Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition

 Switch
User Score
8.1

Generally favorable reviews- based on 16 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 16
  3. Negative: 1 out of 16

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  1. Bobkatron
    Apr 10, 2020
    9
    Love this game so mutch! The only downside i could posible find is that the walking was a bit rough if you only wanted to go 1 step for example
  2. Rpg89
    Mar 29, 2020
    10
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Look beyond and download. You will be blown away by what you see!! This game story isn't average.
    It's epic!    … Expand
  3. ArtemisKnight
    Apr 12, 2020
    7
    Let me start with Ara Fell is a good game, bordering on the cusp of great. I spent 21 hours with the game on normal difficulty.

    So what's good about it? First it has a fantastic storyline, wonderfully developed characters who feel right for the world they inhabit. Without spoilers, the motives of the characters and their reactions to events make sense, not just the main cast but the    Let me start with Ara Fell is a good game, bordering on the cusp of great. I spent 21 hours with the game on normal difficulty.

    So what's good about it? First it has a fantastic storyline, wonderfully developed characters who feel right for the world they inhabit. Without spoilers, the motives of the characters and their reactions to events make sense, not just the main cast but the NPCs as well. There's depth to them, as events unfold NPC dialogue will change to fit what has transpired in the game. The world is chocked full of interesting NPCs and locales. Lore and worldbuilding are top notch.

    Secondly art style, admittedly some of this is nostalgia. The character designs and overall retro look. This game feels like it should be sitting on my shelf next to Chrono Trigger and Secret of Mana. Sprite design and character portraits are wonderful, the dialogue portraits capture the feel of what the characters are saying. They convey when someone's snarky, when they're sad, and a host of other emotions. The world itself is gorgeous, with plenty to explore. Lush forests, an icy valley, lava caves, and more.

    Third thing that's great is the exploration, and other game designers should take note. There's interesting ways to explore, you're not just walking around this world. You get to jump up cliffs and across gaps, swim across ponds and through sunken caves, crawl through small tunnels and under traps. Later you even gain a limited way to fly.

    Lastly game mechanics, the characters have several ways to grow in power. From assigning ability points as you level, crafting equipment upgrades, and purchasing skill enhancements. The class system gives this some replayability. Each of the four main characters can complete a sidequest which gives them a choice of two classes, that choice will change how you approach combat. Speaking of combat, it's good, while it's no Chrono Trigger active battletime (seriously someone make another game with that combat system!). Combat here is pretty standard for the genre with some twists. It's turn based and you actually get to see what the order of initiative is. With the ability to upgrade your characters agility you can set the order of combat somewhat. And there are some skills that can alter the order of combat by pushing enemies back in the order. Another welcome twist is the ultimate charge bar. The characters all have an ultimate ability, using it is covered by a meter that all the characters share, it's a great addition but could have used some more work. I found I really only using one characters ability.

    So what keeps it from being great? Two main things, and some small things as well.

    First the pacing leaves something to be desired. in the first and last chapters I constantly felt like I wanted the game to just get on with it. Long exposition dumps, a short bit of game that may not even have anything significant more that walking to another exposition dump. This game could have used some more story editing. Another issue is too many 'points of no return'. A nice feature the game uses to tell you things are about to change, save now. Unfortunately it was overused, about half of them were completely unnecessary and a few were one right after another. Great idea but the implementation left something to be desired.

    Secondly, level design. While the world building is fantastic, Ara Fell has some issues when it comes to level design. It's a bit cluttered and ends up suffering because of it. Other games in the genre make it clear where you can go, where you can't go, and where is worth going.

    There's more than a few places that seem like you should be able to go to then next screen, but you can't. Then there's random tiles in the pathways that are impassable, you can walk around them sure but it gets annoying, I just want to go over there, now I'm stopped by one tile randomly placed in the path, if it was less prevalent it would have been fine, but they're EVERYWHERE. Random little streams in your way, which may not even lead anywhere. Which highlights where is worth going to? I get why this happened. With all the crafting systems they needed nooks and crannies to have things to collect in, but I found myself in dead ends with little or no pay off. With other games of the type you have side passages but they all had some reward here it's too often and yay another ore I don't need. If they had scrapped the potion (which I never used aside from the tutorial) and enchanting crafting, they could have cut out half of these areas and it would have felt more rewarding to find a potion or an enchantment down a side path. With all of that it made getting around the levels tedious.

