Guild Encounters

If you want a simple, basically no story turn based RPG (I love them) then for 6 bucks this is definitely worth it. I like that your progress is saved rather well between runs since you keep your equipment, level ups, and items. The progression with Guild Points to say, earn more XP, gold, have more enhancement slots (things like 30% more STR, faster casting time, auto haste, elemental attacks/resistances) are a good addition that adds to the game. I'd say getting to choose your party and enhancements adds a good customization element, although so far I haven't run a party without the priestess and sorceress because they both feel quite important. Don't know if the dev is planning to add more or leave as it but for 6 bucks, it's a chill little JRPG grindy experience. Side note, I hate that the dev has to basically apologize profusely for using AI art. I think it's fine for a solo dev who doesn't have the resources/skills to make character art with AI. But I know how some people get online over that.

Definitely a fun game, tho bare bones. There's definitely not enough explanation so it takes a minute to find your way to all the menus, but once past that, it's a good game loop. PLEASE ADD CLOUD SAVE!! That's definitely a missing element...other than that, as advertised and well worth the price.

So, want to be honest and say the heavy use of AI art is a turn off, but it is at least mostly decent art. Honestly though, there are so many free or cheap art packs out there that the choice to use AI to generate the art feel heavily unnecessary, particularly because it is used for every non-menu asset, it seems. I will look past that, as this is an indie project, and seemingly more a passion project than a major commercial one, For future, however, projects from this dev, I would seriously hope they invest some of whatever they make from this into supporting actual artist as opposed to utilizing programs trained off stolen art. All that said, I will talk about the actual game now. First impressions are the menus are a little bit overwhelming and underwhelming at the same time. The game offers multiple game modes, for instance, but there is only Arcade mode available to choose. In game itself, there are a lot of menus and sub-menus to parse through, which made me personally feel like I was in for a very tough combat from the very first encounter. I was a little dissappointed to find that my first run wasn't only easily won, it was won by mostly ignoring the Enhancement system an…

Perfect example of how a responsive menu can be an enjoyable experience enough to be the gameplay itself. Although the lack of ability to change the controls on keyboard is simply a dealbreaker for me. I don't play on my controller often enough. Promising game though so I'll keep my eye out for future updates!

Neat turn based combat, requires a bit of getting used to, but overall has been a very enjoyable experience. Current played through everything but the hardest mode and the pre fight mitigations and strategies are actually starting to matter on a battle by battle basis. Party composition also can vary greatly depending on the fight, but you are given ample tools to meet eh challenges if you use what is given to you. Really scratches the ABT system itch from the mid generation FF titles pretty well.

Not bad for 6 bucks. The game does exactly what it sets out to do, nothing more nothing less. I can appreciate that from the dev. You fight turn based battles, try and get as far as you can on a run and when you fail use the GP points you earn to buy run altering items from the Shop and recruit new party members. It's like you have access to the Grade Shop in a Tales of game always available to you. Pretty fun.