CrossCode

The gameplay becomes repetitive and boring very quickly. On top of that, the quests are poorly explained and confusing; you waste way too much time just trying to figure out what you are supposed to do or where you need to go to complete them. I didn't enjoy it.

远星物语，一款让人又爱又恨的游戏。我曾两次卸载，又三次下载，但仍然在中途无法继续，选择退坑，放过自己，也放过游戏。 这游戏玩起来是复杂的，矛盾的，好坏都很极端。我喜欢它的解密，喜欢它的地图设计，但很多解密和探索纯粹就是考你有没有眼力劲或者是你能不能在一个很刁钻的角度把球弹出去，我不觉得这是一个需要思考或者是需要动脑子的设计，时好时坏，好的时候就是巧克力，坏的时候还不如狗屎。 我也喜欢它的战斗，它的加点，它的技能树设计，但它的战斗却和这些没有太大关系，更重要的是你能否在没有任何说明、四五只怪一起上、单次伤害就是小半管血的情况下准确抓住它的弱点。 比如说牛前面无敌，必须撞墙后趁后摇赶紧在屁股输出；地鼠必须要在它停止钻地的时候用远程输出一定数值；骨鱼必须要在它发出疙瘩疙瘩声的时候用远程打断……等等等等。如果你没有发现弱点，那么它就是无敌，无敌就意味着你可以重开了，更别说还有很多很多boss，基本上都是机制怪，根本不是我靠传统加点然后打输出就行。这就导致即使加点装备堆再好，它也没有给我足够的爽感， 甚至战斗本身就是一种折磨，如果没有战斗。对我来说体验可能会更好。 我也喜欢它的队友设计，让我一个常年玩单机的人体验到了MMO的热闹和乐趣，尤其是队友面对关卡设计时候的吐槽，感觉就像是现实朋友会做出来的事一样，充满了真实感。但队友只会聊“玩游戏”这件事，对于剧情的发展毫无帮助，我玩到第七章都没看懂前面在说什么，只看到了“我在和队友玩游戏”。 所以它的解密是很爽。但很多不是解密，甚至需要全程攻略才能正常游玩。它的战斗是很爽，但不管大小都是机制怪，玩起来很难受。虚拟体验感是不错，但为了体验感而删去的超级多引导都是游玩时时不时在巧克力中吃到的狗屎。 三次拿起，两次放下，最后中途弃坑，如果没有这么多狗屎，那么它至少会是9/10分，值得一玩的佳作，但没有如果，即使它再优秀，我也无福消受。

In short, this game is not worth your time [i]or patience.[/i] I played this game seven years ago, and stopped partway through. Recently saw it in my library again, and thought I'd pick it back up. I couldn't remember the story, controls, or why I stopped. After giving it a second chance, I still don't remember why I stopped all those years ago, but I know why I stopped again now. This is [i]awful.[/i] There are so many horrible, if not [i]hostile[/i], design choices here. Combat is annoying, especially since your invincibility period during a dodge is determined by a stat that appeared to do [i]nothing[/i], as even my most well-timed dodges still resulted in me taking the hit anyway. If a dodge gives you [i]zero[/i] i-frames, you shouldn't be put under the impression dodging does anything other than move. Also, some fights can, and will, get you stunlocked, as I discovered during a fight I stumbled upon with a boss that summons a lot of minions with projectiles, and you better hope you can get control long enough to move out of the barrage before it kills you. Just remember the dodge isn't at all reliable. What's [i]also[/i] unreliable is the platforming this game has. The game is semi-isometric; you can see that there are different elevations, but it's not diagonal, and it's not always easy to tell what elevation any given part of a map is at. This becomes a lot more noticeable when you have to jump across spots. The jump is automatic when you run off a ledge, but it [i]doesn't always happen.[/i] Combine all of this with platforming segments that include moving platforms you have to jump between, and it becomes an exercise in frustration. It's not just jumping across chasms where it feels like the game hates you, either. There's a quest involving a block-pushing puzzle where you can eventually get on top of the boxes and jump around to get to a treasure chest back near the start, but if you get the quest item [i]and then[/i] get on the boxes and jump to the chest, the second-to-last jump will be [i]interrupted by a cutscene[/i], and it's entirely possible you'll have blocked yourself out of being able to get back up without leaving the room to reset it. There are some questionable choices with the menus, too. There's a Help option in the menus, but sometimes it won't tell you jack about something in one menu, but it [i]will[/i] explain it in another. Also, the map is a pain in the arse. First, you access it through a quick menu, there's no dedicated button for it. Also, the most the map will actually [i]show[/i] are the size of the area you're in, any entrances to other areas like caves or buildings, and whether adjacent screens are connected (but not [i]where[/i], or if there is more than one connection). Absolutely nothing else. If there's a locked and/or inaccessible chest somewhere, it's on [i]you[/i] mark the map yourself, and that may be difficult when you can't be sure where in that area you [i]actually[/i] are. More needless frustration. I don't have much to say about the story. It wasn't memorable enough for me to retain any of it when I picked the game back up, and it looked like the last thing I had done was get to the end of a dungeon, where there was a lore dump, and the next step was going back somewhere to take a quiz on it. I never made it to the quiz before giving up on this trash fire again.

