Thanks again for playing the first half of the demo! There's definitely a lot of cutscenes in the first hour which take much longer to read through out loud, but I feel they're important in setting the tone of the story and the main characters.
I am perhaps a little biased since I knew the developer in college, but I had a chance to play the full version of an earlier build of this game, and it pretty much maxed out my nostalgia meter. It's a clear and unashamed tribute to the 16-bit JRPGs that shaped my childhood, and I'm always down for a little of that nostalgia when it's done well (and it certainly is, here).
The narrative captures the spirit of '90s RPGs perfectly: the characters are well crafted and believable, and the story and world channel just the sort of old school feel that takes me right back to my childhood, but without being too campy.
The real standout, though, is the combat design. Each of the large cast of characters feels different and individual; it's clear that a ton of time went in to not just designing these kits, but balancing them as well. Each character's combat kit matches their personality and role absolutely perfectly, and in what I see as a real victory for a cast as large as this, they all feel both fleshed out and interesting, and also truly unique. No two characters have even remotely similar kits, but they all feel viable and I tried several endgame bosses with a few different parties that played out the encounters in wildly different ways. I have played tons of modern JRPGs from actual professional studios that don't do half as good a job of creating varied and balanced parties as this game does.
TL;DR: story good, combat excellent. Indulge your nostalgia. You won't regret it.
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I enjoyed the demo and I can't wait to see more.
Thanks so much for playing Ecko!
The demo was really amazing, I'm looking forward to the whole thing! Very nice characters and stor!
DriftwoodGaming recently did a nice first impression video which you can check it out here:
Thanks again for playing the first half of the demo! There's definitely a lot of cutscenes in the first hour which take much longer to read through out loud, but I feel they're important in setting the tone of the story and the main characters.
I am perhaps a little biased since I knew the developer in college, but I had a chance to play the full version of an earlier build of this game, and it pretty much maxed out my nostalgia meter. It's a clear and unashamed tribute to the 16-bit JRPGs that shaped my childhood, and I'm always down for a little of that nostalgia when it's done well (and it certainly is, here).
The narrative captures the spirit of '90s RPGs perfectly: the characters are well crafted and believable, and the story and world channel just the sort of old school feel that takes me right back to my childhood, but without being too campy.
The real standout, though, is the combat design. Each of the large cast of characters feels different and individual; it's clear that a ton of time went in to not just designing these kits, but balancing them as well. Each character's combat kit matches their personality and role absolutely perfectly, and in what I see as a real victory for a cast as large as this, they all feel both fleshed out and interesting, and also truly unique. No two characters have even remotely similar kits, but they all feel viable and I tried several endgame bosses with a few different parties that played out the encounters in wildly different ways. I have played tons of modern JRPGs from actual professional studios that don't do half as good a job of creating varied and balanced parties as this game does.
TL;DR: story good, combat excellent. Indulge your nostalgia. You won't regret it.