Ephemeral Tale

[i][b]Update to previous review:[/b][/i] The developer has already delivered [strike]a balance patch[/strike] *two balance patches* on day 1, and is looking at further adjusting in order to balance the game out even more. It looks as if my benefit of the doubt was not misplaced. I have a lot of faith in this game, and even more faith in the developer now that I know he's responsive, and really cares what people think of his work. The loot tables could still use some adjusting imo, especially in the tutorial cave, where to me it felt like nothing ever dropped besides Potions, but maybe that's intended or I was just unlucky. The enemies in the Forgotten Forest also felt pretty broken, but maybe that's just because I was gear-starved from the tutorial cave. I will continue to play the game and see how it goes. All things considered, I'm raising my intial review score significantly. [b]OVERALL RATING: 8/10[/b] [i][b]Review previous to January 14th patch below:[/b][/i] Steam doesn't have a neutral option for reviews, so I'm opting for Recommended, to give the developer benefit of the doubt until I figure out how the heck to be decent at this game, while I explain what its (my?) issues are. Firstly, looking at the Store Page for [i]Ephemeral Tale[/i], I was not expecting a challenging game. I thought it would be a cute little casual game with some fun loot mechanics. Little and cute in its own way, sure. Loot? Sure. But this game certainly feels like the turn-based version of [i]Dark Souls[/i]. But maybe I just suck at it, hence the benefit of the doubt, so let's move on to other things. Price-wise, this game is cheap, $5 USD for a new indie game is very reasonable, even in Early Access. Even if you end up not liking the game, and you don't want to refund it, it's not a huge financial loss. I probably would have been willing to pay upwards of $15 for this, because that's how much I thought it was going to cost. Combat is turn-based, plain and simple. You've got your Attack, your Magic spells, Guard, and Items. Enemies are random encounters on the maps you travel on. Gear drops from chests, and enemies, along with items. Music is fitting, graphics and art are cute, UI is functional and minimalistic. I didn't notice any bugs during my playtime, and didn't experience any crashes. The "tutorial cave" you start out in doesn't seem bad at first, but gets rough if you're trying to explore the whole thing (you need to), and you get unlucky with Potion drops and enemy spawns. I had several 3-5 enemy fights in a row with no Potion drops, and you don't have any healing abilities. Early on a skull/headpiece dropped that made enemies increasingly stronger for every fight you win, and I knew right away it'd be a terrible idea to equip it, so I never did. But somehow, enemies still felt like they were getting stronger? The same slimes I'd fought when I first entered the cave that took 1 hit to kill, now take 2 or 3, so that was weird. Moving along, outside the tutorial you can spend the Power you've collected from enemies (think Souls from [i]Dark Souls[/i] or Amrita from [i]Nioh[/i]) to gain an attribute point, but you only get 1 each time, and you get several from gear pieces, so it feels pretty unsatisfying. I move into the next area, Forgotten Forest. I've got about ~150 HP, and enemies are spawning in groups of 2-4, each hitting for 15-20 damage, and introducing rage and poison mechanics, resulting in more damage taken. At this point I also notice that gear durability declines over time, so even if you find a really nice item drop, it doesn't last you terribly long before the item seems to just disappear. I'm out of Potions now, and die in 1-2 fights with no other way to heal myself, and no Potions dropping. I should also mention; you can miss, and I believe enemies can dodge too? I have a 97% chance to hit, but during my time playing, it definitely felt more like 80%. I had this game on my Wishlist for a while, was really excited about it, but between getting destroyed by bad item drop RNG, bad enemy spawn RNG, chance to hit/miss, and durability mechanics, it just doesn't feel very balanced or fun. It's not enjoyable to just be at the whim of RNG. I should point out that I made a Discussion post that I'm waiting to see if the Dev responds, or has any explanations. If it happens to be something I missed somehow, or a game balance issue, whatever it is, I'm more than happy to update my review. [b]OVERALL RATING: 6/10[/b]

