The release of Lost Soul Aside has sparked the kind of wait that gamers have grown accustomed to in the last decade, and it hasn’t failed to disappoint sever the type of reactions. It’s opinion is split between the two poles as it is with any other soul-like game or in today’s gamer community. There’s the camp that thinks it is a masterpiece after the first few hours, and then a whole other camp that calls it a bug-ridden mess of a game.
On the other hand, the first message arrived from Genki, who mentioned that the game is a bit boring early on but personally enjoyed it after alternate dimensions came into the picture. He mentioned that you get new weapons and even get to sword surf, which I think sounds pretty amazing. Personally, I liked how he compared the alternate dimension dungeons to Astral Chain’s dungeons, as I think that was a good reference.
After that, there were a lot of replies, some of which were quite positive. For instance, WhatAboutWink mentioned that the combat gets interesting and the game stops being a DMC ripoff, which everyone thought was the case before. They weren’t saying that the game is remarkable, but rather that it isn’t as bad, which I think is fair. In addition, Shade made the point that the enemy and boss designs, which are critical for action games and also missed, are also commendable.
Contrarily, we have MrHeeHee, who tried 2 to 3 hours, deeming it horrible. Their definition of horrible is a touch clunky and chaotic, which they plan to completely drop, presumably after trying 2 more hours. At least to this point, they stick to their 2/10 and MrHeeHee rating. Their review wasn’t the only negative feedback. Severity1993 not only thought it was clunky but also trashed the English VO, which others complained about.
Plus, there is the “console-gaming-wars” debate, which seems to be dominating 90% of any conversation right now. Especially with the issue at hand, TyBrandon3 said that if this game was even on Xbox, people would put it down more, calling it generic and last-gen. While mentioning that, kid1515 said in agreement that since it is a Playstation exclusive, some people are trying too hard to like it. But, come on guys, can we not simply talk about games without all that silly console bias?
Genki also mentioned that it does improve after the first 3-4 hours, which is a difficult sell, while true. Particularly in today’s gaming ecosystem where the majority of users have a back-catalog of plenty of games to choose from, asking for an investment of 3-4 hours is severely looked down upon. However, he isn’t the only one. SHILOWREIN, who originally claimed it wasn’t for her, admitted to slowly warming up to the gameplay, which StrawHatG3 also noted while praising the game’s progression system.
The price, in itself, looks like a center for argument. Price debates resemble something evorexwolf was worried about when he mentioned that whatever the game is, it doesn’t look good for the price. On the other hand, NadderTadder made a list, detailing what it would take for him to pick the game up again — the price to drop to $20, an audio fix, music to be added, the cinemetrics to be added, and a story to be added. While it sounds ridiculous, I think it covers quite a bit. Some interesting comparisons are also being thrown.
Gundam_Saudi stated it gave him Chaos Legion and the Gackt game vibes but modernized which is a deep cut reference. And, NafroBoy got excited about Astral Chain comparisons which makes a lot of sense since that game was fantastic. However, for some reason, GamingKarmig felt insulted by the comparison and considered Lost Soul Aside a flop. Additionally, Salamander came in with their burn comment which pretty much tried to cope with “it gets good after XX hours.”
The interesting bit comes from the history of development. I personally don’t expect a two to three decades-old veteran like Miyazaki, who made Dark Souls; I expect a first-time team. Word from WarriYah7 is that this is the stated team’s first game and that in itself justifies that we should cut them some slack. Taking all that out of the equation, bibergals dropped in and called it garbage made for nine years, and put a claim that with Sony support the expectations are a lot more low than that.
With everything that’s been said regarding the game, it appears that the opinions are clearly divided. While some are loving the combat and getting through the slow start to enjoy progression, others are getting through the clunkiness and battling the myriad of issues surrounding the game. And while some are eagerly waiting for the game to drop, others are gearing up for the release of a different sub-par game, which is years in making. So I personally believe that the game is neither, the hype’s discrediting the game, and the constant whining is also discrediting the game.
In the meantime, if you enjoy character action games and do not have an issue with slow pacing, then you should consider giving this game a try… albeit after the price drop. However, if you’re expecting a Devil May Cry sequel or anything better than that, then keep those hopes in check. I must say that sword surfing does sound very exciting. I am always up for good sword surfing.
There are valid reasons for the people who like the game and the people who don’t. Because the functionality of the game’s core mechanics and controls is appallingly broken, the combat system, while working as intended, has been subject to an unreasonable amount of criticism. The game has a lot of people rallying for cover, but due to the title’s background, it’s kind of unfortunate. All that said, people cheer is far from the impression; the game has a myriad of problems, and the game sadly isn’t a winnable fight is the impression.
