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YANTH - Remember it.

  • Lustermx
  • 05/17/2013 04:04 PM
  • 1609 views
This review is for the RSW Version of You are not the Hero!
I'm not really much of a writer, but I feel this might be the only way to express my utter joy on this game. Having said that, I'll try to be as least biased as possible.
Also, when I say NPC, I don't literally mean non-playable character, I mean to say the typically viewed random person walking around who always says the same thing each time you talk to them.

You are not the Hero is an action puzzle game made by Seita. In it, you play as the loveable Petula who is stuck having to chase down a group of said to be 'heroes' who steal her pendant. But what can you do? You're only an NPC and after all you did leave it in a chest; that means they have every right to take it! Right, right? Am I right? They're the heroes, not you!

Characters
Petula is the player/NPC in the game. She is awesome and does what no NPC can do! She has a huge impact on flavoring the game with humor and fun with her witty comments.

See what I mean?

Other characters which add dashes of fun are the so called Heroes: Cecilia, Leon and Panda. They build up the topping of the pie by arrogantly abusing their hero powers by shoving the NPCs at a lower level than them. (Seriously, NPC discrimination, much?).
Anyhoo, these characters are a necessity in building up on the idea of having the game fixated on the eyes of an NPC.
Another character is Akika, Petula's cousin who agrees to chase down the 'heroes' to retrieve the pendant back. Her significance in the plot is not so much during the first 2 chapters as you don't really get to see her much, but I'm sure in future, she has the potential to emit yet even more humor!

Story
The story isn't much of a big one but it does seem to achieve its goals of being simple, yet enjoyable. The Royal Army come to destroy and cause havoc for everyone in the village, ready to handcuff anyone in their line of sight. Only a hero someone can save the people right?
Petula is caught having to save everyone again and again, each in different humorous and unimaginable ways with also the goal of retrieving her pendant back.
Although the story isn't expansive in the first 2 chapters, it does get you wondering of what's to come. Why are the Royal Army doing this? What are the heroes' goals? It's these small details that get you excited and want to know more!

Gameplay
NOW THIS IS WHERE THE GAME IS AT.
I can't flaw the game much at this point. The demonstration of gameplay mechanics displayed shows that Seita is a true RPG Maker veteran.
In each chapter you get a challenge handed down to you each rewarding you up to 5 stars. You will want to achieve perfection as the records are stored at 'The Library'. The stars are definitely a neat mechanic as they enforce replayability while simultaneously making the game challenging.

The Library

In Chapter 1, you are taught the basic game controls where you climb a tower to ring the bell. Seita perfects this by integrating the very simple control system in a very fun way. For example, you will have the ability to jump over gaps while having an old man yell at you from below (I bet you won't get that anywhere else). The jumping system also opens to a lot of puzzle and action ideas as later seen in Chapter 2.
The combination of intense action and tension drives the game forward when you have to save everyone in the village. It really does throw you into the deep end at such an early point, but that's forgivable because it's executed extremely well.
From escaping guards, to surviving, to saving everyone else's butts. It's all mash potatoed together really well. You'll notice that each little detail is boosted to perfection causing the atmosphere to build up at such an intense rate. I really liked the neat idea of being caught by guards and then having to mash the left and right arrow keys to escape - It's proof that Seita is such a master at eventing and with these eventing skills, you never know what could potentially strike you next for new puzzles!
Perhaps, this beauty?

NPCs can die too...

You may be mislead to think that the whole game goes it such a fast rate, but this is not completely the case. In chapter 2, things calm down a bit, but new areas for fun sprout up. You will gain access to a beautifully designed cave to explore while having to use your brain to figure out excellently made puzzles.

A few things I didn't like were the Health and Mana system. The game claims to not have a battle system, but just HP and MP being blotched at the bottom left hand of the screen can be a bit misleading. Mana can give a sense that there is magic and spells involved (although I haven't seen any of this in Chapter 1 or 2) and Health could suggest that there is possibly monsters to fight? I, personally don't like the implementation of Health and Mana with a non-battle system game, but perhaps if Chapter 3 makes better use of them, I'd care for them more.
(At one point, this game did not have Health and Mana and I thought that it was better then).

Conclusion
I loved the demo for this game a lot.
I completed it right away and at the end (where chapter 2 was cut off) I could only yell 'Noooooooooooo! I want more!', because that's certainly what each step of the game does to you. You will want more. The characters are very interesting and the mapping is also awesome. (I think I'm running out of positive words).
When I say mapping is awesome, it's not just in the sense that it's 'Ooo, pretty', it's actually designed so well - For example, the cave system is split into many routes which not only fits inside the story (one person mentions the cave has many entrances from the village), but it also avoids the effect of being too linear.
In future, the acronym YANTH will become very familiar to you. This game will get far - It's by far better than a lot of commercial games I've seen and easily better than most RPG maker games.
Please don't confuse this with one of those generic RPG maker games, because please; this one stands out in every level possible.
Remember, You are not the Hero!

Posts

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While I have to say this is a well-written review, and you did a good job of being unbiased, and this is just my opinion, but wouldn't it make more sense for the game to be completed before posting a review of it?

Also, for the sake not spoiling what's happened in the game so far, you should take that out. You gave away a whole lot.
Okay, I will when I have time.
It's my first review and probably last haha.
Lovely review, I was hoping someone would review the demo and I'm pleasantly surprised! Really hope more pop up!

Would you say that exploring more of the worlds storyline would be a welcome addition to future chapters?

As for the health and mana, I literally beat myself up about whether to implement it or not for weeks. On one hand, it would detract from the fact that the player isn't actually a player. On the other, it would leave out a whole system that really defines the RPG Genre. I knew that it would take away a little bit from the game, but adding that extra depth will give me much more wiggle room with implementing other mechanics to the game that would otherwise feel shallow. I thought about leaving mana out, but I have some ideas that will implement it fairly well.
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