It's not all bad, but to name some issues i had with the game: - Aside from the first hour or so, the combat was way too easy. - What's the point in leveling up if all combat encounters scale to your level? - The loot system kind of grows old quick and aside from the passives the equipment gives you I don't feel like it matters that much. - The durability system feels unnecessary. You will be changing your equipment often enough to prevent stuff from breaking, and when you reach the point where you are (mostly) satisfied with your gear you will have found enough repair kits on monsters and/or unlocked the blacksmith who can sell you more. - Also for a game focused on random loot that strongly, the witch that can transform found loot into new stuff is super annoying from a user interface point of view (it's too tedious and takes too long). - After finishing the game, by checking the achievements and out of game resources it turns out I missed both an unlockable character AND a whole area/subquest that could only be obtained if I had died in a certain dungeon. From a game design standpoint: seriously? I could go back for it, but I don't really see the point.

✔ straight to gameplay ❔ a lot of equipment is thrown at you, which you can constantly change. Items have basic stats as well as some minor unique abilities or a spell (which you can also get from a linear progression "tree"). This is the biggest draw of the game, but during my playtime I haven't encountered anything that would scream or even nudge me to [i] make a build out of it![/i] ❔ you have full control (via options sliders) over enemy power, rate of encounters etc ❔ equipment has durability ✘ no depth in combat (it's nearly impossible to have any in this case since you control only two characters and can equip only one of them anyway) ✘ seems like grind is the endgame here. Even if you have some story goal in mind it's still nearly mindless combat after combat against the same enemies

Game is a pretty bare bones rpg. Combat is dull and monotonous to the point you'd want an auto battle feature but then you'd miss much of the game. Enemies scale along with the player so you'll never feel like you've accomplished much. It's big unique idea is having random gear drops from enemies and gives you can get two npcs you can unlock to either sell your gear to or combine into newer stuff. Combing gear also results in random gear. While nice ideas you probably won't bother with either once you've found a set of gear that works well for you. There's several side quests, hidden bosses and unlockable team mates that give it some interest but unless you're experienced with rpgs in general you'll have difficulty figuring how to accomplish any of that. It'd be impressive for someone's first attempt at making an rpg in gamemaker but not for selling on Steam

This review is mixed. The game isn't bad but it feels lacking. The way you customize characters and level them is pretty straight forward. You get souls which = exp. You get levels from that. Loot is almost all stat changes but feels a bit underwhelming. The skill tree is linear. The game looks pretty. Story is background and not very exciting. even after 3 hours. Imo it cost too much for the lack of mechanical depth. Needs a lower price point.

If I hate one feature of an RPG it is: if you level up so do your enemies. The second most hated part is: Equipment that wears out....and not enough repair kits to counter that. That said this game is rather dull. There is no big story. Your char just jumps into an dungeon and than gets the order to visit other dungeons.... Yes, it is an retro RPG but even back than some more story was given (even the usual...You must save the WORLD).

Are you a fan of rouge-likes? How about a witty crossover between the following games: Original Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Final Fantasy, Souls, and an abundance of other references? If you answered "yes," Ephemeral Tale is the game for you! When I originally purchased this game, I knew that I would be drawn in by the artwork, customization, ability to form broken combos, and unique dialogue on each item you collect. Unfortunately, I did not have the time to give this game its due diligence... that is until last night. I was able to start the game and became so entranced that I completed the whole game, along with New Game +, AND collect all the achievements in one go. After reaching out to the developer, I also learned that there are at least three other secret areas included in the game left for me to discover. The visuals, audio, and unique game style will take hold of you, leaving you wanting more! I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys sitting back, relaxing, and becoming immersed in their games. Welcome to Ephemeral Tale!

