When the demo for this came out, I was so excited to play the full version. There was something so incredibly satisfying about the sound of the piece moving across the map of cards, triggering random encounters. True, the battles were easy and less about resource management or strategy and more about "Taking turns to whack enemies and kill them in one hit". There was never any sense of challenge, but that was okay: the charming guidance of the narrator carried the compelling story beautifully. I hadn't liked their voice at first, but it grew on me pretty quickly, and I really enjoyed the world they seemed to be unfolding, one card at a time.
When I bought the full version, my expectations came crashing down pretty quickly. The heroes of The Ivory Order that I had played in the demo were replaced by someone who was defined as a "Would-Be Hero". They were motivated solely by money, were arrogant and selfish, and were very unheroic in almost every measurable way, and I could not stand playing them. The wordless animal companion Mar was a much more interesting and likeable character, and when we encountered the third potential member of the party (the witch Melanie), I tried not to recruit her.
And this is where the game revealed how heavy-handed the railroading was. It frequently presented me with choices, but even when I would choose the opposite it would ham-fistedly force me back into a scenario where I had to pick the other option. It is so frustrating to be given the illusion of control, the pretense that I have any influence over the story, or that my choices matter when the game reminds me obviously that I do not.
I hoped the characterisation would get better as the story unrolled, but by the time I stopped at the end of the fourth of seven chapters, there had been no noteworthy character growth at all from our Would-Be Hero. And the new party members that came along proved to be maddening for me as well - a scantily clad elf from the Woodlands who is hopelessly gullible, and an even scantier clad nutritionist who is the epitome of no brains and all brawn. I really hoped that these characters would develop over the course of the game, but after playing through the first 57% and seeing nothing to indicate any redeemable qualities, I just had trouble enjoying any of it.
Regretably the effortless combat continued to be a major drawback. I didn't have much patience as most battles turned out to be "One hit the first enemy using it's elemental weakness, then just do the basic attack with the other party members to finish off the others. Heal that 1hp you lost if you get the chance, because you may as well." I almost never felt in danger, and the excess of easy battles as I fully explored each region lead me to have so much money I ended up buying every item in the game that was available to me.
Visiting the game parlor early was an enjoyable reprieve from the tiresome combat and the frustrating story, but the pace of it was so slow I ended up making a move and then picking up my phone to scroll mindlessly for literal minutes while I waited for the NPC's to finish their turns. I didn't really care what they were doing - it didn't change my strategy of "get pairs of the highest numbers and win", which my opponents seemed to support as they threw away sets with high values for no discernable reason, handing me first-place.
But the final straw, the one that broke this camel's back, was a homophobic comment. In the game two men have a brawl, and after the winner is decided they shake hands and lock eyes for a moment. And the narrator makes some comment about how he hoped it was just friendship and nothing more, and that was it. After a long and exhausting day at work, I was just not in the mood to be subjected to this kind of bullshit. I finished the chapter with a few more tedious conversations and no battles of any kind (just used the right stick to skip straight to my destination), and that was it, time to uninstall.
This game had two saving graces. One was the table-top design which made me feel like I had the pleasure of playing D&D, although a solo experience with a character I had almost no influence over. It was still cool to receive a story from a Game Master, and see the battle board be laid on the table as dice were rolled.
Secondly I must acknowledge the excellent score and soundscape. Every sound effect was perfectly crafted, and the music was enchanting and wonderful and always matched the tone.
Overall there were very few moments of this game that I enjoyed, and I found most of it tedious. I could not bring myself to play on for another few hours to see if the character growth really was worth the excrutiatingly humble origins, and I am doing a kindness to myself by not subjecting myself to any more of this painful grind. I cannot recommend this.
