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Gotta go fast (away from this game)

  • Red_Nova
  • 03/05/2015 06:02 PM
  • 2853 views
A pair of magical girls are seen delving into a dungeon to defeat an evil person I know nothing about. I slog through one unnecessarily long battle, skip the other enemies and confront the guy in the very next room, trudge through an unnecessarily long battle that it turns out I was supposed to lose, and cut to a totally different scene where a young girl is transferring to a new class. All within the first 5 minutes of playtime.

"...Uchioniko," I thought, "You and I are not off to a good start."


_______________________________________________________________________________

Uchioniko starts off with two women, Jun and Michi, entering a dungeon in order to defeat... someone. The game doesn't give you any kind of context. All you get is five dialog boxes of the pair of telling each other, "Let's do this!" before sending you into the fray.


You do? Would you mind telling me?

I get that the game wants to avoid an info dump and bore the player, but even the most basic questions of the plot are left unanswered! Who are these people? Who are they fighting? Are they magical girls or beings of magic? To answer that last question, you have to look into their equipment and see their pendants. Well, okay. That's pretty cool.

But why does the game not even bother to fill you in on what you are supposed to do? The intro stage is horribly rushed, consisting of a massive ONE dungeon room and ONE boss room. It could have easily delivered the story in snippets via a longer dungeon. This would give us time to get to know the characters, outline the backstory and, most importantly, allow time for players to settle in to the world.

However, after getting a glimpse of the battle mechanics, I'm kinda glad I didn't have to fight through a longer dungeon.

The characters have 6 Physical abilities, 13 Magical abilities, and a Force ability that heals a little HP and MP. Sounds awesome, right? Such huge amount of spells should lend itself to an awesome battle dynamic, right? Well, guess what? You're only going to be using a grand total of 3 abilities for each character throughout this whole intro. Why? Because 90% of these spells are all the same. Light, medium, or heavy damage, and an AOE flavor for each.

Jun uses light magic, while Michi uses dark. The two enemy types you encounter in this one room are weak to either light or dark. So the only strategy involved here is to decide which person attacks which enemy with magic.

In theory.

In practice, you'll find yourself spamming the Heavy AOE damage spells in order to get through the battles. The enemies do so little damage to you that you won't even be using the heal spells, and why would you ever use the spells that do less damage? Conserve MP? The characters have such a high MP count that a single battle is trivial! Plus, you restore practically all MP and HP at the end of the battle, so there's absolutely nothing holding you back from just spamming the strong AOE attacks.

Granted, this isn't a particularly fair assessment of the battle system. This is merely an intro, after all, and the characters start out at level 50. So the super easy battles shouldn't be taken as a representative of the gameplay as a whole. Because the gameplay as a whole is, unfortunately, much worse. We'll get to that later, though.


After losing to the boss, the game makes a sudden and jarring shift to a school. You are then introduced to Ruri Momotami, a bubbly, energetic girl who just transferred in. At least, that's what her description says. She doesn't even introduce herself to the class before being told to sit down in her assigned seat. Fortunately, being the main character, her assigned seat is next to Mayu Nemoto, a hot tempered girl who acts as a strong foil to Ruri's cheerfulness.


Oh? I thought. An interesting dynamic? Two opposite personalities forced to interact through assigned seats? This is MUCH better than what I just played! Maybe this game will get good now? Maybe I'll finally get immersed into the game's world? Okay, the cutscene is over. Let me just see what the other students have to say-VRROOOOOOOOOM OHMYGODI'MSOFAST!

One of the oddest design choices in the game is to boost Ruri's default walking speed. She moves about as fast as a normal player character's dash speed. And when she dashed, she could give Sonic the Hedgehog a run for his money! It's completely unneeded. It adds nothing to the gameplay.

It's my favorite part of the game.


I always say that a game should make you feel like you're playing as a character, and not just standing around waiting for battles to kick in. This choice of boosting Ruri's default speed was, in my opinion, a perfect way to get to do that. The fact that the other characters and NPCs even comment on that speed also helps with immersion.


Well, technically, I was holding down Shift to run, but we'll let that slide.


Unfortunately, the immersion ends there. What follows is a series of paper-thin scenarios, inconsistent and asinine character development, and monotonous, grind-heavy battles.


Ruri eventually is given an amulet by her aunt. An amulet that, unknown to Ruri, is capable of transforming her into a magical girl! Skipping ahead a little bit, Ruri finds another student being jumped by a couple of thugs. Not one to stand by while someone is suffering, Ruri plunged into the fray without a second thought, but not before transforming into a magical girl and using her newfound powers of wind!

