Recs.
Updated
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a turn-based RPG. You play as nine year old Gully and her crew, as you attempt to stop an evil sorceress from stealing all the mana in the land.
SpecsUpdate
Pros
Pro Fun battles thanks to overcharge
Using your basic attacks builds up a special charge that allows you unleash devastating attacks, oftentimes being awarded bonus damage based on the charge spent. This charge disappears when combat ends, which encourages you to use it or lose it. This means you can constantly use the most fun and flashy attacks without having to worry about conserving resources for a boss fight or tough enemy. Building up and unleashing brutal attacks in every single fight, no matter how minor, really makes the battles shine.
Pro Engaging side content helps the world feel alive
Outside of progressing the main story, there are a lot of interesting side activities to take part in that help you feel like you're part of a real world.
Fighting wave after wave of increasingly difficulty enemies in the arena is a great way to put your skills to the test. Seeing how far you can advance in the arena is pretty fun. Certain NPCs also give you the opportunity to go on hunts, where you can track down and kill rare monsters for rewards. These hunts are a great way to get out exploring and find things you normally wouldn't encounter.
If you ever want to take a break from the fighting, there's also crafting and a fishing minigame to partake in.
Pro Satisfying battle animations
While in battle, all your attacks and special abilities are accompanied by fancy and colorful animations, such as the wizard Knolan waving loops of fire around shortly before tossing at the enemy, or Calibretto the giant golem making a huge spectacle of charging up his big guns before firing them. Watching these attacks play out is satisfying due to all this showmanship, and there's an exciting anticipation that comes with watching a big, powerful spell wind up.
Pro Exploration is rewarding
There is a large and detailed overworld filled with dungeons, towns, secret bosses, and plenty of hidden treasures. Just exploring and finding all the tucked away secrets in each of the eight regions can be quite enjoyable and extra rewarding when you find a special monster or treasure chest.
Pro Robust and interesting crafting
Almost everything you pick up can be used to craft something. There are recipes, but you are free to experiment and add new reagents to known formulas to create interesting items. Even if you are missing a certain ingredient, you can often substitute a larger quantity of a different one to make up for it. It's a fun side activity for those who like to experiment and get creative with crafting without being locked into strict recipes.
Cons
Con Story is generic
The story fails to break out of RPG stereotypes and ends up feeling very plain. You are playing as nine year old Gully and her ragtag crew of misfits when your airship is shot down over a strange land. You soon come to find out this land is under the threat of an evil sorceress who intends to steal all the mana for herself. Your characters never get deeply involved in the story, don't have any struggles of their own that get resolved, and simply seem to just be in the wrong place at the wrong time. They then set out to stop her because it's the generic "hero" thing to do. The story never really goes any deeper than that, characters are never fully developed to their full potential, and there are very few side stories.
Con Party system has some glaring issues
Although you can recruit additional characters to your party, you can only have three active at any one time. Only active characters get loot and experience, which makes it clunky and hard to level all your characters equally.
This essentially creates an imbalance in your roster where it feels like you're pigeonholed into using the same three characters for the duration of the game. New characters you pick up along the way never feel like they quite fit into the groove you've built up with the original three.
Con Characters feel plain and static
While all the party members are mostly likable, it's hard to become attached to any of them. None of them change in any meaningful way or learn anything over the course of the story. There's not much banter among them as you travel, and they don't ever really seem to form any kind of real bond. Their backstories are never explored in any depth, and none of them have any major problems that need to be resolved. During the entire adventure, they seem to be just "going through the motions" and don't have much enthusiasm or reaction to the world around them.
Con Latter portion of the game starts to flail
Due to the crafting system and easy-to-acquire dungeon loot, it's very easy to steamroll everything in the latter portion of the game. This takes away some excitement from the battles as combat poses no challenge, and it makes the final portion of the game way too easy when it should be harder.
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