Gaming off the Beaten Path

One year, two retro inspired JRPGs. Comparisons between Chained Echoes (which I guess actually came out in 2022, but very late) and Sea of Stars were inevitable and I am going to jump on the bandwagon, but I want to do something a little different. Welcome to what I hope is going to be the first of many Gaming Off the Beaten Path 10 Round Fights. I'm going to take two games and pit them against each other  for 10 rounds with boxing/MMA style scoring. Basically, the winner of each round gets 10 points, the loser gets nine or less. I know I already scored both of these games, but those numbers are always fluid, so there is always the chance one could surpass the other on a second look. Each round will be based on a different category, some will be the same regardless of genre,  but others will be specific. You are going to be looking at graphics and sound no matter what, but obviously you are going to be looking at story and characters more in an RPG while something like hit detectio

  Last week, we took our first look at indie RPG Sea of Stars and its  story, plot and characters. This week, it's time to move on to the more technical aspects of the game. SOS had some positives and some negatives when it came to story, but overall it was far more good than bad. But how did it feel technically? First, I want to call out the graphics, because I feel like I don't do that enough when I talk about RPGs. I'm not usually a graphics-centric kind of reviewer, but SOS offers some truly spectacular pixel art. It's about as clean as you can possibly get and a clear example of using new technology to get the most out of a classic look. The world is spectacularly colorful and the color palette  is about as unique as I have ever seen. That may be a weird thing to call out, but some of the colors and combinations of colors here are truly striking and help elevate the game. Your characters are expressive and full of life and the enemy attack animations are top notch.

Last week, we started our look at Chained Echoes, an Indie RPG for the current gen consoles. While its story had some ups and downs, the game provided an overall strong experience, with excellent atmosphere, likable characters and fantastic music. But how was the actual gameplay? Well, pretty good. It's not without its flaws, but Chained Echoes does a very good job of blending classic JRPG gameplay notes with more modern amenities in a way that largely works. Let's start with the combat, which offers a turn-based system that will feel very familiar to most old-school RPG fans. Up to four characters can actively participate in battle with four more backing them up, for a total of eight. You can switch at any time, so basically you have eight characters fighting. Like Final Fantasy X, you can see the order in which characters and enemies will attack. Characters can attack, defend, use items or use skills, which require the use of TP. This leads to one of the biggest gameplay dif