Essentially, I'm a level 1 Michi and Jun from the proglogue. I have a lance, a lance skill, and a low damaging, single wind spell. Simple enough. Thankfully, the thugs were easy to dispatch. After that, though....

...

Okay, let me lay it out plain and simple: I'm not exactly hard to please. I can deal with monotonous gameplay. I can deal with poor level design. I can deal with a lack of a plot. Sure, there are few games that I can point to and say, "I love this," but I can usually forgive 99% of the faults I find.

But nothing, and I mean NOTHING, can excuse the absolute STUPIDITY of the protagonists!

What do I mean? Well, after the battle, you are presented a cutscene were Ruri talks about her newfound power to some other students. In a baffling case of obliviousness, Ruri is completely unaware that a transformation even occurs! I don't care how how oblivious you are. The materialization of a lance, the sudden command over the wind, and a CHANGE IN PHYSICAL FORM is something you are going to notice!


"Okay, well, I remember telling them to back off. Then, there was fighting. Then they started running. That's all I got." -Ruri

Leaving aside the fact that Ruri's calm, closed-eyed transformed appearance is the polar opposite of her actual personality, I cannot for the life of me comprehend how one doesn't notice such a drastic change in style. There's obliviousness, and then there's genuine stupidity. And I can safely say that that stupidity is shared among the rest of the cast.


Oh really? You JUST watched her transform and you think there's more to her than meets the eye? Whatever did you get that from?!


You are eventually joined by three other magical girls with the powers of fire, earth, and water, respectively. I need to say that the revelations that they are magical girls is mind-numbingly dumb, and that's IF the game even bothered to explain it.

The second party member you get decides to tag along with you as you go on a mission to save the same student you saw earlier. As you approach the park (the main "dungeon" in this game) she shockingly transforms along with Ruri! The game doesn't explain it, Ruri has no reaction, and after the dungeon, she also claims that she didn't know she transformed.

The final party member, though, is the worst offender. She had spent the entire game dismissing the notion that magical girls exist, and then suddenly reveals that she was a magical girl all along? That's not a plot twist! That's a Bait 'n Switch! that's a Red Herring. That's not clever, that's lazy. And the worst part is she was built up as the intelligent member of the group!

... I've complained about the story long enough. The kindest thing I can say about it is that it's not good.


Go back and reread the paragraphs about the battle system. That pretty much carries over to Ruri's segment. The key difference is that the character's start out at level 1 now instead of 50. This is, unfortunately, the game's downfall.

You see, Uchioniko has no respect for your time.

After you leave school every day, you go to the park, where you must fight through waves of enemies in order to get to the boss. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, the thing is, your time in the park only consists of up to two screens. Each map in the park is one giant rectangle, and you can just go straight to the boss if you wish. Go straight to the boss, though, and you will get demolished.

In order to win, you might grind though all the enemies aimlessly wandering around in order to level up your party. And you will need to grind at least 10 levels in order to defeat the next boss. Now, if you recall the earlier paragraphs on the gameplay, this will not sound appealing to you. And you would be right.

I don't like grinding. I don't like having the correct strategy to win only to be destroyed because I didn't spend time earlier fighting the same mobs over and over again to level up my party. But I do enjoy games like Etrian Oddyssey and Persona. Why? Because while they are grindfests, you have plenty of other things to do in both. Player's forget that they are grinding because they're too busy organizing the party, or drawing a map, or checking the characters equipment/skills.

What Uchioniko does is present players with a boss, then STOPS your progress and forces you to run around a single map grinding.

Give players something to do while they're grinding. Maybe items to find? Character conversations? More abilities beyond just damage? Or how about an actual dungeon to explore? Uchioniko has none of these.

The monotony of the battle system really shines when that's the only thing the player can focus on. It's. Not. Fun.


I also want to note that the visuals are all VX Ace RTP. And they are used horribly.


Pretty sure that's not what a meteor looks like. There is a meteor animation in the database. Use it.


I completed the game with a level 52 party in about 1:14 hours. Granted, that's because I added an event that boosted my characters level up by 10 whenever I got stuck on a boss. You could argue that I didn't get the "pure" experience, but if boosting my levels to avoid another hour of monotonous grinding makes my experience impure, then dunk me in mud and call me a filthy pig.


____________________________________________________________________________________

I apologize for the bloated review, but there is just simply too many bad things to address in this game. Seeing how this game is over two years old, I believe this is merely a learning project for Marrend.

The running speed for Ruri and the dynamic personalities of the party (despite their collective stupidity) keeps this game from a 0.5 star rating. But as it is, the only thing I can get out of this game is a comprehensive "How NOT to design games," manual.

