onsdag 17 maj 2017

I Am Setsuna

More like "I am Yuna"

So I picked this up at launch for Switch since it was an RPG and I'm a sucker for these... and it's published by SquareEnix, how can I not try it out? And after playing it and reading up on things around it I just felt empty. People compared it to Chrono Trigger and I've already written down what I thought about that game... twice! I can see it, but at the same time I actually don't see it. It's an JRPG, you can walk around with your characters on the screen like Chrono and it has a time travel plot... but  in reality this is a reworking of different Final Fantasy-plots in a different setting. Don't believe me? The girl Setsuna in the title is a sacrifice that you were sent out to assassinate but ended up protecting to the end. You know, like Yuna from Final Fantasy X, but there it was a twist in the story. Here it's told from the start. Oh yeah, you play as Endir, a member of a clan of mercenaries. And for some reason I would like to say Cecil from Final Fantasy IV in his dark knight phase. But with Squall's behaviour. And I can get behind that I'm escorting someone I'm supposed to kill, but the game doesn't tell a great character story to really show it. First of they give you the possibility to choose certain actions, the problem is that they are either morale high ground or low ground. And the answers doesn't actually effect anything. So I tried answer like a tough mercenary in the beginning and thought that the story would make it so Endir would change his way by actions of the others around him or he himself had to do, especially concerning Setsuna which is what I assumed the name of the game showed. But I switched pretty much to goody-two-shoes since the alternative answer was just dark.

It might just be me, but I think he even looks like Cecil

So as per usual you collect several characters during this journey to the Last Lands in order to sacrifice Setsuna. First of is the magician Aetema who serves as Setsuna's bodyguard. Nidr who is pretty much Auron from Final Fantasy X, I mean, a former bodyguard of a sacrifice and the scars over the eyes, and he looks like a ronin/samurai. Kir, some half-human/half-beast magical wonder child which let me think of Eiko from Final Fantasy IX. Julienne, a dragoon princess that gets possessed all the time, like Kain from Final Fantasy IV. Oh and then there is the "hidden" character that admittedly feels more like Chrono Trigger and that is the Reaper character you fought at several points and can join you and uses a scythe. So he's Magus basically. So that's your cast. There is certain interesting facts about them, but as usual it only is given one quest or town and we never learn anything new about the characters.

I gotta say, I really like the artwork

So you have the sacrificial journey that is as stock as ever, the only interesting bit is that Nidr is actually Setsuna's father and the sacrifice he failed to protect was Setsuna's aunt that caused her mother to be the next sacrifice. We never go anywhere with this after resolving Nidr's remorse with a boss battle. Kir is trying to be like his brother by unlocking his magical ability that will shorten his life, but prefers that to go out like a shining flame trying to solve this. His brother that he also wanted to find actually did the same choice, but died before the journey and Kir tried to find him and that would be a nice side-quest... if it wasn't resolved in the town we picked up Kir as we left it. Julienne pretty much the same problem as she is possessed by monster blood, but that is pretty much the next story segment to continue the game. And the reaper kid joins at the end have some things going for him. He is controlled by his master that created him and have a psychic link with him, but he has no emotions since he is a clone. Like Aetema that is a clone of the Time Judge that guards over the great evil sealed away and uses the sacrifices as a power boost to keep the evil at bay. Time Judge is basically Yunalesca, but actually realises that the downward spiral needs to break and reveals the last twist of the game, Setsuna have arrived several times before, but made the choice to sacrifice herself instead of fighting the evil. But each time the seal breaks and the world is doomed so the Time Judge winds back time 10 years to see if Setsuna choose differently. So she is pretty much insane. But small things changes each time and this time is Endir who never shown up before. And Endir was contracted by Cornelius that is Julienne's second in command while she was influenced by monster blood which gives the great evil power over them? I think. Anyway, yadda-yadda, you confront the evil and the truth is that he is an experiment by the destroyed kingdom to regain their magical abilities, but the power went out of control so they confined him and he grew resentful. You beat him and he flees back in time, Endir and Setsuna are the only ones that can follow him through the save ring which in-game is explained as the memories of the former journeys (neat idea, but fails on the premise that Endir only appeared once). They end back at the beginning of the game and confront a more human-like shadow kid. I think one-hit kills him, but I thought it would be like the paladin battle of Final Fantasy IV, just wait and take pity on him. Instead I have to kill him and his soul enters Setsuna that now ask you to kill her, like the first time you met. Why? I don't know, is she afraid she wouldn't be able to sooth his anger? So I agree, the camera pans up, she says thank you and credits roll. Post-credits Endir walks past a lone tree and disappears and Setsuna appears from nowhere, which is the cover of the game.

See, the game is already spoiled for you.

Gameplay wise the game have certain interesting things going for it. It have Active Time Battle like Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy IV and here is some more Chrono Trigger comparisons like the different attacks were the enemies and players are roaming the screen and depending on when and how you attack you can inflict damage on surround enemies or bonuses on players. You equip which abilities or bonus your characters have which you need to synthesis from materials you get from defeating enemies and compared to every other RPG you don't need to pray to the RNG gods, not all the time at least. Defeating enemies certain ways seems to guarantee a certain drop. Use fire or ice attacks, de-buffed or get "exact" kills or overkills. And everything is recorded in a bestiary. Sadly it feels like there is to few different enemies. I think there's like 4-5 different versions of each monster and that is like 10 of them? And the dungeon settings are repeated at least once. Aka 2 mountains to climb, two high-tech dungeons, two ice-caves and so on. All in all a bit short. I think it misses a quarter of the game, defeating the Dark Samara and sending him back in time should unlock the world so you can travel back and get the necessary powers to open the time travel which should be a dungeon where you fight a manifestation of time that sends Endir and Setsuna to  the end of the game. The dungeon should explore the different versions of Setsuna's journey to see the differences and the impact you as Endir have made. But maybe I couldn't have taken the extra dungeon, especially when the second monster of the game is a self-exploding seal that must explode upon defeat giving me Earthbound flashbacks and don't get me started on the meteo throwing T-rexes at the end. Really, the deja vu moments should have been from the start where fatal outcomes in confrontations should have been avoided. Like that Nicolas Cage movie which I never seen beside the trailers. Or the answers you gave continually evolved the way to either good or non-caring. The music is at least good!

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