With the critical success of I am Setsuna, Tokyo RPG Factory set itself up as the ‘yesteryear Square Enix’. Unfortunately, while Lost Sphear retains many qualities found in I am Setsuna, it might be their first major misstep.
The game follows Kanata, a young man who encountered an unknown phenomenon and has gained the ability to restore missing parts of his world. This can work with objects, people or places so long as he has a strong memory to anchor them in his mind. Cue save the world plot.
The actual core mechanic itself is a highly inventive one and is integrated into both the story and essential mechanics in a number of creative ways. For one thing, spells and special attacks cannot be bought or immediately learned. Instead, you trade captive memories for them. This gives the game a somewhat Pokémon-esque hunting element which is built to be more of an engaging hunt than a fetch quest. This is further supported by a surprisingly effective and very diverse crafting system which can be used to boost character stats.
As you might expect from this developer by this point, the visuals are intentionally archaic in style but are nevertheless beautiful thanks to a vibrant colour pallet. Unfortunately, Lost Sphear fumbles many other essential elements, which feel as if they have come off of a factory line over being independently crafted.
The writing is extremely uneven, with few true surprises to it, and isn’t helped by bland characters. None are definitively bad, but they feel more like a pastiche of older successes over a new inspiration. It plays it so safe that it’s ultimately unengaging. The core mechanics have largely been taken from I am Setsuna. While this replication would be fine in of itself, the few attempts to build upon it get in the way of the overall experience. The over-engineered idea that repeated use of skills earns you bonuses looks good on paper but only adds to the grind, while slight tweaks to the timed combat system only add a layer of frustrating to a challenging mechanic.
Lost Sphear certainly has its strengths, and it’s not hard to see why JRPG fanatics might appreciate it. However, the issues cited above are difficult to look past, and its attempts at character-driven drama often fall flat. This makes for an especially difficult beginning, and the game doesn’t begin to truly improve until you’re over an hour in. Enthusiasts will likely get a thrill out of this one, but otherwise, you would do better to stick with I am Setsuna.
LOST SPHEAR / DEVELOPER: TOKYO RPG FACTORY / PUBLISHER: SQUARE ENIX / PLATFORM: PC, NINTENDO SWITCH, PLAYSTATION 4 / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
