Sometimes there are games that you encounter that feel like they’re at odds with themselves somehow, excellent in some areas but then struggling in others. These are always quite disappointing since you can absolutely see the potential, but you also can’t ignore the slow motion trainwreck as they limp along in front of you. Ved is one such title, sporting some incredible art, a cool fantasy world, and surprisingly different and refreshing combat for an RPG, but all of this is significantly sidetracked by a story and in-game dialogue that are simply baffling and odd, almost to the point of being laughable.

Starting with what positives there are, there’s no question that the game looks great. The environments are generally lush and colorfully realized, and the creatures you’ll encounter are often quite impressively detailed. The turn-based combat is also not quite like anything I’ve bumped into before, adding an element of strategy to the mix as you can move to the left and to the right, allowing you to target specific limbs but also increasing your risk of getting smacked hard by being in the wrong position. I wouldn’t say that it’s a perfect system, but once I wrapped my arms around the way it worked I was consistently pleased and surprised by its effectiveness.

The problem though, and one that’s difficult to ignore since this is a story-driven RPG, is the outright oddity of the game’s characters, storyline, and dialogue. What’s really unusual is that you can feel the earnest effort in trying to make it feel smart and engaging, but whether the problem is how things were translated or something else there’s no question that it can be laughably bad at times. At the beginning, and at later points, I was simply confused at what was going on, as it felt like I’d missed the first few chapters of the story and was just being thrown into the middle, wondering what all was going on. If you’re willing to overlook the story beats, or perhaps could choose to simply be amused by them, there’s an overall experience here that feels interesting and new. The problem is, considering the amount of story that there seems to be to tell, actively trying not to pay it any mind and get distracted by it doesn’t necessarily feel like it’s worth the effort either.