Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

This article comes from the official account of Wechat: ID:chuappgame, author: Zhu Siqi

As a small team, developers may be well aware of the truth that "good steel is used on the edge".

Memory Border (Thymesia), a soul-like action adventure game developed by independent studio OverBorder Studio, was officially launched on PC, PS and Xbox platforms on August 18. At first glance, the world setting and art style of the game are very similar to "Blood Curse". The protagonist needs to defeat all kinds of enemies in the plague-ravaged city in his memory in order to find a way to end the disaster once and for all. But in practice, the combat mechanism of the game mixes more of the bullet knife of Wolf with the weapon design of the Soul series.

The special thing is that each enemy has two kinds of blood strips. The white strip acts as a shield and can be destroyed by ordinary attacks and special plague weapons; after that, the protagonist needs to reduce the real green blood strips with the equivalent of heavy attacks, otherwise the white stripes will slowly recover. However, although it is designed to encourage players to attack, many enemies have a hegemonic body, which is difficult to suppress all the time, so the fighting tempo of the game is faster than the traditional "soul" turn system, but it cannot be pressed all the time like "only wolf". It needs to be flexible.

▲ 's "memory Border" has made its own adjustments on the basis of the battle of several "soul" systems.

The combat system that has become the absolute focus of my first contact with the "memory Border" is the trial version released by the production team in May. At that time, there were only teaching levels in the game, and although the enemy configuration and even "plot Kill" were exactly the same as the official version, the combat feel and some judgment details were different from what they are now. To sum up, at that time, many people reported that the game was "too difficult": the protagonist could not dodge continuously, the judgment of bullet knives and feathers interrupting fatal attacks (equivalent to the "gun counterattack" in "Blood Curse") was very harsh, and the enemy had a bullying body per person. And many moves can repel the protagonist and so on.

Fortunately, after collecting the opinions of the trial version, the development team made some adjustments to the values, which slightly relaxed the various judgments, improved the combat feel of the official version, and made some balance between difficulty and fun.

Although inheriting a lot of "soul" classic combat mechanism, there is still a certain threshold for getting started at the beginning of the game. Moreover, although the "memory Border" is labeled RPG, the role upgrade is not particularly large, only increasing health, normal attack and plague attacks. What is more important is the talent point that comes with the promotion of the level. Some of the well-known "Soul" is the ability of the protagonist in the game, as well as the unique ability of the protagonist of "memory Border", which requires a bit of special learning. Several important talents include second dodging, raising a knife to defend or relaxing the bullet knife judgment, and getting up immediately after being knocked down or knocked off. Before pointing out these skills, pure bullet knives to hit elite soldiers or Boss, the experience may be more painful.

▲ brisk talent can bring many benefits to actual combat.

You can get up to 24 talent points in the game, which is far from enough to cover all skills, and many skill trees can only choose one of two. For example, if players choose defense, they can no longer choose bullet knives, and if they choose continuous attacks, they can no longer choose counterattacks. At this level, the game actually imposes some restrictions on the combat strategies that players can choose.

Fortunately, the game has no restrictions on resetting talents and no props are required, so when players get into a tough fight, they can wash some at the nearest chair (file point). If you think it's easier for Boss to fight with a bullet knife, just order all the bullet knives; if you think the push picture needs to be continued, you can get some more blood back. There is no special design for additional professional play in the game, and the protagonist's left and right-handed weapons and armor cannot actually be replaced, but the convenient washing point design still gives players a sense of "freedom in battle" to a certain extent. However, players need to use some precious props if they want to completely reset the protagonist's level, reset the amount of health and increase the attack power.

Although the equipment available to the protagonist is reduced to only one set at the beginning, the game's featured system, Plague weapon, has many options. There are two main ways to obtain plague weapons: one is to seize the plague weapons directly from the enemy with "plunder claws" in the middle of the battle, which is equivalent to temporarily "stealing" the weapons in the hands of the other side and using them at one time in the war. But because "plunder claws" need to build up strength, it is more dangerous to use in the face of difficult enemies. Another way is to defeat the enemy, get their falling fragments, and make plague weapons. This kind of plague weapon can be carried with you, according to talent allocation, can carry up to two, and consume energy unlimited times.

