{"id":15718,"date":"2018-03-23T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-03-23T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/earthlock"},"modified":"2018-03-23T12:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-03-23T12:00:00","slug":"review-earthlock-switch-eshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2018\/03\/23\/review-earthlock-switch-eshop\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Earthlock (Switch eShop)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 1 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88650\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88650\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Earthlock 01\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>While the \u2018J\u2019 in \u2018JRPG\u2019 ostensibly stands for &#8216;Japanese&#8217;, it refers to a style of role-playing game rather than country of origin; strong, often linear stories and turn-based combat are the calling cards of the genre, and Western-made games such as <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wiiu-eshop\/child_of_light\">Child Of Light<\/a><\/strong> and <strong>Cosmic Star Heroine<\/strong> follow its conventions just as much as classic Japanese examples a la <strong>Final Fantasy<\/strong> and <strong>Dragon Quest<\/strong>. That\u2019s also the case with <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/earthlock\">Earthlock<\/a><\/strong>, from Norwegian developer Snowcastle Games. After a successful 2014 Kickstarter run that saw <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wiiu-eshop\/earthlock_festival_of_magic\">Earthlock: Festival Of Magic<\/a><\/strong> release on Wii U (among other platforms), this significantly updated version has landed on the Switch. A love letter to the genre, it plays like a thoughtfully modern take on PS1-era Square adventures, and will be a real treat for JRPG fans.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 2 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88649\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88649\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Earthlock 06\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Earthlock takes place in Umbra, a world bearing the scars of past catastrophe and an imbalance of \u2018amri\u2019, a magical energy. After a brief playable in situ introduction, you\u2019ll begin your journey in earnest as Amon, a young scavenger living with his uncle in the town of Zaber. A routine mission gone awry turns Amon\u2019s world on its head and sends him spiralling into conflict with empires, and it\u2019s your job to guide him &#8211; along with an ever-growing cast of characters &#8211; on his journey to save his family, and ultimately, Umbra.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an enjoyable tale that shows strong parallels to <strong>Final Fantasy IX<\/strong>, especially in its six playable party members. The characters &#8211; from a kindly \u2018hogbunny\u2019 named Gnart and capable military captain Ive to Taika, her loyal dog &#8211; are interesting and likable, and we quickly become invested in seeing their stories through. The writing can be oddly hit-or-miss; dialogue ranges from excellent to just okay, and there\u2019s little linguistic coherence among invented place names and terms. Still, it\u2019s an entertaining narrative, and its strong characters kept us interested throughout.<\/p>\n<p>In terms of its gameplay, Earthlock builds off of a solid JRPG base: you\u2019ll move your party of adventurers through a traversable overworld, entering cities, towns, and villages to progress the plot, pick-up quests, and refuel, in-between exploring monster-ridden dungeons and fighting turn-based battles with enemies and occasional bosses. It\u2019s a classic formula, but a big part of what makes Earthlock so fun is that it improves on the genre\u2019s conventions in tangible, modern ways.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 3 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88653\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88653\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Earthlock 03\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>In battle, for instance, Earthlock introduces several new wrinkles on the standard turn-based template. Before initiating combat, you can gather multiple enemies to fight by getting within range and then giving them the run-around as you pick up additional adversaries, Pied Piper-style, for EXP bonuses. Once you get into battle, you\u2019ll find that each character has multiple \u2018Stances\u2019, which enable them to access different skills. Switching Stances costs a turn, but can be well worth it; Amon\u2019s Stances allow for either melee combat and thieving or long-range elemental attacks, for instance, while Ive can switch between setting strategic traps and slinging arrows from crossbow.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of consuming an MP meter, every action in battle uses one or more yellow squares of energy, which replenish at a certain rate for each character every turn. This system &#8211; recalling the one used in <strong>Final Fantasy: The Four Heroes Of Light<\/strong> &#8211; is appealingly simple, and also means you won\u2019t be stuck backtracking to top up MP in the middle of exploration, which keeps the pace snappy and fun. The controls in battle are also worth mentioning; you\u2019ll use the left analog stick to quick-select between different \u2018submenus\u2019 &#8211; with no menus involved &#8211; and the face buttons to dial in different actions within each of those. It\u2019s quick and streamlined, and before long you\u2019ll end up with muscle memory to pull off specific combos and strategies with ease.