Ephemeral Tale

This game was gifted to me by a friend associated with the project, in exchange I purchased a copy for someone else. This game is a brilliant blend of retro and modern, using a very limited engine to develop more modern mechanics akin to a looter shooter is pretty sweet. The developer is constantly polishing the game and further improving upon it, he is also very open to feedback so don't be afraid to reach out to him if you encounter any issues! I can't wait to see what this studio has in store for the future!

Many people did not give this game a chance because its rpg maker sprites and settings. But the game (on sale) is definitely worth it. It's just a turn based rpg with a pretty decent story revolving around you with small side quests and optional support characters. It's a classic fantasy rpg.... the enemies are unique and its difficulty scale allows you to turn up the difficulty if its to easy. Personally i love it... but to each his own

ET has been an experience that surprised me more than anything. It looks like your typical Super Nintendo RPG, but these are mostly optics. The gameplay is described as having some Diablo in it. I haven’t played a Diablo game to make that comparison but don’t expect anything hardcore with these claims. There is heavy emphasis on loot of varying rarities and equipments with durability. However, the fights are usually a breeze and durability is not much of a factor. Enemies drop tons of equipment that you’ll never really feel a threat and the longer you play the game, the more you’ll have a chance to find gold/legendary rarity equipment with permanent durability. Challenge can be increased or decreased with specific things in the options menu further. So you can play the game however you want in a sense and that’s a good thing! What makes the game so good is mostly the secrets/exploration and the game’s charm. A lot of what you can do in the game is optional. You can think of recruiting party members, having a blacksmith in the game’s only town or even dungeons that you can completely miss. It’s so much fun trying to figure out how to find everything. The charm comes from the graphics, soundtrack and some of the writing. Like mentioned before, it feels like a Super Nintendo game in the best way possible with some extra modern technology added such as the heat effects when you’re in a fire dungeon or light shining more brightly in the forest. The soundtrack is also catchy and makes me nostalgic. When I think of the writing, I’m mostly talking about some character interactions or descriptions of the equipment/items. There isn’t a lot of story (some of it is optional too) which can be seen as a good thing. You go straight to the action with nothing getting in the way. I like how you can save anywhere and how you can decrease/increase random battles when you’re focused on something. The pacing is pretty excellent with no real filler and the game is not unnecessarily long. My first run might have taken between 12 and 16 hours. Most of the achievements are very fun and they also can help you figure out some of the secrets :) I say mostly because 2 are excluded from the praise. One is for fighting an optional boss and the other is reaching level 50. With the optional boss, it’s only a problem if you want to find it without outside help. It involves coincidence instead of figuring out how to find it mostly. I had more issues with the level 50 achievement. Basically, the game becomes too grindy. My first run with default XP got me to level 36-37. New game plus with +50% XP (max possible) got me up to level 44 and that’s with around 70% complete. It was impossible to get level 50 even with new game plus fully complete and max XP. Luckily this got patched, a default first run should be between level 35 and 40 now. I advise turning max XP on with the first run if you’re only planning on playing the game once or with minimal grind in new game plus. Other flaws are the main story and battle system. Mind you, those are very minor. The little story there is seemed typical and unimpressive but you don’t really play ET for that. And the battle system is a bit simplified. There are few spells which means you’ll default to certain ones similar to spamming attack in certain RPG. The variety comes from taking one of the companions with you who all have 4 magic spells each and combining that with what you have. I didn’t mind though, the game is about the secrets, loot and atmosphere. It was relaxing and therapeutic not having a demanding game on default at least. I had a great time playing ET. It reminds me of my childhood memories of feeling adventurous. Exploring the unknown and being happy with discovering things for the first time. I’m glad to have discovered ET through a bundle. The normal price of €12,49 also feels appropriate. The developer is wonderful btw. If you want to support an indie developer, then he belongs there on that list. We had many great conversations on discord and he pretty much fixed every single bug I threw at him. And I didn’t hold back! In fact, the Mask of Nour equipment got added in patch 1.50.7 is inspired by the many reports I made. It was a complete surprise and very sweet to use my name. I’m looking forward to Ephemeral Legend and whatever he comes up with really.

Fairly cliche but I found myself sucked in regardless. A faithful love-letter, it includes every JRPG trope in the book. It's beautifully presented, modern, and is a solid JRPG in its own right. I'm still in my "reluctant to play RPGMaker games" phase so was surprised at how much I found myself enjoying Ephemeral Tale. Favourite feature was the level design and range of biomes. If you're hungry for an oldschool (but modern) JRPG, it's decent. For more niche curation, follow me at: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/27440015-CSH-Picone/

I bought this game after I tried it on itchio (essentially free from charity bundle). I liked the beginning so wanted to support the developer buying it on Steam. Things I love: Diablo-like loot system Turn-based combat Extensive player choice in settings including difficulty Pixel art style Can pick how my character looks Full controller support (works well) Save anywhere! Developer is very responsive and cares about his game and whether people have fun playing it Things I didn’t love: Item durability (there are repair kits that make it bearable for carebears like me) No map (might be wrong but only a minor nitpick) I look forward to spending more time in the game and will revise my review once I’ve dug a little deeper.

Solid game. Worth playing.

boring maps. pointless item drops. no satisfaction. typing this review put me to sleep.

Good indie rpg that you won't regret playing, dev regularly updates game and will be a true diamond in the rough in a few updates for sure. Pros: Combat Music Sprites Cons: Length of some animations Equipment Durability Lack of Class system or Skill system

Swell little 2.5-3 hour long adventure. Some solid retro tunes--battle music is very nice track. If you've got $5 laying around and an empty afternoon, even in early access, this can provide some solid entertainment. It starts off a bit difficult and the systems can be a little opaque from lack of in-game tutorials/suggestions, but death is pretty forgiving. The only advice is to treat it like a DragonQuest game where you need to power level a little at first before you start snowballing--and snowball you can, and it's pretty satisfying to hit an enemy 4 times a turn healing on crits. Any other issues are mainly due to it being early access still, but generally these are all small fixable things and the dev has been very active in patching in updates. There are NG+'s available as well if you want to keep grinding for better loot. The enemies do scale with you, so the battles won't lose their edge on a new game.https://store.steampowered.com/app/1204320/Ephemeral_Tale/# I can definitely recommend this even in early access. I expect the devs will continue to add more content, levels, etc. with more time and feedback. I expect I'll play it again when more updates are released. If you are into early SNES era jrpgs with some newer interesting loot mechanics, then pick it up! It's light on plot at the moment, but plenty of gameplay to keep things interesting in early access!

Really nice game. Bought it just because of the screenshots showing the different coloured loot but instead I was surprised with good music, good gameplay, and just a really fun game. The biggest surprise was the Dark Souls type leveling and then on top of that there is some Demon's Souls influence with teleporting to different areas and completing them. Or it felt like that at least. Throw in some Borderlands and you have something cool like this. It's a short game but you can do more playthroughs after completing the game to look for secrets you might have missed. Give it a try.