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Time to Nitpick
Novalux- 08/13/2014 04:54 AM
- 1739 views
Good for gameplay, loot.
Less so for story, characters.
Gameplay:
Minor spoiler: the world's gonna end. You only have so many days to save the world, so naturally the game plays out on a day by day basis. Wake up in the morning, go clear a dungeon, come back in the evening, rinse and repeat. This time system allows for some interesting choice-based gameplay; you can choose one town upgrade and have one conversation each night, dungeons won't restock with baddies for 3 days, you must guess how much food to buy because it spoils after a day, etc. You are reminded that there's not enough days to talk to everyone, and not enough skill points to learn every skill; you have to choose what is important and what to go without, which adds to replay-ability as well. Once you're past a certain base level, characters will stop learning skills on their own and you can instead buy skills and skill upgrades with SP, which doesn't come by very often. You'll have a decent variety of skills by that time, enough to get you through the game's well-crafted dungeons.
Each dungeon (of the three I've played) has its own distinct theme, and while they've all been done before the minimap design is simple and intuitive. There are generally 8-20 rooms in a dungeon, each fairly open and containing just a few on map enemies which are easy to avoid. Each room's function is clearly designed: treasure, puzzle, challenge, key warden, and boss. Defeat the key warden, get the key, and open the door. But now you have the option to leave the dungeon with whatever loot you've collected intact, or face the boss for more loot, exp, and the next level dungeon. Sort of like a double or nothing deal, another instance of player decisions. Even if the decisions don't have far-reaching, dire consequences, they are still there for you to decide.
Loot is randomized according to rank, with the occasional game-changing special effect added on higher tiered item. I got a staff with a 56% chance of casting pray, a heal spell, on a successful hit. On certain occasions it was actually best for me to attack the enemy so I didn't waste mp or charges healing, completely changing my strategy for the character. There are also other effects beyond normal stat changes such as evasion, fury cost, spirit regen, etc. When you find loot in chests, you get a letter rank rather than immediate equipment, and you must complete a dungeon to receive all of it at once. This system feels much more satisfying then examining a trickling brook of items and reorganizing your inventory as you move along- it's a clear marker of progress, and you have time afterword to gear up, sell items, etc.
Exploring the map, you will encounter enemies which are free to fight along with dungeons. There are other minor "tasks" to do on the world map, but all they amount to are simple stat buffs and a short cutscene. If you were to take those tasks and replace each with a simple minigame (even a "guess which cup" style game would suffice) that increased or decreased a buff/reward on your performance, they could be easily salvaged.
Battle:
Each character has their own unique gimmick that affects the way they play, along with unique skill sets to compliment it. One uses HP to cast spells, while another regains TP based on how much they have left at the end of the turn. Every character also uses MP to cast (most) skills, and while the cost doesn't seem like much it adds up quick if you spam skills, especially higher level skills.
Food items aren't usable in battle. In my opinion this makes for better combat, spamming potions on a gym trainer always felt like cheating and was ultimately unsatisfying. However, this means that if a party member goes down, especially if it's your healer (with revive), you're outta luck. And this has happened to me multiple times during my playthrough, where an enemy attack will one-hit KO my character (three in a row vs. Minotaur from full health and level 8) or I will have just used my charges scrambling to heal one near-death character, only for my healer to be near death and die the next turn.
For more on the battle system, you should probably just play the game. Nothing's terribly broken, and I believe the weakness dmg. bonus was pegged at 3x, though at times it can seem higher and makes the difference between life and death during boss battles. It plays more or less like a standard rpg with a wide range of skills. Not sure what else I can say except that its an ATB.
Story:
The storyline so far is heavy-handed. Intro, was great, but nothing beyond has lived up to it. There's a recurring motif about rumors, even in social chats, which could implicate something larger, but beyond that it's a standard tale of saving the world. Now that I think of it, there wasn't very much dialogue to speak of.
Within the five day's worth I've played, the game relied too often on one detail to make a character. He's drunk, she's quiet, he's uninspiring, she's got a history, she's short-tempered, she's perky. Especially the drinking/puking (puking's kinda gross to keep bringing up casually) though, we get it. Some of the character directions are genuinely confusing and I found myself loosing a grasp of who the character is.
Ari was someone who all but lost her mind chasing after the innkeeper, but drops her grudge with the party and somehow becomes the "itchy trigger finger" stereotype. A jarring contrast from the person who screamed "nothing is wrong!", and "You haven't saved me." I thought that character was pretty interesting.
