Sacred Earth - Promise

[h1]An interesting RPG/Visual Novel hybrid that gets bogged down in RNG-heavy combat and lacks solid cohesion for various aspects of the rest of the game.[/h1] https://youtu.be/KKSg9FW2O2Q https://youtu.be/2lIxrysL2t0 Ok, look. The main thing I want to get across is that Sacred Earth - Promise, IS a decent game. It’s got interesting, quirky characters, has some decent puzzles on the explorable maps, uses an interesting dungeon explore ‘board’, and has some really amazing artwork. The problem with all that is that almost none of it really gels well with the other parts. This is a game that, at its core, has heart, but lacks a solid cohesion. Take the art, as a prime example. I counted no less than four different, distinct art-styles being used in the game. Each were amazingly well done on their own, but why so many? I’m not sure if this was intentional or not, but it was jarring for the player. It pulled me OUT of the story, instead of drawing me IN. I can understand the effect they were trying for with the chibi-style sections, but even in visual novels and anime, those super-deformed parts still match up with the general style of the base product. The writing also seemed to jump between different styles (AKA: the voice of the writer). Sometimes it would use large, antiquated words, then later the same character would talk in a simple, easy-flowing manner. Characterizations were a bit off as well. The whole thing felt like there was more than one writer, and they didn’t collaborate on the different sections. One wanted to write a fun, quirky Visual Novel, while the other wanted to explore darker themes of loss and power. All in the same character, in a short span of time! Then, there’s the combat. It’s a style I’ve seen before, in the game Crimson Shift, where attacks lead to combo chains and build an EX gauge to unleash devastating attacks. It’s also somewhat forgiving in that if a character ‘dies’ they can come back after 3 turns, providing you can survive that long. But the RNG combined with weaknesses and resistances that are NOT easily conveyed results in wildly varied amounts of damage...it was frustrating and not something I enjoyed at all. +Amazing Artwork, each different part looked great and fit whatever scene it was being used in...I just wish there was ONE style for the whole game. +Interesting, engaging story, with a huge cast of named characters +Unique Dungeon Exploring through the ‘board’ utilizing Travel Points. +Gear is augmented through Ether Gems to cater to different playstyles +Can save DURING text conversations at some points. =No Grinding/Opportunities to level. Once you leave an area (due to the story) you cannot go back to level up =There seems to be a lot of history in this game, and it can be overwhelming. I always felt like I was out of the loop for most conversations =Most music tracks don’t loop properly/well. -The combat can be rough, and relies far too much on RNG. Bosses can one-shot, even with careful preparation -The last dungeon is almost painfully long. I was in it for almost 2 hours before finding the final boss and there was a good chunk of it still unexplored -Game tries to mix RPG and Visual Novel, but not in a good, cohesive way. Basically, the RPG side is hampered by poorly balanced combat, and the Visual Novel side is affected by the differing art styles. I am...really, [i]really[/1] on the razor’s edge with Sacred Earth - Promise. I enjoyed a lot of the things it was trying to accomplish, I just wasn’t expecting it to get so jumbled up in trying to deliver them. I wish Steam had a Neutral rating. I know, I know, that’s incredibly lackluster. But so was this game, after everything is said and done. The different art styles, the clunky mix of RPG and Visual Novel, the RNG-heavy combat... But in the end, it’s the combat that drags this title down. For all my complaints about it being clunky and lacking cohesion, I can still look past all that because the game obviously comes from a place of love and care and has a LOT of heart. It’s quirky. The characters are engaging. I loved ALL the art. But the frustration of the combat...to do everything correctly, and carefully, only to get punished by bad RNG... Since I can’t give a true neutral rating, I’m choosing Recommend. But...the game isn’t worth the current price of 14.49 CAD. I recommend it on sale ONLY, or if you want to help support the devs. I really hope they continue this series, and create better games. They certainly have the heart and soul part of this down pat.

