Militibus Elementis Arc 1

Elementa Bellator is an anime-like game featuring some costum-made character arts which are fine to look at, also some very intriguing characters! the game for me needs so much polishing! but the way the author put so much effort in the idea and concept itself had me captured! The game was a fun-filled episodic adventure where you never know what's coming for you.. be it: Vengeance, Betrayal, Romance, Passion and more! I've enjoyed my playthrough with the game though I noticed alot of issues that needs to be addressed (Typos, rushed story-line and minor graphic bugs)! still, if you're up for new gaming adventures and experiences? then taking it in this fantasy world of Elementa Bellator will be a good addition to your cause! :)


INTRO/IMPRESSIONS:

Okay, all I can say is.. The author did a great job with the arts from the title screen to the characters and to the rest of the game. They were very creatively done and unique! :) But the first issue I noticed was some slight typos which was present at the beginning stages of the game, but I know that can easily be dealt with! Anyway, back to the introduction of the game: We were first introduced to 3 youngsters who came from a camping trip enjoying some ghost stories at night. from what I see, the game lets the player find out for him/herself as to "What's up" and that's a really unique and good approach in itself! Which made the game quite intruiging at it's early phase! So my first impression of the game was that it was visually appealing with it's costum arts and graphics!! the direct and straightforward approach to the main plot was also really good! btw, the mappings themselves aren't bad either! they immediately captured me, they really looked very fantasy-like and pretty! (though there were some that looked odd!)

MENU/SYSTEM:

The menu was a simple RMVXace stock menu which is easy to navigate and that's quite good! also, I really love how this game is able to pull off sidequests decently along with the mainquests involved! the arrow above side-quests are always very fresh to look at in RPG games!. The music was very decent and fitting too. I must say they all ended up well in their places. :)

CHARACTERS/STORY:

The story about elemental magic and crystals were really a very good nostalgic move! and it was deemed interesting as we get to know where these elemental powers are sealed into.. Firstly, the characters started off as quite mysterious to me as it would seem we still aren't properly shown how they interact with each other or the world in general at the early stages, so I think they should at least reveal some parts of their persona! xDD also.. a little girl's reward for finding her lost dog was 2000 gold, which was strange. But wow!! a rich-kid! xDD Anyway, so I can then see that the game goes into chapters, where each chapter holds their own story and quest to complete, I really like that!! it's like episodic and that's always a very amazing touch on any RPG game! The way Kaldenite (spoilers) had a desperation for revenge left quite an emotional touch, the way he even had to fight his friends for the sake of revenge was also quite touching! Again, I really like the episodic feel to the game, as I really think it would make such a decent anime (of course with polishing). The way we get slowly introduced to the characters both villains and heroes every chapter was also very clever! having the story dig deeper as the game progresses on... I like that.. the only tiny bit of concern I have with the story is the character development and how everything else looks rushed. I understand that the game already had the characters' personas set in stone, but there seems to be a lack of emphasis on the characters and how they actually interact with each other and the world (especially Nikki, it feels as though.. she's just there to be the 3rd character).. thus keeping their personalities and unique identities a mystery to the player.. I mean, don't get me wrong, putting mystery to you characters is always a good move.. but if it happens for too long in the game already, then that becomes something else.. I just wished there were more emphasis on getting to know the characters more! xD but beyond that, the game has alot of potentials in it's setting and story.. and I'm talking about the IDEAS themselves! it is very creative and I can see the author's great appreciation and eyes for art! :) Also.. the romance between Keldanite and Raven was really adorable, though I believe there's alot of room for polishing when it comes to the development of their relationship, but still, it was finely executed and has so much potential to be a very adorable video game love-team! xD

Now, remember when I said the game was straightforward in progressing it's plot? well, it surely is extremely straightforward! xDD it looks a bit rushed and in a hurry to progress the story-line.. but it can easily be saved by it's creative concept and ideas! :) then again.. I think there needs to be more time on allowing the players in getting to know more about the characters!! It's always good if we can see why many of the cast are currently the way they are.. :) though I appreciate that the author did give us some time to know more about Raven and Keldanite.. since most of the time, they were the only characters who had important interactions which are always touching or emotional ones and I really liked that! :)

BATTLE SYSTEM:

I just wanna say.. HIGH FIVE!! I always love it when enemy battles are touch-based (not random, though I have no problem with them).. cause to me, it is always amazing to have a choice! xD Now unto the battle system.. I must say that it is really quite a classic! it is simple, but fun and fast-paced! even the UI was really well-designed!! Always good to have such nostalgic feelings in games with a battle system like this! the difficulty was also quite a mix between balanced and God-mode. not too difficult, but have the tendencies to be too easy! xD it was decent nontheless!! And the overdrive system was a genius addition! :)

BUGS/ISSUES Found:

There seems to be a minor bug found with the characters' sprites in the map, you can see some unnecessary pixels on their upper-head parts.. might just be a sprite-sheet issue, that can easily be addressed! :) Also, I've already pointed out that there were some typos in the game, then again it can also be addressed easily. :) And I've said before that many maps were pretty like the towns and forests.. but I seem to find some cave-interior maps to be quite ODD.. but that's not too big of an issue. they just sometimes appear empty! xD

ADDITIONAL REMARKS:

Okay, to say it frankly.. the game needs alot of polishing, the story seems to be extremely rushed! BUT! to say truthfully too and to be fair, the game has so much potential and it is very creative! I must say, it was fun to uncover the mysteries and story of the game! and if the author can do much more polishing, then this will be a very good game! I just feel like.. the author is that kid in class who's very intelligent and has alot of creative ideas, but can somehow be lazy.. so the teacher always had to scold her for that.. telling her to step up her game and not put her creative mind to waste! xDD besides, the author seems very artistic and I know she has so much creative energies. The only thing now is learning how she can apply these wonderful ideas to physicality! She does well with it, but there's more room for improvement! :) So a personal message to the author (Rose_Guardian), congratulations and keep it up! never give up and continue to learn! I know and believe that you will one day, create a very well-polished and beautiful game out of your creative mind! :) So don't ever give up.. follow your heart and keep going! you have so much potentials and you're very creative! :)

So my score as you can see is 4.0... the +2 is for the creativity and effort put into it's concept and idea.. the +1 is for her costum-made artwork on the characters and scenes.. the +1 again is for her undying determination that I really appreciated! then the -1 is for the issues I found and how unpolished many parts of the game were. :)I hope my review helped somehow! and congratulations once again for the game's completion!