Damian remarks how he wants to "bathe himself in god's light." I would've never expected a priest to say something like that! He can be a drunk, loose guy and a priest as well, just not without the two interacting.
More dialogue with the characters would help, especially if you're trying to build them up with social interactions. Doesn't have to be a big character reveal, I would just like to choose a topic and hear a few lines on what they think about it. There isn't much in the way of character relations, except a vague line about Damian and Leona.
So that's it for my review. No score, since it's a demo, even though its longer than some games.
The following is my personal rant\ideas for creator. You really shouldn't read it. Unless you're this game's maker.
Characters shouldn't always be in the same place when you go to chat. Part of the fun comes from exploring the town and finding out where they are, what they're doing, and why.
Why is the PC silent on most occasions, but dialogue choices have him talking normal, even bombastic ("Damian, you can't have all of them!")? If you have to, let player choose from preset after-battle victory phrases using a conditional branch, just so he'll say something. If your going to let the player be the main character, you have to eliminate all remnants of a separate main character... character. He mustn't have any identity apart from that which the player crafts and the default character history.
If you choose one dialogue choice, it gives unique dialogue and then branches back, but sometimes the main tree gets disconnected from the branch. (Damian lv.2: "I'm sorry about your loss -> "I pray to be safe from this disease" What disease?)
Manor boss drags on for too long, partially because of attack down buffs for 99 turns, with no way to fix unless you have Leona. In general, your hits vs. most enemies feel weak, unless you have their weakness, then they feel OP.
Choice recognition, consequences. Too often the game won't reference a decision you made earlier on, or characters wont talk about things that just happened, minor though they may be. Like with the pink shoes at the blacksmith, she never brings it up (though it makes sense that Leona wouldn't). And I'm assuming Leona has no comment back at the manor on me getting stone drunk with Damian, though it's impossible to find out. Choices in dialogue don't seem to carry out more than one line either., it begins to feel as if if doesn't matter which one you choose, the responses are near similar.
Tremors at night are never adequately explained (though this could be a good thing, better to keep it to one line of text than overdo it), neither is magick and how items are made up of it. If you need a gimmick for disassembling items, use parts or something that makes sense in game world. Worst of all though, the librarian never has anything interesting for me to read. Seriously, why the hell do I keep that guy around? He's just there to nag on Leona and pretend there aren't two bookcases full of stuff in front of him. Could learn a thing or two about this empire I'm supposed to be running.
Leona's cutscene vs. bandits- She strikes me as the type of person who's likely to keep her cool (despite her skills using 'rage'), and it's all but a requirement for being the king's bodyguard. As in she wouldn't try to backtalk a bandit, wouldn't give him the satisfaction, but be more direct in killing him, like how she opened the confrontation:
"I didn't ask for your permission, wench"
"Get on with it"
Also some cliche lines I could've ripped from an episode of Bleach, including:
"You'll have to go through me first!"
"Violence isn't always the best option" (just the wording)
"You didn't die at the first strike. Impressive"
"Bitch?" (shorthand for "Excuse me? You did not just say what I thought you said.")
"So you've chosen to show your true colors?"
"The legendary claymore wielder: Leona Crawford!" ("the legendary ___ wielder: ___ ___!")
"Pleased to make your acquaintance" (this one isn't so jarring)
"Done already? That's too bad."
"So that's why they call you "
"Please clean up this mess." (referring to dead person as a mess or stain as attempt at coolness. Just "Damian." shows that's it's happened before, could even have him attempt to refuse because who wants to mess with a mutilated corpse? Not damian!)
Ugggh. The scene was actually put together alright, it's just that hearing the same lines I'd heard so many times before gives a negative impression. It's almost like she's a different character once the battle begins. Of course that's perfectly valid, but if so, you have to make it clear that was your intention. Something along the lines of "It's been too long", Damian cautioning Leona before she kills bandit, Leona clearly inflicting excessive cruelty. The bandit comes off as bipolar, from "s-shut up > I'll make you my bitch!" If he's saying this because the tides are against him and he's panicking (which I assume he is) it should be shown as well (even a sweat bubble), cause now it just comes off as crass.
If you're sticking with the lines, use "I'll be your reaper" (vs. death). In general, more specific vocab changes like "hiding places" > rat holes for each character, applies beyond this scene. The head rolling and blood in both scenes was a bit excessive, but that would be the style you're going for, as evidenced from the blood magic 'incident'. I did like how the cutscene was automatic, it flowed at a perfect pace for reading and was a nice break from mashing my thumbs on z. In the future, if a cutscene doesn't require getting down every word, I'd like to see more of the same.
