Ever Oasis

Ever Oasis is a 2017 action role-playing video game developed by Grezzo and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. Unveiled at E3 2016, the game was released in North America, Europe, and Oceania in June 2017 and in Japan the following month. It was directed and produced by game designer Koichi Ishii, known for his prior work on the Final Fantasy and Mana series.

The story follows Tethu/Tethi, a young Seedling born from the Great Tree, working together with the water spirit, Esna to build the last oasis in a vast desert and helping out new residents along the way. Its gameplay combines action role-playing game gameplay elements with town-building simulation and dungeon crawling. The player is tasked with managing the oasis (which includes managing the settlement's residents and shops, known as Bloom Booths, and crafting equipment) and adventuring into the surrounding desert to combat enemies, collect materials and exploring dungeons.

Ever Oasis was positively received, with the game's town-building simulation aspects, presentation and orchestral score receiving particular praise. However, critics noted some minor drawbacks in the game's slow start and shallow story.

Gameplay

Ever Oasis is an action role-playing game featuring elements of town management, dungeon exploration, and hack-and-slash gameplay. Players assume the role of a young Seedling named Tethu or Tethi, depending on which gender you choose, who is tasked by a water spirit named Esna with building and managing the last remaining oasis in a desert world threatened by a corrupted element called Chaos. The two primary gameplay modes, oasis management and desert exploration, are intended to link and support each other in a cycle.

Town management

The oasis serves as the game's central hub and home base. The player expands it by recruiting travelers and residents from the various tribes encountered across the desert, with each new resident contributing to the oasis's population and overall level. Once recruited, residents can open Bloom Booths; personalized shops that line the oasis's main street and sell a variety of items, ranging from potions and juices to weapons, robes, and turbans. The player is responsible for keeping these shops stocked by supplying residents with materials gathered in the field; in return, a share of the resulting profits is collected in the form of Dewadems, the game's currency. Bloom Booths can be ranked up by restocking them consistently and completing quests on behalf of their owners. Not all Oasis residents are able to open shops; some members of other tribes serve primarily as party members for combat and exploration.

Dungeon crawling

Outside the town management gameplay, Ever Oasis doubles as a traditional dungeon crawler action role-playing game. Combat is done in real time; where you can lock onto enemies, deal weak and strong attacks, dodge and execute elemental magic spells. A party of up to 3 other characters recruited from the Oasis could join the player in a party if selected. An AI controls your non-player party members and you can switch between them on the fly using the D-pad, allowing the player to quickly navagiate to each party member at any time. Each of the three tribal races have distinct weapon types; the spear wielding Darkus, the hammer wielding Serkah and the dual blade wielding Lagora. and enemies have strengths and weaknesses towards them. As the player progresses through the game, new of attacks and abilities are unlocked.

Plot

Ever Oasis is set in the vast desert of Vistrahda, which was originally a lush land until a chaotic force known as Chaos ravaged it thousands of years ago. Eventually, Chaos had destroyed all the oasises except two. The story focuses on Tethu/Tethi, the younger sibling of Nour, who was the chief of one of the last remaining oasises. When Nour’s oasis was destroyed by the Black Dragon, a being consumed by Chaos, Nour wounds the dragon before being consumed by it, becoming Sheut. Before succumbing to the Chaos, Nour seals Tethu/Tethi in a pod and saves the player from harm. Tethu/Tethi wakes up in front of a small Oasis and meets Esna, the last Water Spirit. Both the two strike a pact to build another oasis together. Being confined to her spring, Esna communicates with Tethu through a desert beetle, Khepri, empowered by her.

As the oasis expands, Tethu begins to roam the desert looking for Drauk and Serkah settlements as well as Lagora's village and other such locations. Tethu/Tethi is also in search of certain crystals called Lumites, which Esna uses to ward off Chaos. Upon gathering the third Lumite, Esna is manipulated by Sheut to turn on Tethu/Tethi by corrupting its power and creating a "Black Lumite." Being controlled by Thoth, the Great Sage, Tethu/Tethi must then journey to the Sanctuary of Light to reform the Lumites into a White Lumite capable of defeating Sheut and the Black Dragon. Equipped with the White Lumite, Tethu/Tethi proceeds to battle Sheut in the Chaos Void located directly below the oasis, then finally battle the Black Dragon itself. The Black Dragon is defeated by Tethu/Tethi, but before it dies, it tries to destroy the oasis one last time, forcing Esna to sacrifice herself to purify Chaos and return the land to its former state.