Plague weapons range from heavy weapons such as giant swords, swords and sledgehammers, to light weapons such as axe guns, double knives and whips, to props for auxiliary survival such as miasma and blood shields, and there are derivative actions and changes after upgrading. players in the amount of health and attack points will also bring a variety of bonus to the weapon. Because they themselves do not consume much blue, the energy supplement can be directly added to the blood bottle through herbs, and claw attacks can also grab energy by the way, so the so-called blue limit is not felt throughout the process, and plague weapons can be used as much as they want. it is almost possible to abandon normal attack as the main output tool.

▲ collects all plague weapons and needs to defeat all Boss and all kinds of elite monsters.

In the case that most of the enemy's shot is very strong, and the protagonist is particularly easy to be hit hard, the weapon that can strike the enemy on time is almost a general solution. In terms of personal play experience, after getting the sword, the difficulty of pushing pictures in the process is greatly reduced, even if it is an elite monster, as long as the other party is unable to get up. Only the Boss who can't be hit by a big sword and attacks too frequently may have to consider a different way of playing.

And without considering the optimal solution, these weapons do provide a variety of fun for combat. Whether it is the pursuit of damage daggers and double knives, or the pursuit of life-saving blood shield and miasma, playability and practicality are good. Even if you really don't know how to play with a machete, you can grind through most of the Boss just by using all kinds of plague weapons, giving this game, which is designed with a hard core, the potential to expand its audience.

In terms of the Boss war, the "memory Border", including all the branch lines, has only 8 strong enemies, which is really not large. Some Boss have a strong sense of visibility. The head of the circus in the first chapter, including the variant version, looks like a combination of Madame Butterfly and Wei Mingxianichiro; the God of the Fool almost copied the "one knife Dragon" in Dark Soul 3, but designed some poisonous fog similar to scarlet corruption and inescapable elite monsters in the parkour process (fortunately, the elite monster will not be refreshed after being killed). The sound of the abyss is a pure mechanism monster that can only attack weakness, which reminds me of the dragon god in the Soul of the Devil. However, because the combat system of the game has its own characteristics, it does not actually have a strong sense of "changing skin", while the chivalry commander and female swordsmen are very regular strength and agile humanoid Boss, and they are relatively refreshing.

Urd, a female swordsman of ▲, has a terrifying succession of swords, especially in the second stage. It is very tiring to get through the pure bullet knife, but it also feels good.

In any case, I am more satisfied with "memory Border" as the core combat part of a kind of "soul" game, and the Boss war is also very happy. The game does have some flaws, but given the small production team and technical and financial constraints, it is not easy to polish it to this point.

Slightly inferior maps and worldviews, however, the charm of soul games is more than just fighting. Although different players have different priorities, the ingenious box court map design, immersive worldview and mysterious fragment plot are also the unstoppable elements of this kind of game.

In these respects, the "memory border" cannot be said to have not tried. It imitates the narrative method of "Blood Curse", which allows players to piece together causes and consequences while playing, roughly outlining the infectious disaster caused by the two forces' research and abuse of "pure blood" and "dirty blood" in a country that respects alchemy. But on the whole, the story and the worldview do not have much sense of existence.

What is more worth talking about is the map part. The map of "memory Border" does not have a lot of twists and turns like the real "soul" box court, which makes people feel moved by a shortcut when they are at an end. In the process of pushing the map, I feel that it just sets up a number of obstacles to make the small map longer and more roundabout. The location of pickable items is also a bit random, and because the collection in the game itself is optional, most of them are plot fragments, which generally does not make players have a sense of "seeing shiny things." even if you lose your life, you have to pick it up. "Soul" is the "phototaxis of the undead" that players often joke about, but it is not clearly reflected in the Border of memory.

