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Not very good

Introduction

Chance Encounter is a short RPG made by Marrend about a prince who runs away because he doesn't like to be "paraded around".

It should take a maximum of 20 minutes to beat the game, and there's very little replay value here.

Graphics

There are only really two terrains here; a castle one and a snowy one. The character is in the snowy land for most of the game, and unfortunately it's uninteresting. It's just a lot of snow.

There are few obstacles or even just things places there. The only things are the wandering enemies. Every screen looks the same. Backgrounds are bland, and even the castle won't interest you very much.

Story

*spoilers*
I did not enjoy the story at all. Not only was it cliche and a bit strange, but it was also incomprehensible. I didn't even know who the characters were, as none of them are introduced before they either fight you or join you.

Right away you're thrown into a dialog. No introduction, nothing. Next thing you know, you're escaping into a snowy land with a guard chasing you. You take time to compliment a woman's snowman, and she happens to be a mage so she joins you.

Then you meet some random person in the snowy land and she gets mad at you and attacks you. With the help of the guard from earlier you beat her twice. Then you decide to go back to the castle. It turns out the woman was another princess or something. The end.

Gameplay/Balance

It's an RPG, so it's turn-based fighting. The characters have Technique and Magic, which are both castable abilities. Unfortunately though, the balance was very, very bad. My first battle was quite hard, and in just a few turns the enemy had my HP at yellow. Then, I won it and leveled up twice and the rest of the battles were ridiculously easy.

It's generally poor balance when you level up and your stats literally double. The level growth here is completely absurd. You also get lots and lots of abilities - more than you would ever use.

Several abilities are useless, and others are way too strong. For example, why would you ever use an ability to reduce the magic attack of an enemy for 3 turns when the boss (yes, there is only one) doesn't even use magic. Also, magic reduce down seemed bugged. The reduction en mass abilities were useless because why would you ever reduce their stats when you can one-shot them with your mage's fire spell?

Also it doesn't look like there are any save points throughout the game (Edit: I have been informed this is incorrect, save is through the menu. Sorry about that). There are no items. Not that items are even needed, as Guard heals MP and your mage heals HP.

Summary

This game seems like it was thrown together without much consideration. It is poorly balanced, has strange gameplay, and doesn't have good presentation. It's a 1.5/5 game.

Posts

Pages: 1
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21806
08/14/2014 11:56 AM
You didn't even like the duel? Did you even get to the duel? Man, that's, like, the best part of the game! Though, I guess I could have done more to point players to the fact that the snowmen were restoration points.

*shrugs*
NeverSilent
Got any Dexreth amulets?
6299
08/14/2014 01:43 PM
Coincidentally, I wrote a review for this game just a few days ago. And even though mine was fairly critical as well, I must say two things in defense of this game:
1. You have the option to save anywhere right from the menu, which of course makes fixed save points obsolete. No reason to give a "big thumbs down" for that.
2. Although the story is very simple, quite odd and probably a matter of taste, it is not entirely as pointless as you make it sound. If you pay some attention, the ending somewhat explains why the woman just joined you for seemingly no reason, and it also becomes clearer who the other characters are.

In general, I agree with this review. However, I think its tone is overly harsh and it is not as informative as it could have been. At least, that's my opinion.
EdgeOfChaos
1755
08/14/2014 11:53 PM
@Marrend, I finished the game. I liked the duel, but the texts didn't seem to match up with how she attacks as it does in games like Suikoden (where a famous dueling system is from). And, the duel lasted like 30 seconds for me (maybe because I'm good at those duels from other games).

@NeverSilent I see; thanks, I am going to edit my review.

The story just seemed like too many random things happening after each other. Plus, there was no real intro, no real character development, anything like that. These are some of the problems with having a very, very short RPG. In general RPGs need longer playtime to have a more thorough plot.

I could give some suggestions on how to improve if you guys want them, though.
Marrend
Guardian of the Description Thread
21806
08/15/2014 12:07 AM
I confess that some text for the duel was in there for the purpose of misleading players. Maybe it works, maybe it doesn't. Getting external playtesters would have probably made that part, amongst other things, better. That I had none probably hurt this game a lot. Then again, my track record on contest games is pretty crappy to begin with. I can't really point to a game made in the context of a contest, and say, "This was actually a good game." I may think that when I release it, but, I am quick to be proven otherwise.
EdgeOfChaos
1755
08/15/2014 02:46 AM
Oh, it certainly misleads the player, but there's no way to know whether the text is misleading or legitimate, so it comes down to random luck sometimes.
Pages: 1