Dego

Opening up Dego, I see there's no title screen, just a menu that gives you the option to start a new game, continue, or quit. Nothing big here. Moving on...

...you are treated to a character creation screen with options for gender, hair color, and, uh... not a lot else. Not much going on here either.

Now you go to the class selection screen, where you can choose from one of seven different classes, detailed toward the end of the review. For those looking to skimp on power, keep in mind that it took 27 hits on level 3 to beat a Cerberus with a WARRIOR. You were warned.

Then, there's the fact that enemies give very little experience and are ridiculously overpowered for such an early stage of the game (first two dungeons). The only penalties are returning to the map selection screen (not a big deal) and having to reactivate switches and doors. Which means you have to kill all the enemies on the screen ALL OVER AGAIN in order to proceed.

Battles: 3/10 (needs some major work, but isn't unplayable)
Did I mention the enemies are overpowered? Slimes can do upwards of 20 damage with their water attack, which isn't really avoidable since the orbs come at you too fast. In close range, their ice spell can do 30 damage, sure, but you can see the start of the ice attack ahead of time and move before the spell can hit you.

The other enemies aren't as bad with the exception of the HORNET FROM HELL. Unlike the smaller bees, this hornet can shoot THREE stingers at you up, down, left, right or even diagonally.

Later on, you'll get to fight a boss that does a Touhou-esque flare attack. I'm not even kidding. Fortunately, he uses it rarely. The bigger issue is it takes like 500 hits to kill it. This could benefit from adjusting enemy strengths for number of players.

The third area gets ridiculous. Bats can freeze or shock you, having the same status effects on you as the names suggest. Thankfully, you don't get shattered when hit while frozen. The other issue in the Goblin Mines is that a bunch of DOGS can almost OHKO if enough of them get on you. 50-60 damage when you only get around 200 HP equals ouch. And this is right after a fairly difficult boss.

The game only goes to the fourth area, according to the game's own blog, as well as the status screen (Completed 3 out of 4 or 75%: Can't reach 4 out of 4 or 100%) , but suffice it to say not much is different from the third.

Letting us buy items in addition to the weapons and armor would help this score GREATLY. Hint, hint. So would fixing the bug (?) of the enemies starting an attack before you get to them. Also, enemies will just walk into your line of fire or even just fire over and over again.

Story: 2/10 (it almost isn't there)
Apparently, you or up to four players go to different areas doing different fetch quests, including collecting chickens. Why go to other areas? Because they're there. Yeah. NO. Granted you do get some story doing side quests, but that's not the point.

There is this blurb: The mysterious Malice King has conquered the land; rumors of his hatred race from ear to ear. Knights and nobles who dare challenge their new king are dispatched side by side; their haunted souls feeding the Malice King's might. The world cries for a hero to stop the unstoppable, to bring hope back to the land. Challenge evil alone or gather three heroes to fight by your side! There's not too much more than that.

Music: 4/10 (they could vary a little bit more, but not too bad)
I ran into a bug at the beginning where the first area played the title screen's music, but this was fixed after restarting the game, thankfully. You'll mostly, if not entirely hear RMXP/RMVX music.

Graphics/Level Design: 6/10 (RMVX graphics with better than average mapping)
Surprisingly, the level design isn't too bad for a game with RMVX map graphics. There isn't excess tile vomit and the maps are a decent size. However, almost every enemy or character uses RMXP or RMVX RTP. There are also secret areas to explore, though most are brief. At the end of the fourth area, you reach an impassable puzzle which I presume marks the end of the demo, as it is just after a warp.

Sometimes, when selecting a character, you will warp to an empty field or somewhere else you can't walk. This can be fixed by restarting the game, but it's still annoying.

Characters: 4/10 (rating based on skills and effectiveness, which the Paladin drops the ball on)
Note, there are seven characters. Gender mainly affects appearance.

First character- Warrior: He or she is power-based, and doesn't learn anything interesting, basically skills that increase power for a short while and decrease damage on you and allies. Next!
Mage: As you might expect, skills are magic-based. Skills include fire, ice, holy and a super magic attack.
Archer: This class lets you set traps and use familiars such as bees, wolves and slimes. You also get the overpowered Bow weapon, as its Range is very far.
Necromancer: Shin Megami Tensei, anyone? Basically, you get to summon creatures of the night to do your bidding.

These are decent classes, it's too bad this didn't extend to the next class.
Paladin: Yeesh. All skills are holy-based, yet the Paladin's range SUCKS. Next!

Thief: Skills are based around increasing drops for 3 MINUTES. Whether it's 150% gold, health, or experience. The thief's magic skill sucks, but thieves don't really use magic that much.
Priest: Hmm, decent magic, decent attack, and decent range. There must be a catch somewhere. And that catch is starting with only 75 HP. Skills are also holy-based, but at least it beats the Paladin.

Total playtime: 4:08 (Warrior)

Overall: 19/60 (1.5/5) = Not completely unplayable, but it's getting there. Keep in mind a little more than 25 points is effectively average. Dego just barely misses the mark, much like many of its enemies' attacks.