I'd always been kinda interested in this game but I'd always put off trying it. Until yesterday when I saw it on PC Game Pass and thought hey let's give it a shot.
So I'm about 5 hours in and I am loving it. The combat system is great. the look is...very mid 2000's comic booky but has charm. I know that this is based on a comic book but I'm not familiar with the source material. The game however gives you a pretty good catchup on where things are at.
Gully, the daughter of a hero, has inherited his magic gauntlets. She's learning to use them properly both to protect herself and her friends, because there are people in the world who want that power for themselves. Pretty simple. She's got some interesting companions, like Garrison the tough swordsman who knew Gully's dad, as well as Callibretto the mechanized War Golem. The fact this is all based on previous material means the game doesn't spend a lot of time on how and why they know each other, but the writing gives them a good sense of camaraderie.
The combat is pretty standard Turn Based. Attacks have speed values that affect when they will occur. Main basic attacks are almost all instant/same turn, while some of the bigger hits might take a turn or two to happen. So you've gotta plan ahead, especially with heals because you might get a delayed heal from a skill or maybe you should go for an instant item heal. There's also the overcharge system, so even if you're out of Mana for skills, you can use your basics to build Overcharge which acts as more mana, and some character skills like Garrison's Warblade can burn that Overcharge to do more damage.
I love the character combat archetypes so far because they're a bit different. Gully is a young girl but she has the highest HP and a bunch of defensive moves. Her gauntlets give her high defensive capabilities so she's actually your tank. 'Bretto is a big robot but he's primarily a healer type, with numerous over-time and instant heal skills. Garrison is your more standard Damage Dealer, with many ways to cause Bleed, increase his and the party's speed, or hit multiple enemies at once.
Visually, the game looks great. In combat the animations are fantastic and the hits are meaty looking. Getting gut punched by a giant war golem looks as impressive as it should. I like the character designs mostly.
Gameplay flow is a mix of a number of different types. There's the world map which is a bunch of nodes connect by lines from place to place, with random battles on some of the nodes. There's also crafting material drops on the map, and some shrines that give temp buffs. All very functional.
Next is Exploration Areas, which are enclosed areas which are mostly just for doing puzzles or talking to people and finding loot. Generally safe from combat in these. Then there's the dungeons, and when you go to enter one you can choose the difficulty. Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, which have varied levels of completion rewards. The dungeons are laid out in room by room grids, so clear a room, grab its look, kill its enemies, move on to the next room. There's enemy spawns and you can see them on the screen before encountering them. This also ties into each character's Dungeon Skill, which have limited charges per Dungeon but can affect how you proceed. Bretto has a party heal he can use 6 times, Gully can ground pound and stun any nearby enemies, which will carry over into battle, and Garrison can dash through traps and any enemy he dashes into lets him start combat with Haste active.
All in all, I'm really impressed and I think turn based fans should give this a shot.
So I'm about 5 hours in and I am loving it. The combat system is great. the look is...very mid 2000's comic booky but has charm. I know that this is based on a comic book but I'm not familiar with the source material. The game however gives you a pretty good catchup on where things are at.
Gully, the daughter of a hero, has inherited his magic gauntlets. She's learning to use them properly both to protect herself and her friends, because there are people in the world who want that power for themselves. Pretty simple. She's got some interesting companions, like Garrison the tough swordsman who knew Gully's dad, as well as Callibretto the mechanized War Golem. The fact this is all based on previous material means the game doesn't spend a lot of time on how and why they know each other, but the writing gives them a good sense of camaraderie.
The combat is pretty standard Turn Based. Attacks have speed values that affect when they will occur. Main basic attacks are almost all instant/same turn, while some of the bigger hits might take a turn or two to happen. So you've gotta plan ahead, especially with heals because you might get a delayed heal from a skill or maybe you should go for an instant item heal. There's also the overcharge system, so even if you're out of Mana for skills, you can use your basics to build Overcharge which acts as more mana, and some character skills like Garrison's Warblade can burn that Overcharge to do more damage.
I love the character combat archetypes so far because they're a bit different. Gully is a young girl but she has the highest HP and a bunch of defensive moves. Her gauntlets give her high defensive capabilities so she's actually your tank. 'Bretto is a big robot but he's primarily a healer type, with numerous over-time and instant heal skills. Garrison is your more standard Damage Dealer, with many ways to cause Bleed, increase his and the party's speed, or hit multiple enemies at once.
Visually, the game looks great. In combat the animations are fantastic and the hits are meaty looking. Getting gut punched by a giant war golem looks as impressive as it should. I like the character designs mostly.
Gameplay flow is a mix of a number of different types. There's the world map which is a bunch of nodes connect by lines from place to place, with random battles on some of the nodes. There's also crafting material drops on the map, and some shrines that give temp buffs. All very functional.
Next is Exploration Areas, which are enclosed areas which are mostly just for doing puzzles or talking to people and finding loot. Generally safe from combat in these. Then there's the dungeons, and when you go to enter one you can choose the difficulty. Normal, Heroic, or Legendary, which have varied levels of completion rewards. The dungeons are laid out in room by room grids, so clear a room, grab its look, kill its enemies, move on to the next room. There's enemy spawns and you can see them on the screen before encountering them. This also ties into each character's Dungeon Skill, which have limited charges per Dungeon but can affect how you proceed. Bretto has a party heal he can use 6 times, Gully can ground pound and stun any nearby enemies, which will carry over into battle, and Garrison can dash through traps and any enemy he dashes into lets him start combat with Haste active.
All in all, I'm really impressed and I think turn based fans should give this a shot.
