Withered Reason - Demo 2

I wouldn't have normally played [i]Withered Reason[/i], or at least not before it was released in full. Initially it just didn’t sound particularly different from a host of fantasy RPGs on here and the recent trailer felt really lacklustre. What really got my interest was a rather bold claim voiced recently by its creator that “If you're looking for the next great RPG to come out, Withered Reason is where you need to focus your attention.” I wasn’t convinced, far from it, but I still admired his ambition. After all, games that are created to be throwaways, or just to meet a certain level of expectation, can be quite frustrating to review: you can often see where it could've been much better, but the creator didn't bother fixing whatever glaring flaw there was. Here, the effort and determination is not in question. [b]Storyline[/b] The writing in [i]Withered Reason[/i] is unfortunately very uneven so far. Mr_H is at his best when dealing with overarching workings behind the central conflict, the realistic tale of occupation, struggle for power, inciting unrest, crackdown on said unrest, revenge and more. Similarly, the characters directly or indirectly in the powerplay that led to some of the most tragic events in the game are also the most compelling. Sadly, we don’t get to see them until the latter half of the demo, and early on we’re stuck with the typically young and inexperienced villager duo of Aryn and Neis. Admittedly, their writing is not the worst ever, and the bond between them still feels genuine and somewhat touching. Unfortunately, this is in spite of, rather than due to the dialogue, a lot of which is really unauthentic. A good barometer for whether you’ll enjoy the current writing much is your reaction to Neis’ lines like [i]“I feel like I’ve betrayed everybody I’ve ever loved and I can’t even lie to them enough anymore to keep them away from the truth.[/i]” and [i]“It’s because I’ve hurt people, Aryn. Not with my lies but with my actions. That makes me the worst kind of person there is in the world.”[/i] If you like it, then great. If not, then tough luck, because she carries on in the same vein, and Aryn, who’s been characterised as rather hot-headed and inconsiderate before, suddenly says [i]“It’s [lying] an unavoidable action that keeps the people in our lives unified. As humans, we were given the power to lie for that very reason. You have nothing to be ashamed of.”[/i] It’s something that would feel appropriate from a 50-year old sensei, but not from a typical teenage JRPG protagonist who begins the game whining about carrying (possibly) mineral water to heal his friend. That’s literally the first thing they say: the second is hugely unsubtle foreshadowing early on. Real people don’t just suddenly stop on the walk home and say [i]“Do you think something bad will happen to our village? I mean, this person, is sick, elders are dead and there’s shift of power within the monarchy. We might just end up forgotten and with no-one to help.”[/i] (I’m paraphrasing, but shift of power is an actual quote, and a jarring modernism given the setting.) A lot of this exposition would’ve been better split between the villagers you also encounter in the forest, so that it feels more natural and doesn’t come at the player all at once. As it is, some of the villager dialogue is pretty good (the conversation with lumberjacks about irrigation has some memorable dark humour), a lot is forgettable and some would’ve been best removed (there’s a supposedly humorous scene with a guy standing near a cliff that’s best described as WTF?). Anyway, Aryn then replies to that question from Neis with a speech about how this village of Calrena became his home after his mother’s death and that he would do whatever necessary to protect it, name-dropping a Duke who’ll be one of the antagonists in process. Sure, I’ve seen worse, but it could’ve been done much subtler. To his credit, Mr. H tries to balance this (melo)drama with light-heartedness, but a lot of it also comes of quite forced. For instance, after their first boss battle that ends in a draw, they discuss what they would do if they died, and Aryn is all [i]“I would try to make him feel uncomfortable as I’m dying[/i] (slight paraphrasing). [i]“I would meow at him in my final breaths.”[/i] [i][/i](full quote.) Instead of funny, it’s just utterly surreal, especially when he follows it with high-minded deliberations on the nature of lying in the next cutscene. The actual events also don’t make much sense at the start. Like I said before, Aryn and Neis are in the forest away from their village to get special mineral water (it’s actual properties are argued about between the characters) for a sick friend of theirs. While they’re there, they easily cut their way through a whole lot of creatures, yet on the way back they’re flustered by rain and have to turn away from route home to seek shelter at an unknown mansion. They knock firstly on the front door, and then a secondary one, and in response a guy with a sword charges out, accusing them of being thieves. (Apparently, the idea that thieves would much rather break in through a window than knock on a door doesn’t occur to him.) Our heroes decide it’s better to brave death than stand any more under the rain, and so the first boss battle begins. It really feels like an excuse to force in a boss battle, and the events make even less sense after it’s revealed Neis had already tried stealing from there once, yet still decided it’s worth it to approach the place again with clueless Aryn in tow. Thankfully, things do get a lot better once you endure for long enough for the storyline to shift to the two other lead characters, Zelan and Kuran. These two are mature and have a long history between them, and while you initially control them in rather pedestrian circumstances, things quickly ratchet up a notch as you learn their standing in the global hierarchy and are then introduced to Yeda and Sylpha, the two lesser antagonists with some very good reasons to want our duo dead. There’s genuine moral ambiguity, which is an all-too-rare thing in RMN games. Granted, there are still some poor lines like the jarringly modern [i]“Where were you when (country name) began to move towards a militaristic state?”