Iris

“Hey what da hell is this gheyass new layout? I prefer the old lwg before he went all weird” If that’s what you’re thinking, then sorry but my next few reviews are from the games of the RMVenture event. The layout reflects the way the judging worked, and although all these games are completed, I won’t be giving any of them a score at the end.



At it’s core Iris is a comedy game, and Yellow Magic has a good sense of humour, not dissimilar to my own and he shows his stuff with great comedic ability. I didn’t ever laugh out loud, there wasn’t a single line that stood out to me, but that doesn’t mean that it wasn’t well written, or funny to me. I wanted to keep playing so I could continue to enjoy the characters little interactions and to see what joke Yellow Magic comes up with next. He doesn’t disappoint and characters are instantly likable, especially Helen. Iris doesn’t just go the straight up comedy route though, and when an opportunity comes to take advantage of a little character development Yellow Magic grabs it. When I think about the writing in Iris, what I remember the most was not the comedy, but the more sweeter and real moments between the two towards the end. It’s remarkable that a game of this length could have character development, but I have to say, this game definitely does. Albeit just a little. While you like Helen and Alex at the beginning of the game, you’ll still like them at the end of the game, but for a different reason. You don’t necessarily get a resolution at the end, but you don’t feel cheated out of a full experience. The judgmental Helen and the naïve Alex are a good pairing for each other, they learn what they need to from one another, and move on. They were never going to be lovers, not even friends. I liked that about Iris, it doesn’t conform to your expectations.

I only ever had one problem with Iris, and it’s not with the writing itself, but the execution. At times, the character interrupt each others dialogue. Yellow Magic accomplishes this effect by having those text boxes close automatically; whether you’ve had a chance to read them or not. I found that annoying. Dialogue should go at the readers pace, everyone has a different speed at which they read and I can be pretty slow. You can still achieve the exact same effect keeping the textboxes closing when the player chooses. It’s a stylistic choice, I know not everyone will side with me, but I didn’t personally agree with it.

Would I award this game the Badge of Tales? Absolutely.




Iris has a very interesting battle system, but it’s arguably more substance over style though. Mana Fields effect every single battle, and the direction you’re facing when a fight begins dictates which Mana Field you’ll have. Every single Mana Field is unpleasant for the player, which works well, since if any were helpful to the player, it would be easily abusable with the touch encounters. The best thing about the battle system is how it doesn’t feel thrown on top of the default one already present. Skills are built around Mana Fields and they work in tandem to create battles that feel thoroughly unique. Enemies can even change the Mana Fields mid battle, and Alex has the power to temporality negate them.

However, I did feel slightly overwhelmed at first. Not just with the Mana Fields themselves, but also with Helen and Alex’s skills working different from each other, and also them both having all their skills from the get go. The Earth Mana Field could be a real pain if Alex is put out of action in some way preventing him from disabling the field. I don’t know how well it would have worked, but possibly dropping Earth Fields and going for a more rock-paper-scissors element type may have been worth looking into. Perhaps facing down would randomly select one of the other three elements for a little bit of unpredictability? It’s not a complex system at all, it’s easy to grasp but everything you have in the first battle is exactly what you have in the final battle. It doesn’t build up to itself and players don’t accept one bite size piece at a time. Battles here are more tactical than a standard fare. It’s not a swift brawl where you beat the enemy quickly, you have to think about what you’re doing and take advantage of the hand you’re dealt. Helen works best when you upgrade her elemental magic and Alex starts with zero MP that you have to build it up over his turns, so you can’t go beating on the enemy straight away. While I did enjoy the battles I have to say I probably avoided more than I fought for that reason. Iris is given it’s unique identity mostly from this battle system, but I almost feel like a longer more fleshed out game would have benefited more. Definitely don’t scrap the battle system, and look into it again for a future project.

Would I award this game the Badge of War? Without a doubt.




The general look of the game is fairly average. The RM community as a whole often expects mapping to be of a certain standard which has only gotten higher as time has gone on. A few years back Iris would have been considered quite a looker, so me saying it’s average doesn’t mean it’s a negative comment, but it’s not entirely up to scratch. It’s biggest problem being how square it looks, and some parts lack sufficient detail. I feel like Yellow Magic could have been a little more daring, and used a few more parts of the chipset he didn’t. Improving mapping skills is pretty easy, and Yellow Magic has been part of the RM community since at least 2008. There is nothing outright wrong or ugly about the maps, they all follow the fundamental rules, and that in itself wins some points from me. Mapping is subjectively the least important part of creating an RPG, but it’s easy to see why he didn’t obtain the badge of beauty.

In terms of functionality over looks, the maps fare a lot better. All of the chipsets are used correctly and I couldn’t find any tileset issues, though I wasn’t actively looking for them. The forest for example, is spacious enough so you can dodge any of the enemies you don’t wish to fight, without it looking too barren. Also, it allowed some enemies to have a set route that required you to time your movements to get through. I really liked that it mixed it up. The cave was a lot more cramped, but it was still possible to avoid encounters if you were patient. One feature I particularly liked, was being given the option to skip a switch puzzle in the caves. I imagine this made me lose out on treasure, but it’s a fair compromise and since it’s all optional, it’s a great addition.

Would I award this game the Badge of Beauty? I‘m on the fence with that one.




Atmosphere is an interesting subject. I know exactly what it is, but it’s not one describable thing, it’s everything big and small building on you and coming together. Any sort of inconsistency in any area has the potential to destroy atmosphere. While I certainly don’t think Iris is an inconsistent game, it doesn’t completely come together because I don’t think there was a deliberate effort to create a set mood. Every area was very much: “this is a forest, and now this is a cave” the maps served the purpose they needed to, and that was that.

Would I award this game the Badge of Senses? No I wouldn‘t.