Soul Saga

A waste of time even looking into this game. Originally funded on kickstarter, looked like it was planned very similar to Skies of Arcadia Legends (gamecube), however as time has run and no progress made, now is a fragment of the game originally planned.

I picked this game up because I thought it would give me a similar experience to Skies of Arcadia, hopefully with more meat. Unfortunately, Soul Saga doesn't really seem to have that much in regards to storytelling. What I've seen so far of the design looks great (though I don't understand why the senators have soldier sprites), but you have this thing of "boom, you have a guild hall! It's totally ready for you, random guy I met 30 seconds ago! I don't want to do the business of running a guild myself, I just so happened to have already done all the paperwork and bought this property and then waited for some schlub, I mean entrepreneur to come use it!" The game lost me at the airship. "You need an airship? Let's go see. Boom, airship! No, wait, a talking airship!" I'm not saying that an airship can't talk (because fantasy) but it's all so ham-fisted. With some better writing and pacing, I would've given it more of a shot.

Disappointing. HUGELY disappointing.

Worst "game" i've ever played. It was supposed to be a JRPG game, but it is part Visual Novel and part garbage. I had much more fun with ET on Atari and I wish I could say I was joking.

This is not the game I backed. This is not the game I wanted. The dev took our money based on a promise and broke it. Never told us and then released this unpolished half-finished game. Have played more of the game, and it is unacceptable, even for "early access". Graphically poor with no decent PC graphics or audio options. Primitive game play, janky controls, and an overall weak game. Maybe in a year or two it may be actually playable, but considering this is after 8 years of development I would not expect it to get any better. Not worth our time or money.

[h1] BLUF (Bottom Line Up Front) [/h1] Soul Saga is an RPG game that attempts to remove some of the restrictive formulas of classic RPG games and instead replaces them with some procedurally generated content and some amount of choice. While it may not appear to have perfected and/or carved out a new niche in the RPG genre, it can still be a fun experience for those who are looking for something a little different and are okay with what can be a steep challenge/learning curve. [h1] Concept [/h1] In the game, you are faced with 3 "boss" monsters who are at the edges of the world. These boss monsters are set on destroying the world and will actively go about destroying it on a set timetable. The monsters' goal is to reach the center of the world map and destroy the heart of the society. While this can be a little bit of a pill to swallow - the monsters are likely to win, but their victory only sets into motion the option for a New Game+ mode that allows you to restart with levels/gear intact until you are able to blaze through the levels and defeat these monsters for good. [h1] The Difference [/h1] What is different about Soul Saga is the manner of moving the heroes, the game's use of procedurally generated content, and the choice to approach the presented content and accepting their pros/cons of those choices. First: Manner of Movement The game approaches movement with an airship of heroes instead of an individual or group of hero sprites running around. This is in part due to the fact that these are islands and you would have to be Goku from Dragon Ball if you expected to be able to run from island to island, and it is also because there is no implementation of sprites walking around anywhere in the game. In the game maps, you are allowed to fly all over the map in any manner you like. You are somewhat restricted to flying along from isle to isle as the game has a "Cloudking" mechanic that causes the airship to be assaulted when it ventures too far from land, but you are given options that allow you to equip your airship with parts that make it easier to dodge and avoid these creatures to some extent. For instance, you can increase your flight speed and then add on an equipable booster to the airship and popping the nitro at the right instance will catapult you out of the Cloudking's flight path - well, maybe one of them (there can be multiple with as many as 3 in my own limited experiences so far). There is also [u]the ability to reduce the sensitivity of these creatures in the settings menu[/u] to help make it easier for those who are struggling with the island hops. At the end of the day, the airship is simply a replacement for hero sprites when conducting movement and the cloudkings represent a random danger to your health/life (think poison status effects, but with a bit more bang) if you are not careful. In the city, you are given menu based selections for movement to the key parts of the city. This allows for the player to quickly access the key hubs and removes any need for extraneous content creation on the developer's side. I actually like this as I don't have to get wrapped up in remembering who is who and I don't have to spend cycles running from shop to shop and wasting time. This lets me get at what the game does best - flying RPG treasure hunts - and less of what I don't need from RPGs - a long list of irrelevant characters that have a single sentence of text that they repeat regardless of the situation, time of day, etc. Second: Procedurally Generated The island formations in the game map view, the selection of which islands are unlocked, and the levels of the islands when they become available are all randomly or procedurally generated. This helps with second and third play throughs, as it means you will be seeing the level as somewhat new each time you visit it. There are still some concrete parts of the content, but only so far as the key points of a quest are concerned. For instance, if you have an island invasion and you visit the island, the arrangements of the isles will be procedurally generated but the number of warbands present within the arrangement of isles will be fixed. So if there are 5 warbands, you can visit this same scenario multiple times, have multiple island layouts, but you will still need to clear 5 warbands to finish the quest. To clarify, when you first look at the world map - the islands that arrangement of the islands will be different, and when you enter an island map - the arrangement of the isles in the scenario map will also be different. While the world map's arrangement will remain fixed as you play through, the scenario map's isles will change each time you visit the island. This procedurally generated approach to the world helps to keep things from getting stagnant as you play through and also ensures that your choices matter more as you advance through the game. As for the other points of randomization in the world/scenario experience - the game assumes certain quests will be available at a given ring of isles (1st ring has a quest to save the robot, fox, and mechanic characters), but the level ratings on these quests can vary between instances of the game (e.g. spiders might be lvl 1 or it might be lvl 3) and are set only when the isle/quest is first unlocked. That said, there are some quests that are harder to complete even if the level of the quest is lower. For instance, the spider quest culminates with a battle against 6 spiders. These spiders are considered a "swarm" type encounter and have weakened stats. Still, if you only have 1 character in your party and don't have healing potions to keep up with the damage, 6 hits of 1 hp only take about 4 rounds to squash a 24hp character. It is part of the difficulty curve some have faced and been annoyed by, but it is perfectly balanced because you can come back with 2-3 characters and the spider encounter is exactly the same - just easier with the extra firepower. A lot of the difficulty in certain experiences can also be mitigated by making sure you have the right characters and the appropriate gear for the situation - the game assumes you are keeping up with gear selections and will become punishing if you do not. Third: Choice The choices you are given in the game relate to how you approach the content. You are given 2-3 islands unlocked at the beginning of the game and you can chose which you want to start with (don't do the spiders, see above). Each time you defeat an isle, more islands are then unlocked. You can keep advancing between islands as you feel comfortable, but each choice comes with its own pro/con. For instance, if you go north on the map you might start loosing southern islands to the boss monsters who are working their way towards the capital island in the center of the map. Whatever was on that island would now be lost, but you gained the loot/characters you found on the islands you did go to. While there is a [u]slider option in the settings menu[/u] that affects the aggression of these boss characters, I don't know if it is possible at this time to save every island on the map. Also, you don't have to complete every island in one go, you can return to town and rest before returning to complete it, but the day count is what drives the boss monsters/invasions, so choices matter in that regard. [h1] Conclusion [/h1] While I'm not a Kickstarter backer and not a Discord member, I was ultimately attracted to the game because of the Steam page. I happened to see that the game has been in development for a while, and I know it is a solo endeavor from a guy who just wanted to make a fun game (heck, I'd love to be able to make a game sometime, but don't have the art and programming skill to do so). That said, I took a chance on the game and I can't say I am disappointed in the experience. Will I keep playing the game till its conclusion? Maybe. But it is worth a chance at least.

