Also available on PlayStation 4 and Windows Lost Sphear is the second game produced by Square Enix's newest studio, Tokyo RPG Factory, and it shares a lot of similarities with its predecessor, I am Setsuna. Stylistically, they're identical; if I didn't know the characters and setting in each game, I'd probably not be able to tell screenshots of the two games apart. Despite that, though, Lost Sphear manages to be different enough that you never feel like you're playing the same game with a different coat of paint. One of the big objectives that Tokyo RPG Factory stated for themselves in Lost Sphear was to fix the flaws that kept I am Setsuna from being rated higher by critics. In that endeavor, they succeeded; a lot of the mechanical and pacing issues that I am Setsuna had were absent in Lost Sphear. Despite that, however, I actually find myself personally preferring I am Setsuna. It just had a little more charm in my opinion. I found the characters in I am Setsuna a little more charming, but that may be because I'm a sucker for female protagonists. The game's music is the same overall style as I am Setsuna. That's to say that it's really nice but totally generic and unremarkable RPG music. That's not to say that the soundtrack is bad. It's fantastic. It's just generic. If someone said "Imagine the most stereotypical JRPG soundtrack," you'd probably think of Lost Sphear's soundtrack. It's great. It's just exactly what you'd expect. Lost Sphear is a really great JRPG, and it's an important JRPG for the first year of the Switch's lifespan. It's not a particularly stand-out RPG, but don't let that dissuade you. It's a ton of fun with lovable characters (minus Locke; fuck that guy) and fun Chrono Trigger-style combat. The one thing it does EXCEPTIONALLY well is pacing; with a lot of RPGs, I find myself getting tired of the game before it ends and, as a result, getting sick of it. They wear out their welcome, so to speak. Lost Sphear avoided that. It's pretty much the perfect length; as soon as I first started to feel some game fatigue, the game ended. I couldn't ask for a game with a more perfect length; it's enough to sink your teeth into but not enough to get sick of. Definitely check this one out if you game on Switch, PS4, or PC. My Rating - A |
I'm a teacher.And I like to play video games. I like to collect video games. I like to talk about video games, and I like to write about video games. During the day, I teach high school history; during the night, I spend my spare time gaming. Then I write about it. Archives
April 2024
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