A Home Far Away

Title: A Home Far Away.
Developer: Strangeluv.
RM platform: RM2k3
Reviewed by darkhalo.
Download link:Click here.

The good
An RPG set within a rich and charming world
A fair abundance of game challenges

And the bad
Storyline somewhat shallow
No character development
Too quest based.


So let's begin
Firstly I was pleasantly surprised when I played this game, not only were the graphics appealing
but I was also impressed with the number of diverse locales that felt alive and vibrant.
The story start's in a small sleepy village called Everdale where everyone seems happy enough
getting on with their daily chores. Then one day, a young boy called Danais is robbed and
frantically runs after the robber (called Skarsgaard) and accidently falls off a waterfall and into
a river. From here on, it does tend to become a little cliche sadly.
A worried sister called Farrah searches in vain to find him...and so starts the adventure.


Gameplay
There were moments it became frustrating especially with the mini games which demanded alot
of persistence due to it's high challenge level. For example, I gave up counting the number of
re tries when in the gorge swimming. Perhaps just leave in the fish at first, but to add a targetting
sight over you and blasting huge -HP at you was verging it on the impossible...but eventually I did it.
The items were a tad too expensive at the start of the game I thought, and not as much coinage
dropped by the monsters as I would of liked, though arguably this added a notch to the challenge
factor. It is clear that the game's author has a grasp of what makes a good game design and here
I mean not just the game quests in their own right, but the fact they had to be completed to move
along. Mapping was spot on in most cases, and just enough save points to keep you immersed
without tearing your finger nails out. The option of buying a map was a nice inclusion too.
The game has a good splash of humour too, the pirates...well lashings of it if you pardon the pun.
Characters were interesting, but besides Skarsgaard and Grizzlybeard, the story would have been
more interesting with a few more....as it stood, it seems NPC's were more the main feature at times.
What was interesting, and akin to Arafell was the night/daytime feature which provides a time line
which enables you to open certain events according to day or night.
Overall, the game design was flawless, and more than enough features to keep the mind well oiled.
Dialogue was also well done, and Strangeluv has made full use of colour text in those area's where
emphasis is required to support those important facts during game.

Graphics
Again, this was an area that really impressed me. Quite a diverse range of chipsets, some from
Legend of Mana and Suikoden to Wild Arms. Also a huge borrowing of chipsets from Naufragar
Crimson, but that only adds to an eye candy set of maps.
Particularly liked the swaying panoramas of the ocean waves, and also the mountain tops at Feather
Hill Heights were designed well too.





Expect many mini games...easy ? Nope !

Combat
More Breath Of Fire style than anything I can think off. As it was, it works well although I think more
could of potentially gone into this, not so much the screen action but for the lack of armour and
weaponry. To a point, stats increased through capturing strength up events in game etc, but adding
certain armour and so on would have made it more interesting for the characters and thus the gamer.
As well as the usual 2k3 battle commands, I liked the idea of the charge system which balanced well.
A good array of spells too, which admittedly I used quite a lot throughout the game.
Levelling up was typically average for this RPG, but not too much grinding.
The boss fights were well thought out, though again using spells, they could of been a little more
challenging as they were a tad on the slow side, but maybe thats not a negative...as they were still
able to knock off serious Hit Points.


Music
Admittedly, first thing I thought here was Arafell when I was in Everdale, its the same music, not that
its a bad thing. Generally however its other music I've heard from the usual commercial RPG OST's.
However, they work well...such as the shelter in the west of Willow for example.
Sound effects are incredible....top notch in that department.


Summary
Definitely recommended. Expect a challenging game ahead of you, but the rewards of completing
this game are simply relieving yet self satisfying...trust me on this one.
As to 7 to10 hours here as Strangeluv suggests, expect around 15 with all the side quests etc !

Verdict 7.5/10