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A Pleasant Voyage of the Thousand Seas
Sviel- 05/03/2014 08:10 AM
- 1317 views
The first part of this review will be an overall grading and spoiler-free. The game will be judged in the weighted categories of Graphics (10), Gameplay (30), Plot (30) and Presentation (30). Audio will not be judged because I can't hear any of it (not an issue with the game) q_q. The second part is intended mainly for the developer and will be filled to the brim with spoilers. It is a collection of the notes I took during my 5.5 hour journey through the game: My reactions to gameplay/story, my strategies, misgivings, musings, etc.
Graphics: I put this first because visuals are the first thing one sees in a game. However, I'm not going to deduct points for things like 'not being 3D' or 'not custom.' So long as the graphics do not disrupt the gameplay, story or presentation while also helping to set the correct atmosphere, they're doing their job.
Rush features many custom graphics, including fully animated battlers. The art-style shifts every now and then for cutscenes, which feels rather natural. Further attention to detail, such as using different portraits to coincide with key events, helps drive the immersion home.
On the other hand, the sprawling outlines used in caves will often make it tricky to tell where the player can and cannot walk. (-1: User interface woes) There are also many instances on maps where various pieces of the scenery can hide the character for extended periods, though these never disguise key areas.
Total: 9/10
Gameplay: This is the second thing a person notices, since plot necessarily needs time to establish itself. That said, gameplay must be judged somewhat in tandem with story, as the two need to have a beautiful relationship to make a proper game.
Each character in Rush has a vastly different fighting style, which helps eliminate the problem of X character being flat out better than Y character. It might seem like a bit much at first, but optional tutorials or just a battle or two will have the player ready to go.
During the opening of the game, though, where the player controls a single character, combat can be rather dull. The price for this variety seems to be that each character, on their own, is not particularly interesting. This only becomes an issue when the player has a solo party, generally. Part of the reason for this is that the main character, Vex, relies on a branching combo system to fight. Early on, when he hasn't been able to learn many skills, this results in a very linear combat experience. The player will likely do the same thing every round for a very long time; until they get a second playable character at least. In later sections, where Vex is again the only PC or is doing the majority of the damage output, this reappears in force.(-4: Very restrictive combat)
Mia and Aryll seem better off in this regard. Mia has many avenues of action (magic, physical+steal, healing) and Aryll never appears outside of a 3-PC party, so her small assortment of combos suffices.
Striek is another story. Thematically, he is expertly designed. He's a mercenary who only listens to the clinging of gold coins, and it shows. He attacks whom he pleases and is only moderately effective unless you pay him gold to step up. On one hand, this is cool, but on the other, it's difficult to get much use out of him without burning gold, which never feels satisfying. However, due to his limited involvement, this doesn't become an issue.
The progression is based mainly around LP. Every enemy gives 1 LP and every level gives 50. The player can then choose what skills to learn. However, in the case of Vex, you will likely learn the same or similar skills on every playthrough. Given his combat set-up, there's really not much choice to be made, so he doesn't really benefit from this system. Mia does well as she has a variety of abilities and the player will need to focus one or two of them. Aryll makes some choices, though this may be due to her limited playtime. Striek has options given to him, but will probably just stick to the same few every time.
Enemies are generally well balanced. They provide enough challenge to keep things interesting but usually die before they get boring to look at. Encounters are all on-touch and are reasonably spaced.
The bosses are a bit peculiar, though. The first one features respawning adds that heal and damage. They seem to respawn instantly after a point, which makes for a very frustrating experience. The unspoken choice is 'focus the boss' or 'focus the adds,' but, only one of those results in any noticeable progression. Also, with the constant healing going on, it feels like the player's effort is draining away before their eyes. Finally, since there is only one controllable character (Vex) at the time, the fight isn't even all that interesting. It is, however, very long. Very, very long. (-2: Poorly designed boss)
The second boss uses a time mechanic, though it is fairly well implemented. There is a non-attacking structure that gives you bonus time upon hitting it, and the clock is not so tight as to become a factor sheerly by chance.
The third boss dispenses with the non-attacking structure entirely. It has 4 adds that it summons on a schedule, but that do stay dead for a while if killed. Unfortunately, the party is down to one controllable character (Vex) and one semi-controllable character (Striek) which makes the fight take longer than it ought, which rather little variety to boot. (-2: Poorly designed boss)
Items are mainly used for healing purposes, as much of the game is played without a healing character. For some reason, though, the main character heals less from many of these items for a flavor reason, which is a bit of a flick on the nose. The items that cure certain statuses also heal some hp, which is nice, as it decreases the occurrences of using multiple items in a row.
A problem, however, is that using items completely strips the game of any challenge. It's not sustainable to do so all of the time, but perfectly feasible for boss fights. This may be unavoidable as healing is not guaranteed and thus there needs to be something available, but the end result is not interesting. Perhaps if most of the items were menu-only, it would go over better. (-3: Easily abused items)
Rush also includes several puzzles. These are challenging enough to be interesting and usually can be solved very quickly after figuring out the trick to them. There are a few elements in the latter puzzles that are not as great, but on the whole, they're still fun to do and satisfying to beat. Details on those are in part II, so as not to ruin the experience. (-1: Some puzzle elements)
The mapping in Rush is tight and functional save for one instance, which may also be considered the first puzzle. Nearly everything can be interacted with for fairly interesting tidbits.
There is a forest which the player must traverse with the help of a dog. The only way to get through, however, is to wait for the dog to sniff around and found the correct path. This results in the player twiddling their thumbs as they wait in relative helplessness to be given a heading. Thankfully, it doesn't go on too long, but it can't exactly be ignored either. (-2: Annoying puzzle mechanic)
Total: 16/30
Plot: This game relies heavily on plot to determine many things, such as who's in the party. It's not grandiose, but certainly sufficient.
Vex, the main character, is very interesting at first glance. As time passes, he starts to look a little stiff, though. It's as if he's not a character so much as an idea of a character. He hits all of the cues so spot on that it just doesn't feel genuine. This is demonstrated by several key moments where his dialogue turns into 'that line you've heard so many places you can't differentiate them anymore.' There are also times where it feels like his speech only worked out because he is a main character. Nevertheless, he is still fairly well portrayed and does not disappoint in the leading role. (-2: Occasionally stiff character)
Mia, the second most present character, is about the opposite. She occasionally has moments where she's interesting and solid, but normally is rather hard to swallow. It stretches the player's suspension of disbelief considerably to think that she could handle herself whatsoever. Her constant references to her kitty are also very tiring. She feels, again, more like an idea of a character, and a rather annoying one at that. She is often played for comedy, but it tends to strike somewhere south of the mark, despite the gags themselves being handled well. (-3: Half-baked character with grating tendencies)
Aryll is only briefly in the party, though she appears all throughout the game. She has several great moments, though one particularly bad one where she over-shares somewhat. In addition, like the others, she sticks very closely to a well-established character idea. This isn't necessarily bad, but the game attempts to take the characters a bit deeper than this dollar store character building can handle. There is a persistent feeling of 'I've seen this exact scene before.' (-2: Stock character used out of depth)
Striek sees the least screen time, though his development doesn't suffer too much for it. As is the standard, he dutifully fits into a mold, though he doesn't attempt to break out of it. He isn't very likable, but he is quite believable and rather entertaining.
