Pillar of the World

Intro

I'll admit writing a review for "Pillar of the World" seems a bit pointless at the moment since it's extremely incomplete with only about 10 to 15 minutes worth of content to experience. And seeing as how the team of three behind this project are promising to continue work on this project in the blog section this review is rather premature since I prefer to direct my demo reviewing efforts to abandoned projects, but I was looking for something quick to get through tonight since I have an early shift tomorrow and am trying to stick to a schedule. I suppose if this does get updated in the future I might come back and update my review. Though, I probably won't be around when that happens if the demo's promised completion date ends up being accurate.



After all, I'm not an elf so don't expect me to still be kicking in a 1,000 years. At any rate I suppose I should offer up my opinions on the content that is available.

Story

You play as Albert, a lazy, debtor that owes most of the local townsfolk either money or needs to return stuff he borrowed from them ages ago. Though getting him to do either is like pulling teeth using a string and a door handle. After all, when a kid starts asking him for money he decides to book it like Lane Meyer running from the paperboy in the movie "Better of Dead". Oh well, I suppose I can hope in the full version the kid pays a visit to your house and it results in Albert repeating the following line from that film.

Better of Dead
See... the problem here is that... my little brother, this morning, got his arm caught in the microwave, and uh... my grandmother dropped acid and she freaked out, and hijacked a school bus full of... penguins, so it's kind of a family crisis... so come back later? Great.

At any rate after exploring the town and naming the dog an earthquake hits which causes a bunch of monsters to come pouring of the town's storage center. And these monsters decide to kidnap Fritz. Though how successful they were at doing so is debatable considering if you go home during this sequence you'll find him standing next to your table.


Aren't you supposed to be kidnapped by some goblins and a slime right now?

At any rate after you've beaten up a few monsters and saved Fritz it's the end of the demo. So we basically have a project that lays your standard hook for an RPG adventure with ancient gods, forces of evil, and the fate of the world hanging in the balance in the opening prologue while making the initial hook that begins the journey seem rather small.

Comedy

The game definitely tries to aim for a rather light-hearted feel using a combination of references to other works as well as breaking the fourth wall from time to time. Though the later option is usually a result of Albert commentating on various objects you've chosen to interact with.

Greatest Strength/Weakness

I'll admit it's hard to pin down an answer for this category seeing as how the project is still being worked on at the time of writing this review. Even if the demo itself makes a joke about Ozzy never finishing the project.



Gameplay

On the gameplay side of things the game appears to be your standard RPG that makes use of the default combat system that comes with RPG Maker 2003. Though if this demo is easier to complete than the original is debatable. I suppose if I wanted to be sure I'd have to test the original download, but assuming you can still use the bed in Albert's house to rest it is possible to beat all of the monsters in this game without the aid of a single healing potion. As long as your character doesn't miss during the final confrontation. Though, I suppose that is a pretty big ask considering this game uses the default combat system that comes with RPG Maker 2003. And misses can be pretty common in that game. Jeez, I remember when I was recording footage for this project that I missed two attacks in a row and that the enemy missed one of it's attack as well. So you really shouldn't count on something like that to save you. Especially seeing as how you can't save in the demo as far as I can tell. So if you die your simply up a creak without a paddle and will have to try the demo again from the beginning.

About the only other notable oddity about this game is that Albert requires an insane amount of experience to level up. In fact, to reach level two in this game you'll need to earn over 700 experience points which is impossible in the demo seeing as how the only fights you have access to are initiated by the player interacting with enemy sprites in the area below the town's storage area.

As for the fights themselves, they are rather easy with the player and enemies only being able to spam the basic attack command. As such the demo really doesn't offer a good reason for the player to stick around to the end since your subjected to multiple boring battles in a row. And even the demo's final boss is a bore. So if you decided to check this game out based on it's combat my advice would be to set it to the side and work on something else.

Graphics & Sound

For the most part demo relies on the RTP for RPG Maker 2003 for both it's graphical and sound aspects. As such this game looks and sounds a lot like other old RPG Maker 2003 games on this site. Though if this is a blessing or curse depends on your perspective I suppose. And to be fair I'm not that surprised that a game entered in a casual event is relying on the default assets instead of original graphical assets.

Conclusion

If the prologue is anything to go by this project is intended to be your standard RPG with a few minor tweaks to the formula. Though if this is a good or bad thing will depend on how well OzzyTheOne, Delsin7, and JustAShyDoge manage to implement their comedic jokes about the genre as a whole. As such I can see this project being a rather solid tongue and cheek RPG, but I can also see this game being an absolute mess that is exhausting to play through if the jokes fail to land properly. And while the battles contained within the demo are rather boring. I'm guessing the completed version of this game will feature skills that will hopefully fix my issues with combat being a boring slugfest.