The latest game from Acquisition, Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent, is… a lot. It’s called a JRPG, but it’s mostly based on the aspect of being a dungeon crawler, combining elements of both genres as well as dipping a bit into real-time strategy. In doing so, however, it makes itself a prime example of the phrase “the one who knows all the deals is not the master of anything”. By trying to break into new territory without actually uprooting it, Adventure Academy finally feels like being in the middle of an identity crisis. There are definitely bright spots here and there, and I appreciate that Acquire is trying new things, but it’s clear which areas are experimenting. Sadly, these experiments tend to fail.
First and foremost, it’s the story. It’s pretty simple and nothing new or exciting, but it’s enough to move the game forward. The main character Alex and his friends set out to find Alex’s missing father. In the process, they use the power of the Ruler Orb, an artifact passed down through generations of the Alex family, to save the world. That’s it. There are no unexpected twists or events that change the story. What is written on the box is exactly what happens. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The story doesn’t have to be too immersive or keep you in the loop. All it does here is provide gameplay support and, while it may be lackluster, it gets the job done. I’d almost be more annoyed if the story was deeper.
For Adventure Academyof the game, there is a lot of mess in the form of various systems. These include, but are not limited to, groups, equipment, recruits, spells, ranks, and courses. Oh, and let’s not forget the quests make up the bulk of the actual gameplay, the shop where you can buy and sell gear, and the gear upgrade system. There’s a lot going on in this game, and some things feel unnecessary, creating a bit of a clunky that’s hard to follow.
For starters, there’s the party. Players can create a party of up to six members selected from ten different races. This brings an element of strategy to the game, as each race has its own fighting style and magic. In addition, each party member has three equipment slots. They receive one weapon and two other pieces of equipment, and all of the gear can be used to increase stats. It’s all pretty standard RPG stuff.
Creating a party is where you start the first seemingly unnecessary feature. When recruiting new members for the team, each potential character has three personality traits out of a list of more than eighty. These seem to affect the character’s initial stats, but not only are they so minor that they’re pretty safe to ignore, but I’m not entirely sure it’s because of the traits and not just random fluctuations. Honestly, it’s a mystery to me why this is even part of the game. It feels like something significant, then left unfinished, only adds to the clutter. The recruitment system is simple and free to use, so this is not a disadvantage in any way. It’s completely unnecessary.
Mission is where Adventure Academy actually get into the game, but I use the term “play” a bit loosely. Not much in its way. Each mission that puts Alex on a board is essentially a game to go through, and all the player really does is tell the party where to move. Alex summons party members to fight for him (he doesn’t do any attacks) and they will automatically attack nearby enemies. The only offensive players are involved in choosing who to cast spells and even, frankly, it’s so useless that I almost forgot that feature existed altogether.
Where the magic system is in trouble is in the ranking system, which includes levels in quests that boost a character’s stats. Use magic in Adventure Academy, as in most games, consumes MP. The ranking system also consumes MP. When the choice is to cast spells once or increase the character’s stats for the duration of the quest, the latter is generally the better choice. The only time using magic really comes to my mind is when I find myself surrounded by a large group of enemies or when I’m fighting a boss, but at that point it won’t save me. me from anything my group’s normal attacks can. do not take down. All in all, it seems the magic is just there to make the different races seem more diverse without adding any real substance. Like personality traits, it’s another system that doesn’t specifically take anything away, but it doesn’t feel like it adds anything either.
The magic system is also attached Adventure Academycourse system. Completing quests earns SP, which level up a character on their current course, granting them permanent supports and upgrading their magic. You can also use SP to transfer a character to a new journey, which will change what their spells do and give them access to more lasting buffs. The stat boost isn’t all bad, but it’s all I really use it for. The magic is so overwhelming that I’ve never done anything with a character’s course based on the spells it upgrades or unlocks.
Not everything about Adventure Academy is bad or unnecessary, though. As mentioned earlier, the party system and equipment are very good. Equipment upgrades, in which you spend money to improve your gear, are also fun, and the rating system is great to have. And while I can hardly say that this game feels engaging, I certainly don’t hate playing it. I’m in no rush to get back into play whenever I have to stop, but I’m in no rush to turn it off either. In fact, I even found myself losing time in a few cases.
For all intents and purposes, Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent should be a bad game. The game isn’t super intuitive and it tries to do too much, making it clunky and a bit confusing. But the things it does well, it does so in the right way. Each party member has his or her own role without being overly specialized. The device system is extremely simple, but offers many options. Upgrading uses nothing but in-game currency which minimizes material crushing. The characters in the quest also look nice, which is always a plus. If some of the fat had been trimmed off and a little extra effort had been put into making things like magic more possible, there would have been more to it. Unfortunately, that’s not the case, and what we’re left with feels like it could have been good if it hadn’t tried so hard to do so.
Adventure Academia: The Fractured Continent now available for Nintendo Switch, Playstation 4and PC through steam.
