Yes, my review title is clickbait, but I think the game does a decent job at exploring the ramifications of using reincarnation to make up for the mistakes of a previous life. While Glenn/Van did manage to do a lot of good in many of their lives, having multiple lifetimes also means a lot more opportunities to make mistakes. Additionally, his desire for atonement also gets warped into an unhealthy obsession that causes him to shut down at perceived mistakes, even if they're out of his control. The lesson he learns in his current life is that he should focus more on becoming a better person tomorrow than trying to "cancel out" his past mistakes, since good and bad deeds aren't a zero sum game.

While this game does handle Glenn's redemption fairly well, I feel like they didn't put in the same amount of effort in Kylian. After he betrays the party and reveals that he's siding with Nabrelia, I feel like he not only loses a lot of sympathy, he also loses a lot of relevance. All of his later betrayals end up feeling like they don't matter in the grand scheme of things and that most events could proceed without him, making it seem like he betrayed all the factions for nothing, and never really gets closer to his supposed utopian goals. He has a few moments of self-reflection, but only his last one really seemed to have any impact, resulting in him only showing signs of redemption in the literal final phase of the final boss. IMO, his redemption would be more believable if he actually had a more significant role in the story, had more actual interactions with the party after his first betrayal, and actually performed more sympathetic actions even as an antagonist. Right now, he only exists as a vague expy of Glenn's first incarnation, Van, in order for Glenn to have his own person to forgive as part of a cycle.

Related to the above, the game also relies very heavily on subtext for all of their aesops, but it also feels like you need some kind of liberal arts master's degree to cut through all the subtext. For example, I'm pretty sure Whyatt is meant to a representation of what Glenn could be like if he took his desire for redemption to toxic extremes, but this only comes up in a short boss battle dialogue and Glenn himself doesn't bother commenting on it. While some believe subtext is good, this game uses so much subtext that it also unintentionally makes some characters less interesting than they could be and results in a lot of missed opportunities in the dialogue.

As for the political intrigue aspect, I feel like some betrayals are just there for shock value and removing relatively minor NPCs for little real impact. Though the Church betrayal was admittedly pretty interesting and sets up the sequel.



The CTB style battle system makes it so that you can see the turn order and plan around that, though any AGI alterations will immediately change the order. When targeting enemies, you can also see which specific enemy turn could be affected, so you can also strategically try to finish off enemies that you know are about to get a turn.

Unfortunately, the Overdrive system adds a lot of RNG to combat, since a random skill type is displayed near the gauge, and performing that skill type moves the gauge to the left. This means if the wrong types keep getting displayed by the gauge, it can be very hard to keep your gauge in the advantageous zone. Additionally, it makes certain enemy formations harder than others, since enemy actions always move the gauge to the right. The intention is to keep players from simply spamming their best skills, but being forced to play subpoptimally all the time while relying on luck isn't good either. IMO, it would be better if the player had a limited number of resources that could instantly change the displayed skill type without taking up a turn, instead of simply forcing them to waste a turn. That way, the player can still play the OD minigame without interrupting their own strategies too much.

One thing I do appreciate is that many starting skills can still be relevant even in the endgame, though you do have to make sure they have synergy with your other skills and passives, since you can only equip a limited number of skills. The class emblem system also allows you to teach certain universal skills to the party members, which aren't as potent as the party's native skills, but can easily fill in gaps in their native skillset and make it slightly easier to deal with the OD gauge.

Interestingly, a lot of buff skills will buff/debuff both physical and magic stats at the same time. This is a convenient way to buff the party regardless of what damage type they focus on, though it also makes me wonder if the game would be much different if everyone just had universal power stats. Still, I appreciate the convenience in doing more with fewer actions.

