The main story of Garden Story is linear, short, and follows a typical plot where the protagonist rises up to the grand task of saving the day. Initially acting as a gardener taking care of the vine inside the Kindergarden, Concord is soon appointed as a Guardian to help with the increasingly dire situation happening around the Grove caused by the aggressive Rot. Their journey starts from Spring Hamlet and the main questline will bring them to three other towns in sequence according to the seasons: Summer Bar, Autumn Town, Winter Glade. But before they can move on to the next town, Concord has to first vanquish the boss enemy of the current town. Action, therefore, forms a significant component of this game. It is possible to avoid fighting these enemies by running or rolling past them, though there are times when clearing them is necessary as they can interrupt Concord’s activity.Īlthough the main boss battles cannot be skipped and the difficulty level is fixed, Garden Story has a “perish prevention” mode where Concord’s health points (HP) will never drop below one.īoss battles aside, regular enemies will be encountered in several areas of every town that has been touched by the Rot. For instance, if Concord was in the midst of pulling a resource from the water when a nearby enemy injures them, they will lose their grip on the line and have to recast it. So, even though there are several non-combat things to do in Garden Story, one should not expect the focus on combat to be minimal. With that in mind, let’s look at Concord’s adventure in greater detail. Journey at Your Own PaceĪ day in the Grove is split into five time frames, namely morning, day, evening, night, and after dark. Some locations and shops are open during specific periods of the day, and a few characters can only be found or interacted with at set times too. Enemies that roam around at night are also more aggressive than those seen during the day. Apart from these few time-dependent groups, there is little need to pay much attention to the time of the day as Concord can continue with their activities for as long as they wish into the after-dark hours. Unless Concord perishes in a fight, they will not pass out from exhaustion and be forced to rest till the next morning. Players can thus take their time to forage or explore the town until they are satisfied and ready to end the day by returning to Concord’s home to sleep. One disincentive, though, for Concord to stay up late into the night is the absence of background music to listen to it feels chilly and desolate whenever Concord hops around the silent town at night.Īnother intriguing aspect of the time system in Garden Story is how time flows constantly in the background but will not shift from, say, the end of the morning to the start of the evening until Concord transits from the current map area to a new area. At first, I could not quite get used to this design since it makes the flow of time feel intermittent. Once I see how it can be used to my advantage, though, I start to appreciate it. With this little time stopper in place, I can enter a town area in the late evening and not worry that the shops there are going to close for the night soon.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |