Meteo Chronicles (Demo)

This is a demo review.
This is a review for version 1.4, which then transitioned to version 1.4.3 at Ozma Keep due to a game-breaking bug, and transitioned again to version 1.4.6 due to another game-breaking bug that prevent me from entering the final dungeon.
My playtime: 17:02:17

Intro
Meteo Chronicles is an RPG Maker game about Koros, a young man that is destined to save the world from its doom. Three companions will join you as you continue with your journey to help you with your destiny.

Graphics
The mapping for the towns looks good enough for their small size. Buildings are scattered through the area and still made in a way to make it easy to explore them. However, some NPCs can block your way due to the narrow paths. I would appreciate it more if the town is bigger and more spread out.

The dungeons, on the other hand, need some rework. They look plain with almost nothing in them, especially the last three "floor" dungeons. They might look unique to each other with their theme, but it also feels like being made in a rush. Some areas will have you take a very long path just to reach your destination, making you think that it was done on purpose to extend your playthrough.

Story
The story is all over the place. We have Koros' story about saving the world at its core along with some other dialogues, both from NPCs or your companions. You can learn how worldbuilding works from these conversations, but there are just too many concepts clashing out, making it to be inconsistent. One NPC will talk as if they are in the same world as Koros, somewhere medieval with a bad guy to slay, one NPC will talk as if they are playing an online game, one NPC will talk as if they are living in the same world as us, and many more. I think it's better to just stick to one theme and focus on it.

Dialogues tend to be unnecessary. A lot of facts will be blurted out of nowhere that makes it feel unnatural. Moreover, there are just too many coincidences for your party members to join you, and they don't seem to have any problem in following what the main character wants. Heck, even the main character doesn't seem to have a problem in following a mysterious voice that makes him kill someone dear to him. The conflicts are being kept to the minimum, and although this can be a good thing, the dialogues themselves aren't being made in such a way that can make you enjoy them.



Your party members seem to be too "open" to each other. It's nice to have someone lewd in your party member, but having all of them at the same party just makes it weird and lose their charm. Moreover, they seem to have no common sense, as if they are thirsting for blood. Almost everyone will fall in love with the other at first sight and they won't mind switching their pair without thinking. I don't think I can call it a romance anymore.

The Game
Gameplay
Meteo Chronicles is played out like other turn-based RPG Maker games where you need to explore a dungeon and beat the boss that resides in that area. Each dungeon will have a level recommendation that you need to follow to make sure that you won't die easily. However, I found it weird that I needed to grind in the first few areas. You might even get unlucky and encounter a high leveled monster at your first fight in the easiest area, killing you in the process. I had to grind for a while before I can proceed to the first dungeon. That's the only time you need to grind though.

Although the game is quite linear at the beginning, the world will soon open up, allowing you to explore the area in any order that you want. The level recommendation at that point is still available if you want to clear it in the order that the game intended, but your level should be high enough to finish them all without minding the order. Sometimes, you'll also get a side quest and get rewarded for it. However, since there isn't any journal log, it can be hard to keep track, especially for one quest where the quest giver disappears after you finish them (Frozen Crypt). I'm not sure if it's just a bug or not.



I liked the class mechanics. You'll be able to choose one class from numerous amount of choices, and more will be unlocked as you play. This allows you to mix and match skills that you can use, although sadly, I found that some skills can't be used at all. I'm not sure if you need a specific weapon for that, but the game never states it.

Money is scarce. You'll eventually have a party of the size of 4-5, and buying equipment for everyone is almost impossible due to their expensive cost. You need to either grind money to afford them or ignore it, hoping that you are strong enough for the next dungeon. There is a third option though. You can just change their class to Brawler, a class that doesn't require armors at all. This is a cheaper option and honestly, I feel that this class is overpowered since it can deal a lot of damage while still having enough HP.



Combat
First of all, the random encounter rate is horrible - you can even get in a fight one tile after the previous fight. This makes it easy to cap your level and random encounters become useless and annoying because of it. Luckily, there is an accessory that can eliminate random encounters. I was almost crazy from being in battle most of the time.

Battles are easy, but they can take time to finish. Random encounters can be defeated with just a normal attack while bosses will die in a few hits if you use multi-hit skills. I don't think they are balanced though. Late-game bosses can be easier than the first few bosses since you can kill them in fewer hits. I'm not sure if that's because I already know the optimal setup for my party members, but having an easier fight just feels weird to me.

Bosses will unleash an attack after you kill them, dealing you some damage. I found this to be unfair to some classes since my priest die in one hit no matter what I equipped him. Classes with high HP will have a better chance to survive this although luckily, the game will distribute EXP even to dead party members.



Length and Difficulty
The game doesn't seem to be tested properly from the start to finish. I stopped playing the game after reaching the final dungeon in ~17h due to the "floors" dungeon, softlocks, and time-consuming battles. The game isn't difficult if you know what you are doing, and you can always grind level if you still have trouble with it. The most difficult part in the game lies in finding the quest giver and the softlocks. For the first issue, sometimes it's hard to remember where they are since you are too focused on finishing the quest. As for the second one, I encountered three game-breaking bugs throughout my playthrough that are normal story progression.

Three dungeons, namely the "floors" dungeon, annoy me. They have multiple floors and you need to explore the same-looking map just to reach the highest floor. The thing is, you need to explore the same map 20+ times, and it was so boring since the map is empty and huge. Sure, you can fight enemies but they will end up annoying you if you don't use an item that eliminates random encounters, and using it will just make you bored since the maps between floors are mostly the same. Moreover, there is also another bug that forces you to finish everything from the start to finish, and there are 70+ floors in each dungeon if you want to fully explore everything. I wish these kinds of dungeons don't exist at all.

