Lost Sphear – NYC Comic Con 2017 Preview

Comic Con 2017 brought a few gaming companies out to showcase their up and coming games. I wrote about Monster Hunter World, which you can read here, but that wasn’t the only game i was able to try out.  I also got a chance to demo Lost Sphear on the Nintendo Switch..

Lost Sphear is developed by Tokyo RPG Factor and produced by Square Enix, and stars a protagonist by the name of Kanata who is trying to return memories to the lost. As the player encounters these memories they can interact with it to add objects such as a windmill or a fishing hole to the environment. The demo, however, did not adequately explain how these interactions affect the environment, but that makes me want to buy the game to find out.  

At first, the game play was very similar to I Am Setsuna, and the difference only became apparent when I was introduced to a boss fight against a character named Death Rattler. Death Rattler has three phases, and typical me decided to spam heal to all my characters while the rest of the party pummeled him. Well… these tried and true tactics failed miserably. Each character has a finite amount of times he/she can use an ability and then that ability has a cool down and can not be used again for a certain amount of turns. Gone are the days of spam healing, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. With this change comes an added strategy to the game that I actually enjoyed.

Lost Sphear also added a mech suit, which they termed ‘Vumosuit’. I can equip these suits during battle to unleash powerful attacks, however, there is a long cool down period before I can use it again. Again, there is a heavy emphasis on balancing your approach to fights. I have to very carefully decide best when to equip and un-equip the suit to best suit my needs (pun intended).

Many of the complaints that I had regarding I Am Setsuna appear to still be prevalent in my short time with the game. There is still no map for me to look at, and there is no journal for me to reference where my next quest would be.

Overall, I am really looking forward to the game. The new strategy added to the game, coupled with some familiar tropes makes me want to give this one a try.