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A beautifully arranged game with some flaws

  • tpasmall
  • 02/17/2012 03:50 AM
  • 3103 views
So let me just start off by saying I have never played any RM game to completion before, EVER! The closest I've come to it is when I played that Cartographer so taking on a game review was a big step to me. I also apologize if my review isn't written well, it's late, I'm tired and I've never done this before. Anyway on to Enelysion.

One of the first things that jumped out at me was how beautifully put together this game is. From the graphics to the music to the menus, everything about this game aesthetically is on point.

The in-game tutorials are enough to help people unfamiliar with RM games, yet not drawn on to annoy the Veteran players (and they're all optional!). The cut scenes are well put together, and given a cinematic type feel with the widescreen view and some great dialogue.

I also appreciate the unique use of skill names. No 'Fire 1' 'Icega' or 'Thunder' here. The skill learning system is also enjoyable and more thought out then your average, run of the mill rpg. Instead of automatically learning skills, you buy them with JP that you earn from battling enemies.

While I personally am not a fan of on the screen encounters, some of them are well done. I say some because the learning curve to the battle system is probably going to be too hard for your recreational gamer. In fact, I didn't actually finish the demo because of the difficulty of the battle system. At level 13 with both characters, I was unable to land a single blow on an enemy troop, regardless of what attacks, items or spells I tried to use. While I realized I could go back and grind out some levels to obtain the skills I needed, I was too frustrated and tired to go back and do it. While I don't mind games that allow you to grind out levels, I hate games that require it when it's inconvenient to me. This was the single biggest flaw in the game (and while it's a big one, it's probably easily fixable).

A few other flaws I noticed in the game were that in the opening fight sequence, the shadows under the bandits sprites weren't lined up corrected and looked awkward. Also, whenever the screen dims to black and there are light events on the page, they do not dim with the screen. There are also quite a few mapping/pass-ability errors, but not any that aren't easily fixed.

While I'm not sure that it was on purpose, this game also had some funny innuendos thrown around such as a bar called the 'dirty dog' and when Rolf tells Laine that 'I've never really pulled out on you' when talking about the dirty dog.

Overall, I thought the game was enjoyable. The characters, the dialogue, the general interaction with the game world was immersing. You can tell time went in to the back stories of the towns, NPC's and characters alike. While there are some things that can use further explanation, this small demo seems like it sets the stage really well for the overall story. If the above problems in the battle system get fixed, I'll take another run at this game as it seems to have a TON of potential.

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Thank you for the review, tpasmall! You mentioned something in a PM about being unable to beat a certain troop of monsters, which can be beaten with an item called the 'Vitas Scroll' ( heals allies and enemies alike ). All enemies with the 'Reverse' status( and it will mainly be undead enemies ) can be damaged that way. :)

As for the innuedo, haha, I didn't even intend for that to happen. :D There is a running gag in the game, though, but it's not that.

But overall, I'm glad that you enjoyed it. I promise the next release will be even better ( and longer ). ^^
Is there anything else that can beat them though? I had three Vitas Scrolls and ran out on the second troop because it took two per troop to kill them. If there were another way to kill them, something that didn't require an item, I think it would greatly improve the game.

But yeah, that is the only thing that really caught me, aside from that, I really enjoyed it!
No, the only way you can defeat them is through those scrolls. I think I included a total of 4 in the game. But I will add another skill ( maybe for Patrick ) to damage enemies of that type in the next release. Thanks for that heads up. :)
That would work, or if those enemies had fewer hp to guarentee 1 scroll would kill them, it would give the player a better chance against them. A minor change like that would bump my review up to a 4 easily.
Ah, so that's how you killed those things.
Making a limited number of items for the job is kind of unfair though :\
Are you talking about Corpse Spirits? I didn't use those scrolls to beat them. Instead, I just poisoned them, since the "Reverse" status does not change the effect of poison.
I didn't have a poison skill, I went elemental with my skills. Good to know though.
I didn't even think about using Laine's Lethal Edge ( adds Poison ) on those Corpse Spirits. Only when I checked the database again did I realize they were vulnerable to the poison status effect.
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