The world is constructed very well without exposition dumps or libraries.
Total: 23/30
Presentation: This game was certainly crafted with the big picture in mind. Each of the elements lends itself to creating a certain experience (with the exception of one, one-off mini-game) and they succeed. The atmosphere is quickly and perfectly constructed and reinforced all throughout.
Total: 30/30
Adjustment: +1 (Because sometimes, a game is more or less than the sum of its parts.)
Game total: 79/100 (Much like any game, it's fun to play but not without its imperfections. Worth the time it takes to play for sure.)
Part II
-The title screen is an edit of one of the defaults. It is seamlessly done, however, so I don't notice this until the ~5th time that I see it.
-The opening is text and custom art, nothing too fancy, but it perfectly sets the mood. The pirates speech is a tad more hesitant than I would expect, though, and their lingo-speak drops some times. Over all, the atmosphere is quickly and efficiently constructed.
-Basically everything can be interacted with. Rather than textboxes, there's a gab window (Yanfly's probably) to give feedback. This is generally given with respect to the world, helping to root the player within it.
-There's a bit of dialogue that is concise and mildly humorous. We're then dropped into a scene that talks about getting treasure for bringing four ARTEFACTS. I normally see it spelled ARTIFACTS, but I think that alternative is also considered correct.
-The story gets moving right along, which is good. Refreshing, even. There's an canon combat tutorial as well, with the option to skip it.
-Combat itself has quite a few things to keep track of, which worries me, but perhaps it will begin to feel intuitive over time. Of note, everything is animated. Even if it proves too complex for my liking, I will never grow bored of watching it.
-As I begin to explore the maps, I am attacked by FROGS. They are not, for some reason, carrying any gold.
-The backgrounds look very much like a painting and are fairly well put together, though there are some cases where VEX is hidden behind trees or such when wondering the edges of the map.
-I get a new party member who is a DOG. Not sure how I feel about that.
-The INN has a bit that tells me I can save my game at books, though, I can also save my game w/e I want, so I'm not sure why that's there.
-There's a whole lot of .(pause).(pause)., which doesn't add a whole lot more than a simple ellipses. It does mean that, in trying to display all of the text to read it faster, I accidentally skip some of it.
-DOG does his own thing in combat, which is fine, though I'm starting to realize that there's not a whole lot to be done in fights. ST is easy to replenish, so there's little point in not using combos. There's not a lot of incentive to do less damage and prolong the fight, obviously. Currently, it comes down to 'attack spamming' but with more button presses.
Ideally, that will change once I get the skill points to learn new stuff.
-The special that VEX starts with takes a huge amount of time to build and is absurdly powerful. Seems like it may warp the difficulty of boss fights since those will have to be designed accounting for the fact that I will likely have that in hand, meaning that I will HAVE to have it in hand. Meanwhile, it's a free win in normal fights, but not usable frequently enough to really feel like an accessible part of my arsenal.
-The Wind-Up -> Guard interaction was a nice sample, but it's kind of taken over everything, now. In theory, it adds gameplay because I have to decide if it's worthwhile to take the hit, but in practice it comes up short. Either I can kill the thing before it attacks and should attack, or I can't and I should guard. Since groups of enemies all Wind-Up at the same time, this is simplified even further because I can't feasibly take out the entire group, so the only recourse is to guard.
-It seems one of the skills I may one day learn has a 50% chance to cancel Wind-Up, though I don't think that's going to change much. It is not a gamble worth taking unless it's the one Wind-Up situation, and is still rather binary in that case.
-Apparently, the new skill I learned (Flurry) is added to the chain that already exists. Thus, my gameplay remains little changed; I just hit A one more time. Perhaps there's some place I can switch them around?
-I also just got an achievement and a Cutlass?, though I have no clue why. I can look it up in the achievements section, but it would have been nice to have some sort of indication when it popped up.
It seems the Cutlass was, in fact, the picture for the achievement. I imagine there was more to it that I missed as it came and went so fast, but perhaps there was an indication after all?
-It's pretty cool how DOG sniffs out the correct path.
-It's confusing, though, that the up and down paths lead back to the left. Sure, there's something funny about the forest, but I'm not sure what could cause that...it's just strange.
-As a guess, it seems that I must follow DOG or get sent back to the beginning. This effectively means that I must wait for him to finish, which means a lot of waiting, doing nothing.
UPDATE: Yep...
-The path doesn't change, thankfully, but it's still a lot more staring than I am wont to find enjoyable. It's also strange when I'm made to go back to the map I just came from.
-Once that's over, I find more PIRATES and VEX suggests waiting for the bridge guard to walk off so as not to have to fight so many at once. I don't think they'll be too much to handle, but it's not to have the information given to me before it's absolutely necessary.
-I find a DOG in a forest ALLEY. It teaches my friend DOG a skill, then saunters off. Ok.
-There's a treasure MAP that one of the PIRATES dropped. I think I can understand what it's saying, but have no desire to backtrack because of annoying FROGs.
-The EXP rate feels super low. I feel like I'm spending way too much time in this early form of the combat system which is basically SLASH -> SPAM A and GUARD when cued.
-Despite my earlier statement, I return to the place where the treasure is marked. Nothing happens, though, and a look through my items/menu options doesn't reveal anything.
-I try to go back to the TEMPLE, but end up teleporting back to the start of the FUNNY WOODS. Seems I get to go through this waiting puzzle again...where my actions mean nothing, but my inaction is key.
-With FLURRY, I almost have to manage my ST. This is mostly because of getting screwed by this FOREST, though.
-I decide to go FISHING. It's fairly straightforward, it seems. Not particularly difficult, but not especially fun atm. I'll try it out again later once I have more BAIT.
-47 minutes in and I hit lvl 3. I may have enough skill points to get a second skill, now.
-I make it back to the TEMPLE and find a SHOVEL at the entrance. Would have been nice to have this BEFORE getting the enticing treasure MAP.
