Syma

Hi!
Syma... this is a RPG Maker VX Ace made by Brady and released in 2013. Since I played Eclipse by the same author, I wanted to try another game, and this time it's a complete adventure.

Syma is apparently a remake of another game made by Brady, Scima Invasion Crew, and both these games were made in 2013 with RPG Maker VX Ace, but this time I'm going to review this last version, so let's remember to play Scima Invasion Crew (or SIC) at a later date!
This game makes us play as a team of special agents in a Sci-Fi setting working aboard a spaceship, the Esper IX. The operators differ aestetically but for the rest there is no difference, aside for a minor one: they can be renamed at will between missions and you can even change their class(es) so what's the difference? Well they have personal quests, but this is something I'll explain later.

The adventure starts with us controlling Jack (default job, marine) inside a virtual reality level that is a tutorial mission meant to teach us the basics of the game. We'll later meet a secong party member that is useful to learn how to make a party whose members can collaborate efficiently to take down the opposing forces.


This is the Esper IX, our spaceship and base where we can select our next mission by interacting with these holograms. Pay attention to the hints!

Now the interesting thing is that we can choose our class (and change it whenever we want) between FOURTEEN professions and this determines the various skills the character will possess. There are lots of choices: Marine, Grenadier, Medic, Defender, Knight, Martial Artist, Wizard, Magi-knight, Recon and so on, each one with its own abilities and specializations. For example the Marine has an arsenal of guns that can be used in battle, the submachinegun for example attacks several times the same opponent, the dual guns provoke a rain of lead randomly distribuited among the opponents, and the shotgun is a single powerful attack (that can miss, of course!). The weapons do not use Mana of course, but have limited uses. The Defender instead is a team member who can protect the whole team with magical barriers to repel elemental spells and reduce damage received, the Medic... well that's the typical healer, and so on... play and experiment the best party setup, beause the various characters DO level up but classes can always be changed. Oh and I wrote "classes" because you can have two different classes for each characters, but they can use only the powers of the primary class, the secondary just gives a bonus to various characterstics (a Medic/Martial Artist can just use the medical abilities, for example, but will be a bit tougher I guess!).

After finishing the tutorial on the virtual space we'll be sent to the Esper IX and we'll have full control of the eight operators, but since the party is of four, half of the squad will be in reserve. Mind that only those who battle will learn experience in their class, so it's a good idea to switch party members once in a while so that everyone can become stronger (but remember that levels are linked to the classes, so it's a good idea to specialize each operator in some), and helpful in longer missions, since managing the resources during the missions is important to be successful (there is no way to rest or restock, nor you can save during a mission).

The characters have no weapons that can be equipped, since they are included into their profession (Marines uses a knife and firearms, Magi-knights their magical infused blades, Martial Artist their fists, etc) but each team member can equip several accessories, from gloves to cloaks, headgear and relics of various qualities (that provide simple boosts to the characteristics or bonuses like +5% damage and so on), moreover each one has some "standard issue equipment" like medikits, claws, whips and lesser spells that are inferior versions of the some class abilities (a medikit can heal, but not as well as the skill of a competent Medic!).


This Is My Boomstick! And BOOM, now you are history! That's the power of a Marine!

Now, on our hub-base, the Esper IX, you can do several things: first you can save (you cannot do during missions EXCEPT before facing a boss battle, no matter if it's a middle or final boss), then you can rename your characters, look at the map of the galaxy and choose your mission. There are normal missions, where you will use the squad of eight operatives, and personal missions where you will have to play as one singular particular operative. These are all useful to increase the characters' level in a particular class and earn reputation, the currency in this game (used for example to revive fallen party members after a mission).

Now, the missions are simple "dungeons" that can be set inside forests, cities, caves, enemy bases or inospitable planets, and there is a good variety of environments. Each mission has also different objective: the operatives will have to find a trio of dangerous criminals and defeat them, rescue hostages, defeat rebels, stop terrorists from detonating a bomb and so on. Some locations will provide different paths, others will instead include difficult terrain where we cannot run and we'll take damage, and there are also timed missions. In any case most of the time we'll just to explore and often (there are exceptions) face enemies in unavoidable random battles before reaching our objective. That's it, and the missions are also repeatable.
The game also includes some dogfights where we pilot the Esper, a shuttle, to take down enemies and even more reputation.

Now how is the game graphically? It's all RTPs but it's pretty decent for the most part, maps are often overly large but with some really narrow passages and an overall average look. It's not bad, but looks rather generic and the lack of story and interesting characters enforces this idea of... ok game that could have been a bit more interesting with a backstory connecting the various missions and a sort of theme. The aestetic and music are probably the weakest part of the game since the developer has a clearly good experience in game mechanics, concepts and design, but from what regards mapping and story Syma could have been more appealing (the battle background is almost always the same, and a generic one, just to mention one thing) and less repetitive and generic, not that I found bugs or errors!


Sly in his solo mission has to stop these terrorists before their bomb explodes. All by himself and with a time limit!

Final Verdict
Syma is a pretty interesting game for those who like challenges and games where you have to require strategy and resource management. Do not expect a captivating story or interesting characters, because where mechanically the game is good, in the end it's just a generic hub-based sci-fi series of missions. The mechanics are good and well implemented, you will have also the damage calculations for every single attack and a ton of classes to choose from, challenging missions and a bestiary, but that's it: no puzzles, no background, no meaningful interactions or characters... and that's a pity. For me of course (I'm not a fan of lack of saving options and random encounters you cannot avoid), this is a good game but only for a restrictive number of people, for most players it will be an ok game but not very engaging or appealing. Anyway, give it a try!

PS: I still do not know what Syma is!