WitchSpring3 Re:Fine - The Story of Eirudy

WitchSpring 3 Re:Fine surprised me more because of its story than its combat. I went mostly blind, and I think that is probably the best way to experience it. The game gives you enough choices, suspicious characters and little pieces of information to make you actually think about what is happening instead of simply waiting for the plot to explain everything. Eirudy is also a protagonist I ended up caring about, and the story kept giving me reasons to continue even when some of the game systems were already becoming trivial. The progression system is fun, maybe too fun, because it is very easy to break the difficulty if you enjoy training and optimizing. By the late game I was killing bosses like Lightnoceros and Lavalord in around three turns. Most of the main story stopped being a challenge long before I finished it. The optional endgame bosses are where the game finally starts asking for more HP, DEF and preparation instead of just more damage. I actually like the crafting and magic progression. Getting stronger, creating higher-level spells and returning to enemies that previously looked dangerous gives a satisfying sense of growth. But the balance does not really survive an optimized player. My biggest criticism is that this is very much an old-style RPG when it comes to missable content. There are side events that exist only during surprisingly small windows, and there is often no reasonable way to know that you should return to a particular NPC before advancing the story. I missed the Judith event even though I had completed the previous Dark Company quests, simply because I did not know I had to talk to Johannes during one specific period. That also changes what happens to him later. That is not really a meaningful choice if the player cannot know that a choice is being made. It is the kind of design where a blind player is expected either to talk to everyone after every story event or use a guide. There are several smaller examples of this throughout the game: weapons and upgrades tied to particular decisions, side content that disappears, and events whose consequences only become obvious much later. I don't dislike missables themselves, but I would strongly recommend keeping multiple saves if you play blind. The postgame is better than I expected. It is not only “go kill the optional bosses you skipped”; there are additional character events, equipment, upgrades and story follow-ups. Some of those depend on what you did during the main story, which is both interesting and slightly frustrating for the same reasons mentioned above. Visually and mechanically it is obviously not a modern big-budget RPG, and some systems retain their mobile-game origins, but I found the game charming enough that this rarely bothered me. So my recommendation is basically: Play it for the characters, story, exploration and absurdly satisfying character growth. Don't play it expecting a carefully balanced combat challenge. And if you care about seeing absolutely every event, either use a guide or accept that your blind run will miss things.

Really good game, highly recomend especially if you liked WitchSpring R.

Damn, this exponential scaling feels so good after the infinite grind in Witchspring R for every single point of stats! Gives you that vibe from Civ 5 or custom maps in Warcraft 3. The balance feels much better than in R, the autistic vibe from pouring souls into puppet companions feels deep. The story is probably on the same level as R, maybe slightly more mature. Damn, I need to do my job, why I'm still playing this late into the night...