-The treasure contains many items and about 3x as much GOLD as I had earned to this point. WELL OOK. I suppose it immediately informs me of the importance of treasure MAPs, though they seem very non-optional.
-Seems that no matter where I enter the forest from, I must traverse several maps to get to the TEMPLE side, but can just take a step backwards to get back to the TOWN side.
Ok, let's have a go at this FOREST. It could be massively improved by the addition of dead ENDS and subtle CLUES instead of the warp mechanic. If the dead ENDS do not contain treasure, the player will be gently informed that they have done something wrong. If they figure out the CLUE and take the right path, they feel they did something right. If they can't spot the CLUE, the dog will lead them, preserving his thematic bit in this section.
Most of all, that way the player won't feel like they're in a forest of invisible, one-way portals. The laws of PHYSICS won't be heinously violated and the player can rely on their instinctual sense of direction that has never, till this point, failed them so spectacularly.
The current form is fairly UNIQUE, but that is because it is BAD. It does not feel good to play as and allows no sense of accomplishment either. Totally unsatisfying and unrewarding.
-I enter the temple and promptly push a rock into an unwinnable state. It does not help that the edges of the map have an 'artistic flair' that covers walkable areas, resulting in needlessly poor vision. It also does not help that the door shuts w/e I leave, making me wait to get back inside.
-I fight a PIRATE and use my new skill HERO'S SLASH. It does 409 damage, twice as much as anything I've done to date. It also heals me for 409 health. It really does seem like way too much of a power jump.
-I find out that the unwinnable state may have been winnable had I been able to see the rock covered by the ARTISTIC FLAIR. I did not realize I could walk there.
-Pushing a regular walk onto what I assume is a switch tells me that it's not heavy enough. There's no verbal feedback for using the heavy rock on it, though I suspect there's an audio bit. Sadly, I can't hear the audio, but if it isn't there, some sort of feedback is needed.
-I fight another PIRATE and get 1% EXP.
-It seems the items heal for tons of HP, which is ok, though I look forward to seeing how that's balanced later on. It would be silly to require item chugging, but at the same time, if the game doesn't account for it then battles may become too easy. There's probably a good balance, somewhere.
-I fight the FASHIONABLE PIRATE. He does SOMETHING and VEX explains what's going on and lays out my options. It seems quite similar to Wind-Up, but there's a gamble that makes attacking a little more enticing. Since hp items tend to heal tons of SP as well and I'm low on SP, I consider foregoing guarding, but decide to play it safe.
-Apparently, he can call for reinforcements, but if I killed all of the other pirates, no one comes. That's a nice thematic touch and a good warning not to rush through places in the future, however, it also means that rushing through might mean a much, much tougher fight. I believe this mechanic first appeared with the bridge guard in a slightly different form. On the whole, I think it's nice, since I can choose to speed things up by just taking on all the enemies at once.
-The FASHIONABLE PIRATE CAPTAIN gives as much EXP as three FROGs, and less LP.
-The CRYSTAL beyond the PIRATE 'moves everything back to where it was,' though it doesn't move anything. I'm guessing it's used to bypass the rock puzzle should I ever return?
-The FIREPOT puzzle seems very well designed. It gives all the needed information at the right times and encourages the player to learn by doing without feeling like they had no chance to succeed w/o failing.
-The BOSS WEED has an AoE ST damage attack. It's not too harsh, so it encourages me to blow all of my SP quickly as it is no longer constant. However, I was already going to do that as I need to stop it from killing me before I can kill it. It doesn't feel heinous, but, I'm not sure it adds much, or if what it adds is positive.
-The CHUMP WEEDS summoned by the BOSS WEED respawn pretty quickly, it seems. I'm not sure if killing just one will mean the other never respawns, but I'm hesitant to attempt that. VEX's AoE special ohkos them anyway. It also kills the RAZOR guard, which weakens the boss. I get a free round before they all respawn.
-The SP drain, which hits me for 14 after I use an item to heal 25, is now firmly negative. It makes it harder to win the fight, which is fine, but it does so by forcing me to spam attack without any combos to get anything done.
-I kill the life spore because it's undoing all my hard work by healing for almost as much as I attack for. It immediately respawns. Later, I kill the RAZOR guard, which respawns instantly. Later, I kill the life spore again. It respawns instantly again.
-It strikes me as odd that VEX'S passive ability is a negative...can't remember if there's a positive as well, will check after battle.
-The BOSS WEED finally dies, after exhausting a good chunk of my item supply and being generally very annoying. I suspect that there are a limited number of times that the adds can respawn, but as there's no way to tell that, most of the fight is spent thinking I'm making no progress. Additionally, while I'm presented with the opportunity to target who I please, there is no real benefit to hitting anything other than the main WEED, save for when he burrows (see: binary). I charge up RG on him, then ohko everything with AoE.
There's probably no way to make respawning adds work since it unavoidably kicks any feeling of progression in the groin. It'd be better, then, to just give the adds enough hp that it takes just as long to kill them, without the mixed messages (will it ever stay dead?!) and feeling of being cheated when it pops back to life right off. Alternatively, it could stay dead for a very long time or cost the BOSS WEED some hp to bring back, provided the hp transfer is communicated to the player.
The RAZOR thing weakening the boss has potential, but it needs to stay dead for at least one round every time. Also, I'm not really sure it's effective at increasing damage dealt to the boss versus just wailing on him (which is ok, as then it'd be non-optional), but it needs to do more than just rip him out of burrow mode.
-Should mention, the numbers that are tied to VEX seem to appear above DOG, making it a little tough to see what happened to who at times.
-Character switches to ARYLL, who is the only female in an all male crew, and thus the CAPTAIN. GG feminism. (note: this is a somewhat sarcastic joke poking fun at a trope. please don't hurt me q_q)
-KENPACHI apparently does not play nice with his comrades. He quickly establishes himself as a misogynistic ASSHOLE. (please q_q)
-KENPACHI apparently moonlights as a SINGER. All of his stances initiate DUETS. Also, He proves his mettle by fighting COPIOUS AMOUNTS of generic PIRATES.
-He can learn a skill that increases his SINGING to TIER 2, w/e that means. It costs gold, though, so I don't bother with it.
-Now that I have blindly chosen skills, I get a brief intro on what they do. Apparently, DUET refers to his weapons, not his beautiful singing duo.
-It all makes sense now, though, I no longer have enough LP to get the skill that seems kind of necessary on him.
-It seems VEX does get some non-A combos. It would make the early part of the game more interesting if he had some alternate branch at that point.
-I suppose MIA is supposed to be dumb for the sake of comedy. But, she's kind of a mile-a-minute sort of dumb. Rather than laughing non-stop, I find myself grimacing after a while...basically, she could use a bit of contrast.