I do not recommend Uchioniko.

Side note: Marrend, update your images. Only two in that whole gallery are actually representative of the final product. Granted, most of them are just a different perspective on the same map, but the skeleton enemy image (that you have as your main image, by the way) is false advertising, as the skeleton isn't even an enemy in the database.

Posts

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Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
In a way, I guess this was something of a learning project for me. It was my first game that I made with VX Ace, and I definitely wanted to experiment with this "TP" thing a bit. Which, unless I'm mistaken, I have not messed with since this game? Not sure what to make of that.

Making players grind 10 levels per boss/chapter was definitely a thought-process that was left over from my previous games. It wasn't something I questioned at the time, though, I probably should have. I'd like to believe that I'm getting better at this, though.

I really can't argue about the fact that there's so little for players to do hurts the game, big-time. I think I might have blogged/wrote about how I could probably use some kind of side-things for this game, but, ideas weren't coming to me. Or, I just focused on the next game, and up and forgot about this.

Anyway, thanks for playing, even though you had such a miserable time of it!
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=Marrend
In a way, I guess this was something of a learning project for me. It was my first game that I made with VX Ace, and I definitely wanted to experiment with this "TP" thing a bit. Which, unless I'm mistaken, I have not messed with since this game? Not sure what to make of that.


I can't remember any of your other games using TP (that I've played, at least), though that's definitely something I think you should explore in future games. For what it's worth: I think this was a pretty clever implementatiin



Making players grind 10 levels per boss/chapter was definitely a thought-process that was left over from my previous games. It wasn't something I questioned at the time, though, I probably should have. I'd like to believe that I'm getting better at this, though.


You absolutely HAVE gotten better, no doubt about that! Personally, I think Arbiters from Another World did it best. Sure, you were grinding, but you were constantly moving through various environments and towards an objective. What would have really helped Uchioniko would have been the inclusion of immunity from certain elements in the enemies, or even absorbing elements. Granted, I'm not sure if that was possible at the time, but anything that meant I didn't have to constantly spam AOE attacks would have been welcome.


I really can't argue about the fact that there's so little for players to do hurts the game, big-time. I think I might have blogged/wrote about how I could probably use some kind of side-things for this game, but, ideas weren't coming to me. Or, I just focused on the next game, and up and forgot about this.


One thing I did forget to mention in the review was the lack of variety in the school. I probably would have had less to complain about if the students said something different every day. To give an example without spoiling anything, I distinctly remember a certain character ending up in the hospital after being stalked by a group of thugs. I had to wonder why only one NPC at school even bothered to mention it, despite another character saying, "rumors are flying aboung."

I probably could have eased up on the lack of variety in the park level if there was more stuff to do at school.

Anyway, thanks for playing, even though you had such a miserable time of it!


The important thing is that you've gotten much, much better at developing games, so I hope this doesn't hurt your drive to continue.
I must admit, it hurts a little to read this brutal and apparently entirely justified review of a Marrend game right after giving a good score to his Okiku. I'm still glad that this was written however, as it's a pretty good review, and balances out the other one for unwary members. Knowing my standards, I would have probably given it same or lower if I were to play it.
unity
You're magical to me.
12540
author=NTC3
I must admit, it hurts a little to read this brutal and apparently entirely justified review of a Marrend game right after giving a good score to his Okiku. I'm still glad that this was written however, as it's a pretty good review, and balances out the other one for unwary members. Knowing my standards, I would have probably given it same or lower if I were to play it.


Any developer can have their good games and their not-as-good games. ^_^ I both love Okiku to pieces yet had a lot of trouble enjoying this game.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
If nothing else, I'm able to take some consolation in that something good might have come out of this game, even if it wasn't in this game.
Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
9192
author=NTC3
I must admit, it hurts a little to read this brutal and apparently entirely justified review of a Marrend game right after giving a good score to his Okiku. I'm still glad that this was written however, as it's a pretty good review, and balances out the other one for unwary members. Knowing my standards, I would have probably given it same or lower if I were to play it.


Don't feel bad. Unity pretty much said what I was going to say. I felt awful after writing this, but I wouldn't change a word.

I try to write my reviews (for games I plan on reviewing, anyway) right after I complete the game so the experience is still fresh in my mind. Because of this, the review probably ended up more of a rant than an objective list of facts, but that's exactly how I felt when I completed it, and that's what a review is, right?

It's worth noting that the other two reviews for this game was when it was just a demo. This review is the only review of the completed game. I should probably make a note of that in the intro...
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