Полное разочарование. Игру так долго делали, кормили крутыми обещаниями, типа это будет новая Skies of Arcadia. В итоге имеем ну совсем нелепую поделку, похожую на сотни других сделанных в RPG мейкере.

If you're expecting a standard JRPG, this is NOT the game for you. I would describe it as more of a mission-to-mission airship game with JRPG elements and combat. Also, the game has rogue-lite elements: when you start a new game, you may get different missions or islands than other people. In short, you get an airship at the start (though the beginning feels kind of rushed in my opinion), and keep in mind that you use menus to navigate through the hub town. Afterwards, you start to visit island areas and drive your airship around. It takes some getting used to, though I do want to note that the game doesn't have an inverted Y-Axis option for the airship. This doesn't bother me, but I know some people want that feature. You fly up to different points on the island and then you end up in combat. Combat consists of your characters fighting the enemies in active time battle. However, to add a twist to it, you have a wheel on the right side of the screen. If you use a physical attack during the red marker, then you deal critical damage. The same applies for magic on the pink marker. However, if you attack/use magic during the corresponding gray markers, you will do less damage. I think the combat shines in this game. Most JRPGS just involve you spamming your strongest spells or attacks non-stop until the monsters die. In this game, you weigh out the risk vs. reward and make decisions of WHEN to attack. Do I wait a while and store up AP before I attack to deal extra damage? Should I attack now, or should I wait for a red/pink marker? How can I manipulate/time my own attacks so that the enemies don't get any critical hits on me? You actually have to think and time your attacks, which I think is an excellent idea. However, I think the biggest problem with this game right now is the initial skill floor with no staircase. The game doesn't explain these mechanics to you, so you either have to figure them out through trial and error, or you need to find help online from other people. This means that you need to just keep "jumping" until you hit the initial skill floor. At first, you're going to hit the wall a few times, fall down, and have to try again. However, once you make that initial jump, the game becomes hard but not frustrating. TL;DR Pros Fun and interesting ATB mechanics that require you to think out when you will attack. Good music and enjoyable graphics. If you like PS2 era graphics, you'll like this. Rogue-lite approach that gives this game a breath of fresh air. If you enjoy a more level-based JRPG system, then you'll enjoy going to each island. Cons An initial skill floor that my frustrate people without a tutorial. No "walking areas" for people that care about that. No inverted Y-axis for the ship controls. Suggested Changes Add inverted Y-axis for people that prefer that. Create a "tutorial island" or similar place to allow people to get used to the airship controls and game mechanics. I'll update this review as changes occur.

Control is awful no tutorial to even the most basic controls

말도 안되는 핑계를 늘어놓으며 업데이트를 미루고, 망가진 프로토 타입까지 내놓을 정도로 진척도가 떨어지다가 게임 개발 포기한듯 한 개발자. 얼리엑세스에 더이상 투자 안하게 만들어준 고마운(?) 게임