{"id":7581,"date":"2017-12-11T14:55:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T14:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/reviews\/switch-eshop\/nine_parchments"},"modified":"2017-12-11T14:55:00","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T14:55:00","slug":"review-nine-parchments-switch-eshop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/2017\/12\/11\/review-nine-parchments-switch-eshop\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Nine Parchments (Switch eShop)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"\">\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 1 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86647\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86647\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Nine Parchments 01 Mediaplayer Large\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p><a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/nine_parchments\"><strong>Nine Parchments<\/strong><\/a> is the latest title from Frozenbyte, the developer of games such as the <strong><a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/wiiu-eshop\/trine_enchanted_edition\">Trine<\/a><\/strong> series and, more recently on Switch, <a class=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.nintendolife.com\/games\/switch-eshop\/has-been_heroes\"><strong>Has-Been Heroes<\/strong><\/a>. Just as the Trine series did before it, this game places a heavy focus on co-operative play with up to four players able to team up and enjoy the adventure together. You can play alone if you like but, for reasons we\u2019ll explore a little later on, you\u2019ll want to make sure you have a group of friends available for this one.<\/p>\n<p>After a mysterious explosion hits their academy, a team of slightly reckless students (one of which, Cornelius, somehow manages to sound like an even whinier version of Frodo Baggins) embark on a quest to return nine magical parchments that blew away. To do this, you\u2019ll be exploring various levels and using magic abilities to defeat monsters along the way, all while keeping on top of upgrades, new abilities, and new characters. While the classic RPG elements of skill trees and a levelling-up system are present here, it never feels complex or like there is too much to understand; it is an RPG in perhaps its simplest form.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 2 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86648\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86648\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Nine Parchments 03 Mediaplayer Large\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>The levels themselves are very similar; you\u2019ll begin at one end, run through until you reach the other end, and simply try to survive the enemy attacks as you explore. To break up the repetition a little you\u2019ll come across boss battles every now and then &#8211; these act as milestones within the game and you\u2019ll collect one of the missing nine parchments with each of these victories. Thanks to the increased repetition of the main levels, these boss battles are often a treat; they can be pretty challenging at times but, with some clever strategic thinking, you\u2019ll manage to overcome them and find yourself eagerly anticipating the next one.<\/p>\n<p>The combat works around an elemental system (fire beats ice, for example) and combining the elements with a suitable style of attack is key. Most attacks are long-range but come in different forms such as continuous beams of energy, or short bursts that do a little more damage with each hit, and these can all be accessed on a rotation system triggered by the shoulder buttons. You can also use close-combat melee attacks, but these usually create more risk than reward and you are much better off keeping your distance from enemies. Coming up with the best strategies and carrying out the attacks can be really fun, but the actual amount of fun you have might depend on how you choose to play.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 3 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86646\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86646\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Nine Parchments 05 Mediaplayer Large\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>We decided to play through the game on a solo quest first and, for the first hour or two, things were still fresh enough that we were enjoying the simple but satisfying combat. Unfortunately, after a while had passed, the aforementioned repetitive nature of the level exploration started to make the game drag a little; some of the initial \u2018magic\u2019 was lost. The boss fights did stand out as we mentioned, but the rest of the time we were left hoping for something more.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, things changed in multiplayer. Roaming around the levels with up to three other players can create all kinds of havoc; it is scarily easy to comically set your friends on fire or leave them desperately fighting for their lives while you fumble around deciding which attack to use. Naturally, this kind of thing is best enjoyed between friends who can communicate, so while jumping into games with strangers online <em>is<\/em> an option, we\u2019d recommend local wireless as the ultimate way to play. Even though the repetitive nature of the levels remains, working out new tactics together \u2013 especially when surrounding enemies \u2013 and a much better life system (where players can restore fallen comrades by standing over them, as opposed to a simple two-life system in single player) really help to make things more enjoyable.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 4 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86645\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86645\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Nine Parchments 04 Mediaplayer Large\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Just when things were looking up, though, we encountered the next major problem. Nine Parchments has a very strange feature in place whereby you can only have one campaign running at a time, even across different modes. This means that if you switch from a multiplayer campaign to a solo one, or vice versa, all of your story progress will be lost \u2013 you <em>always<\/em> have to start from scratch. You keep your unlocked weapons, upgrades, and level \u2013 the idea here is that you can complete the game and then re-play it with your new gear as often as you like \u2013 but of course this creates a rather serious problem.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re wanting to see the story through to the end you have two choices: you must either play through the entire game on your own, making sure to never jump into any multiplayer action until it is done; or you can play exclusively in co-op mode, waiting for your friends to be online each time you want to play (and therefore never touching the game when you leave the house without a Wi-Fi connection). The decision is frankly baffling. Frozenbyte have addressed the issue, stating that a fix should hopefully come in January to allow multiple story runs to sit side-by-side, but you have to wonder why this wasn\u2019t considered a day-one inclusion, especially for a portable console.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"picture embed\"><a title=\"Screenshot 5 of 5\" href=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86644\/large.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/images.nintendolife.com\/screenshots\/86644\/900x.jpg\" alt=\"NSwitch DS Nine Parchments 06 Mediaplayer Large\" \/><\/a><\/aside>\n<p>Despite the occasional online connectivity issue, the game does work perfectly well in other areas. The worlds are gorgeous to look at \u2013 not quite as stunningly beautiful as Trine in this humble writer\u2019s opinion, but very lovely nonetheless \u2013 and the combat runs very smoothly indeed. We did notice, though, that playing with a Pro Controller either with the console docked, or in table top mode, seemed to offer a much better experience; the combat revolves around a twin-stick approach and the control sticks on the Pro Controller offer much more precision than those on the Joy-Con.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"conclusion\">\n<h2 class=\"heading\">Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p>Nine Parchments is a game with an awful lot of potential; the combat is fun, the multiplayer co-op works a treat, and the gorgeous art creates a visually impressive world to explore. Repetition in the format and layout of levels &#8211; and the incredibly strange decision to delete your save data when wanting to switching between single player and co-op games &#8211; are unfortunate shortcomings, however. If you love your co-op adventure-type games, and especially if you like the sound of the light RPG elements, you may well get a good time from this game \u2013 just keep our warnings in mind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nine Parchments is the latest title from Frozenbyte, the developer of games such as the Trine series and, more recently on Switch, Has-Been Heroes. Just as the Trine series did before it, this game places a heavy focus on co-operative play with up to four players able to team up and enjoy the adventure together. [&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-7581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nintendo-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7581","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=7581"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7581\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sickgaming.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}