There were a few moments where the story peaked my interest, only to disappoint me moments later. They were:
Appraisal shop intro- The lights on intro suprised me, it's a care that you don't find normally for shopkeepers, and the shop itself has a unique look. She has an edge, an air of mystery and mischeif. Unfortunately she breaks character right afterwards- "you want to salvage components? You've come to the right place" with the demeanor of the generic storekeeper. Same thing goes for the blacksmith and bakery (pink shoes was a nice touch, suprising your player)
Add some character specific speech (maybe even back and forth once) and update it based on circumstances in the world, one message per day. Could also add a chat option to get a sense of how the town takes your actions, would help with making your choices seem memorable. At least have them comment when you upgrade their shop. Maybe a new intro with color lighting, something small. It's what made the maze guy from Emerald so memorable.
Balder scene- After the battle, Baldur mixes things up by claiming that Damian is dishonest for not telling the truth to anyone in town. While I ultimately agree with Marya, this is where the principle of "show, don't tell" comes into play. Text swims up, "Could he be right?"- to which I say "Hey, that's what I'm supposed to be thinking!" An acknowlegement of what the player should be grappling with is helpful, but the whole conflict gets wrapped up in a bow without my say-so.
What will destroy our word?-
"The God of Space and Time. The answer is Deimos."
Me: Oh. Alright, I guess. But are you sure it couldn't be ? "No."
Me: Damn. (unless there really is no Deimos)
Social chats- Alma: "Now what?" Okay, she knows nothing about conversation, it's and odd outsider thing that she doesn't do, maybe a little embarrassed, scene could have more pauses, sweat bubbles, messed up opener "How do you do?" to show its awkward, but so far so good. Lines like "very powerful, very hard" don't mean anything to me. I want to know how powerful, what power, what goes on, and then judge for myself, though I suppose you cant stop people from adding in their opinion. I'm guessing that Alma also wouldn't think of her life as hard if it's all she knew since she grew up, rather she would think of it as normal and other's lives as strange, and struggle to come to terms. Still, I can't help but imagine what it must be like night after night, and when it says there's tears in her eyes, I believe her. And then the last line "Those tears say more than she ever could." Just, no. Remove it. Now. As Sviel said, it doesn't add anything, and worse it seems like a bad pun on her hardly speaking.
On meeting Manor boss, learning that he did all of this to stop Deimos- It could've been a real and ominous glimpse into their own quest and the mad desperation of the final days before the world ends, what happens if you are so focused on the ends that you forget the means, depicting an honest man gone mad trying to get the power needed to save the world. It brought moral questions to mind, such as "at what point is it too much?" and "Could his options be justified if it meant this same thing wouldn't happen to everyone else in 30 days?" Then Leona more or less brushes it off as the man's cowardice in the face of fear. Which it could just as well (even more likely) be, but that requires its own explanation (from he was a coward-> people, as a whole, are feeble/frail).
And after reading through all that, at least you know there's enough going right to waste another 5 hours writing a review for a demo.
Less so for story, characters.
Gameplay:
Minor spoiler: the world's gonna end. You only have so many days to save the world, so naturally the game plays out on a day by day basis. Wake up in the morning, go clear a dungeon, come back in the evening, rinse and repeat. This time system allows for some interesting choice-based gameplay; you can choose one town upgrade and have one conversation each night, dungeons won't restock with baddies for 3 days, you must guess how much food to buy because it spoils after a day, etc. You are reminded that there's not enough days to talk to everyone, and not enough skill points to learn every skill; you have to choose what is important and what to go without, which adds to replay-ability as well. Once you're past a certain base level, characters will stop learning skills on their own and you can instead buy skills and skill upgrades with SP, which doesn't come by very often. You'll have a decent variety of skills by that time, enough to get you through the game's well-crafted dungeons.
Each dungeon (of the three I've played) has its own distinct theme, and while they've all been done before the minimap design is simple and intuitive. There are generally 8-20 rooms in a dungeon, each fairly open and containing just a few on map enemies which are easy to avoid. Each room's function is clearly designed: treasure, puzzle, challenge, key warden, and boss. Defeat the key warden, get the key, and open the door. But now you have the option to leave the dungeon with whatever loot you've collected intact, or face the boss for more loot, exp, and the next level dungeon. Sort of like a double or nothing deal, another instance of player decisions. Even if the decisions don't have far-reaching, dire consequences, they are still there for you to decide.