-I so called the cannonball. SO called it. Yeah, I saw PIRATES of the JOHNNY DEPP too.
-Also, having to examine everything twice makes me a bit antsy. There's a fade, but the location is totally unchanged and I already checked everything, so I feel like I must have missed something or done something wrong.
-It occurs to me that RAZOR is also spelled RAZER. This might be another british thing.
-A guy in town references football, though, I'm not certain it's been invented yet.
-I find a shop and pimp VEX out. In a very, non-literal sense.
-The NPCs are informative and immersion building, pretty well done. A few are a bit heavy handed in their delivery, though, like the NAVY sailor who no longer sees a point in following orders.
-Every time MIA says kitty, I'm killing one.
-In the PUB, VEX talks to MIA and has a small typo 'you tried pull a fast one on me!'
-It seems MIA has a STEAL mechanic. While common, I've always hated how they're often useless, or mandatory less you miss some awesome item from a limited time mob.
-Some GUY warns me to avoid battles completely until I have a bigger hunting party. He must be unaware that I do what I want.
-I see VEX'S new combo options pop up, but, it goes by quite quickly. I shall have to see if I can read up on them outside of battle.
-Leveling up seems to happen much faster now, compared to that level 1 crawl.
-VEX'S GUTS skill allows him to get a full combo off without actually spending ST, just about. Since it's % based, he can eventually use his weaker attacks while waiting for the ST to fuel the stronger bunch. This explains the large jump in ST cost, and is generally pretty good design, probably.
-I drown a kitten in vomit.
-I try fishing again. This time, it feels much more like a mini-game as hooking a fish takes a bit of finagling. I apparently got really lucky last time, but did not realize it due to only having one bait.
-Cocky Swipe, one of VEX'S skills, can possibly cancel Wind-Up status. It hits last, so, the effective use is reducing the gamble of trying to kill an enemy when they may just have enough hp. This is better than what it looked like at first.
-I REALIZE that I can sell certain KEY ITEMS for gold. It's a bit strange, since I thought they were of more importance than that, but the influx of COIN is welcome.
-I begin hunting BOARS for their TEETH to raise money for the treasure MAP. I assume buying it will be worthwhile since I'm just going to reload if it isn't.
-Now that VEX has a fuller complement of skills, combat is much more interesting. MIA isn't all that entertaining, but this is likely due to my skill choices. I suspect ZAPPO will be...satisfying.
-Oh joy. Another 'wait for Alpha' segment.
-Fishing for the medallion is pretty cool. It uses an existing piece of the game but turns the goals on their head.
-I wonder if the TOMB of knowledge book is supposed to be a TOME of knowledge, seeing as the latter is a BOOK while the former is a GRAVE.
-It's hard to see the enemy's HP bar in the volcano, due to the RED on RED action.
-Aryll is pretty cool. I don't really want to have to remember combos, but they're easy to look up, so in the end it's easy to keep them in mind and I feel like a BOSS using them.
-The rock puzzle, though, is a bit annoying. The time pressure is an ok component, but the exploding rocks taking out the needed rocks just feels cheap. Add to that the extra rock that has to be fetched, and there's just too many layers to it. Too many times that it's likely to be repeated due to reasonably unforeseen circumstances. Perhaps this is only an issue due to having to repeat the battles, though?
-The gold ball getting blown up feels like a low blow too. Or it did, until it turned out to be the ideal thing for it.
-The time crunch on the DRAGON is kind of interesting, but the +time on hitting the artifact seems iffy. Yes, it's cool, but in order for it to work the player still has to rush commands, which is not cool. The way it's implemented is well-balanced, though. It gives a feeling of urgency without being so strict that players have to summon USAIN BOLT.
I suppose, what I'm saying, is that you took a really BAD mechanic and neutered it, resulting in a GOOD experience. Mostly. It was UNCOMFORTABLE but the TENSION was real, resulting in a pretty satisfied feeling afterward.
-ARYLL almost works, here. However, the 'for the first time in my life, no one's ordering me what to do' line seems melodramatic. The intent is probably fine, but a hyperbolic delivery like that seems more suited to MIA'S character. A slight rewording would be an improvement.
-Is he referring to MIA as 'something that belongs to him?'
-I'm not sure if this fight is supposed to be difficult or not. It's fine if it isn't, but, just thought I should mention that it was an absolute breeze. LONGHAUL was alone with just a sliver of hp when ARYLL showed up.
-THANKS ARYLL. I was tempted to mention that MIA should stop acting like a little girl, but held off expecting VEX to chime in. He failed me, but ARYLL saved the day.
-This does little to temper my urge to strangle MIA though.
-Something seems strange about equipping ARYLL with a PRETTY DRESS.
-It seems VEX has had a traumatic experience with WATER TEMPLES.
-I get GEYSERED down to the previous level and attacked by CRABS. A bit harsh, but I press on. Next, I knock a barrel around a bit and quickly get it stuck. I head for the RESET crystal, but can't seem to get up onto the platform. It seems the only way to reset the puzzle is to get blasted to the previous level? Why would there be a RESET crystal then?
-I have never liked fish.
-So the jump thing apparently fires you in the direction you're facing. Things make more sense now, though it doesn't feel like I'm as well-informed as I was on the other puzzles.
-One group of ELECTRIC fish uses their ~350 damage AoE twice in the same round, dropping my party. The screen goes gray, then I end up outside of the puzzle area, but seem otherwise unharmed. I like it better than a GAME OVER screen as I probably would have moved on to something else if I saw one of those. It does, however, cheapen the narrative a bit. Perhaps instead of the 'this isn't how the story ends' bit, have the characters remark on a 'close call' and 'resting up' or such. Right now, with no one mentioning it, it's a rather jarring disconnect.
-I finally finish the puzzle. It's not super hard, once I get the trick to it, but the necessary knowledge is a little slow in coming. Or perhaps I'm just slow?
-The surprise chase mini-game was well executed, if somewhat out of place. It's likely a matter of taste, though. Some will enjoy it, others will wonder why they suddenly need a new set of mandatory skills, even if it isn't too difficult.
-Afterward, the screen fades white for a LONG time. KENPACHI has apparently fished me from the water. He proceeds to spout GREED and MISOGYNY.
-I am STINGY and thus KENPACHI will probably be far weaker for me as he must be paid to STAB things.
-KENPACHI has ST, but doesn't seem to use it?
-There are lightning strikes lighting up the cave? But...it's a cave...?
-The boss is difficult, so I use ITEMS. KENPACHI dies and I don't bother to res him, since the challenge is all but gone now that I've tapped into my supply of MEAT and ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES.
