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

[00:00] In a relatively short time, Team Asano

[00:02] at Square Annex has made a name for

[00:04] itself. Between the Bravely and Octopath

[00:06] series, it has become known for taking a

[00:09] fresh look at retro RPGs by

[00:11] experimenting with new ideas and visual

[00:13] styles, creating games that feel both

[00:15] familiar and new. The developer takes a

[00:18] similar approach when it comes to The

[00:20] Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium

[00:21] Tales, an action adventure RPG that

[00:24] emulates the feel of a topdown Legend of

[00:27] Zelda or Manny game, but uses the

[00:29] studio's signature HD 2D visual style.

[00:33] But while the action and adventuring are

[00:35] well-crafted, a dull story and verbose

[00:39] characters have the unfortunate tendency

[00:41] of deadening the momentum.

[00:51] The Adventures of Elliot takes place in

[00:53] the fictional kingdom of Feldia. Try the

[00:56] cheese stakes. Ruled by a kindly king

[00:59] and under the magical protection of his

[01:01] daughter, the area surrounding the

[01:03] castle grounds is beset by deadly

[01:06] beastmen. And the princess's presence

[01:08] carries a passive spell of safety that

[01:10] keeps them at bay. Elliot is an

[01:13] adventurer, an actual job title that

[01:15] appears to be some mixture of mercenary

[01:18] and wandering odd job doer. And only

[01:21] adventurers are known to travel outside

[01:23] the castle walls and brave the beasts.

[01:26] After a sinister duke discovers a method

[01:28] to go back in time to claim a powerful

[01:31] relic, Elliot follows him and thus

[01:33] begins hopping between different eras,

[01:35] going further and further back in his

[01:37] kingdom's history. In terms of sheer

[01:39] mechanics, The Adventures of Elliot is a

[01:41] modest but welcome step forward for the

[01:44] genre. This HD 2D visual style works so

[01:47] well for a top-own Zelda style adventure

[01:49] game that you would never have known

[01:51] that it was created for turn-based RPGs.

[01:54] The combat is sharp and responsive, and

[01:57] the diarama-like presentation gives you

[01:59] a very clear idea of where the enemy

[02:01] threats are coming from. Elliot gets a

[02:03] wide variety of weapons, each with its

[02:06] own advantages and disadvantages in

[02:08] combat. And as you find upgraded

[02:10] versions of each, they get stronger

[02:13] charged effects that can have a big

[02:15] impact on the battlefield. Elliot also

[02:17] has a shield for blocking and parrying

[02:20] enemy attacks, adding a little more

[02:22] defensive nuance. And Elliot has a

[02:24] dedicated jump which is used for

[02:26] traversal and light platforming,

[02:28] especially within dungeons, but can also

[02:30] be used offensively depending on your

[02:32] build. True to its classic inspirations,

[02:35] Elliot only features a relatively small

[02:38] pool of enemies with pallet swaps

[02:40] representing stronger variants with new

[02:42] abilities, but it manages to offer a

[02:44] good variety of fast-paced combat

[02:47] encounters as these enemy types are

[02:48] mixed together. Combat scenarios are

[02:51] quick and snappy. So even though I could

[02:53] run past them when I was in a rush, I

[02:55] would usually stop to fight just for the

[02:57] fun of taking down some monsters. That's

[02:59] the mark of a strong combat system.

[03:04] >> Wow. How long can you keep this going?

[03:07] >> Shortly after beginning on his quest,

[03:09] Elliot is joined by Fay, a squeaky

[03:12] voiced little fairy that only he can see

[03:15] and hear. She's his constant companion

[03:17] through the rest of the game, offering

[03:19] her own commentary and being a sounding

[03:22] board for Elliot to think through his

[03:24] next steps. She also gains a number of

[03:26] magical powers. You can freely move Fay

[03:29] around within a certain radius of Elliot

[03:31] with the right stick, which makes her

[03:32] feel like a natural extension of

[03:34] Elliot's, and thus your power set. The

[03:37] dungeon design throughout the game is

[03:39] wellcrafted, even if most of them don't

[03:41] feel particularly distinct. This whole

[03:44] game is an homage to classics like the

[03:45] 2D Zelda games, and you can particularly

[03:48] sense that in the dungeons. Elliot can

[03:50] also enhance his abilities with

[03:52] Magisite, a very flexible upgrade

[03:54] system. Equipped Magic can enhance your

[03:57] attack power, give passive bonuses, or

[04:00] change weapon properties. Each piece of

[04:02] equipment has its own magisite box with

[04:04] a certain amount of slots, and you can

[04:06] both find pieces of magic in the world

[04:08] or turn in fragments to get random ones.

[04:11] Gotcha style. After you've upgraded

[04:13] enough, your total level goes up and you

[04:16] get even better magistite. So, it's

[04:18] always worth to be on the lookout for

[04:20] fragments. You can really get into the

[04:23] nitty-gritty of managing magesite to

[04:25] optimize your build. But if you don't

[04:27] want to worry about it, there's also a

[04:29] quick command option to let FA create a

[04:31] build for you, which she does decently

[04:34] well to make a balanced set. There are

[04:36] also accessory slots, which can change

[04:38] your style in even more meaningful ways.

