Someone please!! Review my review
whacker- 11/17/2017 01:28 PM
- 2685 views
Went in expecting another garbage rpgmaker game or another great, but unbearably short rpgmaker game and got a decent one with surprisingly alright length.
Graphics-
It looks like a rpgmaker game with the default tileset. If you've never played a rpgmaker game or don't put much stock in graphics then it might be fine. I've played several that have looked roughly the same and am sick of the default graphics. This isn't the games fault or its creator, but it's something that could be improved upon in a massive update or a sequel. Towns were laid out like towns and caves like caves. The mapping for the most part was good. Some of the dungeons had a few rooms that looked suspiciously barren and open, but this was not the norm. Several enemies throughout the game looked to be hand drawn and thus stood out from the battle backdrops and other enemies.
Soundtrack-
Having played almost all of the rpgs and action/adventure games on all the systems dating back to the NES and having played many derivative and original fan games you notice people love Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Zelda,etc... soundtracks' and I do too. Unfortunately, while the music in those games is masterful, repeated hearings of the same songs time and time again can dull even their impact. Thankfully for me, this game doesn't suffer from this. Every song serves it's purpose well, fits, and avoids feeling overly familiar.
Story-
Our four amnesiac heroes from differing walks of life come together to stop a grief stricken madman from his delusions of godhood by the decree of an ancient and powerful being whose true intentions may or may not be known. Travel to the four corners of the world and slay 4 newly awakened elemental titans, touch the crystals of the elements, regain your memories and if you so choose bring closure to each of the characters stories via sidequests and kill the madman or not. Explore to uncover the bigger threat. Probably the worst part of the game from my point of view. I don't mind a story driven game I can take it or leave it and I don't believe this is one. The story serves its purpose as an excuse to get four heroes together to save the world with just enough backstory to each that you don't immediately forget they exist. The whole memory loss/prologue section of the game was confusing and I still have no clue why the characters lost their memories or how and didn't really care. In short, if you are looking for a story akin to Final Fantasy 1-3 you succeeded. This would be another great place to improve upon. Try to give each of the characters a more distinct unique personality and have more banter between the party and other characters, so they seem more like actual people. Have a little more clarification on why things are happening and add some more backstory to the world. The story won't affect my score of the game, because it's difficult to gauge whether it was intended to be as is, simple and to the point like NES era Final Fantasies, or something more and it just failed. If you like primarily story driven games with twists, turns, and interpersonal drama this one isn't for you.
Gameplay-
Classic Final Fantasy meets a little Zelda. The game is fairly open in that you can explore most of the world in any order. Wander into the wrong area too early and you might die, but persevere and you will be rewarded with powerful equipment and items or craft powerful items with monster materials, ore, and craft manuals from shops. Towns are full of NPCs to talk to, quests to take, and houses to rob. Not all areas are accessible to the heroes though as you will need handy tools to explore many places and find hidden treasure. Bombs to blow open cracked walls, a shovel to dig, a lantern to see in the dark, boots to jump, a pickaxe to break rocks, and an ocarina to serenade the trees. Sadly many of these tools have limited use beyond finding a dungeon, getting to a previously blocked off item or completing a one-off sidequest and don't make for any interesting puzzle mechanics like in Zelda. They serve more as glorified keys than actual tools used to traverse the land and solve puzzles. As far as puzzles are concerned, I recall two. A little Zelda indeed. It would have been nice if more areas had puzzles or tools had multiple uses like the lantern not only lighting dark areas, but torches as well. The inclusion of the Zelda/Metriod like structure doesn't hurt the game in any way and only enhances the classic jrpg exploration, regardless of how well I feel it was pulled off. There are somewhere around 40 quests in the game. These range from the main quests, to a few generic fetch quests, hunting notorious monsters through the hunter guild, fighting old champions for their treasure, optional dungeons, and character quests. All quest are kept track of with your trusty journal and major milestones in the game are tracked with achievements. Depending on how you beat the game it may not be over as there is a true ending and several optional bosses after you load your clear save, one of which is most certainly the game's superboss.
Battles-
There are no random encounters. Encounters are initiated via touching an enemy on the map. The game uses a battle system inspired by Final Fantasy 10. Your characters and enemies turn orders are displayed in the top right corner of the screen during battle allowing you to plan out your moves. The turn order can be manipulated by the good old fashioned speed stat and through the use of certain skills. Every one of your four character and sometimes five, when a guest character joins, has access to multiple classes from the very beginning. Every class has it's own skills and several more classes can be obtained via contracts through story progression and sidequests. The classes that you find can be equipped to any character and unequipped as you see fit. Classes can be switched on the fly in battle as needed. Character progression isn't determined by levels, so enemies do not drop experience, but only items and money. These are necessary in order to craft and buy the equipment needed to get stronger. Health and MP upgrades are acquired through exploration and if you find it there is a way to grind stats. Thanks to this progression system enemies and bosses maintain a good level of challenge without being too hard. However, due to the open nature of the game it is possible through exploration and crafting to get strong enough to trivialize many encounters or wander into an area in which you will die quickly. I would have liked to see bosses manipulate the turn order more.
Length-
It took me a little over 18 hours to do everything in the game.
Closing-
If your looking for a simple well made rpg close to the classic Final Fantasies intermixed with slight touches of Zelda style progression within the exploration then this game is for you. It doesn't tread new ground, but it is competently made and has no grievous flaws. I hope to see more from the developer in the future, because the potential is there.
Full Games List
Featured Games
New Games
Reviews
Images
Blogs
Game Updates
Images Feedback Summary
Game Design Highlights
Tutorials
Articles
Scripts
Utilities / Plugins
Resources
Engines
Engine Bulletins
What is Makerscore?
Past Events
Achievements
Forums
Post History
Chat
New to RMN?
Full Store List
RMN Music Pack (free)
Add Review
Subscribe
Nominate
Submit Media
RSS
View playlists
Close
