Dosa Divas

Such a nice little jrpg with a fantastic story about family and food. The food was the start of the story. Somehow the simple pictures of what we cooked up left me hungry. I now have to go track down some dosas.

Still very early but if you enjoyed Thirsty Suitors or even the very recent People of Note, this is another colorful, stylish turn-based RPG. So far I'm enjoying the time-based combat as well as the boost mechanic that allows you to hit harder with saved up points each round. Not quite the same but has that fun feeling of Bravely Default or Octopath when you save up a good amount of points and do a huge hit. The writing is also pretty charming and the voice acting is good. Tons of character in this game!

You know how so many JRPG's try to ape the balance of humor and heavy emotion Mother 3 is acclaimed for? What if I told you this game does that balance well but doesn't feel like just another Mother wannabe (or would it be Undertale wannabe at this stage)? Hell, it doesn't even feel like just another Super Mario RPG/Paper Mario clone; it feels like a game that took the torch from those two games and ran its own path with it. Not to mention how impeccable the game is visually. I love it when smaller studios figure out how to make pared-down graphics look so stylish and pleasing to the eye that the lower poly count or simpler rendering doesn't matter in the slightest. If you like JRPG's and you like playing stuff off the beaten path, I certainly can't think of much from this year I'd recommend over this.

Dosa Divas is an incredibly charming game in it's visuals and worldbuilding, but falls short in the combat aspect. The characters are fun and unique. I read every piece of dialogue I could and I just loved the depth of the protagonists and villains. The worldbuilding and story is also very enjoyable and has a solid concept to it. If you are mainly looking to follow the story and cook some dosas then this game is a must-buy. The gameplay itself is where it gets dicey. I will say the exploration and cooking were the best parts of it. The cooking is actually quite fun and the game does somewhat reward you for exploring the whole town you are in. However as a turn-based combat enjoyer I was left wanting more. The party gets essentially 3 skills each that are pretty much the same so i was missing some skill diversity. My main problem however is that you fully get your health and mana back after a combat, which removes the need to manage your ressources and just lets you spam your highest damage attack over and over. Basically, I was missing some difficulty, to the point where combat just kinda got boring in the end. The stat increases also weren't super intuitive. I gave Amani spirit stats and Samara physical stats and Samara ended doing a laughable amount of damage compared to Amani who could just nuke everything but maybe I just did that part wrong. TL;DR: Great story and worldbuilding but combat felt a bit lackluster. Buy depending on your priorities.

tl;dr - it's got its rough corners but if the demo catches you its worth playing. --- Dosa Divas rides on the strength of its personality. The divas/mechs add a lot to the game (the animations are so fun.) And the characters are well-written. Arno was a particular stand out for me, but I also loved-to-hate Samara, Lena, and Amani's parents. Moment-to-moment the gameplay is fun enough -- JRPG-lite mechanics ala Paper Mario which I often enjoyed. The boss battles were a great time that didn't require tons of strategy but just enough thinking to keep me invested and engaged. But the connective tissue between those moments felt a bit underwhelming. I think the cooking minigames had good intentions but felt kind of empty. And between the little JRPG battles it was mostly going back and forth across the levels collecting the ingredients and cooking. So overall I was happy to get done with those segments as fast as possible. Some of the narrative made an impression with how heavy it got but also at times wandered into sappy territory. Overall I enjoyed it and am glad to have played it.

Dosa Divas is simple. Its gameplay mechanics are not demanding or complex. Its narrative is straightforward and, while predictable in many ways, successfully earns its emotional payoffs. Dosa Divas is charming. The art direction is cute and timeless. The voice acting is generally quite good. The animation is full of character and subtleties. There is a real care and attention that went into executing the art and visuals of this game. Above all, however, Dosa Divas is a treat. It grapples with regret, grief, and complicated family dynamics. These themes are handled with care, maturity, and accessibility. Its signature gameplay mechanic, cooking, serves thematic and narrative purposes really well. Ultimately, Dosa Divas follows through on its thesis: cooking can bring people together and perhaps even heal them. All in all, Dosa Divas is a fun, breezy, and simple experience. It will take roughly 8 to 10 hours to unlock all achievements. This is by no means a sprawling or complex RPG. Instead, it is a largely linear, narrative-driven experience with gameplay mechanics that guide you to the next plot point. There is a relaxing, storybook quality to Dosa Divas. I hope more people will give this game a chance and experience its focused story.

an excellent entry in the Outerloop portfolio. even highly stylized, the food feels rich, like I can smell and taste it through the screen. turn based combat and skills are fun to master, though the timing on blocks felt like a struggle sometimes. (skill issue?) loved the voice acting and truly wish it was incorporated more thoroughly in sections. cried at the end.