The game doesn't have a traditional leveling system and instead requires you to defeat bosses to get Grimoire Shards, which can be spent to learn skills, and spending a certain amount does result in stat increases too. This is intended to create more of a focus on strategy than grinding, but in practice, there are still other ways to increase your party's power levels that do rely on grinding. You can use ability crystals to add additional passives to your characters, and this requires you to farm crystals (sources have cooldowns) and open more slots on equipment. You also have to grind SP to upgrade your skills to get the most out of them, but most enemies drop only 1 SP each by default, making it so that you have to grind a fragile but large mob of starter enemies. You probably don't need to grind at all on normal mode, but hard mode is extremely grindy in the beginning. Still, this amount of customization can lead to some interesting builds, like using multi-hit attacks to proc status ailments or simply building towards as much DPS as possible.

Speaking of hard mode, it feels like the majority of stat based hard modes in that they're balanced for the end of the game rather than the beginning. This is especially true in Chained Echoes, since the increased enemy speed and smaller good section of the OD bar makes it so that it's much harder to balance the OD bar. It's possible to beat the early game on hard mode, but it feels more grindy that strategic, since you have to grind for a lot of AGI crystals to make up the difference.

The game also features a modified version of the main battle system for Sky Armor combat, but Sky Armors are also less customizable and the OD bar is actually harder to manage, since it's based on gears rather than skill types. While all Sky Armor battles are beatable on hard mode, the party feels relatively weaker in this mode and it does take away some of the thrill that's supposed to come with piloting a mecha.



7.5/10

If you don't like the way most light novels handle reincarnation power fantasies, maybe Glenn's story is just what you need, since it shows both the good and bad that can come with constant reincarnation and trying to redeem oneself for bad past lives. Unfortunately, the writing didn't completely land with me due to the rival character Kylian being poorly handled and because there's too much subtext for my small brain to comprehend. The rushed redemption arc makes me think the game ran into deadline issues or something. The gameplay is also a mixed bag for me, since there are a lot of interesting skills and ways to customize the characters (at least in non-Sky Armor combat), but the Overdrive system makes the combat less fun because it's luck based and forces the player to interrupt their own strategies.

