LogFAQs > #937810715

Operencia: The Stolen Sun (PC)

This is a very fun RPG, but I would assume people getting into this will be wrought by assumptions. Immediately it appears to be a game like Grimrock or The Bard's Tale. But it is neither of those. It's actually closer to Etrian Odyssey without the grinding. You can say I've been looking hard for a Grimrock follow-up and this game isn't it. I did enjoy it however for its writing, its lore, and the English voice-acting. It poked alot of fun in the genre and had a sense of wit to it as well, without being cheesy.

Mechanics-wise, the game felt more like a puzzle instead of a straight up RPG experience. Certain game design choices basically meant that the goal of this game was to get through the next few sets with whatever you had (secrets and all) and you may try again as many times as you want. So, basically if you go into this thinking about experimenting on builds and exploiting mechanics, you might be disappointed. The respecc abuse, the fact that you will always gain exp and level up even if you die, and that there are only a limited amount of enemies in the game assures you a somewhat bottled linear experience.

That said, once you are able to respecc just right and realize what needs to be done, it is very satisfying especially by the end where the final boss has like several sequences and forms to contend with. Enemies are very cheap as well and the hit-miss ratio is godawful, sometimes bordering unfair or abysmally easy. It actually feels like it wants to be an SMT game. Alot of people might see these aspects as flaws. But the fact that I'm so excited to talk about the details of the system might mean I'm just gushing at it like a fanboy.

Worth your time, in my opinion. As long as you don't have any expectations.

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