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Commercial Quality Demo! (Intro Demo Review) Revised

  • Adon237
  • 07/23/2011 12:22 PM
  • 12311 views
Intro:
Even though it wasn't even an official demo, this game demo still didn't fail to amuse me. It was flat out marvelous!
Now on with the real review.
Graphics:

This is the title screen. My favorite shade of blue, plus it was animated! I stared at it for at least 5 minutes, at least! Though, there is a small bug in this title screen, I know you know that by now, Hanzo.

Actor/NPC Sprites:
Good:
A brilliant collage of different character sprites, Hanzo's own sprites, Kaduki's,and even some nice RTP edits I think.
Not So Good:
The graphics weren't terrible or anything.(The opposite.) The maybe overused red hair guy for the main character didn't impress me too much, but nothing much to improve here.

Battle:
Good:
Those sprites looked great in battle, (I liked Celina's :3)and I wouldn't say that graphically they would need more improvement. Also, the battlebacks are highly detailed! They look impressive.
Not So Good: Nothing much to improve graphically during battle.

Mapping:
Good: The mapping was highly detailed, and it was pleasant looking through some of the maps. The trees stood out, and looked extremely neat.
Not So Good: A little more interaction with the map would be nice, it to me would add a great effect to the game. Though this is an Introduction demo, a little example of any possible future map interaction would be a nice thing.


Menu Graphics:
Good: The main menu was really nice, the colors and font colors matched everything nicely. It looked pretty professional and it didn't look like it took you 2 minutes to get it all together, so nice!
Bad:(Yes, BAD!) BUG REPORT:
FONT. I deleted the Intro demo from my PC once I first made the review. I didn't need it anymore. The font was fine and all of that. But now, I am getting ticked off. In the Intro demo you have out now, I am having problems with. This font you have is installed on my computer, I can assure you that, but it doesn't work! No words appear or anything! A major fail! This makes the game basically unplayable.
You lose a point for that one mister. That is just horrid. I am sure you have the wrong font in your game, I am looking at my folder, and doesn't just say "Segoe UI",(which is what I am guessing you specified.) it says "Segoe UI Semibold", which I am sure would cause this problem. Not everyone has Vista. So now, it was fixed by downloading that font. I would fix that.


Overall Graphics Score: 4/5
Good! It isn't going to give me a seizure looking at it, the colors are balanced, and everything is pretty well. Though the My eyes wanted to jump into the screen. :) The font thing was annoying.

Audio:
Good:
High quality music, it all was custom, though I am not sure if he owns them or not, no RTP things, or overused soundtracks. Sound effects were pleasant and suited the game perfectly.
Not So Good:
Nothing to bad about the audio, besides in my taste of music.

Audio Score: 5/5

Gameplay:
Battles:
Good:
Battles were neat. It is similar to the Takentai Sideview I think, but it's called the Lifeline Battle System, and it is gorgeous. I am still learning to understand it, but it isn't too hard.
I love how the actors made sounds when they attack, get hit and stuff like that. It adds even more flavor to the game. The first battle is a tutorial, so you get to start understanding it right away. You enter battle's in the Intro demo so far by going up to the monsters, because apparently they are passive, and pressing ENTER or Z or whatever you personally use.
Not So Good:
A little more explanation on what the lines mean? I mean what happens if it is yellow? Or purple? Stuff like that would be appreciated.

Menu:
Good: The main menu was graphically amazing! In the menu, you can do normal stuff, like look at your status, equipment, inventory, etc. But it's all upgraded. The equipment menu for example is astonishing. When you equip a sword, it goes onto the your weapon arm(forgot what it was called) and appears on the characters picture. The menu is easy to browse through, and quite nice and convenient.

Not So Good: Menu doesn't need to much improvement to me. It works fine, looks good, and isn't trying to discover Atlantis every time you use it.


Misc:
Movement was nice, it seemed to scroll to the controllable character, and it was kind of cool. Concepts of the maps were nice. It was pretty realistic to me. It looked like a professionally done home, one people can actually inhabit.

Gameplay Score: 5/5
I would buy this game at completion, the game play is good to me.
Dialogue:
Good:
The dialogue is nice. It has humor, drama, etc.
I love how the message displays near the actor or NPC who is speaking, a nice feature to the game. The actors and NPC's have personalities that are defined early in the game, which is nice!
Not So Good:
This is just an intro demo, not even the official one, so it is kind of hard to understand the story line. What I have seemed to get from it so far, is that Vance is the last Vandeleir? Then for the beginning of the game, you a in a memory of some sort, until your done with that and you are no longer in the memory. I dunno, it's confusing to me in a way. Also, a couple of grammar errors were in there, just to let you know.
Dialogue Score: 4.5/5
I give a 4 out of 5 for the dialogue score.

