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Ever Oasis


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#1 The Satellite

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Posted 15 June 2017 - 08:47 PM

[ E3 2016 Trailer | E3 2017 Trailer ]

 

Alright, so after playing the demo that's currently out on the 3DS eShop, I decided I wanna plug this game. We've known about it for a year, but heard little about it until now, as it's close to being released. It seemed interesting at the time, but not something I was certain that I wanted over all the other great-looking games I'm looking forward to.

 

Ever Oasis is an RPG by Grezzo (developers of the remakes of OoT, MM, and Four Swords, co-developers of Tri Force Heroes) and led by Koichi Ishii, creator of the Mana series. While I don't necessarily think this game will reach the same level of quality as those games (though bear in mind I've never played them), it seems... fun. You have your little Oasis hub in a desert world that you're working to build up and restore by recruiting residents, who give you quests to carry out to appease them. It's kind of like a JRPG mixed with Zelda, with real-time combat and a party whose members you can even switch between; they also have unique abilities more suited to certain combat or puzzle scenarios.

 

I worry a little about how repetitive it may or may not become depending on how well the developers implemented this idea, but from the little demo I played, I enjoyed what was there a lot. By no means difficult, but fun, and now it's something I want to pick up and play when it comes out in a week, on the 23rd.

 

That's also the day I go out of town for a couple days, so perfect, something to play on the trip!


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#2 Neppy

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Posted 15 June 2017 - 09:52 PM

While I haven't played the demo of it, I remember seeing it last year, and at the time, I was pretty sure I would get the game at that time. Back then, it was a day 1 buy for me. Things have changed a little, and most of my game time is on the Switch right now, with BotW, and Disgaea 5, along with a lot of games in the pipeline for me... With that, this game dropped to being a "whenever I can afford to" purchase for me. I still think it looks like a fun game, but I have other games that have my interesting right now, and my poor n3DS just sits there on the end table looking all sad at me. In the end, yes I will get this, just not right away.



#3 Anthus

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Posted 16 June 2017 - 07:24 PM

My biggest problem with games like this, kind of like TS mentioned above, is that they often end up feeling very same-y after a while. You end up going through the motions, and doing the same stuff with different backdrops essentially. What sets this game apart for me, is that it looks like it has something like real dungeons, and not just random mazes with even more random encounters. I will probably cop a copy of it, for better or worse. I've come to learn, I actually don't really like RPGs anymore. They are too long for me, and I often lose interest. Maybe the grindy second 50 hour half of BD did it in for me, but it's really hard for me to get excited about RPGs (besides Zelda, really, even though it's more like an action/ adventure game, with RPG elements). With that said though, this does look like it won't completely suck at least, and it seems to have a great team behind it. Part of me is also a little bummed Grezzo/ Nintendo isn't making a N64-era style original Zelda, and instead we get another RPG with loli characters, and a chibi, undistinguished art direction :P



#4 The Satellite

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Posted 23 June 2017 - 11:12 AM

Just picked up the game. Something to do while on vacation. I'll let you all know my thoughts on it later and if I still recommend it.


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#5 Neppy

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Posted 23 June 2017 - 05:00 PM

I look forward to knowing your thoughts on the game TS. :)



#6 The Satellite

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Posted 27 June 2017 - 05:07 PM

I've played it basically my entire free time during vacation so that should say something. Really enjoying it, though it's not without some little quirks. Here's some impressions so far:

 

PROS:

- Pretty to look at, graphics are good and the character designs are adorable. 

- Overall generally pretty cheerful atmosphere.

- Smooth level-scaling so far, nothing seems to overwhelm me even if it's a couple levels above.

- Easy to gather materials, there's even a way to send members of your Oasis on gathering quests while you go out exploring.

- For once, I feel like fetch quests mean something, because they can improve your village and offer you some small bonuses (mainly HP).

- Management of the Oasis is fairly simple and never overwhelming.

- You get the "Aqua Gate" ability fairly early on, which allows you to warp back to the Oasis from anywhere and return back to that spot, assuming you don't accept a quest that clears it.

 

CONS:

- One of your jobs as implied above is fetching materials to restock the stores. This is normally no problem, but some of the higher-tier items they sell require multiple, somewhat-rarer items, which can be a pain to keep in stock especially if you don't have that many villagers to send on gathering quest.

- Later, you can fast travel around any area of the Oasis, but at first you can only fast travel to your home. Makes navigating somewhat tedious in the beginning.

- Speaking of, the "Aqua Gate" ability, I mentioned accepting certain quests can remove your gate. Not sure why, feels arbitrary.