The green spots in ▲ maps are often plot fragments, the white ones are memory fragments (equivalent to small wallets), and the materials are light blue spots.

The enemy configuration in the map is also relatively loose, only in the Royal Garden and Hermes Fortress these two maps have the feeling of long-distance cooperation. Most of the time it is still an ordinary little monster to fight, or put an elite monster with a small monster in the neighborhood to harass. In addition, there is not much prominence in the art style, and the quality of modeling is relatively rough. generally speaking, the push process does not bring me a particularly immersed sense of exploration, tension and surprise.

However, developers are trying to make up for the shortcomings of the map in other ways. Memory Border has a total of three large maps of the main line. After defeating the mainline Boss of each map, a new feeder task will be launched. These tasks may be to find specific intelligence or defeat hidden Boss, the equivalent of a small copy. The copy still follows the map of the main line, but changes the position of the chair and the configuration of the enemy. The same route, walking in the opposite direction, and exploring the various doors and elevators that are not opened in the main line, can indeed bring a different experience. The design seems to be quite effective so far.

The main line of the ▲ game only needs to walk three maps and play three Boss to enter the final battle, but to collect all five endings, you need to finish the branch line.

In terms of visual effects, although the scene looks OK, and the design manuscripts and original paintings in the art set are also very beautiful, but in fact, my most intuitive feeling is that "not handsome enough". Several main humanoid Boss, although the circus head, knight commander and female swordsman have some very chic posture, it is easy to beat the protagonist back into the chair, and the action modules of some plague weapons are also gaudy, but the appearance and some basic movements of the protagonist Corvus are really somewhat stiff, and the clothing effect of imitating elegant raven wings is hardly ideal. The armor texture of the knight commander looks rougher in CG, which makes his overall temperament different from the original painting, and the cladding and tin enthusiasts who are aesthetically cultivated by the "soul" department will be more or less disappointed. Considering that the effect images released in the set actually look good, it must be due to lack of funds, so the modeling and animation products can not meet expectations.

The beauty of the shape of the ▲ character still has to be found in the set, which is different from the actual effect in the game.

As mentioned earlier, the plot and worldview of "memory Border" are even less existential. Although a set of world outlook is designed, the choice of words and sentences of the plot fragments and the final story are quite insipid. There are only two interactive NPC in the entire process. They do not show much personality themselves, and they are basically tools for upgrading and obtaining information. Boss also gives only an identity and a small amount of background, and the battle does not feel any bonus to personality charm.

There is not much interaction between the two NPC and the protagonist, who ▲ is supposed to be at the heart of the event.

The only scene that makes me feel a little interesting and combined with the plot is the huge birdcage that serves as the final Boss battle site. But the nature of Boss and its own "final exam" is far more than the collection of emotions and stories, and I have become an emotionless robot that repeatedly challenges only to collect multiple endings.

By the way, the game is not very comprehensive. Players can go back to the starting point of the final Boss war infinitely as long as they choose "this is not the truth" after the ending animation, and the memory fragments (in-game currency) obtained by defeating Boss will not be lost, so eventually Boss can not only be used to collect endings, but also can be used to brush money and get the character's full achievement.

Finally, ▲ Boss can be challenged repeatedly according to the needs of players.

Conclusion: as a similar "soul" game launched by a small independent team, "memory Border" seems to know the truth of "good steel is used on the blade". Although there are some unsatisfactory aspects in vision, plot and worldview, the blending and polishing of the classic "Soul" makes it still an attractive work, which can almost drive players to pass the customs in one breath. Even because of its small size, it feels a little less fun. Old "Soul" players or fans of this kind of games are worth a try. After dinner, dessert is also good.

Advantages

+ the combat system is playable to some extent.

+ Boss Battle is well designed

+ Map reuse is more ingenious.

Shortcoming

− lacks world outlook and story immersion.

− characters do not have dubbing

The − map and the strange lineup are not sophisticated enough.

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