Characters: Dell, Lise, Mel, and Tome.

Play time: Takes about a half an hour to play, based on my play through.

Story: There's a number of neat fantasy concepts in this game that could be expanded upon if it wasn't a short subject. This is a very small game about a very big story. All we really learn is that Dell is a Seer on a pilgrimage in which she is to perform a series of tasks. This game is one of those tasks, to pray to the statue of a dragon god. The statue is located in a cavern filled with monsters. She and her guardian, Lise, who cannot speak, discover that the dragon god is missing one of his ruby eyes. Mortified, Dell sets out to find it and on the way discovers Mel, a simulacrum whose prime directive is to protect whatever innocent or worthy person requires his help, and Tome, a shiftless layabout that Mel has been stuck helping for years. It's really a shame this game is a short subject and doesn't seem to have much of a future in further development because there is a lot to pique one's interest. During their quest to find the eye, we clearly see the depth of everyone's relationship. Tome and Dell, obviously selfish and childish in their endeavors are mostly kept in line by their more responsible and kindly servants. Mel sees some kind of potential in Tome that no ordinary person would ever see, while Lise, who may sometimes grow weary of Dell's antics, wouldn't leave her side for anything, except maybe where she thought it might benefit Dell.

Music and Sound: Being basically taking from other games and having a very generic sound to it, barely merits a mention. The music throughout basically evokes a whimsical tone. The battle music and the opening title screen are the only exceptions, giving the false impression that the game is deadly serious. A very good organization.

Graphics: The graphics appear to be the standard VX Ace RTP, used as Liberty so expertly can.



Gameplay: Pretty straight forward. Encounters are random. Dell has a map, which probably isn't too mandatory in a dungeon this small, and there are events to make sure you don't go the wrong way, which is probably a good idea since if you decide to simply explore without finding the statue, you'll probably run into the boss. Battles are balanced to be hard. It seems like button mashing at first, but you soon find that using a bit of strategy is necessary to make it through a battle. Item balance is a little high. You have more potions and antidotes than you actually need and status ailments simply aren't that detrimental. But these are minor issues that don't really affect the overall score to me.



Writing: The characters have something to say with every item found and will often stop while walking to hold conversation. This might become annoying in a longer game, but this game does it very well. You learn more about the characters in casual conversation while walking and it isn't stuffed into a long cutscene. There's plenty of comic banter between Dell and Tome with Mel and Lise playing fall guys. All in all, the writing was my favorite part of the story.



There's plenty of exploration. You're never actually going to use many of these items, and the money is pointless; they're really just there to give the characters something to do and talk about. There was a problem here, though. You don't really encounter any shops until you're done with this dungeon. After you're done with the dungeon, you can go and buy items from the shops and then get your next mission from the old man, then go to the inn to rest up for your next task. Then the game ends. Obviously, this comes as totally unexpected and leaves the player saying, “Wait a minute! Where's the rest of it?”

Game Overall: The game doesn't mire you in long cutscenes, instead telling the story during gameplay, which I feel is the biggest plus for this game. The whole point of a game is that you play it, interact with it in some way, not just watch, and this game stays true that idea from start to finish, even letting you interact the townspeople and shops, even though the game is basically over at this point. The only really problem is that big question mark that hangs at the end, “What happens next?”

Conclusion: Definitely worth a playthrough, but you may leave unfulfilled, but of course every good story keeps going by keeping the listener wanting more. With no plot holes, story breaking physics, or any glitches that I noticed, this game would be worth every star available, except for the fact that it leaves you hanging after promising more, so I give it four. The ending does really leave you wishing for more, especially since it suggests this is only the beginning of a story.