Fallen Heroes

Team Slash n’ Fern’s Game Gale 2010 entry, Fallen Heroes is a fairly typical RTP game made in RPG Maker VX. However, there are a few qualities about this game that make it a more enjoyable experience than the average RTP game.

The game starts off where most RPGs would end; our heroes have confronted the evil lord Xavier in his fortress to take revenge on him for generally being a huge prick. Being level 1, they are dispatched with little effort. Unfortunately for them, Xavier is not only highly genre savvy, but has a keen sense of irony, and decides to do what heroes have been doing to villains for eons, and seals them away in an alternate dimension. Shame he apparently forgot that this plan never works out.



Balance 2/5
Even though the battles in this game weren’t especially great, this game is still probably one of the best applications of the default VX battle system I’ve seen so far. Combat is completely typical, although none of my characters ever learned any healing techniques so it’s important to carry healing items. Enemies tend to radically jump in difficulty from one area to the next so you can be caught off guard, but generally combat doesn’t drag, at least. Almost every enemy can drop a unique piece of equipment as well, so there’s some incentive to fight it out. The experience curve is reasonable, though you only acquire a handful of moves over the course of the game. Overall this was the game’s worst aspect, though with a little work it could be made much more interesting.

Level Design 2/5
A pretty good example of “RTP done right.” Everything looks decent and there’s not much more to say. Unfortunately there's not much else going on in this area to make it stand out in any way. The single dungeon I could enter was mostly empty and there's a lack of much to interact with, even treasure chests. The game was just too short to judge much else about this category.

Characters 4/5
The highlight of the game, easily. The game places you in the role of two heroes, a suicidally overconfident warrior and his laidback sorceress partner, both of whom can be named by the player. The two have a lot of chemistry and are likable instantly. In fact, I liked every single character in this game, even the nameless NPCs wandering around are endearing. The villain, who seems to be on around his tenth batch of dispatched heroes, is also well done. The writing is quite decent, and never takes itself too seriously. It’s clear the creators had a lot of fun doing this.

Story 3/5
The villain banishes all the heroes who try to take him down into an alternate world, where they have built a town and generally live together peacefully. The goal of escaping this dimension is the core of the game, and also fits Game Gale’s theme. Although the story is pretty generic, with the need to acquire a broken artifact while being aided by a mysterious cloaked stranger, the quality of the writing is enough to want to see it through. The story is also supplemented by optional cutscenes delving into the heroes’ pasts.

Music and Sound 2.5/5
All RTP here, and it is used appropriately enough, but nothing stands out as exceptional or anything.

Overall 2.5/5
Overall, a fairly average game with some above average writing. There isn’t much else to make it stand out, but the story is amusing enough a reason to play through it. Unfortunately, the current version is incomplete, ending very abruptly, which is a shame as things were just taking off. If this game were to ever be finished, I would definitely play it.