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A study in bad game design

  • Shinan
  • 09/05/2010 04:51 PM
  • 5333 views
Okay. I didn't finish this game. I tried. As much as I tend to try. I just guessed that this might be an epic game of epic proportions so I decided to cut my losses and just write this review instead. So this is a review up until... (minor spoiler) the camp attack.

I decided to try this game after the massive pimping going on (so much that someone in a topic called the creator on it). It didn't exactly look like the kind of game I'd enjoy but I enjoy a bit of humour every now and then.

The first time I played the game it wasn't too bad. I walked around in a forest with a credit sequence that was sort of funny. The only bad thing was that I wasn't able to save yet and that there was a battle every five steps. Then there was a cutscene and another forest walk with enemies.

That's where I died the first time. I had wrongly expected the game to be decent enough to let me save (so I don't have to watch an intro again) before letting me die. "Well fuck this", I thought and quit. But I returned. Changed my battle tactics a tiny bit and had a bit more luck with the random encounters (they didn't kill me). Then at the end of this intro sequence (BEFORE the concept of save points have even been introduced to the game. In fact technically before the concept of battles att all have been introduced) there's a fucking boss. This boss isn't hard by any means but it's happening before anything has been explained to the player.

Bad, bad game design. Of course most people playing this game will be familiar enough with the concepts of these kinds of games but still it's always nice if a game at least pretends to think the player's a beginner in the beginning.

I wandered on, in search of that fabled save point and what happened? After fighting enemies for fifteen minutes (including a boss) I'm introduced to a battle tutorial. Yes. The battle tutorial explaining the basics happens AFTER ANY PLAYER NOT UNDERSTANDING THESE BASICS HAVE ALREADY DIED A COUPLE OF TIMES.

Bad, bad game design.

The game continues in this fashion. Before quitting there were three more of these kinds of instances (which I will describe in less detail). The battles themselves are painfully slow and suffer from various GUI issues. The only numbers on screen is the player characters' HP. There's no max HP number or MP number or any other useful information. When dealing damage or status effects only the damage will show up. Using any kind of magic that deals status effects (or MP, anything that isn't HP-related) will give no feedback at all. There's no way of knowing if you managed to put an enemy to sleep or not. Combining this slow battle speed with enemies that take too many turns to kill make every battle an excruciating bore. The game even urges you to Run Away from as many battles as possible... Which I gladly did.

But not everything sucks about this game. The story isn't the worst I've ever seen. The tone goes from left to right without mercy, which is probably where the comedy comes in. It's mostly jokes on popular culture but it almost works. Having people crack jokes in the middle of crisis is one of those things I tend to enjoy. Of course it goes a bit overboard and the jokes are generally pretty bad. But it almost works. The plot itself (what little I saw of it) seems interesting enough that I'd like to see what happens next. Of course they're not so interesting that I'd put up with the horrible game that they reside in.

So yes overall what I saw of this game is so bad that I cannot in my right mind recommend it to anyone. However there's probably people out there for whom this game fits perfectly. The comedy's okay and I hear that people out there like these kinds of games (difficult, unforgiving, with two boss battles for every save point). This game is not for me. And it's probably not for you.

Posts

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Corfaisus
"It's frustrating because - as much as Corf is otherwise an irredeemable person - his 2k/3 mapping is on point." ~ psy_wombats
7874
Most of the problems that you had with the battles not displaying this and that is due to how the Rm2k3 default battle system works, so I wouldn't take off points for that. The only thing that he could have changed to improve this would be to use the Alternative battle layout so that you can see both your current and maximum HP (because a look in the menu isn't enough, right?).
I'm going to echo Corfaisus' thoughts on this one.

Even though it's listed as 'completed', I think this review is too harsh considering how EASY it sounds like it would be to fix some of these issues. Add a couple save points, cut down on the encounter rate, edit battle stats. Couldn't you have just written to the creator instead?

Also, the review doesn't say much about anything other than the gameplay. What about the graphics? Sound? You keep talking about 'bad game design' but there's nothing mentioned at all about dungeon design or map layouts at all.
@sbester: I agree to some extent. It seems Shinan just saw LockeZ shout out his game and decided to see what it was all about. The fact that it seems like a mess of a game from his point of view is enough to solace a review. It's not an in-depth review but is there a rule book on RMN on reviews? I'm glad Shinan posted a review on a game I'd rather avoid especially if it thinks difficulty takes priority over anything else (a mistake many people make when they try to add a "challenge" to their game. I don't care about graphics, sounds, maps or if it has the best dialogue ever, if it throw battles from the word go without any chance to save then has the audacity to throw in a tutorial then it deserves nothing.

