Gaming Review: Lost Sphear
Game: Lost Sphear Developer: Square Enix Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PS4, Microsoft Windows
Reviewed on: Nintendo Switch
Lost Sphear loses itself
I find myself checking the Switch virtual store almost daily. Looking for my next great adventure in gaming on the new console. Being a huge fan of RPG's and JRP's so as you would expect i was elated to discover a Square Enix game on the Switch. Before we get too far into the Review i would like to state that I myself, have only put in about 4 or 5 hours into the game before reviewing, so if you love this game and are on a second play-through, full disclosure, you will disagree with this review.
From the start of the game i was a little off-put by the overall feel of the game. There is no Voice over acting for actual speech, but there is a setting to adjust voice over feedback during battle. Which, seems to be just a series of grunts and groans from each character, which feels a bit out of place without other voice over work anywhere else in the game. The overall story had some classic themes and i felt the story itself might pull me back into the game despite my initial trepidation. The story telling mechanics for the game feel almost broken, There is very little detail not into why the story is happening, but driving forces behind any character seem to be missing. The pacing is off and it feels a bit like you are being quickly force fed a story that was meant to be epic, but somehow ended up feeling hollow and at the same time was incredibly text heavy. I found myself reading, for much longer than it felt necessary to do so.
The game did capture a classic feel the first time i stepped out onto the world map, reminiscent of the older Final Fantasy games, or the Golden Sun series. The game quickly erased that for me as it added mechanics to the world map that were poorly explained and overly simple, having you collect materials from monsters along the way in game that help you to rebuild the world as you travel. initially i was hoping that this would feel a bit more like Dark Cloud from PS2, but the collection was done in a way that would almost guarantee that you would have what you need for the world just buy progressing through the game. Further more, using the materials is as simple as just interacting with missing pieces of the map, there feels like no adventure or personality to the mechanic of rebuilding world (the overarching theme of the game). Like the classic RPG's Lost Sphear added other modes of transportation to the world map, but unlike the Final Fantasy series where obtaining the Airship or other vehicle felt like an accomplishment, Lost Sphear just seems to hand you the extra mechanics and accessories that the game had offered me to this point in the game.
I was excited to see that Lost Sphear was bringing back the action bar type combat system, which sent me into instant nostalgia, making me think of games like Secret of Mana, or Chrono Trigger. While all of the combat isn't bad, it added a lot of mechanics that contradict each other, causing the combat as a whole to feel clunky. So, much like the aforementioned classics, Your different characters will have individual roles, and speeds at which their action bar will fill. During that characters action phase, you have a menu of actions to choose from, as well as the ability to move the character around to take position advantages during combat. The combination of these mechanics was satisfying until more battle mechanics were unlocked during play. The addition of Charge counters that can be used to have any action do additional damage or add to that actions effects, by pressing a specific button during that characters attack using visual cues in order to be successful. This mechanic in specific is the source of my frustration with the battle system. Not only do you have to quickly choose from multiple actions per your characters, you have to move them, while also watching your other characters for their visual cue to use their charge counters. Making it difficult to operate in a live battle setting, often times giving the enemies extra time or even turns in which to regain advantages.
There are some decent mechanics in game with skills equipping and skills combos that can be triggered in a number of different ways. This in my opinion was one of the best things about this game. Other game mechanics, such as some goofy looking Mech robots that feel like a feature that could have been incridible but ended up for me being an almost useless novelty.
The Forge's Verdict
Lost Sphear, had a good baseline, A classic story arch, characters that promised to deliver dynamic interaction and growth, a beautiful art style, and a modern take on the classic JRPG genre. For me, it failed to deliver enough on any of those fronts for me designate any real time to. Lost Sphear may be someones game, but it surely isn't mine.
Forge Rating
4/10