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One Person Made This?

Introduction
This game is an original story in the style of a retro JRPG, excelling in capturing the style almost perfectly. Although moderately derivative, the game is crafted in such a way to become a fresh, worthwhile experience with a staggering number of delightful features. Too positive? Well, I'm sorry, but its an awesome and clever game. Let me elaborate.

Story

Manifest is set in the world of Ospes, wherein multiple races live -almost- peacefully. Our hero is a 'Theolar', a member of a race of people with magic abilities (called 'Focus'.) The Theolar are feared and reviled by the 'Thymetians,' our average, nothing-special humans. (Thymetians and Theolar look exactly the damn same, but somehow the Theolar in our party are always recognised for what they are. See? I can be negative!) By the time of the story, Thymetians are the primary race in the world and other races such as the Orzrak (red-skinned Warcraft orcs), the Rulwook (centaurs that aren't called centaurs for some reason) and the Greymarg (mountain dwellers with...elf ears? Wow.) are generally only encounted briefly. The Theolar themselves are also scarce and scattered.

While the populace is a veritable mashup of 'that which has been done before', the story itself is engaging and worth experiencing for the most part. The story is generally paced well and the optional content towards the end actually enriches the story without being necessarily crucial.

Unfortunately, the final stretch of the game is lacking. I'm remaining close-to-spoiler-free here, so I'll be vague, but the ending comes across as badly paced and anti-climactic. As opposed to a final dungeon, there is instead a rather long expository section with no combat and one (admittedly fairly good, if overly lengthy) puzzle. Before this however, the game builds up to a climax where you -think- a major, if not final fight is about to occur... then all of a sudden nothing happens. Suddenly you have a brief minigame, followed by maybe 30-40 minutes of walking around learning about plot before the game finally brings you... a fairly disappointing final boss. (Admittedy, I myself enjoyed that last area and the story it provided, but it simply wasn't paced properly and should not have been the last area of the game.)

Ultimately though, despite its rather unfortunate final steps, the story is otherwise brilliant and inventive enough to keep players attention.
Score: 4/5

Characters
The characters in this game are well written and likeable, though they are mostly fairly standard. I'm about to be quite cynical and mean. Before I begin this mocking paragraph, let me just say that I am exaggerating here and its not that bad. I'm just being mean.

The game begins with Cecil Harvey and Kain Highwind, who are quickly attacked. Cecil gets away, but Kain is lost. (Hint: He eventually comes back as obviously-brainwashed-evil!) A remarkable EIGHT YEAR jump then occurs, after which we see Cecil hiding in a tiny village with his mentor, Gandalf. Why have they done nothing in eight years? No idea. Why are they acting now and not earlier? No idea. Gandalf has a quest for Frodo/Cecil to go pick up an object with great destructive power. The journey begins!

Only Kain is really named 'Novriath', Gandalf is really named 'Syndarion' and our noble hero Frodo/Cecil is actually named... Armegmus. Yes, you read that right. Our hero's name sounds a little like an unsightly skin growth. Okay, I'll stop being a bastard now.

Despite the rather obvious comparisons I made, and the truly unfortunate name given to the leading man, the characters do manage to be generally compelling and fun to play as, most notably the thief-turned-blacksmith Vellamik, a Thymetian friend of Syndarion's who adds plenty of colour to the game. Vellamik joins the party with his companion Trux, a loyal yet ferocious wolf. Adding an animal to the party is an interesting, and I would say, beneficial decision. Though some characters come across as a little underdeveloped (priestess Fidese springs to mind), the majority of the party is varied and vibrant.
Score: 4.5/5

Gameplay – Out of Battle

Amongst other RPGMaker games, this area is where Manifest shines. While many games include minigames and puzzles, most suffer the signs of amateurism and fail to hold up against what you find in commercially released RPGs. Manifest is totally opposite to this. The staggering number of minigames littered throughout the game are innovative and challenging. From a unique combination-based lockpicking minigame, to several well-implemented card games to a number of twitch-based movement games, Manifest continually delivers surprising manipulations of the VX engine without becoming too distracting or overbearing.

As for the puzzles, I have never encountered a game with puzzles so well balanced as Manifest. While not in every area, puzzles are encountered throughout the game, mainly in the 8 Nayrin Ruins – each a puzzle-filled, no-combat optional tower that allows impatient gamers to skip the if they wish. While some are easy and tedious, most are quite clever and some are surprisingly difficult – though not impossible. I managed to solve all but one of the game's puzzles properly and without help, though twice I sent a message asking for help before managing to solve the puzzle myself anyway.

Admittedly, the second time I asked for help, I managed by some fluke to solve the puzzle anyway by stepping on the six available switches in a random order. Having told the developer this, I was informed that the probability of that occurring was roughly 1 in 720. Wow. As such, I consider that particular puzzle the one I did not solve 'properly.'
Score: 6/5

Gameplay – Battles

Manifest's combat system is fairly standard for the genre. The eight party members offered to you are each differently abled, resulting in a number of possible party configurations that play to different strengths. This keeps the battles fresh and interesting, though is certainly nothing new. Many of the bosses and some of the regular enemies require strategies to defeat beyond brute force, especially in higher difficulties.

The game offers six combat difficulties, from easy to legendary, with higher difficulties increasing the stats of the enemies while also upping their experience output. This widens the game's audience significantly, catering to both challenge gamers and those seeking an easy ride.

Throughout the game as a recurring sidequest there are eight 'hunts' to complete, wherein the resident of a village will send you to fight a special sub-boss enemy. Some of these sub-bosses prove to be interesting puzzles, immune to most forms of damage but vulnerable to a certain status effect. Working out how to bring them down takes ingenuity, trial-and-error and out-of-the-box thinking.
Score: 4.5/5

Music

As far as I am aware, the music in Manifest is assembled from other RPGs. Nonetheless, the soundtrack is masterfully arranged and suits every area well. Words cannot describe the sheer joy, nostalgia and fanboyism I felt when the party washed up on a beach to the tune of Final Fantasy X's Besaid Island theme, nor when a close-to-endgame dungeon treated my ears to the epic, heart-pumping tune of Hollow Bastion from the original Kingdom Hearts. Finely chosen, sir.
Score: 4/5

Graphics/Mapping

Visually, the game is appealing and maps were skillfully designed. While character profiles were chosen from stock (which perhaps explains the flaw of Theolar being recognised despite having no visible differences from Thymetians) each profile suited its character. Maps were neither clustered nor plain, and allowed for plenty of well-hidden secrets.
Score: 4/5

Conclusion

Manifest would make money if it was released in the Game Boy Advance era. It would be up there with the Golden Sun series and the GBA Final Fantasy remakes. Though it suffers occasionally in a few areas, Manifest is quite close to being a true masterpiece of the JRPG style.
Score: 4.5/5

Posts

Pages: 1
sbethune81
I don't have a growth mindset...yet.
2369
Thanks for the review Gavaroc.
Pages: 1