Children of Morta isn't just an effective and borderline twee action RPG. It's a sentence.

In Draslay Family’s case, it was merely a gimmick, made to exploit the “Family” tag found in a bunch of Family Computer (i.e NES) games’ titles published by Namcot.
Well actually, reading Tom’s writing, it seems to be also the case here. I’m not quite sure I understood it!

Based on Tom’s write up I wouldn’t be able to play Children of Morta for the same reason I can’t watch The Incredibles, I can’t handle watching happy, loving families working together towards a common goal.

@kerzain just pretend they are the Palin family and you’ll be fine.

They have plenty of struggles and disagreements, at least early on.

@tomchick That tagline belongs on a movie about the mafia.

I breeze to the first boss with Lydia, then get quickly overwhelmed. With John, I haven’t made it to the boss.

I’ve had trouble with most bosses with anybody but John. He is downright ridiculous with the right gear and buffs.

He’s really strong, I just need to do a better job of repositioning at times when I get flanked.

Ended up taking out first boss with Kevin, as Tom alluded to. Got the second with Lydia.

Discovered a cool hidden mechanic (I think) today. A series of hints from vague to specific

Not everything that looks decorative necessarily is

at least, on the floor

There’s a rune design on the floor. Try luring enemies near it and attacking them close by. Rewards await you.

What a shame this game isn’t getting more attention from people. Finished the first “Act” earlier and what an incredible ride that was. This game seems so simple at first, but they keep adding on new systems and before you know it you have graces (like perks from Isaac), relics (which give you additional abilities), runes (like Diablo runes that alter your basic powers), shrines, etc.

I beat the third boss with Mark, which I never expected to do. I was tearing up elites like mad and had some ridiculously chaotic fights where I could barely tell what the heck I was doing. So much fun.

It’s really cool how the combination of these factors can make each run feel very different from the last, even if you’re using the same character.

-Tom

Oh, btw. That run from this morning was the first time I got a rune from a different character. In this case, when I crit with Mark’s basic attack, it would proc Lydia’s explosive crescendo attack. That was great fun, especially when I also had a relic that had a chance to cause explosions when an enemy died. I wish I could have kept that rune the entire run.

No official thread going on , so I’ll put this here.

It sounds like a great game. It’s a shame about the pixelation though. I probably can’t play it because of that, even if I get it. I just find that really hard to take.

FWIW, I hate the recent trend of pixel art games. Truly abominable. But a few of them, like this one, are really quite beautiful, imo. Maybe check out a gameplay video and see what you think?

Awesome review @tomchick I just wish my eyes could make out detail in pixel games. I just see blobs of pixels for the most part.

I’ve been wondering for the past 30 years if I was the only one who ever played it!

A lot of people point to Battle Toads, Ninja Gaiden, and Ghosts & Goblins, but I’d put forth Legacy of the Wizard as the most impossible NES game ever, possibly only beaten out by Cobra Triangle. I’m surprised the Angry Video Game nerd never covered either of them.

If it wasn’t for the ridiculous maze and excessive gold grinding, it could have been one of the best NES games. A dungeon crawl Super Mario Brothers 2.

I played almost six hours already (I have all the characters finally), and while I started liking it a lot at first, I feel it’s missing something.

I like the basic control scheme / combat, in fact I wish games like Diablo would play like this. I like how they have tried to mitigate the whole ‘attack while going backwards’ that potentially can exist in a game like this.

Still, I think it’s missing another layer of… something to make the action really shine and be a bit less repetitive after the first hours. The mage should have a pair of spells more?, and maybe the archer should have different ammo types to juggle, with spare ammo you can find in the dungeon, so you have a bit of resource management? Yes, I want a bit more of complexity. I also wish it had less melee enemies attacking you in a straight line and a few more enemies with more distinct behaviors.

There is a jump of difficulty between the three areas (worlds?), which in practical terms is translated to ‘just grind for a pair of hours in the previous area’ that rubs me in wrong way. The reality is this is an action roguelite with lots of permanent upgrades everywhere, and you have to roll with it.

The combat can be a slog sometimes with the ranged characters, sometimes I finish an area with 450 enemies killed, and depending of the character (archer for example) and your actual world and progression, you need to hit basic enemies 4 times to kill them. I know she deals less damage than other melee guys because precisely, she is a ranged fighter, but the pace of the game is hurt.

Glad you’re playing this, Turin, and I totally get your complaints, but a couple of things:

For me, the actual moment-to-moment gameplay is just as much about the temporary upgrades. The passives, the runes that modify abilities, whatever power you have slotted. These aren’t permanent, and they vary greatly. In fact, they can make any two runs with the same character class feel very different. For me, this is what the pacing is all about: either looking for an awesome combo, or getting an awesome combo and running with it.

Pay attention to the particulars of each character’s skill. You might already know this, but the archer does more damage if she’s standing still. There’s complexity in here, but it’s baked in instead of being something you tinker with.

-Tom

There are also things you probably don’t have unlocked yet, like runes that trigger abilities from other family members. It’s not complex, but there’s more going in than it initially appears.

Been looking out for this since Tom’s review and I see it’s on sale for the Switch. Has anyone tried it on the Switch (or both Switch and PC?) and can suggest if one platform is preferable? I’d normally get it on Steam but couch co-op would be easier on the Switch (if co-op is worthwhile here).

Only played on pc, sorry. I like it a lot. Not a ton of depth, but great value and fun.

I’m trying not to get distracted from Horizon Zero Dawn, but this got added to Game Pass today, and I’ve been very curious since I read Tom’s excellent review. I was a little apprehensive since I hate pixel art.

I just played up to the cutscene where you unlock the first dungeon. So far so good. I kind of like it. What’s weird about the art style is that it’s not so much the fact that it’s pixel art that’s bother me, it’s that some things are drawn as if it’s an overhead view, while most stuff is drawn as if it’s kind of an isometric view. I don’t know, it’s weird and makes me uncomfortable looking at it. Maybe it’s something I’ll get used to?

Anyway, I just wanted to look at it at least once. Back to H:ZD for now. I’ll be back.