Long Gone Days Review (Alzorath)
This is going to be a "thumbs up with a caveat" type of review - since this is a game that, while I found it enjoyable, it is very story driven and political - so that may be a turnoff for some people. The game, its premise, and the gameplay proper are well done, and will be straightforward to get into the groove of for anyone who enjoys the RPG genre.
Pros:
- Art and Music are solid (I'm not even a fan of "tall sprites" in Anime-styled RPGs usually, but this one is an exception, and I love the look)
- Game respects your time and has no mandatory filler content (sidequests give you more story/items, but aren't mandatory)
- Combat is simple, yet effective
- Mechanics and Combat feel intentional with no random encounters, also causes a con though.
Neutral:
- Story is politically styled, and alternate universe "modern day"
- Touches on a couple darker subjects, but never deep enough to incite a trigger warning
Cons:
- Character to character balance is kind of weak, there are distinctly "better" characters to take with you
- I wish chapter 1 and 4 were a bit longer to give us more worldbuilding in them (imo - Chapter 3 is the ideal length)
- Health/SP recovery feels a bit clunky, even though it is a mechanical representation of the "timespan" the game happens over (a few days, so no real time to spend days recovering), this is better than the earlier versions of the game though.
- The final boss felt a bit silly compared to the rest of the game.
Overall, I enjoyed spending the weekend with the game, and exploring the world. For the game overall, thumbs up, the gameplay is middle of the road for me, but it works out quite well.
Video Review: https://youtu.be/hnJCFh4UFMg