Phantom Legacy (Redux)

Game that takes me back...

This isn't a review in a traditional sense. I think scores and putting value in things like music are kinda stupid for rm games because a lot of stuff is ripped. I want to instead share my experience with the game by just someone who wants to jive about the game without knit picking the flaws, because stuff isn't perfect, never will be. This is going to be all over the place. I had such a positive experience with the game I felt like I needed to talk about it and share it with other people.

Meet unique characters during your adventure.

When I play this series, it takes me back to how rm games used to have a certain level of standard. I think this was at the "peak" of RM2k3. We'd joke about stuff like Misao's and the Three Tile Rule, but it was just a bunch of dudes and babes who sort of followed this philosophy of having very compact and unique mapping, certain level of visual presentation, etc. That was sort of the goal that most people had at that time. We had stuff like Balmung, Naufragar, Philosophers Stone, which set a certain standard.

I don't play many RM games anymore because it sort of flows into the same stuff over and over. It's cool for new people because it's a good tool to let people be creative and have fun. But when developers have that kind of mindset, it puts off people like me because there isn't much to engage me.

I am not sure how I feel about games that take animations seriously...

How this game makes me feel.

When I played Phantom Legacy, and even Demon Legacy I always had this vibe that it was somehow set in this really dark and gothic universe. Something like Vampire Hunter D or Castlevania or maybe Legacy of Kain(if you haven't played any of these games ur a noob). Overall the game stayed pretty dark visually. I really liked this because the tone of the game is consistent.

Malakai is a weird dude!
I don't think it's easy to set a certain tone with the limited resources you have available to you. I think he did it really well. I like pixel work and traditional games in that sense where the game is right in front of you, but at the same time you use your imagination to kind of push the game along. That's why I'm not a fan of like, voice acting in pixel games because it's doing the job that your mind is suppose to be doing.

When you play Phantom Legacy, especially if you're a designer you'll notice a lot of edits and animation spread across the game. By doing this the game is really enhanced. When you see careful choices in chipsets, character animations you naturally feel the value of the work being put into the game. When I see a character run, jump, climb, with specific animations you appreciate it a lot more because now you can just insert a script and it'll do a lot of junk for you.

This game isn't as expansive or as long as Demon Legacy.

If you played DL it felt really epic and it was pretty long. To me, PL felt more along the lines of an expansion pack or some kind of DLC that's added to the universe of the legacy series. I personally find it a lot more refreshing that it's a shorter game, because the one before was so long, I prefer the shorter more detailed direction.

Shorter games are cool because it's providing a compact experience within a certain timeframe. When a game is too long, it'll sort of drag and by the time you finish 60+ hour RM game you don't have much to reflect on. Everything stays pretty fresh until the end.

It is so weird how this game understands the value of backdrop spacing/selection and enemies that compliment it. Call FBI/Science LORD.

Characters are cool.

I really liked the characters. 99% of the time I don't like main characters, but I felt Nero was alright. You can relate a little in some situations he's in and that's really good writing by having events that people can understand. Generally it's hard for me to get into RM characters because of one major flaw, which to me is the ability to have a character react visually to situations. Animations are a really f powerful tool that few people seem to care for.


Lilith for superbabe 2008.
I like games that are heavy in reading while at the same time can be visually stimulating. I think good characters are half writing and half of it is the characters telling you more about themselves just by how they react with animations.

I like Lilith because she is very fast to react to situations, she draws her sword, she uses her weapon to progress through different situations, cutting doors, moving
boulders, etc. It's cool because the animations are telling the story too along with the text. Lilith is a babe.

When I play a game you can have thousands of hours of text and I'll still be engaged if the character is sweating, leaning on a table, slamming their hand on a desk. And I don't see that stuff anymore. I see charset jumping and moving in 4 directions and that is suppose to grab people ????

When you travel through a dungeon in Phantom Legacy you're really rewarded by very dynamic and visually appealing cutscenes. That's what keeps me playing. If I go through here I'll get to see x event. Those are the rewards I like, not X WEAPON that improves my dad skills by 4.

I wish more games would be like this or have that kind of mindset. On the other hand I don't, because then games like Phantom Legacy wouldn't stick out. I really feel like not many games are made like this anymore. What's neat is while I was playing some situations in the game made me think, I was legit bummed during a couple scenes and to have a game get that sort of reaction from my perspective is like, priceless.

I think the creator did a lot of things right and I'm very happy that I finished it. It felt very rewarding and at the end I felt good, it's that vibe you get after reading a really good book. Idk if you can consider it glow/hype. To me he did a great job with the resources that he had. I can see the work he's put into the game and that really improves the experience for me as a player.

The guy who can learn a total of like 5 skills from enemies...
All I can say is thank you, dude. Thanks for being creative and providing something that someone can have a blast with. One guy can do what multi billion game company can't accomplish.

So, download it and play it and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.