Bandle Tale

Game Title: Bandle Tale
Released: February 21, 2024
Game Length: 35 Hours
Grade: B

Adventure Game

Story: Cute and cuddly is the name of the game. All the characters are rather oblivious in solving their own problems. Things are never dangerous and the small critters tend to resolve matters through the use of parties. For some reason, they remind me a lot of Hamtaro despite me not remembering a single episode. There are very subtle League of Legends elements, but the characters' lifestyle is set completely separate to the mechanics of that deadly game. Their city is completely isolated and full of creative magic that keeps the little ones going for centuries. Very little can be found about these fellows online other than a champion page of Bandle City and an entertaining video when they were introduced in the game. There doesn't really seem to be a good wiki article other than the occasional walkthrough. When the best person for parties chooses you to begin one, the entire city breaks apart. All the Yordles shut down in a panic the moment everything stops working. It is up for you to learn each role and establish links between every one of the floating platforms.

First Impression: For the first ten hours, every part of the game is hand-delivered to you. Every moment is explained, defined, and shown through some sort of tutorial. You essentially have nothing to your name as someone who hid in your home for a hundred years. There are a handful of characters who show you the basics - collecting seeds, growing food, serving people, gathering resources, crafting material, selling goods, and advancing the various technology trees through the use of inspiration. Yarnville being the first zone is a safe place with very little complexity.

Gameplay Loop

Region: Things change when you begin exploring each of the islands. There are a total of five areas. Since Yarnville is your introductory area, you will not be able to return there again for quite some time. The location full of scholars in the middle will be your central hub that connects with three other areas early in the game all with a main theme - being one with nature, showing your creative side, and working with technology. Each area will have their own set of auras and materials. Everything is displayed in an overhead map from the people you meet, places to setup camp, and portals for fast travel. Many areas, even within the first area, won't be interactable or even visible until you gain enough skill points to unlock the features. For example, if there is an apple tree present, it won't display a prompt to collect apples until you unlock that feature within the technology trees. There are four ways to obtain materials: (1) fish for random goods from a selected tier, (2) harvest resources from the environment, (3) buy them from a vendor, or (4) duplicate the process through your own crafting stations inside your home. Gradually, figuring out how to make a simple item can become overly complex when tracking down each and every ingredient you may or may not have unlocked within your tech trees.

Cooking: In order to have your friends over for a party, you first need to feed them. The number of hungry yordles can be increased by the number of items you sell from your Vending Carpet within the region. However, this value can also increase overtime while you are performing other activities. The Food Stand mini-game can be excruciatingly difficult to handle at first until you learn all the tricks of the trade. Almost every meal expires within 30 seconds of being made and you have roughly a minute to serve someone. However, this is only a problem if you don't prepare meals ahead of time before you start an event. Make sure you have enough ingredients ahead of time and have more than one of each station handy. There are a lot of little intricacies built inside the processing aspect as well. For example, Beet Soup does not have a spoil timer after you craft it. This one is perfect to place down on some dining tables ahead of time. The Rainbow Egg does not have to be placed in a station. The spoil timer for a meal does not begin until you pull it out of the station. There is no fear of burning something in the oven or penalty for letting it sit in a mixer. You get to choose the meals and how many you want to serve for each event. Take it easy with smaller meals or risk running around for bigger rewards. The event won't begin until your stations are available but make sure to watch the aura timers. They last just long enough for one event. Since the system only checks whether your stations are running, make sure you have enough plates. Thankfully, the game will pull whatever materials you might have contained in your chests.

Inspiration: Everyone who plays this game is going to run into the issue of not earning enough skill points to unlock the necessary features to advance the plot. This is a very common complaint in almost every forum. There are a few reasons because of this. When you first start the game, you have a very limited number of purple spheres that pools in potential skill points. You have to sleep in your bed to empty them out. They did this to ensure people would periodically save their game. The second thing is that every activity has diminishing returns depending on how many times you've done it before. The third thing is that your pet in your house can accumulate it's own number of skill points for you. Simply bring over a plate of food and then use the brush. However, the primary method of gaining skills points will be through throwing parties. Take a good look at how much you need to accumulate during an event and what kind of bonus rewards you get for meeting the quota before time runs out. Parties will have a long list of requirements and options available when it comes to choosing the type of people who attend, the music, the lights, and the accessories out on display. However, one thing to be aware of is that you do not have to advance upgrades and recipes all the way to complete the game. Any crafted items required near the end of the game will be provided to you directly in a prompt instead of needing to unlock in the tech trees.

Mechanics

Atmosphere: If cute was a feeling, this game knows how to do it right. Bandle City, and the joined platforms, feel completely random and scrapped together to make something great according to how the story unfolds. The music is incredible with Everday Yordle being one of my favorite songs. They change songs when you visit each of the areas, party, experience something new, or when it rains. The dialogue is incredibly charming when the simple-minded beings talk about things that we would find insignificant. There are a number of characters that you can become acquainted with, converse with about current events, and invite to parties after you complete their requests. 

Progress: There is some discontent when it comes to how the developers explain certain parts of the game to players. The tutorials are arranged like a cute story that is missing all the important parts. Although you can learn important information from highlighted portions within your log, objectives tend to only tell you of a very specific item needed to advance the story. This causes a rabbit hole effect where you try to figure out the dozen things that have to be done beforehand. For example, durable rope is required to repair the bridge but you need to create reinforced thread by using spider traps to exchange for web first. If this isn't confusing enough, stations will require "auras" to function. These, in turn, will require "charging" objects for each use such as enchanting rubber bands to magically rotate or charging batteries for electricity. The game doesn't quite inform you that setting up two low level auras below a station will count for the next tier or that specific auras are only available when you are within a certain region.

Environment: There are portals located at each section for every island. There is an almost endless supply of enchanted thread available to pop between them. At one point, you stabilize the portals so they no longer have such a requirement. Your home is completely compartmentalized and extends various carpets depending on where you are located. There are "pockets" that adds rooms to your backpack and upgrades that allow you to add more decorations. In the center of Bandle City is a sort of achievement exchange to receive hats and fallen stars to buy new themes for your home. These allow you to switch out the windows, bed, color, rugs, and other accessories. Don't forget that you can also change your appearance, including what type of trail follows you when you sprint. One unusual choice for the game is how you must break down each of your things on the carpet for the cost of making them when you want to build something new. If at any time your inventory is full upon receiving something, you can pay one menial star to retrieve it from the mail system. 

Summary

Review: Bandle Tale is a charming adventure game where you meet friendly characters trying to overcome a big crisis. You never really feel like anyone is in danger as you continue to assist their needs by collecting materials, crafting items, throwing parties, and feeding them. The entire game is aesthetically pleasing with great art, sound, music, and dialogue. Sadly, perhaps the biggest detriment of the game is the steep learning curve when it comes to understanding what you need to do in order to make any sort of progress. Things aren't exactly arranged in the way you might expect them to be and there is a bit of a challenge when you have to backtrack a dozen steps to craft the one thing you need to advance the story. Once you come to terms with the mechanics, there is something quite cuddly and lovable underneath the surface. Curb your expectations and you might just enjoy playing this game.