Shimor

Well well! No one has reviewed this one. It deserves to have this, so here goes.

**Warning: this will include a few spoilers.

Let me start with a simple summary of the game. You start off with 2 characters described as an adventurer (Kuth) and an inventor (Raule), and given some simple justification to get you going in a certain direction, which is to get some 'Shimor' to get Raule's grounded airship going. Apparently Shimor is some powerful ore-like substance (maybe a radioactive?) that can power machinery, or devices. Of course, as the quest progresses we are introduced to the other half of your party, a pirate (Sylander) and a sorceress (Elisa) who join under dubious (yet unrealized) motives, and subsequently, some darker, more nefarious tones are introduced, leading to the classic good against evil scenario.

I am going to structure this into what I liked, and what I did not.

So, the good:

• Decent balance, easy enough curve for levelling up, I rarely had any trouble with normal game enemies

• All 4 characters have unique skills, and are all useful in certain scenarios

• One half of Raule's skill set has to be made through inventing devices that grant skills, some of which are quite useful - this is a very cool part of the game, and very well implemented; it is one of my favorite parts of the game (if a bit expensive to pursue at times)

• Ememies often drop crafting items and/or usable party/battle items

• Many useful skills are auto-acquired by levelling, but the really good ones have to be found/made

• Some decent and challenging puzzles - the challenge is appropriate for a moderately skilled player, and it was welcome to have to actually work a bit to get past certain areas

• Some sprites/portraits are ripped from other sources such as Fire Emblem, Suikoden, Final Fantasy, some of it looked good

• TONS of extra sidequests/optional bosses, many of which have great rewards, and add a lot of extra gameplay/value

• The author completed part of a walkthrough, it is missing the story part, but has all info about how to get the best possible skills/weapons/gear in the game

And, the bad:

• Some of the portrait/battle sprite rips do not match the fidelity of the RPG maker 2003 graphics, which is visually jarring when that happens

• There is a lack of general polish, a few spelling errors made it into the latest patch, some text runs outside dialog boxes

• The plot is, well, 'forced' at best, in parts, in fact the starting plot of Sylander and Elisa was to gain the trust of Raule and Kuth, then steal the airship to sell to make lots of loot, and that is never even mentioned again after a certain point in the game! We are left to assume that the 2 would-be villains had a mutual change of heart and decided to save the world, and never even discussed it among themselves!

• A couple times I did not know or remember where to go next, and had to visit a few places until I triggered the next story part, a quest reminder tool would help here

• The ending (or lack thereof) was disappointing, after killing the final boss. He was quite easy after completing all the optional content, which I do not mind, but when he dies, there is no "Blarg, you killed me!" speech, no wrap-up, just a dialog that says "You beat the game, thanks for playing!", and back to the main menu. I cannot think of a single game I have ever played that did not have some end dialog, some have too much, but this game has clearly not enough.

Despite this game's flaws, it is very well done, and a lot of care was put into it by its author, and it is well worth the time to play.

Rating: 3.5/5