LOOKING BACK: BALMUNG CYCLE PART I: THE MESSENGER AND THE HERETIC

What is Looking Back? A series of articles talking about those classic Rpg Maker games from the past.







Created by: Magi.
Made With: Rpg Maker 2003
Gamepage: Final Release Here

An outcast god consumed by despair threatens to bring the world of Midgard to its knees. Aided by a ragtag group of volunteer soldiers-of-fortune and a small loyal following, he aims to establish his kingdom once more. When reason and diplomacy with the outcast deity fail, the Aesir god Loki prepares to make a final bid to halt the ambitions of the heretic. What will become of the world should he be unable to succeed?

You are Blitz Ymir, a disconnected servant to the Aesir. The god Loki has offered you a limited freedom if only you were to complete a simple task in his name. When past obligations become personal choice, will you choose to live a menial life or continue to take up the sword in the name of the gods?

Well what can I say about this truly classic, well polished and established game that hasn't already been said? Not always the rpg it is now, this game was initially established as a battle system tech demo going by the name Balmung Chronicle for a small competition held at the old Gaming World forums called Code Off. I don't think it won sadly but to everyone who tried it, it was quite an impressive feat.

Intrigued by what he'd created Magi went off to try and make a game based around the systems he'd coded within Rm2k3. Having mentioned early on Magi had decidedly taken some inspiration while creating the story and mythos of his game from Norse Mythology. Though not particularly used a lot in the community, Norse Mythology has widely been been used for many famous commercial projects such as Valkyrie Profile, Final Fantasy, etc.

My experience with this game started WAY back when it was called Balmung Chronicle, almost a completely different game to what finally ended up being what it is today. You started out breaking into a prison to free someone, quickly being shown the mechanics that had survived from the code off early on. To this day even though it doesn't quite compare to the final product, I do still enjoy playing it's old incarnation from time to time. Balmung among others taught me a lot about actual game design, progression of story and variety in what typically doesn't show in most rpg maker games, even today.

The story was well made, gameplay properly applied and just a very consistent feel from start to finish and I wish more games were like it.

Side note, if it wasn't for this game the ever so popular Forever's End might never have existed!




(Fallenwood is pretty much an attempt at making a Western-style open-ended RPG within Rpg Maker)

Fallenwood comes as close to a western cRPG experience you’ll likely get with the Rm2k. There are optional side-quest, dialog-trees and the feel of the demo reminds me of older Bioware games like Baldurs Gate. There are no random battle encounters, the bane of most jRPGs, and the whole thing has a very polished feel. Sadly, after you leave the first village and the woods there’s not much you can do anymore and you’ll get stuck.

Download!