TOTAL CHAOS

I dedided to play Total Chaos because I was bored AND I figured out that Complete Chaos, a game I already played and reviewed, was its sequel. Ok, this is a totally separated adventure with a different party, but there are some references and recurring characters. Anyway let's start the review:

So far I never played this game because of its mismatched graphics, but I think that these are in most cases used on purpouse: on the streets you will see monkeys, stick figures, slime creatures and so on, it's all too weird to be a coincidence (Different styles clash and this is often a turn off for me).
The game also lacks of the charm of Onyx, another old game that I liked more, but after playing it, I must admit that this game has also some good qualities.

The story is apparently banal: our hero, Ron, is the predestined reincarnation of the prince who can save the world from a great evil. He is helped in his quest by many quirky characters: a talking dog, a succubus, Lindsay Lohan, a demon hunter, a reality show star, a bully and so on.


This sounds like a really ambitious plan!

What makes this story great are the dialogues, the situations and the humor. Unlike Onyx (and sequel) that are serious for the most part, here there are many weird situations like combat encounters against celebrities, an audition to find new party members to fight the great evil, and so on. This is the strong point of the game, despite the particular graphics that can be a turn off.

But what about the gameplay? Like in Onyx, dialogues and drama are alternated with dungeon delving, random encounters and boss fights. Unfortunately I found the design of the dungeons slightly inferior to those of Onyx, and I also noticed some errors, in the mountains for example you can walk on the panorama... I guess this should not be possible!
There are also other minor problems I have with this game: the typos, the fact that consumables have really generic descriptions that sometimes makes hard to understand what they really do (to they restore HP or Mp? And how much?).

I also found strange that you earn party members only in two specific moments: usually, in other games of the same author like Complete Chaos, Onyx or Vanity, you get one or two party members after some events. Instead here you get five (!) new party members after the audition and three others after a particular boss fight. It's ok, but I think that having 1-2 characters to test/try in the next dungeon would have been the optimal choice, learning to use so many characters at the same time it's not an easy task.


No, the one pummeling monsters with the staff is not Aeris, the guy isn't Wolverine and the second girl isn't cosplaying Tifa!

And this is a pity since all characters are extremely interesting, and some also have important interactions and events that affects the story, but I won't explai, anyway just think that this is not the usual "Good Vs Evil" and there are different forces involved in this battle. I also liked the idea of a "modern fantasy" adventure, that in this case is another epic tale with many dramatic and funny moments.

I also like how the different characters behave in combat: some have lots of ability, others like Stephenie, Slay and Quentin are just strong powerhouses with strong physical attacks (even if not without some nifty skills, Quentin especially). Beverly, the summoner, has also the possibility to perform optional subquests to unlock new creatures that she can use in combat. These are hard to defeat in combat, but once done you will add a very powerful attack ability to her list (since she's a sort of glass cannon, so it's better if she can improve her offensive options even more!).

The game uses the dreaded random encounters, but at least here you can save anytime and anywhere. Unlike the sequel, Complete Chaos, there are no refreshing zones inside the dungeons, where you can heal for free, and this makes the game more challenging than its sequel. You are warned, this game it's not easy at all.


A̶e̶r̶i̶s̶ Beverly is clearly the wisest party member of the team!

Final Verdict
This is an ooooold game, I know that, but despite additions that makes it somewhat more detailed than Onyx (the use of battlers, facesets, some secondary quests I do not remember that were present in Onyx and so on) there are other nuisances (the vague item descriptions is one) that makes the gameplay less entertaining and pleasant. And this is really a pity since the story is pretty good, the dialogues (despite the typos) and situations are funny. The cast is varied and well thought out.
The score? Considering the highs and lows in my opinion the rating is an average 3. Probably many people won't like it for the graphics or the gameplay style, but having played and liked the Onyx series, I admit I had fun. A bit less, but it was still fun!