Problems
There are a lot of errors and bugs in the game. The unskippable prologue also makes it hard to read the lore.

Pros:
- Freedom to choose and build the characters to the class that you want

Cons:
- Very high random encounter rate
- A lot of bugs, some will break your game
- Gears are too expensive
- Annoying "floors" dungeon

Final Rating: 1/5
(changing the score to N/A since the version that I played is no longer supported)
There are just too many bugs in the game. Although I don't mind the missing battler and sound pop-ups, the softlock issues are just too much. You might even have to lose your save if you somehow replace it and have no save backups because of it. The game might be enjoyable to some extent, but it got boring quickly once you reach the max level. There don't seem to be any need to do some additional exploration afterward. In my opinion, it needs a lot of rework and testing to make it worthwhile.

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Typo:
Note that there are just too many typos and I ended up being lazy to list them all. Notice the difference between it's and its, and pay attention to the typos if you want to check and fix them all.
- Prologue:
"it's wake" should be "in its wake" (there is also another sentences that are like this but I didn't get the time to type because how the dialogue moves)
"resaources" (or something like that) should be "resources"
"is name was Koros" should be "his name was Koros"

- When talking to the brown-haired DLC guy in town, next to Angelic Hero Rose grave: "Want to experiance even more fun gameplay?" should be "Do you want to experience even more fun gameplay?" (the grammar can be improved though)
- After defeating the first boss: "...come fourth, and sieze your destiny..." should be "...come forth, and seize your destiny..."
- After the previous dialogue: "You cannot excape your fate." should be "You cannot escape your fate."
- After the previous dialogue: "I have watched over this world in it's many forms thoughout all of time" should be "I have watched over this world in its many forms throughout all time" (or better yet, remove the "its")
- One of the statues in Kairo's room: "The Hero of Darkness Sero, who was consumed ny revenge" should be "The Hero of Darkness Sero, who was consumed by revenge"
- One of the statues in Kairo's room: "The Hero of Dimensions, Tobias, who stopped me from achiving" should be "The Hero of Dimensions, Tobias, who stopped me from achieving"
- When talking to Officer Karl after you are banished: "You're not supposted to be here, you monster!" should be "You're not supposed to be here, you monster!"
- When Kairos told the story about Zophia: "Like Zophia, Nargi possessed the gift of creation, but instead of using it, she used it's power" should be "Like Zophia, Nargi possessed the gift of creation, but instead of using it, she used its power"
- When Kairos is talking to Amadeus for the first time: "but my physical form only manafested some 6000 years ago." should be "but my physical form only manifested around 6000 years ago."
- After the previous dialogue: "With enough skill and pratice, you can make your ageing process practically stop completely." should be "With enough skill and practice, you can make your aging process practically stop completely."
- After the previous dialogues: "or to ascent to another plane of existance, the mysterious "Outrealms."" should be "or to ascent to another plane of existence, the mysterious "Outrealms.""
- After the previous dialogue: "one guarded be the people of the sky," should be "one guarded by the people of the sky,"
- After the previous dialogue: "It's form always changes, chaging shape" should be "Its form always changes, changing shape"
- When Koros and Tayo set up camp: "and yesterday was supposted to be the day of my final exam." should be "and yesterday was supposed to be the day of my final exam."
- When entering Beastmen Village for the first time: "spreading out all across the world to form small, nomatic tribes" should be "spreading out all across the world to form small, nomadic tribes"
- After the previous dialogue: "I can only applad them for their efforts." should be "I can only applaud them for their efforts."

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Bugs:
- Error when fighting Nutcrackers
Loading Error
Failed to load: audio/bgm/Tower%20of%20Fates.ogg

- You need to interact with a raft twice to use it to cross
- The Chapter 2: Old Dragon's Power text still showed up if you reenter Ari.
- Error when battling Garnet, Nadia, Aria, Azari
Loading Error
Failed to load: img/sv_actors/Garnet Battler.png

- Error when battling Protector
Loading Error
Failed to load: audio/bgm/Fight%20Fight%20and%20Fight%20Some%20More.ogg

- Unable to enter the left area of Ozma Keep - Mallary's Chambers
- The colored filter on the screen doesn't go until you to the world map. One example is when you trip the alarm in Ozma Keep - Mallary's Chambers
- Error after you beat Baron Ozma and the notification about the world changing showed up
Loading Error
Failed to load: audio/bgm/Fell%20Meteor%20Rising.ogg

- Error when trying to bypass the guards with Jeht in Magitek Armor
Loading Error
Failed to load: audio/bgm/Love's%20Vagrant.ogg

- You won't be able to move if you fall in the trap to Accursed Well 3BF
- There are only 6 stones in Accursed Well but the NPC wants 7.
- One of the monsters for Zenith's quest is wrong. It's Mandicore, not Chimera.
- The bunny girl side quest in Aetheria with King Azul is bugged. After Koros turned into a bunny girl, you won't be able to see your character and can only drag around the map since your character is invisible. This happens if Koros isn't at your party.
- The quest giver in East Graape is gone after you break the seal.
- Using the teleporter in Frozen Crypt and Skull Cavern to reach 25F will result in a black screen.
- You can be trapped if you try to not use the hot spring by going through the left or right side.
- It's impossible to progress in Tower of Babel since the barrier doesn't disappear after you defeat all enemies in the northeast corner of the first floor.