Myth Xaran

Preamble
Myth Xaran is an overlooked little nugget made by Exodus Studios, who has since moved on to the commercial side of RMing.
While the game itself boasts a few novel ideas, their enjoyment is hampered by a lackluster presentation, a couple of bugs, and oh dear lord; that walk speed.

Visual: 3.5/5
Mac and Blue, First Seed and RTP. That's pretty much all there is to say.
Those resources are rather difficult not to make something attractive with, and Myth Xaran didn't buck the trend. A greater creative ambition would've done this project well though, as all of the attack and spell animations are quite literally what the RM2k3 engine starts with, plus you'll notice finer bloopers like building interiors not matching their outside construction.

But it doesn't look bad at all. Heck, It even put those Fantasy Picture Book enemies to good use.



Audio: 2/5
Well, we have lots of RTP again, both in BGM and the sound effects. Personally, I've listened them to death throughout my years of gamedeving, so I may be a little jaded. Prospective players won't mind the lack of variety as much.
There's a few original BGMs as well but, sorry to say, they weren't particularly exciting or emotive. Okay, maybe the Final Boss BGM is pretty rad.

Storyline: 3/5
Myth Xaran is split into two parts.
In the first half, we're given control of a Rakshasa (badass tiger man) who works for a very clearly evil Emperor. After going through a religious ceremony where he's anointed with a name and special skill, he embarks on a quest to visit a number of elemental shrines and fulfill a very different destiny. It's a lot like the early stages of Terranigma when Ark essentially creates the world.
The second half is a more traditional jRPG, featuring a girl and her companions fighting against a spiteful god who wants to destroy the new land created by our Rakshasa.

I'm a connoisseur of storylines with labyrinthine politics, as well as a detail nut, so I get a tad irked whenever plotwriting gaffes happen. More than one "Why would they do that" was asked, but... the core storyline is neat. The second half could have used better development of it's characters, though.
Speaking of whom...



Gameplay: 2/5
For the love of all things holy, why is the walk speed deliberately slowed down? It doesn't make the player appreciate their surroundings any more, so what the heck? While not sounding like much, the slow movement is extremely stifling to one's enjoyment of the game. I went so far as to open it up in RM2k3 and give myself an item that could raise and lower it at my leisure. With that issue mitigated...

Myth Xaran is standard RM2k3 gameplay. The dungeons are fairly short, and the monsters reasonably challenging (for awhile). Overall, the game moves along at a decent pace, but boy does it unbalance in the final stages. One party member becomes 100% useless, while another completely dominates. Luckily, the unbalance is in your favor, as random mobs can eventually be obliterated by a single All-targeting skill.
Not that that's a good thing.

Apart from the usual fare, there's a Dragon raising minigame which doesn't seem to produce any rewards for doing so. By virtue of bugs, one of the dragon's activities incrementally boosts your character's walk speed, and can be used to remedy the slowness. Just don't do it over and over.

And I especially liked this part.



Overall: 2.5/5
Myth Xaran is a charming little game, and the inclusion of an instruction manual is a kick-butt novelty. Unfortunately, there isn't much to differentiate it from the myriad of other RPG Maker 2k3 games out there.
And the walk speed will probably be a deal breaker for potential players anyway.