by: Nabila Rhapsodios
Lost Soul Aside's story begins a thousand years before Kaser's time. The planet where Kaser lives is invaded by an intergalactic race. But humanity doesn't let this catastrophe slide. Seleria, the leader of the revolters, with help from Lord Arena (an ex-member of the conquistador), succeeds in imprisoning Aramon, the leader of the conquistador, in the void. Aramon and his cohorts would later become known as Voidrax.
Currently, Kaser leads GLIMMER, a rebel group that aims to overthrow the merciless and warmongering Emperor HighCastle. Kaser and his sister, Louisa, are orphans due to the long war between their country and the Kingdom of Frosthold, the neighboring country.
On the eve of the founder's day, GLIMMER launches an operation to inspire people to rise. Unfortunately, this operation opens up a more threatening matter. Voidrax starts to jump out from the void, devastates the capital, and tears the souls of its inhabitants.
Amid the chaos, Kaser meets Lord Arena at the underground laboratory that the Emperor owns. They merge, and now Kaser can use Voidrax energy to battle Voidrax. But another bad thing pops up. Louisa is snatched by one Voidrax, and her soul is taken from her body, leaving her in a death-like sleep.
Kaser despairs, but Arena soothes him by saying there is still a way to save Louisa's soul. Thus, Kaser begins a journey to save her soul and faces Aramon's threat again.
I finally beat Lost Soul Aside. It's not the best or anything, but it's fun for what it is. My final rating of this game is 7.4/10, an improvement over my original score, which was much worse. I changed the rating because the patches helped improve my mid-story experience until the final boss. So, here's the plus side of the game:
(+)
a. Combat
I'm being honest here, this game's combat starts painfully slow. However, once you get and improve most of your weapons, combat becomes more fun and flashy to mix up combos. This game has a great combat system with a lot of combo expressions.
b. Cool Action Cinematics, Stunning Environments, and Beautiful Art Direction
They deserve praise. They are good and have potential for future game projects for Yang Bing's team.
c. Voice Acting
English voice-over improves as the game progresses, or I've gotten used to it. Either way, English voice-over is hit-and-miss. Japanese dub and Chinese dub are tolerable because at least the voice actors put more emotion into their words.
d. Music/Original Soundtrack
I'm enjoying the music. This game has some banger music to listen to. Yoko Shimomura also wrote the theme song, and Amanda Achen was involved with this game!
Ultimately, those positive points fill the lackluster I feel for The Lost Soul Aside. I empathize deeply with Yang Bing and have read his story about how this game was made from scratch. But I can't unsee the issues. This is my complaint. Such as:
(-)
a. The Controls
I want Kaser to do a jump, a second jump, and an air dash, and he lands on a directed platform. The controls to do each action with pressing designated buttons can overlap, leading to the intended action differing from my intention. Another tiny example is when I cursor Kaser to dodge an incoming attack, Kaser instead gets hit, and he falls. Again, the command buttons do not work their job. In summary, the controls are not super tight.
b. Animation & Render
They look good only in cutscenes. Outside cutscenes, character animation is stiff like a marionette, and the rendering is unpolished, especially the characters' hair and trivial stuff like boxes, crates, books, and stairs.
c. Story Pace & Dialogue
The story is alright. I wasn't expecting AAA levels of storytelling; it is very easy to follow, too. However, the story's pace is disjointed, characterized by a strong start that rapidly becomes a simple hunt, with a narrative often punctuated by excessive combat and a lack of engaging character development or memorable story beats. Last but not least, the dialogue is quite plain, too.
d. Audio Mixing
This is the worst one. When writing this review, I diligently updated the game to the latest patches, but the audio mixing still needs to be addressed in future fixes. The stopping point of the song or sound from before the cutscene or exceptional fight to the cutscene and the distinctive fight is not smooth. They stop abruptly for no reason, leading to an awkward silence. I saw a cutscene in which the character's voice became smaller than the music and sound. That moment shocked me because the cutscene was a bit intense, and this little noise snatched the feeling I felt for the cutscene.
As someone who purchased the game and felt quite happy throughout the gameplay, I appreciate the updates this game is getting. It's already better than it was at launch.
Yang Bing and his Ultizero Games have delivered something incredible, considering all the turmoil and stresses Yang Bing dealt with over the decade. I hope he makes more games that are on par with his true vision in the future. I felt for him; it's tough to see such potential and hopes dashed by poor execution, many meddlers, and an extremely troubled development cycle. I hope the Lost Soul Aside review doesn't discourage him and his team.
*Disclaimer: Courtesy of Google Images. The material published on this website is intended solely for general information and reference purposes and is not legal advice or other professional advice.
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