The Tenth Line

TTL is a wonderful game that makes me very nostalgic for the golden age of the Jrpg era on the PlayStation 1. In that era, a lot of games followed certain aesthetics and musical styles while experimenting with the gameplay. And like that era, this made games unique but there were also flaws when trying something new. TTL is great with writing, character portrayal, world building and soundtrack. You often even have different dialogues depending on the character you’re controlling. The gameplay (on the second difficulty level) is very entertaining. I love the way character progression is handled (similar to Final Fantasy X), the mix of platforming, the battle system that has some Valkyrie Profile elements and there is even a fantastic card mini-game very similar to Final Fantasy VIII. I love the character specific cards and collecting all 45 of them for the achievement. The graphics look very charming and appealing in motion.
Which might be a surprise because of the way the UI looks, it doesn’t fit with the graphics much imo. I thought the game looked ugly in screenshots, until I played the game. But that’s the game’s least worries anyway. The main two are some tedious platforming sections and not being able to save whenever you want. With the first one, I don’t mind controlling characters individually to reach the other side. It is however annoying that you have to try again when you fall, when a snow storm drops you etc. There are some punishing sections, especially the snow area. Saving is only allowed at specific save points. Now, normally this isn’t a big deal when you get a save point every time you reach the next area. But all the enemies return when you save, so you can’t kill some and then save. You have to press on if you want to make some progress. Coupled with the tedious platforming sections, I was forced to leave the game on on a couple occasions. It’s not a game you can play for a bit and leave whenever you like, you have to reserve some time and commit to it.
Even with those flaws, the journey was absolutely worth it. I highly recommend the game for Jrpg fans, especially fans of the PlayStation 1 era. The normal price of €8 is very fair and it’s even on sale often for around 90% off. It took me around 25 hours to complete the game, get all the achievements and do all side quests. The achievements are very doable if you’re invested in the game, most of them come naturally.

Nice little game with plenty of charm, the gameplay reminds me of older Valkyrie Profile entries which is worth experiencing, along side the great art and soundtrack.

Definitely the best thing I've ever bought for 77 cents! I had a lot of fun playing it, really digging the music, the backgrounds of the various areas, and the pixel art for all the characters. Cool stuff!
The story also ended at a good moment without getting repetitive, and it's even got post-game challenges set up. Neat!
I can only recommend this.

Despite being a simple game in terms of what direction it goes, I did find myself awed by the turn of events that did catch me off guard. The story is rather plentiful and nice with a universe that supports its artistic angle and atmosphere to a degree, which a lot of RPGs sort of fail at. The music and character design within this game are on point and beautiful. Always appreciate when games go beyond the conventional look for characters and create beings that are outside the anthropic space. In relation to that, I also enjoyed each location I visited with a rather inquisitive, big-eyed happiness to scan these environments. The art of this game was wonderful!
I don't particularly have a favorite track this time around in regard to the music. Each and every one deserves a similar position and never feels like one didn't deserve a smile and a nod.
The main complaint I 'could' say about this game always stirs back to me hating platforming, so areas such as 'The Feverlands' and 'The White Cliffs' were naturally frustrating and anger-inducing, but I can't really hold the game at fault for that. I did, however, like the mechanic of switching between different characters to perform different tasks throughout these adventures! I wish the game had more of this with my favorite movements with these mechanics stirring up from 'The White Cliffs' and 'Oblivion's Roost.' Besides platforming, I wish enemy cast spell texts were easier to read. Some Endgame content can be rather rough when you can't tell what attack the boss is going to perform. In spite of that, you can roughly go based off animations of the enemies and 'voice' cues to prepare for defense. I would say controls but I got used to them and never had a problem with it afterwards.
I'm probably leaving something out but in general this game is pretty alright for what it is! I'm glad I decided to finally finish this game after a long hiatus from it.

Thus far, my one complaint is that the dodge/defend mechanic makes very little sense. I'm honestly unsure how I'm expected to know which ally is being targeted, nor is there really time to anticipate the attack. It just feels like an unnecessary mechanic that wanted to be more like Paper Mario but isn't, and I worry the game is balanced around its use, where as thus far, the only option I've had is to hit A B and X at the exact same time the moment I see any movement.

Going further, the tutorial mentioned that the fighting game input for super defense is on the screen, yet it isn't, nor did it tell me what the button combo is for the other two super defenses. It also mentioned that you have to hold the combo, but the tutorial didn't continue till I released the combo.

The timing aspects are not my jam, at least not the way they are handled (more Valkyrie Profile than Paper Mario). Still, if you ask me what I like most in gaming, it's JRPGs that experiment heavily with what it means to have turn-based battles. I have a big soft spot for this sort of creativity.

The Tenth Line is a cross between a platformer and an RPG, more heavily weighted towards the latter, and with a lot of new ideas to bring to the genre. You gain items all over the place but they're not consumables or even equipment, and instead are used in the game's various mechanics:
- You don't gain stats from levelling directly. Instead you place items on a grid, where the type and tier of item dictates the bonus you get. This grid also unlocks new moves in-combat.
- You also don't gain power from weapon upgrades, instead you merely gain POTENTIAL power, and you consume items to improve your actual power up to the new limit.
- Items also get used for short-term bonuses to improve a character's unique abilities.
- Touching an enemy on the overworld always results in you getting ambushed. If you attack an enemy from the front it's a normal encounter. If you attack them from behind, you ambush them.
- You control three characters and move them independently, and they each have different speeds, jump heights, and special abilities. It's kind of like The Lost Vikings.
- In combat, your only way to heal is to take the 'Rest' action (which also gives you the MP equivalent so you can bust out stronger skills) or with very specific abilities. Items aren't used for this.

There's a little bit of Menu Hell to this game as it expects you to pop open the Training menu after every fight or two and spend your items, but it's not that bad. I enjoyed the story and particularly the prevalence of non-human characters and protagonists in an RPG who aren't just mascot or comic relief characters but instead have real growth and narrative conflicts. There's also a postgame which is a -little- excessive in its difficulty but I was still able to complete it with a few do-overs. Definitely a fun little adventure.