为什么手感这么好的游戏没有任何热度，垃圾游戏卖的这么好，很难评

It's a fine game, it just drags and makes some annoying choices. I actually think the first half of the game is pretty good, but once you leave Vermillion Wasteland, the game starts to fall off. For Instance: Gaia’s Garden goes on for too long, after it gives you THREE WHOLE DUNGEONS to do back-to-back (before it was a single dungeon then a new location). It delves too much into the frankly boring story; The ending is very underwhelming and the good ending/bad ending bs is pretty stupid frankly, just force the good ending as part of a mandatory quest. Now, granted I haven’t played the DLC yet, which might fix some stuff like the ending, but I shouldn't have to play a DLC to validate the main game. There’s also some general stuff I dislike a lot. Grinding for items is always boring, especially if you need stuff from Botanics >:( I get level grinding from enemies, which is fine, but having to grind items is always annoying. I’m also not a fan of how the characters from the intro just get side-lined. I know you can visit them again, but why not involve them in the story? Also speaking, the story bugs me a lot. Why did the people from the intro help us? Who are they? What the hell was Sidwell's deal? He’s selling personal information? That’s his plan he’s spending all his effort focusing on? Big tech corporations already do that as is. Who the hell cares? (I know it matters, it’s just a lame plan). Also, why is he so lax when you defeat him? He doesn’t even care. That whole ending is sort of a wet blanket honestly. Like it’s fine, but man, it does not go out on a bang. Anyway, I’m rambling at this point. Maybe some of this is answered in the DLC. Maybe my media literacy skills are garbage. I don’t know. What I DO know is that this game is just fine. It’s alright, I’m being a bit hyperbolic with this review, saying I don’t recommend it. It’s just… This game is like 50 hours, you can be doing so much better stuff in that time. If it was like, 10–20 hours, I wouldn’t really care, but the ROI on this game isn’t great, I think. Yeah, mid-game, to be honest, the first half is actually pretty good, but once you leave Lukas in Vermillion Wasteland it becomes a bore, you can do better than this game.

My feelings towards this game are mixed, I love the story and the characters as well as the combat, and the puzzles, in general, but often I find that it pushes those way too far and the experience can quicky go from fun to painful as you have to grind or search for solutions to puzzle online. I would have enjoyed the game so much more if the story developed earlier and more frequently, I feel like things only started to move forward 20 hours in and after a phenomenal middle chapter, you then have to do another 20 hours of stupid side quests and exploring as the game just drops the plot again until you get near the end. Honestly, only my eagerness to learn more about Lea kept me going, as I considered giving up many times from how painful the gaming experience was at times, and even while using the accessibility options in the menu. And I'm capable of finishing Doom Eternal in Nightmare mode and I love every minute of it, but this game require so much pixel precision and fine control that high-level combat is honestly not that fun. I honestly do not understand why elemental overload is something that exists in this game! All it does is put a damper on the combat and further drag out the boss fights which require constant use of elemental attacks. I really feel like the game would be so much better without this mechanic! To conclude, if you like colorful and endearing world and characters, give it a chance, but if you are not a masochist who loves to be punished for no reason make sure to lower the difficulty in the menu, and still be prepared to have your patience and resolve tested.

CrossCode is an excellent progression of the 16-bit era action RPGs like Secret of Mana and Secret of Evermore. It scratches all the right itches. I've run this game on a high end gaming pc and a potato, and never had any issues with it. Runs on Linux Mint out of the box, though it doesn't like the X-axis on the right thumb stick on my 8BitDo controller. It plays fine with mouse and keyboard, so that's easily remedied. The pixel art is on point, the controls are smooth and responsive, the music and sound-effects all take me back to my childhood. The devs seriously cared about this game and it shows. Can't wait for Alabaster Dawn.