[h1]Reincarnation Power Fantasy Light Novel: The RPG[/h1] [h2]Story[/h2] Yes, my review title is clickbait, but I think the game does a decent job at exploring the ramifications of using reincarnation to make up for the mistakes of a previous life. [spoiler]While Glenn/Van did manage to do a lot of good in many of their lives, having multiple lifetimes also means a lot more opportunities to make mistakes. Additionally, his desire for atonement also gets warped into an unhealthy obsession that causes him to shut down at perceived mistakes, even if they're out of his control. The lesson he learns in his current life is that he should focus more on becoming a better person tomorrow than trying to "cancel out" his past mistakes, since good and bad deeds aren't a zero sum game.[/spoiler] While this game does handle Glenn's redemption fairly well, I feel like they didn't put in the same amount of effort in [spoiler]Kylian. After he betrays the party and reveals that he's siding with Nabrelia, I feel like he not only loses a lot of sympathy, he also loses a lot of relevance. All of his later betrayals end up feeling like they don't matter in the grand scheme of things and that most events could proceed without him, making it seem like he betrayed all the factions for nothing, and never really gets closer to his supposed utopian goals. He has a few moments of self-reflection, but only his last one really seemed to have any impact, resulting in him only showing signs of redemption in the literal final phase of the final boss. IMO, his redemption would be more believable if he actually had a more significant role in the story, had more actual interactions with the party after his first betrayal, and actually performed more sympathetic actions even as an antagonist. Right now, he only exists as a vague expy of Glenn's first incarnation, Van, in order for Glenn to have his own person to forgive as part of a cycle.[/spoiler] Related to the above, the game also relies very heavily on subtext for all of their aesops, but it also feels like you need some kind of liberal arts master's degree to cut through all the subtext. For example, I'm pretty sure Whyatt is meant to a representation of what Glenn could be like if he took his desire for redemption to toxic extremes, but this only comes up in a short boss battle dialogue and Glenn himself doesn't bother commenting on it. While some believe subtext is good, this game uses so much subtext that it also unintentionally makes some characters less interesting than they could be and results in a lot of missed opportunities in the dialogue. As for the political intrigue aspect, I feel like some betrayals are just there for shock value and removing relatively minor NPCs for little real impact. Though the [spoiler]Church[/spoiler] betrayal was admittedly pretty interesting and sets up the sequel. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] The CTB style battle system makes it so that you can see the turn order and plan around that, though any AGI alterations will immediately change the order. When targeting enemies, you can also see which specific enemy turn could be affected, so you can also strategically try to finish off enemies that you know are about to get a turn. Unfortunately, the Overdrive system adds a lot of RNG to combat, since a random skill type is displayed near the gauge, and performing that skill type moves the gauge to the left. This means if the wrong types keep getting displayed by the gauge, it can be very hard to keep your gauge in the advantageous zone. Additionally, it makes certain enemy formations harder than others, since enemy actions always move the gauge to the right. The intention is to keep players from simply spamming their best skills, but being forced to play subpoptimally all the time while relying on luck isn't good either. IMO, it would be better if the player had a limited number of resources that could instantly change the displayed skill type without taking up a turn, instead of simply forcing them to waste a turn. That way, the player can still play the OD minigame without interrupting their own strategies too much. One thing I do appreciate is that many starting skills can still be relevant even in the endgame, though you do have to make sure they have synergy with your other skills and passives, since you can only equip a limited number of skills. The class emblem system also allows you to teach certain universal skills to the party members, which aren't as potent as the party's native skills, but can easily fill in gaps in their native skillset and make it slightly easier to deal with the OD gauge. Interestingly, a lot of buff skills will buff/debuff both physical and magic stats at the same time. This is a convenient way to buff the party regardless of what damage type they focus on, though it also makes me wonder if the game would be much different if everyone just had universal power stats. Still, I appreciate the convenience in doing more with fewer actions. The game doesn't have a traditional leveling system and instead requires you to defeat bosses to get Grimoire Shards, which can be spent to learn skills, and spending a certain amount does result in stat increases too. This is intended to create more of a focus on strategy than grinding, but in practice, there are still other ways to increase your party's power levels that do rely on grinding. You can use ability crystals to add additional passives to your characters, and this requires you to farm crystals (sources have cooldowns) and open more slots on equipment. You also have to grind SP to upgrade your skills to get the most out of them, but most enemies drop only 1 SP each by default, making it so that you have to grind a fragile but large mob of starter enemies. You probably don't need to grind at all on normal mode, but hard mode is extremely grindy in the beginning. Still, this amount of customization can lead to some interesting builds, like using multi-hit attacks to proc status ailments or simply building towards as much DPS as possible. Speaking of hard mode, it feels like the majority of stat based hard modes in that they're balanced for the end of the game rather than the beginning. This is especially true in Chained Echoes, since the increased enemy speed and smaller good section of the OD bar makes it so that it's much harder to balance the OD bar. It's possible to beat the early game on hard mode, but it feels more grindy that strategic, since you have to grind for a lot of AGI crystals to make up the difference. The game also features a modified version of the main battle system for Sky Armor combat, but Sky Armors are also less customizable and the OD bar is actually harder to manage, since it's based on gears rather than skill types. While all Sky Armor battles are beatable on hard mode, the party feels relatively weaker in this mode and it does take away some of the thrill that's supposed to come with piloting a mecha. [h2]Verdict[/h2] 7.5/10 If you don't like the way most light novels handle reincarnation power fantasies, maybe Glenn's story is just what you need, since it shows both the good and bad that can come with constant reincarnation and trying to redeem oneself for bad past lives. Unfortunately, the writing didn't completely land with me due to the rival character Kylian being poorly handled and because there's too much subtext for my small brain to comprehend. The rushed redemption arc makes me think the game ran into deadline issues or something. The gameplay is also a mixed bag for me, since there are a lot of interesting skills and ways to customize the characters (at least in non-Sky Armor combat), but the Overdrive system makes the combat less fun because it's luck based and forces the player to interrupt their own strategies.