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Threads of Fate Review
Note: While I am familiar with the basics of Rue's storyline, I have only played and completed Mint's storyline and so my review will focus mostly on my experiences with her.
Threads of Fate is an action RPG where you can choose between two protagonists and each of their stories. While the general story is the same, the details can be very different as each focuses more on their own goals and personality. Rue's storyline is more serious while Mint's is more lighthearted, although both get their heavy moments. While a lot of the game is different, there are some nearly identical scenes as well and the overarching plot progresses much the same way.
Rue is a mysterious young boy who lives with a woman named Claire, whom he cares for deeply. One day, Claire is killed. Angered and saddened over her death, Rue searches for the powerful Valen's relic, a device his is told will grant him the power to restore Claire to life. Mint is a young, spoiled Princess in line for the throne. One day, her sister informs her that the throne will be passed to her, Maya, instead of Mint, due to the council fearing Mint's incompetence. Mint leaves the castle and travels around, searching for Valen's relic, thought to be the most powerful of all relics, so she can defeat her sister and take over the world.
This game is an action RPG, so monsters appear and are fought on dungeon maps. With Mint, you can attack and use magic. There are many different kinds of magic, unlocked during certain story events. Each magic also has certain sub-types to it, such as spread or more powerful shots, and these are generally unlocked by finding secret treasure chests. These will grant different ways to use the magic, as well as how much MP is used. You can also jump in this game. There are no levels in Threads of Fate, instead you will gain HP by being attacked and gain MP by using your magic. Enemies sometimes drop HP and MP bottles for you. In the event you are KO'd, you can use coins to restore you to health, depending on the type of coin, and resume where you are instead of starting back in town. Money is gained by defeating monsters and selling monster tokens (gained automatically) as well as selling certain barter items. You can also purchase defense and power upgrades along with a few other things.
There is no world map per se. Instead, your base of operations is in a small port town where you rest, shop, and talk with villagers. As the story progresses, you will be able to unlock new dungeons and areas that can be accessed at the town gate. There, you will select a location and be brought to the area. You can also revisit old areas this way to grind or just see if you missed anything. The game also has a different ending for each character and a True Ending if you complete both storylines.
Overall I found this game to be very charming. Mint was great and I enjoyed watching her. The story was very amusing and had me chuckling quite a few times. I purposely neglected to add a character section, as I feel the characters are best left as a surprise. I was impressed with the amount of development even the villains get, and the relationships to the heroes felt much more personal and investing than a lot of games manage. They are not faceless villains, but real people with their own stories. As the game progresses, there's also much more storyline scenes and less gameplay, something that personally doesn't bother me but may be irritating for those who want to focus on gameplay. It's also relatively short. My biggest gripe with the game though is the amount of platforming. I am not good at platforming and I generally don't enjoy it and it made the game quite a challenge. I got stuck on more than a few occasions. Regardless though, I would recommend it to fans of the genre. It's short but sweet, fun, and amusing. The character designs are adorable and I love Mint's design and over the top personality. I'm glad I played it.
Verdict:
LIKED IT
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For people wondering about Rue's side of the game. He's more physical based and his specialty is the power to transform into various monsters you defeat in the game. His scenario is also much easier and more combat focused than Mint's.
I really need to play this game again. It was a really fun surprise and the overall game setup was reminiscent of Brave Fencer Musashi which was a notoriously underrated PS1 RPG by Square just like this game.
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This game could be so heavily improved upon with a sequel. The combat and platforming is servicable, but can finely tuned to the likes of Kingdom Hearts and Mario without feeling like either of the two. There is only one dungeon and battle difference between the two stories and a sequel could expand on the replay value by offering more dungeons exclusive to Rue and Mint. They could use a hub town again, but personally I like exploring new towns and would prefer the game to use a map system where I get to explore multiple towns instead of one, but if they so choose to go wuth a Hub town again, there should be more npcs to interact with all with distinct personalities, stories and with quests to complete.
I found no reason to visit that church in the first game, so I'd go without that and I think the shops could be better utilized. From what I remember all that you can buy to upgrade your stats are bracers. I remember there being drinks too, but unsure if they just healed you or affected your HP and MP permanently. Buying stuff wasn't that engaging for me. I would also add the likes of Rod, Bell, and Duke for temporary party members and Fancy Mel would have to come back as well even if it's just a cameo.
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I always really like this game. It was very fun and the story was quirky.
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I have to disagree with Rue's story being easier. Mint's magic is as broken as it is fun. Graviton/Fireball stagger p much everything x5, Cutter/Bolt lets you hit those enemies with short vulnerability windows like the underground ruins guardian and Psycho master for x3 damage, and Force/Orbit will kill dungeon mobs as you walk past them. Rue on the other hand has really low defense as a monster so you have to stay Rue and engage closely.
Right now I'm working on maxing Mint's stats through new game +, I didn't know until I replayed it for the 1000000th time last week that if you fight Rod enough times different music plays and he starts telling you his stats, which increase like crazy every time. So I'm gonna max his stats and see what happens. Funny how this is such a tiny tiny tiny game that I always thought I'd explored every detail of but I still find new things every now and then.
