Starless Umbra

Production

A project many years in the making, Starless Umbra has undergone many versions and many changes in its long production time. It is truly to the credit of Dragonheartman to have not only had the willpower to stick with his project so long but to have rewritten and revised the story so many times as he tries ever and more to make his project the absolute best it can be. Let us take a look at the latest incarnation of saga. This review is meant as a critique and will contain minor spoilers, so read at your own risk.

The premise of this game is simple. Andoru and his pal Clydan are way lost. Help them find their way home, if you can.

What anyone will tell you about Starless Umbra right away is just how great all its myriad customized systems and mini-games are. Indeed, the stamina/running system is so wonderful that you will immediately miss it the next time you play any other RPG Maker game. However, these systems are not without flaws, as the Skill system is so needlessly complex that it takes a PhD in Astrophysics to understand it. It also requires a staggering number of otherwise useless items to build up in your inventory. This along with the massive amount of food for cooking and the dozens of healing items, and, well, you’ll always have something on hand to heal that missing 5 mp. But I imagine many a neophyte has stared at their item menu wondering just whatever they were supposed to do with all this stuff.

Balance 2/5:
Though the battles in this game can be quite fun, they are rarely if ever a challenge. Many inherit exploits in the system only further reduce the challenge. Agility can freely be raised at the expense of other stats using an item called a stat transfer, and many abilities can raise agility substantially or nuke the enemy’s, resulting in it being extremely easy to undermine the game’s difficulty substantially. Once you learn your first healing spell, you can say good bye to almost all the challenge.

Level Design 5/5:
The levels in this game are simply amazing. From the first incredibly addictive knife throwing mini-game to the dozen or so extra mini-games and beyond, a number of beautifully constructed towns and so many innovative dungeon gimmicks it will make your head spin, Dragonheartman pushes the envelope of what Rm2k3 is capable of. So far, in fact, that many of the games cause the program to lag considerably, making some of them impossible to complete. Or maybe that’s just my low end PC showing its age. Also, the horse chase mini-game is horribly broken as is and requires an absurd amount of luck to successfully complete (the RNG sometimes forcing you to jump twice in a row, which is not possible). With some fine tuning, these are easily the star attraction of this impressive game.

Characters 2/5:
Despite all the charm this game possesses, almost none of it comes from the characters in this story. The character of Andoru in particular suffers a variety of logical inconsistencies, he seems to know a great deal about the outside world despite being raised in a very small and isolated village without any explanation for why this is. Ifhe is meant to be an intellectual or bookish character, this was not made sufficiently clear. Also, I can only think of one word that can describe the character of Reene: nice. Is she meant to be a religious character? So little time is spent developing most of the characters in this game that almost nothing can be said about any of them. Many characters openly state that they only join you because you are headed the same way you are. Presently, it is a little hard to identify with any of them, and thus Andoru’s suffering does not resonate particularly strongly. This does not make them bad characters, it merely means they lack depth. And a shallow character does not engage the player. The optional dialogues are an excellent way to help establish these characters and their personalities.

Storyline: 3/5:
Starless Umbra has been revised multiple times, and while revision is a good thing, I suspect it has begun to take its toll on the overall narrative. Parts of the story feel disjointed or disconnected, as though the player has missed some important information that the game seems to assume you already know, as well as rapidly jumping from plot point to plot point with little resolution. I recognize that revision is a messy process so I won’t be too critical here. I expect good things in the future in this regard.

Music and Sound 4/5:
With original music contributions, Starless Umbra’s soundtrack manages to maintain the mood properly in most situations without throwing a ton of songs you recognize at you. The boss and battle music is particularly catchy. The universal charging sound effect that accompanies every magical spell you cast creates a consistent effect that I appreciate as well.

Overall 4/5:
Dragonheartman deserves major props for having the guts to revise his game/story rather than simply scrap it for any number of reasons. But with its compelling array of mini-games and puzzles it is already truly an amazing experience unlike any other RM2k3 game. A must play for any RPG Maker fan.