-There is a short cutscene in which we establish that VEX is SO SMART. This is apparently THE END.
-A rather odd ending, or 'to be continued,' but serviceable. It didn't seem to make any sense with that cutscene, though.
Part I
Graphics: I put this first because visuals are the first thing one sees in a game. However, I'm not going to deduct points for things like 'not being 3D' or 'not custom.' So long as the graphics do not disrupt the gameplay, story or presentation while also helping to set the correct atmosphere, they're doing their job.
Rush features many custom graphics, including fully animated battlers. The art-style shifts every now and then for cutscenes, which feels rather natural. Further attention to detail, such as using different portraits to coincide with key events, helps drive the immersion home.
On the other hand, the sprawling outlines used in caves will often make it tricky to tell where the player can and cannot walk. (-1: User interface woes) There are also many instances on maps where various pieces of the scenery can hide the character for extended periods, though these never disguise key areas.
Total: 9/10
Gameplay: This is the second thing a person notices, since plot necessarily needs time to establish itself. That said, gameplay must be judged somewhat in tandem with story, as the two need to have a beautiful relationship to make a proper game.
Each character in Rush has a vastly different fighting style, which helps eliminate the problem of X character being flat out better than Y character. It might seem like a bit much at first, but optional tutorials or just a battle or two will have the player ready to go.
During the opening of the game, though, where the player controls a single character, combat can be rather dull. The price for this variety seems to be that each character, on their own, is not particularly interesting. This only becomes an issue when the player has a solo party, generally. Part of the reason for this is that the main character, Vex, relies on a branching combo system to fight. Early on, when he hasn't been able to learn many skills, this results in a very linear combat experience. The player will likely do the same thing every round for a very long time; until they get a second playable character at least. In later sections, where Vex is again the only PC or is doing the majority of the damage output, this reappears in force.(-4: Very restrictive combat)
Mia and Aryll seem better off in this regard. Mia has many avenues of action (magic, physical+steal, healing) and Aryll never appears outside of a 3-PC party, so her small assortment of combos suffices.
Striek is another story. Thematically, he is expertly designed. He's a mercenary who only listens to the clinging of gold coins, and it shows. He attacks whom he pleases and is only moderately effective unless you pay him gold to step up. On one hand, this is cool, but on the other, it's difficult to get much use out of him without burning gold, which never feels satisfying. However, due to his limited involvement, this doesn't become an issue.
The progression is based mainly around LP. Every enemy gives 1 LP and every level gives 50. The player can then choose what skills to learn. However, in the case of Vex, you will likely learn the same or similar skills on every playthrough. Given his combat set-up, there's really not much choice to be made, so he doesn't really benefit from this system. Mia does well as she has a variety of abilities and the player will need to focus one or two of them. Aryll makes some choices, though this may be due to her limited playtime. Striek has options given to him, but will probably just stick to the same few every time.
Enemies are generally well balanced. They provide enough challenge to keep things interesting but usually die before they get boring to look at. Encounters are all on-touch and are reasonably spaced.
The bosses are a bit peculiar, though. The first one features respawning adds that heal and damage. They seem to respawn instantly after a point, which makes for a very frustrating experience. The unspoken choice is 'focus the boss' or 'focus the adds,' but, only one of those results in any noticeable progression. Also, with the constant healing going on, it feels like the player's effort is draining away before their eyes. Finally, since there is only one controllable character (Vex) at the time, the fight isn't even all that interesting. It is, however, very long. Very, very long. (-2: Poorly designed boss)
The second boss uses a time mechanic, though it is fairly well implemented. There is a non-attacking structure that gives you bonus time upon hitting it, and the clock is not so tight as to become a factor sheerly by chance.
The third boss dispenses with the non-attacking structure entirely. It has 4 adds that it summons on a schedule, but that do stay dead for a while if killed. Unfortunately, the party is down to one controllable character (Vex) and one semi-controllable character (Striek) which makes the fight take longer than it ought, which rather little variety to boot. (-2: Poorly designed boss)
Items are mainly used for healing purposes, as much of the game is played without a healing character. For some reason, though, the main character heals less from many of these items for a flavor reason, which is a bit of a flick on the nose. The items that cure certain statuses also heal some hp, which is nice, as it decreases the occurrences of using multiple items in a row.
A problem, however, is that using items completely strips the game of any challenge. It's not sustainable to do so all of the time, but perfectly feasible for boss fights. This may be unavoidable as healing is not guaranteed and thus there needs to be something available, but the end result is not interesting. Perhaps if most of the items were menu-only, it would go over better. (-3: Easily abused items)
Rush also includes several puzzles. These are challenging enough to be interesting and usually can be solved very quickly after figuring out the trick to them. There are a few elements in the latter puzzles that are not as great, but on the whole, they're still fun to do and satisfying to beat. Details on those are in part II, so as not to ruin the experience. (-1: Some puzzle elements)
The mapping in Rush is tight and functional save for one instance, which may also be considered the first puzzle. Nearly everything can be interacted with for fairly interesting tidbits.
There is a forest which the player must traverse with the help of a dog. The only way to get through, however, is to wait for the dog to sniff around and found the correct path. This results in the player twiddling their thumbs as they wait in relative helplessness to be given a heading. Thankfully, it doesn't go on too long, but it can't exactly be ignored either. (-2: Annoying puzzle mechanic)
Total: 16/30
Plot: This game relies heavily on plot to determine many things, such as who's in the party. It's not grandiose, but certainly sufficient.
Vex, the main character, is very interesting at first glance. As time passes, he starts to look a little stiff, though. It's as if he's not a character so much as an idea of a character. He hits all of the cues so spot on that it just doesn't feel genuine. This is demonstrated by several key moments where his dialogue turns into 'that line you've heard so many places you can't differentiate them anymore.' There are also times where it feels like his speech only worked out because he is a main character. Nevertheless, he is still fairly well portrayed and does not disappoint in the leading role. (-2: Occasionally stiff character)
Mia, the second most present character, is about the opposite. She occasionally has moments where she's interesting and solid, but normally is rather hard to swallow. It stretches the player's suspension of disbelief considerably to think that she could handle herself whatsoever. Her constant references to her kitty are also very tiring. She feels, again, more like an idea of a character, and a rather annoying one at that. She is often played for comedy, but it tends to strike somewhere south of the mark, despite the gags themselves being handled well. (-3: Half-baked character with grating tendencies)
Aryll is only briefly in the party, though she appears all throughout the game. She has several great moments, though one particularly bad one where she over-shares somewhat. In addition, like the others, she sticks very closely to a well-established character idea. This isn't necessarily bad, but the game attempts to take the characters a bit deeper than this dollar store character building can handle. There is a persistent feeling of 'I've seen this exact scene before.' (-2: Stock character used out of depth)
Striek sees the least screen time, though his development doesn't suffer too much for it. As is the standard, he dutifully fits into a mold, though he doesn't attempt to break out of it. He isn't very likable, but he is quite believable and rather entertaining.
