Many RPGs dabble successful clip question and ever-shifting destinies, but the thought that nary aboriginal is guaranteed is Cris Tales' thesis statement. When a young miss named Crisbell learns to harness the powerfulness of mystical clip crystals, the subordinate reaps the benefits done innovative mechanics some wrong the turn-based combat and the biology exploration. Unfortunately, portion these unsocial mechanics germinate passim the adventure, they stagnate earlier the communicative concludes.
Cris Tales wastes nary clip showing its strengths; the downright gorgeous, hand-drawn aesthetic delivers aboveground delights, portion terrific turn-based combat mechanics connection thrills that are much than tegument deep. Fighting droves of monsters and minions is elemental owed to easy-to-understand combat menus, portion a wide array of combat abilities lets you tackle encounters successful assorted ways. Cris Tales adds a timing mechanic to support battles interesting; pressing a fastener astatine the close clip during your onslaught lands a captious deed portion doing the aforesaid for an incoming force onslaught lets you parry to minimize harm and presumption ailments. This progressive attack injects excitement, though it requires that you memorize the animations of each force type. Even then, the timing sometimes doesn't consciousness aligned with the on-screen action.
Your enactment members bring a divers acceptable of powers to assistance you successful battle. I ever felt competent and creatively enabled successful combat, from Willhelm's postulation of violative and antiaircraft vegetation to Cristopher's effectual elemental magic oregon Zas' amusive roulette abilities. However, the main attraction is Crisbell's suite of time-crystal powers. Using her quality to displacement parts of the battlefield guardant oregon backward successful clip allows you to get inventive with your attack to fights. In 1 encounter, I utilized her powers to revert 2 vicious beasts to younger, less-powerful versions of themselves. I besides poisoned the enemies with Willhelm earlier accelerating time, causing the poison to deed them each astatine once. In these sequences, the combat of Cris Tales genuinely shines; I felt almighty arsenic I masterfully wove Crisbell's clip powers unneurotic with the remainder of the party's abilities. However, the much I played, the much I felt stuck successful a clip loop.
As you question done each dungeon successful Cris Tales, you repetition galore of the aforesaid battles. Fighting done random encounters with the aforesaid subset of enemies is thing caller to the genre, but the repetitive fights encouraged maine to instrumentality the astir businesslike way imaginable contempt the awesome powers astatine my fingertips. Since this strategy prevailed successful the random encounters, I hoped brag battles would promote much clip manipulation, but that's besides rare. While immoderate bosses diagnostic antithetic forms depending connected however you manipulate their time, the astir potent foes connection nary inducement to play with these unsocial tools. Rather than serving arsenic a culmination of everything you've learned, Cris Tales' aboriginal bosses inquire you to disregard the conflict system's astir distinctive mechanics by rendering them ineffective.
I besides liked utilizing the clip powers to lick elemental puzzles successful dungeons, similar turning a pillar into rubble to get done a blocked path, past restoring the pillar truthful I could span the spread above. Sadly, these mechanics ne'er advancement beyond a seldom utilized gimmick. The dungeons besides thin towards long, mundane pathways seemingly designed to trigger random encounters connected your mode to an isolated treasure thorax alternatively of enticing exploration.
The time-shift systems transportation into the towns, arsenic you tin spot each destination's past, present, and future. I recovered it rewarding to spot my actions and completed sidequests impact radical oregon locations successful real-time; folding these consequences into an already endearing and enthralling communicative (albeit 1 brimming with whiplash-inducing twists and turns) made maine much excited to prosecute with the optional content.
Sadly, a deficiency of labels connected some radical and places hinders satellite exploration. For example, if 1 sidequest tells maine to speech to a circumstantial idiosyncratic and I can't retrieve who that idiosyncratic is, I indispensable speech to each character, truthful their sanction pops connected the surface with their dialogue. Similarly, towns successful the hub satellite are frustratingly unlabeled, meaning you request to support way of each area's sanction and location. These are insignificant inconveniences successful the expansive strategy but were peculiarly annoying owed to galore sidequests that necessitate you to speech to respective circumstantial people. This occupation came to a caput successful the endgame, which tasked maine with retrieving radical from each town, but with much than 30 hours of gameplay betwixt my interactions with immoderate townspeople, I had nary thought who immoderate of the characters were going disconnected conscionable their names.
Despite these issues, RPG fans inactive person an enjoyable and often delightful escapade to play. However, with myriad frustrations, repetitive action, and mechanics that don't unrecorded up to their potential, Cris Tales falls abbreviated of the greatness for which it seemed destined.
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