"I Am Setsuna" is a new Japanese Role-Playing Game (JRPG), developed by newly-founded studio Tokyo RPG and published by Square Enix. The game is a love-letter to all fans of old-style RPG's as it combines many elements of those games, most notably the Active Time Battle (ATB) system and the silent characters.
The story takes place in a snowy village and the player is in charge of a hitman of sorts named Endir. He is given a mission to travel to Nive Village and murder the "sacrifice". Endir, as the silent protagonist that he is, accepts this mission without much question. However, once he arrives at Nive Village and meets with his target, Setsuna (and her guardian, Aeterna, who's presence proves pivotal to the story), he finds out that she is to be killed anyway in order to maintain the world's peace, thus the title "sacrifice". So he decides to tag along on her pilgrimage to the "Lost Lands" where she is to give up her life, so that he can see his mission through. On the way, they meet more characters, some of which decide to join the ride. There is some variety in the main cast (by the time the game is over it consists of 7 characters), however most seem one-dimensional. The story itself has a few twists, especially towards the end, but nothing too unexpected.
The battle system is traditional ATB, yet offers its own sense of variety. The player can equip his characters (3 per party, not replacable during battle) with certain talismans (think accessories) and on those talismans certain stones known as spiritnites can be placed. There are 2 types of spiritnite: command and support. Command spiritnite gives the characters the ability to use certain "techs" in battle (abilities, magic, etc) and support spiritnite does exactly what the word implies. It can raise max HP, raise attack power, raise defense, protect against a specific element/status condition, etc. Depending on which spiritnite which 2 or 3 characters are wearing (and if those characters are in the active party), the player can execute certain combination attacks. However, in order to use them, the player must wait for both those characters' ATB bars to be full. Once players get the hang of the battle system, they can begin to exploit it, making battles very easy from very early on. Thus comes the problem of repetitiveness, something a lot of old-style RPG's used to suffer from. The boss battles are highly challenging and entertaining though.
The music is incredible and it suits the style of the game completely! There is a simple piano sound heard throughout the game, but it's simplicity and sometimes serenity is a constant reminder of what this game is all about: a tale of sacrifice. The graphics are really nothing to marvel at and there is the matter of the constant snow. There's white pretty much everywhere apart from the occasional tower exploration. It does get pretty tiresome.
Overall, this game had an interesting story and nice music and that's about it. Since it's an RPG being published by Square Enix, I have to say it helped me to see how much of a great move they are making abandoning this type of battle system with their flagship series' upcoming title, Final Fantasy XV. Some of the battles were so boring they made me want to just skip them but I knew that if I would, my characters would be underleveled for the next boss fights. So I was kinda forced into it. And that's how old RPG's worked. Time to move on...
The story takes place in a snowy village and the player is in charge of a hitman of sorts named Endir. He is given a mission to travel to Nive Village and murder the "sacrifice". Endir, as the silent protagonist that he is, accepts this mission without much question. However, once he arrives at Nive Village and meets with his target, Setsuna (and her guardian, Aeterna, who's presence proves pivotal to the story), he finds out that she is to be killed anyway in order to maintain the world's peace, thus the title "sacrifice". So he decides to tag along on her pilgrimage to the "Lost Lands" where she is to give up her life, so that he can see his mission through. On the way, they meet more characters, some of which decide to join the ride. There is some variety in the main cast (by the time the game is over it consists of 7 characters), however most seem one-dimensional. The story itself has a few twists, especially towards the end, but nothing too unexpected.
The battle system is traditional ATB, yet offers its own sense of variety. The player can equip his characters (3 per party, not replacable during battle) with certain talismans (think accessories) and on those talismans certain stones known as spiritnites can be placed. There are 2 types of spiritnite: command and support. Command spiritnite gives the characters the ability to use certain "techs" in battle (abilities, magic, etc) and support spiritnite does exactly what the word implies. It can raise max HP, raise attack power, raise defense, protect against a specific element/status condition, etc. Depending on which spiritnite which 2 or 3 characters are wearing (and if those characters are in the active party), the player can execute certain combination attacks. However, in order to use them, the player must wait for both those characters' ATB bars to be full. Once players get the hang of the battle system, they can begin to exploit it, making battles very easy from very early on. Thus comes the problem of repetitiveness, something a lot of old-style RPG's used to suffer from. The boss battles are highly challenging and entertaining though.
The music is incredible and it suits the style of the game completely! There is a simple piano sound heard throughout the game, but it's simplicity and sometimes serenity is a constant reminder of what this game is all about: a tale of sacrifice. The graphics are really nothing to marvel at and there is the matter of the constant snow. There's white pretty much everywhere apart from the occasional tower exploration. It does get pretty tiresome.
Overall, this game had an interesting story and nice music and that's about it. Since it's an RPG being published by Square Enix, I have to say it helped me to see how much of a great move they are making abandoning this type of battle system with their flagship series' upcoming title, Final Fantasy XV. Some of the battles were so boring they made me want to just skip them but I knew that if I would, my characters would be underleveled for the next boss fights. So I was kinda forced into it. And that's how old RPG's worked. Time to move on...
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