The world is constructed very well without exposition dumps or libraries.
Total: 23/30
Presentation: This game was certainly crafted with the big picture in mind. Each of the elements lends itself to creating a certain experience (with the exception of one, one-off mini-game) and they succeed. The atmosphere is quickly and perfectly constructed and reinforced all throughout.
Total: 30/30
Adjustment: +1 (Because sometimes, a game is more or less than the sum of its parts.)
Game total: 79/100 (Much like any game, it's fun to play but not without its imperfections. Worth the time it takes to play for sure.)
Part II
-The title screen is an edit of one of the defaults. It is seamlessly done, however, so I don't notice this until the ~5th time that I see it.
-The opening is text and custom art, nothing too fancy, but it perfectly sets the mood. The pirates speech is a tad more hesitant than I would expect, though, and their lingo-speak drops some times. Over all, the atmosphere is quickly and efficiently constructed.
-Basically everything can be interacted with. Rather than textboxes, there's a gab window (Yanfly's probably) to give feedback. This is generally given with respect to the world, helping to root the player within it.
-There's a bit of dialogue that is concise and mildly humorous. We're then dropped into a scene that talks about getting treasure for bringing four ARTEFACTS. I normally see it spelled ARTIFACTS, but I think that alternative is also considered correct.
-The story gets moving right along, which is good. Refreshing, even. There's an canon combat tutorial as well, with the option to skip it.
-Combat itself has quite a few things to keep track of, which worries me, but perhaps it will begin to feel intuitive over time. Of note, everything is animated. Even if it proves too complex for my liking, I will never grow bored of watching it.
-As I begin to explore the maps, I am attacked by FROGS. They are not, for some reason, carrying any gold.
-The backgrounds look very much like a painting and are fairly well put together, though there are some cases where VEX is hidden behind trees or such when wondering the edges of the map.
-I get a new party member who is a DOG. Not sure how I feel about that.
-The INN has a bit that tells me I can save my game at books, though, I can also save my game w/e I want, so I'm not sure why that's there.
-There's a whole lot of .(pause).(pause)., which doesn't add a whole lot more than a simple ellipses. It does mean that, in trying to display all of the text to read it faster, I accidentally skip some of it.
-DOG does his own thing in combat, which is fine, though I'm starting to realize that there's not a whole lot to be done in fights. ST is easy to replenish, so there's little point in not using combos. There's not a lot of incentive to do less damage and prolong the fight, obviously. Currently, it comes down to 'attack spamming' but with more button presses.
Ideally, that will change once I get the skill points to learn new stuff.
-The special that VEX starts with takes a huge amount of time to build and is absurdly powerful. Seems like it may warp the difficulty of boss fights since those will have to be designed accounting for the fact that I will likely have that in hand, meaning that I will HAVE to have it in hand. Meanwhile, it's a free win in normal fights, but not usable frequently enough to really feel like an accessible part of my arsenal.
-The Wind-Up -> Guard interaction was a nice sample, but it's kind of taken over everything, now. In theory, it adds gameplay because I have to decide if it's worthwhile to take the hit, but in practice it comes up short. Either I can kill the thing before it attacks and should attack, or I can't and I should guard. Since groups of enemies all Wind-Up at the same time, this is simplified even further because I can't feasibly take out the entire group, so the only recourse is to guard.
-It seems one of the skills I may one day learn has a 50% chance to cancel Wind-Up, though I don't think that's going to change much. It is not a gamble worth taking unless it's the one Wind-Up situation, and is still rather binary in that case.
-Apparently, the new skill I learned (Flurry) is added to the chain that already exists. Thus, my gameplay remains little changed; I just hit A one more time. Perhaps there's some place I can switch them around?
-I also just got an achievement and a Cutlass?, though I have no clue why. I can look it up in the achievements section, but it would have been nice to have some sort of indication when it popped up.
It seems the Cutlass was, in fact, the picture for the achievement. I imagine there was more to it that I missed as it came and went so fast, but perhaps there was an indication after all?
-It's pretty cool how DOG sniffs out the correct path.
-It's confusing, though, that the up and down paths lead back to the left. Sure, there's something funny about the forest, but I'm not sure what could cause that...it's just strange.
-As a guess, it seems that I must follow DOG or get sent back to the beginning. This effectively means that I must wait for him to finish, which means a lot of waiting, doing nothing.
UPDATE: Yep...
-The path doesn't change, thankfully, but it's still a lot more staring than I am wont to find enjoyable. It's also strange when I'm made to go back to the map I just came from.
-Once that's over, I find more PIRATES and VEX suggests waiting for the bridge guard to walk off so as not to have to fight so many at once. I don't think they'll be too much to handle, but it's not to have the information given to me before it's absolutely necessary.
-I find a DOG in a forest ALLEY. It teaches my friend DOG a skill, then saunters off. Ok.
-There's a treasure MAP that one of the PIRATES dropped. I think I can understand what it's saying, but have no desire to backtrack because of annoying FROGs.
-The EXP rate feels super low. I feel like I'm spending way too much time in this early form of the combat system which is basically SLASH -> SPAM A and GUARD when cued.
-Despite my earlier statement, I return to the place where the treasure is marked. Nothing happens, though, and a look through my items/menu options doesn't reveal anything.
-I try to go back to the TEMPLE, but end up teleporting back to the start of the FUNNY WOODS. Seems I get to go through this waiting puzzle again...where my actions mean nothing, but my inaction is key.
-With FLURRY, I almost have to manage my ST. This is mostly because of getting screwed by this FOREST, though.
-I decide to go FISHING. It's fairly straightforward, it seems. Not particularly difficult, but not especially fun atm. I'll try it out again later once I have more BAIT.
-47 minutes in and I hit lvl 3. I may have enough skill points to get a second skill, now.
-I make it back to the TEMPLE and find a SHOVEL at the entrance. Would have been nice to have this BEFORE getting the enticing treasure MAP.
-The treasure contains many items and about 3x as much GOLD as I had earned to this point. WELL OOK. I suppose it immediately informs me of the importance of treasure MAPs, though they seem very non-optional.
-Seems that no matter where I enter the forest from, I must traverse several maps to get to the TEMPLE side, but can just take a step backwards to get back to the TOWN side.