[/i], but on the whole, dialogue finally gains literary quality at that point, and the spiteful exchanges between the foes are all well-done. It’s not quite up there with the best of [i][youtube]https://rpgmaker.net/games/807/reviews/3560/[/youtube][/i] or [i][url=https://rpgmaker.net/games/4140/reviews/3750/]A Hint of a Tint[/url][/i], but it’s getting there, and the line about streets being a carpet for Yeminga’s fallen is particularly memorable. It’s a pity, then, that the post-combat conversation feels a bit anti-climactic given the quality and the difficulty of the battle beforehand (more on that in Gameplay). Another highlight of the game are the creative equipment descriptions. To give just two examples, Heavy Dagger used by Neis is described as [i]“Heavy, burdensome, and packs a wallop!”[/i], while the Leather Undershirts both of them wear at the start are “[i]Made from only the finest cows in the world.”[/i] This attention to detail is commendable, and I hope that it can be kept up throughout the finished game. The environmental descriptions are very inconsistent so far, however: some places, like the storage room in the mansion have good, creative descriptions for every object, but you also have rooms like this: [img]http://i.imgur.com/l78Er13.png[/img] [i]Not a single object in here has any description; not even a book, when you would think a thief character would certainly take time to read one.[/i] While I’m sure the in-door descriptions will get expanded and polished in due time, outdoor areas consistently lack them, which is forgivable with smaller maps, but since [i]Withered Reason[/i] uses decently/realistically large maps, it’s best to give the player an actual impetus to explore them, and impetus beyond showering them with out-of-place items they likely wouldn’t need ([i][url=https://rpgmaker.net/games/92/reviews/3565/]A Blurred Line[/url][/i]) Given that the creator has managed to write some really engaging descriptions for the identical-looking houseplants in one area of the mansion, it shouldn’t be difficult to do the same for some of the flowers and such on the outdoor maps to make it more interesting. Lastly, a couple of spelling/grammar errors for the creator under spoiler tag: [hide]"Going all the way just to get (it?) makes it almost not worth the risk. Are you kidding (,) Aryn? …. It’s mineral content (should be Its) “How do you mean?” When she took ill”[/hide] [b]Aesthetics (art, design, and sound)[/b] [i]Withered Reason[/i] does not have mind-blowing visuals: however, it does have consistency and attention to detail. Everything on the map looks just like it should be, and there are really good pixel art touches, like the white and orange birds you can see in the forests, as well as fish splashing about in the river. Even the water animation appears to be custom and looks very good. The biggest stand-out, however, are the light spots on the floor beside windows in the mansion. It’s something I have not seen before (or at least, not done like that) and is a really clever touch. Here, see for yourselves: [img]http://i.imgur.com/8lBVvVk.png[/img] The combat animations also look very good: I’m not sure what is and isn’t RTP, but all the spells look fine and are very visually consistent, which is what matters the most. Granted, there’s nothing quite as impressive as Standstill Girl’s Innocent Rain yet, but the (lightning) Bolt animation comes close. The non-human enemy sprites need a lot more work, however. It’s quite hard to believe that bright-red RTP Crabs, dark-brown Wood Roaches and muted-blue Parrots three times the size of person all come from the same world; their respective palettes are just too different. In addition, the relatively realistic foxes and boars look tiny in comparison and fail to impress, especially when they’re represented on-map by what seems to be a grey piglet easily mistaken for non-aggressive rabbits. On-map sprites in general are all grey for some reason and bear only tangential resemblance to actual battlers. Granted, that’s a pretty common problem, but if [i][url=https://rpgmaker.net/games/808/reviews/3568/]Iron Gaia: Virus[/url][/i] and [i][url=https://rpgmaker.net/games/1210/reviews/3591/]Sore Losers[/url][/i] (both promising, yet heavily flawed games) managed to have their on-map sprites match their battlers, then surely “the next great RPG” can do it too? The mapping itself is rather underwhelming so far. Mr_H promised me that maps are constantly improving, but right now they’re just too large and hard to navigate. I rather like large maps, as long as it’s reasonably clear where to go. The forest in the opening of the game took almost as much time to traverse as the godawful “Midgard’s Forcefield” map in [i][url=https://rpgmaker.net/games/3396/reviews/3576/]Fragile Hearts 2[/url][/i]. The area you start in foreshadows pretty well what’s to come: [img]http://i.imgur.com/teotC8z.png[/img] [i]I'm not talking about the head bug here. That can be fixed rather easily.