Review for Destiny Connect. Game for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 14/03/2019
When it comes to Nippon Ichi, it is very easy for one particular title to come to mind: Disgaea. It is neither new nor surprising that the saga dedicated to Makai and their Maohs has ended up in the good graces of many gamers since the days of the PlayStation 2, however it is always important to remember that the aforementioned house has developed many other games. For those familiar with Nippon Ichi's other titles, just hearing the name suggests something else: complication. Laharl's house has always had a wacky love of making games with myriads of numbers, stats, and gimmicks that complicate them much more than necessary. Until now: whether the developers have decided to veer towards something more accessible, or that they have received complaints we are not given to know, but certainly we are facing a sharp change of direction that has brought Destiny Connect to life: Tick Tock Travelers.
Destiny Connect: Tick Tock Travelers is an old-fashioned RPG that, at least on the surface, has absolutely nothing to do with previous titles released by NIS. The art style is very far from that of anime, all in three dimensions, and the mechanics are simple to learn. What the heck is going on?
Za Warudo!
The story of Destiny Connect: Tick Tock Travelers, set on the threshold of the year 2000, immediately puts us in command of Sherry, the child protagonist. The precocious girl lives alone with her mother, awaiting the return of her inventor father from a long business trip to celebrate the millennium together in their beautiful city of Clocknee. Perhaps too curious for her age, she decides to go with her fearful best friend Pegreo to the forbidden site of an accident that took place many years earlier. To their astonishment, the two are attacked by monsters similar to large CRT televisions, and they are saved by a boy identical to the protagonist of a famous film that was shown on TV shortly before. Confused, they listen to the boy's advice not to leave the house that night during the party, before seeing him disappear away. Of course Sherry hasn't the slightest intention of missing the party, even though her father hasn't come home yet, but she probably would have done better to listen to the unknown boy, since at midnight time freezes completely freezing every person and thing except Sherry and Pegreo and by making mysterious killer robots appear around. In a panic, Sherry returns home to discover a secret passage in her father's laboratory that leads to Isaac, a large yellow robot whose job seems to be the protection of the little girl. Thus begins the story of the three, who thanks to the powerful features of Isaac will begin to travel through time in Chrono Trigger style to explore different versions of Clocknee and thus attempt to save the world.
A leap in time also technically
Let's start by saying that Destiny Connect: Tick Tock Travelers is not a bad game. Indeed, it has a nice initial concept, and after getting used to the particular artistic direction the characters are also particularly expressive. However, exploring this title is a real leap in time for the player, more precisely at the PlayStation 2 era. Everything about Destiny Connect: Tick Tock Travelers is reminiscent of those times, and not necessarily in a good way: technically the title is terrible, with polygonal models and animations treated to the bare minimum, dubbing is completely absent in any language, and instead of catapulting us into the main plot as the most modern games do, after the opening titles we find ourselves facing at least an hour of dialogue and Introductory "fillers". Today's kids would probably never be able to play this title for more than a few minutes without getting bored, and it would probably be a feat even for the most hardened gamers.
However, perhaps all the evil does not come to harm: we cannot know for sure but it may be that the whole game is almost a special reinterpretation of the jrpg of the past. Those who loved RPGs of that era, after the initial impact, will certainly learn to love Destiny Connect too, which is presented in such a crude way but underneath that uninviting skin it has a very interesting story and characters.
Even as regards the gameplay, everything is much simpler than NIS has accustomed us so far: the equipment is very basic, with the weapons that can only be upgraded through interchangeable mods instead of being replaced with more powerful weapons. The combat is identical to that already known on Final Fantasy X: turn-based battles, with a list of subsequent shifts visible on the left. Characters can learn new battle skills as they level up, all in a very classic way. The only difference from the usual is that if the enemies KO our robot Isaac, who is the heart of the story, we will get to Game Over even if the other characters are still alive and well.
Destiny Connect: Tick Tock Travelers is apparently a terrible game. Technically backward of two generations, without dubbing, with a childlike artistic direction and a story that struggles to mesh. But those who manage to overcome this harsh appearance will discover at the heart of the production a game created like the jrpg of the past, with everything we loved ten years ago and beyond. Probably for today's young people it is too high a step to climb, but for those who devoured the jrpg of the PSX and PS2 period it might be worth putting in the effort to rediscover what made us fall in love at the origin.
► Destiny Connect is an RPG type game developed and published by for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, the video game was released on 14/03/2019
