At this point in my life I’d be happy playing pretty much any turn-based RPG, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have preferences. Ever since playing Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door back on the GameCube, I’ve been obsessed with any RPG that wants me to time a button press to my attacks. Everything from Shadow Hearts to Sea of Stars has done this beautifully, and it remains one of my single favourite mechanics in all of gaming. When I heard that the delightfully musical People of Note was going to require some expert timing to become the best band I immediately perked up, and prepared my beautiful singing voice.
People of Note tells the story of Cadence, a young singer who wants nothing more than to perform to the masses and connect to them with her music. To do this she attempts to enter the Noteworthy Song contest, and is immediately shot down by a snooty judge. Cadence isn’t going to take this lying down though, and decides that she needs to gather a band of musical misfits to blow away the competition.
The world of People of Note is made up of different kingdoms, all obsessed with different genres of music. The desert is where the rock fans hang out, although with different feuding areas dedicated to punk and grunge. There’s a neon city when DJs blast out EDM in clubs, and a forest where chill woodwind vibes accompany lush groves. The story takes you through all these places, all while telling a slightly too earnest story of bringing all the music together to make the world a better place.
All the narrative of the game is punctuated by musical numbers, where your party members and various villains belt out songs appropriate to the story of the game. These give off some real classic Disney vibes, and as a fan of musicals in general I very much approved of them.
When Cadence and the gang aren’t singing their hearts out, they’ll probably be fighting various unruly rockers and flute/horse hybrids. Each turn of combat will grant your team a set number attacks, and you’ll need to choose the right ones for the job. All of these are accompanied by timing of course, which will boost the power of attacks and strength of healing accordingly. By hitting the action button when a ring overlaps with a circle you’ll ensure a nice boost to your abilities, and this feels as great as ever.
There’s a nice bit of complexity to the combat when you aren’t just hitting buttons at the right time. Different turns (or as they’re known here stanzas) boost different attack types, so on a Pop turn you’ll want to go all out with Cadence but on a rock turn your burly guitarist should use any bonus actions. Special attacks have some interesting effects too, like dealing extra damage at the start of a turn or an end. You’re fully healed between each battle too which encourages you to go hard with abilities as much as possible, which makes fights all the more fun.
It wouldn’t be much of an RPG if you weren’t constantly getting stronger, and thankfully there are plenty of ways to do that in People of Note. You level up with experience as you might expect, but there’s also gear to sort out (with armour like the Simon Cowl and Linkin Parker) and of course Songstones. These are essentially just Materia from Final Fantasy VII, with ways to link them together and even level them up. It’s a lot of fun to find the best ways to utilise these special rocks, especially as the party and available attack options open up.
Between fights you’ll spend a lot of time exploring different towns and dungeons. Towns are usually full of shops, side quests and puzzle battles, all of which grant you better gear for those more fight focused areas. Dungeons are where you’ll do most scrapping, but only when an enemy blocks the way or when you choose to trigger a random battle. You’re more than welcome to leave combat alone if you’d rather just investigate your surroundings instead, and this takes away some frustration.
I was particularly shocked when the puzzles started to appear in the dungeons of People of Note, because they’re surprisingly tough. All sorts of laser puzzles, pipe rolling puzzles and block puzzles are packed into this adventure, often with tougher bonus solutions that’ll help you reach more loot. These are a fun change of pace, but there’s also the option to entirely remove them if they aren’t for you.
People of Note has a lot going for it, but the game doesn’t have a map outside of the world map, which means you regularly have no idea where you’re going. This is especially frustrating at the start of the game when Cadence wants you to go to all her usual local spots in her hometown, and you’re just expected to know where these are located. It also takes a little while for the combat to really get exciting, which doesn’t help the early game pacing.
People of Note is a fun musical adventure, with exciting timing-based combat and a truly unique world to explore. The story can be a bit painful with its powerful positive message, but the musical numbers and tricky puzzles more than make up for it.