Development

Director and producer Koichi Ishii was inspired to create Ever Oasis based on a trip to Egypt a decade earlier. The inspiration for the game came to Ishii during that trip to Egypt. Originally conceived as a "compact, playable game", Ever Oasis eventually grew something bigger. Ishii wanted to try something different from the formula of having players travel through many different areas on a quest to save the world; rather than focusing on character development, the central design goal became protecting and developing the oasis. He had the concept of a town-managing community but feared it would overlap with Animal Crossing, and so made a effort to differentiate the two.

The game was difficult to put together from both of its central mechanics, which were dungeon crawling and oasis management. Ishii later reflected that even though the original concept of Ever Oasis had been designed logically, actually developing it proved difficult. The combat system of Ever Oasis drew on Ishii's long experience with action role-playing games. He described the fundamental concept to be similar in structure to that found in Final Fantasy XI, calling his choice of battle system a logical continuation of his career.

On the platform selection, Ishii noted that the team explicitly opted for the Nintendo 3DS over the Nintendo Switch, a system that had released earlier that year. The rationale behind this decision was that, at the time of development, "far more people have a 3DS than a Nintendo Switch" and also due to what the team considered to be a better immersion factor the 3DS could provide with its 3-D effect.

Nintendo announced during the second day of their E3 2016 Treehouse Live presentation that Ever Oasis was a brand new RPG for the Nintendo 3DS and in development from Grezzo. A trailer was shown for the game, and mission gameplay was demonstrated for viewers to watch; though it was not made available to play for a attendees at E3. An announcement trailer was shown and a demo with mission gameplay was played on stream, although the game was not playable for the public at the event. A free demo was made available to the public at E3 2017. A demo was also released on the Nintendo eShop. On July 14, 2018 - the first anniversary of Ever Oasis, the game's creator Koichi Ishii celebrated the game's first anniversary with art depicting Tethu, Tethi, and Esna.

Reception

Ever Oasis was met with "generally positive" reviews according to Metacritic. Its town-building system, replayablity and genre-blending elements were the most acclaimed aspects, while its slow beginning, inconsistent AI, and underdeveloped story were the most criticized.

The game's central gameplay loop, shuttling between managing the oasis and exploring dungeons, garnered significant acclaim. IGN reviewer Brendan Graeber felt the design made even necessary maintenance tasks feel worthwhile rather than chores. He concluded that Ever Oasis "managed to make me care as much about preserving my town as I do about saving the world." Morgan Sleeper of Nintendo Life found the game to be "fresh and undeniably new," despite its developers' earlier influences, praising how the oasis and exploration parts of the game connected into a harmonious whole. Destructoid 's CJ Andriessen commended its Legend of Zelda-inspired dungeon design and the way the two halves of its gameplay complemented each other, calling it a worthy release on the 3DS.

Game Informer reviewer Kyle Hilliard called Ever Oasis "a collection of familiar ideas pieced together in a unique way," although he noted that no single element truly stood out from the rest. Kat Bailey of USgamer praised its polish and charming atmosphere but stated it could have been an "among the best 3DS titles if it aimed higher."

GameSpot's Matt Espineli said that while he enjoyed the incremental satisfaction of growing the oasis and appreciated the pace at which new gameplay mechanics were introduced, the game's narrative was very shallow and combat frequently bogged down by the unreliable AI of his companions. The most negative review came from Allegra Frank of Polygon, who felt that the game was too easy and its town-building too shallow, concluding that other games were better examples of the genres it combined.

The game's visual style and music were broadly well-received. Sleeper described its orchestral soundtrack as "bouncy and incorporating Middle Eastern influences with a cinematic quality that blended seamlessly into combat and exploration". Vice similarly found the score consistently compelling and praised its ability to shift tone appropriately from day to night. Famitsu published an average score of 34/40 in their review upon release in July 2017. In a year-end review of 2017's most memorable games, Tony Stephenson of Nintendo Life placed Ever Oasis as his most memorable game of 2017; calling it a "truly stunning game" and unappreciated. Sales wise, Ever Oasis struggled on debut; Its opening sales only scored 28th place, and as of July 16, 2017, has sold 15,907 units.

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