This is a rather small review, and my first review, I have been keeping for this game. But this is only the intro demo so...
Anyway: Overall Score: 4
This game is near-commercial quality. The graphics really help on that, the all custom systems are revolutionary. The bigger scaled problems are the FONT, and a smaller would be the slightly confusing dialogue. This game, even if it doesn't go commercial, is still obviously going to be a game to remember.
I changed the "official" rating to no stars. Thanks KREAD, it is only a tech demo.
But I did leave all of what I would have rated it.

Posts

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Adon237
if i had an allowance, i would give it to rmn
1743
Yay! Accepted!
This should be a 5-star review based on what you've just said. 5-stars doesn't mean flawless, it means nearly flawless, which is what you seem to think of this. Go on, bump it up half a star.
Adon237
if i had an allowance, i would give it to rmn
1743
author=Pokemaniac
This should be a 5-star review based on what you've just said. 5-stars doesn't mean flawless, it means nearly flawless, which is what you seem to think of this. Go on, bump it up half a star.

I wonder if this review was ok, and yes I pushed it up half a star.
This is the kind one-pole feedback that doesn't help anyone -- it doesn't address anything other than praise and more praise. I don't think it's a HORRIBLE TERRIBLE GAME~ or anything like that, but if this is your idea of something 5-star, you really oughta play more games.
Adon237
if i had an allowance, i would give it to rmn
1743
Whoops. When I wake up in the morning, I will reassess this review. Then it will be in your image. I thought this game was nice, so I sure let everyone know I think so.
But what are your standards on the review? This is my first review... Is praising a bad thing? Or should I give out a couple more slightly bad things? What am I missing?
It's not bad to praise something, but consider what you're reviewing and what you're saying about it.

author=Adon237
it's called
the Lifeline Battle System, and it is gorgeous.
author=Adon237
This is the title screen. Ohh my goodness it is gorgeous.
author=Adon237
The main menu was graphically amazing! It's features are nice, a soon to be implemented System option in the menu looks nice
author=Adon237
The equipment menu for example is astonishing. When you equip a sword, it goes onto the your weapon arm(forgot what it was called) and appears on the characters picture.
author=Adon237
I love how the message displays

A lot of what you're saying amounts to "This is a very pretty game", even in the gameplay and dialogue sections. Which is all well and good, but... Anything else? There's more to a game than its graphics, and considering what a small demo this is, I feel like it's hasty to already go saying it's the BEST THING EVER~

This isn't to say it's BAD, but this reviews comes off as very overzealous.
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
Sometimes, I personally feel that a review doesn't have to cover everything on a good/bad basis.
I agree that reviews are meant to guide people, but at the same time I don't think an overly good review is a bad thing at all.
I much rather see something like this than a review that makes fun of the game it's covering and totally belittles the maker, which will usually be accompanied by a shitstorm.

If he liked it and thought it was beautiful then that's a pretty big incentive for others to atleast try it.
A positive doesn't always necessarily have to be followed by a negative.
author=infectionfiles
A positive doesn't always necessarily have to be followed by a negative.

lol yet so many people here believe a negative should be followed by a positive. This review lacks any insight or detail on what actually happens in the game gameplay/story wise. and no, saying the monsters are cute does not equal gameplay.

pentagonb pretty much nailed it
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
I guess my problem is when usually a negative review shows up{no matter how bad it is) no one ever says "Where's the positive side of this?" <- or this doesn't come up for a while, but if a review is overly good/praising almost instantly someone says "where's all the bad shit about the game?"
I personally never deny a game/play a game based on reviews. if I think it looks cool or sounds cool, I'll play it.
So I don't think every review that is ever conceived should be ALL INFORMATIVE for the reader.

Sometimes it's just nice for a game maker to hear nice things about a game they have worked hard on.
(I know this could easily be said in a comment, but a review doesn't really hurt ANYONE at all if it isn't overly-informative about gameplay and such.)
author=InfectionFiles
So I don't think every review that is ever conceived should be ALL INFORMATIVE for the reader.


agreed.

this review is indeed pretty asinine. but i guess it is another example of how rmn reviews are like amazon reviews, they're only rejected if the author heils hitler or threatens to blow up post office 03477. at least adon didn't give it 5/5 based on how fast the download was or something.
author=InfectionFiles
I guess my problem is when usually a negative review shows up{no matter how bad it is) no one ever says "Where's the positive side of this?" <- or this doesn't come up for a while, but if a review is overly good/praising almost instantly someone says "where's all the bad shit about the game?"
I personally never deny a game/play a game based on reviews. if I think it looks cool or sounds cool, I'll play it.
So I don't think every review that is ever conceived should be ALL INFORMATIVE for the reader.

Sometimes it's just nice for a game maker to hear nice things about a game they have worked hard on.
(I know this could easily be said in a comment, but a review doesn't really hurt ANYONE at all if it isn't overly-informative about gameplay and such.)


