we take the same…
The Forsaken Maiden is resting on the same bases as The Isle Dragon Roar, which I therefore recommend you reading the test. Remember the basic concepts: the player explores the world by moving on cards, revealed when moving, and the fights are held in turn, with a gem system: the more the action is powerful, the more it consumes it. It is therefore necessary to sometimes be economical in order to use a particularly powerful spell.
There is also the same importance given to narration (always expressed in the form of cards, with a narrator speaking in English or Japanese and subtitles in French) and, more anecdotally, the same mini-game of cards in the different villages.
and we do not start again
The list of similarities thorough stops quickly. Indeed, The Forsaken Maiden is not a suite: the story is fully independent, containing only extremely modest links with the other title of the license. In view of the nearby exits, so it seems more likely that the two games have been developed in parallel, by separate teams.
This would explain other disturbing differences. Thus, as I said at the time, the first game asked the player to choose, for each character, four techniques among eight (at the end of the party). This time, it is possible to have five… among up to twelve possibilities. So there are more possibilities, but the same feeling of lack, since choices are always delicate because of the large number of techniques that must be left out.
Similarly, in The Isle Dragon Roar, the team was composed of three characters, to choose from six. Here, it can not be customized, but it evolves over the adventure, up to four simultaneous members. This system forces to adapt to different compositions, which is very appreciable.
Finally, more detail, the story of this title. The latter takes place in an archipelago in which each island has a priestess, charged with performing a ritual protecting the region. Problem, the island on which history begins has no attached priestess, the candidate who failed to obtain this status. The stake of this opus is therefore to escort the island candidate in the island to allow him, as a result of his meeting with the priestesses, to become one in turn.
and we start again (in fact)
This story results in a very different structure from that of the first game. If the latter was pretty linear, this new opus has a more cyclical approach: we go to an island, then in another, then in another, then Then in another. Each step is actually short enough and each is interspersed with a long exploration of the ocean separating them.
It is necessary to recall a fault of the first opus: the presence of random fighting. During exploration, the player is regularly assaulted by monsters, against whom the only issue is to gain without losing life (like these do not go back automatically at the end of the confrontation). However, the bestiary being very limited, these random meetings give a terribly monotonous appearance in title: the player spends his time doing again and again the same actions, until he can no longer.
In The Isle Dragon Roar, it was a fault among others. Here, it’s really the main problem of the game: the latter has a terribly slow and monotonous part medium, which almost managed to disgust my title. It’s really a shame, because the narrative is of quality: it is not very original, but it does not hesitate to approach very dark themes and the English dubbing makes him really honor. Similarly, the combat system is actually rich enough, but this omnipresence of random fights, which are all alike and have an optimal answer, the dessert completely.
and we start again
Take out a new opus less than six months after the previous one had all the risky bet. Yet The Forsaken Maiden is doing well on this plan: the story very different, both in its content and in its structure, avoids any sense of already-seen between the two opus. However, it also reinforces the weariness caused by the random fighting and the very small size of the bestiary (there is throughout the game only a dozen normal enemies, excluding boss, which are declined in good Too many Color swaps). All this means that I had a lot more trouble hanging on this album than the previous one and even if it finally leaves me a good impression, now that I could come up, I will surely keep a Less good memory than The Isle Dragon Roar. It’s a shame, because the potential of the concept is undeniable, but the result is not yet up to it.
_Test directed by Alandring on PC thanks to a version provided by the publisher.