CRYSTAR

One of the best games I ever played. This game is the only reason I haven't completely drown into my sadness these last weeks, this game literally healed me. The gameplay is just okay. I think many people didn't like this game specifically because of the gameplay (I disliked the game 5 years ago too), but everyone clearly forgets that games are the highest form of art, and gameplay doesn't play a huge role in the overall universe of a game, gameplay makes art interactive, but is not the main aspect of games like Crystar. The music is simply gorgeous. As a musician, I haven't been inspired by game music in years, the musician has own unique style, and musician puts his heart into every song. Apathy is soul tearing, the final boss song (The End) is how final boss songs should sound, not those boring garbage songs the gaming industry keeps throwing on us every single time. The world of this game has its own unique sound, because this world is unique, this is made with soul. The plot is good, and I don't have much to say about it because much of what I describe could be a spoiler! The characters are lively and amazing (I just want Rei to be my little sister...) I haven't encountered such lively and real characters in a game in a long time. I have 0 claims to voice actors for the first time ever, all voice actors are wonderful, their voices fits characters perfectly, I don't know anything about English voices, but the Japanese ones are perfect. The game's universe, the entire Purgatory, the way it works, it all aligns perfectly with my own worldview. I am so glad that not only I think this way, but that others share my thoughts on how the afterlife might function. This game has definitely reduced my fear of death, it's impossible for the afterlife not to exist, the end is never the end, something is always born from what's gone. This game has soul. This game has everything, except for the masterpiece gameplay. Don't let simple gameplay flaws ruin your experience. Games are art, and art is meant to be felt, not just played. Thanks to all the developers of this game for such a wonderful experience <3

A game where you can, and must, pet the dog before it's too late. And then power up your characters and cleanse gained loot by crying. Cute designs and characters, absolutely banger soundtrack, neat dungeon visual design and like most games of this style True End is hidden behind few hoops that are luckily short but require to repeat few dungeons for extra lore. Shame about the combat and enemy design though as you're going to need a crash test dummy strength seat belts for this experience as the enemy variety and dungeon crawling is so copypaste you better wear those seat belts like a JRPG hero as you're going to think of hanging yourself an awful lot while on this ride. Melee combat feels like you're playing Gothic with cement boots on, there are launches and midair combat but it's waste of time, enemy "intelligence" or patterns come straight drooling from Devil May Cry 2 and 95% of melee skills hit enemies at toddler's arm length or are indiscriminate aoe that you might as well blow raspberries at the enemies. Thus you set combat difficulty to Easy as Normal/Hard just controls enemy HP inflation and bum rush story until you get best grill, Nanana, and admire her hot mess of a fashion sense while you play with her as much as the game lets you and if you want any kind of challenge from the "bosses", frankly insulting to call them that, then you do dungeons only once and be underleveled/-geared. Truly one of those games that one wishes they could set the recommend thumb midways with the obvious downsides to the otherwise emotional journey to Purgatory and back for characters.

2/5 一分给美工 一分给能正常游玩的游戏 没了，制作组真该给美工磕一个😡

[h1]Pros[/h1] [list] [*]A tragedy or a comedy? Crystar is an ARPG story focused experience surrounding emotions and lingering regrets after death [*]Small but engaging cast of characters that have distinct goals and internal conflict [*]Combat/grinding can be mostly avoided as defeating revenants/bosses will always keep your sentiments/levels relevant to story content [*]Good execution of story, buildup of tensions and relationships are done well with a bittersweet conclusion [*][b]Thelema & Kuon {The only innocent ones}[/b] [/list] [h1]Cons[/h1] [list] [*]Each revenant has nine reskins, by the end of the second chapter, players have encountered every enemy type [*]Story loops the last two chapters twice, minor story differences that could have been summed up in a singular ordeal for the respective chapters [*]Combat is not difficult but also not engaging; is used to bloat gameplay inbetween story sequences [/list]

The best parts of this game at this point are: The story which is quite good even if a bit troupey in certain sections with darker undertones, the artstyle is quite eye-catchy and memorable, and the soundtrack is incredible. Just search for the soundtrack in youtube if you don't believe me... amazingly beautiful violin intermixed with techno vibes. Extremely memorable The story has a prevalent dark tone and it's quite immersive and enjoyable so far (still in chapter 4), but I can see how the gameplay can get repetitive soon due to how clanky the combat feels, really static with restrictive combos and basic abilities to use. Not slow, but not as responsive as it could be to make this game a must play (If this game had Ys combat system I'd be having a blast). Had to swap the game to easy because I was feeling the frustration of having to play through sections of really repetitive dungeons. But leaving that aside, you can rush the dungeons (I am going for the full memory collection achievement) and make this game much shorter even if I don't really recommend this approach.