    Taken all together, Ara Fell is a good game, worth your time a solid 7.5 rating. Despite the issues and some minor unmentioned nitpicks. The story, the world, and the characters all make this a good game, and a playable epilogue did get me excited for a sequel.    … Expand
  4. Cracker1
    Jun 7, 2020
    8
    Great characters, especially the main heroine. Good plot, with twists, subtlety and not too much scope for a change. The writing is also funny in places.
    Nice graphics, quite atmospheric (if not very varried) and the character portraits grow on you quite quickly. The boss-designs are pretty neat.
    The music is great too, if a little bit limited in variety (like the enviroments).    Great characters, especially the main heroine. Good plot, with twists, subtlety and not too much scope for a change. The writing is also funny in places.
    Nice graphics, quite atmospheric (if not very varried) and the character portraits grow on you quite quickly. The boss-designs are pretty neat.
    The music is great too, if a little bit limited in variety (like the enviroments).
    Servicable crafting system and a combat system that reminds me of some of the better board games out there, the only downside is when you go through the same encounters over and over again with the same strategy everytime.
    Overal a very lovable game with a lot of heart, smartly written and crafted.    … Expand
  5. arh3399
    May 17, 2020
    8
    I loved this game. I held off on buying it cause of the mixed reviews but for its price, its one of the best turn based RPGs on switch. Its got a great story, an interesting world, and great characters. The Game is written with a lot of sarcasm and sass and its refreshing. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but it hits a lot of high and low emotional notes even with that. The battleI loved this game. I held off on buying it cause of the mixed reviews but for its price, its one of the best turn based RPGs on switch. Its got a great story, an interesting world, and great characters. The Game is written with a lot of sarcasm and sass and its refreshing. It doesn't take itself too seriously, but it hits a lot of high and low emotional notes even with that. The battle system is a classic turn based system, it doesn't reinvent anything, but what it has works well. There is a crafting system for weapons and armor based on collectables you pick up throughout the game to add you your progression. You also have skills that you level up throughout the game for each of your characters. The one problem I have with the game as that there is something a little funky with the movement. It isnt game breaking, but when you try and move small amounts its almost like you're walking on ice. It took be about 23 hours to beat it and all the side quests on normal and I loved every second of it. If you are into story driven RPGs this is a must buy on switch, especially for the price.… Expand
  6. Phuz
    May 22, 2021
    10
    100% 10/10

    I have rarely felt so absorbed in to a game world since A Link to the Past, 30 years ago. I generally hate menu turn based games, cos they're damn boring, they all have tons of forced encounters, spam atrack in the menu and wait through 15 seconds of animations each time (yes I'm talking to you Ni No Kuni), so I'll start by saying if I accidentally bumped a random encounter in    100% 10/10

    I have rarely felt so absorbed in to a game world since A Link to the Past, 30 years ago.

    I generally hate menu turn based games, cos they're damn boring, they all have tons of forced encounters, spam atrack in the menu and wait through 15 seconds of animations each time (yes I'm talking to you Ni No Kuni), so I'll start by saying if I accidentally bumped a random encounter in Ara Fell, or just got bored of pointless battles, I could cheat win in one choice by implementing story mode as and when I chose. But when it was a more difficult, fun battle, or I was just in the mood for one, I enjoyed playing the battle without skipping. This way the battles were all enjoyable and the story didn't stop, start, for **** encounters.

    So the bad points and these in no way warrant a point drop, are bad walking, it isn't the most accurate positioning when walking. It isn't sloppy to control, just a few issues on the release time, over stepping here and there, which caused the previously mentioned bump encounters. In regards to this control issue I find the joystick made the problem much worse, so I recommend using the D pad. The map could be a little confusing at times because it didn't explain that the two maps were upper and lower regions and I kept trying to figure out what the 2nd map was for. Suddenly in later game I was on that 2nd map and it made perfect sense. The only issue I had with the writing was that the word hell was permanently replaced by abyss, which really disrupted the flow of dialogue. Things like what in the hell was that, would become what in rhe abyss was that. With the theme of the story, the word hell/abyss was used a lot.

    The good points. Everything else.

    Graphics are stunning.
    NPC's not annoying.
    Characters were bloody amazing, not like that idiotic rat, tinman and the Orko rip off from He Man all to be found in FF9.
    I felt like every character had a believable personality. The dialogue was great. Yeah there were some really predictable bits in the story but it is still super enjoyable.
    The game world is beautiful, it is fun to explore.
    The music is amazing. Like absolutely brilliant for the size of the team that made the game.

