Let's keep it interesting first with the more up to date game which is Massive Chalice. I noted down here early through the game to remember to refer to it as 'the poor mans Xcom' but time has proven that to not be true. I mean, for the battles it's true to an extent, I'm not saying these are the only two turn based combat that exist, but it's an easier comparison because half of the game takes place in the improving the future of your team by resource management. Granted this is more old timey than modern to futuristic like Xcom but it's the same idea.
I have to say that I don't think I really 'got it' for the majority of the game, which mostly didn't cause an issue throughout the game as you'd have to be pretty terrible to fail completely but it did mean the final battle taking forever. Looking back at it, I feel stupid now for making it difficult for myself. You see, the main point of the game is you're trying to defend your nation against some evil monsters while a super weapon that will wipe them out takes 300 years to charge. Every few years you're attacked and have to defend the regions. On top of that you have to make families and grow children to become warriors despite the knowledge they'll get old and die (like all of us) or die in battle. On op of that there's research to be done and help needed to train the kids. Obviously as you level up your fighters in battle the kids they birth are better so you get better levelled recruits as you go on (because games). What I didn't get though, was the benefits of the variants of classes. It seemed you just needed archers (or 'hunters as they're called here) but it turns out alchemists and Cabrejacks (which are melee fighters) are amazingly useful, which I didn't fully appreciate until the final battle and probably could have saved the entire nation had I appreciated it more (see, it's split up in to regions which are attacked multiples at a time but you can only defend one and the others lose some health or whatever you like to call it (this is also just like Xcom)). I could also have levelled up the classes more evenly so the archers weren't super powerful (while still annoyingly inaccurate (but super powerful when connecting)) and the Caberjackers were frustratingly underpowered (although I accept it's my own fault).
If i were to play it again I'm sure that it would be a breeze as it took me bout 200 in game years to finally figure everything out. Up until that point I'd won every battle without much thought until suddenly the difficulty shot up and from having to mindlessly walk through the battles, serious attention was needed and I needed to have planned my improvements and families better, but I made it through in the end anyway, but I made it difficult for myself. It may seem I'm giving out mixed messages here, but the point is, with some thought put in, the game would be a fun time with a decent challenge, but underestimate it like me and it'll be a challenge where you're archers are so frequently inaccurate that you have to shout in to a pillow.
Despite all of that it was a good game in the end and i would've recommended it to be played if you could still get it for free. Is it worth however much it actually costs? I'm not totally sure, I know I had a good time with it, but I probably won't remember it a year from now, so take that how you will.
Okay, I normally hate, hate, hate grinding in games. It's put me off JRPG's for years but the indie darling love this game has been getting over the last few years, and the fact that it's a platformer gave me enough motivation to give it a go. That and the fact that I bought it about a year ago to play on my Vita while I was on a long plane journey, only for for my Vita to break and the game to sit on my hard drive for a hard year and me waiting to be bothered to start it. I'm so bad at starting not new games. I don't know what it is about me, but unless a game had just come out I find it difficult to start a game for he first time.
That's the back story for you, so I better say something about the game. Basically you're trying to conquer a castle, defeat all the bosses and claim the glory for your family, but you ain't gonna cut it, you will die and have to start over, several times. That's where you bloodline comes in. You've gotta collect gold to help train your family and learn the traits of the enemies and bosses if you're ever going to get past them. At first it seems like an impossible task, and when you go on to every new area you will feel the same, but after time it become possible.
It's more than just that though, because there's pros and cons of each heir. Firstly there's the type of fighter they are. There's charcters with better health or attacks, or speed or agility or mana or so on, but you'll find out what you prefer and then ultimately, and most importantly, which is more appropriate for each boss. On top of that there's the side weapon/ spell which is more of a personal preference. Beyond that there's weird things like being giant or a dwarf (or, y'know, normal height), being unable to see colours, everything being upside down, being 'the one' (which makes everything futuristic looking), being bald (which makes no impact on gameplay) and many other useful and/ or silly things.
Beyond that there's challenge rooms to unlock items that can help you throughout the game, like double jumps, sprint dashes, health leach and many more which you can stack up or mix up, depending on your play style, or yet again, what boss you're on. On top of that there's hidden weapons throughout the world and bonus games to help you win more gold and mini bosses to unlock more bonuses.
It should be noted that the castle randomises on each new entry (unless you use the architect to lock it down but you'll miss out on a lot of gold, though it is useful on bosses) so you'll never know where to go which makes exploration vital, which means you need to get good. I should note though that you only need to beat a boss once and they'll remain dead for good.
The art style is great and looks like a 16 bit classic but more importantly the game plays great. At some times enemies firing through walls can be frustrating but the platforming is perfect and the combat, though basic, is spot on for this kind of game. Going in I really didn't think It'd live up to the hype, but it honestly did, every great thing you've heard about this game is true, for even the biggest sceptic, like myself.
You do have to stick with it though, as I said it seems for the first few hours like you'll never be able to do it and hell, by the 4th area, I still couldn't do it, I just had to run through to the boss room because I could barely survive 2 rooms in the dungeon. I'd definitely say this game is worth try, especially if you're a fan of Metroid-vania types and as long as you have some patience.
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