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Needs polishing, but on the right track...

  • Versalia
  • 02/13/2011 12:26 AM
  • 5159 views
STORY AND PLOT. 1/5
Well, I know it purposely ignores any attempt at having a story or a plot in the interest of being a fun dungeon-runner. The problem is that another example stands out so prevalently - Hero's Realm - that I can't help but draw a direct comparison here. HR managed to play with every RPG cliche we know and love without stuffing it down our throars. DungeonQuest's heroine is named Haroyn. Yeah. It took me a second to get it, then I groaned.

GAMEPLAY 2/5
I really feel horrible writing a review that will appear to be a slam on the game, but honestly, this is really lacking. The game uses the DBS, which is fine, except that as far as I can tell there weren't any custom scripts included in this game; minimal effort has been invested in battles aside from assigning different skills to different classes. Oh yes, speaking of classes: No information is given about classes before they offer to join; "I'm a Bard, can I join your party?" Some information on what a Bard can do would be nice.
Equipment is rather misbalanced. For example, my Mistress can use Whips and Fans, among other weapon types. A Whip with 6 ATK costs 90 gold. A Fan with 4 ATK costs 40 gold, AND it lets me use Jump and Stun Pollen. Why would I have any reason whatsoever to buy this whip? What's worse, if there were a reason, I wouldn't know what it is because of the lack of information available about the game's mechanics. I found out purely by experimentation that boomerangs hit twice. There's even armor that appears to offer an armor rating of... 0, with no notes as to additional effects. Also, I may be crazy, but some equipment is bugged - this +20 Max HP belt doesn't actually give me 20 Max HP. The "optimize" menu option does nothing for several of the equipment slots.
Sometimes, "Friendly" Sprites show up in battle. All they do is act like a normal enemy Sprite - buffing and healing - but only to themselves, never toward the heroes. They also don't seem to give any dialog if you harm them or anything like that, so this is a little confusing. Feels like it could have been turned into a cute sidequest somehow.
On the upside, even without levelling very far, the classes have a lot of individual flavor. A lot of this comes from the type of equipment they can wear. I thought it was cute that my Teenager could use slingshots and boomerangs, and I really enjoyed that my Mistress could use an array of weapons like whips and fans. But... why can't my Mistress wear necklace-type items? WHY CAN'T I GIVE JEWELRY TO MY MISTRESS?! Agghhh! I also liked the concepts various classes represented, with unusual choices like Teenager and Farmer,

GRAPHICS AND PRESENTATION 3/5
Well, it's purely RTP. But there are no glaring mapping errors, no blatantly hideous dungeons, etc. Sprites are matched up to their respective classes well, townspeople blend in, everything is pretty ho-hum and nothing hurts my eyeballs.
However I did notice a change when I downloaded today's update. My immediate impression is that I thought "Oh, weird, didn't the sign for the weapon shop used to be a sword?" Well it did. So I'm not sure if this was unintentional, but now the armor and weapon shops both have an armor sign. Confusing.

MUSIC AND SOUND 2/5
Pretty sure this is 100% RTP as well. I really hated the first dungeon's BGM and played mostly on mute.

VERDICT: 2.5/5
I'm going to give this a +.5 for charm and overall an impression that the designer has a concept of what is cute and fun in games. It just suffers from the bias of myself as a reviewer having played a very similar game I enjoyed much more, and some balancing and lack of information issues. I think if the gameplay issues were addressed, this would move up to a solid 3-4 stars as an enjoyable, replayable dungeon runner~

Posts

Pages: 1

Ouch. I counted the scripts. Theres 50+ custom scripts. How do you think I made the friendly battlers or the bestiary or the scan or the shoot arrows or the multiple equipment slots?

You don't realize just how much time I have invested in battles and playing with different classes and putting them in different battles. DAYS! Hours spent on just some battles. You do know certain skills are used to kill certain enemies. You need to constantly be thinking about how you can win instead of just pushing the attack button.

I guess I can hit the player with class information in the game. I know Dragon Quest 3 didn't, but people still love that game. Chances are, I'll over inform people about each class.

