Episode 149 - It's a Slant Rhyme - Child of Light

What is love known by? When it hurts to say “Welcome to NOCLIP.”
Welcome back to the podcast! Today, we are doing as the dice
instructed per the rules of Mystery May and playing Child of Light.
Another game that’s been on our list for a while, Child of Light is
an Ubisoft developed RPG that showcases the studio’s “UbiArt
Framework” engine that was designed with the intention of being
able to develop with artist’s ease of use specifically in mind. As
a result, Child of Light is a game that has an obvious focus on
delivering it’s storybook-styled visuals over all else, and
therefore has a strong and consistent aesthetic throughout. Beyond
the visual style itself, the music fits the theme well while not
being overly showy, and conversely, the writing is done entirely in
rhyme, calling attention to itself massively and just being a big
in-your-face element of the game. Playing the game, though, is more
traditional RPG fare, with its big distinguishing twist being a
combat timer that allows strategies based around slowing or
interrupting enemies and choosing attacks based on the length of
time they take to cast. It fits together well enough but contains
some design pitfalls that makes this a flawed game, but still an
interesting one. We’re going to be talking about the abundance of
systems and the harm they can do to the player’s experience, the
really charming character and visual design and how they fit it
together with the narrative and gameplay, and how Ubisoft really
changed as a person once they got that sweet-sweet Rabbids money.
Thank you for joining us again today! We’re sad to see Mystery May
close out, because it’s been a surprisingly fun time not having to
make decisions about what to play. Were you one of the people who
played Child of Light when it released, and if so, what made it
grab you then? Did you pick it up recently and become confused at
the weird DLC elements that just kind of got thrown in? Let us know
in the comments or over on our Discord! Next time, with full
control back in our hands, we’re going to be talking about Super
Mario 64, sort of keeping with the theme of “how did it take them
this long to cover this,” so we hope you’ll join us for that!