Heyyy, it's another RPG right after me saying I don't like RPGs. No, no, it's toootally different this time around. Y'see, this one is a JRPG, the kind I have a love-hate relationship with on top of my usual feelings for RPGs. I keep telling myself after each JRPG that I'm just attracted to them because I love the art style, and the cute, cheerful, and colorful world and characters, but that the gameplay always ends up being shit. Well, clearly I'm not learning from my past mistakes.
I put a good few hours into Zwei: The Ilvard Insurrection this evening. (Also known by its original name, Zwei II.) It came out on PC late in 2017, but was actually made about nine years ago, so it's nothing fresh, keep that in mind. It feels very much like a JRPG alright, but perhaps a bit less obnoxious than the average one I've had the misfortune of stumbling upon. Onto the details, shall we?
As in any JRPG, story takes the front in this game, where the amount of dialogue and cutscenes is far greater than I can patiently sit through. I almost quit before getting to the meat of the game. In some scenes, voice acting is present, and it's actually remarkably good. The music's pretty nice as well, but I hear that these are the things this developer does well. It's from the same people whomade Ys and The Legend of Heroes series, see. Sadly, neither is something I give overly many points for in my head.
The story is basically that you're a treasure hunter / courier-for-hire (an odd combination for sure), and on your most recent package delivery you're shot down from your airplane and killed by two girls flying dragons, who had previously taken over some vampire chick's castle. The latter then revives you in exchange for help in reclaiming her lost home.
To go about that, you run dungeons searching for this vampire's lost magic. The level traversal and combat is action-based, but is pretty much exclusively based around either spamming the melee button or holding down the ranged button until stuff dies. The latter is safer, but slower, which is an annoying combination, because I'd rather not lose, but hell, things take long to die. Another really annoying bit is that the camera can't be rotated manually, so you often find yourself at a really unfortunate angle where you can't see what you're fighting or if an enemy is preparing a ranged attack at you. Other than these two (rather major) issues, the combat feels fine, fluid, and surprisingly difficult enough for a JRPG.
As far as new equipment and new powers goes, there's fairly little progress and stuff stays (at least conceptually) the same throughout the game. There's an interesting bit though where instead of getting exp from killing monsters, you get exp from eating, which also restores life. However, saving up food allows you to combine it for more efficient exp once outside the dungeon. So if you're more skilled and the game's easy enough for you, you can make it even more easier by also getting ahead in levels? Ain't that a fine idea./s
In conclusion, I don't think this would've been a fun run for me from any angle, but the grindiness, monotone combat, as well as an excessive amount of dialogue for my taste were turn-offs enough that I quit mid-way. Still, as much as I've played JRPGs, it was definitely in the top half, so if you're a fan of the genre, why not give it a try. Otherwise, probably not worth it. Reminded me of Recettear, which I'd consider better, maybe you'd like that instead.
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