Oninaki Switch Demo (2019)
Reviewed on the Nintendo Switch
Cost: £0.00/$0.00
The more I age, the more money is becoming a precious commodity. Products like a can of Coke now start to add up, and those chocolate bars at £1.50 are now £1.50 I can't spend on a video game. It's a sad existence, equating every purchase with the price of a video game, restricting myself on what I can and can't buy based solely on how it would impact the purchasing of a new game; woe pity me. But to make matters worse, in the upcoming months a slew of AA and AAA video games are releasing on my all time favourite console: the Nintendo Switch. A cool £50 for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, another for Astral Chain, another for DQ XI. Oh boy, it's all adding up. That £1.50 chocolate bar is looking cheap now. So when a demo is released for a video game I jump at the opportunity to play it, regardless of my already established interest level in that game. Oninaki was announced a while back and I honestly hadn't paid too much attention to it, other than the odd comment that it reminded me somewhat of my all time favourite game: Xenoblade Chronicles 2. A demo dropped, I played it, and here are my unfiltered, honest and unbiased thoughts.
I'm going to break this review down into a few points, like a standard review format if you will. These are: Story, Gameplay and Visuals. I believe the latter is less important and I will not be attributing it its own section, instead intertwining it with Story and Gameplay.
I like Oninaki's story, sort of. The general idea, without spoiling too much, is that there are Watchers who help lost souls move on to reincarnation. If their loved ones grieve, or for other reasons not yet disclosed in the demo, they are unable to move on and it's up to the Watchers to make sure that doesn't happen. This game's story focuses on death, suicide and reincarnation first and foremost, and that to me is very intriguing. It's not rare for video games to tackle these subjects, but Oninaki's whole world is built up around these core concepts; characters refer to these issues in the game's main hub world, and it's interwoven into lore, which features in various minor character's dialogue. It's an interesting idea and it lends itself well to certain scenarios. I will mention that, from now on, I will spoil the demo's story, so I highly recommend playing the brief 40 or so minute demo and come back if you're still interested. Alright, let's resume. Your character is a moody, typical anime protagonist who's not too fussed about the dead and their souls. In fact, he's a pretty disinterested protagonist, likely from the trauma of being told he wasn't allowed to grieve at his parents' death when he was a child (poor guy). The game begins with a brief "cutscene" of your character mourning his parents' death before shoving you, a few years later, into a mission where you have to help a young boy move on. This pesky kid misses his parents and asks to go see them, so you give him permission and take him to their home. When they learn he feels alone, the mother and father agree to sacrifice themselves in order to be with their son. Your character chops their heads off and the title credit pops on screen with all the flare and drama of an angst-ridden school kid's diary cover. Let's break this down to give you an idea of why I don't think Oninaki's story works.
This poor writing and lack of cutscenes continues for some time. For example, just after this confrontation with the parents, we are brought to the hub world. Once there, we are introduced to various characters, whose names I have forgotten. These characters are indistinguishable from each other because the game is pseudo-isometric, which means it can be hard to make out individual models, or at least what makes them unique. You'd hope (still no voice acting for any line of dialogue at this point) that their written dialogue would hold some semblance of personality, but I was completely unable to differentiate the different stock JRPG characters apart, and once they had left I had totally forgotten their names. In the defence of Oninaki, there is a cutscene towards the very end of the demo, which in the actual game would be near the very beginning. This cutscene is fine, and while it's a little awkward and not all that per say, it's still a cutscene and it's a tad flashier than normal. So then if you can do cutscenes, Tokyo RPG Factory, then why are they not earlier, like the very beginning of the game. What makes Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so special is that its introduction is so strong. Within the first hour of the game (spoilers I suppose for the first hour of XBC2), the main character is killed, resurrected and then, having fused with his new blade, explodes a hole in a ship, fights the big bad before a dragon comes and destroys a bunch of turrets and sweeps them off their feet to safety, and the whole thing plays out like a really well-animated episode of an anime. The first hour of Oninaki doesn't see a flashy cutscene until well into the hour, and even when it's there, it's brief and not great. Now, sure, their budgets are not the same, and I imagine after Tokyo RPG Factory's previous failures it isn't getting the same money Nintendo gives Monolith Soft, but I'm not sure that's any excuse to skimp out on at least a brief cutscene to introduce the character at the beginning. Heck, even a cutscene introducing the main character's equivalent of a blade (called a Daemon in this) would have been nice, but instead it cuts to a bare-bones "cutscene" where a character gives exposition on what the blades of Oninaki are. Great!
