I Am Setsuna Review

I Am Setsuna kind of crept up on me if I’m honest, I had completely forgot about it’s existence until a few weeks ago. Originally revealed back at E3 2015, it was penned as an homage to the JRPG’s of yesteryear, pandering to the inner-child of people that experienced Chrono-Cross and Final Fantasy in the 90s’. The game has been developed by Tokyo RPG Factory (not the most inspiring name) and published by the daddy of the JRPG genre, Square Enix.

I Am Setsuna is a game inspired by many great titles, but because of this there is no originality in the title at all. It is said that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, if that’s true, I can see a few of my favourite childhood games blushing. Right from the start, sweeping piano arpeggios play, akin to many popular JRPG titles, leaving you to feel right at home. Familiar SFX noises ring out, as you traverse the menus, and everything just has that 90’s feel to it.

The beginning of the game instantly introduces you to the protagonist of the adventure, a chap from a race of mercenary assassins by the name of Endir. Endir is set the task of killing a young woman, who also happens to be the sacrifice destined to save the world. In order to stop monsters attacking villages, Setsuna (or Satsuma as I like to call her) must give up her life. Straight away, the Final Fantasy X inspiration becomes very clear. In typical JRPG fashion, Endir and Setsuna buddy up and off they go on the sacrificial quest.

Each town you come across plays out like a Saturday morning anime: the heroes are presented with a problem, the heroes must solve that problem and once said problem is solved they end up with a new person on their team. The game rinses and repeats this formula throughout the narrative, with the occasional dungeon thrown in for good measure. My biggest problem with this formula is how quickly it becomes repetitive, I found myself hoping for a similar character system to Final Fantasy VII. A game where you can entirely miss people if you don’t happen to bump into them at the right time, this made finding a new character exciting. This isn’t to say the protagonists themselves are bad though, they are quite well written, although never as deep as they could be.The motivation for wanting to come on this dangerous and literally deadly journey, never seems to advance past anything more than “because we want to save the world!” I have no issue with this, but it is difficult to invest in shallow characters that just seem to want to go with the status-quo.

The combat is what most JRPG fans would hope for, protagonists take it in turns to attack each other, while the AI takes control of movement around the field. Players can use a mix of physical attacks alongside magic. What I Am Setsuna does a little bit differently here, is add a critical meter for each character. Waiting slowly fills this meter up, upon which players can press square to inflict extra damage, or various other modifiers. It is a nice little touch that manages to add an extra layer of depth to battles. I really wish the developers had given players the chance to move around the battlefield. Grandia 2 has a similar battle system that gives players a chance to move freely around, which gives the movement a purpose. The lack of freedom during battles can be annoying as some support spells require other characters to be within the vicinity of the person casting, but if that characters isn't right next to you, there isn’t a single thing you can do about it.

Players are able to equip different weapons and equipment in order to grant battle bonuses to characters, alongside what is essentially a materia system. Players must collect items in order to build the magic that is used in battle. They can be built at each town, and much like materia, players can equip them and swap them between characters. The magic system is fun, but some of the powers can be a little frustrating to create. The game does not specify where it is possible to find the items. This means it can be quite easy to potentially miss out really important magic abilities, which are really needed to traverse the late areas of the game.

I have to say, the monsters are dreadful in I Am Setsuna. They’re unimaginative, bland and lacking personality. I’m not sure if it’s the art style, or just a lack of inspiration from the devs. I can’t remember a single monster or boss off the top of my head, they all feel like they were originally placeholders, but the development time ran short and they had to settle for them. It’s the same for fighting them, most of them never really vary with their attacks, so the method for killing them is often exactly the same. It isn’t until late game that the enemies really start to show some variety, which results in a major difficulty curve.

With several endings available, there’s a reason to keep players coming back. Although, from start to finish, you’re probably looking at about 20+ hours. Which is shorter than most old school JRPG’s, but feels long enough in today’s game market by comparison.

It’s not all doom and gloom though: I Am Setsuna is absolutely gorgeous. It might be one of the best looking 2D JRPG games ever developed. It’s not even that graphically advanced either, but the attention to detail is second to none. When you move through the snow with Endir, snow trails are left in your wake. The trails slowly cover up if you stand and watch them. Trees blow in the wind as you walk past them, dropping snow down. All these little things slowly build up, and eventually leave the impression that, despite some of it’s disappointing aspects, I Am Setsuna was made with genuine passion and respect for a genre that many of us grew up with.

I Am Setsuna is a good game, but that’s it, only a good game. It never quite achieves its full potential. It is a great attempt at trying to recreate the magic of classic JRPG titles, but it’s hard to recommend it over games like Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Breath Of Fire and many, many others. What the game does do well, is provide a breath of fresh air on a genre that has slowly grown stagnant. Forgotten by most, and missed by the rest, it sure is lovely to see Square Enix bring something so loved, back to so many.