Earthlock: Festival of Magic

 Xbox One
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 47 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 47
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 47
  3. Negative: 9 out of 47

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  1. Pasifull
    Dec 8, 2016
    6
    For each interesting innovation, there are 3 or 4 areas that are, at best, uninspired and, at worst, frustrating mis-steps. It's obvious this game is mostly aiming at (J)RPG veterans, which may be it's biggest mistake as that crowd has seen this done much better elsewhere.
  2. Daelus
    Oct 9, 2016
    6
    Truth be told I would rate this game a 5.5, but as that isn't an option, given that it is the first jRPG that I haven't absolutely hated in the last 6 years, I rounded up :)

    Even though not made by a Japanese dev, this is typical jRPG fare...turn-based combat, linear world, cartoonish graphics and simple story.....while the genre was cutting edge 15 years ago it has not innovated past    Truth be told I would rate this game a 5.5, but as that isn't an option, given that it is the first jRPG that I haven't absolutely hated in the last 6 years, I rounded up :)

    Even though not made by a Japanese dev, this is typical jRPG fare...turn-based combat, linear world, cartoonish graphics and simple story.....while the genre was cutting edge 15 years ago it has not innovated past that very basic, almost childish style. The true turn-based growth have come from game like Divinity:OS and Wasteland 2....shame.

    That said, this game:

    Pros
    Serviceable story...not good but not bad.
    Pairing system was an interesting twist that I really enjoyed.
    Abilities Board was reasonably well done.
    Almost charming

    Cons
    Within 10 minutes I had to turn the music down to 1.....god-awful horrible without let-up.
    Combat is too easy without any need for strategy.
    None of the characters are fleshed out....never felt vested in any of them    … Expand
  3. nibetac
    Sep 5, 2016
    5
    While not a terrible game, Earthlock has some minor issues that stack up to major annoyances. In the game, your magic or skill abilities use up yellow "Amri" squares and you must regenerate those squares over time by spending turns using basic attacks. This prevents you from, say, spamming an ability that hits all enemies on the screen repeatedly and forces you to vary up your attacks; allWhile not a terrible game, Earthlock has some minor issues that stack up to major annoyances. In the game, your magic or skill abilities use up yellow "Amri" squares and you must regenerate those squares over time by spending turns using basic attacks. This prevents you from, say, spamming an ability that hits all enemies on the screen repeatedly and forces you to vary up your attacks; all in all a sensible move from the developers.

    However, NONE of the enemies in the game have to follow these rules. This is not an annoyance when fighting your basic grunts, but when you're fighting an enemy who uses "Cloak" on every turn and becomes invulnerable while safely attacking you, it's a problem. Similarly, when fighting enemies who can confuse, slow or poison your party, they tend to spam that ability every turn which makes a battle that should only last a few minutes take upwards of 10 minutes to complete.

    Or how about that boss a few hours into the game that can wipe your party with a few uses of an ability that hits your entire party for 200-300 damage? Oh, you didn't know? You're supposed to grind out 2 or 3 levels before facing him to even stand a chance. RPGs that force grinding to progress the main story should have went the way of the dinosaur after the first few Final Fantasy's and Dragon Warriors. But Earthlock brings back that terrible design decision in all its glory.

    Couple that with a glitchy UI that prevents enemies from showing up in your Bestiary, a crafting system that forces you to babysit plants to get ammo and skills, to an overly-completed party bond system and you have a bunch of good ideas that don't stack up to much fun when combined. At least none of the characters are voiced though. I can only imagine what hideous voice they would assign to a character like Gnart...    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

58
#58 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2016
27
#27 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
66

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. GameGrin
    Oct 24, 2016
    65
    Earthlock: Festival of Magic shows that the JRPGs aren’t games of a bygone era. It’s got it’s issues, but it’s still a fun game if you’re a fan of the genre. Hopefully, the developers will have the funds and resources in the future to deliver a more fleshed out experience, but for now, this game is just fine.
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  2. GameSpew
    Sep 17, 2016
    80
    Whilst the art style here verges on the cartoonish, the gorgeous sense of colour and texture really brings the world alive.
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  3. ICXM
    Sep 14, 2016
    30
    Earthlock is one of the hardest games to critique. Whilst everything works and is at least competent, everything feels very lacklustre and underwhelming with Earthlock only offering the bare minimum of what a turn-based RPG can offer.
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