I Am Setsuna Reviews
I Am Setsuna is the perfect antidote for our hot and angry summer
I Am Setsuna is a mixture of beautiful, heartfelt, and depressing moments, one whose depth is unfortunately overshadowed by its over-abundant moments of shallowness. The worth in Setsuna may end up being not in what it did on its own, but the groundwork it provides for future projects.
Design missteps and combat randomness don’t defeat this sombre tale.
A charming and competent RPG which is let down by a lack of variety, depth and originality. Retro JRPG fans will like it though.
I Am Setsuna is an interesting take on the classic JRPG genre. Tokyo RPG Factory has managed to take one of the best turn-based battle system from fan favorite Chrono Trigger and used it to create a simple but memorable experience that might satisfy the thirst of JRPG fans.
I am Setsuna may not blow you away - it’s simple and understated, but there’s a lot of charm in that. This quiet JRPG is a solicitous throwback that makes its case through thoughtful moments instead of flashy cutscenes.
If I am Setsuna stands as an example of what developers would accomplish if they more frequently looked back toward the golden age of RPGs, I enthusiastically urge the industry to continue pressing forward in further modernizing the genre.
Honestly, I am Setsuna may be the best RPG I play this year (Trails of Cold Steel is excluded because it released last year). With its simple title, emotional story (try to get through it without feeling something), perfect soundtrack, enjoyable battle system, and pretty aesthetics, I am Setsuna is an admittedly short title with a few flaws that, on the whole, succeeds.
Despite minor frustrations and a predictable plot, I Am Setsuna contains enough charm and entertainment to please players nostalgic for the classic era of JRPGs.
It has a few too many flaws to be considered a classic, but I Am Setsuna does enough right to make it worth a play through - especially for fans of old-school RPGs.
Still, curiosity outweighed my better judgment and I decided to give this game a try anyway. I’m glad I did—I Am Setsuna has its moments of being enjoyable—but the poor writing was enough to ruin the whole experience by the end and cause me to question why this game falls so short.
I Am Setsuna does pay off on its promises to hearken back to the old days of JRPGs, but it gets a bit too old school for its own good.
It doesn't quite recapture the magic of Chrono Trigger, but I Am Setsuna has enough interesting mechanics to stand on its own without the crutch of nostalgia.
In spite of its myriad frustrations, I Am Setsuna is far from a characterless husk, but its mechanical regurgitation of shallow tropes and the over-complication of a ready-made battle system manages to cast a dim light on its reserved tone and glacial atmosphere. Designed to be a reverential ode to cherished RPG classics, I Am Setsuna is a functional footnote rather than a sweeping fresh stanza.
I am Setsuna is a love letter to JRPGs of the past, and while it offers a style of play oft forgotten by the modern age, it is an exceedingly well crafted and thoughtful journey that should make you wonder whether the genre’s progress is necessarily all it’s cracked up to be.
It could have – and should have – been far better than it is. Held back by a lack of ambition and never daring to crawl from the shadow of better games, I Am Setsuna stops itself being something special.
I Am Setsuna does a great job of reminding us what we loved about the genre and what it was like to play a JRPG back when the genre was at its best. There’s enough here to make the experience feel fresh and new, without changing too much of the core gameplay. If you’ve been in the mood for a classic adventure on your PS4, then this is the game for you
I am Setsuna is a wonderful game. The game has excellent characters and it has a very strong emotional story. That being said this game is very short and loading times can be long and repetitive.
I Am Setsuna adds a lot of value to our memories and shows us just how far these games have progressed over the decades. But the lack of momentum and good controls hold it back from greatness.
While the game doesn’t strive to evolve the classic gameplay, I Am Setsuna is a nice journey, a good 21+ hour charming adventure that despite its cold environments, warms the heart with its tragic themes, while answering the question that our memories of classic Japanese RPGs were not blinded nostalgia trips.