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| Got this version...which took several minutes to wrestle from the tin as told over in my Twitter feed with photos. |
10th July 2018, PS4 & Nintendo Switch, Rated 12 years + (UK) Teen (US)
I've been busy mostly resting as I had a family event on Sunday, but I have been enjoying a lot of gaming. I thought I'd share my first impressions of the JRPG Shining Resonance Refrain, which I actually pre-ordered because it looked amazing. It's not quite as great as I'd expected, but it is still a good game, hence the 8/10E rating. Here's the description from Amazon.
Summary
Liberate the soul of the dragon that resides in you this Summer in
Shining Resonance Refrain! Coming to PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and
Xbox One, Shining Resonance Refrain will tell the tale of sword wielding
Yuma and his friends as they fight the Empire. Shining Resonance
Refrain remasters the original Shining Resonance, previously released on
PlayStation 3 only in Japan, and features dual audio with English and
Japanese voices. In addition to all of the original's DLC, now included
as part of the base "Original Mode," Shining Resonance Refrain packs a
new "Refrain Mode," unlocking the Imperial Princess Excelled and Dragon
slayer Jinas as party members for a new experience - just be sure to
save this for your second play through to avoid any spoilers!"
I didn't full play the demo, or look up much online about the game before it was released because I wanted to have an unbiased view when I played it. I'm playing the non-refrain mode despite whating the Imperial Princess as my main character really really badly. I've seen on Youtube why it is mostly important not to play refrain first, but you can if you really don't mind that the extra characters won't get explained by the story why they are fighting with you.
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| Kilika is highly skilled...but has pointy ears. Sigh. |
The little I played had me loving the characters (apart from Yuma who really annoys me with his indecision and how much he hates his power), with Kilika and Sonia (names may be spelled wrong as I think of Japanese rs as ls because that's what they often sound like) as my top favourites so far, along with the spunky Primula who is for now too little to join my party (such a shame as she has guts and an incredible work ethic for one so young).
The parts I don't like are kind of a big issue, because they are the aspects I like the most about JRPGS. I learnt online there is only ONE town in the entire game. One. I'm used to many towns to explore, with different architecture and a huge variety of costumes. Cue my first grumble.
The next is about the town itself - apart from cut scenes (along the lines of a visual novel) I can't enter any of the buildings to explore the rooms and shops for myself. Everything is done via a character on the outside and a menu opening up when I speak with them. Not a happy gamer! I like my shops having actual rooms to explore!!!
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| Here's Sonia's armour costume, which does a grand job of making her look like a warrior princess...apart from the chest area whih I'm not fond of but that's what you get in games. |
The 3rd grumble is still about the town - so many of the NPCs don't say a word! it's extremely handy that they get a speech bubble when they have a quest (which are so far mostly easy to accomplish), but when I can't even get a hello/good day from a silent NPC it's a bit odd considering how so many JRPGS do have unimportant NPCs talk. Oh and I can walk through chickens/cats as if they weren't there. The animals are realistic and cute, but I want them to make a noise, or at least not be living ghosts.
That's pretty much the end of my grumbles. While not as awesome as I'd expected (which was why I pre-ordered it in the first place) it is a fun game. I chose the casual setting, which I don't know if it had an impact on the way I play battles: you can change which character to play with in a battle at any time you like, as well as on the field! This gives you more control over which skills get used - while you can instruct how you want the party to fight (with a neat little music based action) and instruct the characters you aren't in control of individually (whether they fight/heal/don't fight), I'm not yet that good at it. I simply switch between the two girls depending who has used their skill power up the most, since when I play I can avoid using the skills that deplete the skill power. While it is immensely cool that Yuma turns into a dragon I'm not fond of him at all.
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| I'm hoping this is an outfit I can eventually unlock because it is so pretty (although I'd have preferred sleeves on the dress rather than sleeveless with gloves) |
Ah, just remembered my final grumble. It's fun how the characters can change outfits, but I'd have liked some more variety, especially when Sonia has over 6 swimming costumes (which is a laugh because they are bikinis rather than an actually all in one costume. It's bad enough I have to put up with pointy ears (I'm weird and don't like this feature on elves) and the groany Yuma, I would have liked some more variety! I mostly keep Sonia in her armour (picture above) or school outfit (not pictured), and Kilika in her Magic Diva outfit (pictured above) or Idol outfit (not pictured). I want to like Sonia's idol outfit, but the hat makes her look ridiculous. I'm in a vague hurry to finish this post so I'm not posting images for all outfits, that will happen in future posts about the game (I've got many screenshots from the game itself!)
I've only managed to get the girls to use the Armonics (their instruments which act as weapons) a few times by accident (this activates a music themed action which is really cool), but I love them both. It's fun raining arrows on enemies using Kilika, who is the main healer (oh so vital in tough fights. One fight I'm not yet able to win as the boss is so tough, but I hope to annihilate them later), or go stab stabity stab with a sword thanks to Sonia. There are special skills that can be allotted to weapons (think Final Fantasy 7 weapon slots), skills that the instruments can learn through being tuned - several systems to level up your characters. I don't know if what clothes they wear affects them during battle, but the sheer fun of the battles heavily counters the grumbles I have with the game.
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| A battle pic from Google (not got those characters yet) |
It hasn't been the incredible game which I'd hoped it to be, but Shining Resonance Refrain is fun and I'm eager to progress with the story - the problem is I have the tendency to want to kill all monsters in the area my characters find themselves before moving on. This is good for getting quest materials, though not so great for advancing the story and getting new characters (one has been mentioned and I'm waiting for her to join my party). Only Yuma turns into a dragon (not all of them as I'd mistakenly thought), there's the pointy ears and all my grumbles mostly about the sole town, but overall I do recommend this as an addition to your JRPG collection (which is different to RPG (role playing games (J = Japanese RPG)) on either the PS4 or the Switch.
The next gaming post should be about the game that has blown me away, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, being everything I ever wanted in a game and then some. Clue: it's a bit like the anime Elemental Gelade.
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| I love Pyra so much!!!! |
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