[/i] Does it look nice? Yeah, it does. Notice those yellow flowers right next to our hero? Yeah, they’re impassable for some reason, just like the entire tree sprites are impassable and so you can’t walk under the treetops or past that tree trunk in the image. Finally, look to the left, towards the ladder. That spot here looks like a potential exit point, but it's not. There are many spots like that in the forest maps where you just hit the invisible wall, and are left to stumble around until you hit onto the real transition point. It’s an issue that would be solved with simply drawing some paths on the map to lead to and from exit points, and putting up a few working signposts. After all, this is not some really wild and unexplored forest here; there are about a dozen villagers there that visit it on a semi-regular basis, even as dangerous animals patrol right next to them on some maps (wish that gets fixed, since it detracts from immersion a fair bit.) Once you do leave the forest, the maps improve somewhat. The mansion is still very large and it’s still hard to understand where to go, but here it’s at least more believable. Again, it would be good to have some signposts/inscriptions to guide the player and let them know of where each path leads. In fact, given that you start playing that section as Neis, who had already been there, it would be even better to have turn away from wrong areas of the mansion herself based on her past knowledge: games like [i]Iron Gaia[/i] and [i]A Blurred Line[/i] frequently had the lead character explain to themselves why heading down that wrong way is a bad idea if the player tried going there, which did a lot for playability and atmosphere. The next set of maps where you play as Zelan and Kuran are a lot more linear, so there’s no problem with exploring them, also they still feel rather indistinct. They also introduce jump mechanics, which is a cool idea in theory, but feels quite broken because of this: [img]http://i.imgur.com/SVbHFNz.png[/img] Logically, jumping from the edge of the ledge would be the easiest, least difficult way to cross over, right? [i]Withered Reason[/i] doesn’t think so, however, and so you’re supposed to always stand at those identical stone tiles when pressing jump in order to do it. It’s fine when they’re at the edges anyway, but in situations like this, it feels really arbitrary, and will hopefully be fixed in the next demo. Another arbitrary element are the treasure chests, whose placement only made sense in the two instances when they were guarded by bandits. I sorely wish that in 2015, people would no longer stick them around in random places just because every 90’s JRPG got away with it and instead try to provide all the required items more organically. It’s sad when [i]Fragile Hearts[/i], a trashy parody RPG done with little regard for balancing, still made an effort to use on-map sprites for potions and stat upgrades, yet more serious works can’t be bothered. And now, the sound category. [i]Withered Reason[/i]’s OST is very well selected. From the menu theme, to the “morning in the mansion” one, everything fits and is done in the same style. I particularly like the track used during the climactic Zelan/Kuran/Yeda/Sylpha confrontation. Victory themes are currently lacking; on one hand, it’s understandable since a bad one can ruin the mood quite well ([i][url=https://rpgmaker.net/games/3843/reviews/3562/]Middens[/url][/i], [i]Fragile Hearts[/i]), but I still hope that a good one is used someday. Other than that, there’s not much to fault with the soundtracks. Sound effects, however, are a little hit-and-miss. The sounds of rain, doors opening/closing etc. don’t seem to be default and sound much nicer, but the water splashing in the opening comes off surprisingly harsh. Footstep sounds are missing again, like in so many other rmk games: I’m now proactive about the issue and provide links to this [url=https://www.freesound.org/people/OwlStorm/packs/9344/]basic sound pack[/url] every time I encounter this issue in a game reviewed. Instead, there’s a default sound used every time you transition maps, which is more annoying than anything else. Lastly, the sounds used for some spells and attacks are pretty good, but there are a few default tracks that don’t fit, so that a snake bite sounds like a punch, for instance. [b]Gameplay[/b] So, the battles, the main component a traditional JRPG. They’re done in the typical side-view style with either ATB or conventional turn-based options. Right now, they’re unfortunately mediocre at best, especially at the start. Neis and Aryn are not only uninspiring characters, but are no better gameplay-wise, as I finished their segment on level 4, but still hasn’t gained a single skill. Technically, they both have one, but it’s a passive one that’s seems to be activated randomly when you attack, dealing roughly 4X damage of a regular attack. It seems to be a solution designed to make spacebar-mashing less boring, which is obviously inferior to, well, avoiding spacebar-mashing in the first place. Both Zelan and Kuran thankfully have activated skills (Heat Haze + Invigorate and Bolt + Bolt Chain + Surge, respectively) but the implementation is again sub-optimal. Essentially, the two buff skills are not needed in the overly easy regular battles. When it’s boss battle time, however, it’s best to pour your limited [s]MP[/s], sorry, MI, into the attack spells only (there are no mana-restoring items for now, if you’re wondering.) This is because the bosses are highly resistant to physical attacks and can only be reasonably brought down with magic (you can also throw Jagged Rocks found at one point by Aryn, and which are roughly as effective as Heat