CrossCode

Got past the main-game's final boss now, though I did get tired of it and lower enemy damage, so I figure I can review. I tend to be very pessimistic, so despite me liking the game I'm going to be mainly saying what I don't like, but I'll get the things I do like out of the way first: Art: I'm a sucker for pixel art, even more so isometric, so this looks fine to me. Music: IDK mate I suck at judging this, it's not bad though. Story: I liked it, though I found the main twist a little predictable. Spoilers but basically: [spoiler] When I heard Lea was in a "coma" I instantly figured out she was actually an AI, though I did already suspect something like that.[/spoiler] Combat: I think it was alright, though I did find frustration given the next two topics. Controls: I played on keyboard+mouse and decided to use the default controls, bad decision on my part. First both dash and guard are on the same key (R-Mouse), which I can understand on a controller but it's pointless when you've got a keyboard. Similar story for the elemental modes where you press the button to go to that mode, and then the game tells you to press the same button to go back to normal mode, there is a key for normal mode in the controls but the game doesn't tell you about it. Lastly whether you attack with melee or ranged is dependent on where your mouse is place, I think they should have put that on a toggle. Progression: And here's the other big issue I have, the enemies in relation to progression. You need XP from killing enemies or completing quests to level up, leveling up then lets you do more of the story. The problem that comes from this in CrossCode is that, excluding a rare few enemies, enemies don't attack when you get near them so you can avoid an entire area's worth of combat and end up needing to go back and grind to then be able to do the next part of the story. Perhaps you could blame this one me, sure, but I think a simple solution to this would be making enemies attack on sight all the time. I did realize as I was playing this game that I don't like RPG games that being "Role Playing Grind" games, which CrossCode does get close to since in-lore it's supposed to be inside an MMORPG. I think I am much more a fan of games where you get upgrades and abilities rather than stat buffs, means that if I die to a boss it's on me rather than lack of stats. I was going to complain that dashing is a bit clunky with the delay after dashing, but I'm no longer sure if that's a skill issue or not. Will say that they have fixed some of the issues I have with CrossCode in the demo for their next game Alabaster Dawn, so here's hoping it's good. Last note on where I am currently, I need to level up to [spoiler]fight Apollo for the umpteenth time.[/spoiler] Overall I'd give the game a 6.5/10, pretty neat. EDIT: So, I played a bit more while thinking on some other reviews I've read and came to a conclusion I need to mention. Some of the quests also tend to be quite tedious, whether that's the leveling you need to do for some, or resource collection, or the various annoying ones where you have to fight enemies in enclosed spaces.