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Encounter? I hardly know her!
I wasn’t fairly certain what to make of Dungeon Encounters when Sq. Enix introduced it, actual informal like, at Tokyo Sport Present earlier this month. It was intriguing, after all, however I wasn’t certain precisely how a lot enjoyable there was available in a sport the place you’re simply strolling throughout a pre-drawn barebones grid as you’re employed your means down 99 flooring.
Seems there’s numerous enjoyable available.
Dungeon Encounters (PC, PS4 [reviewed on PS5], Swap)Developer: Sq. EnixPublisher: Sq. EnixReleased: October 14, 2021MSRP: $29.99
Dungeon Encounters is the brainchild of Director Hiroyuki Ito and Producer Hiroaki Kato. Each males are long-standing Sq. Enix builders, with Kato engaged on video games like Ways Ogre and the Last Fantasy Advance titles, and Ito slicing his tooth on Last Fantasy VI, IX, and XII; arguably one of the best video games within the franchise. Ito can also be the daddy of the Energetic Time Battle (ATB) system, a revolutionary thought launched in Last Fantasy IV that considerably altered the trajectory of the turn-based RPG style.
Within the Last Fantasy sequence, the ATB system all the time labored in tandem with the opposite components of the video games — the characters, the plot, the setting, the graphics — to create the memorable experiences identified and beloved the world over. In Dungeon Encounters, it’s the primary star. Every part else right here has been stripped of its extra to simply the requirements. The story is brief sufficient to suit onto a single display, character and enemy portraits are solely half-drawn at finest, the map is only a easy grid on totally different hues of parchment, and, whereas there are quick backstories for every character, they’re inconsequential. All that issues right here is the participant’s understanding of the ATB system and their means to navigate all 99 flooring of this dungeon.
While you first start Dungeon Encounters, you’ll create a staff of as much as 4 characters from these obtainable on the Academy positioned on the highest ground of the dungeon. It actually doesn’t make a lot of a distinction who you decide as a result of there aren’t any courses to fret about on this sport and, for those who’re something like me, your preliminary occasion will get wiped throughout the first 20 flooring. You’ll begin with no cash, however every occasion member will come outfitted with weak weapons and armor. That’s all you get earlier than you are taking your first steps towards the risks beneath.
Every dungeon ground is pre-mapped, with each obtainable encounter telegraphed upfront. Squares with white textual content maintain one thing useful for you, like a store, info on an enemy, a therapeutic level, or a puzzle. Squares with black textual content include an enemy encounter. While you have interaction in a battle, the knowledge on what you fought is recorded within the sport’s compendium. That is extraordinarily useful as a result of the textual content dictates what you will see in that house. If you happen to see the numbers 05 in white, that all the time implies that house is a resurrection level. If you happen to struggle a battle on a sq. with the black textual content 4D, you possibly can proceed with confidence the subsequent time you encounter a 4D sq., as you’ll be combating towards the identical enemy sorts. Accessing that compendium is like having the rulebook for the sport at your disposal always.
Every dungeon ground is laid out on the x-y axis with the ground quantity appearing as its z-axis coordinate. You need to in all probability have a chunk of paper and pen at your disposal as a result of whilst you don’t have to fret about charting something on this sport, it would be best to preserve observe of coordinates that function the reply to puzzle options or areas you’ll have to entry from above or beneath. You’ll additionally need to be sure you’re stepping on each sq. on the map, even those on these deep dungeon flooring that negatively impression you the second you land on them. The extra squares you step on, the extra Skill Factors you’ll earn. These factors are used to activate talents your occasion can deploy out and in of battle.
Talking of the battles, be ready for a really fast-paced sport. Enemies you encounter will constantly do excessive quantities of harm, so that you’ll need to get out and in of those encounters as rapidly as doable. Meaning ensuring your occasion has excessive pace stats and is supplied with the very best assaults.
Every member of your occasion might be outfitted with two assaults. There is no such thing as a defend or block choice right here or objects for therapeutic, which means you solely should concentrate on doing harm. There are two sorts of assaults: bodily and magic. These assaults are additional subcategorized by whether or not they hit one enemy or the whole opposing occasion and in the event that they do a set quantity of harm or a fluctuating quantity of harm with some fairly severe risk-reward. A Malio 5 magic assault, for instance, all the time does 1,250 harm factors, however a Malaflux 5 magic assault can do upwards of two,000 harm factors. It may additionally do seven harm factors. That’s the gamble you are taking. If you happen to’re considering that it’s in all probability higher to play it protected with the assured quantities, know that the enemies you face love these fluctuating harm factors.
The bodily and magic assault sorts correspond to the 2 sorts of defenses all characters and enemies have. While you strike a monster with a bodily assault, it drains their Bodily Protection (PD). If you happen to can whittle that every one the best way down, you’ll then be capable of begin chipping away at their HP, however provided that you proceed to make use of bodily assaults. If you happen to get rid of the PD of an enemy after which hit it with a magic assault, that can take away from its Magical Protection (MD) as a substitute of its HP. Additionally, it’s essential to notice that you simply can not hit both PD or MD and the HP in a single assault. In case your opponent has 12 factors of PD left and your assault does 100 factors in harm, it’s solely going to empty these 12 factors. The surplus assault harm isn’t utilized to their HP.
