Man, I had this game on the backburner for quite a bit. I finally decided to pick up the game, and play, after a bit of some bit of time to kill, and enjoy some Kemono content on Steam. While the game was overall pretty alright, it's far from being bad.
(Because I would be updating my review, and the review character limit is dumb, I'll add additional comments in the.. well, comments)
Art
The art of the game is pretty cute. The main menu screen having a uniquely cute forest sprite with a very pretty lighting effect, but I wished that would've been the style of backgrounds used for the game. The menu art of the game is pretty cool, being a more storybook style. The character's designs are pretty simple, which thanks to that does allow for all of the background character sprites to be unique from each other without having too much details being added to them. In combat, your character sprites are also pretty simple, but are animated based on their condition, their stance, and their attacks. It's all pretty neat stuff, so it's not just a static sprite. The enemy sprites are a bit weird, as they are portraits than sprites, but it's not much of a problem outside of that and it does compliment the more cutesy style of the game for all the regular enemies, and the boss sprites do at least look more menacing in contrast.
The music of the game is pretty nice too. Each of them having a distinct track for certain areas, where they won't be played at the same area, save for the battle music. The beginning areas first starting as more peaceful, lush and pretty, then later on gradually becomes more foreboding and mysterious. The battle musics are all pretty energetic and really bombastic, which it does at least help in making the battle parts of the game nice to play through. Not much to be said, it's a pretty decent soundtrack.
Gameplay
The gameplay is pretty simple, but a bit generic, and doesn't have too much that really deviates from most JRPG games, sort of save for one mechanic in the game. The combat system is pretty simple and something that everyone would be familiar with; a usual attack, skill moves with varying damage and afflictions and AP moves. The main character (William) is your usual ranger class that much deals afflictions with some moves, and is balanced. The other character plays like a paladin, a strong damage dealing tank with slow speed with the ability to heal.
The one thing I do like about the battles is that they're not static. Even with a regular attack, the camera would move and zoom in to the characters and enemies, so to give the attacks a bit more impact, which is nice. Some of the stronger attacks do show a portrait along with really satisfying effects and a longer animation to make the attacks feel really strong and sure the combat feel more dynamic. A pretty cool part of the game, even considering its somewhat simple gameplay.
The enchantment system of the game is a bit more of the smithing mechanic in most games, but you're given the choice to upgrade your gear to fit a certain playstyle, depending on which items you put in. Each item used would fill in a slot, meaning that you have to carefully mix and match to create a semi-build from the items you collected, and because you can only fit so many at once, and you can't remove them once they're attached, there's a sense of commitment to the build that can be made.
It's a neat idea on paper that helps make your characters more stronger on certain areas, which is not uncommon in some other RPG games, but in practice it does make kind of put itself in place for the lack of weapons and armor themselves. I kind of felt that the limited choice of weapons and armor limits the possible builds that a player can make; sure the enchantments have pretty tangible differences that actually matter, but it does kind of feel like a shame where it doesn't have some unique equipment that can further boost a certain playstyle more in combination with the enchantments, with the only unique items being rarer accessories. Not a bad system, as it is pretty cool, but I do wish to see some unique equipment that allows for stronger boosts in certain playstyles. Other than that, it works well, but with a bit of extra adjustments, would've been a cool system.
The exploration of the game does work by having you find chests and sparkling areas that can give items and unique materials respectively. It does a pretty good job in making you look around the area for treasure full of loot, since there are times where you could blink-and-miss a chest if not paying attention. Usually they would hold onto strong potions, and even some of the rarer items that you can't buy from at all, making it all the more rewarding to appreciate, with the absence of unique/diverse weapons and armor.
The story of the game is probably the only issue that I ran into in the game. The story itself is not really a bad part of the game, but more or less the story plays through a fair bit quick, and is short. While I understand that the game is pretty small, and it doesn't need to have a long complicated story to be enjoyable, but the pace it goes at does make it a little quick, that so it feels a bit short. Nothing too bad about that, but it was something I felt was a simple story that would've at least be nice if it goes a bit longer.
The character interactions also do feel a bit short, and I do wish that it was a bit more fleshed out so we can learn more about the characters. By themselves the characters are a bit simple, but the two playable characters do at least have a bit of a dynamic with each other, with the young but overly eager, naive and reckless adventurer William, and the older and wiser paladin that has to ensure the adventurer doesn't risk himself into too much danger. Their interactions are pretty cute, where William wonders about what they're interacting with, with the other character interjecting with something that would excite, spook or have William contemplate about his journey. While I did have issues about the story, the interactions from the two as the part of the story looking back did at least have me feel the sort of father-son relationship between the two, even despite the shortness of the game.
Not sure where I would put this part of the review at, but here goes. As a native English speaker, some parts of the grammar that can be seen in the game is a bit off in some parts, where it's most noticeable in combat, the story parts of the game have a pretty comprehensible grammar to at least understand well enough, though it is a bit distracting. Definitely needs fixing.
Overall
While it does have some minor gripes that does make the experience feel a bit too short, and some parts of the story doesn't catch me on as much, some things like the combat and its animations, the enchantments and some of the character interactions did help make me push into finishing the game, where it got me to be able to complete 2 of the 4 endings(still need to get the other 2). I love the art and music of the game which could be attributed to my bias towards kemono, the gameplay is at least enjoyable to watch(though it might get a bit repetitive later on but that can be managed), the exploration feels rewarding with stronger items and materials, and the enchantment system being a pretty good idea that could be tweaked to be better. Although I'd agree the price drop/sale would be nice, 10$ does at least feel like an alright price to pay for, and I'd be in to give full price to the indie devs to at least appreciate the game.
And from what I heard, the game is also going to be released on the Switch, so hopefully I do hope that the Switch version does fix its English translation of the game.
