This is the sequel to 2014's Boot Hill Heroes, which is a wild-west themed JRPG with an old school art design reminiscent of Earthbound, andThis is the sequel to 2014's Boot Hill Heroes, which is a wild-west themed JRPG with an old school art design reminiscent of Earthbound, and loads of charm. The first game itself was a very good Indie RPG in general with the one downfall of being rather short. This one remedies that problem and loads it up with even more content. Most of the downfalls of the first game have been addressed and the outcome is a stellar experience.
To explain, this does pick up where the first game ended, and you may be a little in the dark about the various characters if you are coming in fresh. This game does feature data carry over where you can import your items and levels, to encourage you to come in after playing the first game. To summarize what happened there, the Saints-Little Gang framed the Chepakwik Indian Tribe for destroying the town of Ashwood in an attempt to incite a war between the tribe and the settlers. Their exact motive was unknown, and the first game ended with you defeating one member of the Gang, and then hearing the story of how their leader was arrested 10 years prior to the start of the game. Your objective here is to round up the gang members who are up to no good and find evidence to clear the Chepakwik before a war breaks out.
So one of the big changes you get right out from the gate is the non-linear gameplay. Once you return to the hub town, you are free to go after any of the members of the gang, provided you can find them. This will affect your equipment, what side quests you can take, what recipes you can learn, and other sorts of minutia that are important to the world building experience. In doing so, you learn about past events related to the characters themselves and the world they live in, and also allowing you to see first hand what kind of chaos this gang has unleashed. Additionally, the way hats work in the game has also changed. The first game featured them as a tool for learning moves for combat, but now they function more along the lines of a job system, sometimes teaching you new moves for the hat itself, giving you abilities to be used with other hats, and also exceeding the 4 move limit from the first game. Beyond just this, there are many new moves that open up different strategies for fighting your opponents, meaning that you don't necessary have to grind to win, provided you look at what hats are available and adjust your strategy for whatever obstacle is in your way.
As for graphics, everything has been touched up from the first game, with portraits being added for many of the important characters, allowing you to see the smaller details of their characters. The playable characters themselves both change on map as well in portrait as you change their hats around. Cities have been re-designed to be more stream-lined and everything is just better. You will re-visit some of the locations from the first game, but there are also many other places to go, many of them having something unique to set them apart from the other areas. Seeing as you're playing as a farmer, it is nice to actually be able to use your farm to generate materials for some of the new systems in the game.
In terms of gameplay, there is both good news and bad news. The first is that the battle system itself still carries over a lot of the weaknesses it possessed from the first game, with an all-or-nothing aspect where you either dodge a move in its entirety or you take the hit in its entirety. This is bad when the shot is going to kill you from full health, which is a threat periodically throughout the game. However, the good news is that there are new systems in place that can make your life a little easier. Should you go down, Doc Valentine can now treat your wounds, meaning you don't have to go to town and shell out a fortune. If you need money, Rosy can use the food you collect to make dishes to sell, or just to eat to obtain some buffs for a few fights. And finally, when it comes to combat, Moon Dancer can augment your equipment with numerous effects to inflict statuses, boost your damage, or help you hit evasive enemies. Additionally, with the new hats in the game come new abilities to help speed up battles by allowing you to break enemy stances, turn normal moves into AOE, or other effects. Most of the things from the first game are still intact, but everything is bigger. And should you find the game too easy or tough, you can change the difficulty at any time to better suit your experience.
Overall, I have been waiting for this game to come out since I finished the first one, and I am impressed with what I've found so far. It occupies a niche of its own, and I recommend it to anyone interested in wild west themed gaming environments or those just looking for a fun JRPG to sink some time into. It truly is a unique experience and I am looking forward to whatever Experimental Gamer puts out next.
I beat it already on PC and just picked up the Switch version to give it another go.… Expand
