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Review - Jomarcenter's "Future Helper and the Seven Towers"

  • sicksinz
  • 04/03/2012 05:38 PM
  • 5577 views
Every once in a while, there is a game that comes out that makes you feel confused and sad at the same time. Games like these can be quite good due to the range of emotions that they bring, generally. This game, however, is not one of them. From it's poor usage of the English language to it's improper use of the Run Time Package available for RPG Maker VX Ace and it's pre-created enemies, this game gives you a sense of confusion and sadness but not in a good way.

To start, we will discuss the graphics. RPG Maker VX Ace gives you a fairly decent supply of graphics to start with. The graphics are alright and should be enough to get an up-and-coming game developer started. The real display of talent is when the developer makes good use of these graphics. Future Helper defies all logic when using these graphics and I can not say that there was a specific scene that was created that used these effectively. First off, we look at the indoor scenes. These scenes had so much blank space, you could probably have a sumo wrestling competition right in the middle of the room. In order to see every room, you would have to traverse a field of wooden floor tiles before you could come to the lone NPC in most of the rooms, only to find out that the function that they serve was not available yet. Where the rooms could be easily cut down to a simple 17x15 room and pack enough detail with what was put in there to make it at least somewhat more visually pleasant, we are left with huge rooms with little to no value for entering.

Outdoor graphics aren't put to use any better, I am afraid to say. Grass tiles and pathways are generally all that is to see except a few tents, some very thin looking buildings (which, as previously stated, on the inside are unnecessarily huge) and lots and lots of light poles, some of which get in the way. Seriously, who puts a lite pole in front of a doorway? There is also a moment when you see a couple buildings that have some very strange structure...almost like they are built in a half "H" shape. Now, usually a house built like this wouldn't be very odd except that the elevation of the roof on the two sides are off by two tiles, almost as if those two sides were higher than the entire building. Things like this create an ugly appearance for a building.

From what I can see, any update that is coming doesn't look too much better. A few new tents get added and it seems that the system will have a pink window-skin which may or may not create some eye-strain upon staring at the screen for long enough. One last comment on the graphics I need to make is that every character looks almost exactly the same. The portraits of Jenifer and Alex's mom look so similar with their twirled hair in the front that there was at least twice that I couldn't tell which person was which by first glance, having to look at the character's eyes to really be able to tell. Also, one of your new "Teammates" that you get looks like a few other NPCs in the game. This to me does not tell me that this game will have very good character depth because every character is just going to be a cardboard cutout of an NPC elsewhere with a rich boy who can't figure out how to spell his last name leading the group. With that said, I'll move on to something even more important.

The story of an RPG is an important element and is not optional. This game has a story, or so it seems, but it seems to be lost in translation. The developer is from the Philippines and it seems he has no proper grasp of the English language. Any idea that he has produced is unintelligible at best and the most I can understand from the story is you are a boy who was kidnapped 5 years prior to the events of the story, replaced by a person who was not his real mother and for some reason, some people want to turn him evil. Mind you, this is only what I can gather from the broken bits of English. From the beginning, it seems like a poor version of Pokemon with a man trying to kill the main character using Slimes and Bats...the same slimes and bats that you fight through-out the entire demo (I forgot to mention that the creator mentioned somewhere that he made the game in one day after planning the game for 5 years and all we have is this demo).

After all of that, we are led to believe that while Alex's mom forces him to go get milk from the market which apparently only caters to his house as there is no other homes in the area and only a woman saying "this area is in construction" and a couple NPCs that give away 5 bottles of milk (or I would assume it's in bottles) and make you read their newspaper before you buy it, that Alex has never been just barely to the east of his home long enough to notice all of the other buildings and "high population" of the next screen and from there we are introduced to many features that are not available (nor have they even been scripted by VX Ace users) and more nonsense story that boils down to just a little bit of walking around for no reason and more poor spelling and story plot-holes that further ruins the entire experience (despite the mother being gone for 5 years and the "fake mother" obviously being able to cook, the "hero" finds a letter from his long deceased mother int he oven...Wouldn't that thing have been turned to ashes long ago?) followed by a walk through a field with a high encounter rate (seriously, I counted three steps on some occasions every time I moved anywhere) and more fighting that involved nothing more than mashing the Z key and an occasional milk or potion thanks to the length of the battles caused by the ever incessant "Blind" that the bats love to put on your characters (and there are a lot of bats).

Obviously, I can't really go into every bit that is wrong with this game but I feel that I have covered every bit of it. It is very sad and I feel bad that I can not say anything good about this game. The creator has many good ideas for side-missions (battle network...could be cool maybe) but fails to bring them to us and leaves us with nothing more than a story that is hard to understand, poor graphic usage and boring gameplay. I'm sorry, Jomarcenter but I can't give you higher than a 1 and that is being generous.

Posts

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Lol, I secretly gave him an extra 1/5 of a star for the unintentional laughs this game gave me. ;) Nice review btw!
LEECH
who am i and how did i get in here
2599
What i want to know... Is can he script? He is claiming there will be online, but will he be making it?
author=ldida1
What i want to know... Is can he script? He is claiming there will be online, but will he be making it?


It's just bullshit. He even has "servers".
author=ldida1
What i want to know... Is can he script? He is claiming there will be online, but will he be making it?


Signs point to no but he could surprise us all!
LEECH
who am i and how did i get in here
2599
author=BareGamer
author=ldida1
What i want to know... Is can he script? He is claiming there will be online, but will he be making it?
It's just bullshit. He even has "servers".

Actual servers? Or just random pieces of cardboard he has written "future helper and sevent tower sever" on.
My opinion points to no on the servers, lol though I would like to see an "Actual Battle Arena" like in Golden Sun or Star Ocean! *o*
He recently said that version 0.2 is for the community to edit.
He's basically made some nasty shell of a "game" and is leaving everyone else to make it for him, relying on communities to change the grammar and script the features that he's decided are going to be there.

This review is so right, I agree with every word. I wasn't even generous in my review.
...Eh. Now I feel kinda sorry for him with this many people killing him around :/

At first I was like,

"Damn nublets, desecrating the NCC entry list."

Then I was like,

"...Hang in there, son. This will end, believe it!"
author=skaraflame
...is leaving everyone else to make it for him, relying on communities to change ... the features

These scenes had so much blank space, you could probably have a sumo wrestling competition right in the middle of the room.

Sweet... I like the idea.

NEW FEATURE! Summo wrestling on EVERY MAP!
Sumo wrestling! Lol call in Fat Bastard, Cartman, and Peter Griffin! :D
lmao but remember, guys. it's gotta be a network thing so you can connect to his servers and sumo-wrestle all your friends!
I can't wait for the network! It's only going to be a few years before a proper online scripts with all the features he wants...
By then, they'll invent virtual reality helmets for sumo wrestling. :o
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21781
Sumo wrestling duels? Maybe he could "borrow" the concepts behind the Kojiro Duel Demo for that?

In no way is this post allowing jormacenter, or any affiliate thereof, the use of code, or common events, or resources of any kind used, or mentioned, in the referred demo.


*Edit: I'm just making this worse, aren't I?
author=Marrend
*Edit: I'm just making this worse, aren't I?
I think we all are! xD (Well, most of us anyway~)
He has updated the game. Seems the graphics usage has improved slightly and seems there are more story elements added to make it make more sense but I more than likely won't touch it again.
http://www.box.com/s/16f3f6b2804301954179
This game has a sequel! jomarcenter would be proud!
Well . . . actually he thinks I'm in violation of his game's license!
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