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Runic Classic! The demo!

Hello
and welcome to the review of the demo of Runic Cipher. This game is a a long-time JRPG project made with RPG Tsukuru 2003, a classic game that takes inspiration from the classic SNES-era Final Fantasy games, especially FFVI, but this only from a gameplay point of view. For what concerns story and setting, it's a more serious and complex game that seems more inspired to A Song of Ice and Fire, but let's start the review from the beginning:

We start the game playing as Talon, the leader of the EDGE team, an extremely skilled group of rebels that opposes the Hilgar Empire for their war crimes against his homeland, Calupa. Each member of the team is highly specialized, we have Veronica, an engineer that is specialized in firearms and explosives, there is Barbara, a powerful martial artist and a Rick, the scout. This is a small group, so they lend their talents to the enemies of the Hilgar Empire and act as saboteurs, commando-style. This is a nice change of pace from the usual "little boy becomes hero" or "let's defeat the Demon King", since their missions will also require them to find allies against their enemy. But will they succeed?


Uhhhhm ok then! Nothing wrong with that, we can be friends I guess!

Ok, now let's talk about the gameplay: after a first linear section that also acts as a tutorial, the game opens as a classic jrpg with a map that can be freely explored but with a linear series of linked quests: go and meet monarchs, fight bandits, and so on. There are random encounters on the main map (and also in the dungeons, where there are also scripted assaults) but you can avoid them hiring a horse that guess what? Acts exactly like a Chocobo (I told you that game is inspired to FFVI), that will flee once dismounted, anyway they are useful for a one way trip.
But maybe it's not a great idea, I noticed that after the beginning it's suggested to grind. A lot. Yes, because combat is rather difficult and the second bandit dungeon is quite long, but the problems are these: you can only save at save points, you cannot defend during combat (so only option is attacking as fast as you can, and hope that enemies when numerous will target different targets and not focus on one in particular) and only Talon has the power of fleeing from combat! Also... another big problem is that the second dungeons has lots of hidden secret passages, luckily there is an item that displays these... BUT I stupidly gave it away in a minor optional quest (that I could have done after this dungeon). Sigh. But it's not finished: for some reason my characters sometimes kept missing the target. There were a couple of moments where ALL of them missed their attacks! I do not know if I am extremely unlucky or what!


Expect combat, lots of combat! And yes, Veronica has a gun.

Ok, this was the bad part. For the rest the game is pretty good: the story is captivating and so far pretty mature. Nothing about dragons and demons, but a realistic fantasy military missions against an enemy oountry (but being a demo who knows what will happen later?). Characters are likeable, different ad interesting: party members have abilities you can find in books that add to their few useful skills they have in the beginning, but I guess they will get stronger and stronger during the adventure, even if they start fairly competent.
What I also like is that loot can be faoud anywhere so be sure to interact with every crate and barrel, if you want to scavenge extra loot.

Visually the game is extremely good: the resources are used competently and mapping is very good, I especially like the various cities and castles. But also the outdoor areas are pretty nice, and the main map is not bad at all either! I like also how I had to explore with only some indications to find a particular, secret location during one of the first mission, so it's important to read the dialogues carefully and take notes, if you have a bad memory, like me! Music is also really good, I like the menu theme and the map theme, that are basically the same one with different speed, but also the theme of the first boss and the victory fanfare are pretty cool. And what about the cutscenes? Really good and competently done too, I liked the flashbacks and the banquet in particular.


Let's go riding our c̶h̶o̶c̶o̶b̶o̶ ... steed!

Final Verdict
IF I had to give a rating to this game (but I won't until this is a complete game), it would be probably between 3.5 and 4 for sure! Runic Cipher is not a game that holds you by hand or gives clear directions, but the same could have been said for Final Fantasy VI (I mean for example after escaping Narshe or Figaro Castle you HAVE a direction or destination, still you are free to wander around the map and no one forces you to go there or gives any indication!).
The difficulty of some parts may be a stylistic choice, but I think that not every player would love the difficulty (I mean save points + challenging combat? Uhm...), at least the frequence of the enemy encounters is well set out, they're in fact not too frequent (still there are some scripted and unavoidable assaults). I also found some little errors but I guess they were later changed in the never version, in any case no game breaking issues at all. Well done!

