Avarice is a short action RPG made for RMN's Game Chill competition in two weeks. It tells the story of an evil wizard named Vandeli and a scavenger girl named Lexi in search for a lost artifact.

This review contains spoilers. But honestly, I don't think this is the kind of game that get spoiled from spoilers... if that makes any sense.

PRESENTATION
This game looks great. I'm not a big fan of RMVX RTP graphics (mostly because they’re overused), but this game really doesn't look like "I've seen this before". Mapping is exemplar, there's a nice subtle use of tints on almost every map, characters, enemies and NPCs look nice, battle animations are very nice.
The music of this game is also great. There's one particular track that is really awesome and addicting. It fits the game well, doesn't get repetitive, and makes the whole experience more enjoyable.
I also like the menu style and the icons, and overall everything is very polished and fits well together. I really have no complaints with the presentation of this game, and I can only praise the people who made all of this especially because it was made in very little time.

STORY AND WRITING
Your party is made of two people: Lexi, an apparently troublesome girl who uses smuggled weapons and takes guild jobs for money; and Vandeli, an evil wizard looking for an artifact to become powerful.
They are opposite in two senses: one that Lexi is technology-based and Vandeli is magic-based; two that Lexi is good, Vandeli is evil. I know I sound simplistic on saying that one is good and the other is evil, but that’s how they came out to me, especially after the ending.
To be quite frank, one of the things I liked THE LEAST in this game is the characterization of these main characters. I think Vandeli was supposed to be an interesting character with a twisted personality and obscure motivation, but he comes out as an extremely cliched guy. He almost looks like a parody of all the RPG evil wizards who want to become super powerful and rule the world and will stop at nothing to do so. I consider him to be even less charming than the typical evil wizards, however, because such villains are usually manipulative and hold nasty surprises up their sleeves, but Vandeli is completely straightforward and clear in his actions and motivation all the time.
Lexi feels just as empty, as the game gives her no clear motivation at any point but the ending. I also couldn't get the feeling of what Lexi was like... what she likes, dislikes, what's her temper like... she's mostly pretty bland and neutral throughout the game. I liked when she revealed that she'd been following Vandeli all along to stop his evil plans, and wanting to stop an evil wizard from conquering the world IS a believable thing to do, but in the end she comes out as a flavorless unappealing character.
There is a lot of dialog between the two during the game, but it really doesn't tell anything about nothing.
Another thing that bothered me is that dialogs, mostly Vandeli's lines, sounded somewhat artificial... as if it was a real modern-world person roleplaying a character in a pen-and-paper RPG. Also, not only the story unravels in a very predictable way, but Vandeli kinda makes sure this doesn't go unnoticed. I wish I had taken a screenshot to exemplify, but he's always dropping lines like "Now it's the time when I’m supposed to kill you", "Now it's the time I turn against my ally", and stuff like that. There are actually some pretty funny lines along the way, but overall they feel more like things the PLAYER would say, rather than the CHARACTER.

Even though I have so many complaints about this, I don't take writing as a big flaw of the game for two reasons: one, Avarice is gameplay-oriented, so whatever story and dialog there is, it’s just a bonus. Second, there isn't really that much dialog, so even if you don't like it, it won't take much of your time.

Despite these issues with characterization, I thought the writing of this game was solid, clear, and served its purpose.

I also have issues with the pacing of the Avarice. The beginning of the game is a lot of fun, it presents the characters, the world, the main places to go, it smoothly introduces you to the battle system, but after a certain point there are really no surprises in the game, all you have to do is follow fixed routes to reach all 3 bosses. No story twists, no side quests, no puzzles, no new characters (other than the bosses themselves, who are not really interesting chaps), no new places, no new nothing. The only unexpectedness after that is in the ending itself, but although it came as a surprise to me that the two main characters would fight each other, it wasn't really a story twist. I only got Vandeli's ending, and it's too quick and uninteresting as well, doesn’t give us the “phew, it’s over” feeling we need after finishing a game. So, yeah, the setting charm of the game kinda breaks after the initial introduction.

GAMEPLAY
Like I said, I see this game as gameplay-focused, as opposed to story focused. So, if gameplay is good, doesn't matter if the story is not. And Avarice's action battle system is GOOD. It's something like Zelda or Secret of Mana, only with projectiles (since almost every enemy and almost every weapon have ranged attacks). Battles flow very smoothly, they don't stall, and overall I found them to be a lot of fun.
The game also offers you many customization options, as you can choose from a wide selection of weapons (for Lexi) or spells (for Vandeli), you can spend experience points however you like among your talents, and you can, of course, choose which of the 2 character you'll use at any given moment.
It's been a long time since I don't play a game where you can TRAIN (i.e. battle the same monsters over and over) and where TRAINING MAKES SENSE (i.e. you get stronger), and that's something I like doing. The game is not so hard as to require you to do so, but I always like being slightly overpowered comparing to my challenges. I trained quite a bit in Avarice, and it was fun because battles were fun, and I enjoyed seeing my attacks become more powerful as a result of that.
I think the systems work great because they ALLOW much diversity and customization, but they don’t FORCE you to. I played on easy, and I used Vandeli 99% of the time (I like mages better). One spell isn't really stronger than the other, so it comes down to a matter of preference. I like the blowing effect of the fireball, so I used the fireball more often. The game didn't punish me for sticking with a single attack preference (though I did vary a bit sometimes). I know being strategical is not that important when you're playing on EASY, but hey... I'm not a hardcore gamer.
I died once in one of the bosses, and many times at the final battle, but overall I found the game to be well balanced.
I've got some gameplay complaints though:

1. I missed a dash button.
   There's no showing how much money you have when outside shops. Also... where am I supposed to get money? It's too scarce in the game. I tried selling items, but they sold way too cheap. Gladly I didn't need it much.
   I had tons of items I had no idea what they did. Like that ivory mask, or those dragon scales... no idea.
   

SO WHAT?
Avarice is technically a great game, very professional-looking, and it's amazing that it was made in two weeks. It's not groundbreaking in any aspect, but it is a nice and elegant execution of a classic genre. I recommend it to all action RPG lovers, and I believe beginners should take many of Avarice’s features as standards for their games, like the good use of save points, marking of passages and interactable spots on maps, and a lot of user-friendly little details that make this game such an enjoyable smooth experience.