[h1][b] TLDR: A simple old-school RPG that fills me up with nostalgia – both good and bad. As you get to the end of this short game, the repetition starts to run rampant. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1] ✅Classic turn-based combat ✅Interesting loot concept [h1]CONS: [/h1] ➖This is definitely a game of three’s – go to these 3 places, in these 3 zones, and hit these 3 crystals….and do it all again 3 times. ➖Repetitive ➖Simple story and gameplay, you’ll be normal attacking 90% of the time. [h1] [b] Content (Game world/Narrative/Lore) – [4/10] [/b] [/h1] In Ephemeral Tale, you take control of a hero with no backstory and adventure around to complete objectives because an NPC told you to. It’s a rather simple story, but when taken as a whole package, the game is a definite homage to old-school RPGs. However, what older RPGs lacked in gameplay mechanics and graphics, they made up with an amazingly creative story, which is something that ET also seems to lack… I feel like simple is unable to convey the depths of simplicity that are contained within ET. After the first 2 hours of gameplay, you have a good grasp on how the game world is set up. What’s even worse is that as you approach the [spoiler] “ending”, you’ll be presented with a large “twist” that anyone with working eyeballs could have guessed the second they met the NPC. [/spoiler]. This leads then to an alternative type of game world where you pretty much do the same things you already did over again, as the pattern of 3’s continue. [h1][b] Gameplay (Controls/Mechanics/Loop/Difficulty) – [5/10] [/b] [/h1] I felt that the gameplay was a bit better than the content in ET, if possibly only for a single thing – the gear. As you fight through random battles, you will get absolutely tons of gear. The gear that you can equip helps raise your typical RPG-like stats: Strength, agility, magic attack, mag defense, etc. I found this a bit unique due to two elements- special abilities and durability. Some of the gear has special abilities on it. Maybe your chestpiece will have a thorns-type ability. Maybe your sword poisons on attack, maybe your bow deals a ton of damage, but has some kickback damage to your character. Nothing super overpowered, but it’s a neat aspect for gear. As for durability, you’ll either love it or hate it. Similar to Zelda: Breath of the Wild, gear drops all the time and for a reason, it will break constantly. Thankfully, this game has some drops that never break, but in the beginning, you’ll be constantly shifting through gear, which I found to be one of the only mechanics this game has to address the otherwise simplistic gameplay. There is also a talent tree, but it’s more of an illusion of choice, as you can just simply fill the entire thing up if you grind enough. And that leads us to the core loop of the game. Like most RPGs your goal is to grind and become strong enough to beat the bosses. I found the loop to be almost like Dark Souls, how you grind up points, then go to an NPC to turn the points into talent points. Then rest at a campfire to distribute the talent points. I appreciated the difficulty. You have the option to tweak certain aspects of the game like monster toughness/damage and combat frequency and rewards. None of these choices impact achievements. [h1] [b] Graphics (Quality/Art style/Animations/UI/Performance) – [2/10] [/b] [/h1] Unimpressive, even for pixel graphics. There is a bare minimum of animations. The UI is passable. I experienced no performance issues running this game. [h1] [b] Audio (Sound Effects/Music/Voice Acting/Ambient) – [3/10] [/b] [/h1] I cannot remember anything really specific about the music other than how repetitive it got as I wondered lost around zones. There is no voice acting, basic sound effects, and no ambient audio to speak of. [h1] [b] Replay Factor (Side quests/NG+/Player Choice) – [3/10] [/b] [/h1] There is no side quests or player choices. I will say there IS a NG+. [h1] [b] Final Verdict – [4/10] [/b] [/h1] There’s some things to like with Ephemeral Tale, but I found more things to dislike. It’s a somewhat fun game and I wouldn’t say its super flawed or anything, just super repetitive and perhaps uninspired. [h1] [b] Recommend? [Y/N] [/b] [/h1] [h1]No [/h1] For the general population, I would say no and avoid. For old school RPG nuts like me who are craving some turn-based combat, yes, but just get it on a sale or bundle like I did. You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR

The random loot system may have some novelty value, but level design is very poor. Just started what seems to be a tutorial. There's a lake thing "locked" by two crystals that you must activate by collecting the local equivalent of keys, unhelpfully named essence. There are two paths, left and right. Left path leads you to the first key in an obvious place and a circuitous path spanning multiple screens with lots of dead-ends and leading to nowhere. Right path leads to just two locked doors and one locked path, without any clue on how to unlock them. I've spent about two hours running in circles and visiting same locations over and over again hoping to find some missed clue to what to do next, but I'm constantly interrupted by random monster encounters, forgetting where I was going or what I was supposed to explore. And I've played long enough to probably lose my refund ability, DUH! :(