Boulanger even lightly touched on this idea of reimagining the old with a modern lens.
This can even be seen in the visuals, which are appropriately inspired by 16-bit games, but have new features like dynamic lighting and livelier animation that wouldn’t have been possible back in the ‘90s. It’s what made The Messenger so magical since it was more than the 2D Ninja Gaiden games before it. Some of these changes are undoubtedly because of Sabotage’s ability to look at classic systems and add a new dimension to them.
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All of these interactive systems means that it appears to have a welcome bit of depth, something the full game hopefully expands more on. There are six party members to choose from so it is up to players to experiment and find what works in any given scenario. Some abilities can even rearrange the battlefield, allowing for bigger and more devastating combos. Knocking these tiles down weakens the foe or cancels their attack, which allows for more strategic play. MORE: Elden Ring Has What I Dislike About Dark Souls & Love About Breath of the WildĮnemies can also have certain badges above them that can be broken with certain attack types like moves laced with moon magic. It’s small but seemingly effective since it means players can’t zone out during fights like in other turn-based RPGs. Hitting a certain button at the right time will have players doing more damage if they’re attacking and taking less damage if they are defending. It is a turn-based RPG but has many of the active parts of games like Paper Mario or South Park: The Stick of Truth.
Some of these loops are even rooted in the narrative since players can camp at specific spots and speak to their party members to get to know them more.Ĭombat is probably the biggest example of engaging micro gameplay loops. Traversal also seems a little more complicated, as the demo Boulanger played required some light platforming, warping through portals, and solving puzzles. Fishing is like a seamless mini-game where players have to make sure the line lands on a fish before corralling it in a certain place so it can be more easily grabbed. A lot of its systems have some sort of nuance to keep it from getting stale. MORE: Report: PlayStation’s Spartacus Subscription Service Tiers Priced, Detailedīut Sabotage is keeping something it learned from making platformers: engaging micro gameplay loops. So we have to add the visual supports to it so you can read that.” “Like if you think a platform is on the same level as you and you try to jump to it, but it turns out that the platform is way above you. “With this camera angle, which isn’t exactly isometric and you want to move on both axes, it is really a challenge to make you properly read the levels,” Boulanger explained. Boulanger even said it was “by far the most challenging thing” about the genre swap and something the team didn’t see coming after making a 2D platformer.
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While its combat is vastly different, the biggest and most challenging change came in the form of its level design and new overhead camera angle and how to make it all more readable. Switching genres has had a few unforeseen consequences. RPGs and JRPGs that it is overtly inspired by like Chrono Trigger fit that bill as entries in the genre usually have world-altering stakes attached.
Sea of Stars’ specific story with higher stakes needed a more fitting genre. This started with The Messenger as it is in the same world as Sea of Stars, just in a vastly different time period. He’s had this fantasy world in his head since he was in elementary school, working his way up from a gameplay coder to a designer to see his childhood ambition realized. Part of why this feels right has to do with President and Creative Director Thierry Boulanger. It’s quite the change but is something that just feels right for the team. Indie developer Sabotage Studio is also transitioning to making RPGs with Sea of Stars after creating the surprise 2018 platformer, The Messenger. Horizon Forbidden West is one recent example of that, as Guerrilla Games was known for making first-person shooters before developing open-world RPGs. Many studios tend to make similar games, only occasionally switching franchises or genres, if at all.
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