The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales

The sport was supplied by Sq. Enix for evaluation. Thanks!

The HD-2D artwork type that Sq. Enix has coined is certainly one of my favourite artwork types for older-styled JRPGs. We first noticed it for Octopath Traveler, and we most just lately noticed it for the Dragon Quest 1-3 remakes. Nevertheless, we’ve solely seen it utilized in turn-based titles. With The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales, this adjustments. This can be a massive shift from the standard JRPG type we have now seen from this type, and strikes into real-time motion journey methods. Nevertheless, what comes out is an expertise with fascinating concepts that don’t at all times come collectively when they should.

Extra particularly, it seems like with each facet of the sport, there are negatives that hurt the methods in place. Some harm greater than others, however all of them really feel impactful when put collectively. Nonetheless, regardless of the problems, it’s nonetheless an pleasant story that will get higher over time and may nonetheless be enjoyable.

I’d take into account the strongest facet of the sport to be the story. It’s an fascinating premise, the place we journey throughout completely different eras to avoid wasting our personal. We play as Elliot, an adventurer who’s initially tasked with investigating a doorway that may ship us backward in time. Nevertheless, after a betrayal, we’re thrown into the previous, the place we might want to get sufficient energy to push again and save our kingdom.

With out spoiling something, the story takes some turns and continues additional than I anticipated, and I discovered it very pleasant. The forged of characters we made are fascinating, and the thriller surrounding Elliot saved me engaged. chunk of the aspect quests had been intriguing, pushing out the regulation additional. Whether or not it’s getting a bit bits of Leyka’s earlier life earlier than the orphanage or seeing extra of Diona’s relationship with somebody she cares about, it’s fulfilling and significant to study these characters. It helps {that a} good chunk of those aspect quests have nice rewards, however additionally they inform some nice tales to additional the lore.

I do like our protagonist, however I’ll admit, I used to be a bit upset. Within the intro, he was described in a means that appeared like he was a bit bizarre or aloof. I began to anticipate Elliot to have extra of an fascinating character, however he in the end felt like a cookie-cutter hero who needs to assist everyone. It does the job, however he wasn’t as fascinating as I anticipated. It felt like many of the conversations that he took half in had been very predictable, along with his reactions at all times being certainly one of concern and wanting to assist everybody concerned.

The companion dialogue all through the sport additionally felt a bit bit awkward. Nearly the complete time, our companion was commenting on all the things occurring, together with notifying us of enemies and fight, however Elliot by no means responded. It was like she was speaking to the air, and it could’ve gone a good distance for Elliot to make gentle dialog as we continued progressing by way of the story.

I’ll go on and on in regards to the HD-2D artwork type and why I find it irresistible a lot, and The Adventures of Elliot continues to solidify my love for it. The distinction between the pixel artwork of characters and foliage and the 3D backgrounds with minor pixel filters on them makes every scene pop. Every space, every biome, in every model of the dominion in the entire eras shines vividly, popping with colour and sweetness all through.

Nevertheless, I do want there was extra distinction between every of the eras. Aside from the dominion and a few lighting variations, not a lot adjustments within the total panorama of the continent. It is smart why, however on the similar time, it makes touring round really feel like a chore with little to no adjustments. It felt like I used to be going by way of the identical areas time and again, and I’d’ve liked to discover new lands.

Then we have now fight, which is hit-and-miss in numerous methods. The shift to real-time mechanics in The Adventures of Elliot is a daring one which doesn’t at all times hit the mark. We’ve got two weapons we are able to use at any given time and may swap out on the fly, a protect to dam with, and a capability that our companion fairy can use. Every weapon has a fundamental and cost assault, whereas our fairy has 5 completely different skills we are able to select from to make use of.

The core of the fight is fundamental, and at all times feels that means to some extent all through the sport. You’ll solely be utilizing your weapons for both a weak or charged assault to deal injury and block along with your protect, and it doesn’t get a lot deeper than that. 3 of the 5 fairy abilities are meant for fixing puzzles all through the world and traversing, so there are solely two that may actually assist in fight. And with how tough it’s to regulate within the midst of battle, since we have now to make use of the best joystick to maneuver the fairy manually, I typically didn’t contact the fairy a lot throughout battle.

The depth of fight is meant to return from the Magicite system, which does make it extra pleasant to a level. As we struggle enemies and kill bosses, we are going to choose up shards that we are able to use to type Magicite. These are skills that we are able to connect to every weapon kind, influencing it and its stats to some extent. A few of these will probably be easy, like growing assault or vital price, whereas others might change up how the weapon is used, like fireworks popping out of the bomb earlier than it explodes or lightning coming down from the heavens after utilizing the charged hammer assault. Every Magicite has a quantity worth hooked up to it, so you may solely equip a selected quantity at any given time.

