2017's The Lost Child was one of the very last first-person dungeon
crawler released on the Vita; and as a physical version is heading towards our
shores (insert eyes teary with gratefulness), I had to check out somehow if it
was worth a purchase. Normally, the mere fact that we're talking about a FPDC
should have been enough to warrant a purchase of the "Shut up and take my
money" sort; but in that particular case, I have to admit that the reviews
somewhat confused me. With scores ranging from 81 to 50 and reviewers
describing the game as a host of different (and sometimes conflicting) things,
I had my doubts about TLC. Was it a tedious monstrosity mix of VN
and dungeon-crawling à la Ray Gigant, as some reviews seemed to imply? Or was it a more
classic FPDC with bits of storytelling in between? I had to check before
commiting to a physical purchase; and lucky me, the PSN January sales were in
the mood to humour me. TLC was here for the taking for a very cheap
price, and that's how I unexpectedly found myself playing it — and loving it very
much indeed. But more on that later; for now, let's shed a welcome light on
what TLC is — and isn't.
It's not a visual novel: No matter what some reviews seem to
imply, TLC cannot be described as a VN by any stretch of the
imagination. Sure, there are some story-telling segments; but they are
mercifully short, and few and far between to boot. Oh, and did I mention that
the story is painfully erratic and makes little sense? Anybody who's in for a
narrative treat should wisely abstain from coming close to TLC. On the
other hand, all my fellow crawlers are more than welcome, as TLC's
story-telling doesn't detract in any way from its (excellent) dungeon crawling.
It's derivative as heck: Nearly every feature and gameplay mechanic in TLC
has been done before and is bound to remind you of another game or
franchise. Its main feature, the monster-collecting and evolving thing,
vigorously screams Pokemon; and some have even compared TLC to
the Shin Megami Tensei series. I cannot comment on that supposed
resemblance since I have yet to play a MegaTen game, but let me tell you this:
if the Shin Megami Tensei series is anything like TLC, then I'm
most certainly gonna have the time of my life when I finally play it, oooh yes
precious.
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It's a total grindfest: It starts innocuously enough, with a forgiving
encounter rate and quick battles; but before the end of the third dungeon,
you'll be facing packages of 5 to 10 enemies on a regular basis. You cannot shy
away from random encounters too often if you want to exploit your monster
foils' full potential, given that they learn new skills solely in battle and
level up through the use of resident resources obtained by killing trash mobs.
And since backtracking is part and parcel of the roaming due to the dungeons'
design and the absence of an instant save feature, that means even more
grinding along the way.
It's really not optimized: I think this is the first time I encounter a
FPDC that requires load times when entering dungeons and between dungeon
floors. Not just load times, but very long load times. Text is
ridiculously tiny and sometimes skips before you can read it, regardless of the
selected text speed. More embarrassing is the game's unfortunate tendency to
crash randomly, with my own version freezing on me a good five times since the
beginning of my run — with collateral losses of good progression involved, as
you'd expect. I can only hope that the upcoming physical version will alleviate
those issues.
It's unabashedly old-fashioned: Let's face it, TLC is more Wizardry
than Dungeon Travelers. Not only does it shamelessly dispense with
player-friendly features such as instant save and warp points, but it makes no
effort to charm the player's senses. TLC's dungeons are austere to a
fault, with a bleakness pretty typical of old-school FPDCs — and so are its
soundtrack and its character and enemy designs. The whole art style is highly
reminiscent of '90s manga — early Bastard!, Psychometer Eiji and
the like — and the dungeon themes are atmospheric and brooding pieces à la Ecco
the Dolphin. This is a game that doesn't try to woo the player and draw
them in, but rather dares said player to conquer it — and learn to love it
while doing so.
In a nutshell, TLC doesn't try to be anything more than a serviceable
FPDC for aficionados of the genre. It doesn't bring anything new to the table,
but it does everything right nonetheless and delivers good, robust dungeon
crawling by the truckload. I already have 18 hours of TLC under my belt,
and I'm nowhere near finished with that game indeed. See you soon for more TLC
goodness, dear fellow gamers! Thanks for reading, and be my guest anytime!
Oh damn, you're playing TLC! Ever since it got a sale this January, I've been on the fence on buying it. I've been wanting to pick up a solid dungeon crawler, and while replaying Demon Gaze seems like a really good idea, maybe TLC will satisfy my itch. I still have some hours until the sale ends, sooo... I'll think about it for a bit. Your article paints the game a much better view than most reviews I've found online, at the very least.
Isleif19 January 2019 at 16:13
I was really
surprised by how good it was, especially compared to the bleak picture painted
by most reviews. I have yet to read a review praising TLC's smooth crawling and
clever dungeon designs ; and since that review doesn't seem to exist, I'm gonna
write it myself. :P
Maybe TLC's poor critical reception can be chalked up to reviewers' general
dislike of the (sub)genre. If you look at it, most FPDCs out there don't garner
stellar scores; and reviewers are particularly severe with old-school, gloomy
offerings à la Class of Heroes or The Lost Child.
Tehvidya31 January 2019 at 13:27
Everything sounds great except the "grindfest" part. I especially like the somber yet colorful art style. I'll give it a try next time I'm craving a dungeon crawler, once I'm done with Demon Gaze II.
Isleif31 January 2019 at 16:31
To be fair, the grindiness can be somewhat alleviated. There's an item that lowers the encounter rate, and extra level-grinding or resources farming are really not necessary. As a matter of fact, I did nothing more than fight all the random battles that came my way while crawling, and yet my party is showing serious signs of overleveling. You can probably also do away with a fair chunk of the grindiness if you don't backtrack to the save point every five minutes like I did.
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