I know I've complained a lot about the story, and I believe I'm justified, although you must remember this is solely my opinion, but I actually do like the core concept. The idea of basing a story around suicide and the effects of death on this culture is really fascinating, and seeing how it impacts their every day lives is really interesting too. But... it's just not conveyed in the way it deserves to be. Not everything needs to be the same quality as Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I understand that, but if Oninaki is going to feel, look and play as antiquated as it is, then at least have some antiquated cutscenes. Even DQ IX had better cutscenes than this, and it came out in 2009.
Cost: £0.00/$0.00
The more I age, the more money is becoming a precious commodity. Products like a can of Coke now start to add up, and those chocolate bars at £1.50 are now £1.50 I can't spend on a video game. It's a sad existence, equating every purchase with the price of a video game, restricting myself on what I can and can't buy based solely on how it would impact the purchasing of a new game; woe pity me. But to make matters worse, in the upcoming months a slew of AA and AAA video games are releasing on my all time favourite console: the Nintendo Switch. A cool £50 for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, another for Astral Chain, another for DQ XI. Oh boy, it's all adding up. That £1.50 chocolate bar is looking cheap now. So when a demo is released for a video game I jump at the opportunity to play it, regardless of my already established interest level in that game. Oninaki was announced a while back and I honestly hadn't paid too much attention to it, other than the odd comment that it reminded me somewhat of my all time favourite game: Xenoblade Chronicles 2. A demo dropped, I played it, and here are my unfiltered, honest and unbiased thoughts.
I'm going to break this review down into a few points, like a standard review format if you will. These are: Story, Gameplay and Visuals. I believe the latter is less important and I will not be attributing it its own section, instead intertwining it with Story and Gameplay.
STORY
I like Oninaki's story, sort of. The general idea, without spoiling too much, is that there are Watchers who help lost souls move on to reincarnation. If their loved ones grieve, or for other reasons not yet disclosed in the demo, they are unable to move on and it's up to the Watchers to make sure that doesn't happen. This game's story focuses on death, suicide and reincarnation first and foremost, and that to me is very intriguing. It's not rare for video games to tackle these subjects, but Oninaki's whole world is built up around these core concepts; characters refer to these issues in the game's main hub world, and it's interwoven into lore, which features in various minor character's dialogue. It's an interesting idea and it lends itself well to certain scenarios. I will mention that, from now on, I will spoil the demo's story, so I highly recommend playing the brief 40 or so minute demo and come back if you're still interested. Alright, let's resume. Your character is a moody, typical anime protagonist who's not too fussed about the dead and their souls. In fact, he's a pretty disinterested protagonist, likely from the trauma of being told he wasn't allowed to grieve at his parents' death when he was a child (poor guy). The game begins with a brief "cutscene" of your character mourning his parents' death before shoving you, a few years later, into a mission where you have to help a young boy move on. This pesky kid misses his parents and asks to go see them, so you give him permission and take him to their home. When they learn he feels alone, the mother and father agree to sacrifice themselves in order to be with their son. Your character chops their heads off and the title credit pops on screen with all the flare and drama of an angst-ridden school kid's diary cover. Let's break this down to give you an idea of why I don't think Oninaki's story works.
SORRY, I'VE GOT NO HEAD.
Oninaki's biggest problems are the lack of voice acting and the lack of decent cutscenes. Having recently replayed Xenoblade Chronicles 2, a game with expensive and flashy cutscenes, I almost feel spoiled. It's made me really appreciate the value that a good, well-directed and animated cutscene can offer to the overall flow of the narrative. It helps make moments that would otherwise appear stilted and awkward using the in game engine or camera, appear more dramatic or meaningful. The scene in Oninaki where you remove (it's a politer way) the parents' heads is so stilted and awkward because it's seen through the lens of the normal in-game camera, thus losing all effect. For example, a trope now in these old school games is the awkward turning of character models during cutscenes. Oninaki suffers from this age-old problem we solved a few years back. Characters move and turn awkwardly and all the animations seem off and unprofessional. When a character is speaking, they gesture simply by bobbing their hand up and down; it's lifeless and very un-human-like. Oninaki lacking a well-animated cutscene, even a brief one just showing the removing of the heads, is what hinders the story from really shining. That, and no voice acting and badly written dialogue. This whole scene is told through "ahhs" and "oohs", very much like a traditional JRPG. The Yakuza series adopts a similar technique for its smaller interactions or side quests. It's a perfectly fine way of doing things, especially as it reduces on voice acting costs and allocates that money elsewhere in the production. The problem with Oninaki is it's almost exclusively "ahhs" and "oohs". Urrgh. The lack of voice acting takes any emotional impact away from the scene, especially because we just read the parents' dialogue and do not hear the tears breaking up their difficult lines. It also doesn't help that the character models used for the parents and the child are then reused for background characters, and a