Been playing this for a little bit. Just finished the Locke chapter of that initial story split. I’ve been playing on Android, because I want this game in my pocket to play at any time. After recently completing DQV on Android, which I had a great time with, I was hoping for a similar experience. What made DQV so awesome on there was the one handed mode. On top of that, being a DS port, it allowed for full screen. I wasn’t expecting a full screen conversion for the world map or anything, but my issue is, it’s forced to be played in Landscape only.
That being said, it allows for a bit of touch screen button placement, but still very limited. It would be a million times better if it allowed for one handed mode and shuffled the touch commands at the bottom like Chrono Trigger did on DS. CT was absolutely flawless to play on my phone one handed. It was brilliant, actually. I have a Note9, so the screen isn’t exactly massive, but it’s still big enough that, in landscape mode, the touch commands are fat and spread out enough that it forces me to stretch out my fingers way too much. But, some of the buttons shapes are cumbersome, as some are overly big, while certain ones like the ‘select all’ button is entirely too flat and narrow. On top of that, the interface covers up the character stats/HP. I go to Cure, but it brings up a character select menu, but completely cover the HP of the characters to confirm who needed it. Granted, I know I should know who it is that needs it since I told myself I needed to cure so and so, but it’s still annoying… especially for an ATB.
Another thing that I find lacking, is the option for the original music and font. Just, why not throw that in there too? The font is so obnoxiously generic and small, it’s a bit of an eye sore… especially when pasted on overly sized and oblong touch screen buttons.
It’s like they tried to add accessibility options for the controls, but they’re really not all that intuitive. Sure, they added like a quick save which is nice, and the Blitz attacks are much easier to execute surprisingly… but everything else with the UI is chunky and a bit of a demanding chore. People gave the game 1 star because there’s no option for control support… but if you’re playing the Android version and demand control support, don’t know what to tell you.. you should’ve bought it elsewhere, like Steam.
Still overall, the re-worked pixel based graphics looks great, and I really have enjoyed the rearranged music so far. I don’t have too much of a heavy nostalgia for it (I played some back then at a friend’s, but I was a Sega stan at the time), so based on the user experience so far, I’d rate it a 7/10 so far..
