This gem from Ubi Soft Montreal studio in is a perfect example how how small and simple doesn't always equate to a less impressive experience, sometimes less is more!
There is beauty throughout this game from the art design to the dialog between Aurora and the NPC's and party members to the games story!
The battle system is very reminisent to old school Final Fantasy games, when Aurora comes in contact with an enemy mob the screen goes to a battle screen where the enemy's (up to 3) show up on the right side and the party members on the left. There is a ATB system with a single bar with avatars representing all characters in the battle. Each character's avatar moves at different speeds till it reaches the "casting point" once the avatar reaches that point the speed slows down till it reaches the end of the ATB bar, then the character performs an action, if the attack hits the recipients turn could be interrupted sending the player or enemy back to the beginning of the ATB bar. So the player isn't just passivly waiting for their turn there's some strategy involved in which characters you keep in battle. You can swap out any character during battles once the character reaches the "casting" point on the ATB bar, which will save your ass during some particularly difficult battles.
The level up system is also very simplistic but has adequate depth to allow the player to feel like they have control over the characters progression, you earn skill points during battles and can use the points on the characters skill tree to upgrade MP, HP, offensive and/or defensive abilities and spells. Each character has their own individual skill tree with character specific skills so building a well rounded party or a highly offensive party is up to the player how they prefer to tackle the battles.
Child of Light also has a crafting element with gems called Oculi, you can think of them like the materia system from FFVII they are gemstones that can be attached 1 per item (weapon, armor, accessory) to enhance it's attributes such as adding elemental damage to attacks or enhance chance of evasion or increase max HP/ MP,
There are 3 tiers of Oculi;
Base Oculi: Sapphire, Ruby, Emerald
Crafted Oculi: Tourmaline, Amethyst, Citrine
Advanced Crafted Oculi: Diamond, Onyx, Spinel
The characters in Child of Light are all unique and varied enough to stand on there own,
Finn is a Capili (dwarf) who is the equivalent to FF's Black Mage
Genovefa is a Piscean who would be the equivalent to FF Tactics Time Mage
Igniculus is a floating orb of light that can assist Aurora by healing with his light and blinding enemies which stops them in their tracks. I'd say Iggy would be the equivalent to FF's Carbuncle.
Norah is Aurora's step sister and she reveals herself to also be NOX her skills also make her equivalent to a Time Mage
Oengus is a Kategida warrior and is pretty much a tank so we'll say he's the Knight in CoL
Robert is a Bolmus (mouse) his primary weapon is a Bow and Arrow that can inflict status ailments on enemies he's like a Archer from FF Tactics
Rubella is a Aerostati that specializes in healing....we all know what she would be in the FF realm
Tristis is Rubella's brother and he casts support spells on the party.....red mage.
CoL was a gorgeous game in so many aspects, I enjoyed the simplicity of it which brought me back to a time when RPG's ruled consoles.
If you enjoyed JRPG's back in the day you'll truly appreciate Child of Light.
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