April 2014’sChild of Lightcertainly doesn’t look like it’s almost a decade old. Lovingly and painstakingly produced 2D visuals have a timeless quality to them, and the UbiArt framework is an excellent example of that.
From the very first reveal trailer, it was abundantly clear that this was a stunning title, and the storybook world of Lemuria is rich with fantastical details and delightful throughout. It’s a beautiful,child-friendly adventure.
The storyline itself isn’t especially innovative, packing every fairytale trope – from evil stepmothers and kindly queens to giants, mysterious locales in the sky, and dwarves – into its 15-hour runtime. The point of the whole thing is to embrace all of this, though, as young Aurora, transported to this beautiful fairytale world, sets out to defeat the evil stepmother and return home through a magical mirror.
A lot of the uniqueness of this title comes from its wonderful artistic style, and the fact that it’s rarely a direction that a big developer and publisher like Ubisoft would take. Or really have since. It looks for all the world like an ambitious, beautiful indie title.There’s not a moment of wasted time throughout, either.
It’s not all style and no substance, though. As much as I appreciate the visuals, the engaging-if-hardly-groundbreaking storytelling and Cœur de pirate’s atmospheric soundtrack, my favorite aspect of Child of Light isits ATB battle system.
I grew up with the classic RPGs of the 90s, spending an awful lot of my childhood grinding levels in them. You could say, then, that I have a lot of experience with turn-based battles.
As the system’s many detractors say today, selecting an attack or magical spell from a menu and then watching passively as it plays out isn’t the most engaging idea. In one of my very favorite RPGs, Final Fantasy VII, I almost always have a character equipped with the Fury Ring, which took away even the need to select the Attack command.
Yes, selecting the ever-angry Cid Highwind for this role and then watching as he carves his way through enemies with his spear, with no input from me, is fitting. Still, there’s more to battles than just glowing a bright shade of red and doing that, or choosing one of your overpowered Enemy Skills and watching the enemies evaporate.
I use the example of Final Fantasy VII not to be snarky about the game, but to demonstrate that some of the most beloved RPGs of all time embraced this turn-based system. Today, it’s difficult to pull off such a battle system in an engaging way, and success there is part of what has made Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 the monster hit that it is.
Back in the charming world of Child of Light, enemies can be seen traversing the overworld and, when interacted with, battle is joined. Only two members of Aurora’s growing party can fight at a time, and the player’s given the menu options to attack conventionally, use a skill or item, or swap out a character with another.
Pay Attention To The Timeline
The creative part is the timeline system. In a lot of RPGs, you might want to simply spam your most powerful ability, or select the default attack command over and over. To succeed in Child of Light’sgorgeous storybook world, though, the key thing to bear in mind is that actions taken require a certain amount of time.
There’s a casting phase for attacks and abilities, whether magical or not, and you may see it on the timeline on the bottom of the screen. Being struck while casting can prevent whatever that enemy or party member was readying to do.
Strategy is key. In one round, for instance, you might want your slow, lumbering, physical powerhouse of a golem to strike all enemies with their club, and your mage, the adorable wizard Finn, to cast a similarly slow yet devastating spell.
Attempting this without considering the enemies’ position on the timeline, though, will often mean that both party members are interrupted and bumped back. Against bosses, in particular, this could lead to a rapid game over as you lose momentum.
There are a lot of tools available to help you take advantage of the timeline system. Through abilities and potions, you can speed up your allies or make them Unstoppable (immune to being interrupted). You can also freeze foes on the timeline entirely for a brief time (Gen is an absolutely fantastic party member I initially underestimated), or simply slow them down.
Some of those enemies, of course, can buff themselves or debuff your team in exactly the same way. Then there’s Igniculus, your firefly companion, who can be independently controlled. This little legend has saved my party countless times, delaying a particular foe by being directed towards and shining their light upon them.
There’s a lot to manage over the course of even a regular battle, is what I’m getting at, and this is one of the most unique battle systems I’ve ever seen in an RPG. That’s not to say a similar thing hasn’t been done before, though.
25 years ago, the battles in Grandia II saw combatants Commit to an action of choice and then, when a certain time had elapsed, Act on it. Through careful planning and targeting, the player could prevent whatever enemies were cooking up in just the same way.
In that game, there was also the advantage of being able to see who was being targeted. Child of Light doesn’t have this, which is unfortunate. Every so often, though, I’ll throw out a cheeky AOE spell from Finn, terribly timed, just hoping that the foes go for self-buffs instead or target my other party member.
Ultimately, the thing I enjoy the most in turn-based battles is a bit of interactivity. The Mario & Luigi games’ timing-based prompts, for instance, or the aforementioned Clair Obscur’s parrying system. They’re a huge part of what makes me consider Child of Lightone of the best RPGs on PS3, where I first played it, or any other system it’s available for.
It’s an action RPG world now, for the most part, but there are still ways to keep creaky old turn-based mechanics fresh and interesting. Developers just need to try.