Loot is randomized according to rank, with the occasional game-changing special effect added on higher tiered item. I got a staff with a 56% chance of casting pray, a heal spell, on a successful hit. On certain occasions it was actually best for me to attack the enemy so I didn't waste mp or charges healing, completely changing my strategy for the character. There are also other effects beyond normal stat changes such as evasion, fury cost, spirit regen, etc. When you find loot in chests, you get a letter rank rather than immediate equipment, and you must complete a dungeon to receive all of it at once. This system feels much more satisfying then examining a trickling brook of items and reorganizing your inventory as you move along- it's a clear marker of progress, and you have time afterword to gear up, sell items, etc.
Exploring the map, you will encounter enemies which are free to fight along with dungeons. There are other minor "tasks" to do on the world map, but all they amount to are simple stat buffs and a short cutscene. If you were to take those tasks and replace each with a simple minigame (even a "guess which cup" style game would suffice) that increased or decreased a buff/reward on your performance, they could be easily salvaged.
Battle:
Each character has their own unique gimmick that affects the way they play, along with unique skill sets to compliment it. One uses HP to cast spells, while another regains TP based on how much they have left at the end of the turn. Every character also uses MP to cast (most) skills, and while the cost doesn't seem like much it adds up quick if you spam skills, especially higher level skills.
Food items aren't usable in battle. In my opinion this makes for better combat, spamming potions on a gym trainer always felt like cheating and was ultimately unsatisfying. However, this means that if a party member goes down, especially if it's your healer (with revive), you're outta luck. And this has happened to me multiple times during my playthrough, where an enemy attack will one-hit KO my character (three in a row vs. Minotaur from full health and level 8) or I will have just used my charges scrambling to heal one near-death character, only for my healer to be near death and die the next turn.
Action charge is a must.
For more on the battle system, you should probably just play the game. Nothing's terribly broken, and I believe the weakness dmg. bonus was pegged at 3x, though at times it can seem higher and makes the difference between life and death during boss battles. It plays more or less like a standard rpg with a wide range of skills. Not sure what else I can say except that its an ATB.
Story:
The storyline so far is heavy-handed. Intro, was great, but nothing beyond has lived up to it. There's a recurring motif about rumors, even in social chats, which could implicate something larger, but beyond that it's a standard tale of saving the world. Now that I think of it, there wasn't very much dialogue to speak of.
Within the five day's worth I've played, the game relied too often on one detail to make a character. He's drunk, she's quiet, he's uninspiring, she's got a history, she's short-tempered, she's perky. Especially the drinking/puking (puking's kinda gross to keep bringing up casually) though, we get it. Some of the character directions are genuinely confusing and I found myself loosing a grasp of who the character is.
Ari was someone who all but lost her mind chasing after the innkeeper, but drops her grudge with the party and somehow becomes the "itchy trigger finger" stereotype. A jarring contrast from the person who screamed "nothing is wrong!", and "You haven't saved me." I thought that character was pretty interesting.
Damian remarks how he wants to "bathe himself in god's light." I would've never expected a priest to say something like that! He can be a drunk, loose guy and a priest as well, just not without the two interacting.
More dialogue with the characters would help, especially if you're trying to build them up with social interactions. Doesn't have to be a big character reveal, I would just like to choose a topic and hear a few lines on what they think about it. There isn't much in the way of character relations, except a vague line about Damian and Leona.
So that's it for my review. No score, since it's a demo, even though its longer than some games.
The following is my personal rant\ideas for creator. You really shouldn't read it. Unless you're this game's maker.
Characters shouldn't always be in the same place when you go to chat. Part of the fun comes from exploring the town and finding out where they are, what they're doing, and why.
Why is the PC silent on most occasions, but dialogue choices have him talking normal, even bombastic ("Damian, you can't have all of them!")? If you have to, let player choose from preset after-battle victory phrases using a conditional branch, just so he'll say something. If your going to let the player be the main character, you have to eliminate all remnants of a separate main character... character. He mustn't have any identity apart from that which the player crafts and the default character history.
If you choose one dialogue choice, it gives unique dialogue and then branches back, but sometimes the main tree gets disconnected from the branch. (Damian lv.2: "I'm sorry about your loss -> "I pray to be safe from this disease" What disease?)
