That's indeed a premise that resonates with me. But Square hasn't exactly been on a roll lately, so I'll have to play it to believe in it.
Just played the demo for
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, so I can give you some feedback. It's pretty short but at the same time makes you feel like you're seeing a decent chunk of the map. It looks like they're betting on "time travel" as a gimmick to exploit the same map with different layouts or something like that.
Anyway it's a decent game, but I'm unsure how it'll turn out. I'd say the gameplay is a mix between Zelda 3 and Secret of Mana so on paper it's right up my (our) alley. You've got a mix of weapons: sword, bow, bombs, plus a sickle on a chain you can find in a dungeon. Two can be equipped at once.
Materias Magicites can be found or manufactured to enhance each weapon's properties. It's a shared pool for all weapons but you can switch between sets.
You've also got a shield you can use to block attacks, and a perfect block stuns enemies. The shield has a meter so that you can't endure endless hits, it needs to recharge after a few. You've got vials you can fill with medicine or other potions at the city's shop. You're limited by the number of vials you have (the demo has two, you start with one and can buy another from the shop), and they can only be refilled at the shop.
Using them requires going into the "quick action" menu, but it's not so quick. It's like 4 or 5 buttons presses. Same goes for changing magicite sets or equipping different weapons. It's inconvenient. That applies to the map too: there's a button for it (ZL trigger) but exiting requires pushing B twice. It makes navigating the menu into a bit of a chore.
Beyond your weapons, you've got your fairy companion who can grab loot and has a couple of powers in the demo: teleporting you to her location or getting you to run super fast. The teleport power is by far the most useful and it can actually be used to bypass most of the last dungeon (I did it without really meaning to), although that'll only save you 10 minutes anyway. Switching between her powers also uses the quick action menu and is as inconvenient as the rest. She can be controlled directly with the right joystick, and the D-Pad is used to give her commands that honestly feel like they serve no purpose to me. The D-Pad should have been assigned to quick actions instead.
One of my bigger frustrations is that there's no dash. Instead there's a jump button that has limited use but comes into play for some minor platforming (jumping over gaps) and can be used to halfassedly dodge attacks. I guess the dash would have been redundant with Faie's sprinting power, but that seems like a bad choice to me. Makes traversing the environment slower than it needs to be and pushes the player to use quick travel via the map's waypoints.
The story is anemic in the demo, basically the king tells you to investigate some newly found ruins because you're an adventurer. It's frankly a little too barebones, even for an RPG that's trying to emulate 1990s games. I imagine the full game will have more to offer in that department, but I wonder how much more.
On the gameplay side, I would say that it's pleasant but a little too slow and ponderous for my taste. Dashing would have helped with that. I played with all weapons and they're fun. Barely used the shield, though. I played in "Hard" and that makes the game a little bit challenging, since you lose health real fast if you get hit. It's a breeze most of the time, but if you just rush into the enemies you can get hurt fast. Having to go back to the city to refill your vials is a big chore. I had to do it twice (after the demo's two bosses, which I didn't bother to reload my save on so I could handle them better) and I bought other items too, but it felt annoying.
Overall, while it has potential, that demo doesn't really stand out in a sea of similar games. Hopefully the finished product is more alluring.
I'm the same with animals.
)
perhaps a bit hypocritical since I'm not vegan IRL but my point is that it didn't fit the game, even if the protagonist was a native where it was standard to hunt animals. AC is (was) no survival game
