I am Setsuna

Square Enix, or Squaresoft as one side of the current Japanese game giant was called before its merger with Enix in 2003, has a rich history behind it, especially when it comes to Role-Playing Games. Fans will fondly remember the SNES Final Fantasy...

A lack of balance robs the combat of much of its fun and renders many of the more interesting gameplay systems moot, but it didn't dampen the emotional impact of I Am Setsuna's heartfelt message for me. Few story-driven RPGs are so thematically focused...

If you are looking for a classic JRPG experience, you will love I Am Setsuna. If you are looking for the second coming of Chrono Trigger, however, you will be...

What's here, however, is enough: an enchanting story, supported by simple, lost pleasures. It's the way in which your characters leave deep furrows as they run through the drift. It's the sound of rested snow thumping to the ground as you nudge past a tree. It's the old sea, watched from a cliff. It's how Tokyo RPG Factory has managed to rekindle the wonder and innocence of a once great genre.

I Am Setsuna seems like the perfect game for those missing the Golden Age of Japanese RPGs, but unfortunately it has been painted with a shallow brush. The story moves at an uncontrolled pace, never truly developing any of the characters or their motives, and fails to establish the emotional connection the developers were aiming for.

I Am Setsuna is an unapologetic homage to beloved Japanese RPGs that plays well but takes few risks. Tokyo RPG Factory has accomplished their implied mission statement: to make Japanese RPGs the way many of us remember them back in the day. As a result, I Am Setsuna walks in the footsteps of giants, and is thus dwarfed by the memories of games that inspired it.

I enjoyed my time with the game, but there were certainly more than a few times it pushed its luck. If you love JRPGs, this is certainly worth checking out, but it doesn’t do anything we haven’t seen before.

I Am Setsuna has lots of nods to Chrono Trigger, from its general combat framework to specific references to skills like X-Strike and Luminaire. However, it doesn’t capture why most players connected to that seminal title. Even though the combat is entertaining, I Am Setsuna’s characters are dull, the environments are repetitive, and the story is predictable. I would like to see more games inspired by the golden era of 16-bit RPGs, but you can’t recapture the spirit of innovation and experimentation that pervaded those titles through mimicry alone.

I actually quite like the adherence to nostalgia, as Square is only giving fans with they want after years of complaints that projects like Final Fantasy XIII strayed too far. But by the same token of goodwill, it plays it a little too safe in regards to its at times predictable story, and doesn't really do anything new that moves the genre forward in any way. Still, if old school is what you want, you'll get it.

It's not a new classic by any stretch, but I Am Setsuna demonstrates a great understanding and mastery of what made Square Enix's past successes work so well. It might have benefited from stripping down the mechanics even more, or spending more resources creating a wider range of locations and enemies. But as it is, I Am Setsuna is a soft, sad experience that nonetheless filled me with joy. That should tell you everything.

I am Setsuna has a brilliant battle system and gorgeous soundtrack, but it's undermined by repetitive level...

There are a lot of areas in which I Am Setsuna could be improved, but it's still a beautiful game that fully captures the spirit of SNES era...