the whole sending a unit Questing meaning they can't Defend would get me in trouble. In this same vein, the value for sending a unit on a Training Quest seems ridiculously worthless compared to sending that unit into a Battle, and I realize it exists to boost up Low Levels, but it doesn't boost them to a helpful place fast enough. You're better off just risking them in Battle with Heal spammers at the ready since level disparity for damage isn't as intense as many other games, and they can legit Level Up upwards of five times if they get the finishing blow on a strong enemy, then usually get a bonus Level later for surviving the Battle.
I did the demo's Tutorial first, and the first like three of those are really for someone who's never played a video game in their life. They don't need to baby you through every single tiny step like pressing B three times to get back to Overworld Map. Made it very tedious, but the stuff after you get to Battle was good to learn. I got livid at the demo when it restricted me to using that one boring Nation, and not only that but wouldn't let me even look at the other Nations I was missing out on at that point to even see if they would've appealed to me from Descriptions / Character Designs, but of course later during the demo it explains them a little. Restricting players to Easy Mode also felt completely unnecessary and considering I still found Easy sort of tough makes me worry about if I did get the full game, but I can't try Normal or Hard to see what it is like thanks to the demo. Also, higher difficulties giving you Campaign Turn Limits is my nightmare, so that alone would probably lock me to Easy. So with how restrictive the demo has been so far, surely there's a big portion they let you play right? Kind of? You get to play until 8 Turns, which they call Seasons, pass or you Capture two Towns. My demo ended from the latter. This is where I don't understand the need for the Nation Restriction, when such a steep Progression Restriction already exists. In the end, I just felt like what I got to play didn't greatly represent what I'd be getting from the full game, and I found it hard to tell where the value was, as I went into before. Had it actually let me play the same limited slice of gameplay, except in my chosen sick ass Pirate Nation led by Captain Stella, wielder of the Relic of Ego on Normal Mode to get a true taste for the Combat and Characters I'd actually be pursuing if I were to purchase the game, I think I'd be way more eager to hop in than I am having been dragged through Justice Nation's lame Ranks of mostly generic Knights. My demo actually ended straight as I Recruited another dude I actually liked randomly from a Quest I did on the same turn I took the second Town, so I got his setup right before the demo straight kicked me out.
It is a cool game though. I think fans of Strategy games will eat it up. If the World was bigger, and the important Battles were paced out more instead of every single Battle being intense as fuck, I think I could bite. Glad I checked it out, but unless I can get it for like $15 in a sale later, I've simply got to pass. Bet there's lots of really cool Characters and Stories in there for those who dive in though.
