It took me 1 minute to break the game, cause the game starts on "FULL mode", which is bizarrely zoomed, so i put on widescreen and becomes playable, then i try to put it again in game and it break cause its so zoomed i cant see the menu anymore (not a good start).
(Dont be fooled into thinking this look ok, note how i literally cant see my health bar anymore)
So clive's thing is that he has depression. You know he has depression because this npc says he is depressed (thanks, i really wouldnt be able to tell cause he shows no signs whatsoever).
This npc says Clive might find a job at the capital but clive says he's probably not good enough to get a job there which kinda hit me a bit ngl. But then Clive makes a =3 face and says he'll go explore the groto cause he heard something happened and it sounds fun and i cant take him seriously. We can explore town a bit but it's not that interesting.
(Implications of homosexuality or troon foreshadowing?)
Clive goes to the groto and soldiers tell him to leave cause there is a dangerous portal. Clive falls in and appears in a dungeon. We solve some liiiight puzzles in it.
Push a few blocks and jump a bit. Jumping in this game feels TERRIBLE. It's hard to explain but this game is not terranigma and definitely not Zelda minish cap. It feels like i have too much airtime for how little control i have, i almost died jumping a few holes that lead me to an optional cutscene, that is probably a flash foward.
(This character looks absolutely nothing like mylene who we'll see later)
You literally just asked if they were milene and they're not lol you have nothing to apologize. Karan helps clive escape and the cutscene ends so we back in the dungeon.
Now we get to talk about Clive's combat. It sucks ASS. The combat in general feels bad but clive is the worst.
Everyone in this game has 4 moves. Tap attack, hold atk, dash attack and jump attack. Clive's move are, as the game explains:
tap-swing coat to reflect projectile
hold- block to halve damage (why would you ever use this lol)
dash - roll to be "dodge" (it's a lie, touching an enemy with the roll will actually give you 2s of invin frames)
jump- clive spins with the coat, removing projectiles around him
So clive has effectively zero damaging moves and the first enemies in the game can only be killed with reflects. But then the game bullshits that too, because if an enemy doesnt have a projectile, Clive will damage them ONLY if he hits them at the beginning of their attack animation, but even that is weirdly jank. I dont understand how the game will give me a tutorial of how money works but not for the fact clive can hurt enemies only via "parry".
This leads to a very passive "combat" where i'm poking my enemies and trying to get them to attack me, but if i attack too early it doesnt count and if i reflect too early or while the projectile is already deflected it disappears. The enemy hitboxes are also janky as fuck and i thought there was no contact damage until i suddendly took 2 hits at the same time.
(Note how my coat is touching the turtle and doing nothing cause the hitbox sucks)
As we explore we find a mini octopus pet. You equip the pet and press a button to stop time and pick a spell from it, where it casts and starts a cooldown. This is very boring as, like i mentioned, it stops time in this action rpg. It can shoot a projectile or reveal something like enemy stats or a puzzle clue.
I also got stuck on a puzzle cause the clue said "waves go in different directions" and i had to search a youtube who uploaded a video 13 hours ago.
He had the same idea i did, match the levers with torches on the wall, but it wasnt that, he solved it by accident.
We fight a boss that is a big dumb golem. First you reflect its shot to stun it then you cast the octopu spell. Then it summons flying hands that smack the ground and took me a while to realize i had to jump attack to "air parry kill" it (its not as fun as it sounds), but it's laser got stuck.
Laser got stuck there. At least we get a super mode that lets clive... stop time and we control clive with coat on his back, with our attack changing to singular projectiles se we can kill the boss. I dont like how the "tank" character is so bad his supermode just turns him into a dps.
Clive suddendly has a post-boss clarity about his life
(the laser being stuck there really sells the depression)
(DID YOU?? All it took was hearing some shit happened in a cave to make you excited.)
Well looks like clive got over his alleged depression... Then his side ends. Now we play with mylene and buto in some shrine. Their introduction is FAST.
(i hate his design so much)
(How did clive think that was mylene it looks nothing like her)
To save the world i guess...
Mylene then invades the shrine and we kill a bunch of people on the way. Their corpses stay on the ground and they dont respawn, but it's okay cause mylene called them evil cultists summoning monsters. The shrine is weirdly big and open and we can even jump on a well to find a second weapon for mylene.
Mylene kit is simple. She has a slow projectile, a charged projectile (takes a while), a dash with projectiles around her and a jump attack that marks enemy to give more super bar (that she cant use. The dash is useless because you will dash into enemies and take damage but the animation of her dash singing is cute.
Buuto is a normal attack. He slashes, he defends, he does a slide dash attack similar to Ark from terranigma that goes under stuff and his jump attack throws his bird a short range. He does not feel good cause his slash has half a sec of recovery and his dash will go inside enemies and if the animation ends with him inside the enemy he takes damage despite one shotting them (lol). Terranigma solved this by making enemies untouchable after you hit them.
There is a rock paper scissors system of creation > tank > swordie > creation that means only some characters can damage certain monsters. Buto wrecks the cultits but he cant kill the shadow creatures only mylene.
Another thing i'll whine about is how jumping up and down on this game sucks. These two pics for example, show jumps that are actualy impossible. I'm holding down on the first and the second i hold left but i cant go up or down because the "corner" doesnt register. You also soft teleport to the ground when you change height so it fucks up your momentum and feel.
Again, terranigma solved this 30 years ago. Terranigma is also a fast game (even faster with 60 fps patch) and Ark feels good and strong and fast. But most of all ark has actual vertical range because you see his stick, Clive and buuto seem to have no vertical range cause their weapons only extends on their side sprites.
(look at their feet in comparison to their weapons)
Pespective is also fucked up in this game cause shit is bizarre
I broke those vases despite being in a much higher elevation. I cant drop left cause buuto pushes an invisible wall except when there isnt but i cant drop anyway. I cant grasp perspective here.
And then we meet the leader cultist and he says the ancient heroes commited the original sin of killing a goddess and he'll fight us and... the demo ends for mylene too.
/ hypersomniagame 