Story: Priel Aylin is a Dragonkin mercenary who often finds herself working alone, but ends up fighting alongside her estranged sister Perrine for the sake of a tag tournament. After winning, they discover that their opponents are actually criminals and that their old chuuni friend, Fate, is working with them for his own purposes. This conflict eventually forces the sisters to confront their grim past in Icefall, their strained relationship, and their outlook on life. For those that played the original free version from RPGMaker.net, there's some new dungeons and story segments between the old ones, as well as a True Ending if you complete all the sidequests, which leads into future entries in the Sacred Earth series. Gameplay: The game uses a non-ATB turned-based system, with LP, EX, and EP as your main resources. You can't use items to quickly restore any of these resources, but the game is balanced so that you can sustain yourself with support skills, EX Heal, Focus (basically a guard command with slight recovery), and post-battle recovery. The chain attack system could be difficult to use efficiently if your reflexes are poor, but once you memorize the keys you need to press, it's still possible to pull off normal chain -> EX -> Limit. I personally find the window of opportunity for inputs to be slightly too small, so I usually cut the normal attack chain short if it means guaranteeing an EX at the end. Of course, you don't need to do the normal chain, since you're allowed to use an EX skill from the battle menu, meaning you still have a chance to win even if you have the reflexes of a snail. For the battle UI, it's impossible to see the enemies' current buffs and debuffs, which can be annoying if the player mistakenly tries to apply a debuff that the enemy already has. Additionally, a lot of complaints about OHKOs and RNG would be mitigated if the player could see all active enemy buffs, since their offensive buffs are most likely causing them to kill everything. For those worried about the difficulty, the game is balanced to be a bit on the hardcore side. You will need to pay attention to enemy weaknesses and utilize offensive buffs, even in normal battles, so that you can make every attack count as much as possible. Against tankier enemies and bosses, you'll need to use more defensive tactics to survive a prolonged battle against them, since their damage output is rather high. Try to have at least one character defending per turn, especially if that character is unable to target the boss's elemental weakness. YMMV may vary on this defensive gameplay, since some like that enemies can't be cheesed with offensive skill spam while others feel that this gameplay balance causes battles to be dragged out. The dungeons feature a node system, where you can interact with combat, treasure, trap, event, and bonus nodes to unlock more of the map. There are also mini-dungeon nodes that take you to a tradtional map with enemies and puzzles. While the node system makes it convenient to avoid backtracking, the traditional maps are more aesthetically pleasing than a static background image. I personally would have preferred fewer nodes, but with mostly mini-dungeons so that there's still a clear sense of permanent progression while being able to see what the dungeon actually looks like. EXP gain is dependent on character level, which means stronger characters get less EXP while weaker characters get more EXP. This makes it easy to get the party evenly leveled, though it does make later encounters not worth the effort except on Nightmare mode. Unfortunately, it's easy to become too high-leveled before even taking out half the enemies in a dungeon, so speedrunners will have to keep a balance between fighting and spending TP to skip enemies. I'm willing to bet on Normal mode at least that even if you try to skip as much as you can, you'll probably level up enough just from whatever you can't skip. Update: It might be possible to get EXP from skipping enemies. I saw someone actually get EXP in their gameplay video despite skipping. There's an equipment system, but it doesn't involve standard weapons and armor. Instead, each character can equip ether gems, which change their stats and elemental resistances, thus allowing for more customizability than a traditional equipment system. I generally went for balanced stat builds, with a slight bias for whatever offensive stat the characters are good at. Once you learn EX Limits, you can try going for glass cannon builds in an attempt to annihilate bosses in a few turns, though that could be riskier on Nightmare. The game makes it fairly easy to find sidequests in town by giving the NPCs smiley face markers if they have one. Most sidequests need their criteria completed before fighting the current dungeon boss, but you usually can't report to the clients until after the boss, which can make it a bit nerve-wracking to confirm if you've actually completed it. I'm basically screaming "MIR, WHY WON'T YOU TAKE MY FROST QUARTZ?! WHY DON'T YOU LOVE ME?!" until she finally takes the quartz in the ending.

Sacred Earth - Promise is a fun RPG. The thing that appealed to me the most was the combat system. Its a little like a fighting game combat system in a RPG. Spend a lot of time building meter to do big attacks that form a combo. Has a nice story and lots of party banter. If you try the demo and enjoy it you'll probably like the whole game.