Land of Dreams

Introduction

Land of Dreams may be the trickiest RPG that I've ever played so far. The author must have been a magician in real life to do a misdirect to end the game that way.

I’ve first played this game during my young teen years around 2006 or so. During that time, I didn’t have much deeper thought on games apart from the enjoyment of playing a game. Many years later, I was reminded of this game while cleaning out my old computer and transferring to a more modern computer. I still happened to have the folder saved and thought I give this game another go to see if I still felt the same way.

I want to start off by saying that “Desertopa Review” points out most if not all that the game has to offer. Instead, I will try my best to point out my experiences that I had, as well as provide details and insights I found. While trying not to reveal any spoilers of the game, but might use some aspects of the story.

Beginning – from Talem to Hontenia’s Tower

I thought Talem mission objective was pretty simple, go defeat Tora Critic. Little did I know how quickly the encounter rate was going to affect the player. For grinding many levels, it was beneficial, but for exploration it was uncomfortable. I had a pretty good feeling that this was going to be a hindrance later on in the story.

The next objective was to go to Nevra to speak with the person who hired Tora to assist. So I started to explore the world map, searching for the town. It turns out I couldn’t progress without first obtaining a mandatory character. I was confused since the objective/dialogs didn’t make any mention of another character to obtain as far as I can see, unless it was really subtle. The rest of the way wasn’t too bad, however, depending on the character(s) you unlock; you will find yourself traveling a long road back to the protagonist's home and back to retrieve the appropriate character. Along with the high encounter rate, it makes the traveling longer than should have. When I got to the tower, I’ve learned that puzzle-solving and a high encounter rate don’t mix well. I wasn’t able to do a proper trial-and-error run to solve this puzzle because the encounters would get in the way too often and would cause frustration rather than concentration. I’ve ended up having to use the video walkthroughs on YouTube to solve and also learn of any missable items/side quests to have a 100% run.

Middle Part 1 – from Talem to Terra Tree Forest

When journeying to the next land, I found myself being able to explore more of its landscape than the first without character hindrance. Everything seemed pretty good until I got to the temple. It was the same issue as the tower I’ve described above. After that, it was simple again until the forest scenes happened. I had no idea that there was a significant point of no return for a certain area. It affected the side quests and missable items to complete 100% run. If there was some kind of hint or message telling me to double-check everything before moving forward, I would have done so. This took me by surprise and decided to load my last save file to recheck everything and do the scenes again properly.

Middle Part 2 – from Terra Tree to Bovia

To my surprise again, this part actually went pretty smooth. I got to explore freely from town to town before moving forward. I was able to obtain character(s) that were considered optional and didn’t impact the progress with the game. My only issue was when I was caught off guard during my progress of the main quest from Alaeron to Bovia. I thought it was another point of no return for the second time. However, this wasn’t the case as later in the story would have rectified it, or I could load my previous save file.

End – from Bovia to The End

There actually isn’t much to say at this point. I felt everything here was a smooth transition from point A to B, etc. Had given a clear and real point of no return event and able to complete the game.

Development of Characters

Unfortunately, there isn’t much to talk about because there really wasn't any there to hold on to and invest in them except a brief statement or two about them. The story only connected them to what was needed to progress.

What would have benefited these characters if they had a story or history behind them that would really hook the audience attention. Something that explains in depth what made them so special and how connected they were. Providing an origin story for each character would have been great.

Following examples: How did they meet? Why did they separate? How did they come to be where they are now? What kind of accents would you give them to stand out?

Development of the Landscape

Unfortunately, there isn’t much to talk about here either because there really wasn’t much to go on except names of towns. Every so often you would get information if you had the correct character on the team during an event or talking to various NPCs.

I would have liked to have read some in-game lore. A story behind the world. A history about the lands and the people.

Following examples: When did this take place? Where did it take place? (Earth or another fantasy world) Was it a land of plenty or famine? How the war started, and what was its purpose? How did the war affect the landscape and its people? (You can even include how it affected the main characters as well.)

References

These particular games that I've listed are great references for the topics above.

Chrono Cross PSX – shows use of an accent system
Legend of Dragoon PSX – shows use of In-game play lore
Final Fantasy Tactics PSX – shows use of world map lore

Bugs to be Aware

Slow/Fast Walk Speed – when entering into a world map town, your speed will randomly be impacted. Noticeable speeds are Slow/Normal/Fast.

Baird Glitch – A warrior named Baird can be found at the temple in the desert. If you obtain him first and skip everything else, he won’t leave until the temple quest is over. However, if you make him leave the party by obtaining another character before completing the temple quest, it will make him a permanent character when switching back inside Robert’s house.

Ship to Forest Glitch – If you use the ship and move towards the top edge of the forest next to K’lar town, you can get off on top of the forest and skip many story events.

Forest Room Glitch – After the big battle in the forest, you be exited and moved to the story scene and world map. If you go back into the forest, you be in a glitchy forest character room. The characters don’t do anything, and you can’t exit. You will have to end the game and load the save file.

Final Thoughts

To end on a positive note, I hope this doesn't discourage you, but rather use it to strengthen you as both the person and creator within you. The kid in me enjoyed the game then, and the adult in me believes you have the potential to be better. Being able to play this game again and providing an older standpoint compared to when I was younger really gave me some perspective. It allowed me to use some critical thinking skills to really understand this game and try to give my best review possible. Some parts of the game were buggy if unaware the first time around. Having to keep consistent save points during each part of the story made me more cautious than I would like to be when playing a game. An Important note that I've tried to follow is to remember to show consistency in your work. Be consistent with both your characters and world building developments. Try to show consistency with grammar followed by accents. It seemed to be only allowing to give an overall form of rating, so instead I will also put down below my rating system. However, I will give the author and the game the benefit of a doubt because of the effort it takes to create a game, let alone build something with your hands.

Character Development – 1 Star
Landscape Development – 1 Star
Narrative Development – 2 Stars
Game Play Mechanics – 1 Star
Overall – 2.5 Stars