The whip lets you stun enemies without a skill and you can attack flying or tall enemies WITHOUT A SKILL. The whip also gives you agility and its a stronger weapon! Perhaps I need more townspeople to tell you that.

The Optimize comment does nothing for your orbs and accessories, because it doesn't know which Orb or accessory you want to use. It can guess, but does it know you'd rather use a Fire Orb than an Ice orb? I will make townspeople tell you.

You're not in a friendly battler party. If you come across 2 parties battling... your party is a 3rd party. Like if Russia & Europe had a fight and the US came along. We're 3 different countries.

I see your focus on the mistress. I will make it so you can give her jewelry. That's probably an overlook on my part. All classes should be able to use jewelry.

Thanks for the error about the sign. Good eye. Fixed.

Gameplay issues as in combat?

I think what I got from this review is >> Not uber mistress of my dreams. Rawr.

update:
Classes now have information about them before hand. The weapons shop now has a weapons sign. Mistress can now use jewelry... but I'm taking the jewelry out of the shops. There's too much in there anyway.
Versalia
must be all that rtp in your diet
1405
author=ShortStar
Ouch. I counted the scripts. Theres 50+ custom scripts. How do you think I made the friendly battlers or the bestiary or the scan or the shoot arrows or the multiple equipment slots?

Okay, that is true, although I guess I should have more carefully defined "custom scripts." There's some customization, and some scripting, but everything feels very... default. It's probably my inexperience with the engine, so you can ignore this.



You do know certain skills are used to kill certain enemies. You need to constantly be thinking about how you can win instead of just pushing the attack button.

No, I do not know this, because nothing/nobody EVER tells me this.

I guess I can hit the player with class information in the game. I know Dragon Quest 3 didn't, but people still love that game. Chances are, I'll over inform people about each class.

DQ3 also came out many years ago when games were held to a different standard. I'm sure that, while people love that game, nobody will ever specifically say "You know what I like ABOUT DQ3? The fact that I was totally uninformed about the classes' abilities." Yeah. I really like that you updated with class info though! This rocks.

The whip lets you stun enemies without a skill and you can attack flying or tall enemies WITHOUT A SKILL. The whip also gives you agility and its a stronger weapon! Perhaps I need more townspeople to tell you that.

While this is true I'm sure, in the review when I said there was no reason to use whips, I meant there was no explanation IN the game as to WHY I should use the whip. Perhaps the whip's description should be "Hits Flying, Tall."

You're not in a friendly battler party. If you come across 2 parties battling... your party is a 3rd party. Like if Russia & Europe had a fight and the US came along. We're 3 different countries.

Yeah, but, they're described as "friendly." The IMMEDIATE assumption is that they are allies, and not just a neutral third party. Perhaps when they appear in combat it should alert you - "You stumble upon a battle already in progress!"


I see your focus on the mistress. I will make it so you can give her jewelry. That's probably an overlook on my part. All classes should be able to use jewelry.

...

I think what I got from this review is >> Not uber mistress of my dreams. Rawr.

Not sure where you're getting that idea. My only complaint was that she couldn't wear jewelry (and I was half-joking, honestly; think about it. Giving jewelry to your Mistress...) and my other complaints were completely mechanics- and gameplay-based. Like never being told what a whip does. That's not a complaint that Mistress isn't uber, it's a complaint that I am not informed about the resources at my disposal.

But I'm thrilled that you're updating!
^Same here on the last part. And it was like immediately, too, which is awesome. I think I'm downloading the new version before I go any further.
1. The scripts are subtle, but useful.
2. Yes people do tell you that. Blatantly. People talk about birds and jump attacks or arrows. There's a slew of guys in the first town and the castle.
3. Sometimes the game is fun, because you're uninformed. GameFAQs makes things too easy. I was thankful when SMBX came out, because it gave me fresh Mario I knew nothing about. Anyway, there's now more information in the game about the classes... chances are, its not enough info.
4. I thought people would actually find the fans inferior to the whips. Your take was interesting. I have changed the whip's description in V 0 . 3A
5. I will change the friendly name to uh... something else when I think of it.
6. I'll always fix and tweak to accomidate. I did with Epiquest too and it made it a much more approachable game from people bitching about your doors look funny to there's too many enemies and I'm too dumb to realize you're supposed to avoid them.
First, I need to point out that Europe isn't a country before my brain explodes and blood shoots out my ears. I mean, WOW.

