Act I+
First Impressions
Okay so I have heard of this game before, and a long time ago when I was on a different account I had downloaded it and got only about 10% into the game, but from what I had seen it was amazing. I created quite a bit of hype inside my head and it really did live up to it, even if it was imaginary hype, this game's awesomeness isn't.
When I open to the menu and see a new screen from before, I quickly realized this had gotten updated. As such I was more than excited to see what had changed. To my surprise not that much had changed from what I first saw (and still remember) of the game (though this can be blamed on my not getting very far on my first play through). In the beginning you play as what appear to be a group of, well dropping the formal style here, bad-asses! Really, there were all these amazing cut-scenes with actions and effects and in the actual battles you see they are much higher than your average level 1 to 5 basis for the start of a game. This is just awesome, as I am a sucker for prison scenes and dark eerie moods. This beginning really showed us what this game is capable of and truly set the mood for things to come.

Story
Please note: I am going to try to avoid as many spoilers as I can, however the lower noted points of the story I won't really have a problem saying as they aren't life changing if you haven't played the game yet. The story is about a young red-head female student named Auria wakes up after being shot and dumped into a river. She is accompanied by two "Alibaas'", Zaquris and Serijala, both with personalities like north and south. Auria is on a quest to return home with the help of her two traveling companions with their own agenda. As they travel they are on the run from a rival tribe of her companions, and a group of terrorists known as the "Virad".

The game presents people with different personalities and everyone seems like they could be real people. Seri the childish woman who thrives for peace and believes everyone can change. Zaquris the up-tight overly cautious guardian of Seri. And many more. These are all just simply amazing characters that feel so real and truly make the story worth your time. Their issues and the way they react to them, their motivation, is so real. It's not just a shit ton of events all flung together on a pooper scooper, it's very organized with flash back (GOD I love flash backs) and always keeps you coming back for more.
The story it'self is believable, all the things that are happening have good reason. And if we don't know the reason than it makes us yearn to learn more, keeping us on the edge of our seat. I for one love cliff hangers and the writers of this story know what they're doing when it comes to that. I beat the game in two sittings because I couldn't stop.

I rate story a solid 5 out 5

Game Play
Not your average RPG Maker status for the game play. This game features a order list for the order at which each person's turn will be, similar to that of Final Fantasy X (if I am remembering correctly). However it isn't just a generic order or randomized, as the order at which everyone goes is connected to the speed of each person. Speaking of speed and stats, this game also features a customized stat editor for your main character, allowing you to edit your character the way YOU want it. But that's not all! You can also choose what techniques your character learns with each level, along with a "choose the weapon and piece of armor" that boosts the skills you choose, which consist of Attack, Speed, Accuracy, and Defense. These along with your HP and SP bars are the stat factors of this game. Truly remarkably carried out.
There are also other customizations you can do such as decide whether your character will attempt a dodge (related to their speed), defend (related to defense), or accept the damage and counter attack (pretty obvious here). The way that leveling up and editing your character is carried out is beautiful to watch and do, and I never get tired of go to the Hall of Fame (I believe that's what it's called).
On the downside the enemies here are very bland and don't offer very much EXP, it's a real pain in the ass to level up. But the thing is, that's the only bad thing I've managed to find in the battle system.

I rate the Game Play a nice 3.9, I feel like going the extra mile to add a more diverse amount of enemies would've made a real difference.

Maps/Graphics
Most likely the one thing I really despised in this game was the lack of movement and free roaming. There was no world map, and the traveling between towns was SO repetitive. Town, outside of cave, cave, town, outside of cave, cave, town outside of cave, cave. Take out the flash backs and only thinking of the maps, that was the game.
However, on a better note, the mapping of the areas was beautifully placed and the background scenery, for a sprite game, was breath taking. The all around beauty of this game, along with the actual sprites in both battle and out, was just amazing.

I rate Maps a low 2.5 The diversity was... so little...

Music/Dialog
Oh. My. God. If not for the story than at least go hit up you tube for their album! Terranon is a BRILLIANT composer. I loved every song in there and actually would avoid battle and just relax and listen to the music of on of the areas. This is the only games, scratch that, THE only game I have seen REAL music in. From the opening and ending themes I thought I was listening to the beginning and ending of a legit JRPG! Really, Terranon, you are brilliant.
Another plus on this, VOICE ACTING! It really isn't something you see often, and even though there was only a little bit at the beginning, I really did like it. I would love to see more scene with voice actors, perhaps roll with something like what Alter A.I.L.A Genesis did and slap in a few drawn scenes? I think it would really add to the already great beauty of this game.

I rate Music 6 out of 5. Because Weapon's theme is going on my iPod.

Extras
I myself have found two small glitches in here, however that is really the only extra thing worth noting. No score for this one but it did drag the overall score of it down, just a little, as Act I+ is a complete part.

Ending Thoughts
All in all this was a great first part of a game and I can't wait for tomorrow morning so I can play Act II+. There are it's flaws, like any other game, but I really think it was great and I can't wait to play though Act II+ and I hope to be a beta tester for Act III+ (because their beta testers aren't the greatest :I I really don't like seeing a glitch in maps, but more so than that in the game play part of it on a finished title. I feel it really takes from the overall effect of the game).

Confluence
This is a background story, more of a visual novel, for one of the characters in this game. I am not going to make a full review for it as it was very short, but I felt it got the point across from what the writer was trying to portray. It left many questions about why the boy was in that position, why the woman went there to get him, how she knew about this, and what exactly an "artifact-classed" item is.
It filled us in a points of a character, my personal favorite (plus for me!), and gave us more questions to ask about the story, even with it's intense shortness. I, just as much as anyone, would've loved for it to be longer, however I believe that would also have taken away from the point of this small visual novel. It's shortness stops the person from forgetting the little details in it, and keeps the questions that come up fresh in the reader's mind. It never came out and really said anything, causing you to have to think on it but only for a moment. I suggest playing through Act I+ before reading through this as it may not spoil anything for you, but you won't understand the true meaning behind it.

All in all this small visual novel have a solid 5 out of 5. I really liked it and can't wait to learn more on this character in Act II+ and hopefully Act III+ as well.


Thanks for reading everyone! I hope you enjoyed the review!