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Alchemist Naia: A Tutorial and an Ending



I Want to be an Alchemist, also named Alchemist: Naia, is a short demo made by Irili. IwtbaA is a 5-10 minute alchemy adventure game involving an alchemist-in-training named Naia. The story is a nice coming to age scenario, but as the title suggests, there is only tutorial based gameplay and the ending; the game teaches you what to do, and then the ending happens. This game could have had some promise, but the game is labeled "completed."

Story and Gameplay: The story is about a young female alchemist named Naia and she is training under Master Ernest. He is giving Naia a chance to be his apprentice, but only if Naia passes his tests. The gameplay of IwtbaA is very lackluster. There is an alchemy system, but the requirements for making items are not shown. You select the item on the list and you make it (The ingredient exchange is not even shown.) There is a world map with listed locations, but you select a location with the hope of going somewhere, but the proceeding text only says if you succeeded or failed with grabbing alchemy ingredients, and and the only items you collect are called "(element) materials." Each day involves making an item or going out in the world to collect ingredients. That is the only gameplay. You can equip things to increase your success in the world map, but there are only 5 items to equip: 2 starting items, 1 given item, and 2 alchemy items. Based on the game's mechanics, there is no replay value because the only mechanics include menu selection, and randomized success/failure selections. There is no desire to get better.


"What did I get?.....Fine, I'll check the inventory."

The game's strongest aspect is the writing and the pacing. Each day is like a story episode: A written narrative is displayed, the task is told to you, you do the task, you show the result, and the day ends. The writing is a causal style and the feeling of progress makes you want to move farther. The most interesting part of the game is the ability to change the course of your life in 3 choices, resulting in 3 different endings. Since each ending is written well, you want to know all of the endings.

Graphics and Sound:
The graphics and sound are RTP and the use if them are standard fare. There are only 3 screens: 1 workshop, 1 world map, and 1 scrolling black screen for text. There are uses of colored text, little -ding- sounds for doing good things, and character overlays.


"Yes, Master."

Closing: I Want to be an Alchemist (Alchemist: Naia) is a short 5-10 minute game. There is not much to it. It is a small charming story with neat endings, but there is not much to the gameplay. Irili has made plenty of short games, but now I wonder if she can make a big game. Based on her other games, she knows how to make cute scenarios. Her writing also flows nicely, so I can see a nice big adventure from her. This game shows that she can make good story flow, but now she needs to invest her time to a larger project.

Posts

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@Biggamefreak: Thank you so much for taking the time to play and review this. I know the gameplay was lacking in the extreme. I'd love to revisit this in the future and fill in the gameplay substantially and will should time permit. However, as you suggest, I also want to move on to a bigger project. Thanks for the encouragement and your time!
The story flow was the most charming part. Want kind of big game would you want to make?
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