Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is a game with a lot of style and heart to it, let down by numerous little annoyances that sap the enthusiasm I had in coming back to it.
POSITIVES
+ Wonderful soundtrack that rarely gets old.
+ Thousands of voice acted lines of dialogue done by great professional voice actors.
++ Charming animation that captures the spirit of the anime, both inLittle Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is a game with a lot of style and heart to it, let down by numerous little annoyances that sap the enthusiasm I had in coming back to it.
POSITIVES
+ Wonderful soundtrack that rarely gets old.
+ Thousands of voice acted lines of dialogue done by great professional voice actors.
++ Charming animation that captures the spirit of the anime, both in the cut scenes and in the gameplay itself.
++ Animated characters during important dialogue, complete with great personality and reactions.
++ Robust number of spells and differing playstyles between the playable characters means a good variety of ways to tackle the dungeons.
+ Solid RPG elements to level spells and attributes, as well as upgrade and enhance equipment.
+ Large number of side quests to reward more than just following the main story.
+ Fast travel system around the campus easy to use and very welcome once unlocked.
NEGATIVES
-- The game could ~really~ explain many things better. Many of the quests have details left out of their descriptions as far as how/when/what/etc. There are also aspects of the game it never bothers to tell you like where to buy potions, how to get hidden chests to appear, how to dodge, and many other things both big and small. Some of it you will figure out on your own (eventually), but I can't remember the last time I spent so much time tabbed out of a game looking up how to do something.
-- Some of the quests lean much more towards tedious than fun. While some quests are genuinely fun or funny, many are just fetch quests or grinding for drops in the dungeons. Some of the grinding quests in particular are real pains, requiring literally dozens upon dozens of trips through the same dungeon in order to get what you need. It's boring and repetitive and really drags you away from the charm of the characters and setting.
- The inventory system for equipment can be a pain sometimes; There are ways to sort it, but there's still a ~lot~ of digging through drops to sort out what to equip and sell, especially if you're grinding for quest drops and reaching your inventory limit.
- I wish there was a way to "fast forward" through time. It's quite frustrating when you miss the time window for a quest by a bit, and then have to sit around for five or so minutes for it to get to the right time the next day. You could do other things, but sometimes turning in the quest is all you want to do, and doing other things just makes it take longer to get to the right time.
- I also wish some of the quests didn't pop back up on the quest map after you've completed them once. I learned to filter out some of them after a while, but it's irritating to be looking for new quests or the next step of a quest only to run into one of those. At least make these repeatable quests exclamation marks a different color or such so it's simple to tell the difference between a new quest and one of these daily/repeated ones.
------
Ultimately, you may look at the above points and think I'm down on Chamber of Time, but that's not necessarily true. Really, it's more like the negative points are bigger because they're such disappointing things on a game that has so much to like about it. The presentation and combat and such really do have a lot of heart and charm to them, and there were times where that would see me keep coming back to this game or playing it for hours at a time. But I couldn't just ignore the tedious and annoying parts forever, and then I would come crashing back.
So ultimately, I would still say it's a good game, even if that comes with a lot of caveats. It's not the sort of game I'd recommend off hand either, not without making sure people are prepared for quite a bit of tedium. For those who can make it through those things though, there's something to be had from the heart that's been put into this one.… Expand
Little Witch Academia: Chamber of TimeYour Score0 out of 10User Score
