In our review of this game We said that “only those who make it to the end will discover how satisfying and varied the battles can be when we have all of Frey’s magical arsenal unlocked and upgraded”. It’s true. It is in the postgame that The prophesied finally brings out the full potential of its fun battle system. But we feel that we didn’t make clear all the possibilities that open up for us in Athia after defeating the final boss and we want to correct that.
In recent weeks, shortly after Square Enix announced that the game had not met its sales expectations., we saw quite a few players on forums and social networks take advantage of recent offers to try this work and express their amazement that it is much better than what the initial comments led them to think. We can’t deny that some trailers created a bad impression of this title, but the negative reactions to them were undoubtedly exaggerated.
And it is that The prophesied It is —as we have said multiple times— a very good game. But the experience of advancing Frey’s story, discovering the secrets of her past and saving Athia is nothing compared to the excellent game that hides after the credits
The open world finally “opens up”
It is true that the game does not restrict us when choosing where we want to go. However, the map is huge and the development subtly leads us down a relatively direct route to the next plot event. Because of this, the vast majority of players only do the optional activities that are near that route.. That is why they cannot imagine everything that is in this world. According to our calculation, by finishing the game without straying too far from the main route, we will only have seen less than 20% of the map.
Some players can leave the main quest at any time and visit the farthest reaches of Athia, but there’s a catch. Waves magic (green, electric) is only unlocked when we are en route to the final boss and when we have lost some abilities. Being able to explore the map again with the new abilities requires defeating Susurrus and restarting the game after the credits. That also unlocks new missions.
We didn’t like the pace at which the four different skill trees—one for each type of magic—are unlocked during the main storyline. That was one of the negative points that we emphasized in our critique of The prophesiedbut it is thanks to that that the postgame is so different, dynamic and fun.
After the credits we can carry out new missions, one of which asks us to face again the five main bosses of the stories and that has relevance to the plot. But that’s not really important. The fun of this part of the adventure is to launch ourselves to explore all corners of the map to see what we find while we learn and improve our spells.
the real star of The prophesied
: the battles
Going around the map using parkour skills—boosting, flying, sliding—is a lot of fun. We didn’t get bored of it in the 50+ hours we played. But it was the fighting that really got us out of control.
If you have already tried this title, you know how good the combat can be, but the abilities we started with (dwelling, land) feel somewhat limited. It is only when we defeat Sila, the first of the Thantas, that we unlock the powerful fire magic and double the combat possibilities.. This occurs around 10 hours into the adventure. Many may have lost interest before getting there.
Facing enemies in the postgame The prophesied it is a very different experience. The four different types of magic not only allow you to finally attack the weak points of all types of monsters, but also add different offensive and defensive movement options to your arsenal, boost certain Frey abilities, and cause ailments. We insist that this variety is only available after the end of the game.
And best of all, they give us every possible opportunity to test these skills. The places on the map The prophesied that we do not visit during the story are full of difficult combat challenges that will make us take advantage of the new spells. Not to mention that improving each one requires performing each ability a certain number of times in a particular way, forcing us to learn how to use it.
The ultimate test for players exploring these elements are the four abominations, which are the most difficult secret bosses in the game. Facing them requires that we learn the advantages and defects of each skill tree and that we equip ourselves very well.
During the story, capes, necklaces, and nail polish aren’t as relevant, but postgame enemies demand that we think about our gear. Did you know that in Visoria there is a zombie that sells a sewing kit with which Frey can create his own cape and necklace? If we use it we can create a ‘build’ so broken for the protagonist that not even the abominations will be able to with her. That is even more fun.
A second chance?
Before you start playing The prophesied we saw some comments comparing it to Avatar: The Last Airbender y the legend of korranbut we didn’t understand why until we got to the postgame. Control Frey with full control over earth, fire. water and electricity is extremely fun and satisfying. It’s a real shame that many didn’t have the patience to get to that point and most wouldn’t even have given the game a chance.