The Way EP 1

*please dont stone me for stealing nvidia's slogan. lol. also I`d like to add that I plan to make this review a look at all 6 episodes rather than this one in particular. anyways, on with what you came here for:

Ah, The Way. This is one of the first RM games I ever played and I must say it is an excellent place to start. The game had me captivated from the very first episode and after the end of each one I remember racing to start up the next so I could continue the engrossing story.

Story: 5/5
Dark. Very... very dark.
The story to the way is compelling to say the VERY least. The first episode starts off a bit confusing but in a good way and takes the player for a nice ride as you watch the tragedy of the main character’s life unfold and find the, often, awful truths behind the characters and the world they live in.
The story, as I said, is very dark and has a lot of overtones relating to the modern world we live in as well as a lot of pointed fingers at religion and society. At least that was my take on it. There were very few times I ever felt the story “drug on” and when it did it wasn’t for an extended period of time. The only notable time I can recall is in episode 4 as the whole town sequence is a bit sluggish at times but later ended up with me staggering to find out what was going on in the mines (Trying not to give anything away for those who might not have played the game yet).
One of the most interesting, and albeit rewarding, things about The Way is the fact that it has something like 3 or 4 alternate endings that you can get depending on certain things that you have done in the earlier stages (or rather episodes) of the game. I have yet to see all of these endings but the ones that I have gotten so far have been outright amazing even the ones considered “bad” endings.
The Way leaves a lot open for the player to ponder and I think that was the main drive for the creator. Not everything, or more like most of everything, is explained in The Way. This is done tactfully, however, and gives the game an “I want more!” feel to it, leaving the player with questions about the characters and what The Way really is in the end. But again, in a good way.

Gameplay: 3.5/5
The gameplay is not necessarily this game’s shiny coin, at least I didn’t feel so. The battles in the game are classic, first person, turn based rpg style. This works for the game, however, as there are some customization thrown in there such as the need to generate the points used for skills and spells through attacking the enemies or with the use of a separate skill. There are also items in the game that start you out with more of the skill points at the beginning of battle.
At the beginning of the game as well as at each save point you are given the ability to turn off battles and minigames altogether. This will automatically kill monsters you come in contact with and solve most puzzles for you but in return wont allow you to get some of the better items or the “best” endings.
The game implements an interesting system called Notches. This system is a way to sort of customize your character by applying certain items to notches in your sword (hence the name). At the end of battle you gain points called LP and, when you accumulate enough, absorb the item inside the notch.
Aside from the decently simplistic main battle system there are the Plunge battles. These are one on one duels you can get into during certain events in the game and work as a sort of rock, paper, scissors fashion (thats really an over simplification of it but play the game and you’ll understand). Winning these duels will often earn you some fat look or change how the story will progress.
Minigames were interesting throughout most of the episodes with a few that were kinda bland (like the dancing game in episode 4 or the swiftfoot race in episode 1) but overall they kept my attention and were a welcomed time out from fighting.

Characters: 5/5

This is really were the game shines and really its hard to put the story and characters in a different category and in my opinion both are quite near perfect.
The characters are done very well and I constantly found myself wanting to learn and understand them as the episodes went on. Most of the sprites and face sets are edits from other RTP sprites and it makes the game feel custom made at times. There are some reused RTP characters throughout, most notably the stadium sequence, but there really wasn’t a way around it. My only true complaint is with the main character, Rhue, there were times when he made decisions and actions that felt like he was flip-flopping between a “light and dark” character a little bit. By that I mean he might at one point be willing to help someone full heartedly then later kill someone in cold blood (again a little bit over exaggerated, forgive me). This was easy to get over in light of everything else and he is still a very solid character. The other characters play their parts well and feel very real and believable, at times making you angry (like strata! I hate that guy!!), make you feel sad/depressed (Slade and Scatha) and pretty much everything else you can imagine.
Surprisingly character development, as far as explaining things like their past and motives, is not a huge drive in the episodes. The only characters whose entire life is revealed is Rhue which usually this would probably be a very bad thing but the creator makes it work very well and the fact that questions remain about the cast is a plus and has spawned a massive fan base and even a “The Way Theory Forum” on the game’s main web site.

Graphics 2.5/5

This one is tough to rate and the 2.5 is just a way of stay neutral for it. The game looks great don’t get me wrong, it features interesting 3D panorama that make the game feel like a classic computer game not just an RM game. Mapping is excellent and very simplistic. Things never seem thrown together or cluttered as most of the maps consist of going down the way or dungeon crawling making the maps smaller and easier on the eyes as opposed to huge maps with nothing in them (or huge maps with way too much in them).
One of the things I really liked about the game was the fact that the creator wasn’t at all afraid of a little, and sometimes a lot of, gore here and there. This often gave the whole “WTF?!?!” ambience to the game that so many games seem to be lacking anymore. Like the time in *spoiler alert!* episode 2 (I believe it is) when you’re doing your first plunge and you win and them wham! Gashed that dudes face like it was nobodies business! ...alright I’m done, moving on.

Sound 3/5
Great sound in this game. Some reused songs and such here and there but the major majority of it is custom tracks and thats always a plus. Music is used very effectively and keeps the mood strong. I don’t know if anyone else has this problem but at times I had my sound screw up and everything got distorted and sounded awful but shutting down the game and opening it back up would fix the problem. Not sure if that would be called a glitch or what but I figured it was worth mentioning.

Overall 4/5

This game is legendary in my book and finds its way into my “games I’ve played lately” list almost yearly. I’ve gotten so many people into this game since I found it so long ago and it’s always concise that it’s an amazing game that is compelling, fun, innovative, inspirational and confusing in all the right ways.

Thanks for readin’

-Phay