I am Setsuna: Overview game

Posted by Henrik Jensen on May 16th, 2018

The genre of Japanese role-playing games is going through bad days. The times of former glory and prosperity have gone with the PSone and PS2 prefixes, and therefore the rare fresh JRPG are especially valuable. One of them is I am Setsuna , developed in the bowels of Square Enix by Tokyo RPG Factory in the image and likeness of the best representatives of the genre: Chrono Trigger , Grandia II and Final Fantasy .

Living in the world I am Setsunasuffer from regular attacks of monsters. According to an ancient custom, in order to somehow reduce their aggression, a girl must go on a pilgrimage, ready to sacrifice herself for the sake of saving others. Monsters calm down for a while, but then the procedure must be repeated again and again. As you might guess, another sorceress of monsters becomes the sorceress Setsuna (Setsuna), whose name is pronounced in the name of the game. Together with a silent mercenary named Endir (Endir) and hunter Aeterna (Aeterna), she goes on a journey to the place of ritual sacrifice. As usual, the wanderings of the heroes turned out to be much longer than originally planned, but along the way pilgrims, also in the best traditions of the genre, meet other warriors and magicians who want to join their company.

If you are familiar with Final Fantasy X, then this beginning of the plot will seem painfully familiar to you. Further - more: a little later you will meet a laconic and experienced party member armed with a huge sword. Nidr wears traditional Japanese clothes, has problems with one eye, and also participated in the previous pilgrimage. In general, when you look at him, you want to exclaim: "Auron, are you this ?!"

Endir least looks like a carefree Tidus, but in his image flashed the mercenary Ryudo from Grandia II . He, by the way, also accompanied the self-sacrificing girl in her ritual wanderings around the world. Setsuna herself reminds both Elena and Yuna from Final Fantasy X , first of all the readiness to accept their fate and the kindness and love with which the heroine looks at the world.

Despite all the friendliness and openness of the main character, her name still goes back to the Japanese word "grief", which echoes the main theme of I am Setsuna . Although there are still comical and frivolous inserts, the story from the very beginning sets a tragic tone for the whole journey. Supports a sad mood and a soundtrack consisting exclusively of minor piano compositions. By the way, one of the main musical themes of the game utterly reminiscent of To Zanarkand all the same of Final Fantasy the X.

A sad atmosphere I am Setsuna creates and its decoration. The whole action takes place in the lands of eternal winter, literally every region is permeated with cold, and even the boot icon is drawn in the form of a snowflake. We can say that I am Setsuna is Skyrim from the world of JRPG. But if there were not only snow-covered edges in the latter, then you will not find other places in the game from Tokyo RPG Factory on friv2online.com.

White plains are replaced by ice caves. The forgotten ruins also do not lag behind in the fashion for cool colors: gray and green - that's their main palette. Similar cities and villages, among which are abandoned, do not add a lot of warm colors to the world.

combat system I am Setsunaalmost completely repeats the same from Chrono Trigger . There are also no random battles and no enemies on the world map. Monsters in locations can be seen in advance, and if desired, they can be run around.

Battles occur in a step-by-step mode, and during the move the hero can perform one of the actions: attack, use an object or special technique. Each character has his own set of skills, and he depends on the availability of special magic stones called Spritnite. Discovered by such stones, the characters learn skills as active, which can be used directly in combat, or passive, triggered automatically. And in the category of combat skills include and spells for magicians, and power receptions for soldiers. If the two heroes know the necessary skills, then they can perform a joint attack. For example, Shock Endira and Provoke Nidra together give a powerful Blowbeat that can paralyze enemies.

Similar mechanics have already been in Chrono Trigger , but from interesting innovations it is worth noting Momentum Mode. The essence of it is to add additional effects to the attacks. To do this, during the battle, you need to accumulate special glasses and then, just like in Final Fantasy VIII , at the right time, press the button during the impact. But if in the "Last Fantasy" such a trick as Skull and Seyfer could do for the soul, only in I am Setsuna it is subject to all the characters and strictly limited - first accumulate, then apply. With Momentum Mode, the random appearance of Singularity is associated, which also gives its positive effects in combat.

By the way, by default the game does not see the health level of the enemy, and you can see it only if there are talismans with special properties. In general, all equipment in I am Setsuna is limited to these same talismans, where it is necessary to insert stones-abilities, and weapons. Each hero fights his usual equipment: Endir prefers swords, Aeterna - daggers, and Setsuna, as Xena - the warrior queen, throws chakras into enemies.

Of the enemies instead of ringing coins, ingredients drop out, which merchants will happily buy. Commodity-money relations are a little cumbersome - every kind of found things have to be sold manually (and there oh how many of them). That's where it would be useful to sell everything!

However, in other aspects I am Setsunawent on the way of a fairly simple simplification: the heroes themselves are resurrected after the battle, and experience is also given temporarily to the "dead" members of the detachment who are not participating in the battle. There are no side tasks, mini-games and other things that make the world interesting for research. The main quest is linear, and in caves and ruins it is impossible to get lost even with all desire. Due to the fact that the game has no additional content, it can be done in about twenty hours - and this is quite small by the standards of the old school JRPG.

In the genre of Japanese "rolyovok" it is difficult to invent something fresh and original, and they love them not for innovation, but for adherence to the traditions that I am Setsuna is trying to honor sacredly. It turns out not always and not in everything. However, the journey of Setsuna and her party members still causes a feeling of nostalgia and despairing anguish at times of the first Sony PlayStation. The good sad atmosphere of the narrative only contributes to this.

Pros: a rare representative of the now forgotten genre, respecting its main traditions; Touching story with characters typical for Japanese RPG characters; no casual battles; pleasant, unobtrusive music.
Cons: lack of diversity; there are no Russian subtitles.

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Henrik Jensen

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Henrik Jensen
Joined: May 16th, 2018
Articles Posted: 4

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