minor character in a following mission! (Just lazy if you ask me!) The final thing that's wrong about this scene is the writing. The writing, while not awful, just isn't good. The whole scene takes place within seconds, and the only motivation the parents need, to END THEIR OWN LIVES I might add, is that their son feels a little lonely. It is sad, and I suppose not being a parent myself makes it hard to relate, but I also know how humans interact, speak and co-exist for I am one (shock horror!). This is not how humans speak, it's how badly-written JRPG characters speak in something like Pokemon. This decision is made all too quickly and all too lightly, and doesn't have the same emotional impact as say (spoilers for Xenoblade Chronicles 2 ahead) Vandham's choice to kill himself to save Rex in XBC2. The writing is really bottom of the barrel stuff that offers no emotion to a scene that should be very impacting. When the title credit popped up, I have to admit, I laughed. This scene was lost on me and that is ultimately a big shame.This poor writing and lack of cutscenes continues for some time. For example, just after this confrontation with the parents, we are brought to the hub world. Once there, we are introduced to various characters, whose names I have forgotten. These characters are indistinguishable from each other because the game is pseudo-isometric, which means it can be hard to make out individual models, or at least what makes them unique. You'd hope (still no voice acting for any line of dialogue at this point) that their written dialogue would hold some semblance of personality, but I was completely unable to differentiate the different stock JRPG characters apart, and once they had left I had totally forgotten their names. In the defence of Oninaki, there is a cutscene towards the very end of the demo, which in the actual game would be near the very beginning. This cutscene is fine, and while it's a little awkward and not all that per say, it's still a cutscene and it's a tad flashier than normal. So then if you can do cutscenes, Tokyo RPG Factory, then why are they not earlier, like the very beginning of the game. What makes Xenoblade Chronicles 2 so special is that its introduction is so strong. Within the first hour of the game (spoilers I suppose for the first hour of XBC2), the main character is killed, resurrected and then, having fused with his new blade, explodes a hole in a ship, fights the big bad before a dragon comes and destroys a bunch of turrets and sweeps them off their feet to safety, and the whole thing plays out like a really well-animated episode of an anime. The first hour of Oninaki doesn't see a flashy cutscene until well into the hour, and even when it's there, it's brief and not great. Now, sure, their budgets are not the same, and I imagine after Tokyo RPG Factory's previous failures it isn't getting the same money Nintendo gives Monolith Soft, but I'm not sure that's any excuse to skimp out on at least a brief cutscene to introduce the character at the beginning. Heck, even a cutscene introducing the main character's equivalent of a blade (called a Daemon in this) would have been nice, but instead it cuts to a bare-bones "cutscene" where a character gives exposition on what the blades of Oninaki are. Great!
I know I've complained a lot about the story, and I believe I'm justified, although you must remember this is solely my opinion, but I actually do like the core concept. The idea of basing a story around suicide and the effects of death on this culture is really fascinating, and seeing how it impacts their every day lives is really interesting too. But... it's just not conveyed in the way it deserves to be. Not everything needs to be the same quality as Xenoblade Chronicles 2, I understand that, but if Oninaki is going to feel, look and play as antiquated as it is, then at least have some antiquated cutscenes. Even DQ IX had better cutscenes than this, and it came out in 2009.
GAMEPLAY
So you may have heard of this little title called Xenoblade Chronicles 2; not sure I've mentioned it enough in this review for Oninaki, maybe I should talk about it a little bit more. Maybe I should because Oninaki certainly seems to love it. This game takes a lot of inspiration from XBC2 (I may be paranoid, but I'm pretty sure it's ripped some sounds straight from XBC2, not confirmed, probably paranoid, but you know, tinfoil hats and all that), a lot of inspiration. The whole Daemon mechanic is the blade mechanic from XBC2, just not as good. Oh, what is the Daemon mechanic? Well you mustn't have played Xenoblade Chronicles 2 if you're asking that and well, *nudge* *nudge* (you should go play it!). Okay. Essentially, in Oninaki, your character collects Daemons, which are lost spirits that can never transcend to be reincarnated, so instead they linger about and await a master. Of course they're all cool anime boys and girls, but it's a JRPG, so I'm not knocking points. Once collected, you can switch between the Daemons and utilise their weapon as your own. For example, your first Daemon has a katana, so you do, and the second a spear, so you do, and so on and so forth. These Daemons come with special abilities such as Meteor which sends the Daemon flying in the air to do a flying attack. These are tied to cooldowns which take a few seconds. You gain more of these skills (although not in the demo) throughout your playthrough, and you can only equip four Daemons at a time, meaning you have to think which will be the best for your mission. Alongside these special attacks, your Daemon can go into a super-charged mode which is activated once you've done enough attacking to bring its percentage up to 100%+. Once activated, you become a little more powerful, I believe, although I don't know if it gives you any additional benefits, and I have no interest in going back and finding out. On top of this, you have a basic attack attached to Y, which is just slashing or hacking away with whatever weapon the Daemon gives you. Now that that's out of the way, I can complain!
