Ever Oasis

[Beedlebud]

Really loving the game. It's basically everything I expected it to be and more. Oasis is at Level 8 right now.

Story speculation:

Spoiler:

Shakuro is evil. Dunno, he's one of the few recurring people in the story and seems to be entirely too helpful. Also I'm waiting for the shoe to drop because there's no way we can just let in literally anyone and none of them are bad people. Or maybe this isn't that kind of game

I feel like the brother is probably alive and we'll see him near the end because we didn't actually see him die.

I've just been chipping away at it day by day, trying not to get too into it because I hear it's pretty short (like 20 hours?) and it doesn't look like there's much replayability in here.

[*LaI*]

Really loving the game. It's basically everything I expected it to be and more. Oasis is at Level 8 right now.

Story speculation:

Spoiler:

Shakuro is evil. Dunno, he's one of the few recurring people in the story and seems to be entirely too helpful. Also I'm waiting for the shoe to drop because there's no way we can just let in literally anyone and none of them are bad people. Or maybe this isn't that kind of game

I feel like the brother is probably alive and we'll see him near the end because we didn't actually see him die.

I've just been chipping away at it day by day, trying not to get too into it because I hear it's pretty short (like 20 hours?) and it doesn't look like there's much replayability in here.

The 20 hours either is just for rushing the story line or I'm very slow I have over 25 hours and not done with main story at all. But I also spend a lot of time doing quests and running the oasis.

Probably not much reason to replay but there are quite a few things to do if you are a completionist.

And I have the same feeling of your spoiler

Spoiler:

poor Shakuro here we are doubting him and he's probably just trying to help

[Bluie]

I Should be getting my game tomorrow.

I really wana play! >:/

[Ronin19]

My current progress: I'm level 18 and my oasis is level 24. I've been busy building my oasis and leveling up the shops lately because I want those rumors to be solved.

[ChaosAzerothCat]

Okay a question and a funny story.

I went into this blind, I me BLIND. What I knew was what I got from skimming the Gamestop box back, RPG with get resources and build an Oasis.

So, being myself I named my character my preferred name.

That's right, Chaos.

Now not only is Chaos the bad guy, not only is Chaos written all the time, this game actually does something few games do and capitalizes it. Like that.

Unless I'm mistaken and they use your name?

Anyone having trouble balancing what stores to set up though? I have like three stores I can't set up and it's annoying the ever loving pee outta me.

[Guest]

[quote="ChaosAzerothCat"]Okay a question and a funny story.

I went into this blind, I me BLIND. What I knew was what I got from skimming the Gamestop box back, RPG with get resources and build an Oasis.

So, being myself I named my character my preferred name.

That's right, Chaos.

Now not only is Chaos the bad guy, not only is Chaos written all the time, this game actually does something few games do and capitalizes it. Like that.

Unless I'm mistaken and they use your name?

Anyone having trouble balancing what stores to set up though? I have like three stores I can't set up and it's annoying the ever loving pee outta me.[/quote]

Yes they say your name a lot in the game.
Also finished the game and I thought it was great would love a sequel but they probably won't.

[ChaosAzerothCat]

Okay a question and a funny story.

I went into this blind, I me BLIND. What I knew was what I got from skimming the Gamestop box back, RPG with get resources and build an Oasis.

So, being myself I named my character my preferred name.

That's right, Chaos.

Now not only is Chaos the bad guy, not only is Chaos written all the time, this game actually does something few games do and capitalizes it. Like that.

Unless I'm mistaken and they use your name?

Anyone having trouble balancing what stores to set up though? I have like three stores I can't set up and it's annoying the ever loving pee outta me.

Yes they say your name a lot in the game.
Also finished the game and I thought it was great would love a sequel but they probably won't.

You misunderstand.

I know they say your name, but the enemy's name is Chaos as far as I've gathered. So it gets confusing because my character is also named Chaos.

So like, for example, at one point

Spoiler:

the water spirit talks about being afraid of Chaos, and then how my character ((Chaos)) is helping them feel better or something of the sort.

Going in blind and using my default name has made things wonky af.

[Ronin19]

I just beat the story myself.

Spoiler:

I'm just so full of emotion and I want a sequel, but I don't think it'll happen based on sales and how it ends. It does well as a standalone game, but I want more!

[ChaosAzerothCat]

I just beat the story myself.

Spoiler:

I'm just so full of emotion and I want a sequel, but I don't think it'll happen based on sales and how it ends. It does well as a standalone game, but I want more!

Spoiler:

I'm assuming the game end ends when you do?

[Guest]

[quote="ChaosAzerothCat"][quote="Ronin19"]I just beat the story myself.
[spoiler]I'm just so full of emotion and I want a sequel, but I don't think it'll happen based on sales and how it ends. It does well as a standalone game, but I want more![/spoiler][/quote]

[spoiler]I'm assuming the game end ends when you do?[/spoiler][/quote]

Yes, but you can replay the final boss.

[Arcy]

I've been playing this since Saturday Evening and just finished the game today. Still working on Post-Game stuff though.

Love: All the Sim elements! Bloom Booth management, Expeditions, and Gardening especially. Music is amazing. I feel like I have not run into a video game with bad music in a long time though. The story points (and all the plot twists) are predictable but very charmingly told. Graphics are great for a 3DS game too. No slowdown at all unlike some similar games *cough*DMW2*cough*

Also! The fast travel and QoL features are on point. I never got too frustrated doing a single room to the point of wanting to put the game down for a little while, which is one of the biggest things that'll keep me from seeing the credits roll in other games.

Green Gale is such a cool unique mechanic too. Very fun to try it on everything you run across in the game.