- Each of your other two party members has unique abilities. While this is great, it can feel tedious when an area requires multiple different abilities to get through, so that, if you really want to explore every nook and cranny as well as dig/mine all the materials, you'll probably be using that Aqua Gate a lot, seeing as you can only manage your party members from the Oasis.

- Also, some areas do a poor job of telegraphing which character skills you'll need throughout, again causing more switching.

- Soundtrack isn't much to write home about, the Oasis theme is catchy but maybe too goddamn catchy.

 

Overall though it's a lot of fun and I still recommend it.



#7 Avaro

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Posted 28 June 2017 - 06:16 AM

Got the game and got to the part where you get your Oasis. Looking forward to playing this :)



#8 Avaro

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Posted 30 June 2017 - 07:05 AM

About 3 hours in. I got some initial reactions. The music is great, except for the day oasis theme. I dislike that song, it's not that it's bad it's just annoying in my opinion. I would have liked a more soothing relaxing theme.

 

Secondly, you actually lose progress when you die? This is a Nintendo game, right? (I did not play the demo). :) Anyway, I've died 2 times in the beginning, I admit. It was at the very beginning, before you even get the HP extension. I wandered off into the northern cave, because I didn't realise where to go and first I died to a strong enemy at night-time and next I died to a bomb insta-killing me. So yeah, that happened.

 

This game is great though! It's much more 3D and open than I thought it would be. And its all around fun.


Edited by Avataro, 30 June 2017 - 10:44 AM.


#9 HeroOfFire

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Posted 04 July 2017 - 04:38 PM

This has been a pretty interesting game. I'm up to 50 residents, and there are still more to find.

 

Sat didn't mention the other big part of your Oasis. As you keep the Booths stocked, the Seedlings will eventually give you a quest to upgrade their Booth. Besides stocking more items, they also get better stats and additional abilities.

 

There is a lot of variety with your residents and deciding which ones to put in your party. Some are better for combat, with bonuses to damage, defenses, or offensive SP moves. Others are better for exploring, either due to skills required for some puzzles or bonuses to item drops. The Seedlings also use a bunch of different weapons, which various monsters are weak to.

 

Also, there may be a benefit to focusing on getting more residents before advancing the story. While the party for the first major dungeon is pretty easy to figure out, the next two dungeons appear to require a Seedling skill and a specific weapon, and the first Seedling with the skill does not come with the weapon. However, following rumors and getting a few more residents even when the way to the next dungeon is open has gotten me Seedlings that have both the skill and weapon for the dungeons, which makes them easier to complete without needing to swap out party members.

 

The one thing I have not liked is parts where the story "takes over" and you are encouraged to go tackle the next dungeon and follow the plot instead of taking care of your Oasis. Namely, special monster spawns appear in many areas, and they can make travel more difficult. They also replace normal spawns, so suddenly certain monster drops become rarer than normal. What I dislike is that you don't get any warning that doing a specific story quest will trigger these spawns, and it isn't consistent what point this is for each major dungeon.

 

I won't spoil anything big, but on the way to the 2nd major dungeon you'll unlock the ability to place special statues in the Oasis. You unlock these by completing "Achievements", and you are free to check a list of them and get spoiled on things like Level Caps and the final Resident totals.


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#10 Avaro

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Posted 04 July 2017 - 04:50 PM

Huh, I was wondering where I could check my achievements. I were getting some, but no way to see a list of them. Currently trying to get access to the 2nd dungeon so i should be getting it soon.



#11 Avaro

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Posted 19 July 2017 - 11:06 AM

If i change the weapon type of my main character is that a bad idea, because I'll learn less combos overall? Since you seem to only learn them upon level up, and theres probably gonna be a level-limit.



#12 The Satellite

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Posted 19 July 2017 - 03:05 PM

That one I have no idea on, because I left swords as my main weapon. I also haven't touched this game very often because I'm bad at stuff.



#13 The Satellite

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Posted 16 September 2017 - 07:07 PM

Well I ended up losing interest and coming back to it last night after a long hiatus. Guess that should speak volumes to its quality but even after the long break I was easily able to pick back up where I left off and everything came back to me in a flash. I was actually really close to the end too, so I finished that off. Gotta say, it's a pretty fun game. Will admit I'm not too interested in the postgame stuff right now, maybe at a future date, but I didn't want to leave the game incomplete. Weirdly enough, despite the story being somewhat shallow, I got hit hard with the feels train at the end. But overall, I enjoyed it and it was worth the purchase I think.




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