A Beautiful but Shallow Love-letter to the Action Adventure Games of Yore
Pros
- The HD-2D style never fails to impress
- Boss battles are overall great
- Memorable & whimsical soundtrack
Cons
- Elliot lacks growth
- Unrewarding exploration
- Puzzles are almost insultingly simple
I’m a big fan of the HD-2D style that Square Enix pioneered. It’s perfect at channeling the nostalgia of SNES-era RPGs while still impressing with modern flourishes like dynamic lighting and crisp resolutions. From the first Octopath Traveler to Triangle Strategy and the more recent Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remakes, I’ve enjoyed all that I’ve played, which of course had me interested in the latest HD-2D release: The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.
The HD-2D graphics are a visual treat as always.
A Timeless Look for a Mediocre Story
Aesthetically, The Adventures of Elliot hits all the right notes you’d expect from an HD-2D game: the land of Philabieldia (yes, I don’t know how to pronounce that either) is gorgeous. While impressive lighting isn’t as prominent here, Philabieldia is split between several distinct regions and four different eras. Lush, pixilated forests bleed into snowfields and then into shimmering lakes, while a vivid volcanic region becomes accessible in the last third of the adventure.
Altogether, this creates one of the more visually unique environments to spend upwards of 50 hours exploring.
Different points in time overlay these areas with a different sheen: the early Age of Budding has bright, optimistic coloring to it, while a gloom hangs over the Age of Reconstruction. Altogether, this creates one of the more visually unique environments to spend upwards of 50 hours exploring.
That’s about where the uniqueness ends with The Adventures of Elliot, however. Starring the orphaned adventurer Elliot, you’re dropped into a world full of beastmen held back only by protection magic cast by Princess Heuria. When a power-hungry minister travels back in time in order to change the events of the present to benefit him, Elliot chases after him on an adventure that spans the aforementioned time periods.
The best I can say about the story is that it’s serviceable. Elliot himself is earnest and always willing to help those in need but rarely faces any inner turmoil or has to make difficult decisions as he jumps through time, leading to no character growth from a character you’re spending 40+ hours with. Outside of one dastardly minister and an arrogant researcher, the supporting cast – Princess Heuria, his friend Euygene, the fairy Faie, and more – are all honest, morally steadfast people with little to no dimension to them, which severely hampered my interest in the plot.
(1 of 2) The story never goes beyond being serviceable.
The story never goes beyond being serviceable. (left), While Elliot is a fine character, he sees very little in the way of growth by adventure’s end. (right)
Worse still, for the most part, Elliot’s time-hopping changes little in the various eras. You might help an old, blind man find an assistant to assist him with making a picture book and, in traveling to the future, learn that the book became a smash hit. It’s easy to connect the dots as to who is an ancestor of whom, so there’s little in the way of surprise revelations and drastic changes to the past and present, making the whole setup feel like a missed opportunity.
Near the end of the game, the stakes do ramp up quite a bit, but it takes so long to get there that I would’ve liked to see more differing opinions and conflict between the cast instead of everyone believing in the power of hope to keep me invested until then.
Chill Hackin’ & Slashin’
Likewise, combat is also serviceable – though there’s an interesting mechanic that keeps it from growing too dull. While there are puzzles here and there to solve, The Adventures of Elliot is much more of a homage to Secret of Mana than it is The Legend of Zelda, meaning you’re whacking beastmen more than you are pushing blocks.
Elliot can equip and switch between seven different weapons that come with a quick attack and a chargeable special attack, while the beastmen – such as sneaky rats that dig underground and elephants that charge behind shields – also have similarly simple movesets. This means that for this relatively long game, combat against these regular enemies that are shared between all four eras grows a bit stale by the halfway mark.
While I did tire of regular foes, the boss battles were all around great.
Thankfully, The Adventures of Elliot keeps things interesting with its Magicite system, which allows you to collect Magicite to trade in for crystals that you can then equip and modify your weapons with. I was a fan of the chain and sickle weapon, for example, which Elliot spins above his head if charged. I equipped a Magicite that would spawn fireballs while doing so, and another that had a high chance of stunning a foe if hit and drawn in with the released attack.
I felt like Mortal Kombat’s Scorpion as I spun my chain all throughout Philabieldia, hooking enemies and pulling them into my mass of fireballs. If only Elliot had something cool to say like “Get over here!” instead of generic anime-style shouts.
I do wish there were more fun Magicite options, as many of them simply increased attack or critical hit chance rather than change the way each weapon played, but when I did settle into a rhythm with a weapon I liked, I found the combat a serviceable, chill experience rather than a challenging or engaging one – even on the hard difficulty – right up until the end.
(1 of 2) Combat is simple, but satisfying, with over seven weapons to change between.
Combat is simple, but satisfying, with over seven weapons to change between. (left), Bosses all remain a fun challenge throughout. (right)
While I did tire of regular foes, the boss battles were all around great. From shielded rat-mobiles that hurl out bombs, to a little frog guy bouncing around the boss arena atop a massive, spiked turtle, they were a pleasure to take down at the end of every major dungeon. I didn’t even mind when these bosses were reused in later dungeons with slightly varied movesets, as they were both mechanically and visually fun to experience again.
Dull Dungeons
Despite such a beautiful world with a laid-back combat experience, the weakest part of The Adventures of Elliot, however, is the exploration. The four eras share the same map with many of the same dungeons that have exact or incredibly similar layouts. The rewards in these dungeons – aside from the ‘main’ version of them, which might be story related or house a new weapon – are often nothing more than a health upgrade, which you also find just randomly in chests and easy-to-solve shrine puzzles throughout the world.
…the weakest part of The Adventures of Elliot, however, is the exploration.
Yes, there’s a lot of Zelda DNA in The Adventures of Elliot but very little of Zelda’s depth, especially when it comes to said puzzles. Every ice block I pushed and mirror I arranged to guide a light source provided little to no challenge, nor did the layout of dungeons that typically required me to find a key or two before reaching a boss, to the point where I almost found it insulting.
Dungeons remain dull and change very little between the ages.
Thankfully, Elliot himself moves smoothly and quickly while completing these puzzles and clearing these dungeons, including some simple-yet-satisfying platforming, with the help of the fairy Faie and her magical powers. Throw in a whimsical soundtrack with a few standout tracks – I have the theme for Weyzn, Nation of Magic stuck in my head as I write this – and Philabieldia with all its nooks and secrets was a joy to dash between, even if the rewards and puzzles found throughout weren’t all that interesting.
Elliot’s Alright
Of all of Square Enix’s HD-2D games, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is my least favorite – but I don’t think that makes it a bad game. Some fun boss battles, great music, and satisfying movement throughout four beautiful eras just barely make up for how little depth there is to the story, combat, and especially the puzzles/exploration.
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