Disappointed with this one, but I'm disappointed with just about everything I play these days. Mediocrity rules the day in the current game industry
The combat system is inspired by the Grandia games, but it lacks much of the nuance of that combat system. There's a level of finesse that can be achieved in Grandia style combat that is not achieved here. It doesn't help that the game is kind of rigged against you in various ways, like the fact that your party consists of two characters, but enemies often attack you in groups of three. So even if you managed to lock down two enemies and prevent them from attacking, that third enemy is going to get his turn and hit you. Lazy, uncreative, cheap game design. I'm sick of designers always finding the easiest, cheapest ways to make a game challenging rather than expand their minds and try something creative. Granted, the game isn't hard if you just want to beat it and don't care about getting through fights with the kind of finesse (i.e. never taking a single hit to your party)that Grandia games offered. I mean, each battle arena has glowing plants that you can use to refill all your health and magic without even using a turn. So...basically, you CAN'T die unless you're REALLY trying.
The story is bland and boring, but I'm hearing this game was meant to played with family, so I guess this was written for little kids, as I can't see it appealing to anyone else. The characters have practically no arcs or characterization and the game is completely unable to elicit even an ounce of emotion from players as a result
Also, the rhyming that makes up all the game's dialog is laughably bad. At one point in the game, the narrator needs to find something that rhymes with instead. So the line prior ends with the word astonished and the narrator pronounces it astoni-"shed".
Apparently, this game was written for kids BY kids
My god, this game feels like a mediocre homebrew game that never should have made it to PSN. It's only redeeming quality is its beautiful 2d visual style, but aren't cheap, indie games with beautiful 2d art styles becoming the norm these days? It doesn't even really grab my attention anymore. It's certainly not enough on its own to make these games stand out anymore. You need good stories and deep gameplay. Child of Light has neither.
I'd probably score it a 6 out of 10 just for it's pretty looks and the fact that it's playable. And they get some kudos for being influenced by Grandia, too bad the combat system is not nearly as good.
I've played about 10-15 minutes of each of these games ^ - you aren't making me anxious to dive back in to either!