The combat is boring and feels incredibly outdated for 2019. It feels like combat out of Titan Quest or an old Pirates of the Caribbean title for the PS2. The basic Y attack repeats the same three animations and the same three sounds each and every time (I highly recommend at least reducing the voice sound while in combat, it's awful!) It gets absolutely infuriating hearing "Ahh" "Ahhhh" "Ahhhhhh" every three seconds during combat. Combat itself is just walking down a linear corridor and clearing it of whatever monsters lurk there. There is an additional mechanic that lets you go between The Void, which is where the lurking souls are, and the normal realm, but there are seemingly no differences between the two other than a colour change and additional chests. You have to beat a mini boss to be able to explore The Void of that area safely, but aside from that, travelling to The Void gives you identical enemies to fight and a few chests with items you already have maxed out in. It's pointless and I don't see a benefit to it as of yet. The other big issue with combat and exploration in general is the complete and mysterious lack of music. Perhaps it was a bug on my end, but when exploring the main hub, and subsequent dungeons, aside from mini boss and boss fights there was no music, just atmospheric sounds. Eh? For a JRPG this seems a very strange exclusion. The Daemons don't feel unique enough, and in a separate Battle Mode, accessible after having beaten the demo, you get to play with different Daemons and have access to four or five abilities. These abilities are fine, if not a little uninspired, but the Daemons themselves only really play differently in terms of speed. They still each have similar animations and the same sound effects for hitting stuff with the basic Y attack. In XBC2 the blades would stand behind you and channel their energy into you which was represented by a coloured line that stretched between the two of you. In this, your Daemon simply floats behind you unless used for an attack. It's less inventive and there feels like a real dissonance between the Daemon and the player. Their abilities aren't particularly fun to use, and I found just spamming whichever was available worked best, as opposed to using them strategically, as there was no real need.
Exploration is also really strange for a JRPG. For one, as far as I'm aware, there is no overworld. Normally, for those less informed, in JRPGs, you can usually move your characters around a scaled down world map so you can fight monsters and interact with characters during your travels to various locations. In Oninaki, no such thing exists; instead there is a map and you simply click on the available location and go there. Oh boy is this a boring way of doing things. Also, each location, the main hub city included, look so uninspired and dull. It's a whole lot of brown corridors and buildings in the beginning of Oninaki, aside from one small green area you start in. I'm not sure why they chose this as their starting area, and not something a little more exiting, or even just put a few multicoloured fairy lights along the city walls like it was a student bedroom. It all looks bland and, with the basic style of the character models, it's hard to see any real detail, which makes everything look very lifeless. It's not a very exciting world to explore, which is a real shame.
Oninaki has some pretty bad loading times too. To get into the game you have to watch a long loading screen, which loads the logos of Square Enix and Tokyo RPG Factory before bringing you to another loading screen, before the title screen. In game, there is stuttering in the main city hub, and I had some lag when fighting large groups of monsters. On top of that, going between The Void and the normal world was really bad, to the point that I stopped going to The Void unless I was required to by the story. Every time I went between the two realms there was a five second wait before I could move my character. It was infuriating and made it awkward to go between the two places. Seeing as there is no real benefit (in the demo at least) for going to The Void, I aVoided it at all costs (hehehe).
THE PRICE IS NOT SO RIGHT...
I think it all comes down to what I was saying at the beginning of the review: money. Oninaki is £44.99/$49.99, and I don't feel like it's worth that amount of money. Comparing that for a moment to the game it so desperately wants to be, Xenoblade Chronicles 2, at full price mind you, is £49.99/$59.99. That's only, at most, £10/$10 more than Oninaki and offers a far better experience, as far as I can tell from what I've played of Oninaki. Oninaki is coming out right next to other big releases and doesn't seem to hold a candle to their professionalism and quality. It feels like an Xbox360/Playstation 2 game with a modern day price tag and I can't really forgive it for that. For all the intrigue its story offers, it's repetitive, poorly designed and boring gameplay, lacklustre visuals, bad writing and lack of cutscenes and voiced lines, brings it down. I cannot recommend this game at all, but luckily for you there's a demo (the very thing I'm reviewing) and it's totally free! So if you still want to check it out, just go onto your Nintendo Eshop account, go to Coming Soon (in the UK version) and hit download demo on Oninaki's store page. I guess if you have the time it's totally free and not very long. See for yourselves, but for me it's a hard no!
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