Eastward

[radiofloyd]

Played two hours of this so far. It’s a beautiful looking game that combines elements of Zelda and Final Fantasy. The biggest influence seems to be Earthbound, there is even an in-game rpg you can play called Earth Born.

 

I like everything about the game. It takes its time with the opening, there are a lot of references to the “surface world” but the game doesn’t dump you there within the first 5 minutes. As far as I know the game was in development for many years and it certainly feels like it. To use a cliched description, it feels like a love letter to those games I mentioned.

 

 

 

My kind of game. I’m happy to see it’s gotten off to a good start on Steam (88% positive rating after 2000+ reviews so far). It hasn’t dislodged Tales of Arise from the top spot in Japan but when I bought it it was the third best selling game so that’s good.

[radiofloyd]

9 hours into this now, on to chapter 3. I beat the in game rpg Earth Born which is one of my rarest achievements on Steam (2.5% of players have gotten it so far). I’m really enjoying it. It reminds me of Owlboy in the graphical style and the mish-mash of influences, but without the frustration of Owlboy’s more annoying moments. I’ve read complaints that the game is slow-paced and dialogue heavy but I don’t mind either of those.

[radiofloyd]

I’m about 15 hours into this. The pace does slow down. I’ve been playing it for around 40 minutes at a time.

 

The game within a game, Earth Born, is quite substantial. Beating it the first time is only the beginning. The main game, Eastward, is very easy but Earth Born is hardcore. But it’s snappy and addictive and surprisingly good.

[mfnick]

What’s the combat style like in this? Turn based or Zelda like?

[radiofloyd]

In the main game, it’s Zelda like. Very simple. It’s not a big focus (or strength) of the game. In the in-game rpg, it’s turned based like Dragon Quest, but a kind of original spin on it.

[radiofloyd]

After 18 hours I think I might actually be 50:50 the real game and the side game. Today I played Earth Born for almost 2 hours:

 

Spoiler

I beat the four castle bosses and the Demon King. But then you have to follow him through a kind of underground cave where there are powerful enemies, and I died there. Close but no cigar.

 

I also encountered an extremely powerful enemy called the Gull Swordsman in the mountains area. After he one hit killed one of my part members I fled the battle. By far the strongest enemy I’ve met in the game.

 

[radiofloyd]

Around 23 hours now (that includes ~7 hours of Earth Born). I’m still chipping away at this. The game takes a bit of a nosedive at the third location, New Dam City. It’s a beautiful location but the game slows right down to a crawl. But i’ll keep going because at its worst it’s still a pleasant game.

[radiofloyd]

Around 30 hours now, finished Chapter 6. Only 17% of players have finished Chapter 6 on Steam, which gives you an idea of how much of a slog the game turns into. Sitting at about a 6/10 for me now, the game doesn’t do anything particularly well and it seems like they left nothing on the cutting room floor.

[radiofloyd]

Reading back over my first post, it’s funny that I said this game was inspired by Earthbound. It may well have been but it’s been a solid 30 hours since I thought about Earthbound while playing it. I would say the game took most of its inspiration from Zelda - but it’s the kind of game where I feel like most of the team worked on the art and the story and the gameplay was a distant afterthought. The developers basically ran amok with the Zelda formula.

 

My playtime is somewhere between 30 and 35 hours, I thought I was going to finish it tonight but it’s never-ending. It’s still sitting on a 6/10 for me. It’s so long. So, so long. It’s not shit, but there are much better games that have been half or even one-third of its length. It’s not a game that respects your time.

[radiofloyd]

Alright, I finally finished it. I’ve re-read several reviews for the game, most of which scored it 8/10, which I think is about two points too generous, and there’s no great ending to redeem it at the end either. Reviews glossed over the negatives which I think are serious negatives. There’s no reason for this game to be 35 hours long (maybe closer to 30 hours if you subtract the time I spent playing Earth Born). It’s not good enough to justify that, in the story or gameplay department. It’s a game stuck between genres, a classic Zelda style game with combat and puzzles, and a story-heavy adventure game in the vein of To the Moon or Rakuen. It’s not a disaster, but I couldn’t recommend it.