---
title: 'The Adventures Of Elliot The Millennium Tales Makes A Strong Argument For Silent Protagonists Review'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=WPn3w8AUDow'
video_id: 'WPn3w8AUDow'
date: 2026-06-17
duration_sec: 606
---

# The Adventures Of Elliot The Millennium Tales Makes A Strong Argument For Silent Protagonists Review

> Source: [The Adventures Of Elliot The Millennium Tales Makes A Strong Argument For Silent Protagonists Review](https://youtube.com/watch?v=WPn3w8AUDow)

## Summary

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is an action-adventure RPG from Team Asano at Square Annex, known for the Bravely and Octopath series. It emulates top-down Zelda games with the studio's HD-2D visual style, featuring sharp combat and a flexible upgrade system. However, the game is marred by a dull story and overly verbose characters that dampen the momentum.

### Key Points

- **Studio Reputation** [0:00] — Team Asano at Square Annex is known for fresh takes on retro RPGs, experimenting with new ideas and visual styles.
- **Game Strengths and Weaknesses** [0:33] — The action and adventuring are well-crafted, but a dull story and verbose characters deaden the momentum.
- **Setting and Premise** [0:51] — The game is set in the kingdom of Feldia, where adventurers like Elliot travel outside castle walls to fight beastmen. A sinister duke discovers time travel, and Elliot follows him through different eras.
- **Combat and Visuals** [1:39] — The HD-2D style works well for top-down adventure games. Combat is sharp and responsive, with a variety of weapons and a shield for blocking/parrying.
- **Enemy Variety** [2:35] — The game has a small pool of enemies with palette swaps, but mixes them for fast-paced combat encounters.
- **Companion Fay** [3:04] — Elliot is joined by Fay, a fairy only he can see, who offers commentary and magical powers. She can be moved with the right stick.
- **Dungeon Design** [3:37] — Dungeons are well-crafted homages to 2D Zelda games, though not particularly distinct.
- **Magisite Upgrade System** [3:50] — Magisite allows flexible upgrades to weapons and abilities, with slots for customization. A quick command option can auto-build a balanced set.
- **Accessories and Convenience** [4:41] — Accessories provide perks like a hovering jump. Side quests are clearly marked, and warnings prevent nullifying ongoing quests.
- **Silent Protagonist Trope** [5:34] — Elliot is a voiced protagonist, earnest and hokey, which contrasts with silent heroes like Link. His constant dialogue and Fay's chatter slow the pace.
- **Time Travel Premise** [7:42] — The time travel concept is underutilized; time periods are vague and the map remains similar, unlike Chrono Trigger's distinct eras.
- **Time Travel Highlight** [8:49] — A side quest where teaching an ancestor kindness impacts the future shows the potential of the time travel mechanic.
- **Overall Verdict** [9:11] — The game is a strong first attempt at the genre, with fun combat and customization, but falls short in story and character depth.

### Conclusion

The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales offers solid gameplay and visual style, but its weak story and overly talkative characters prevent it from reaching its full potential, leaving a foundation for future improvements.