Now, I don't know if we're thinking of the same Dragon Quest 3 here (whatever that has to do with absolutely anything). Is it the one released by Enix in 1992 as "Dragon Warrior III" in the US? Because that had a instruction booklet! Like all commercial games! And hell, even if the instruction booklet neglected to tell you about classes (and very, very likely didn't), I can't think of an RPG where there's not some tiny blurb of information that give you an idea about the class. Yeah, Versalia already made the point that sheer ignorance doesn't sell anyone on anything unless they're insanely stupid...BUT YOU'RE MAKING THAT SAME GODDAMN ARGUMENT AGAIN! And it's even more bullshitty because now you're using a website that you have to take the time and effort go to (outside the game, no less) for it to 'ruin" things! And as if that wasn't enough, you're apparently referencing what I can only assume is a Super Mario Bros. fangame! That anyone would need a walkthrough for a Super Mario Bros. game and thinks its more fun because they're going into it completely blind would be hilarious if it didn't numb the mind when you thought about it!

...So again, WOW. You're making fucking horrible arguments because you're an egotistical cock who lost his shit over a perfectly fair review that's way the fuck nicer than anything I'd probably say about this game. Good job.

-Tabris
You're correct. Europe isn't a country.
Adon237
if i had an allowance, i would give it to rmn
1743
author=Tabris_Macbeth
First, I need to point out that Europe isn't a country before my brain explodes and blood shoots out my ears. I mean, WOW.

Now, I don't know if we're thinking of the same Dragon Quest 3 here (whatever that has to do with absolutely anything). Is it the one released by Enix in 1992 as "Dragon Warrior III" in the US? Because that had a instruction booklet! Like all commercial games! And hell, even if the instruction booklet neglected to tell you about classes (and very, very likely didn't), I can't think of an RPG where there's not some tiny blurb of information that give you an idea about the class. Yeah, Versalia already made the point that sheer ignorance doesn't sell anyone on anything unless they're insanely stupid...BUT YOU'RE MAKING THAT SAME GODDAMN ARGUMENT AGAIN! And it's even more bullshitty because now you're using a website that you have to take the time and effort go to (outside the game, no less) for it to 'ruin" things! And as if that wasn't enough, you're apparently referencing what I can only assume is a Super Mario Bros. fangame! That anyone would need a walkthrough for a Super Mario Bros. game and thinks its more fun because they're going into it completely blind would be hilarious if it didn't numb the mind when you thought about it!

...So again, WOW. You're making fucking horrible arguments because you're an egotistical cock who lost his shit over a perfectly fair review that's way the fuck nicer than anything I'd probably say about this game. Good job.

-Tabris

Wow... Don't you think that is a LITTLE to harsh?
author=ShortStar
You're correct. Europe isn't a country.
Indeed it is not, mate. Seriously, I would not be me if it was.

EDITED: Done, no arguement will come out of this post now. XD
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
Resurrecting a half-year-old argument is not necessary. Don't make us lock this review :)
You should probably delete the review seeing as how it was reviewing a version from quite some time ago.
Decky
I'm a dog pirate
19645
I can't delete reviews yet :)
You can only delete hopes :-) Sorry that was a bad joke. Actually since the review focuses more on what I don't have than what I do it would probably still get a 2.5 rating... if not a 2.0 rating for taking 6 months to finally spit it out. But giving 1/5 to the story to a game that blatantly says it doesn't have one is like rating a mario game for its story.
Ah, forgive me, I did not see the date. My bad :)

EDIT: Should I erase my comment or alter it, as to avoid the arguement?
I'm going to keep the part about europe then. XD
Alright, I deleted the argument raising part of it. Sorry about Necroposting and bringing up an argument like that. XD
chana
(Socrates would certainly not contadict me!)
1584
author=ShortStar
You can only delete hopes

I'm afraid you were right there (I didn't play the game,so I don't have any particular argument here, just noting.)
I'm right about 2 things. That and Europe is not a country.
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