Posted December 24, 2013
Wow, what an amazing game. "Dust: An Elysian Tail" tell the story of Dust, a being who has no recollection of who he is but soon encounters a duo of companions ready to accompany him on his journey of discovery: a talking sword named Ahrah, one of the fabled Blades of Elysium, and its protector, a cute, little, nimbat by the name of Fidget. Together they will help Dust piece together his memories and defeat the evil General Gaius.
This game plays pretty much like Castlevania and Dust incorporates new abilities as he progresses the story, abilities that are required to access areas previously unreachable so there is some backtracking. Dust levels up automatically so there's no manually assigning stats (this is only true for casual difficulty, in harder modes you can choose between manual and automatic stat assignment). The inventory lets you customize his armour, sword enhancement, rings, and pendant, plus there's a slot for food, which provides different types of healing, and another one for an odd assortment of items, from teleportation gems to treasure keys. Items can be bought at merchant posts or, alternatively, you'll find blueprints that'll allow you to craft your own, provided you have the necessary materials.
Combat is very fluid and feels extremely powerful what can sometimes compensate for its repetitive nature. At some point, I decided to use the Dust Storm with Projectiles combo to settle conflicts quickly. Indeed, you can use it to defeat 90% of all enemies in the game without a hitch. So if you're looking for a game where you need to strategize combats, this isn't it.
The dialogue and voice acting is surprisingly good and Fidget easily became my favourite. If this game has one glaring problem is that the instances where Dust gets to talk to Fidget or any other character in the game are separated by tons of combat and when they do appear they bombard you with lots of it. Personally, I would have preferred more, if shorter, dialogue events between fights to break up the monotony of combat.
Needless to say, both the soundtrack and the art style are superb. The story has some twists and turns and, certainly, a few plot points are not explained as thoroughly as I would've liked (some not at all). I also think Dust reacted surprisingly well to the main twist, maybe even too much so. Some measure of outrage would not have been out of place I believe. However, none of this detracts from the fact that I connected with these characters to the point I shed a few tears at some heartwrenching moments despite having seen them coming from a mile away. It is that good.
"Dust: An Elysian Tail" puts many AAA titles to shame. It's a purchase well worth full price, clocking around 11 hours at around 85% completion, and an experience you won't forget anytime soon. I for one am looking forwards to playing more Elysian Tails...
This game plays pretty much like Castlevania and Dust incorporates new abilities as he progresses the story, abilities that are required to access areas previously unreachable so there is some backtracking. Dust levels up automatically so there's no manually assigning stats (this is only true for casual difficulty, in harder modes you can choose between manual and automatic stat assignment). The inventory lets you customize his armour, sword enhancement, rings, and pendant, plus there's a slot for food, which provides different types of healing, and another one for an odd assortment of items, from teleportation gems to treasure keys. Items can be bought at merchant posts or, alternatively, you'll find blueprints that'll allow you to craft your own, provided you have the necessary materials.
Combat is very fluid and feels extremely powerful what can sometimes compensate for its repetitive nature. At some point, I decided to use the Dust Storm with Projectiles combo to settle conflicts quickly. Indeed, you can use it to defeat 90% of all enemies in the game without a hitch. So if you're looking for a game where you need to strategize combats, this isn't it.
The dialogue and voice acting is surprisingly good and Fidget easily became my favourite. If this game has one glaring problem is that the instances where Dust gets to talk to Fidget or any other character in the game are separated by tons of combat and when they do appear they bombard you with lots of it. Personally, I would have preferred more, if shorter, dialogue events between fights to break up the monotony of combat.
Needless to say, both the soundtrack and the art style are superb. The story has some twists and turns and, certainly, a few plot points are not explained as thoroughly as I would've liked (some not at all). I also think Dust reacted surprisingly well to the main twist, maybe even too much so. Some measure of outrage would not have been out of place I believe. However, none of this detracts from the fact that I connected with these characters to the point I shed a few tears at some heartwrenching moments despite having seen them coming from a mile away. It is that good.
"Dust: An Elysian Tail" puts many AAA titles to shame. It's a purchase well worth full price, clocking around 11 hours at around 85% completion, and an experience you won't forget anytime soon. I for one am looking forwards to playing more Elysian Tails...
Post edited December 25, 2013 by OdanUrr
