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A Chain Worth Waiting For

  • Sgt M
  • 02/04/2014 03:13 AM
  • 1716 views
Going in an writing a review about a work in progress is never an easy thing to do, especially when it comes to chain projects. And such a thought applies to just about anything, whether it be RPG Maker games, essay collections, or even traditional art projects. After all, if a chain project doesn't leave a strong first impression, there may be fewer reasons to be excited for the finished product.

However, I can safely say that the first chapter of Radiant Chain puts these initial fears to rest.

Radiant Chain is the second RMN Chain Game that brings together multiple developers with different skill sets and challenges them to collaborate on a project chapter by chapter, with each episode being passed along to the next participant in the line. Chapter 1, brought to us by Deckiller, starts off strong with a modest cast of characters introduced to us with immediately distinct personalities. I have to say that immediate character development is something of a rarity in RPGs these days, both inside the RPG Maker community and in big-name titles as well, so it was refreshing to see that the characters are given purposes and motives right from the get-go.

Richard and Oswald, the two characters you are given control of throughout the first chapter, have distinct personalities that are unfolded at a reasonable pace and with some clever in-game details peppered in for flavor. For instance, Richard's unofficial retirement after the tragic prologue renders him out of shape, unable to cross the gaps on the overworld that he was once able to, and have a single gold coin in his dresser from being inactive in the workforce. It's small details like these that drive characters a long way, and serve as clever work-arounds for shoving development straight in the dialogue. I felt a strong attachment to both of them throughout the course of the game; Oswald, especially, whom is introduced as a generic character with a common guard sprite, turns out to have much more depth than any other Joe-Everyman guard I've seen in an RMN game.

Visually and mechanically, the game uses the default RTP with some Yanfly and other mods plugged in for convenience. The maps are excellently-detailed and make great use of the RTP graphics. I can only really fault the maps with some slightly clarity issues. Most of this chapter takes place under a dark tint, which sometimes made it difficult to find my goal on the busy maps. Most notably, there was a small cave with a cracked wall (which served as an entrance-way) that I did not notice until the second or third time I explored it. While treasure-chests and other goodies are well-hidden, some key points like this didn't stand out enough. That isn't to say they should be obvious, but they need to at least be more noticeable.


It's not easy being green...

Battles use the Yanfly engine and are about your standard fare for this kind of game. Many enemies utilize elements and status ailments, so players are tasked with keeping on their wits about as not to meet an ultimately death. In terms of balance, the game is generally about on par for what it should be, though the difficulty does tend to rise and fall a bit: an easy prologue with an intense boss fight was soon met with my untimely demise to slimes in the forest. Although these first few battles were jarring, the game was generous enough with healing items that my struggle to stay alive ended with a couple levels worth of grinding. I found myself running to the healer NPC and potion merchants quite a bit throughout the adventure. But thankfully, the non-random nature of these encounters made it easy to manage my party when it was on the down low.

Also featured in later areas were some well-designed switch puzzles. Each of these puzzles makes full use of the environments that they are located in and serve as satisfying brain-teasers to break away from the standard gameplay. My only complaint was that these puzzles had various difficulties but could be solved in any order, which made it awkward to solve the hardest puzzle first and then find yourself in the room with the easiest right after. I also would have liked more types of switch puzzles that didn't include boulders, but this is a minor gripe at best. After all, this will eventually be a 20 hour game, and choosing to spread puzzle types out over the course of it was a wise decision. Over the 90 minute journey, the handful of puzzles never felt tiring or forced.

I guess there isn't much more to say about this considering at the game isn't complete yet. So I can't really say if the story as a whole is amazing or if everything ties together well. We'll just have to see what comes next. But, overall, I'm very excited to see where Radiant Chain goes, and I believe that Deckiller has set this project up for success. With some clarity issues aside, Radiant Chain is definitely a project to look forward to as it progresses. I'm eager to play Chapter 2, and I hope to see great things from the next line of contributors

Score: 4/5

Posts

Pages: 1
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
Thanks for your feedback! The dev team appreciates it ;)

And I told them you'd change it to 1 star...or something...if we fail XD
Pages: 1