Also, I saw Shinan comment briefly on the game page but LockeZ decided to ignore it in favour of his diehard fans. If it's worth playing, they can review it if they wish; fairly of course but I doubt that'll happen.
The review exaggerated a little about the lack of save points. The first save point was literally 7minutes from the moment you regain control (if slightly hidden in a house) The game was easy on normal just hit the attack button. So I'm guessing you played on the super hard difficulty -o-
I didnt find it all too bad.. maybe 1.5 or 2 stars? :P
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
The problems you mentioned are all duly noted and I will most likely attempt to address some or all of them with an update in the near future. In particular, I know that I really should rewrite the opening somehow to have the tutorial fight first.

Technical note, though: You cannot count. The battles in Opening Credits Forest occur every 20-32 steps. Yes, I actually created a custom random battle system which has a minimum number of steps. And that minimum number is four times what you claimed the average number is.

My main disagreement with the reviewer here is actually just that I don't really approve of a review that only covers the first 10% to 15% of a game. However, I suppose many of the points he made are still fair.
comment=42542
My main disagreement with the reviewer here is actually just that I don't really approve of a review that only covers the first 10% to 15% of a game.


What if the average player can't make it past the 10% mark because the game is ludicrously difficult?
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
On normal mode, the difficulty is pretty reasonable. If you play on Really Freaking Hard mode, and then decide to complain that the game is really freaking hard, I have no sympathy.

He didn't stop because of the difficulty though, he stopped because he didn't like the game. Oh well. Like a previous poster said, although the game is "Completed" I am still capable of making updates to it, and I plan to do so. Some of the issues mentioned were just problems with RPG Maker, but others are things I can address in updates.
I'll try to adress some points.

The review exaggerated a little about the lack of save points. The first save point was literally 7minutes from the moment you regain control (if slightly hidden in a house) The game was easy on normal just hit the attack button.

I challenge you to get through the first area by only using the attack button. I tried three times (two of those were for fun just to see if it was actually possible). I think I came close one time when I was relatively unhurt when I got to the boss, but the boss got me in the end.


The game is not actually incredibly difficult. But it's the same kind of difficulty that is mentioned here. The quote in question:
When playing a videogame, do they think:
That game is easy. I only died every once in a while. Maybe a couple of times a level.
Or:
This game is frustrating. I died twice on just about every level.

Basically the game over screen happened a lot for me. And with battles being a slow-paced as they are and the save points spread out over two bosses (meaning that the first time I played I managed barely to beat the boss and then there was another battle afterwards where I was creamed. So I had to redo the boss and make sure I healed myself good and proper because this time I knew there'd be another one coming) I just couldn't deal with the constant replaying. The final straw was when I was halfway into the camp attack and it seemed like I would have to fight fifteen battles in a row, where if I died on battle twelve (which was fairly likely considering my past exploits) I would have to redo all battles from the beginning.


Also, the review doesn't say much about anything other than the gameplay. What about the graphics? Sound? You keep talking about 'bad game design' but there's nothing mentioned at all about dungeon design or map layouts at all.

I didn't mention these because they were all pretty average. Although I guess I could have increased the length of the review but really what's there to say about those things? It's a lot of music I've heard before and a lot of graphics I've seen before. The maps are easily navigatable but not incredible. It's all so average and inoffensive that it's actually not surprising I forgot to mention it :D


And then the final point on rm2k3's general suckiness: Apparently it has a general suckiness!
I try to play games not considering what kind of engine they were made in. Though in this game it didn't play to the strengths of the engine. A game where status effects on enemies have a role to play it's fairly important that it's obvious to the eye which enemies have what status effects, or at least have the good old fashioned text box saying "Guard #3 fell asleep!" when a status attack works. (The PCs though were good in this. They both had the text saying what happened to them and the sprite also changed depending on status)
But I don't actually know how rm2k3 handles these things and if it really does handle these things as badly as this... It's sort of sad to think that most of the "bad game design" was due to a badly designed engine! This game could have been good!
comment=42558
And then the final point on rm2k3's general suckiness: Apparently it has a general suckiness!
...
But I don't actually know how rm2k3 handles these things and if it really does handle these things as badly as this... !


This.

Though in the future I might suggest not bothering to review a game that you only got a couple dozen something minutes into and just leave a comment instead.
I spent a good part of four hours on this game. Which is more than most games I've finished.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
It's a long game. He got through the first three dungeons, so he was about 15% of the way in. There are seventeen proper dungeons, one of which is optional, plus a few major events that have a lot of battles. The game is about the same length as the world of balance in Final Fantasy 6.
Oh come on, one star? Give AT THE MINIMUM 3.
pianotm
The TM is for Totally Magical.
32347
Sorry. I had no problems with the random encounters at any point in this game. And every five steps? I get one and two encounters per map...throughout the game; three or four if I linger. My problem is you have to be at full health for each and every battle (and if you are, you pretty much can't lose): this just seems to me like the developer controlling combat a teensy bit too much. I gave it four stars. I can see MAYBE giving it two stars. One star? Come on, now. That's a little heavy handed, especially in a game that has no game breaking glitches, is reasonably paced, and is really pretty easy at the beginning. (you REALLY couldn't get through the opening credits on the first try? SRSLY??? That's just sad.)
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