This review is for the IGMC 2014 version.


The first thing that draws your eye in Aesperia the Fallen is the graphics, the tile sets are all default or pretty commonly used ones but the developer has obviously got a good grasp of the way to employ them. The visuals are well balanced, interesting and atmospheric. The opening sequence in a ruined town is ideal, not just the occasional pile of rubble and broken body here, this is a place that has seen some serious combat and looking at the burnt and blackened trees, the crumbling sides of buildings, the smoking rubble and occasional spot fires, and the bodies lying where they fell as the incessant rain weeps down you feel like you've arrived moments after all hell let loose on this place.

The juxtaposition between this war ravaged town and the green and pristine castle behind its high protective walls with its manicured lawns and tranquil pools surrounded by unbroken and unblemished statuary is striking. It's almost like they can't exist together, but that they do makes the differences so evocative.


Hell comes to town

The music that plays during this sequence and indeed throughout the majority of the game is chosen with care and consideration and it adds to the immersion level well. This first piece is poignant and longing, but still contains a core of strength and determination, a perfect accompaniment to the task in front of our four protagonists.

Unfortunately the story and characterisation does not live up to the high standards the graphics and music set. That opening sequence plonks you right down in what appears to be the final chapter of an epic tale of betrayal and murder, hatred, madness and war, but you have no idea what is going on. You know that the Baron is your enemy, and some vague references about him being a parricide are mentioned in passing, and an even more veiled one about the leader of your party, Leonardo, once being a friend of the Baron. But as to why you are where you are, doing what you are doing, there is little or no explanation, other than the fact that the Baron is obviously the black hat and therefore must die.

Most of the party seem pretty shallow, without a great deal of motivation for the acts they perform, or at least motivation that was clear to the player. I didn't feel like I knew them enough to empathise with their situation. As becomes clear at the finale the central theme is political manoeuvrings and intrigue and as a premise that is a fine one, some of the better books ever written have political machinations as a central theme, but it felt like substance was sacrificed for expediency, and the characters suffered because if it.


A mercenary who bails before the final payday? This makes no sense at all.

There are a couple of added extras in the game, mainly to offset the lack of any merchants or shops. You are capable of creating your own spells via the scroll scribe ability which means as long as you've got some gold, which is in massive supply, and a rune you can scribe any spell that rune covers onto a scroll and give it to someone. As long as they are actively carrying the scroll they can cast the spell. Each of the character carries a rune that matches their class or background, and enables four spells. Leonardo is a paladin and therefore his rune carries holy spells, Yoshira as we later discover is a prince of the sea so his are water-based, Garren is a mercenary so his spells are high in damage and violence and Thana offers support and fire magic. But there is nothing stopping you scribing one of Thana's fire spells and giving it to Yoshira to carry and cast. In addition there are a couple of extra runes that can be used to change the basic four spells of three of the four characters, in fact the only person who cannot change his base rune is Garren. Whilst this function did present the ability to play with the skill set of the characters and offered a lot in the way of customisation, the team already felt quite well balanced with their default abilities so that the additional skills didn't feel like more than icing on the cake.

In addition you can craft your own equipment from items you find in chests, predominately ore and cloth. This is a good idea but its implementation is flawed, the crafting screen doesn't allow you to see what your current party members are wearing and if any of the items you can craft are better that what they currently have so you can end up wasting resources. Still the idea is an innovative answer to the question of what to do without the traditional wandering merchants to buy from.


This isn't going to end well

Battles are ATB with the wait dynamic as default, as previously stated the baseline skills that each character is assigned makes for a pretty well rounded party so there is never really the need to experiment too much, especially since most of the battles were relatively easy. Whilst they did require a bit of thought to discover an enemy's weak point, once that was ascertained the battles were never really a challenge and I don't believe I lost a single character at any point, not even in the boss battles. Though the pairing of healing with buff spells was a nice touch and did keep the battle faster-paced and interesting, and the use of RP, the TP equivalent, for the casting of spells did add a layer of complexity though most of the battles were too short for me to implement some of the higher RP skills. I suppose my only complaint, other than the relative ease of combat was the lack of variety. I know the game was short but I believe that there were only about 6 different combinations of enemy troops throughout the game, not counting the Mad Baron himself, it just felt at times that I was simply replaying a battle I'd already won, and the ease with which the Baron went down in the end didn't feel like much of a triumph. The fact that it was a pyrrhic victory didn't help either.

There are some really nice touches incorporated into the game play, the steel chest that appears once you've completed a floor in the castle really encourages exploration. The slide transition between rooms rather than a fade gave movement a more natural feel.

Overall this game is well put together, with the graphics and music being standouts, but the battles need more balancing to make them a challenge, the storyline was mostly unsubstantiated and ultimately forgettable, and the characters didn't garner my sympathy enough to make me feel attached to their world. If this was the antepenultimate chapter in a multi-hour long game where these characters had grown organically into the ones presented it would be a different story, unfortunately that's not the game I have here, but I wouldn't mind seeing the events that lead up to this chapter.