Omega Quintet
Overview -
'Omega Quintet' may very well by the first PlayStation 4 exclusive JRPG to hit Western shores. While the obtuse and difficult 'Natural Doctrine' precedes this colorful idol based title, the former was clearly made with other systems in mind, with PlayStation 3 and Vita versions launching simultaneously.
That said, developer Compile Heart has had a rare opportunity; as a relatively niche developer, they could use 'Omega Quintet', along with the lack of any JRPGs on the system, to make a name for themselves by jumping onto the PS4. With 'Omega Quintet' posing as the the only game in town, it's time to see if it's worthy of its debut status.
Video Review
To start, I want to say that I really do enjoy the designs of the Verse Maidens in 'Omega Quintet'. They are colorful and color-coded, seeming to take a bit of inspiration from Sailor Moon and other magical girl type sources while keeping the outfits fresh. Additionally, the portraits used in cutscenes look pretty good too, and are animated well enough to help look over the lack of in-game cutscenes (which diehard fans of the developer are not found of, anyway).
Outside of the cutscenes, though, the quality really drops. The world fields are especially bad looking, with blocky and relatively undetailed textures that look simply bad for a PlayStation 4 title. This is made worse when players are forced to traverse the same general maps over and over (as new areas to said maps will slowly unlock), and there will sometimes be frame rate drops, which seems rather ill-designed considering both the graphical quality and the console it's on.
Audio Review
On the other hand, the game's music is pretty top-notch, which is good considering the game's plotline of singing idols saving the world. The field music fits the areas players will walk through and don't get repetitive (which is good considering the fact that the areas have to be traversed multiple times), and the battle themes are especially nice too. The vocal tracks also overall sound good too, although it's appropriate to warn that they all fall firmly in the J-Pop category. Vocal songs that play during battles when Live Concert Mode tend to loop relatively quickly, but it's understandable given the nature of battles and how long it can take for the mode to run its course.
Final Thoughts
'Omega Quintet' feels like it has a lot of potential. There's an interesting setting with some quirkiness to it, and the game's battle system is pretty fun, if maybe a bit overly complex. However, several flaws really bring the PS4 game down, and eventually bogs down this title to the point where it's difficult to recommend to most. Those that like Compile Heart's typical output will probably find a decent game, but everyone else might want to wait for a possible sequel to iron out some of the design fallacies.
