This is the most obvious way to gain power, but Blue Reflection has a bunch of sub-systems that tie into each character’s progression making it much more than hitting stuff to get buff. Killing enemies grants EXP, and this is used to level up. You always start on the back foot, but it’s only a matter of time before your characters ramp up and turn the tide. Bosses in particular are fantastic as a result. Fights start pretty fast but only get faster as they progress. All of this combined gives Blue Reflection: Second Light a wonderfully tactical combat system that has a real sense of escalation. This increases all of their stats, changes their abilities, and ramps up their activation timer even more. If a character reaches Gear level three during combat, they will transform. The final piece of the puzzle (without going into spoilery territory) are the transformations.
Do you risk delaying your strike so one character can unleash two or three attacks in quick succession, or do you play more reserved and attack as soon as you are able? As another, more tactical bonus, you can delay your attacks and unleash combos by waiting until your bar fills up more. Bumping up your Gear rank lets your character act sooner, but also grants them new abilities. Every time a character uses an action, they build up an invisible meter, once that fills, their Gear ranks up. Not only do you deal more damage, but you receive less as a result. All attacks on a knocked-down foe are critical hits, so you are encouraged to use it often. If you attack an enemy enough times before they activate, you can trigger a knockdown, which incapacitates them for a significant length of time. If you crump an enemy with an attack they are weak against, such as piercing, then they are bumped further down the timeline, delaying their turn. Naturally, you want to smack them to death before they get too many hits on you, and there are plenty of ways to do this. Enemies also share this bar and will attack you once they reach the end. Once a character’s bar has filled up, you can use an ability to smack an enemy. Considering the size of the roster, you can really fiddle with your party composition and tackle each threat differently.īattles are turn-based but use an active-time system similar to Final Fantasy or Child Of Light. Each character, like their personality, has a radically different set of skills, and therefore, play styles.
You go into battle with three characters, with a four-character tagging along as your support. This is a game, however, so it needs to be fun, otherwise what’s the point? Thankfully, Second Light is an excellent JRPG that is carried by a fast-paced and in-depth combat system. It well and truly got its hooks in me and is one of the main reasons to play the game. It’s a real slice of life journey mixed with serious, world-ending themes to keep things going. I was well and truly fooled when everyone seemed to just be an anime character trope, only to blossom into something so much more. The best part is, just about every character is likeable. It’s a slow, deliberate build-up that ultimately delivers when all is said and done. Each chapter dives deep into what makes each character unique, the struggles they have endured getting here, and to the game’s credit, they inject tiny bits of intrigue that relates to the grand scheme. A lot of time is dedicated to building up the characters you will be adventuring with. It takes 15-20 hours for the game to actually kick into gear.
The game is split over 11 chapters, and I kid you not, seven of them are glorified character introduction arcs. It takes a ridiculous, bordering on ludicrous, amount of time for the story to actually get started, however. There’s a strange app on your phone, a weird island across the sea, and a mystery to be uncovered. That being said, you play as a Japanese College girl trapped in a mysterious school filled with other Japanese College girls who all have amnesia. I cannot stress enough how story-focused Second Light is, so I won’t go into details as to what is going on, or what ultimately happens. Enter The Animeīut enough of that, what is Blue Reflection: Second Light? It’s technically a sequel to 2017’s, Blue Reflection, but fear not, Second Light seems to be a self-contained story that doesn’t require intimate knowledge of the original to understand. I don’t even recognise myself in the mirror anymore. Needless to say, it came as quite a shock when Blue Reflection: Second Light landed in my inbox and I ended up enjoying it. I find the tropes irritating, the visuals unappealing, and the depiction of their characters questionable – especially when it comes to games.
Blue reflection code#
Disclaimer – A review code for Blue Reflection: Second Light was provided by Koei Tecmo.Īnybody who has interacted with me since the year of my birth will know that I am not a fan of most anime.
0 kommentar(er)
