The Tenth Line

This was some kind of a ride. Why? The game story of course. It's pretty rich in content. Other than that, the gameplay is pretty weird. The mechanics are pretty original, like, who would have thought of a sidescrolling platformer RPG anyway or the turn based real time attack and dodging. By the way, the game is not grindy at all. I never even once grinding exp or gildred/money in the game. So, I just fought anything in the way because I realized the gained exp are carefully organized for each area. Probably to make you level up easily and to make the game less grindy.

4/5 star

tl;dr This JRPG-inspired game has an unique, in-depth combat and leveling system that rewards experiments and min-maxing, all programmed by a single person. It also features well crafted characters and very charming soundtrack. But it suffers from the initial information overload, tedious inventory management and clunky 2D platforming mechanics. I'd only recommend this game if you are prepared for steep learning curve and can put up with the QOL downsides. [b] Characters and story [/b] All 3 main characters are well put together, and they all have distinct personalities and motives. I thoroughly enjoyed banter between them, as well as them talking with side characters and NPCs. While it didn't serve any practical purpose, all 3 of them also had different comments for every single item (100+) and for dozens of enemies, and it really helped give them personalities. Imagine having to come up with all of those, it really shows how much the devs cared. The story starts off with very little information on party members, which was a very clear sign that there would be twists in the later part of the game, as their past and identity were slowly revealed. This might be because of pixel art, but some of the story cutscenes felt lifeless and didn't convey emotions very well. There was this one scene that I feel was particularly half-done, where this side character, who has been very helpful and cheerful during the journey, suddenly gets killed. It went exactly like this: this character turns his back on someone, gets attacked, then his sprite flies out of focus in an almost comical fashion. Not even any last words. At first I didn't think he was dead because there was no confirmation, and thought he'd just casually show up later in the story and startles everyone. It was later confirmed by [spoiler] browsing the shop and seeing this character available for purchase, to be summoned as combat support. I do get some people (including me) want to see him back in some way. [/spoiler] What a way to know someone whom I started to like was truly dead. [b] Combat [/b] A turn-based/timing sensitive combat, apparently inspired by the game called Valkyrie Profile. The game gives you a few tutorial battles followed by a bunch of menu tutorials, but a lot of crucial mechanics won't be explained. Thankfully those are all written down in game manual and steam guides, and you can do battle practice at any save point. And if the normal battles are too hard, there is an option at the start of the game to remove certain mechanics. There is also an option for reduced boss difficulty after losing the battle, and it is much needed for difficulty spikes on some of them. Eventually I got the hang of it, and it can be incredibly satisfying to see all enemies on screen being wiped out in a single turn. Some of the combat UI are very rough though. I sometimes had a hard time making out what's happening in combat, especially when there are dozens of enemies on screen. Damage number and the little particle effect (that are supposed to show when enemies are ready to use special attacks) can overlap each other, making it a complete mess. Also, I have no idea why there are no healthbars for enemies, even though I can check their max health. It's nearly impossible to keep track of who I attacked and how much damage I did, and incredibly hard to make calculated decision on next attacks. Either add instant replay function, or simply add healthbars and most of the UI issue will be solved. [b] Leveling [/b] Leveling comes in the form of placing consumable items on a skill tree/board thingy to give stat increases. Again there are a lot of information at first, but the game manual answers most of the questions. Certain items can only be placed at certain tiles on the board, but the inventory UI is poorly done here and introduced a lot of tedium. I had to first click on certain tile, then I chose which item to place. Since all 3 party members have different shaped boards and I wanted to plan ahead which item to place and on whose board, there were a lot of going back and forth between different menus. There should be a manual filter for inventory instead of auto filter. That way, I could search for items that have T-shaped runes, or items that give health stat bonus. [b] Exploration [/b] Every chapter has 1 or 2 exploration sections that includes platforming, enemies, treasure hunting and simple side quests. The environments were beautifully drawn, but I feel I wasn't made for 2D platforming. Stuff can blend in with the background, and sometime it became hard to tell if what I'm seeing was a part of a wall or just background. There were also foreground elements that blocked the view, and I always missed if there were any item or holes behind them. I think the stuff I can walk on and interact with could be drawn differently, or be given different. distinct outlines. Overall the game is well put together considering it's made by a single person. Combat has a lot of in-depth mechanics. A lot of thought were put into world building, and I found characters (including side/support ones) very lovable and memorable. It could've used more polish and adjustments on some of the tedious mechanics and clunkiness.

Despite being a simple game in terms of what direction it goes, I did find myself awed by the turn of events that did catch me off guard. The story is rather plentiful and nice with a universe that supports its artistic angle and atmosphere to a degree, which a lot of RPGs sort of fail at. The music and character design within this game are on point and beautiful. Always appreciate when games go beyond the conventional look for characters and create beings that are outside the anthropic space. In relation to that, I also enjoyed each location I visited with a rather inquisitive, big-eyed happiness to scan these environments. The art of this game was wonderful! I don't particularly have a favorite track this time around in regard to the music. Each and every one deserves a similar position and never feels like one didn't deserve a smile and a nod. The main complaint I 'could' say about this game always stirs back to me hating platforming, so areas such as 'The Feverlands' and 'The White Cliffs' were naturally frustrating and anger-inducing, but I can't really hold the game at fault for that. I did, however, like the mechanic of switching between different characters to perform different tasks throughout these adventures! I wish the game had more of this with my favorite movements with these mechanics stirring up from 'The White Cliffs' and 'Oblivion's Roost.' Besides platforming, I wish enemy cast spell texts were easier to read. Some Endgame content can be rather rough when you can't tell what attack the boss is going to perform. In spite of that, you can roughly go based off animations of the enemies and 'voice' cues to prepare for defense. I would say controls but I got used to them and never had a problem with it afterwards. I'm probably leaving something out but in general this game is pretty alright for what it is! I'm glad I decided to finally finish this game after a long hiatus from it.

好游戏，剧情很有震撼，普通难度一定要看附赠的PDF才能玩懂

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