I like this method rather a lot, and it could actually actually change up how we use the weapons we have now. They do extra than simply make them extra highly effective, including particular results that generally have unfavourable trade-offs for vital boosts. The worth system provides us a variety of room to experiment, particularly as we use the foreign money we get from killing enemies to extend the quantity of Magicite we are able to equip. And the extra Magicite we type, the prospect of getting tremendous uncommon Magicite grows. It’s like a gacha system, the place we have now to maintain rolling and hope to get nice objects; the prospect of getting higher objects goes up the extra we do it.

Nevertheless, it doesn’t take away from the core fundamental fight, which might nonetheless deliver down the enjoyment of slaying enemies. The foreign money we have now can also be fairly restricted in its use, solely getting used to purchase equipment to equip or potions to refill our glass phials, aside from Magicite enchancment. The Magicite system provides extra depth, however not sufficient to vary up the core system to maintain the expertise pleasant for the long-term.

Exterior of fight, there are going to be challenges that we are able to discover all through the map. These can vary from discovering new Shards of Life to extend our most well being, get new powers for our fairy, and take part in challenges to get extra Magicite Shards and accent slots. There are additionally a great deal of treasure chests unfold all through the map, which will probably be a pleasant little technique to get extra foreign money and shards. Exploring all over the world might be enjoyable and fulfilling, however as I discussed earlier than, it does get tiresome when it seems like we’re seeing the identical environments and layouts time and again.

The Adventures of Elliot – Steam Deck Efficiency

The Adventures of Elliot is a pleasure to play on the Steam Deck, and it could actually really be fairly malleable to configure. I had a troublesome time deciding what my favourite technique to play the sport could be, particularly since I performed half the sport on the Top quality setting at 30 FPS and acquired used to it. Nevertheless, after a variety of back-and-forth testing, I do know which means I’d suggest enjoying this sport.

Really helpful Settings

After going back-and-forth with which means I most well-liked to play, I settled on a mixture; they gave me the very best of each worlds. I liked how the sport appeared on excessive settings, particularly with the shadows, however I additionally liked how the sport felt with a smoother framerate. So, by maintaining the sport on the high-quality preset and bringing down the decision scale to 65%, we are able to get a great-looking sport that feels clean at a forty five FPS lock.

Some may see 65% decision scaling and suppose that’s a bit low, however not solely is it mandatory for a steady excessive framerate, however due to the pixel artwork type, it doesn’t make the sport look terrible. In the long run, this was by far my favourite technique to play the sport, because of how significantly better it appeared, whereas nonetheless maintaining the excessive framerate.

I didn’t attempt to change many settings extra particularly right here as a result of I used to be in a position to maintain all the things on the excessive preset. I most well-liked to have the sport look good at excessive settings with the decision scale dropped down, because it didn’t harm the general high quality as a lot as different settings did.

60 FPS Settings

Should you wanna play at 60 FPS, it’s potential, and it’s really the way in which I loved enjoying the sport essentially the most proper behind the really helpful settings. By turning the graphical high quality settings to low and setting the decision scale to 60%, we are able to get a strong 60 FPS with some fairly low battery drain and a decent-looking expertise. The one cause this isn’t my really helpful settings is solely that 45 FPS feels splendidly clean, and we are able to maintain the sport on the excessive preset for its attractive visuals.

The distinction between high and low settings isn’t as obvious within the open world, however as quickly as you head into caves, it turns into very noticeable. It really didn’t bug me as a lot till I noticed the distinction earlier than and after; it was simply how a lot I used to be lacking from the excessive preset. That is what led me to attempt discovering a center floor, which I in the end ended up doing, and that grew to become my really helpful settings. Nonetheless, that is an possibility for individuals who don’t care in regards to the visuals and wish the smoothest potential framerate.

High quality Settings

Lastly, for individuals who wanna play on the most high quality settings, it is going to be potential, however you will want a 30 FPS cap. There’s no means that we might play at any greater, as there are common drops beneath 40 FPS, however not likely any drops beneath 30. It appears to be like and feels nice, and that is really the way in which I performed a superb chunk of the sport initially. Nevertheless, as quickly as I acquired a style of upper framerates, there was no going again.

Conclusion

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales reveals Sq. Enix taking some daring new instructions, however they aren’t fleshed out sufficient. The general story and aspect quests are nice, and the Magicite system provides us some good customization on how we use our weapons. Nevertheless, it doesn’t cease the fight from feeling fundamental and repetitive, and there are some little holes right here and there within the story expertise. And whereas I like the visible type, there wasn’t sufficient distinction between the eras to make it really feel distinctive the longer we play. There may be nonetheless a enjoyable sport right here, however every a part of the sport seems like there’s one thing lacking.

Nevertheless, the sport runs completely on the Steam Deck, and with numerous methods to customise the expertise, there will probably be an pleasant technique to play for everybody.

Our evaluation relies on the PC model of this sport.

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