    So we had the beautiful scenery, music, great story, the dialogue and then the characters, they were all stunning. I don't know how RPG Maker works, if these are preset characters, or designed in house but nearly every character was charming, pretty, or handsome. Not fan servicey, just pleasant to look at.

    When I downloaded this I thought of the other turn based RPGs and thought **** why have I just wasted £16. I thought Octopath, AAA, was very pretty but slow and boring. Xenoblade, AAA, appalling battle ststem and lame characters, DQ11, AAA, poor VA, ugly character design, boring and slow. FF - where to even start? Ridiculously childish 9, poor Star Wars copy 12, irritating Hollywood style **** acting 15. BotW (not turn based, I know but over priced and over rated.). Ha! Can that **** walking sim even be called a proper game? Worse a walking sim with the lead character having the stamina of an 18 month old taking its first steps. £100's of **** over rated games and don't even get me started on Pokemon Sword I just paid/wasted £40 for. £100's why did I just waste another £16. I didn't though, it was amazing.

    My kids stopped playing Srardew and asked me to play Ara Fell because they really took to it but were a bit frightened to play it themselves, they were loving watching me play it and usually they'd be counting the minutes between their turn on Stardew.

    It has filled this whole weekend, I'm only about half way through guessing by where the story is up to. It has been a joy to play and I can't wait to finish it.

    I love turn based like Fire Emblem, Valkyria Chronicles and great strategy, or grid games like those but never menu based. This is litterally the first turn based RPG I have enjoyed in nearly 35 years of gaming.

    Games don't have to be perfect, they just need a perfect atmosphere and lots of character. This game has an abundance if both.

    Graphics 10 gorgeous pixel perfect.
    Sound 10 almost Ys/Tales level.
    Dialogue 10 really natural and believable dialogue.
    Story 8.5/10 It was fun but with a couple of oh no you didn't moments. I'm guessing these things are what people refer to as tropes.
    Characters 10 very likeable.
    Gameplay 10 other than the dodgy walking.

    Overall 10

    I have seen a 7/10 review here (actually 7.5) and although my opinion differs, as one of those things they mentioned as a negative, I actually found useful, that reviewer has some very good points and I thought they were fair criticisms, even though my final score is much higher I do find their points to be fair comments, so read that review too.

    The critics reviews and scores I think are a bit useless here.    … Expand
  7. J8bit
    Dec 31, 2022
    7
    This was such a fun game, and hit that sweet SNES rpg nostalgia spot. There was a lot I liked about the game, and just a few rough spots that brought the score down a bit.
    The story was really interesting, and had some very witty dialogue. The main character was a joy, and the supporting cast was quite fun. I think the light hearted nature and funny dialogue is when the writing was at its    This was such a fun game, and hit that sweet SNES rpg nostalgia spot. There was a lot I liked about the game, and just a few rough spots that brought the score down a bit.
    The story was really interesting, and had some very witty dialogue. The main character was a joy, and the supporting cast was quite fun. I think the light hearted nature and funny dialogue is when the writing was at its strongest. There are serious plot points where the writing felt a little forced or cliche, but it was still overall a nice story.
    The combat (make sure to increase the battle speed in settings) was another highlight. You see the turn order, and traits like speed actually play a big role, which I liked. Each character brings unique skills which makes battles strategic and sometimes tense. HP and MP restore after every battle, which made using skills and magic a lot of fun, rather than something to always conserve. It's never overwhelming or too difficult, and you should be able to get through the game without grinding.
    The graphics and music both were beautiful and felt SNES era, which I liked quite a bit. If you don't have a fondness for that era though, your enjoyment may vary. My one gripe would be the character portraits, and dialogue profiles, which I felt didn't match the quality found elsewhere.
    My last complaint would be that the exits for each area can be really hard to discern. Sometimes a spot that looks like an exit is not, and sometimes it was.
    Other than those quibbles, I loved this game. It felt like an SNES rpg through and through, and the simplicity of it was just what I was looking for.
    On a side note, I've just started this developer's next game, Rise of the Third Power, and wow...it's a huge step up in every way so far, and it might become one of my favorite RPGs in recent memory if it keeps it up! Thanks Stegosoft!!!!!    … Expand
  8. MADuser23
    May 27, 2020
    8
    Ara Fell's a JRPG with heavy inspiration from the 16-bit era. While players would be cautious picking up another SNES-inspired JRPG, Ara Fell is nothing to be cautious of.

