Lost Sphear is out now on PS4, and in times of turmoil and uncertainty, we always know that Square Enix will keep those RPGs coming. This is a game from the developers of I am Setsuma, which was an enjoyable adventure that ended up getting a little tedious come the later hours.

Awesome, just like I am setsuna very much in the style of final fantasy IX. Great story and battle mechanics

From the creators of I Am Setsuna comes Lost Sphear , the second draft of a love letter to Square Enix and their 16-bit catalogue. If you're looking for a sweeping narrative wrapped in a buffet of compelling combat mechanics, this game is… kind of what you're looking for.

Combat feels varied and meaty; Really dig that tilt-shifted world map; no random encounters or level-grinding

Story has been told many times before; Fishing mini-game is real boring; Graphics are rather forgettable

The developers of the little jRPG I Am Setsuna, which released in 2016, are back 18 months later with Lost Sphear. Fans of their previous release know exactly what they are in for, a throwback to the old days of jRPG's on SNES and PSOne with enough updates to the formula to be enjoyable in the...

If there ever was a blueprint for how a JRPG from the 90s should be designed, Lost Sphear is a game that would follow it to the letter. But instead of it having some form of special valuable selling point or aspect that sets itself apart from the norm, the game just simply exists as some form of...

Decently engaging combat; Story becomes engaging later on; Streamlined and traditional mechanics; Options to skip and fast forward are pretty welcome; Some nice vistas at times

Characters are basically embodiments of tropes; Really traditional and predictable story; despite it becoming engaging in later acts; Extremely slow paced; Visuals leave much to be desired; Plain boring at the best of times

Since the moderate success of I Am Setsuna, it was clear that Tokyo RPG Factory had captured that classic JRPG vibe that had been missing for quite some time, namely the battle system that put Chrono Trigger on the map.

Great introduction; Story ramps up towards the end; Positional combat and other improvements over I Am Setsuna

Bland characters with linear middle of plot; No one mechanic gets the chance to excel; Highly derivative of classic JRPG tropes

Going into 2018, Lost Sphear was one of my most anticipated games of this year. That's because I am Setsuna was easily one of my favorite games last year, specifically on Nintendo Switch where I played it.

The new combat system is a dazzling dance of turn-based action; Each area is gorgeous and colorful; The Memories system lets you shape the world how you see fit

A cast of lifeless characters with no real personality; Occasional stuttering and frame rate problems on Switch; Tags

Land of the Lost The visuals are quite nice, maintaining a slightly faded, pastel impressionist look throughout the game. The 3D models are simple, and it makes cutscenes feel sort of like a puppet show, but I kind of liked that about older RPGs.

From Square Enix's Tokyo RPG Factory comes Lost Sphear , a spiritual successor of sorts to I Am Setsuna, and like its predecessor, Lost Sphear is a nod back to the popular, and often lauded, '90s RPGs such as Final Fantasy VII and Chrono Trigger .

If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then videogames have become borderline sycophantic. They have become so good at imitation that people even have an entire category for it: clones. Zelda clones, Mega Man clones, Metroidvanias; the list goes on.