Soul Saga

"Soulless Saga" may be the best way to describe this game. I'm sad to see a game I was once so excited for become one of the most disappointing experiences I've ever had with a game in my life. I've been following this game since the Kickstarter campaign back in 2013 and I've had it wishlisted on Steam since the store page went up back in 2016. The game was originally billed as "A love letter to J-RPG classics from the Playstation era like Final Fantasy, Breath of Fire, Suikoden, and Persona." and it's exactly that which attracted so many of us to the project. The game no longer bears any semblance to what was once promised and what we're left with is some kind of menu based Rogue-Lite airship sim. The airship controls are absolutely terrible. You'll slide, crash and bounce around in some of the worst controls imaginable but under the guise of being "challenging" and "skill based". It's not "challenging" or "skill based", the airship just controls like ♥♥♥♥. The dialogue feels like it was written by a 10 year old. "A very enemy-like enemy approaches!" The "best" part of the game is the combat and even that feels slow, clunky and uninteresting. The game largely feels like a visual novel with poor dialogue and minimal story with very little exploration that has terrible clunky controls and the occasional dull unbalanced battle. Sadly I see no positives in the game in its current form and with the developers policy of lock and delete to censor criticism on the forum I have no faith that things will improve and will be requesting a refund.

With the current price and content this game have, it's not worth it. you can get a more polished game that are even cheaper(unless you really want that airship exploration thing). From start to finish the game is the same, with nothing to look forward too other than new characters you are unable to use and the only thing you know about them is their name and portrait. The game has no story, you finish a map go to senate get your cash, then on to the next same thing same dialogue. but since the game is rouge-lite now maybe story doesn't matter but then read my first sentence. The combat is a bit RNG based, if the enemy goes first with a red buff you're screwed. On level 30+ maps, the maps are HUGE and there's no savepoints, you go fetch quest item from the eastmost of the map then fetch another from the westmost then return the fetched items to the eastmost again and while on your way back you miscalculated or pretty much you are annoyed about the tediousness and want to get the map done quickly and you get screwed by cloudking, yup alt+f4 and redo the map again. What the game lacks the most is character development, since I believe that the vast amount of characters is this games' main asset. Your 6 usable characters is the same as it they were in the beginning besides their stats and their hp/body/soul stats of course. there's no new skills, no bio, none. However, yup early access, the game has potential. like going the route of base building/management then you can assign the guildies for other stuffs rather than just delegating them, build defenses for the grumplin invasions(my main frustration from this game, once you get quite far there won't be a day without grumplin invasion), character backstories, all characters being playable(something I'm looking forward to)... I'm probably going to check the game out again after a content update, maybe then my review will change but for now I believe I've played the game for what it has and my review is what came out of it.

I Kickstarted this game back in 2013. The PS4 was just about coming out. I remember when I was asked if I wanted a key for the PS4 version or the PS Vita version. I had to settle for a Steam key because the dev took so long that a generation literally was born and ended during the life of the software. The game was supposed to be a "Love Letter to JRPG Fans". PFFFFFFFT. This vision of this game has shifted to a shell of what it was supposed to be due to the "hardships" of the developer struggling and posting pictures to back up his excuses. This game is nothing more than a turd wrapped in a shiny box. I waited 8 years for this gar-baj to be released. This is why people don't like Kickstarting games. I backed it at TWICE the MSRP and this is how you get repaid. It's like going to see a monkey at the zoo only to get poo thrown in your eye. The developer is active in talking about anything other than the game so don't even bother with the Discord because it's just a front.

After waiting for a couple years I *REALLY* wanted to like this game and I just can't. It's not at all what I was expecting, with way too much airship which is a bear to control and not enough world exploration. The absolute lack of tutorial certainly didn't help matters much either.

The airship is difficult to control and the combat makes absolutely no sense. This makes me sad I was looking forward to this game for a very long time, and now I have wasted money on this garbage

This is not the game I backed back in 2013. This was handled extremely poorly. Wouldn't have backed if I knew this. 7 years for this? looks like mobile game and the airship controllers is terrible...

There were 20 some odd reviews last night when I went to bed. Today, there are none. The forums have been locked. And of course the reviews have all been deleted (a few can still be found on the community hub, proof that the dev DID indeed go and delete the reviews from the store page). I bought this game as it looked like it had promise. Half a hour of clunky play, practically zero story, and launching my airship (with no instructions or tutorials provided) and I decided it was a dud. Yes, I know its Early Access, but even in early access there are limits on what I'll consider tolerable. So I refunded my money. I come back today and see the worst form of Damage Control has been used. Lock and Delete. Oh, and he had to deal with backlash from many backers because when he started it on KS, it was being billed as a JRPG sort of game with airships and other fun stuff. He had to say "its a rogue-lite not a jrpg!" He knew people who backed the game would be upset over such a drastic change.

