Edge of Eternity

Gamers with a good memory and wide experience might remember 'Septerra Core', the so-called 'JRPG' made by US based Valkyrie Studios. That brilliant game featured anime-like characters and complex and original turn-based combat system that combined physical attacks with magical "cards" with various combinations. In many aspects 'Edge of Eternity' is a spiritual successor of 'Septerra Core'. The same 'anime aesthetics' made by Western developer, the same involving story, simultaneously dark and light, the same interesting characters and involving turn-based system, though not such as complex and original. Considering that 'Septerra Core' is in top-five games of all times in my list it was not a chance that I could resist to 'Edge of Eternity' charm.

Among the positive sides of the 'Edge of Eternity' I'd mention involving story - for our days it is a rare exemplar of a story-driven RPG featuring complex characters with very different motivations and addictive turn-based combat system. The latter includes characters movements, physical and magical attacks, as well as opponents strengths and weaknesses against some attacks. The dialogues might not be on the high literature level, but they are ok - sometimes silly, but most of the time relevant and meaningful (at least in the main story). World's art design is wonderful, reminding of a fairy-tale (though sometimes it is very dark, like a horror). The world is weirdly beautiful and the lighting system is very good, making the world shine in its best. The main characters' art design is mostly good - at least female characters are beautiful and quite different. Selene's 3d model is without a doubt my favorite - her breasts animation is mesmerizing. At the same time while attractive, Selene's model is not at all vulgar like it often happens in Japanese or Western games - the art designer achieved right balance here. The voice acting is decent and the music (piano) is matched with good taste. The world is big enough and gives the gamer freedom to roam around without engaging into combats if he don't want to or to fight every enemy on the map. There are puzzles with decent rewards and there is crafting system allowing you to made weapons, armor, potions, etc. While you'd need at least 20+ hours to complete the main story, thorough gameplay (completing side quests, riddles and various activities) would take about 60 hours and you could easily spend more than 100 hours in the game collecting different materials and crafting. Did I mention Selene's breasts animation already? Anyway this positive aspect of the game deserves to be mentioned twice.

The shortcomings are following: Though game has a third person view your character is unable to jump which could be quite annoying in some places. Camera control in combats is a bit clunky and lucks of intuitive WSADQE control. Dialogues while ok are mostly mediocre and you would probably want to skip them. Another minus is that the world, while beautiful, is not at all interactive - it's rather some kind of decorations. There are neither player controlled choices or dialogues between character and nor loyalty system in the game. Relationships between Daryon and Selene are quite weird for my taste, rather reminding not brother and sister relations but relationships between lovers. Myrna's and Fallon's 3d models are not as 'well-turned' as Selene's model an a bit vulgar. Daryon's (main hero) art and 3d model is in no way reminds a soldier. Rather he looks like some anime version of K-Pop 'idol' - slim, short, effeminate and dystrophic soy boy. His character is also repulsive - hysterical, unreasonably stubborn and dumb. Fallon's character is simply unreliable - she is some poorly written tsundere. The ending of the game is pretty weak and involves some ridiculous melodramatic scenes which are in no way could invoke sympathy in the gamer since he simply won't be able to develop emotional connection with the characters whose "ill fate" these scenes depict. The political agenda with all that left-liberal "diversity" propaganda is also spoiling the game but surprisingly it is quite tolerable here.

"Midgar Studio" is a small French developer and it was quite surprising for me to discover their gem of a games. I've bought it on a very early access stage in 2019 and almost two years since purchase I can say it was totally worth the money that I've paid. Overall 'Edge of Eternity' is a decent game for those who love turn-based combat, attractive aesthetics in anime style, involving story and are tired of typical and soulless games which are mass-produced now by 'effective managers'.

An intriguing plot and world/setting, in which the protagonists are fending off some kind of alien race and seem to be making a deal to use demonic powers in order to defend themselves. The world and gameplay seem very typical of high fantasy, except a bit alien in design, and with little hints of sci-fi in cutscenes and plot.

From the creative side: The art is imaginative, with creepy creatures and mysterious landscapes. And the plot is complex and intriguing.

From the game play side: Combat - The turn-based gameplay uses a combination of grid-based strategy and Final Fantasy style ATB gauges in a way that makes it feel fast-paced and exciting, even though you can technically take all the time in the world.

Exploration - It has just the right balance of open but guided. It's neither linear nor pure open-world. And the side quests are really manageable: not the millions that many modern games have that ultimately make them all feel worthless; a few hunts and a few side stories per region, and just a couple of longer lasting quests, enough for variety while keeping it all meaningful. The maps are interesting and there are plenty of 'secrets' and things to uncover. All the usual item gathering to create weapons, armour, gems, etc.

Variety - There are a number of features such as riding a certain animal that also has a 'sniff and find treasure' element, and optional flag/gate-based races with traps to dodge; and puzzle-towers that vary in the ways each works, which keep things interesting.

Controls: There's something about the game that suggests it's not *top* quality (see below), but despite that, the controls are really fluid. When exploring the world, and especially when riding, it's smooth and responsive like a triple A game.

Negatives: The 3D views aren't quite right. When you're not moving, everything looks great. When you look around, you get a subtle feeling of being in a fishbowl. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but it feels like a first attempt at first/third person 3D game design, and the world turns in an odd way. Subtle, but does feel odd.

Sound effects and voice acting aren't great. Fine, but not great. And there are occasional bugs with the sound - mostly when a sound effect from the world exploration gets stuck on repeat when you move to combat. So far it's happened to me only in one particular area, but happened regularly in that area.

They have one of those dumb final boss battles where it keeps going and going and going, so you have to beat it *many* times to actually win. And it's waaaaay more difficult than anything else, leaving it all feeling very unbalanced. A shame, because it's quite unique in a number of ways.

The characters faces can look like mannequins at times. Don't be turned off - the worst facial design is early on, and it's such an impressive game despite that.

But most of all, the characters are one-dimensional and dialogue is pathetic. It's hard to engage with the story/plot as a result, despite that part actually being really good.

Overall: Almost a hidden gem. Hadn't heard any hype; didn't expect it to impress me when I first tried it; it slowly built into something quite enjoyable, only to fall flat mostly due to the dialogue and characters.