Dosa Divas should appeal to players of a certain type of RPG fan. You know the ones. The game has a turn-based battle system that largely draws from two schools of thought that are effectively blended. While I am tempted to point out that at its core, Clair Obscure: Expedition 33 shared similar influences, I would say that Octopath Traveller actually feels like its most prevalent inspiration for this game about Dosa’s and Diva’s.
While activating battles occasionally feels easy to avoid if you’re not feeling it, random encounters are obvious along your path, but don’t feel forced or narrative dependent, something that many indie RPGs struggle with. Combat plays out with three party members (Samara, Amani, and Goddess) squaring off against other enemies. It is hard when you trigger combat to gauge just how many enemies will actually be in combat, as only one enemy is reflected in the world, but it can ultimately feature up to three.
In a similar fashion to Expedition 33, enemies can actually hit for a lot, with the emphasis in combat on being additional button prompts ala Legends of Dragoon. You have these options on both offense and defense. As you attack a white star, a prompt will appear that, if you hit the action button when it does, your character will do a follow-up attack for more damage. On defense, when that same propt appears, you will perform a block to reduce damage. If you hold to the last possible second when being attacked, however, you will perform a perfect block, negating all damage.
Where the twist to Dosa Divas comes in is that several systems that players of Octopath Traveller are familiar with are built on top of this. Each one of your attacks feeds into a system, giving you several lit dots above each character’s stats. These can be used individually to either increase your attacks or buff your special skills. There are three total that you can burn at once, or individually, depending on the situation.
Enemies, above their health, have question marks that correspond to attack type, similar to the weapon weaknesses in Octopath. There are five in total: salty, sweet, spicy, sour, and savory. These feed into a shield that enemies have, in which, if you hit them enough with abilities they are weak against, they will enter a stuffed state in which they lose their attack and take more damage. Maximizing this, while always efficient, will be very important when facing bosses that have high health.
Dosa Divas features special Skills that require some form of interaction when you use them. Amara has an attack that requires the player to hold the action button to charge a ball she will throw at the enemy, while Samara has an attack that involves bouncing her shield weapon against the enemy as many times as you can by hitting the action button when the white star appears. Each hit of her shield deals less damage, but each hit counts as a knock to the enemy’s shield if they have a stat weakness.
Beneficially, the trio levels up along one health bar, though they each have preferred stats you will typically see them increase, usually 2 at a time. Alongside leveling up, the player will also receive one of three options to further buff their character. I will say that this can lead to feeling a little overpowered, but never enough to make the combat flow less fun in the process.
Hopefully, with this, you will be able to get started fighting your way through the food-filled world of Dosa Divas, regardless of whether you are spicy or sweet. Happy cooking.
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