Full disclaimer: I kickstarted this game back in the day when it had hopes of being that classic JRPG experience that everyone was looking for. I watched it burst into flames, then rise form the ashes like a majestic phoenix. Only to turn into the dumpster fire that we see in front of us today. From the way this game looks and feels, I would have felt better knowing my money fell into a scam that would never see an end product. The dialogue feels like it was written by a 12 year old for FanFiction.net, the controls (or lack there of) are perfectly created for a child with a hammer smashing away at the controller (same end effect anyways), and the combat strategy is non-existent. Anyways, 7.8/10 Too much water.

The game is not at all what was promised when it gained so much interest and traction. Screenshots are overwhelmingly misleading to the execution of gameplay, to the point it may as well be false advertising. This is mostly a visual novel with very little if any exploration, and what little exploration exists is penalized severely with what is essentially, at the beginning, a time limit. Very little is explained with the mechanics of flight. Combat is bland and basic, the flight is Wii era Skyward Sword style bland and empty. Red Flag, wait for development to finish.

So I have been waiting for this game for a while. I remember reading an article about it in 2013 and I was pumped because I was a fan of JRPGs. The game was advertised as a love letter to classic JRPGs, specifically the PS1 JRPGs. This game isn't that. [b]So if you are buying this game based on the kickstarter, previous shown footage, or to play a classic JRPG-like game, you won't find that here.[/b] That itself is not the issue for me. I think the game is lifeless. I will go into why I think it is lifeless below. I will start with the good aspects. The game isn't all bad. The designs for the characters are pretty good. Mithos's character design in battle and on the map is adorable (it always has been in every design). Though, he was cuter in his previous design, but it is still a cute design. Taro is also adorable. They look pretty good in battle too. The art is also well done. The music is pretty good. I didn't get to hear the full range of music in the game, but it gets the job done. I didn't find myself annoyed at any track, which is a good thing. The battle system is also good in a way. I do think it is slow and sluggish. I also don't know why the ATB bar is not shown. I think showing the ATB bar would solve the slow issue somewhat. It is weird that I can't see when my character is about to get a move. Final Fantasy has shown ATB bars for years. I don't understand why the ATB bar is hidden. Is there a reason? The mechanic girl was able to use a move to show the ATB bar, but honestly, they should just be shown. That said, I think the idea of something affecting your moves in real time is somewhat unique actually. It also gives a strategic option to wait until your move will be stronger. And waiting also allows the enemy to use the bad colors. The way it works is there is bubbles with red, purple and gray bubbles. The red bubbles buff attack. The purple buff magic. The gray debuffs your attack. So, if you have a mage, you would want to use their attacks when the purple bubble is in play. But if your mage is the only person able to attack, you might have them use a red bubble if you don't want the enemy to use it (it would make the enemy's attack stronger too). As you can see, it leads to an interesting strategic element to battles. Lastly for positives, controlling the airship isn't downright awful. I actually think it controls fine. I have seen other people that hate the airship controls, but I think it is fine. Also, if there was better environments to go to, I don't think people would be complaining about the airship. Onto negatives...I think the biggest issue with the game is a lack of any real exploration. The islands are not interesting in the slightest. And your interaction with them is side quests that involve you piloting the airship down to an island for dialogue and then a fight. You might be flying to the islands to pick up machine parts or flying to various islands to find a certain flower. Whatever the case, it is always the same thing. The islands look the same and you never leave the airship to explore them. There is no exploration of any kind. Towns are the lifeblood of RPGs. They show the world and culture. Final Fantasy XIII was the most divisive Final Fantasy because of its lack of towns and gameplay variety. There are no dungeons or towns in this game, and it makes it feel like a hollow experience. The hub town is the only town that I could see and it had no people within it to talk to. No people walking around. It is a ghost town. Nothing in this world makes it come alive. That is why I said it was lifeless. The story is also very limited. Though, I know this will be fixed in the future so I can't really point to it as a major issue considering this game is in Early Access. Things...just happen. There is no buildup to anything. Also, while the premise of three monsters coming to destroy the hub is interesting, it makes it sort of weird that there isn't any preventative measures your characters can take. You meet Mithos out of nowhere too. The characters themselves don't really speak much and feel hollow. Though, again, I assume the developer plans on fixing this issue largely. He was looking for writers and was going to add story and dialogue. Overall, I am disappointed in the shift in direction for the game. I much preferred the past footage. I also wonder how much of the stretch goals from the kickastarter will actually be featured in the game. The villain was going to get his own story mode, but I don't see that happening with this new version we are getting. As far as I can see, the only villains are these monsters. Looking at reviews, it is clear many of us were let down by this game and the changed direction. That said, if the game was good in its new state, I would have given it a pass despite it being completely different. But I don't think it is good and I don't see it getting better unless the game has major developmental changes. As I said above, the biggest issue is the lack of exploration and gameplay variety and I don't think these will be added at this point. If I am proven wrong and the game changes drastically from now to the actual launch, I will buy it again considering I refunded it this time. But in its current state, I am not hopeful.