Written by Bernard Julius Paje
Title: Rainbow Skies
Developer: SideQuest Studios
Publisher: EastAsiaSoft
Price: $29.99
Genre: RPG
Also Available On: PS3, PSV
Back in 2012, a very cool strategy role playing game by the name of Rainbow Moon was released. Developed by talented German studio Sidequest Studios and published by Eastasiasoft, this PlayStation exclusive indie gem garnered mostly positive reviews and was considered a cult classic by many a strategy RPG fan—this reviewer included. Being an absolute nut for great strategy RPG games, I bought the game on PSN and fell in love with the game instantly. While I did not get a Platinum trophy for it, I loved every minute I played of this game until the end credits. It is packed with a LOT of content, and the initial tease of a sequel titled Rainbow Skies a year later had me really giddy for more strategy RPG greatness. While this said sequel was slated to be released on 2014, delay after delay pushed the release date of the game further and the steady release of other games I am interested in made me forget about it for awhile.
Fast forward to May 2018—a June 26 release date was announced for the game. “YES! FINALLY!”, I internally exclaimed when I learned of this information. After more than five years of waiting, Rainbow Skies is now close to being released. Fast forward even more to right now—I am actually playing Rainbow Skies! Five years is hardly a long time when it comes to the development of a sequel for a game as large as Rainbow Moon, but I remember playing it like it was yesterday. I am about to find out how good this new game is compared to a strategy RPG game I really loved back then, so getting the chance to review it is truly a delight for yours truly. So here we go...
The story of Rainbow Skies is not connected to the first game at all, so playing the first game is totally optional prior to diving in to the sequel. The game begins in the tiny floating island of Arca, where we are introduced to two of the game's main protagonists, Damion and Layne. It is the morning of Damion's examination to obtain a Monster Taming Certificate, and the events that follow will lead to our heroic duo's descent to the world underneath Arca. As soon as the events in Arca unfold, we are now introduced to the main female protagonist of the game, Ashly. She is a rookie spellcaster, and during her magic training her path will intersect with that of our male duo's. Awkwardly, Ashly accidentally casts a Spell of Binding intended for a monster on Damion and Layne instead, thus making the trio forcefully bound to each other. As expected, their first quest as a party will be to undo the spell—rightly so, because they cannot seem to stand each other at all. On the road to unbinding the spell though, our intrepid trio will encounter numerous other missions, sidequests and battles. I thought the above narrative feels very drawn out and overplayed though, but fear not because the story will get better after the above story arc.
Upon starting a new game in Rainbow Skies, I was greeted with an option to either start with some help—in the form of coins, basic equipment and various items awarded during the course of the game—or wing it and begin without any hand holding. I normally tend to play one level higher than the normal difficulty setting for most games when given the option, so I chose the latter. I am not sure what the game would have given me had I chose the former, but so far the difficulty of the game’s initial areas was just right. For context, I also opted to play Rainbow Moon via the Hard difficulty setting, and while the difficulty was manageable in the beginning I thought that it ramps up suddenly after moving on to the next major area. For the sequel, they implemented a scalable difficulty setting that you can increase or decrease at certain points in the game. Higher difficulty equates to greater experience, more Rainbow Coins (the game's currency) and better rewards. To unlock a higher difficulty level, you need to win a certain number of battles. If you think you are over your head, then you can decrease the game's difficulty anytime—the caveat of decreasing the difficulty though is that you need to unlock the next level again. Overall, this is great mechanic that you can optionally dive into if you want a more challenging quest.
Rainbow Skies has the same presentation and artistic style as the first game—in fact, both games look too similar for my tastes. Granted, the sequel's graphics are far more detailed and colorful compared to that of its five year old predecessor but you will definitely get a sense of deja vu if you have played the first game. And like the first game, Rainbow Skies' graphics are always at a consistent 60fps. Exploration is also more or less the same, as you guide your main character in a 3D isometric world. You can also see enemies on-screen, as well as know how many enemies you will fight and what their average levels are prior to touching them and entering battle. If you have the thirst to grind for experience points and upgrade items (called Skill Stones), you can do so anytime at the press of a button when an 'Ambush!' alert pops up at the lower left of the screen. At the standard difficulty the need to grind is minimal at best, but if you want to grow stronger faster then you will likely want to try and increase the difficulty to a level that is more tailored to your play style. A key benefit of playing on a higher difficulty is that you can easily get more Skill Stones. These come in three colors—blue, red and yellow—and can be used to upgrade your character's key stats.