簡潔な評価としては、刺さる人には痛いほど突き刺さるゲームであり、読み物としてのクオリティは極めて高い。ただし人を選ぶ上に明確な短所も存在するが、それを乗り越えたあとのカタルシスはすばらしい。 本作が向いている人を考えてみた。 ・ほの暗く、バッドエンドのあるようなゲームが好きな人 ・かわいい女の子が抱えたトラウマが好きな人 ・悪辣な展開であるほど興奮してしまう人 ・[spoiler] 犬が不幸な目にあっても耐えられる人[/spoiler] 長所と短所に分けて書いていく。（ストーリー全クリアまでのプレイ時間60時間） 〇評価点 ・すばらしいサウンドトラック。OPのやなぎなぎさんの「can cry」も含め、長大なダンジョンで聞き続けても飽きない名曲の数々。 ・だんだんと爽快感の出てくる戦闘。終盤は強力で派手なスキルも多用できるようになり、退屈になりがちな本作の戦闘に爽快感が出てくる。 ・周回を前提にしつつも、次々に伏線を回収していく、心をぐらぐらと揺さぶる哀しいストーリー。大体のキャラに良いところと悪いところがあり、それが各周回で明らかになってくる。 ・独特な世界観。死後の世界というありふれたテーマでありながら、キャラクターの魂そのものである守護者はヘラクレイトスをはじめ古代ギリシアの自然哲学者から名前を取られており、用語もそうである。 またキャラクター像の構築にはカバラ的要素・グノーシス主義的要素、ファウストなども含められており、独特である。 これらの知識を持っていたので、先の展開をある程度予想してにやにやすることができた。 ・シナリオの演出のゲームシステムへの組み込み方が上手い。具体的には言わないが「泣く」ことがストーリー的にもシステム的にも重要になってくる。涙の流し方も数パターンあって、つーっと流すこともあれば嗚咽を漏らしながら泣くこともあり、とても凝っている。みんなも美少女を泣かせまくろう。 〇短所 ・レベルデザイン、バトルデザインが稚拙。戦闘システムそのものはPS2時代ごろのありふれたアクションゲームレベルであり、決して褒められたものではない。またプレイヤーが大半の時間を過ごすバトルフィールドはやたら広く、導線もないためただただ走り回るしかない。加えて雑魚戦は簡単なのだがボス戦になるとやや理不尽なギミックを連打してくるため、緩急があまりにも激しい。 ・ザコ敵の使いまわし。本作のザコはたぶん7種類？くらいの使いまわしで、攻撃方法も基本変わらない。 フィールドが広すぎることもあり、より退屈さを強調してしまっている。 ・一部の仲間の性能がちょっとよろしくない。高威力短射程の格闘系キャラが序盤に仲間になるのだが、当たり判定が絶望的に狭いため使いにくい。加えて守護者の必殺技も最後の多段ヒットの判定箇所がキャラ正面より奥側に存在しているため、狙っている敵に密着している状態だと命中しない。さらにレベルアップで覚えていくスキルもややピーキー。 ・金欠。とにかく金欠。武器や防具、アクセサリーの強化には大量の素材が要求されるのだが、素材は正直狩りに行くよりも買い物で済ませた方が早い。しかし買うためのお金がない。これが解消されるのはひとによっては四週目くらいかもしれない。とにかくわたしはそうだった。 ・[spoiler] 犬が不幸な目に合う。[/spoiler]

Despite its all downsides (mostly poor gameplay and some stale cliches/poor humor), it's a good game with engaging story. Finished it in 41 hours while collecting everything.