Game Day: ‘Nostalgia’ borrows well, flies high
"Nostalgia" is a solid role-playing game whose appeal is partly rooted in the title's emotion.
With its band of plucky young adventurers traveling the world on a grand adventure, the game recalls the Japanese-made console RPGs of the late 1990s.
The game feels like a mixture of other RPGs, taking characters, game mechanics and plot elements from "Final Fantasy X," "Skies of Arcadia," "Wild ARMs" and "Panzer Dragoon Saga," among others. It's openly derivative, but the game's designers have been smart in their borrowing – the different pieces fit together pretty well.
"Nostalgia" takes place in a version of our world in which monsters and magic exist, and airships are the chief mode of transportation. It's late in the 19th century and England's best-known adventurer is Gilbert Brown.
Brown goes missing after the game's prologue, and son Eddie is determined to find out what's happened to him. Eddie joins the local Adventurers Association, takes the helm of his father's airship, the Maverick, and prepares to follow in Dad's footsteps. Apart from the main story line, Eddie can take on quests from the Adventurers Association to earn various rewards.
He'll visit several fictionalized versions of real-world cities, such as London and Cairo. Ancient ruins, such as the Great Pyramid, serve as dungeons. And Eddie will gain companions along the way, starting with the scrappy street kid Pad, whom he meets on his first job for the Adventurers Association. Melody, a wizard, and Fiona, a mysterious girl, will join later.
Eddie and his friends will fight on the ground and in the air. Both battle modes are turn-based, with the action order of the next few turns displayed as in "Final Fantasy X." Each character has standard attack, defense, escape and item usage options, as well as a unique set of abilities and skills.
During airborne battles, each character is in charge of a specific weapon: Eddie commands the ship to attack with its bow-mounted blade, Pad fires the machine guns, Melody uses the cannon, and Fiona controls the ship's magical orb.
Enemies in the air can attack from the front or sides, and some weapons are more or less effective against enemies in certain directions. Weather conditions such as rain or snow also affect the Maverick's combat capabilities.
The party members increase in strength as they defeat foes, learning new skills at set levels. The party earns points that can be used to upgrade these skills, allowing players to strengthen abilities they find useful, and advancing certain skills to sufficient levels unlocks additional ones.