Cris Tales

The good: the game is extremly beautifull, big GG to the DA team. Paulina is cool :) Voice actors also good. The bad: everything else, poor writing, poor story (they don't even care, people will betrays you on the spot, no clue, no logic), poor combats (cristopher wrecks everything, boss included so... :/ ), poor coherence (the game doesn't know if it's for children or for adult, if it's cute why do i have to crawl in mazzy sewers TWICE), nothing happens in outdoor (nada, rien, nothing), lots and lots of backtracking, sometimes confusing informations etc etc Game will take you between 20 25 hours 30 top. I would be in the direction arts team, i would be so angry towards the general designers of the game for not having respected my great great job. Tested on epic gs, received for free.

The critical problem is hard to contral through keyboard, no hided mouse and unable to save the game, because I can't open the menu and idk where to find. NO MANUAL KEY MAPPING IS SUPER UNCOMFORTABLE.

This title has potential, or perhaps I should say "had potential." Unfortunately, while I wouldn't advise *against* playing it, I think it has quite a problem here and there. To begin with, the writing isn't the greatest. It can feel very wrong, or arbitrary, at times. For example, pretty much immediately after receiving time powers, Crisbell breaks them. This isn't so bad by itself, and even kind of makes sense, but the dialogue before she gets them back is written as if she's been depending on them for such a long time that they've become part of her core character, despite literally only like an hour having passed in both gameplay and (likely) in-universe time. Then she gets them back just about as immediately. Thankfully, though, the writing does seem to improve (enough) as the game continues, and none of the characters are really unlikeable--except maybe one on occasion. Sadly, this does not fix how several parts of the game feel rushed or underdeveloped. At one point, you have to visit several locations to thwart a plan to... effectively nuke the surface of the planet, give or take. It's a neat premise, but the "Time Empress" waits in place for you to do it, seemingly for days, basically right by the final location on her list in a way which reeks of "we forgot about logical progression of events." That aside, the gameplay itself is nice. It's one of those RPG's that have you time button presses to do more/take less damage. If the indicator was better at conveying when you should actually press those buttons, it would have been nice. However, the real issue is that there are cases where apparent bugs (desync or otherwise) stop you from being able to do so, almost entirely, and they can lead to party-wipes during bosses. ~But it is charming, and is now on the list of games I would want to remake for the better, mostly to tidy some dialogue and sort out problems with plot holes and progression. As if that'll ever happen. Still worth playing? Yea, I think so.

Cris Tales has appealing and vibrant graphics with enjoyable music, sincere and endearing characters; but this is where its compliments are fully paid. Said characters are honest and guileless to such an extent that it makes the simple yet fun plot a little bland. The idea of incorporating time manipulation from the story into the gameplay is neat, but poorly executed and leaves the player unsatisfied. In the world there is little variance of choice or outcome available to the player - only to aid anyone and make everyone happy, like a child's fantasy. The concept of seeing into the present, past, and future and using gathered information and resources from one to affect the other is a fun one, but when you mostly see a static NPC a little younger or older than their current selves, it feels underutilised. In battle it is intriguing initially, but cumbersome and detrimental. Battles can become long, tedious affairs as it's very turn inefficient, with the simple strategy of buffing speed, healing, and pummeling enemies being more effective. What really mars the experience is the oversights, design, and pacing. Despites numerous patches there are still a handful of typographical errors (for example using both Gladys' and Gladys's; levies and levees; mistaking ruler for roller.) Much of the gametime is slowed and padded out by the low walking speed, repeated back-tracking, and the variable hangtime between combat turns. The latter ruining the pacing of combat and the parry system timing. One or two sound and graphical oversights remain unchecked, most noticeable when using pummeling blow, hearing either no sound whatsoever or a repeated enemy block or cry, and seeing damage numbers with a still visible frame. Despite these endless trivial criticisms, Cris Tales still has a potentially enjoyable simplicity for the right player, given the right price - the full asking price being rather optimistic.