Square Enix, unsurprisingly, is known to many as the home of the likes of Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts; a trio of gaming's most iconic RPGs.
But while these giants continue to dominate the limelight, one of SE's smaller teams has rather quietly been building itself a reputation.
Team Asano, led by the inimitable Tomoya Asano, are the brains behind Bravely Default, Octopath Traveler, Triangle Strategy, and now, The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales.
Branching away from Asano's JRPG roots, Elliot is more of an action RPG, reminiscent in many ways of the era of top-down Zelda.
You play as Elliot, an adventurer from the land of Philabieldia (where it is not actually always sunny, despite the misleading title above) tasked with lifting a curse placed on Princess Heuria.
But what would be an otherwise overly simple fantasy plotline is expanded massively by the game's core conceit of time travel.
Throughout one's playthrough, you will visit four different eras in the history of Philabieldia, visiting Dark and Golden Ages, as well as the very dawn of civilisation in this world.
Beyond the importance of time travel to the story, it also allows for perhaps my favourite aspect of Elliot, which is exploring the world.
In all four ages, much of the map is structured the same, with the same caves, dungeons, and obstacles, but the minutiae of each is different.
Exploring one dungeon in the Age of Safekeeping will pit you against certain enemies, puzzles and challenges, while the same dungeon in the Age of Magic offers an entirely different experience.
While drawing many similarities with Zelda, one aspect in which it differs is its approach to weapons and abilities.
You'll acquire all of the available weapons, from a sword and spear to boomerang and bombs quite early on, giving you the chance to play around with them from the start.
Your abilities come by way of your fairy companion Faie, who, as you progress, will learn to catch fire to burn enemies or light lanterns, or to allow Elliot to briefly hover.
Typically, these abilities are learned just before a dungeon where they might be useful, but they do all seem optional – though I'm not sure why you would avoid getting them.
This choice to front-load weapons and make abilities missable has two major impacts on the game.
The first, and the good one, is that the early hours are a joy. An entire world – or four of them – is at your feet, and you have the chance to explore freely, trying out different combat styles and clearing out dungeons.
However, aside from a few dungeons where you may have to return later with a specific ability, I found that most dungeons can be beaten with just a sword and some platforming.
In Zelda, when you uncover a new item in the depths of a dungeon, using it is key to finishing the dungeon's puzzles and, eventually, its final boss. The lack of this approach in Elliot means that after a few hours, many dungeons begin to blend into one.
That is to say, they are still fun to explore – there's something to be said about the casual enjoyment of breezing through a dungeon – but eventually, the lack of any real challenge did lead to a bit of a lull midway through.
In a strange sense, while ostensibly more similar to the likes of A Link to the Past in terms of presentation and theme, it feels more apt to describe its exploration as part Breath of the Wild, part original The Legend of Zelda.
For all my whining, I will say that not once did I ever tire of uncovering the map in each new era in stunning HD-2D; in this aspect, Elliot never fails to evoke a particular kind of wonder.
While Elliot's gameplay is unique in many senses, despite wearing its influences openly, I struggle to say the same about its story.
It's a simple 'rescue the princess' tale that certainly did enough to pull me through, but never really hit the heights that other Team Asano games have.
Like with gameplay, I found that after a strong start where we are introduced to the world, its characters, and the notion of time travel, the story sags a touch in the middle, and had me going through the motions somewhat.
Thankfully, in its final third, Elliot regains its footing, building to an excellent finish.
Again, the way the game uses time travel is novel, but only ever factors into the story in a very overarching sense.
In each era, Elliot's story is somewhat localised in helping out the people of the time, resulting in what is effectively four separate tales.
And while this certainly has no impact on Elliot and Faie, both of whom I grew quite fond of, it does mean that I never felt particularly attached to any of the game's secondary characters.
I also wished that the people of Philabieldia had a bit more edge to them. Bar, naturally, the villains of the piece, almost every character from Elliot and Faie down to the townsfolk are far too nice.
Everything feels a bit too saccharine, a bit too perfect, and I think many of our main cast could have done with being a bit rougher around the edges, or in some cases, just out and out a***holes.
I know it may seem like I'm complaining a lot about this game, and I am, but that's by no means because Elliot is a bad game.
In all areas, Elliot lays the foundations of a genuinely top-class RPG, but never fully follows through on any of them.
It's a great game by any measure, but I am still coming away a touch disappointed as it's clear that it could have been even more, and perhaps part of me is mourning that game that never came to be.
But nonetheless, it's a game carried by a truly wonderful world, crafted by some of gaming's most underrated world-builders.
The Adventures of Elliot: The Millennium Tales is not a game to play if you're after strategic, challenging combat, nor if you want a deep, life-changing story.
Instead, it offers a vast and beautiful world that rewards exploration and curiosity; one that left me time and time again with a smile on my face.
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