## Transcript

In a relatively short time, Team Asano
at Square Annex has made a name for
itself. Between the Bravely and Octopath
series, it has become known for taking a
fresh look at retro RPGs by
experimenting with new ideas and visual
styles, creating games that feel both
familiar and new. The developer takes a
similar approach when it comes to The
Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium
Tales, an action adventure RPG that
emulates the feel of a topdown Legend of
Zelda or Manny game, but uses the
studio's signature HD 2D visual style.
But while the action and adventuring are
well-crafted, a dull story and verbose
characters have the unfortunate tendency
of deadening the momentum.
The Adventures of Elliot takes place in
the fictional kingdom of Feldia. Try the
cheese stakes. Ruled by a kindly king
and under the magical protection of his
daughter, the area surrounding the
castle grounds is beset by deadly
beastmen. And the princess's presence
carries a passive spell of safety that
keeps them at bay. Elliot is an
adventurer, an actual job title that
appears to be some mixture of mercenary
and wandering odd job doer. And only
adventurers are known to travel outside
the castle walls and brave the beasts.
After a sinister duke discovers a method
to go back in time to claim a powerful
relic, Elliot follows him and thus
begins hopping between different eras,
going further and further back in his
kingdom's history. In terms of sheer
mechanics, The Adventures of Elliot is a
modest but welcome step forward for the
genre. This HD 2D visual style works so
well for a top-own Zelda style adventure
game that you would never have known
that it was created for turn-based RPGs.
The combat is sharp and responsive, and
the diarama-like presentation gives you
a very clear idea of where the enemy
threats are coming from. Elliot gets a
wide variety of weapons, each with its
own advantages and disadvantages in
combat. And as you find upgraded
versions of each, they get stronger
charged effects that can have a big
impact on the battlefield. Elliot also
has a shield for blocking and parrying
enemy attacks, adding a little more
defensive nuance. And Elliot has a
dedicated jump which is used for
traversal and light platforming,
especially within dungeons, but can also
be used offensively depending on your
build. True to its classic inspirations,
Elliot only features a relatively small
pool of enemies with pallet swaps
representing stronger variants with new
abilities, but it manages to offer a
good variety of fast-paced combat
encounters as these enemy types are
mixed together. Combat scenarios are
quick and snappy. So even though I could
run past them when I was in a rush, I
would usually stop to fight just for the
fun of taking down some monsters. That's
the mark of a strong combat system.
>> Wow. How long can you keep this going?
>> Shortly after beginning on his quest,
Elliot is joined by Fay, a squeaky
voiced little fairy that only he can see
and hear. She's his constant companion
through the rest of the game, offering
her own commentary and being a sounding
board for Elliot to think through his
next steps. She also gains a number of
magical powers. You can freely move Fay
around within a certain radius of Elliot
with the right stick, which makes her
feel like a natural extension of
Elliot's, and thus your power set. The
dungeon design throughout the game is
wellcrafted, even if most of them don't
feel particularly distinct. This whole
game is an homage to classics like the
2D Zelda games, and you can particularly
sense that in the dungeons. Elliot can
also enhance his abilities with
Magisite, a very flexible upgrade
system. Equipped Magic can enhance your
attack power, give passive bonuses, or
change weapon properties. Each piece of
equipment has its own magisite box with
a certain amount of slots, and you can
both find pieces of magic in the world
or turn in fragments to get random ones.
Gotcha style. After you've upgraded
enough, your total level goes up and you
get even better magistite. So, it's
always worth to be on the lookout for
fragments. You can really get into the
nitty-gritty of managing magesite to
optimize your build. But if you don't
want to worry about it, there's also a
quick command option to let FA create a
build for you, which she does decently
well to make a balanced set. There are
also accessory slots, which can change
your style in even more meaningful ways.
accessories can provide several
different perks. I found one that gave
Elliot a hovering jump effect on his
regular jump and kept it equipped for
the entire game because it was so
helpful to the dungeon platforming. And
then there are just thoughtful
convenience features that help modernize
and sand off the rough edges. Side
quests are clearly marked with a visual
indicator and a dedicated menu showing
the character it centers around. and
you're given ample warning if the next
step in a story quest chain will nullify
an ongoing side quest. As you discover
more eras, you'll often have to jump
back and forth between them, which is
easy because there are guideposts
littered throughout the map in every
area. And while pointing can be a little
difficult due to winding pathways, the
overall map layout remains relatively
similar in each era, which helps you to
keep your bearings.
As I've been playing The Adventures of
Elliot, though, I've been thinking a lot
about the trope of the silent
protagonist. Classics like The Legend of
Zelda have been known for their hero
being remarkably quiet while the action
occurs around them. Much has been said
about this particular odd remnant of
early video games. But in Elliot, we can
see an example of what it's like to have
that type of character written with a
voice. Elliot is remarkably earnest,
even hokey, and everyone who knows or
encounters him comes away feeling he's
just a swell guy. His personality often
borders on feeling cloying and shriekly.
But at the same time, a character like
this almost has to be written this way
because how else do you justify his
status as a wandering dogooder?
Sometimes other characters hint at
Elliot being a mercenary and taking
payments, but it's clear that he does
most of his work pro bono or accepts
whatever people can offer. So instead of
a Linklike character who accepts his
fated quest with quiet dignity onto
which we as the player can map whatever
internal motivations we want, we have to
stop and listen to exhaustive
explanations that don't add much
interesting shading or texture to the
character. What does Elliot want? To be
a helpful, great guy. What does everyone
think of him? That he's a helpful great
guy. This type of character is mostly a
cipher, so they make him utterly
good-natured and well-liked and wise
instead of simply silent. But it's not
just Elliot. Fay is equally chatty, and
her tone is even more sickly sweet than
Elliot, though you can toggle an option
to make her chime in less during your
exploration. Wonder if there's anything
to find here.
>> And almost every quest giver you
encounter details the motivations and
their own stories in exhaustive detail.
The classics that inspired Adventures of
Elliot were forced into an economy of
language and would get their points
across with a few sentences or a
paragraph at most. Without those
limiters in place, these cutscenes feel
over long and overexlained. Checking in
to advance the story between dungeons
just slows the pace to a crawl.
Adventures of Elliot also struggles to
really capitalize on its time hopping
premise largely because it's different
time periods are so nebulous. The
concept appears visually and
thematically inspired by Chrono Trigger.
But one element that made Chrono
Trigger's era spanning story work so
well is that it mapped more or less
recognizably onto actual historical
periods. Adventures of Elliot's time
periods are more vague. We explore four
time periods in total that help us
understand the essential sequence of
historical events in this world. As we
travel further backward, there was a
great magical society that collapsed
into ruination. The modern era from
which Elliot Hails has recovered largely
due to the influence of a great king.
But none of the periods map cleanly onto
real world history, and they aren't
separated by clearly defined spans of
time. The map remains largely the same,
which is helpful for navigation, but it
also makes it feel like not much has
changed in this world over long
stretches of time. There are moments
where the idea of an adventure spanning
generations shines through. One side
quest showed a bar owner treating his
employees poorly until I went back in
time and accidentally taught his
ancestor about basic kindness. And then
I got to see that lesson passed down
through the generations and impact the
future. Moments like that and occasional
story beats that I won't spoil did
remind me of how you could see your
actions echo through time in video games
like Chrono Trigger. The Adventures of
Elliot just doesn't reach quite the same
heights. The Adventures of Elliot the
Millennium Tales is a surprisingly
strong first attempt at reaching into
the genre from a studio not known for
it. The combat is snappy and fun with
loads of build customization and ability
tailoring to your style. The dungeon
designs are well-crafted homages that
allow room for creative problem solving,
and the HD 2D visual style is lovely for
this type of game. I was left wanting
for a story I cared more about with
characters that were more
three-dimensional in a world that felt
alive and took better advantage of its
time travel concept. Those factors make
the game fall short, but it creates a
foundation that I hope Square Annex
builds upon.