Okay: Battle System, Crafting, Puzzles. Some of the NPCs are amazing, some of them are kind of meh, but overall I feel like the cast is a net positive.

Do not like: Labyrinths (a ton of Artificial Scarcity of necessary items here, especially ones that are used to upgrade and stock Bloom Booths!), other Artificial Item Scarcity (Silver Sand, Seven-Color Glass, Serpent Fangs, I'm giving you the side eye so hard right now - every non-growable item for stocking Bloom Booths should be on a Merchant's Trade menu or available via Expedition, but noooo... let me be perfectly clear that I don't mind having to run a Labyrinth 10 or so times to clear all the quests and get crafting mats for post-game, OP, optional equipment, but the three Papyrus items are killing me here, and I haven't even started doing 3 or 4 Gold Slab Labyrinths yet.).

Camera. The Camera is far too zoomed in, and locking on a monster does not seem to enable strafing at all. I constantly lock onto things, end up facing the wall, hit LZ instead of L because I panic, and die. Haven't had a total party wipe yet though. (Item abuuuuse!)

Achievements are okay for the most part (except for the Level 30 Everybody one, that might destroy me), but I really wish there were a collection compendium of some sort so you could see item % completion without having to make, and remake items to end up with at least 1 of everything.

I'm not sure how to rate the difficulty to be honest, since people tell me I am better at this type of game than I think I am. I guess it depends on how you like to play. I was constantly backtracking after getting new abilities and weapons... and running into stupidly high-leveled Chaos Monsters (usually right after putting some Level Zero characters in my party, too...). Also the final Bloom Booth quests can be pretty difficult, especially if you do them as soon as they pop up! But if you just do the story, the game is fairly easy overall with some mildly challenging boss battles near the end. There's at least two stand-outs with interesting mechanics in my opinion.

May be a good contender for RPG Speedruns if anyone is into that.

[Guest]

@Beedlebud
Actually he is my favorite character (other than the Noots) and if this was a Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons cross over game you could probably guess who I would go after <3

[LeBurns]

SNIP

Arcy, thanks for the review. I played the demo and then went on vacation so I figured I'd wait until some others have played and read their opinions.

The grinding to get items can be a pain. I guess it depends on whether or not the grinding is fun. Is it?

Glad to see there is some post-MQ game play though.

Still a little on the fence though (although I may get it just to try to support more games like this to come out). I really liked Fantasy Life and restarted it while on vacation. How would this compare to that game (if you've played both)?

[ChaosAzerothCat]

SNIP

Arcy, thanks for the review. I played the demo and then went on vacation so I figured I'd wait until some others have played and read their opinions.

The grinding to get items can be a pain. I guess it depends on whether or not the grinding is fun. Is it?

Glad to see there is some post-MQ game play though.

Still a little on the fence though (although I may get it just to try to support more games like this to come out). I really liked Fantasy Life and restarted it while on vacation. How would this compare to that game (if you've played both)?

Having played both I'm not sure why people keep doing it. They both have adventurer/slice of life blend I guess really, but to me they don't feel similar enough to compare yet everyone and their cat does.

[Arcy]

Still a little on the fence though (although I may get it just to try to support more games like this to come out). I really liked Fantasy Life and restarted it while on vacation. How would this compare to that game (if you've played both)?

Having played both I'm not sure why people keep doing it. They both have adventurer/slice of life blend I guess really, but to me they don't feel similar enough to compare yet everyone and their cat does.

I know exactly why people keep doing it and may also drag other games (like our Beloved BokuMono or Rune Factory along in the comparison). There are so few games that meld together (a lot of different) Sim elements with Action RPG stuff, and fewer still that do it well. Fantasy Life also has that 3-person-party thing going for it, which makes it feel even more Fantasy Life-ish. Plus, well, they're both so gosh-darn-cute.

The biggest point of difference between the two games is the combat system, in my opinion. The camera and combat in Ever Oasis remind me more of Phantasy Star Online, while Fantasy Life always reminds me of Ragnarok Online (which was obviously heavily influenced by Secret of Mana, which is a fun bit of silliness if you know about Ever Oasis' dev team at all). Really every aspect of the two games is different, but they scratch the same "satisfying game because X and Y and Z" itch, even though X in Fantasy Life is making a zillion Chairs to sell for Dosh and X in Ever Oasis is Bloom Booth (Shop) management for Dewadems.

That being said, I prefer Fantasy Life as an overall game, but it gets really heavily grindy after a while, especially if you want to do something like All Creator. As fun as the crafting in FL is initially, it gets old after a while, especially if you want to HQ all the things. Ever Oasis is a much more well contained experience, with a lot less to do in the post-game, but still plenty more to battle and collect and craft if you don't mind the particular form that post-game takes (somewhat randomized dungeon running).

Both were more than worth the purchase price at launch to me, but it should be noted that I paid full price for FL and got the DLC before I even made a character, while I used my Prime discount on Ever Oasis. If you do game rental, Ever Oasis can be completed (story completion only, a full 100% clear demands a purchase imo) pretty easily in a reasonable time frame. 25-35 hours or even less depending on how much you backtrack or get stuck. FL occupied me for well over 200 hours on just one character and I definitely didn't 100% it.

Fantasy Life is also Multiplayer, but since there's that division between DLC and non-DLC players, you may not have used it at all. Ever Oasis is strictly single-player. The AI companions in both games are kinda just okay, but Ever Oasis trumps Fantasy Life in this arena since you can directly take control of (almost) every person that joins your Oasis as long as you're in combat... plus I like the four different Races thing.

TL;DR: If you did like the Ever Oasis demo, you'll LOVE the full game. I wasn't wowed by it, but it made me give the full game a fair shot, and I'm real happy I did.