Cris Tales

Si

(game complete at 33.7 hours at time of review, part of my review all my games effort *review changed to "no"*) (short version) Cris Tales is beautiful, a gem in the desert. I've not seen areas/towns you're in designed like this, combat mechanics are interesting (for a while) but thats the crux of it eventually (around halfway) Cris Tales becomes more annoying than amazing. The $40 price tag is steep. (long version) (this was my initial long version review at 1.5 hours of gameplay) Right now I'm having a great time with this charming game that I got in a humble bundle. So many things stand out and grab your attention in the first 10 minutes which excites me to see what happens next. Many reviews over 6 hours seem to get more critical so that is a small concern. (my updated version) Cris Tales is something I've not seen before, and I was fully enamored with it until just about the halfway mark. Then it got annoying, repetitive and honestly worse than most final fantasy RPG's I kept praying that it would just end. When I did face the final boss (not going to spoil it) I ran into a developer fight where the developer had a certain strategy in mind to win (the fight I hate the most). I ultimately picked the bad ending and was actually laughing when I watched the good ending on Youtube. I honestly prefer the bad ending to a 5 minute text dump with Mary sue undertones. Sadly I think the developer lost the plot around mid way of the game, I honestly think the team wanted to end it there but someone said "NO we have to add 10+ more hours to this!" and so their team did. I can imagine that during this time their office was a miserable area to be around because playing though the end parts did not make me happy to see the ending. I was just happy it was over. The good: Graphics on this adventure are very charming, every person (so far) is fully voice acted (this is rare), dialogue is unique and interesting no "welcome to Corneria!" The combat mechanics are interesting until they're not, the music is very enjoyable and well improves immersion. The bad: The story, to me is a bit basic (there are some interesting twists near the end but it actually gets worse sadly), it's a bit odd when the RPG elements are all hitting, but the story becomes the weak point. I haven't played many RPG's where I'm actually angry at the game when the end happens, not because I wanted it to go on longer, but because the game went on TOO long and I felt cheated at the end. On top of all of this, around the halfway point there are continuity errors i.e. A party member is not in your party and you talk to someone but the party member who's not in your party voices their opinion. This is just one small example. $40 is a bit steep even if this game is very entertaining, but well worth the price if on sale.

The graphic style is really off putting for me, and making 2d go into 3d makes it even worse. AApart from that the story is pretty good and engaging despite being very vanilla, not a fan of the weapon system but it works, the combat and gameplay are solid and fun (although I found most of the time combos unnecessary). Overall it is good however, defo worth playing.

x-- 6/10 --x Wasn't too fond of the time travelling mechanic, I feel like it wasn't utilised to it's full potential. The graphics and battles are enough to make me recommend this game though.