Nights of Azure Reviews
Nights of Azure 2 is an action-RPG with a good number of content, but despite a great artistic direction, it's technically underdeveloped and with a still too low level of difficulty.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Nights of Azure 2 blends elements from multiple genres into a stew that many gamers won't soon forget.
Nights of Azure was quite the enjoyable game, but the main story was quite short and can be completed within hours. For completionists or achievement hunters like me, a lot of time will be spent in the game after the final boss fight in order to grind tasks and levels. Overall, while the game was enjoyable, it was not that immersive, thus I did not feel attachment to any of the characters in the game. Nonetheless, Nights of Azure is still a great game to play for those seeking a new and quick JRPG to play.
In the end, Nights of Azure tries to prioritize style over substance, which should be enough to gain the attention of its target audience, but a bit more tightening up of the latter would have been preferable. Whether the grinding gameplay is enough to enjoy a saccharine sweet girl/girl romance plot will depend on the player's tolerance, not to mention their own priorities for a game like this.
Nights of Azure could have been better than it was. The story and basic concepts of the battle mechanics had something special about them, but they fell flat when they weren't expanded upon and were expected to be repeated over and over.
Nights of Azure looks pretty. It feels pretty. It sounds pretty, but it's heart is ugly. Bland, samey and generic - Sure, perhaps if you haven't played a JRPG Hack'n'Slash before, then give this a shot, otherwise you'd most likely find better for your money elsewhere.
Nights of Azure originally released for PS4 in North America in early 2016, and now it has received a PC port to bless, or torment, the non-console gamers. Featuring a beautiful art style and soundtrack, Nights of Azure, while incredibly niche, is a soulful tale of love and friendship.
While Nights of Azure shines from a production aspect, its shallow gameplay only holds back what could have been an otherwise compelling RPG. Casual fans of the genre might be able to forgive the almost tedious combat and Servan system, but hardcore action RPG enthusiasts are hard-pressed to find much to enjoy in terms of actual game and level design. Arnice'slimited moveset simply doesn't mesh well with the genre, forcing her to spam the same combos over and over again, with occasional Servan interruption. The cast and world are admirable and well done, but the actual playable portion is lacking the same level of quality and care the rest of the game got.
Nights of Azure is a game of wasted potential. The game's dark tone and setting is ultimately ruined by the excessive presence of comic relief, which takes a lot of the tension out of the terrible choice Arnice has to take to save the world. With an experience that gets stale way too quickly, Nights of Azure true saving grace are the game's two main characters and the development of their relationship, which takes some interesting turns. A shame, as the game could have been so much more.
While the opening hours do nothing to rid your mouth of a slowly growing taste of disappointment, Nights of Azure eventually manages to claw you back once some of its more interesting combat mechanics begin to shine through. It's relatively short length aids the process, but also comes under fire when you consider the bare-bones storytelling. It's a difficult sell, but one I hope GUST can rehabilitate with the upcoming sequel.
I had a lot of fun playing the game for my Nights of Azure review, and hopefully you give the game a go on PlayStation 4. GUST did a great job with this one, and I look forward to playing the studio's next release!
Nights of Azure is both a wonderful attempt at freshness in a genre that lapses into redundancy and a lapse into said redundancy itself. The ideas in Nights of Azure are worthy of a nod of respect, but the execution falls short.
Gust has some pretty good ideas with the Servan system, and the gameplay is pretty smooth once you get yourself properly kitted out, but Nights of Azure has a few boring aspects that really make it a chore to play.
All in all, Nights of Azure is a middling game with some neat design choices that just didn't do enough to stand out. Combat and gameplay had glimpses of a great game, especially in the arena, but the rest of it didn't hold up. Characters were written well enough and side stories were enjoyable, but the main storyline felt flat and stereotypical. It just wasn't enough to make it a great game, but it was far from genuinely bad.
There's always going to be those times where you just want that little bit of extra strength, and lets face it, no action-RPG featuring a half-human, half-demon protagonist would be complete without some form of transformation mechanic
If you are looking for replayability, its packed into the gathering of goodies and the likely chance that you will want to feel this story again one day whether you are gay or straight, boy or girl. It is delicate and strong, it is close to masterful.
Overall, Nights of Azure is challenging, but it is fun and rewarding when those challenges are overcome. The game isn't overly ambitious, with a small world, simple objectives and seven chapters of story content. Even so, it can inspire many hours of gameplay and engage the imagination.
Nights of Azure has a story that could have been great, especially with its same-sex relationship between the two main characters coming across as natural and not judged in the game's world.
Nights of Azure is a fun, if flawed, game. The RPG elements are workable, though leave much more to be desired, the action is passable, and the minion system is arguably the best part. Picking and customizing the minions is about the only joy in a repetitious combat system. Despite being touted as a darker direction for the company, the blatant and misdirected sexual focus, mixed with the very adolescent-leaning view of relationships, makes the already-slow story harder to connect to in any way that will leave players with fond memories after moving on. The potential of a darker, nuanced story is lost in endless ecchi and slapstick humour that is woefully misplaced.
Overall, Nights of Azure is a rather unremarkable ARPG that just happens to have a gorgeous art style and a fantastic soundtrack. Even though it's not likely to become the new flagship franchise for the developers at Gust, it's a solid attempt at a new genre and a good distraction until the next Atelier title releases later this year.