I seldom like to post official reviews for demos, especially ones that are as short as this, however seeing all the extreme hype this game has received, including in the reviews, I felt compelled to at least provide a more realistic view into this game.

Now, before I begin, I would like to say that this demo was not bad by any means. It was very well done, and I do believe this can turn into a great, if not perfect, game.

STORY:
First, let's discuss the story, what little there is in the 15 minutes or so of game play that we see. You begin the tale primarily playing as Vance, as he recounts a war that he and his brother were in. Vance is sent running and the next thing I know we are playing through a flashback that leads Vance and some other character into jail, and his brother rescuing them. After this point, I believe we are back in the present, with Vance waking up in some strange village and meeting new characters, and by the time you really get the chance of actually playing the game... the demo ends.

So in terms of story, there's really not much there to go on. It was written fairly well, no complaints there, but it plays out more like a tech demo than an actual demo, something that Hanzo has more or less confirmed as he works on a more official demo.

In addition, the story (so far) doesn't sound quite like what I'd expect from a game as hyped as this. It's not bad, but I've heard similar plots hundreds of times before, and I had expected something new. In addition, it's never a good idea to assume the audience is following along between the passing of time when cutting back and forth between flashbacks. Something as small as "XXXX years ago" would have helped the player to follow along with the flashbacks.

GAMEPLAY:
Again, not much game play occurred in the demo, as it was mainly a short story-drive intro. The little game play there was seemed okay, not too many issues, nothing that stood out exceptional, but otherwise decent. The menu system was a nice touch, as well. There is a puzzle in the castle you are escaping from near the beginning which unlocks the door; this seemed a bit confusing at first, but not terribly difficult. In time, a longer game will hopefully reveal even greater puzzles.

In addition, there were quite a few notable bugs as well, including the inability to continue a saved game. Hanzo has stated he's either fixing this, or it has been fixed, but when I keep hearing how perfect this game is from a bunch of different people, I'm thinking a game that is completely free of errors. The fact that people say this is perfect, and yet at the time that I played this 2 or 3 days ago couldn't continue a saved game, seems at best absurd.

AUDIO/VISUALS:
Okay, the menu system was well designed, especially when it comes to equipping your characters. Mapping is very good, too, but I won't say it's perfect. I've seen similar styles of mapping on other, more complete VX games, many of which were just as good as this one (check out Amulet of Athos, for example).

One of the things that sort of bogs the mind are the facesets. I've seen these facesets on a 100 other games. In my opinion, these particular facesets are over-used, almost as much and perhaps more than even facemaker. Whenever I play a game using these particular sets, I can't help but cringe as I force myself to get passed that and to focus more on the game.

I enjoyed the audio as I was playing the game. I can't really remember much of what I heard, though, aside that it was good and didn't suck.

BATTLE:
While being turn-based, it offers a more fresh perspective than what I've seen in a lot of other games. It seems to have been customized well enough to be different, and I didn't have any problems with the overall balance of the game between combat and game play, based upon the little that I fought. On the other hand, I wasn't compelled to go out and battle the enemies once I left the village and the demo ended, so I really can't say how well the balance carries over to later enemies.

OVERALL:
Overall, it's not a bad demo, but it's far from perfect. It's quick and enjoyable, and gives us a perspective of where Hanzo would like to take the game. There are a few things I felt were customized well, but there are others things that might have been better if they were handled differently. Only time will tell whether or not this game can live up to its hype. However, rather than focus my time and energy on a game that may or may not go beyond the scope of a tech demo, I'd rather look forward to this game's completion one day while I take advantage of the other 100+ VX games currently available.

Finally, one last point to make. One reviewer seemed to believe this game, being nothing more than a miniature demo, is near commercial quality, disregarding a lot of the bugs the game had (including the inability to pick up a continued game), apparently rated the game at 4 or 4 1/2 stars before bumping it 1/2 star and then removing the rate; on the other hand, he points out the flaws of the game, which while not enough to terribly hurt the game, seemed to have been plenty.

My point on this is... in no way, shape or form, is this game near commercial quality. It's a decent game and, if that's the designer's intent, could certainly go in that direction one day, perhaps with something other than RPG Maker, but it would need a lot of work beyond decent graphics and game play. I wanted to point this out because high praise without merit really does an author no good. Criticism and understanding are what will help him grow into a talented game maker.