MOOMANiBE
@MOOMANiBE

very fun little game! Much more in the vein of Voidspire than almost anything Rad Codex has made since, though with the numerous and sorely-needed UI improvements accumulated in every game since. I'm overall of the opinion that this is probably a good Second Game for people in the Rad Codex library; Horizon's Gate is probably still the best first, due to it generally being more welcoming and more expansive. But I still really enjoyed it and I can see myself replaying it to mess with the classes some more.

I think I'm beginning to get a general feeling wrt Rad Codex games that most of them are a little too short to really get a solid grasp on the class mechanics on one's first time through. Every game in the series except Horizon's Gate, which was like a 50-hour game for me, I ended up hitting the endgame with a hodgepodge of characters who can make it work here and there but don't often have an organized set of synergies.

And that's probably fine; like I've managed to clean up the final bosses in each game except Horizon's Gate without too much shenanigans (HG required some ABSOLUTE shenanigans). But it feels weird to end every game feeling like I've somehow failed the game's design intent by not taking advantage of all the more esoteric specialized abilities it has. Weird sensation! It's not a knock on the games, really - I could always play again armed with my new knowledge - but it definitely makes me feel like in an alternate universe where there was maybe enough to do that I could re-level a char or two into other classes, I'd probably be much cooler and more stylish in the final battles. Ah well - for all this nitpicking, they're still some of my favourite tactics games ever. What I really should do is replay Horizon's Gate again next. And perhaps I will.....


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in reply to @MOOMANiBE's post:

I think the fact that getting to the end of the game with some hodgepodge characters who arent minmax'd all that well is honestly to its credit. The way the classes are designed feels like theres some real possibility for heavy combo optimizations, but I never felt like I needed to focus on that sort of optimization and was more free to explore the various possibilities without struggling.

I mean the thing for me is that what makes my brain go brr in these games is making cool use of the tools I'm given, so when I end up not being able to do that for the most part I feel like I'm somehow failing the premise. Like I'd say probably 3/4 of my final characters' skills went mostly or entirely unused. Which, bwah!