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Beat the- Hey, This Ain't No Boss Project

  • Dyhalto
  • 02/22/2016 03:12 AM
  • 772 views
Preamble
While Boss Project IV was pushing the envelope on it's categorization as a boss gauntlet, the fifth installment completely jumps out the window and emerges as a defacto game in it's own right. It involves exploring, treasure hunting, plot unraveling, random encounters, and actually not a lot of bosses.
So really, it should have just been called Dead Space. Or some other name, since an actual Dead Space existed first.

Visual: 1/5
This is not a good-looking game by any stretch.
The dimension our hero traverses is a dingy, colorless backdrop, clashing terribly with the vibrant FF5 characters used for the party. I suppose this could be chalked up to artistic expression, showcasing that our protagonist hasn't succumbed to the environment he now inhabits yet, except that the party's drab summon animations tend to undermine this idea.

The enemies, while fitting into the bleak landscape they populate, have the irksome propensity to stare at the player instead of the four guys trying to kill them. Front-view battlers generally don't fit well in side-view battle systems, and this game is a great example of why.


Monster : These four are just puppets. Our true enemy is over there!!


Audio: 3.5/5
Most of the music is borrowed from the Persona series and, being inserted into a more classical jRPG, makes for an unorthodox listening experience. For example, the first boss battle BGM has lyrics, and one of the standard battle themes is hip hop. Neatly enough, the unusual music selection actually matches the unusual dystopia it decorates.

Then, near the end of the game when we start to leave the Dead Space, the music takes a turn towards a more traditional music style. Maybe the quirky selection was part of the greater artistic picture after all.

Storyline: 2.5/5

At first, I thought this was going to be a simultaneous attempt at a jRPG plus horror game. For some inexplicable reason, the above image was used for a cheap jump scare during the prologue. A similar pic involving a half-decomposed woman is used later on, contributing nothing at all to the plot.
This concept was dropped after the first dungeon, and from then on we get something more like Ephiam's natural style. If you've never played any of his non-Dragon Fantasy games, they generally involve a little mystery, a little deception, and a little angst. Boss Project V is no different, though it's certainly penned in a superior manner to it's predecessor.

The basic premise involves the death of a man named Jason, who becomes our protagonist. Instead of being sent to Heaven or Hell, he winds up in the Dead Space which functions like a kind of purgatory. Lost souls, like Jason's, are offered a chance at redemption by hacking and slashing their way from one end to another. But, of course, not all is as it seems.

It's a weird storyline involving an STD (yes, that's sexually transmitted disease) but it's a decent yarn nonetheless, and does an adequate job of spiffing up this dungeon crawl.

Gameplay: 1.5/5
This is where Boss Project V should have shined. With a dozen or so games under his belt using RPGMaker 2003, Ephiam's got the system down pat.
Each of the boss battles are unique, imaginative, and require an appreciable degree of strategy. There is no single dominant tactic that covers most bases, and a few of the endgame battles demanded that I switch up my game mid-fight. Needless to say, I had a few appropriately dealt Game Overs.

Tragically dragging down what could have been great, the dungeons are slogs to get through. I even think RM2k3's dysfunctional random dungeon generator was used once or twice. Thankfully, the walk speed isn't dumped down to 0.25x like in Boss Project IV, but instead we have to deal with completely needless and useless random encounters. I suppose if a player sucked and needed to grind for a boss, he could do so, but all the exp and gold you need is attainable via said bosses.

But the real insult? Every single skill name is unintelligible drivel. Zubari-Ma? Cenz Roi? Byunisai? What in the name of F--k are any of these supposed to denote? There's no rhyme or reason behind them. The fire skills don't contain something indicative like "pyr". It's not a foreign language. It's not even macaronics. It's just gibberish.
And to make matters worse, the skill sets are randomly shuffled. One person's Heal skill is at the bottom, while another's is in the middle.



Oh, I don't know.


Overall: 2/5
This is technically the last in the Boss Project series, which makes me a little sad. I really liked the first one, but none of the sequels ever matched it's go-for-broke quality. Boss Project V turned out to be an okay standalone game, but I'm going to cross my fingers and hope Ephiam decides to make a sixth entry in a vein closer to the first.

Also, where did Boss Project II disappear to?