A Japanese Role-Playing Game with elements borrowed from the greatest and classic hits of its genres, made in the modern day to make a game that absolutely nails all of those elements with its identity. Lost Sphear is ambitious to say the least. Lost Sphear is a Japanese Role Playing Game(JRPG) developed by Tokyo RPG Factory and published by Square Enix. Tokyo RPG is the same team responsible for I am Setsuna and is considered to be a spiritual successor to it.
The Lost Sphear’s premise is interesting and one that you would actually expect from a JRPG or an anime. Parts of the world, including people are vanishing and seem to transform into white voids of nothingness and our protagonist Kanata, has the ability to restore the voids back to their original forms by gathering their memories. I really like this theme because it reminds me of the real world. How even though people and places go away due to the passage of time but always remain alive in our memories and I think it’s beautiful.
The game is a turned based RPG that has a mixture of a bunch of different game elements thrown in together. The combat system system for example, named the “Active Battle System” is like the combat system from the older Final Fantasy titles. That is just one of the many things it borrows from classic JRPG games but it really lacks their charm. To help us during our battles is one of the most diverse cast of characters I’ve seen. You have kids like you who join you to help out and then you have an actual king who shows up to hang out with kids and also a demon.
While it does sound like a recipe for something bad it is really fun to see them interact with each other and with what’s happening in-game even if it doesn’t always seem like they’re interacting like people actually would. These characters however are unbalanced when it comes to battle. While some felt too weak to have in your party some were really good. Specifically Van who use energy beams that can hit multiple enemies at once and his skills that can increase his firepower every turn. That is quite OP when compared to a melee character who has basic melee attacks .
The locations and visuals are quite well done and look good. While the characters have a type of chibi look, the overall art and design is good. The audio and soundtrack is also good and does its job good enough to immerse you into the game especially during emotional and important moments that are part of the game.
Lost Sphear borrows a lot of its elements from older, classic JRPG titles but while doing so fails to establish its own identity and character. The mish-mash of these elements lacks actual depth even if it feels like there is depth. It tries to do many things at once which you’ll notice straight away if you’ve played any of the famous titles like Final Fantasy V or VII and especially if you’ve played Chrono Trigger. Sadly, it ends up as being mediocre even when it’s at its best which is a damn shame.
