Amulet of Athos: Legend of the Sarian Knights

Lets start.


Combat: 4

The system itself is nice, but the numbers need tweaking, fights are way too easy and you can finish almost every fight with full hp and stamina.

I believe this is what should be done:

You should raise the overall damage output and hp of monsters.

Lower the damage done by dot effects/make them not stack (its ridiculous how you can stack 4 different dots on a boss and then just spam guard, winning the fight without losing any hp). This applies to both your party and enemies, there is no way to get rid of poison and pretty much everything tries to poison you.

Reduce the damage absorbed by the protect ability by half or something in these lines, make some bosses use deadly aoes that force you to break protection.

Lower the amount of stamina recovered through guarding so the stamina potions are actually useful.

Do something about the opportunity attacks, Diago and Surya can pretty much wipe a pack of normal monsters during the first turn. Make them more consistent (after ambushing a monster or after a boss uses/charges up some strong skill perhaps?).

I don't know about the Zack's amulet ability since you only get to use it once, but it shouldn't be something that's always available.


Gameplay and design: 4

Even though the first two episodes are more like watching a movie than playing, it all makes sense since you are getting to understand what's going on.

I just hope that starting with the third episode you can actually start exploring the world, visit towns and random dungeons, you know, the typical rpg stuff. Plus it only makes sense if you follow the storyline.

The zones are nicely designed but it would be nice to see some big dungeons and towns later on.

I liked the squirrels minigame, add more of this stuff.

Also more stuff you can interact with, i just can't avoid inspecting every bookshelf.


Story: 3

You know, characters are more important than the story itself, but you should add more twists and stuff that makes you think. The whole "superman" aspect is also a bit overdone.


Characters: 2

Eh, this is what you should focus on, they need some personality and less "i will protect everyone" cliches.


Graphics: 4.5

Can't really complain about this aspect but i didn't give it a 5 because in some places its actually hard to see where is your character and what is going on (mainly the burning village at the beginning and some forest zones).
Some cutscenes of characters being superheroes and slaughtering everyone are too flashy to the point of slowing down. All the "99999s" look kinda out of place as well.


Sound: 4

Sound effects are all correct, music is ok all around, though a bit too dramatic, but that's expected coming from Two steps from Hell/Immediate music.



Overall this is one of the most polished games i ever played, i just hope it doesn't become vaporware.