Tokyo RPG Factory is mostly known for its work at I Am Setsuna, a splendid JRPG that's meant to be a love letter to fans of the classic JRPGs of the 90s. The newest project of the studio, Lost Sphear shapes up to be similar in almost every aspect with I Am Setsuna, so if you liked that game a lot,...

Charming artwork; Solid writing; Lengthy campaign; Great soundtrack; Improved Spritnite combat system

Lack of originality; Graphics needs an upgrade

"...Lost Sphear is an unremarkable yet pleasant JRPG experience..." © 2018 Square Enix, Tokyo RPG Factory. All rights reserved.

Great visuals and music; intriguing narrative concepts; quality of life improvements

Overall story falls flat; needlessly bloated systems; unbalanced

Even if it falls short of becoming a worthy successor to the likes of Chrono Trigger, really does capture the essence of classic role-playing games in a lot of ways. When it's not bogging itself down in overwrought mechanics, this RPG really can spark a sense of nostalgia.

As RPGs evolve and adopt more modern complexity, it's refreshing to revisit the classic mechanics that helped make the genre what it is. Like I Am Setsuna (the previous title from developer Tokyo RPG Factory), Lost Sphear tries to capture the 16-bit era, paying homage to classics like Chrono Trigger...

One of my favorite aspects of video games as a medium is its penchant to evolve. Japanese role playing games have been around for over decades and they've gone through a myriad of changes over the years.

Whatever moral fibre Lost Sphear had seems to have been 'lost' by the immaculate moon.

Return lost memories and save the world.

Loved it just as much as I am Setsuna. Great throwback.

Old school JRPG fans will find much to enjoy here, but the refusal to innovate does more harm than good for the genre's reputation.

Solid battle system and plenty of ancillary features and systems; The ideas behind the main plot are interesting, and unusually meta; Great soundtrack

A purposeful lack of new ideas, and sloppy implementation of a number of old ones; Bland script and characters; Surprisingly short and unwarrantedly expensive

The great irony is, of course, that is was precisely this combination of feature creep and narrative bloat that moved the JRPG away from the tight-focused joys of the Super Nintendo era and which, eventually, inspired the creation of Tokyo RPG Factory.