Back in 2016, Tokyo RPG Factory released a love letter to the Japanese RPG of the 8 and 16-bit eras. This love letter was called I Am Setsuna and convinced a lot of new gamers to appreciate traditional Japanese RPGs more. Now, more than one year later, the same company comes with Lost Sphear, the spiritual successor of I Am Setsuna. They improved the mechanics of their first game and made sure to include an intriguing story while doing so.
Let me tell you a story
At the start of Lost Sphear, you meet Kanata, Lumina, and Locke from the small town of Elgarthe, the three main characters of the game. It starts off rather easy and even cliché. The kids are running a couple of errands for the Elder who is currently taking care of them. Once they return from their quest, they notice that the entire town has changed. There’s a mysterious atmosphere now and everything, including structures and buildings, is covered in a strange white fog. It’s no surprise that one of the kids has a special power to solve this problem.
Kanata soon discovers he has the power to bring back memories and use this power to bring back those who seemed lost to the white fog. This is basically the main arc of the story. Kanata and his party are trying to bring back everything from the lost, by using memories. While doing so, you’ll meet a lot of interesting new characters, both friendly and dangerous. The game follows a rather classic story where you’ll discover the cause of the white fog and you’ll eventually try to save the world.
Although the story isn’t as innovating as you might have hoped for, it does hit the right note. Thanks to its impressive soundtrack and minimalistic art style, the game manages to touch your heart. The soundtrack is extremely fitting and will always be of high value while walking through the gorgeous created world. This is, without a doubt, a blueprint of a solid Japanese RPG. But, what about the gameplay?
Time to fight
Besides exploring, combat forms the second major part of the game. It follows the same mechanics that were introduced in I Am Setsuna but improves and even changes some of those. Lost Sphear still uses an active time battle system with every member of the party being able to perform a normal attack or use some of their skills. New is the ability to move your members during the battle itself. Don’t expect to get the same amount of freedom as in games like Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Here, you can move your character after you selected an attack. By moving the character over the field, you can easily inflict damage to multiple enemies. I liked this innovation a lot since it keeps the pacing of combat rather high and even adds an extra layer of strategy to it.
You’ll perform normal attacks most of the time but as you can see on the screenshots, characters can also use their skills. Depending on who you control, your skills change. Some can inflict more damage while other will help your party to survive. Using the right skills (called Spritnite) at the right time, can change the outcome of the combat drastically. To make everything even more fun, the team added a ‘momentum mode’, something you’re able to use once the momentum bar is full. In momentum mode, you inflict a lot more damage if you manage to push the attack button at the right time while in combat. Sounds difficult but in reality, it’s a fun little mini-game during combat that even reminded me of rhythm games. It keeps the battles interesting and you’re forced to pay attention until the bitter end. Don’t be mistaken, this still is a classic RPG but it has enough modern elements to convince younger gamers to at least give this one a shot.
Use the suit
The last important element I would like to point out is the Vulcosuit, a mechanical suit that each character has. Using this suit, you can boost your attack and defense during combat. Of course, the same suit is used to activate brutal overpowered special attacks, giving you the visual spectacle you were hoping for.
The fun doesn’t stop there just yet, the Vulcosuit can also be used outside of battles to traverse the gorgeous environment faster and to discover secret paths by breaking certain obstacles. As you see, this suit is an important tool but you can’t always use it. In order to use it, you need to have Vulcosuit Points (VP). At first, you won’t really find this in the world, so your impressive suit becomes useless rather fast. Don’t give up hope, the more you advance, the more VP you’ll find and the longer you’ll be able to use your suit.
Conclusion:
Just like I Am Setsuna, Lost Sphear is another love letter to the Japanese RPG. It stays loyal to the classic formula but combines this with gorgeous environments, impressive music and the motivation to keep you going until the very end. It’s great to have games like this and if you get it on Nintendo Switch, you can easily take your adventure with you. If you’re familiar with Japanese role-playing games, you’ll love this. If you’re new to the genre, Lost Sphear offers enough modern touches to make you feel right at home. Looking for a different kind of experience? Be sure to give this one a shot!
