Cris Tales publishers discuss player criticism in new video

Behind the beauty, there are still mechanics to sort.

Modus Games, publishers of JRPG inspired turn-based game Cris Tales, have taken an interesting approach to demo feedback in their recent video. We all know how much developers learn and grow from player feedback in the demo stages, but here Modus takes us through the most frequent complaints and complements, addressing how they will move forward with development.

Amongst complaints were some moments of strange voice-over work (an easy thing to fix), and the combat style, which some players felt seemed ‘fairly simple’. To address this, Modus Games explained a little more the implication of their time travel mechanic on combat, and just how creative combat strategy can become when you start messing with time and turn-orders. It’s really enlightening to see a publisher run through demo feedback in this way, making the development process as a whole more transparent to those who might not quite know how this feedback might be implemented.

All of this only adds to a sense of anticipation around a title that already looks really promising. Inspired by the colours and fabrics of Columbia, Cris Tales is an “indie love letter to classic JRPGs”. You play as Time Mage Crisbell, aswell as a host of companions, as they journey through a world facing a dark future. A great Time Empress is threatening to rewrite the future, and only Crisbell and her friends have a chance of stopping her.

In each frame of the game, the player can move between the present, past and future. Stories branch over these time-lines, culminating in 20 hours of gameplay. To find out more about Cris Tales, take a look at their Steam page. The title is planned for release in 2020.