Cast Aside

An almost unheard of blend of strategic, tactics-based combat and compelling puzzle play, Anaryu’s Cast Aside offers a truly unique gameplay experience. This review may contain minor spoilers, so don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Rayne, a young Luminary ( which seems to essentially be the term for “mage” in this universe) who was abandoned by her parents for unexplained reasons, just can’t seem to catch a break. Even a simple task like collecting clams for her menial kitchen job quickly becomes a life or death struggle, as apparently all the forces in the universe are out to ruin her day.

Balance 3/5:
Cast Aside uses a completely custom Tactical RPG Battle system which combines a peculiar blend of turn-based strategy with real-time gameplay. You move your cursor over the player character of your choice, and that character can either move a certain number of spaces or attack a certain number of times depending on how much stamina they have. HP, SP and stamina all replenish automatically during combat at a respectable rate. Spells have casting times and leave behind a lingering “aura” effect on the space they were cast at, which confers powerful bonuses to anyone standing on one. Although the battles seemed very clunky at first they were exciting enough to keep my interest, and despite a considerable learning curve, by the third battle using the system had become second nature, and the game provides detailed tutorials on all of its custom systems. You can also use your accumulated experience to purchase new skills for your characters, though I felt that the cost of these skills were rather high, as I only managed to learn a single new skill over the course of the (admittedly short) demo.

Level-Design 4.5/5:
Cast Aside makes use of a unique premise in its puzzle-based dungeon scenarios. Each member of your party can be controlled individually to manipulate their environment, sometimes in different ways than other characters can. This allows for some truly mind-bending puzzles unlike anything seen in other RPG Maker projects before. It also creates a truly unique effect in that you actually feel like your various party members are working together to accomplish a goal. However, these puzzles are not for the faint-hearted. You will need to be very patient to succeed. There’s even a puzzle you must accomplish in the midst of a pitched battle!

While the levels in this game were exceptionally crafted, they were not without flaws. A number of the maps lag severely. Also, the puzzle during the zombie battle suffers from a few design flaws, as the huge numbers of swarming zombies are constantly blocking the path of the lorry, or your party members, making the battle take much longer to complete than it should. Also, a few button prompts given during the game do not match the actual button on your keyboard you should push, due to the way XP maps keyboard controls.

Characters 5/5:
The character writing in this game is truly exquisite. The downtrodden heroine puts us in her corner immediately. The dialogue between the two lead characters is simply phenomenal, and we are quickly drawn into the relationship between Rayne and Kael, who prefer to remain “just friends” despite obviously being meant for each other. A few dialogue scenes seem to drag on just a little too long for my tastes, but it isn’t a severe issue.

Storyline 4/5:
There are some interesting story-telling techniques at work in this game. The narrative begins with the heroine having a near-death experience and reflecting back on the events that lead her there retrospectively. This is interesting because we are never completely sure if we are in the present action or if the entire game is one extended flashback and our beloved heroine is still in danger at some point in the future. The failure of certain mini-games is also cleverly written off as the protagonist’s overactive imagination. Numerous optional dialogue scenes, very reminiscent of the Tales Series Skit system, help to move the narrative along with the aid of the game’s unique and attractive art style, and the introductory scenes are a very well-composed cinematic experience. All the story seems to jump around a bit, rapidly swinging form one plot thread to the next, it is much to early to draw any negative conclusions. Additionally, a good portion of the game involves a war between kobolds and undead, which is just awesome.

Music and Sound 3/5:
Most of the music is standard XP RTP, which is certainly not a stand-out score but not a drawback in anyway. The few non-RTP songs used are appropriate and the game makes excellent use of sounds in character dialogue scenes, although I personally wasn’t terribly fond of the sound effect it played as text scrolled.

Overall 4.5/5
Any fan of tactical RPGs could do far worse than to give this game a try. Or any fan of puzzle games. Or fans of well-written characters. Hell, the only real complaint I have with this game is that it’s just not long enough! There must be more. I look forward immensely to seeing where this project goes.