Ok, let's have a go at this FOREST. It could be massively improved by the addition of dead ENDS and subtle CLUES instead of the warp mechanic. If the dead ENDS do not contain treasure, the player will be gently informed that they have done something wrong. If they figure out the CLUE and take the right path, they feel they did something right. If they can't spot the CLUE, the dog will lead them, preserving his thematic bit in this section.
Most of all, that way the player won't feel like they're in a forest of invisible, one-way portals. The laws of PHYSICS won't be heinously violated and the player can rely on their instinctual sense of direction that has never, till this point, failed them so spectacularly.
The current form is fairly UNIQUE, but that is because it is BAD. It does not feel good to play as and allows no sense of accomplishment either. Totally unsatisfying and unrewarding.
-I enter the temple and promptly push a rock into an unwinnable state. It does not help that the edges of the map have an 'artistic flair' that covers walkable areas, resulting in needlessly poor vision. It also does not help that the door shuts w/e I leave, making me wait to get back inside.
-I fight a PIRATE and use my new skill HERO'S SLASH. It does 409 damage, twice as much as anything I've done to date. It also heals me for 409 health. It really does seem like way too much of a power jump.
-I find out that the unwinnable state may have been winnable had I been able to see the rock covered by the ARTISTIC FLAIR. I did not realize I could walk there.
-Pushing a regular walk onto what I assume is a switch tells me that it's not heavy enough. There's no verbal feedback for using the heavy rock on it, though I suspect there's an audio bit. Sadly, I can't hear the audio, but if it isn't there, some sort of feedback is needed.
-I fight another PIRATE and get 1% EXP.
-It seems the items heal for tons of HP, which is ok, though I look forward to seeing how that's balanced later on. It would be silly to require item chugging, but at the same time, if the game doesn't account for it then battles may become too easy. There's probably a good balance, somewhere.
-I fight the FASHIONABLE PIRATE. He does SOMETHING and VEX explains what's going on and lays out my options. It seems quite similar to Wind-Up, but there's a gamble that makes attacking a little more enticing. Since hp items tend to heal tons of SP as well and I'm low on SP, I consider foregoing guarding, but decide to play it safe.
-Apparently, he can call for reinforcements, but if I killed all of the other pirates, no one comes. That's a nice thematic touch and a good warning not to rush through places in the future, however, it also means that rushing through might mean a much, much tougher fight. I believe this mechanic first appeared with the bridge guard in a slightly different form. On the whole, I think it's nice, since I can choose to speed things up by just taking on all the enemies at once.
-The FASHIONABLE PIRATE CAPTAIN gives as much EXP as three FROGs, and less LP.
-The CRYSTAL beyond the PIRATE 'moves everything back to where it was,' though it doesn't move anything. I'm guessing it's used to bypass the rock puzzle should I ever return?
-The FIREPOT puzzle seems very well designed. It gives all the needed information at the right times and encourages the player to learn by doing without feeling like they had no chance to succeed w/o failing.
-The BOSS WEED has an AoE ST damage attack. It's not too harsh, so it encourages me to blow all of my SP quickly as it is no longer constant. However, I was already going to do that as I need to stop it from killing me before I can kill it. It doesn't feel heinous, but, I'm not sure it adds much, or if what it adds is positive.
-The CHUMP WEEDS summoned by the BOSS WEED respawn pretty quickly, it seems. I'm not sure if killing just one will mean the other never respawns, but I'm hesitant to attempt that. VEX's AoE special ohkos them anyway. It also kills the RAZOR guard, which weakens the boss. I get a free round before they all respawn.
-The SP drain, which hits me for 14 after I use an item to heal 25, is now firmly negative. It makes it harder to win the fight, which is fine, but it does so by forcing me to spam attack without any combos to get anything done.
-I kill the life spore because it's undoing all my hard work by healing for almost as much as I attack for. It immediately respawns. Later, I kill the RAZOR guard, which respawns instantly. Later, I kill the life spore again. It respawns instantly again.
-It strikes me as odd that VEX'S passive ability is a negative...can't remember if there's a positive as well, will check after battle.
-The BOSS WEED finally dies, after exhausting a good chunk of my item supply and being generally very annoying. I suspect that there are a limited number of times that the adds can respawn, but as there's no way to tell that, most of the fight is spent thinking I'm making no progress. Additionally, while I'm presented with the opportunity to target who I please, there is no real benefit to hitting anything other than the main WEED, save for when he burrows (see: binary). I charge up RG on him, then ohko everything with AoE.
There's probably no way to make respawning adds work since it unavoidably kicks any feeling of progression in the groin. It'd be better, then, to just give the adds enough hp that it takes just as long to kill them, without the mixed messages (will it ever stay dead?!) and feeling of being cheated when it pops back to life right off. Alternatively, it could stay dead for a very long time or cost the BOSS WEED some hp to bring back, provided the hp transfer is communicated to the player.
The RAZOR thing weakening the boss has potential, but it needs to stay dead for at least one round every time. Also, I'm not really sure it's effective at increasing damage dealt to the boss versus just wailing on him (which is ok, as then it'd be non-optional), but it needs to do more than just rip him out of burrow mode.
-Should mention, the numbers that are tied to VEX seem to appear above DOG, making it a little tough to see what happened to who at times.
-Character switches to ARYLL, who is the only female in an all male crew, and thus the CAPTAIN. GG feminism. (note: this is a somewhat sarcastic joke poking fun at a trope. please don't hurt me q_q)
-KENPACHI apparently does not play nice with his comrades. He quickly establishes himself as a misogynistic ASSHOLE. (please q_q)
-KENPACHI apparently moonlights as a SINGER. All of his stances initiate DUETS. Also, He proves his mettle by fighting COPIOUS AMOUNTS of generic PIRATES.
-He can learn a skill that increases his SINGING to TIER 2, w/e that means. It costs gold, though, so I don't bother with it.
-Now that I have blindly chosen skills, I get a brief intro on what they do. Apparently, DUET refers to his weapons, not his beautiful singing duo.
-It all makes sense now, though, I no longer have enough LP to get the skill that seems kind of necessary on him.
-It seems VEX does get some non-A combos. It would make the early part of the game more interesting if he had some alternate branch at that point.
-I suppose MIA is supposed to be dumb for the sake of comedy. But, she's kind of a mile-a-minute sort of dumb. Rather than laughing non-stop, I find myself grimacing after a while...basically, she could use a bit of contrast.
-I so called the cannonball. SO called it. Yeah, I saw PIRATES of the JOHNNY DEPP too.