The enemies discovered all through the dungeon flooring have a big selection of values for his or her PD, MD, and HP. Some are front-loaded with large quantities of PD and MD, however just one HP. Others might need no PD or MD in any respect, permitting you to strike at their massive pool of HP with no matter are essentially the most highly effective assaults you may have. You’ll additionally need to concentrate on precisely what kind of assault you may have outfitted. Flying enemies can’t be hit with bodily assaults like swords or javelins, so that you higher be sure you have a crossbow or gun outfitted to at the least one character. Magic assaults can hit nearly any enemy, however you need to remember for those who’re dealing with a foe that may replicate magic again at you.
My expertise up thus far with the ATB system is one in all limitless choices. In Last Fantasy video games, you may have so many assaults, spells, and objects at your disposal that you would be able to actually do no mistaken. It’s refreshing to see that very same sensible battle system streamlined in the best way it’s in Dungeon Encounters. With fewer choices at hand, I’m don’t spend a lot time attempting to determine what I ought to do. I simply act instinctively, which is why preparation earlier than you enter a battle is so essential. With simply two assaults obtainable, one armor slot, one helmet slot, and one accent slot, I actually needed to get inventive with the make-up of my staff. I put extra consideration right here into what I outfitted to every occasion member than I’ve any Last Fantasy sport that makes use of ATB. Flooring after ground, I might experiment with new instruments as I collected them, switching up my staff’s gear for a bit of trial and error. Some experiments have been instantaneous successes. Others…not a lot. After taking part in so many video games that lightly information you thru their world or provide you with an overabundance of instruments to win, it was invigorating to essentially should fend for myself right here. And for those who really hate the ATB system, you possibly can, as I did within the video above, change it to “Wait” mode to play it extra like a typical turn-based sport.
As I discussed earlier, a few of the talents you unlock can be utilized in battle, such Restoration, which fully heals the HP of 1 occasion member, or Determined Power, which vastly will increase the assault energy of a weary character. It’s essential to notice that exterior of battle, you may have only a few choices on how one can restore HP or revive a fallen comrade. PD and MD reset after every encounter, but when your staff is working low on well being, it’s possible you’ll have to enterprise again to the final sq. with a white 06 on it to heal them up slightly than threat it going ahead. As a result of in case your entire staff is knocked out, it’s going to take some work to get again to the place they’re.
There are numerous fascinating concepts on this sport that I completely love. You’ll be able to go into debt if an enemy steals extra cash than you may have. If a celebration member is petrified, you need to depart them at that spot within the dungeon till you could find an altar to take away the petrification. And when you try this, you need to enterprise again to the place you left them if they’re to rejoin your staff. And in case your squad loses in a struggle, you’ll begin again on the prime of the dungeon with no matter characters you may have left on the Academy. If there aren’t any characters within the Academy and also you fall in battle, that could be a full sport over. And don’t assume it’s straightforward to cheese the save information. Dungeon Encounters saves robotically if you give up the sport, if you go right into a battle, and if you lose a battle. If you happen to see your staff is about to fall and exit out, if you restart the sport, you’ll be proper again originally of that struggle.
Looking back, having my first staff worn out was one of the best factor to occur to me. That first go at working via the sport, I used to be actually nervous and proceeded with nice trepidation, not realizing how troublesome the journey could be. When that staff fell and I began a rescue mission with my second squad — as a result of you possibly can revive your unique staff for those who attain the spot the place they fell — I used to be loaded not solely with information but additionally any weapons my first staff had of their bag and the talents they unlocked alongside the best way. As I labored my means down the second time, I discovered the spots on the map I had missed that served as options to the puzzles. I additionally rescued different vacationers misplaced within the dungeon so as to add my staff or take again to the Academy in case I wanted a 3rd group of heroes to complete out the hunt.
All of this information, from my varied makes an attempt and the whole lot I unlocked within the compendium, helped make every dungeon run extra profitable than the one earlier than it. It additionally obtained me to concentrate to the inventive strategic choices I’ve to keep away from confrontations or simply safe victory. When you recognize what an enemy encounter is beforehand, you possibly can resolve for those who’re able to try it or not. In case your staff is working low on HP, you should use a number of of your talents to get round encounters till you discover a therapeutic level or work your means again to the final one you handed. Or, relying on the talents you may have, possibly it’s higher to maintain your HP low if it means doing extra harm. Making an attempt to determine that excellent stability of dangerous conduct and surefire technique is a big a part of why I really like this sport as a lot as I do.
I might be remiss if I didn’t point out the sport’s music, which was overseen by Last Fantasy mainstay Nobuo Uematsu. Admittedly, there’s little or no music to be discovered right here. While you’re within the overworld, all you get are the ambient sounds of no matter ecosystem you’re imagined to be in. A lot of the sport’s music is restricted to the battles, and this soundtrack is an fascinating mixture of classical music, like Mussorgsky’s “Evening on Bald Mountain,” recorded with a extra arduous rock/metallic edge. I just like the music and its old-school mentality, I simply want there was extra of it. These songs begin to lose their luster when I’ve to hearken to the identical observe ground after ground after ground till I hit a brand new biome. Extra selection within the music, in addition to the enemy portraits which might be equally restricted, could be appreciated. However actually, that’s the one criticism I can muster about this odd odyssey via the underground.
Dungeon Encounters is among the finest video games I’ve performed this 12 months. I get that could be sort of arduous to imagine given its stripped-down presentation. In spite of everything, this isn’t precisely the kind of sport we anticipate to come back from Sq. Enix, a developer that’s no stranger to extravagant graphics and battle programs. However for those who’re judging it on seems alone, you’re actually not going to have the ability to see the rewarding dungeon crawler discovered inside. Give it a shot, and when you get into it, you may see it the best way I do: as a gripping, strategic journey that isn’t solely a sport however a celebration of one of many nice improvements of the turn-based RPG style.
[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]
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