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 4 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88654\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88654\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Earthlock 04\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>In addition to their on skills and attacks, your characters also benefit from party dynamics in the Pair system. Pairing off party members lets them level up their bond, as well as gain access to a shared meter in battle. When it fills &#8211; by attacking in concert &#8211; either member of the twosome can use their &#8216;Super Stance&#8217;, a Limit Break-like special move that can be activated on command. Not only is this a great way to save up some extra power for bosses and challenging battles, it\u2019s also a fun way to encourage mixing up your party formations, and experimenting with all the combinations on offer.<\/p>\n<p>Outside of battle, you can customise how your characters progress through the Talent Board system, which lets you personalise their stats, skills, and abilities. Like the Sphere Grid in Final Fantasy X, it\u2019s couched in the guise of a puzzle-like system, where you\u2019ll need to connect different nodes as you place them on the board in order to activate their effects. All this adds up to a combat system that feels fun and fresh throughout; you\u2019ll learn new strategies and skills at a good pace, and varying the Pairs in your party allows for plenty of experimentation as you go.<\/p>\n<p>Beyond the combat, Earthlock also adds thoughtful new touches to the overworld exploration. There\u2019s an excellent focus on gardening, for instance; you\u2019ll find different seeds on your travels, and be able to plant them in various patches and plots around the world. By making sure each plant is watered according to its needs (by keeping a micro-game meter correctly balanced), you\u2019ll be able to harvest rewards: ingredients for crafting items, weapons, and more.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 5 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88652\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88652\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Earthlock 05\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Each character also has a special role to play in the overworld through their unique field abilities. Amon can find useful items in scrapheaps, for example, while Gnart can forage through flower fields. It\u2019s a nice touch that helps underscore the importance of every member of your party, and gives a practical reason to switch which character you control &#8211; made delightfully simple by the satisfying shortcut of pressing the \u2018L\u2019 button and swinging the analog stick.<\/p>\n<p>Along with Earthlock\u2019s modern take on JRPG gameplay, it brings a similarly thoughtfully updated look. Its gorgeous, lived-in environments recall the busy prerendered backgrounds of Final Fantasy IX &#8211; including treasure chests hidden in nooks and crannies obscured from camera-view &#8211; and it\u2019s both an immediately appealing aesthetic and an impressive in-engine achievement. They\u2019re backdrops just begging to be explored, and with unique settings that go beyond desert and forest tropes; one of the first dungeons you\u2019ll comb through takes the form of a partially-submerged mansion in the process of being reclaimed by the swamp it was built on.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 6 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88651\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88651\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Earthlock 02\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>In fact, Earthlock\u2019s presentation in general is quite impressive; beyond the backgrounds, the character models look lovely, and animations &#8211; from battle stances and attacks to kicking open treasure chests &#8211; are smooth and full of personality. Enemy designs are imaginative and fun, and the whole experience feels wonderfully polished and clean. The orchestral score provides an excellent audio backdrop as well, with an impressive variety of memorable melodies.<\/p>\n<p>For as good a job as Earthlock does feeling like a truly modern JRPG, however, there are some disappointing archaisms that really stick out; most notably, an antiquated save system that\u2019s limited to designated points, with only one or two in each dungeon\/town. Not being able to save mid-dungeon is arguably a design feature in many RPGs, but Earthlock\u2019s implementation feels overly restrictive, and is a particular issue in a (potentially) portable adventure. Another unfortunate throwback to the 32-bit era: loading screens are frequent and long enough to annoy, popping up between rooms and in other common transitions. Their persistent presence breaks up the flow, and can start to grate in longer sessions.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 7 of 7\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88652\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/88652\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Earthlock 05\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Finally, Earthlock also feels like a real blast from the past &#8211; think N64 &#8211; in its implementation of rumble. Rather than providing subtle force feedback with the Switch\u2019s HD Rumble, it instead just turns the motors on full blast, sometimes for seconds at a time. It\u2019s bone-shaking and awful (especially disappointing after seeing RPGs like Golf Story integrate HD Rumble into the genre in thoughtful ways), but it can thankfully be turned off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>An indie adventure with a lush world, fun characters, and enjoyable battles, Earthlock brings the soul of PS1-era JRPGs to the Switch with excellent results. Inconsistent dialogue and notable load times are among its few missteps, but as a package, it captures the appeal of the epoch wonderfully. If you\u2019re looking for a fresh-feeling JRPG that still calls back to the classics, this is a lovely choice.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While the \u2018J\u2019 in \u2018JRPG\u2019 ostensibly stands for &#8216;Japanese&#8217;, it refers to a style of role-playing game rather than country of origin; strong, often linear stories and turn-based combat are the calling cards of the genre, and Western-made games such as Child Of Light and Cosmic Star Heroine follow its conventions just as much as [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15718\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}