    While the game doesn't bring anything new to the table, it doesn't need to. The game remains faithful to the games that inspired it with a crafting mechanic, turned-based battles, and class changes. Exploration is    Ara Fell's a JRPG with heavy inspiration from the 16-bit era. While players would be cautious picking up another SNES-inspired JRPG, Ara Fell is nothing to be cautious of.

    While the game doesn't bring anything new to the table, it doesn't need to. The game remains faithful to the games that inspired it with a crafting mechanic, turned-based battles, and class changes. Exploration is given a slight update in that the player can swim and climb/jump small ledges.

    The story, while it won't blow your mind, does a great job at pacing and never takes itself too seriously, made clear in the delightful interactions and dialogue the characters have with each other. The beautiful sprite-work and delicious soundtrack do nothing but add charm to this already delightfully charming game. And though the Epilogue did leave a bit something to be desired, it doesn't take away anything from the positive experience I had with it.

    Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition is an easy recommendation if you love 16-bit inspired JRPGs, or craving something easy-going w/ tasty sprite work.    … Expand
  9. jfirestorm44
    Jan 8, 2022
    8
    This was a fun RPG game. The battle system is pretty basic as with most early JRPGs. The ability to upgrade your armor and weapons exist by finding stones throughout the game so you don't actually buy new gear. Not really a bad thing. I overall enjoyed this game and it was definitely worth the price. I'm normally a huge fan of JRPGs that use a world map to travel from town to town on butThis was a fun RPG game. The battle system is pretty basic as with most early JRPGs. The ability to upgrade your armor and weapons exist by finding stones throughout the game so you don't actually buy new gear. Not really a bad thing. I overall enjoyed this game and it was definitely worth the price. I'm normally a huge fan of JRPGs that use a world map to travel from town to town on but this game did a great job without one. The number 1 complaint I have is the soundtrack. This games soundtrack never made me feel like I was on an adventure. The music always felt somber, creepy, or slow...There was never a tune that just picked up the spirit of the game and made you feel like you were actually on an adventure.… Expand
  10. LazyWolf0
    Jan 12, 2022
    8
    Very good old-school JRPG with all the modern additions like ability to save at any time, or fast travel.

    The graphics looks awesome, screenshots don’t do it justice. It all comes to life when you play it, with tons of animations and this nice snow effect. Story is solid, so are the characters. Combat is quite good, although gets a bit repetitive with regular enemies. I liked the    Very good old-school JRPG with all the modern additions like ability to save at any time, or fast travel.

    The graphics looks awesome, screenshots don’t do it justice. It all comes to life when you play it, with tons of animations and this nice snow effect.

    Story is solid, so are the characters. Combat is quite good, although gets a bit repetitive with regular enemies.

    I liked the world design, it’s quite big and interesting, with secrets and bounties.

    Character’s optional missions are also a nice touch.

    All and all it’s one of the best old-school JRPGs on Switch, along with Shadows of Adam and Cosmic Star Heroine.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
69

Mixed or average reviews - based on 4 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 4
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 4
  3. Negative: 0 out of 4
  1. Nintendo Life
    Apr 5, 2020
    60
    Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition is a difficult game to wholeheartedly recommend. JRPG veterans will likely fall into one of two camps – scornful of the game's simplistic mechanics, or appreciative of its polished take on very familiar genre tropes. For newcomers to this sort of game, it's a similar problem; the lack of complexity will either make the game pleasingly accessible or simply bore them. It's therefore best to consider whether or not you feel a JRPG can sustain itself on strong worldbuilding and characters, or if you feel that gameplay is king and without a meaty combat system there's just not enough to get your teeth into. For us, while Ara Fell is profoundly lovely in every aspect besides its gameplay; it is still a game, and it wouldn't have taken much more combat polish to turn this into an unequivocal recommendation. If you don't care about the combat, then it's easier to recommend.
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  2. NintendoWorldReport
    Apr 2, 2020
    70
    If you’re looking for the next gripping narrative or memorable character moments, this is where Ara Fell trips up. If you just want a simple and recognizable JRPG experience to add to your Switch library, you could certainly do worse.
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  3. Nintendo Enthusiast
    Apr 1, 2020
    75
    Ultimately, Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition quenched my thirst for a retro, Chrono Trigger-like experience. With rock-solid presentation, smart writing, and a battle system that gets the job done, Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition should be a part of any classic RPG fan’s collection.
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