Spirit in the Mirror

**This review does not contain any screenshots at the moment, as the crappy computer I'm currently writing from has busted print screen button and I'm too lazy to get an alternative**

If I could make a list of the top ten rpg maker (2k/3 ones) games I've played, naturally titles like A blurred Line (or any of Lys' games), Three the hard way, Hero's realm, Sunset over Imdahl, Balmung cycle, Demon legacy, Wildcard, Devil Hunter (to name a few... or actually most of them) comes to mind. So when I say that Spirit in the Mirror is probably one of the best rpg maker games I've played, you know where I'm coming from. Also take into account that I'm far more grumpy and have less patience with games in general than when I played most of the previously mentioned titles and this all of a sudden sounds like some kind of complete and utter praise and so be it, but I will try to proceed in a more analytic manner.

Gameplay & Flow - 4.5/5
I would argue that this game pretty utilizes the the default battle system of rm2k in an excellent fashion without too much customization involved, in that it is very, very well balanced. It might be a bit on the tough side but I did complete the whole game with maybe, 2-3 minutes of grinding in total (and considering the game clocks in at a couple of hours, that's impressive). It is, however, what you would call "standard fare" for an avarage RPG, but then again Spirit in the Mirror does this well. The attributes of your attacks/spells completely dominates your strategy for most battles, even with regular random encounters.

Many of the skills are a little bit too straight forward (mostly damage/all spells and a couple of heals/minor buffs thrown in for good measure), although I did use most of the skills, especially towards the end of the game where the game is significantly harder. There are also little to no status effects that are actually useful (and there aren't that many to begin with), however the game relies more on said attributes/rock-paper-scissors interaction than anything else.

One could also argue that even though you can have access to a wide range of characters with different specialities and varying traits (such as resistances, spells and what equipment they can use, you know, the usual stuff), you'll almost always be sticking to the same characters once you find a strategy that works. There IS a point in the game where you'll have to reconsider your party completely, so it would seem that this was pretty much "working as intended".

The game DOES also utilize random encounters, which might be a turnoff to some but there's a very simple, yet effective tweak where you ALWAYS walk at least 20 or 30 steps before running into any enemies.

Dungeons in this game are very simple and straight forward also, very few puzzles and interactivity in general have been cut to make room for the, in my opinion, well balanced combat so there at least seems to be a reason for this decision as well.

There are very few to no bugs that I found. More accurately, I found one, which is impressive considering there was one playtester (apart from the author).

Oh, and the last boss was pretty much the most badass thing I've ever fought in an rpg maker game, hands down.

Plot & Setting - 5/5

The plot of Spirit in the Mirror might seem very typical at first but there's a lot of twists and turns as the game progresses that actually kept me interested all the way through. It's not what you would call riveting but for this kind of game, it elevates the game as a whole.

The story is pretty linear, but there is a world to explore and lots of extra content that actually may require more than one playthroughs (Even though i thought I was thorough, I did miss a few things). It isn't incredibly expansive but it does hold your interest for long enough, at least if you're enjoying the plot somewhat (or need a break from it)

Dialouge & characters - 5/5

Dialouges in the game can range from very poetic and somewhat clichéd and/or angsty to foul-mouthed LegionMaxMcgee characters and I for one wasn't bothered a bit but I'd imagine others might find it a bit jarring. It might also be the fact that the plot has more weight than the somewhat crude graphics (which I'll get into later) can handle but I'll let you decide. I enjoyed most of it.

The characters in the game are actually quite few, or rather, the game focuses pretty heavily on a very select few. Mainly, the game develops it's lead characters and leaves most other characters as optional, which may or may not be to little but I did get a feel for most of the cast and for a game that focuses on maybe two or three characters, I'd consider this a success.

Some NPCs might be somewhat lackluster at times but it's nothing too serious to consider. As mentioned above, the game focuses in a handful of characters rather than the setting so it's nothing that detracts too much overall.

Graphics & Level Design - 4/5

Spirit in the Mirror does suffer from using the usual suspects of ripped tiles, the always classic Mac&Blue and general RTP-stylings, and although these graphics do blend decently, it's still not very graphically impressive.

That isn't to say that the game looks bad or uninspired (at least not to me); most areas manage to represent what the world and it's characters look like in a general sense. Most areas are actually competently mapped but I felt most of them lacked a lot of detail (the last dungeon/s of the game did not suffer from this however).

I do believe that most areas, straightforward as they may be, were atleast put together with some thought, as in they were (mostly) never too difficult to navigate or annoying in any way (which is a huge plus when dealing with random encounters)

Most sprites were custom to some extent (although still strictly adhering to the RTP-template) and they looked decent for this particular style (there were a few misplaced pixels here and there but nothing serious). They DID lack additional animations for the most part however, which is a shame because I think it might've helped in carrying the aforementioned dramatic plot. That's not to say that the cutscenes are stale or unengaging, they're fine as it is; maybe it's just me who considers these things.

Most animations in battle and the like was RTP-graphics and there's not much to say here. Servicable, nothing more, nothing less. I'll give it a pass :)

Music & Sound - 3/5

There is a mix of ripped/borrowed music going on here (I think), and I'd like to state for the record that I haven't actually played that many games so when I say that I didn't recognize any of it and found it fitting and/or pretty well chosen tracks, others might disagree about the usage of these. Some areas are also completely silent which works sometimes but it happens a bit too often and for longer periods of time than I enjoyed so either they didn't play properly or these might be decisions I would look over.

What I would like to touch on are the sound effects, as I'd probably say this is the worst category in the game. They were almost exclusively RTP (which can be fine), and those that weren't didn't sound very good unfortunately (quality-wise at least). There are a few cutscenes where dramatic moments would be somewhat hampered by an overbearing, unfitting sound effect with very little graphical response, which becomes very distracting (at best). At least they aren't completely out of place (as in, they are somewhat representative of what the author wanted to convey).

The last dungeon of the game is an exceptional example of how an actual good idea is somewhat ruined by the execution (as in adjusting the volume, lower the frequency when these are played and maybe finding better sounds overall)

Final thoughts

Spirit in the Mirror is definately a sum of it's parts, even if some are better than others, the game as a whole was, as I've reiterated a number of times, a pleasurable experience. One should realise that this is still an RM2K game (there, I did it again!) so don't expect this to be the next "indie hit" (even though Yume Nikki did pretty well) but I had loads of fun with it. I was (almost) never frustrated at any point which I would consider an achievement in it self.

I think(?) the game hints at a potential sequel, or atleast a related title to some degree but whatever MirroredSpirit decides to do, I'll be eagerly awating whatever his or her next endeavor will be.

...

I might still be reeling from the chock or maybe I've been so stressed out the last couple of weeks that a seemingly generic rpg was just what I needed, but I'd still recommend this to anyone who appreciates a good rpg maker game, which I assume most people on this site would do. Go ahead and give it a shot. If you then find this game as good as I'm making it out to be, praise be to yevonMirroredSpirit for bringing this gem to the world. If you find my rambles to be the complete opposite of your experience, voice your opinion so that a)the creator may improve his or her work and b)knock some sense into me. Worst comes to worst, we can agree to disagree :)

Score
Gameplay & flow - 4.5 = 90%
Plot & setting - 5 = 100%
Characters & dialouge - 5 = 100%
Graphics & level design - 4 = 80%
Music & Sound - 3 = 60%

... which, uh, according to my skewed (and obviously biased) statistical skills avarages to about 95% (which is almost the median but I'm feeling generous)

Have fun!

(oh and if anyone would happen to be interested, I still have a review of Phantasia 5 by J-man to finish up. Sorry breip)