Lost Soul Aside - demo impressions

So, I played the demo &... *sigh*. I've been waiting for this one for years. Out of this new wave of big Chinese games, this was the one I was really excited for, as the combat in the gameplay they were showing off was pretty shameless in how much it was inspired by Devil May Cry, & as a longtime enjoyer of that series, I was absolutely down for another game offering that type of stylish action. (There were also comparisons being made with Final Fantasy, but I'm not familiar enough with that series to comment on any gameplay similarities there might be.) But taking heavy inspiration from something else is risky - if it's good then it's an easy sell ('if you like x then you'll love y!'), but it does mean that any deficiencies are noticeable, & wow does this game have plenty of those.

The demo offers 3 modes, combat, boss challenge, & adventure, & I went with the 3rd to get a general sense of the game. First off, the dialogue I was launched into seemed to have been written by someone who had never had any conversations in their life. I don't want to make accusations of AI but... well. Exploration seemed fine, though I didn't get too far before having enough, though the camera bugged me & I got mildly nauseous (in the game's defence I am really sensitive to that sort of thing & IIRC there were options to adjust camera sensitivity in the settings. If I'd been enjoying the game otherwise I'd have probably made adjustments & tried again).

Combat was just bad all round. I had no real idea what I was doing so I was basically button mashing to figure out what worked, but I wasn't getting a sense that I was doing anything (someone on youtube said it 'feels like you're whacking enemies with a wiffle bat' which tracks with my experience & sums it up well). Topped off with how it wasn't clear when enemies died. Like I was fighting & then suddenly it was over & I was really confused.

Also whose idea was it to make R3 the lock-on button? Really awkward to press while you're busy fighting for your damn life without accidentally shifting the camera. There was no option to change this.

Do not recommend this.