Consider that if one is to search for 5 star games right now, two results will come up: Valkyrie Stories and the LCPanes Terminal. One is a short introduction demo that shows off some beautiful eye-candy, the other a fully completed text-based game.

Also consider that this is a game with 100+ subscribers, has been hyped on many sites, has fans lining up to play the demo, and has already drawn a lot of incredibly positive and incredibly negative praise. I don't think either extreme is a good thing for the developer or potential players.

If this was any other game I would probably be inclined to agree with you, but this is a game that has been sitting on a lot of undeserved praise, as well as a lot of undeserved hate and drama.
InfectionFiles
the world ends in whatever my makerscore currently is
4622
Very true PentagonBuddy!
It's really hard sometimes for people to decipher what is "5 star material" and this only being a demo that's a pretty big leap all things considered.
I totally agree that a game shouldn't be judged solely on graphics, and maybe a game such as this shouldn't be given a star rating in such early stages, especially if its only redeeming quality is its graphics.

And like you said, considering that this game has a ton of hype elsewhere than RMN, I guess a "overly positive" review isn't really that helpful.
Maybe Adon can add more to what he has, like what he thinks could be better, a cons list, etc.

but i guess it is another example of how rmn reviews are like amazon reviews



the review of this review is longer than the review
author=InfectionFiles
Very true PentagonBuddy!
It's really hard sometimes for people to decipher what is "5 star material" and this only being a demo that's a pretty big leap all things considered.
I totally agree that a game shouldn't be judged solely on graphics, and maybe a game such as this shouldn't be given a star rating in such early stages, especially if its only redeeming quality is its graphics.

^ This is very VERY true. A game can't be rated on its first ten minutes, no matter how good they look. I still don't know why RMN allows rated reviews for incomplete games.

So to Adon: I guess I'd have no problem with this review if its rating were removed.
Wow, this review (if it can be called that) is probably the most retarded review I have ever had the misfortune of reading, really awful, I don't know how on earth this got approved.
Come on mod's, do you even read these things nowadays before you aprove them?

Anyway, the demo is clearly underdeveloped and has MAJOR flaws.
I will mention a few of them now...

The demo was so very short! maybe even too short to be even called a demo.
No story whatsoever, I honestly had no clue what the story was about after I had finnished the demo. It was just a big blur of jumbled up and confusing scenes one after another that hardly made any sense at all.
Not to mention full of cliche characters.

But ok due to the length of the demo I don't know how the character will develop later in the game or how the story will pan out later but we are judging the demo of how it is right now wich is very underdeveloped and does not even reach 3 starts let alone 5 stars.

The mapping was as jumbled up as the story, we went from some really dull looking RTP maps to a few really gorgeous custom maps, which really clashes and lowers the overall experience.

Though the demo did have some good things mainly being the Menu system, the title screen and the battle system, which was very nifty, but that alone does not grant you a 5 star rating I'm afraid.

I hope this review gets pulled as it is very misleading and unfiar to other superior games which have a much lower rating.
author=psy_wombats
I still don't know why RMN allows rated reviews for incomplete games.


author=psy_wombats
I still don't know why RMN allows rated reviews for incomplete games.


author=psy_wombats
I still don't know why RMN allows rated reviews for incomplete games.


author=rpgmkr
Anyway, the demo is clearly underdeveloped and has MAJOR flaws.
I will mention a few of them now...

The demo was so very short! maybe even too short to be even called a demo.
No story whatsoever, I honestly had no clue what the story was about after I had finnished the demo. It was just a big blur of jumbled up and confusing scenes one after another that hardly made any sense at all.
Not to mention full of cliche characters.

But ok due to the length of the demo I don't know how the character will develop later in the game or how the story will pan out later but we are judging the demo of how it is right now wich is very underdeveloped and does not even reach 3 starts let alone 5 stars.

The mapping was as jumbled up as the story, we went from some really dull looking RTP maps to a few really gorgeous custom maps, which really clashes and lowers the overall experience.

Though the demo did have some good things mainly being the Menu system, the title screen and the battle system, which was very nifty, but that alone does not grant you a 5 star rating I'm afraid.

I hope this review gets pulled as it is very misleading and unfiar to other superior games which have a much lower rating.


I like how this comment on the review is better (more balanced and sensible) than the review itself. Please submit this as a review.
I had the impression this game put all it's eggs into the graphical basket, pretty typical trait of these games that are ten minutes long. if I could offer any challenge to the creator, it would be to make this game more than visual. Otherwise I am sure it will be forgotten.
what's the big deal if the review "sucks" by your standards? omg he got a few rm points for stroking without explaining. The level of outrage is silly.

It's not like there's a 1 review limit. Instead of posting a 10 page bitchfest about what details he missed, why not just post a 10 page review that includes the details you all think he missed.
What's the big deal about expecting good writing in a review so it does not reflect our site as one of bad content?
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