Lilly and Sasha: Game 3/3. Let's do this. Since it's been a few years since I played the second game, I don't remember who Walt is, but he's apparently important, so...yeah, alright.
I said in my last review that, based on my story-saaviness, I'd probably be able to guess how the ending of this series would play out. I take it back. I had no idea the final game would be this epic. [spoiler]I was not expecting to lead a fullscale war in an RPG Maker Puzzle Game.[/spoiler] This is probably my favourite game out of the entire series because of how epic it ended up being.
However, if you look at the score for this game, you can see that the reception for this game is "Mixed". Well, there are some very good reasons for that, and while I enjoyed this game more than the previous two, that does not mean I didn't have problems with it.
First of all, [b]the puzzles[/b]. If you do not like puzzles, you would not like the Lilly and Sasha games. Period. As someone who is not really good at puzzles, I spent most of my playthrough sticking very closely to a game guide I found. I almost never strayed from it, and even then, there were still moments where I found myself hopelessly and relentlessly lost in a couple dungeons. However, unlike before, I think I can finally pinpoint what exactly bothered me about the puzzles in these games...
[b][u]Problem #1:[/u][/b] It is inconsistent which objects you can interact with and which ones you can't. In the very first dungeon, I got stuck because I had no idea that I was supposed to pick up a tile on the floor and use it in another area. How was I supposed to know I was able to do that? And it's not just with that specific area, but it's all over these games. In one dungeon, you can move the pillars, in another, you can't. And while sometimes the objects are colour-coded to indicate that they act differently, other times, there is absolutely no way of knowing.
[b][u]Problem #2:[/u][/b] There are just too many puzzles in the main storyline. I get that the game dev likes puzzles, so I won't suggest getting rid of them entirely, but they [i][b]really[/b][/i] need to be spaced out. I feel like a lot more of these mandatory puzzles should have been relegated to side-quests or optional bonus rooms in order to make the whole game feel less monotonous.
[b][u]Problem #3:[/u][/b] In both the puzzles and the dungeons, there is zero margin of error. There was one area where you had to smash pots to get objects. Okay, fair. But if you needed three objects to complete a puzzle, then there would only be three of said object to ever spawn, [b]ever[/b]. In Zelda games, you often are able to find multiple copies of any necessary object, and if not, then they're located in very obvious locations. Not with the Lilly and Sasha games. If you miss one pot, if you miss one room, and if you make one mistake on any given puzzle, then you either have to do it all over again, or do a lot of backtracking. THERE IS NO MIDDLE GROUND.
I get that this is the last game in the series, but I felt like these were a huge problem with the previous two games as well. Now that I'm done criticising the game's major faults, allow me to actually talk about the stuff I liked.
One of my biggest turn offs for the previous two games was the plot. Not because the main storyline was bad, but because it just felt like there was too much filler. Well, all that is gone now with this game, because there is almost zero filler to be found here, and the game is all the better for it. As much as the puzzles annoyed me, the story was what kept me going, and it was a huge motivator in this game. If the previous two games had been as plot heavy as this one, I would not have complained about it as much as I did.
I don't have space to go into everything I want to talk about, but the characters really felt like a step up this time around. Skye is still the best character, bar none, though the robot was a nice addition too. Terry, despite me poking fun at him in my last review, might actually be one of the best villains in the series even though he's just a bully. (Not everything needs to be on a large scale to be dramatic.) [spoiler]And giving us the backstory of Donovan long after he died, was a risky move that TOTALLY PAID OFF![/spoiler] Even Fox and Viper didn't get on my nerves this time around, and I actually found myself getting invested in their characters! Where was this for the other two games!? [spoiler]Also, the scene where Fox had all the members of the Thieves Guild take off their hoods was one of the coolest things ever.[/spoiler]
And did I mention how refreshing it is to have a story about a grand, fantasy epic about a sister fighting to the death [spoiler](quite literally)[/spoiler] to save the soul of her other sister? Like, that's such a novel concept! I just love how the main driving force of these games isn't romantic love. And the one romance that this series [i]does[/i] have, the girl has the world's best priorities, and the guy was totally supportive of her. [spoiler]Skye x Griffin was such an epic ship, though I was a bit disappointed that Fox x Viper didn't really go anywhere... Yes, I'm a hypocrite.[/spoiler]
If I had one nitpick with the plot this time around, I think it would be the temple where you retrieve Enoch [spoiler](A.K.A. Evilnoch, lol)[/spoiler]. That entire dungeon, while cool in concept and less frustrating in execution, felt like it was only there to give Fox and Viper something to do. I was ten times more invested in Griffin and Skye's storyline than I was with the other two.
That being said, most of the characters still suffered from the problems I brought up in my previous two reviews, it's just that with this game, it was less noticeable because there's so much plot going on that I really didn't mind. I also wish that the Wizard's Guild got a bit more character development/character growth, but I understand why they didn't. I think it would have been better if Viper and Fox spent a lot of time trying to win them over, instead of them just joining forces because the plot demanded it.
The Immortals are also something that are really cool in concept, but are never fully explored. Like, my memory could be failing me, but apart from one or two of the immortals, you never really get to know much of anything about them. They get name dropped every once in a while, and one or two personality quirks mentioned in a line of dialogue, but we never even get to see their faces. Which is sad, because the Immortals, as a concept, is really, really cool. I think in the second game, the Player should explore a dungeon dedicated to each of the Immortals to gain artefacts, and while they're there, they learn about each Immortal's backstory or personality. Again, maybe the previous game already did this and I just forgot about it, but if it did, then that should be a criticism all in itself.
At the end of the day, I'm hard on the Lilly and Sasha games because I just wish they were so much more. Contrary to what I initially believed, these are good stories, I just wish that they were told in a much better way. I wish that somebody would give John Wizard the budget to remake these games as one big game, with Skyrim levels of graphics and design. Get a writer or two to polish the dialogue and that game would become an absolute smash hit, no problem. But for now, all we can do is speculate...
Overall, give these games a try if you like puzzles or are willing to follow a game guide quite closely. Because despite how much they got on my nerves at times, I'm still glad I played them.