[04:41] accessories can provide several

[04:43] different perks. I found one that gave

[04:44] Elliot a hovering jump effect on his

[04:46] regular jump and kept it equipped for

[04:48] the entire game because it was so

[04:51] helpful to the dungeon platforming. And

[04:53] then there are just thoughtful

[04:54] convenience features that help modernize

[04:56] and sand off the rough edges. Side

[04:59] quests are clearly marked with a visual

[05:01] indicator and a dedicated menu showing

[05:03] the character it centers around. and

[05:05] you're given ample warning if the next

[05:07] step in a story quest chain will nullify

[05:10] an ongoing side quest. As you discover

[05:12] more eras, you'll often have to jump

[05:14] back and forth between them, which is

[05:16] easy because there are guideposts

[05:18] littered throughout the map in every

[05:20] area. And while pointing can be a little

[05:22] difficult due to winding pathways, the

[05:25] overall map layout remains relatively

[05:27] similar in each era, which helps you to

[05:30] keep your bearings.

[05:34] As I've been playing The Adventures of

[05:36] Elliot, though, I've been thinking a lot

[05:38] about the trope of the silent

[05:39] protagonist. Classics like The Legend of

[05:42] Zelda have been known for their hero

[05:44] being remarkably quiet while the action

[05:46] occurs around them. Much has been said

[05:48] about this particular odd remnant of

[05:51] early video games. But in Elliot, we can

[05:53] see an example of what it's like to have

[05:55] that type of character written with a

[05:57] voice. Elliot is remarkably earnest,

[06:00] even hokey, and everyone who knows or

[06:02] encounters him comes away feeling he's

[06:04] just a swell guy. His personality often

[06:07] borders on feeling cloying and shriekly.

[06:10] But at the same time, a character like

[06:12] this almost has to be written this way

[06:14] because how else do you justify his

[06:16] status as a wandering dogooder?

[06:18] Sometimes other characters hint at

[06:20] Elliot being a mercenary and taking

[06:22] payments, but it's clear that he does

[06:24] most of his work pro bono or accepts

[06:26] whatever people can offer. So instead of

[06:29] a Linklike character who accepts his

[06:31] fated quest with quiet dignity onto

[06:34] which we as the player can map whatever

[06:36] internal motivations we want, we have to

[06:38] stop and listen to exhaustive

[06:40] explanations that don't add much

[06:42] interesting shading or texture to the

[06:44] character. What does Elliot want? To be

[06:47] a helpful, great guy. What does everyone

[06:49] think of him? That he's a helpful great

[06:52] guy. This type of character is mostly a

[06:55] cipher, so they make him utterly

[06:57] good-natured and well-liked and wise

[06:59] instead of simply silent. But it's not

[07:02] just Elliot. Fay is equally chatty, and

[07:05] her tone is even more sickly sweet than

[07:07] Elliot, though you can toggle an option

[07:10] to make her chime in less during your

[07:12] exploration. Wonder if there's anything

[07:14] to find here.

[07:16] >> And almost every quest giver you

[07:18] encounter details the motivations and

[07:20] their own stories in exhaustive detail.

[07:23] The classics that inspired Adventures of

[07:26] Elliot were forced into an economy of

[07:28] language and would get their points

[07:30] across with a few sentences or a

[07:32] paragraph at most. Without those

[07:34] limiters in place, these cutscenes feel

[07:36] over long and overexlained. Checking in

[07:38] to advance the story between dungeons

[07:41] just slows the pace to a crawl.

[07:42] Adventures of Elliot also struggles to

[07:45] really capitalize on its time hopping

[07:47] premise largely because it's different

[07:49] time periods are so nebulous. The

[07:51] concept appears visually and

[07:53] thematically inspired by Chrono Trigger.

[07:56] But one element that made Chrono

[07:57] Trigger's era spanning story work so

[07:59] well is that it mapped more or less

[08:01] recognizably onto actual historical

[08:04] periods. Adventures of Elliot's time

[08:06] periods are more vague. We explore four

[08:09] time periods in total that help us

[08:11] understand the essential sequence of

[08:13] historical events in this world. As we

[08:15] travel further backward, there was a

[08:17] great magical society that collapsed

[08:19] into ruination. The modern era from

[08:22] which Elliot Hails has recovered largely

[08:24] due to the influence of a great king.

[08:26] But none of the periods map cleanly onto

[08:29] real world history, and they aren't

[08:31] separated by clearly defined spans of

[08:33] time. The map remains largely the same,

[08:36] which is helpful for navigation, but it

[08:38] also makes it feel like not much has

[08:40] changed in this world over long

[08:41] stretches of time. There are moments

[08:44] where the idea of an adventure spanning

[08:46] generations shines through. One side

[08:49] quest showed a bar owner treating his

[08:51] employees poorly until I went back in

[08:53] time and accidentally taught his

[08:55] ancestor about basic kindness. And then

[08:57] I got to see that lesson passed down

[08:59] through the generations and impact the

[09:01] future. Moments like that and occasional

[09:03] story beats that I won't spoil did

[09:06] remind me of how you could see your

[09:07] actions echo through time in video games

[09:10] like Chrono Trigger. The Adventures of

[09:11] Elliot just doesn't reach quite the same

[09:13] heights. The Adventures of Elliot the

[09:16] Millennium Tales is a surprisingly

[09:18] strong first attempt at reaching into

[09:20] the genre from a studio not known for

[09:22] it. The combat is snappy and fun with

[09:25] loads of build customization and ability

[09:27] tailoring to your style. The dungeon

[09:29] designs are well-crafted homages that

[09:31] allow room for creative problem solving,

[09:33] and the HD 2D visual style is lovely for

[09:36] this type of game. I was left wanting

[09:38] for a story I cared more about with

[09:41] characters that were more

[09:42] three-dimensional in a world that felt

[09:44] alive and took better advantage of its

[09:46] time travel concept. Those factors make

[09:49] the game fall short, but it creates a

[09:51] foundation that I hope Square Annex

[09:53] builds upon.