Battles are the main highlight of Rainbow Skies for me because they are not like traditional turn-based battles found in most RPG's. Upon encountering a group of enemies, you are thrust into a smaller isometric grid where your characters and enemies are placed like chess pieces. Like the original game, battles in Rainbow Skies are similar to tactics/strategy games where character placement is key to victory. Initial battles are easy and straightforward, but as you progress deeper into the game you will be faced with seemingly insurmountable odds at times—I was one time shocked to enter a battle with my party of three and then faced with at least twenty enemies on the field. Thankfully, you can save anywhere—a great feature for any game in my opinion—and the game hardly penalizes you for losing in battles. When faced with a lot of opposition, I found that a good strategy was to refrain from picking up the items dropped by slain enemies—these are treated as obstacles that stay on the map and can actually hinder enemies from getting to you. This way, you can delay the approach of your enemies and either prepare for their attacks or pelt them from afar with long range fire.
Another unique element of battles in Rainbow Skies is that your character can do multiple actions per turn. As a character levels up, he or she will get more actions per turn, and this adds a lot of strategy to battles. For example, with three actions you can move beside an enemy one square away and then attack it twice or cast a long-range magic spell on it three times. Defending is also a key mechanic that you should have all your characters do because it will greatly reduce the damage they will take from enemies' attacks. Granted, defending uses up one action, so if you think you can kill an enemy by unleashing all your characters' actions on it without defending then go for it! But again, enemies can hit hard even at the base difficulty setting, so make sure to plan ahead and not just recklessly attack. The first time I won a battle with more than twenty enemies felt really satisfying—I owed my victory to efficient character placement and knowing when to attack or defend correctly.
A key addition to Rainbow Skies over the first game is the introduction of the Pokemon-like Monster Training system. Once you unlock this in the game, you can get eggs from monsters that you defeat in battle. Hatching an egg will get you a monster of your own that you can add to your party. Each main character can be assigned with one monster partner, effectively doubling the size of your party in the process. Like the game's main characters, monsters can be leveled up and their stats can be upgraded with Skill Stones as well. Each monster also has several usable attacks unique to them. Most of these are are entertaining to watch but will hardly deal a lot of damage in the start. To make your monster companions really useful, you will most likely need to do a bit of grinding with the ones you plan to use often. Lastly, a fishing minigame is introduced about halfway into the game. This is quite a fun albeit optional mode to dabble on in Rainbow Skies which will help you quickly get more Rainbow Coins. Completionists going for that elusive Platinum trophy need to invest in this mode however, because one trophy will require you to get lots of unique fish types to earn.
As much as I loved Rainbow Skies, I feel that it is far from perfect. One thing that I found really apparent on initial bootup of the game was that it shares a very very uncanny resemblance to Rainbow Moon. The graphics, while overall better, still looks quite dated by today's standards. During battles, I hate how the game allows you to optionally skip cinematics. For certain special moves and monster attacks, the game mentions that you can skip their animations by holding the R shoulder button. However, the timing required to do so can be a little finicky to execute—it seems that the game does not allow you to skip a combat or spell animation the first time it is played on every fight. When you intend to skip a long and elaborately animated monster attack and the game fails to register your request to skip it, it is quite a pain. Hopefully this is rectified soon via a patch.
Overall, strategy RPG aficionados will go nutty with just how much content this game has. Those who have played the first game will feel that Rainbow Skies looks, sounds and feels a lot like it. While this can be considered a good thing, some people consider 'more of the same' a way for a game developer to save on development costs. Do not worry though, because that is not the case for Rainbow Skies—this game is pure strategy RPG bliss! The battles in this game are very fun and require a lot of strategy to consistently win, and the fact that you can scale the difficulty to your liking adds an excellent balance of risk versus reward. If you like strategy RPG's then definitely pick up Rainbow Skies. Oh, and while you're at it, check out the first game, Rainbow Moon, as well.
YAY!
- Battles are fun and require lots of strategy.
- Lots of sidequests and post game content.
- Scalable difficulty is implemented very well.
- Winning really tough battles where the odds seem against you feels so satisfying.
- Cross play between PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita.
NAY!
- Looks, sounds and feels a lot like its predecessor.
- Story takes a while to develop and become interesting.
- Attempting to skip a combat or spell animation is finicky and does not always work.
REVIEW SCORE: 8.5/10
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