-Also, having to examine everything twice makes me a bit antsy. There's a fade, but the location is totally unchanged and I already checked everything, so I feel like I must have missed something or done something wrong.
-It occurs to me that RAZOR is also spelled RAZER. This might be another british thing.
-A guy in town references football, though, I'm not certain it's been invented yet.
-I find a shop and pimp VEX out. In a very, non-literal sense.
-The NPCs are informative and immersion building, pretty well done. A few are a bit heavy handed in their delivery, though, like the NAVY sailor who no longer sees a point in following orders.
-Every time MIA says kitty, I'm killing one.
-In the PUB, VEX talks to MIA and has a small typo 'you tried pull a fast one on me!'
-It seems MIA has a STEAL mechanic. While common, I've always hated how they're often useless, or mandatory less you miss some awesome item from a limited time mob.
-Some GUY warns me to avoid battles completely until I have a bigger hunting party. He must be unaware that I do what I want.
-I see VEX'S new combo options pop up, but, it goes by quite quickly. I shall have to see if I can read up on them outside of battle.
-Leveling up seems to happen much faster now, compared to that level 1 crawl.
-VEX'S GUTS skill allows him to get a full combo off without actually spending ST, just about. Since it's % based, he can eventually use his weaker attacks while waiting for the ST to fuel the stronger bunch. This explains the large jump in ST cost, and is generally pretty good design, probably.
-I drown a kitten in vomit.
-I try fishing again. This time, it feels much more like a mini-game as hooking a fish takes a bit of finagling. I apparently got really lucky last time, but did not realize it due to only having one bait.
-Cocky Swipe, one of VEX'S skills, can possibly cancel Wind-Up status. It hits last, so, the effective use is reducing the gamble of trying to kill an enemy when they may just have enough hp. This is better than what it looked like at first.
-I REALIZE that I can sell certain KEY ITEMS for gold. It's a bit strange, since I thought they were of more importance than that, but the influx of COIN is welcome.
-I begin hunting BOARS for their TEETH to raise money for the treasure MAP. I assume buying it will be worthwhile since I'm just going to reload if it isn't.
-Now that VEX has a fuller complement of skills, combat is much more interesting. MIA isn't all that entertaining, but this is likely due to my skill choices. I suspect ZAPPO will be...satisfying.
-Oh joy. Another 'wait for Alpha' segment.
-Fishing for the medallion is pretty cool. It uses an existing piece of the game but turns the goals on their head.
-I wonder if the TOMB of knowledge book is supposed to be a TOME of knowledge, seeing as the latter is a BOOK while the former is a GRAVE.
-It's hard to see the enemy's HP bar in the volcano, due to the RED on RED action.
-Aryll is pretty cool. I don't really want to have to remember combos, but they're easy to look up, so in the end it's easy to keep them in mind and I feel like a BOSS using them.
-The rock puzzle, though, is a bit annoying. The time pressure is an ok component, but the exploding rocks taking out the needed rocks just feels cheap. Add to that the extra rock that has to be fetched, and there's just too many layers to it. Too many times that it's likely to be repeated due to reasonably unforeseen circumstances. Perhaps this is only an issue due to having to repeat the battles, though?
-The gold ball getting blown up feels like a low blow too. Or it did, until it turned out to be the ideal thing for it.
-The time crunch on the DRAGON is kind of interesting, but the +time on hitting the artifact seems iffy. Yes, it's cool, but in order for it to work the player still has to rush commands, which is not cool. The way it's implemented is well-balanced, though. It gives a feeling of urgency without being so strict that players have to summon USAIN BOLT.
I suppose, what I'm saying, is that you took a really BAD mechanic and neutered it, resulting in a GOOD experience. Mostly. It was UNCOMFORTABLE but the TENSION was real, resulting in a pretty satisfied feeling afterward.
-ARYLL almost works, here. However, the 'for the first time in my life, no one's ordering me what to do' line seems melodramatic. The intent is probably fine, but a hyperbolic delivery like that seems more suited to MIA'S character. A slight rewording would be an improvement.
-Is he referring to MIA as 'something that belongs to him?'
-I'm not sure if this fight is supposed to be difficult or not. It's fine if it isn't, but, just thought I should mention that it was an absolute breeze. LONGHAUL was alone with just a sliver of hp when ARYLL showed up.
-THANKS ARYLL. I was tempted to mention that MIA should stop acting like a little girl, but held off expecting VEX to chime in. He failed me, but ARYLL saved the day.
-This does little to temper my urge to strangle MIA though.
-Something seems strange about equipping ARYLL with a PRETTY DRESS.
-It seems VEX has had a traumatic experience with WATER TEMPLES.
-I get GEYSERED down to the previous level and attacked by CRABS. A bit harsh, but I press on. Next, I knock a barrel around a bit and quickly get it stuck. I head for the RESET crystal, but can't seem to get up onto the platform. It seems the only way to reset the puzzle is to get blasted to the previous level? Why would there be a RESET crystal then?
-I have never liked fish.
-So the jump thing apparently fires you in the direction you're facing. Things make more sense now, though it doesn't feel like I'm as well-informed as I was on the other puzzles.
-One group of ELECTRIC fish uses their ~350 damage AoE twice in the same round, dropping my party. The screen goes gray, then I end up outside of the puzzle area, but seem otherwise unharmed. I like it better than a GAME OVER screen as I probably would have moved on to something else if I saw one of those. It does, however, cheapen the narrative a bit. Perhaps instead of the 'this isn't how the story ends' bit, have the characters remark on a 'close call' and 'resting up' or such. Right now, with no one mentioning it, it's a rather jarring disconnect.
-I finally finish the puzzle. It's not super hard, once I get the trick to it, but the necessary knowledge is a little slow in coming. Or perhaps I'm just slow?
-The surprise chase mini-game was well executed, if somewhat out of place. It's likely a matter of taste, though. Some will enjoy it, others will wonder why they suddenly need a new set of mandatory skills, even if it isn't too difficult.
-Afterward, the screen fades white for a LONG time. KENPACHI has apparently fished me from the water. He proceeds to spout GREED and MISOGYNY.
-I am STINGY and thus KENPACHI will probably be far weaker for me as he must be paid to STAB things.
-KENPACHI has ST, but doesn't seem to use it?
-There are lightning strikes lighting up the cave? But...it's a cave...?
-The boss is difficult, so I use ITEMS. KENPACHI dies and I don't bother to res him, since the challenge is all but gone now that I've tapped into my supply of MEAT and ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES.
-There is a short cutscene in which we establish that VEX is SO SMART. This is apparently THE END.
-A rather odd ending, or 'to be continued,' but serviceable. It didn't seem to make any sense with that cutscene, though.
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