Violet Gold

Hellooo!
Violet Gold is an oddly named game by SpiraPhantom made with RPG Maker VX Ace. This game attracted me because we play not as heroes, but as two villains: Ollia and Nero. These two consorts are a mad scientist and a dark mage that came to Mellunam Island for... a vacation! Anyway soon they realize that the island since it's a pretty nice place but the ruler apparently doesn't care much for tourists, so they decide to to conquer the island (if they can do better, why not replacing the inept ruler?) in this short linear adventure that will take you about 1 hour and a half from the beginning cutscene to the last.


Mellunam Island is not very big but... we'll have to travel also by boat!

The gameplay of Violet Gold is pretty much what you can probably expect from thing kind of short game: exploration of dungeons, looting, and lots of battles, from normal encounters to bossfights. The combat system is pretty much classic, our two heroes have various skills and they need Mana Points to unleash them anyway they're pretty powerful despite the level that is capped at 10. Our characters can in fact debuff, confuse and paralyze opponents (including most bosses!) so you can say that they are able to steamroll the opposition and conquer the island in no time...

Well their opponents will try to hold them off but trust me, this game is easy, so if you want challenge, it's not the right place, if instead you want to have fun... I think it's the right game!


This game made me hate a particular monster: the Mimic!

Concerning the graphics the game uses a series of assets I like: the Time Fantasy retro rpg graphics (that I think are very under-used, and let's say that it's very appropriate for the story this game is going to tell you), but the developer also used them very well! Mapping is pretty good, from the world (island) map to the various villages (that are detailed and also populated by nicely animated peasants) and dungeons too. The monsters apparently use sprites of a different (and more serious) style, but in any case they more or less match the enemy you are fighting, anyway their look is more ordinary, and in the case of some particular opponents, also repetitive but it's ok, this is not a long game anyway. Oh and I liked the font used too!

Music and sounds seems to come from different sources, in any case some of them aren't the usual Rtps, and I guess it's a pretty cool thing since these are not the songe you may have heard in many other games (like the classic Final Fantasy rips).


Oh oh... that Cerberos is surely dangerous but I need to open that chest! Hoping it's not a Mimic, of course

Final Verdict
Violet Gold is one of these little games that you may enjoy despite not offering a real new experience or original gameplay, but still it's an original little story of well written characters with two likeable protagonists. The lighthearted adventure and dialogues are good (except for some untranslated text) and the game is a pretty easy (you do not even need to reach the maximum level to be able to finish the game!) and short competently made scenario. I liked many choices, like the freedom to save without save points, the use of visible (And avoidable) opponents. I'd just have liked more party members but the game is already pretty easy, so there is no need for them at all!

This is a pretty simple but nice game!