Red Moon

My third review.

This game simply isn't of the same standard as the majority of games I've played so far on RMN. I had qualms about reviewing it since I can't be sure that it's anything more than a game to share with friends.

STORY
The story had potential but isn't told in an engaging way. There's no real attempt to make the characters anything more than functional collections of pixels to aid you in your quest and point you to the next plot point. Spelling and grammar errors aside, the quality of the dialogue is poor, and practically every character, and the books in the library, sound like the voice of the author.

GAMEPLAY
Gameplay was straightforward at least at the beginning. Monsters were interesting but not outstanding. There was no attempt to justify their presence though.

Maps are generally competent, though entirely arbitrary. The boat and water area in the southeast of the world map, for example, is pointless. GO BACK written in ice tiles is also unrealistic.

Sound and music fit the mood well.

The weapon/armor system is very simplistic and consists of buying the most expensive item you can afford.

Alissa's skill "Charge" is an odd decision because once you get it, you never need to use inns (or gels) again since you can heal and then replenish MP. This is why games generally don't give out the ability to freely restore MP - so that you have to work for healing.

Specific problems:

At some point in the story (probably after getting the second orb?) the game granted me 999999 gold, which I promptly spent on hundreds of power ups. This glitch completely broke the game balance. By that time I just wanted to get to the end so I didn't complain.

It took me a while to find the last orb because there was no warning that it would be where I eventually found it.

The one side quest (out of two?) that I did complete ("forever snowball") was difficult because I couldn't find the seller, then pointless when I completed it because it had no reward at all.

Finally, only one of the two endings tells the player that you receive a new Skill attack, which made the other ending impossible without that knowledge.

The endings are unrewarding. There's no sense of achievement at completing the game.

SUMMARY
Playable, but that's it.