Look at the past it is never a bad thing, also because it is right from the history who learn and absorb the basics through which to improve and improve oneself, experimenting and maybe even creating something never seen before, something new and unlikely that can surprise the exciting from its earliest developments. In the years, RPG e JRPG have certainly increased their use by leaving the niches and massifying itself in a marketing significantly different from the past, with the stylistic features of a story that still tries to meet the taste of the public, without deleting its very first steps, demonstrating the fact that what happened with the first video games of the genre, however, remains the important piece of a journey that shows no signs of slowing down, even in its continuous evolve, transform and above all in its continuous "rejuvenation".
All this DON'T happens with Fallen Legion: Revenants, fourth chapter of the saga developed by YummyYummyTummy Games and NIS America, recently landed on Playstation 4. It is a video game well aware of its identity and above all the possibilities that this could offer to historians passionate about the genre, lontana however from any contemporary experimentalism of the case. The past, therefore, reigns supreme in a project that is strong from the beginning misaligned from a temporal-commercial point of view, in an anachronism far from simple homage and stylistic choice, made of issues which in 2021 are rather destabilizing, opening a whole series of doubts about what were the real intentions of the developers in packaging the title for the public.
How not to tell a plot
Fallen Legion: Revenants looks pretty pretty right from the start magmatic, characterized by a general chaos that will only hint at a later focus, progressively shown with the progress of events. Starting the game means being literally launched internally, without any intermediate phase, without too many presentations, in a choice that has very little of introduction and that requires precise subsequent attention. The plot events all revolved around one palazzo floating, of familiar aesthetics, called Welkin. This would be in the hands of the forces of evil, in the hands of a dark figure named Ivor, a sort of sorcerer who holds the control, projecting on the entire game world a sort of toxic halo that touches and affects everything, every form of life.
Everything then falls into the hands of the two protagonists Principals of Fallen Legion: Revenants. On the one hand we find Lucien, a sort of raven-haired "politician" who, frominternal of the castle itself will have to counter the power of the aforementioned sorcerer through the skill and charm of his own eloquence. In his shoes we will have, progressively speaking, to enter contact with the various inhabitants of the court, talk to them and try in every way to take them with us; on the other hand, however, we find Rowena, a woman with spiritistic features, who through her extraordinary powers will have the sole objective of freeing her son from the captivity of Ivor.
These are the foundations of a narrative that from the beginning is posed in a rather simple way, albeit chaotic, and it does so in the most archaic way possible. Many central details, in fact, are pitted in the screens of the various uploads, in a choice that from optimization becomes immediately notional, almost from silent film in its final aesthetic rendering. The fact that the whole game is in English (English enough too curious for some of his phrases) then, certainly does not pluralize the fruitive possibilities of the plot, concentrating elsewhere.
The two streets of Fallen Legion: Revenants
Fallen Region Revenants is basically divided into two roads precise: Rowena's and Lucien's. With Rowena we will have to face all the combat phases, central heart of the title itself. Speaking of the battle system, we are faced with a JRPG in 2D, distributed on boxes fixed and centralized around the various ATB bars that manage the individual actions of the characters in the battle. Every enemy, on the other hand, it is characterized by a series of moves and features that become immediately recognizable, and from specific methods of killing, daughters of the resistance bar of each of them. Rowena has the possibility, in the clashes, to make use of the support of the so-called copy - some sort of pawns -, each of which is characterized by some minimal narrative characteristics, and above all by gameplay (specific classes, weapons, skills and specializations). These are free usable by the player according to the enemies that block the progress and to the various ones strategy that we intend to build. Each of them is then linked to a specific one key, with an approach to combat that dynamizes the action, also leading to the gestation of real actions concatenate and group combos. Rowena, of course, also acts within the various clashes, both as a support and as an attacker, with various spells and spells albeit offensive.
During the various battles there will be both the screen damage, be a report details of your actions at the end of these, with the possibility of obtaining special items called Archeus. Each Archeus can be donated to one of the Exemplars through a special character in the castle, containing gods bonus specifics that are immediately useful in the game. You will also be able to manage the preparazione of each of these even at the level of inventory (albeit minimal) before each shipment, because we are talking about shipments to interact with by talking to Rowena herself inside the castle. The combat phases, then, on several occasions tend to concatenate with those "chat" with Lucien. Let's say that i social progress that are obtained with the latter, in dialogue with the characters of the world of Fallen Legion: Revenants, remain fundamental in the advancement of the game.
Everything is managed through dialogues of your choice, in which you can not only progress within the plot, but also increase the general immersion in the details of what you have in front of you, in a choice that undoubtedly remains curious, even if quite enough. superficial, especially in his writing. The dialogues of Fallen Legion: Revenants, in fact, do not shine for their literary rendering, in a simplism which however finds its way, above all in the fact that DON'T there is only one ending. The fact of being able to land in more epilogues remains a curious possibility, especially in increasing the longevity of the title not high, with a replay value that is not too redundant.
A structure a little too imprecise
One of the first things that immediately catch the eye with this game is his structure, the way the developers have chosen to to introduce the player within the game, and to make him interact gradually even with the most classic elements of the medium. There being no real menu, the most classic actions will have to be performed patter with a character inside the castle, who will not only give the possibility to save the game, but also to enter the options menu and adjust the various elements of personal meta-gameplay, for example, or the fact that every single the player's choice will be harnessed in a dialogue to do necessarily with someone in the game. So even if you want to change your party, or add things to the battle, you will need to find the "type" in the appropriate castle.
Speaking instead of the graphic side, we are faced with a job that needs some improvements especially from the point of view of animations, with slowdowns obvious and bulky that inevitably affect the general immersion in the meanders of the title. The various "freezes" following the dialogues in which the different characters fall, or the uploads themselves, remain one of the most anti-contemporaries of Fallen Legion: Revenants, with the possibility of future improvements needed. The style of the drawings is not bad, even if rather repetitive especially when the hours of play begin to rise a minimum, also here thanks to a general simplism that drags on from start to finish.
