With His Father's Sword

Intro

"With His Father's Sword" is one of those projects that is particularly difficult to review in my opinion. This isn't because it's super short like "SpongeBob 2k3" by Miracle or because the game is so basic it's hard to come up with a lot to say like "Pumpkin Night" by crossroad00. The issue here is that "With His Father's Sword" isn't a game at all, but a Chrono Trigger fanfic that has been told using RPG Maker 2003 as a medium. As a result this project is probably most comparable to a film short or short film.

As a whole it probably takes around 20 to 30 minutes to get through this film if you can read quickly. Admittedly it took me around 40 minutes to complete, but I've learned from experience that offering my own commentary and reading the lines out loud tends to add a bit of time to the overall experience. Hence why my estimation is a lot shorter then what I actually experienced on my first watch. Though I suppose the biggest issue most people will encounter will be getting this film to play at all.

How to get this Project to Run

In order to get this film to play you'll need to do two things. For starters you'll need to get a copy of the harmony.dll file. And the best method of getting a copy of this file in my opinion is to copy it from another project. An example of a project you can use to get the right harmony.dll file is "Chase for Divinity" by unity. After you've gotten a hold of the harmony.dll file you'll need to right click on the executable for "With His Father's Sword" and set it to run in compatibility mode. My recommendation is to set compatibility mode for Windows XP service pack 2. With all of that out of the way your free to now sit back and watch "With His Father's Sword" while keeping a hand on the keyboard to advance the game's dialogue and internal monologues as needed.

Story

"With His Father's Sword" centers around Crono's mother and her struggles of dealing with being a pregnant teen while also getting caught up in an attempt to save Marle's mother from an assassination attempt. Though, I suppose going into anymore details would basically ruin the twist. Albeit you can probably guess what it is based on this project's title alone. At least it's pretty easy to see coming while your in the middle of the story.

Graphics

Graphically it looks like the The Real Brickroad ripped sprites and tile sets from the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) for this project or at the very least downloaded these assets from somewhere online. At any rate the choice in visual assets is definitely appropriate considering this is a fan film. Albeit one of the character sprites was created by Cloud Desteny I believe. I'll admit the end credit text in this game is extremely difficult to read.

Sound

Seeing as how the graphics are mostly ripped from the game. I'm going to go out on a limb and assume the bulk of the tracks are also from "Chrono Trigger". Though I'll admit that is an educated guess based on this being a fan work since I haven't played "Chrono Trigger" or "Chrono Cross" yet.

Conclusion

I'll admit this project is merely alright in my opinion. I do question the developer's decision to slightly mess with the character's listed ages within the franchise in order to make Tanya, Crono's mom, a pregnant teen a bit questionable. Though I suppose I'm not the best person to judge if The Real Brickroad's approach to that story element was handled with the right amount of care. At any rate the film's major plot twist while good is pretty easy to see coming. So it probably doesn't have as much impact as The Real Brickroad intended. Though I suppose not every film can be as sad as seeing Shadow get stuck in that mud pit in Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey.