Before I begin, I’ll just say that this is a very stylized game with a specific audience in mind. My rating in no way means it will appeal to everyone, but that it accomplishes what it means to and with very few flaws.


Setting/Plot/Story

This has a very cliché NES/Gameboy story, and progresses quite slowly. If you’re looking for something that is very intricate and has many plot twists along the way, you won’t really find it here. It’s quite obvious that the maker did this on purpose, and so it didn’t bother me at all. However, I was treated to a very unexpected twist at the end of the game. The fact that it is so unexpected makes it that much more effective, and it sets up the sequel very well. I was also able to beat the game with both endings (good hero + bad hero), so there was a bit of extra replay value towards the end of the game as well.


Audio

Amazing! Well worth the extra download size! These songs are essentially NES styled tunes in mp3 format. I actually went into the folder and listened through the whole thing, and when I was finished, I listened through again! It must be some of the most intricate NES music I’ve ever heard! My only complaint would be that the battle music made me a little too finger-tappy, causing me to accidentally give up my turn a few times. I died once because of it, and I was extremely mad!


Graphics

Really not for everyone. In fact, many people may despise this aspect. The whole game is in black and white, and there are no monsters on the screen in battle. I actually loved the stylistic choices used here, if only because it has been so long since I played a classic gameboy game like Final Fantasy Legend II. The battles didn’t bother me either, as most of the time I was too busy learning or thinking about my tactical plans to care that I wasn’t seeing any flashy animations on the screen. I think the author was smart to do the graphics this way, because it tells you right off the bat whether or not this is the type of game that was made for you.


Gameplay

I can’t give enough praise for this! I absolutely love the fact that I could customize my character’s skills and attacks with each level up, and it adds a new dimension to the battles not being able to use standard attacks. The key to what made this work best was the overall balance throughout the game. I spent VERY little time having to grind my way through dungeons, and the pacing seemed perfect to the very end. I felt like I really achieved something when I made it through an area, and exploring Atlantis for the first time was actually really cool. One thing I would suggest is a description of new skills, as I had no idea how awesome “Rush Whirl” was until I had chosen it and used it in battle. This was the only real detractor to the system, but I later found an area where you could buy certain skills you may have passed by.


Replay Value:

There is a lot of replay value for this game, because you can customize your character in a number of ways to make the game as difficult or simple as you wish. There are also many sidequests that you can choose to complete, or to skip them completely. I’m not sure how many there are, as I got frustrating with the poor layout of the walkthrough, but I did manage to get married (which got me some cool armor as a result), and destroyed a crapload of enemy camps on the world map. Also there is an ‘evil’ ending, but it wasn’t much different than the real one. It’s just a huge game in general, and though I tried to complete as much as possible, I’m sure I still missed quite a bit.


Lasting Appeal

This is a fun game for fans of old RPGs. It has its own interesting flavor and many areas to explore. If you don’t like exploring big areas, it won’t be as fun for you as it was for me, but the straight-forward approach to completing the game is always there for you as well. This is not actually a perfect game, but after completing it, I felt that it still managed to deliver the perfect player experience.

I know how many games here get cancelled or put on hold, so my last message is an appeal to the creator: sbester, PLEASE finish the sequel! This has the potential to be a great series!