Posts

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Hey, thank you very much for your review! We're really glad that you've enjoyed the demo thoroughly, and that the story has so far been impressing you. We want to create a JRPG that's essentially a blast from the past, but with its own feel in some kind of way. I think once Chapter II is released, this will be more apparent. I'm planning on releasing a new demo this coming fall at the earliest, depending on how things go.

You mentioned that characters can't use Defend. Actually, you can, if you equip Squire Shields! Combat Relics serve to add a fourth command (under Item), and certain characters can use certain commands (e.g. Talon uses Steal, and a future character uses Mad Rush for casting Berserk on all party members). Also, if you buy Smokescreens, you can use them to escape battles without needing to use Talon's Retreat all the time.

You can also check your position on the World Map with the Shift key! The blinking dots are the locations that you can access at the moment. It should come in handy!

As to your point about the difficulty, I do agree with you that it's kinda unfair. I will be applying a simple fix to level up the starting party a bit, so that the player isn't turned off by the idea of grinding just to get through the first real dungeon in the game. My intention is to encourage the player to be well-prepared before leaving town, meaning that you should stock up on items and have the best equipment. With that said, I don't think the Teo Statues (Save Points) are necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're used to the classic Famicom and Super Famicom JRPGs! It's all about planning ahead, and I've included at least two Teo Statues in Bloodfist Hideout. The last one is right before you go to fight the boss. Make sure to stock up on Tents!

Once again, this review was a great read, and I'm glad that you've finally gotten around to playing this game. I acknowledge that for the longest time, I took down the downloads and wasn't really updating anyone on this project. That's why I appreciate that you and a few others have given this game another chance. I will see to it that I do get things done sooner. It's been almost ten years...
author=Runic Cipher
You mentioned that characters can't use Defend. Actually, you can, if you equip Squire Shields! Combat Relics serve to add a fourth command (under Item), and certain characters can use certain commands (e.g. Talon uses Steal, and a future character uses Mad Rush for casting Berserk on all party members). Also, if you buy Smokescreens, you can use them to escape battles without needing to use Talon's Retreat all the time.

wait, wait, where were those? I totally missed them, I guess!

author=Runic Cipher
You can also check your position on the World Map with the Shift key! The blinking dots are the locations that you can access at the moment. It should come in handy!

Yeah I know, that's for example how I found the temple or the stables...
but yes it's necessary to read the dialogues to understand the directions, see for the cave. In any case, that's not a problem!

author=Runic Cipher
As to your point about the difficulty, I do agree with you that it's kinda unfair. I will be applying a simple fix to level up the starting party a bit, so that the player isn't turned off by the idea of grinding just to get through the first real dungeon in the game. My intention is to encourage the player to be well-prepared before leaving town, meaning that you should stock up on items and have the best equipment. With that said, I don't think the Teo Statues (Save Points) are necessarily a bad thing, especially if you're used to the classic Famicom and Super Famicom JRPGs! It's all about planning ahead, and I've included at least two Teo Statues in Bloodfist Hideout. The last one is right before you go to fight the boss. Make sure to stock up on Tents!

Well it's also my fault for not having that useful item that reveal secret passages at the time, anyway I noticed the difficulty spike from the enemies before. Challenging but not impossible, anyway the bandits drop knives that even if they provide a good quantity of gold they aren't that useful inside the dungeon (where there is no shop and really few lootable consumables).

author=Runic Cipher
Once again, this review was a great read, and I'm glad that you've finally gotten around to playing this game. I acknowledge that for the longest time, I took down the downloads and wasn't really updating anyone on this project. That's why I appreciate that you and a few others have given this game another chance. I will see to it that I do get things done sooner. It's been almost ten years...

Thanks, I'm looking forward what happens next!
You can buy those items in the stores themselves. Squire Shield in particular is a Combat Relic, so you'd need to get those off Relic Stores. As for Talon being able to use Steal, you can find Thief Gloves in the basement of that locked house in Sassoon City. Go to Kanto and speak to one of the NPCs there.

Yeah, Pathfinder will be an essential Field Relic to use throughout the game, as even cities and castles will have secret passages! I'll give the player another chance to get that in a dungeon in Chapter II, which shouldn't be too long from where Chapter I ends.

I appreciate your criticism of the game's difficulty levels and will keep fine-tuning them to prefer strategy over grinding. Cheers!
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