Haze) and so casting buffs is a waste. This design quirk also seems to be a solution made to address said attack spells being practically worthless in regular combat, as they deal roughly as much damage as a regular attack, and with no chance of getting the damage quadrupled through the random application of passive skill. For sake of fairness, I should also note a few relatively common, but still good ideas, like non-human enemies not dropping gold or items (besides crafting ingredients like teeth), or combat being done through on-map encounters the player can still escape from. However, I only found out about the escape option late in the game, because the selection menu is too narrow, and only fits “Attack”, “Skill” and “Item” commands, with the rest hidden below. Anyway, while the combat isn't very engaging for our protagonists, things aren’t much better when it comes to the enemies. On the bright side, only one enemy type is devoid of skills; the rest all have one they use quite often. However, that single skill is almost always a boring “hit harder” type; the only exceptions are Crabs with the worthless Defend, Boars that buff themselves slightly, female Bandits that also use potions and Wood Roaches that can summon back-up through Ultrasonic Whistle. (That last one is actually very cool, but it only works once per encounter for some reason.) Thus, the battles still aren’t interesting, mostly because the damage is slight regardless of whether or not they use the stronger attacks. It’s generally possible to fight through 5-6 encounters before needing to heal. Given that RMN games almost uniformly tend to get easier as the player progresses, it’s worrying to say the least, and reminiscent of [i]A Blurred Line[/i], where encounters were a) almost always boring, and b) stopped being anything but a nuisance once player got a good supply of healing items. Admittedly, balancing fights is always difficult, and there’s no definite way of doing so. Nevertheless, I would strongly recommend the developer to check out [i]Sore Losers[/i] to see a great way to balance early-game combat: in that game, the player characters started off with 2-3 skills, and practically every enemy could either inflict a status effect or raise their allies’ stats/decrease player’s ones, and the health/damage ratios were far more sensible as well. As a result, a pair of Slum Hounds once managed to finish off a party wounded after 2 previous encounters, which felt harsh, yet entirely fair. Another good example is [i]Iron Gaia[/i], where Medical Bots were only slightly stronger then next weakest initial enemy, yet their Energy Draining made fights with them undesirable, and encountering two Hover-Gunner Droids later on easily amounted to a death sentence if they spammed missiles on your party. In [i]Withered Reason[/i], encountering somewhat stronger enemies like Boars instead of Tree Snakes only means that the fights last longer, rather than that your life is in any particular danger. For all the flaws with the regular battles, however, the boss battles are different story. The way they’re set up is great, and each boss has a few flashy skills to show off, and make each battle enjoyable in spite of how limited they tend to be. If Mr_H can remove the rather cheap physical damage resistance and instead make them more tactical as the player gets more options, then they should be pretty great. One other improvement would be to have more in-combat dialogue. [i]Iron Gaia[/i] implemented a long, tense conversation into its penultimate boss fight and it was awesome. [i]Incitement[/i] has been a rather uneven game so far, but the combat dialogue in every boss fight was one of the unquestionable high points. It would be great if [i]Withered Reason[/i] can do the same, at least when fighting other humans. Lastly, there are a few crafting elements throughout the demo, which is a good sign, even if the actual crafting is not yet accessible. There's also a nice touch with Silver Pocketwatch, which shows how much time has passed since you’ve started playing when it's used in the menu. While this is by no means a new idea ([i]Iron Gaia: Virus[/i] not only had one but all but forced the player to regularly check it due to the savage time limit) it still manages to add a lot to the atmosphere. I would also suggest adding a Map alongside it, which would display an image of the detailed continent’s map when used in menu. This way, all the conversations about Gehnan, Yeminga and what not would become a lot less confusing, and it would greatly add to the atmosphere in its own right. And if Mr_H wishes to broaden the non-fighting gameplay elements further, I would suggest checking out [i][url=https://rpgmaker.net/games/1377/reviews/5285/]Guild Raider![/url][/i], which has done a lot of interesting stuff with traps, teleports, locks, puzzles and such, even if some of it felt underused. [b]Conclusion[/b] I began my playthrough of [i]Withered Reason[/i] sceptical of its claims, and came away with much higher regard for the project. I’m not an outright convert, as the game still has a long way to go before it’s finished, and needs to sort a lot of persistent issues out. However, it certainly has the potential to live up to its claims, and I would even argue that the current demo undersells its potential, and you might be better off waiting until an improved one is released. That way, you could enjoy the beginnings of a promising plot or the obvious amount of care put into it without having to get lost in its currently-untenable maps, or encounter bugs like one that restarted a long story cutscene and essentially wiped out 10 minutes of progress.