Konae's Investigations

I was asked to review this game as per request of the creator, “Marrend” on RMN and I’m sad to say that this game didn’t meet my expectations. Konae’s Investigations is off to a great start but it is far from polished. Before I continue into the review I would like to clarify that the game isn’t bad or undesirable but rather it is just too simple right now and easy to beat. For the record my total play time was an hour and forty-nine minutes according to the internal game clock.

-INITIAL THOUGHTS-

Konae’s Investigations is another RPG with a nice storyline and humorous writing that does a nice job of relaying a story to the player; it is the gameplay that needs work. As it stands right now, I wouldn’t call this a complete game but rather a complete story within a game’s setting. Not only are the enemies easy to beat but also the last chapter of the game is near impossible to lose due to an additional character with overpowered skills and items which can completely restore a character’s health and mana. On the side of the items, I don’t mind having a resource with completely heals someone, it is the abundancy of that item which makes the game seem cheap. To put it simply, this game has some major balancing issues that need to be addressed in relationship to the gameplay. Simplicity is alright in certain aspects but if a game is too simple it makes it less desirable to play. Now I will say that Konae’s Investigations does a nice job of storytelling. Despite the fact that I had never played any of the other games in this series, I was able to follow the story really well and connect with the characters. I can’t say that I personally believe that a random reporter and photographer can take on monsters from another dimension but the over-arching story makes sense and I was able to genuinely follow the events.

-PRESENTATION-

Even though the game uses a majority of default graphics, I would say that Konae’s Investigations still does a nice job of delivering a good presentation. This is more so due to the story and the setting though rather than the graphics or other assets. Even though I find it odd, I think the choice to have the game be set from a reporter’s point of view was an interesting tactic that helps showcase tone of the game. Sadly though, the music only partially helped add depth to the story. In various locations the music didn’t really match the overall theme, the most noticeable being the title screen music which is an important asset to the game. I understand that technically this game resolves around a mystery that a reporter is trying to solve but the opening music gives off more of a sad and melancholy state of mind rather than a mysterious setting. Still I stand by what I stated and believe that the story and setting itself helps to outweigh these downsides to the presentation and make it appealing.

-ENGAGENT/GAMEPLAY-

The story is undeniably the most engaging factor of Konae’s Investigations. That and potentially the “freedom factor” of the game, by which I mean its simplicity. This game doesn’t have any built in fail safes that prevent the player from returning to an area they have technically already cleared. For some games this isn’t a problem, but for “Konae’s Investigations” not only does it allow the player to grind and battle enemies unchecked but it also causes some slips in the story as well. In multiple locations the police technically enter a place and clear it out, however if the player returns to a previous location the monsters are in the same positions and dialogue from the scene is not updated. This can be a real disengaging factor since the game’s overall engagement is because of the story. Thankfully this is not a huge issue and can be fixed with a few simple switches. Speaking of switches, think game also does a nice job of including nice puzzles for the player to solve as they are trying to pick a locked door. The only downside to this is that there is an option to try to open it automatically with a certain percentage chance of it succeeding. This option isn’t a onetime use either, it can be spammed repeatedly in any puzzle situation so the player could potentially just keep choosing that option until the door is open. The puzzles themselves are fun and challenging though and really does make the game a little more fun to play.

-OVERALL-

This stands as a great base for something awesome to come. With enemy balancing and a few more tweaks this game could be great. For those reading this review you can still play the game and get your own feel for it but I do not recommend playing this game until some of the balancing issues have been fixed. Feel free to disregard that statement if you are only interested in the story, not having challenging gameplay does allow the player to absorb more information about the story easily. Other than that I have nothing else to say, play if you want or don’t, I’ve already given you my thoughts on it, good day!

http://rpgmaker.net/games/4674/