Manor boss drags on for too long, partially because of attack down buffs for 99 turns, with no way to fix unless you have Leona. In general, your hits vs. most enemies feel weak, unless you have their weakness, then they feel OP.
Choice recognition, consequences. Too often the game won't reference a decision you made earlier on, or characters wont talk about things that just happened, minor though they may be. Like with the pink shoes at the blacksmith, she never brings it up (though it makes sense that Leona wouldn't). And I'm assuming Leona has no comment back at the manor on me getting stone drunk with Damian, though it's impossible to find out. Choices in dialogue don't seem to carry out more than one line either., it begins to feel as if if doesn't matter which one you choose, the responses are near similar.
Tremors at night are never adequately explained (though this could be a good thing, better to keep it to one line of text than overdo it), neither is magick and how items are made up of it. If you need a gimmick for disassembling items, use parts or something that makes sense in game world. Worst of all though, the librarian never has anything interesting for me to read. Seriously, why the hell do I keep that guy around? He's just there to nag on Leona and pretend there aren't two bookcases full of stuff in front of him. Could learn a thing or two about this empire I'm supposed to be running.
Leona's cutscene vs. bandits- She strikes me as the type of person who's likely to keep her cool (despite her skills using 'rage'), and it's all but a requirement for being the king's bodyguard. As in she wouldn't try to backtalk a bandit, wouldn't give him the satisfaction, but be more direct in killing him, like how she opened the confrontation:
"I didn't ask for your permission, wench"
"Get on with it"
Also some cliche lines I could've ripped from an episode of Bleach, including:
"You'll have to go through me first!"
"Violence isn't always the best option" (just the wording)
"You didn't die at the first strike. Impressive"
"Bitch?" (shorthand for "Excuse me? You did not just say what I thought you said.")
"So you've chosen to show your true colors?"
"The legendary claymore wielder: Leona Crawford!" ("the legendary ___ wielder: ___ ___!")
"Pleased to make your acquaintance" (this one isn't so jarring)
"Done already? That's too bad."
"So that's why they call you "
"Please clean up this mess." (referring to dead person as a mess or stain as attempt at coolness. Just "Damian." shows that's it's happened before, could even have him attempt to refuse because who wants to mess with a mutilated corpse? Not damian!)
Ugggh. The scene was actually put together alright, it's just that hearing the same lines I'd heard so many times before gives a negative impression. It's almost like she's a different character once the battle begins. Of course that's perfectly valid, but if so, you have to make it clear that was your intention. Something along the lines of "It's been too long", Damian cautioning Leona before she kills bandit, Leona clearly inflicting excessive cruelty. The bandit comes off as bipolar, from "s-shut up > I'll make you my bitch!" If he's saying this because the tides are against him and he's panicking (which I assume he is) it should be shown as well (even a sweat bubble), cause now it just comes off as crass.
If you're sticking with the lines, use "I'll be your reaper" (vs. death). In general, more specific vocab changes like "hiding places" > rat holes for each character, applies beyond this scene. The head rolling and blood in both scenes was a bit excessive, but that would be the style you're going for, as evidenced from the blood magic 'incident'. I did like how the cutscene was automatic, it flowed at a perfect pace for reading and was a nice break from mashing my thumbs on z. In the future, if a cutscene doesn't require getting down every word, I'd like to see more of the same.
There were a few moments where the story peaked my interest, only to disappoint me moments later. They were:
Appraisal shop intro- The lights on intro suprised me, it's a care that you don't find normally for shopkeepers, and the shop itself has a unique look. She has an edge, an air of mystery and mischeif. Unfortunately she breaks character right afterwards- "you want to salvage components? You've come to the right place" with the demeanor of the generic storekeeper. Same thing goes for the blacksmith and bakery (pink shoes was a nice touch, suprising your player)
Add some character specific speech (maybe even back and forth once) and update it based on circumstances in the world, one message per day. Could also add a chat option to get a sense of how the town takes your actions, would help with making your choices seem memorable. At least have them comment when you upgrade their shop. Maybe a new intro with color lighting, something small. It's what made the maze guy from Emerald so memorable.
Balder scene- After the battle, Baldur mixes things up by claiming that Damian is dishonest for not telling the truth to anyone in town. While I ultimately agree with Marya, this is where the principle of "show, don't tell" comes into play. Text swims up, "Could he be right?"- to which I say "Hey, that's what I'm supposed to be thinking!" An acknowlegement of what the player should be grappling with is helpful, but the whole conflict gets wrapped up in a bow without my say-so.
What will destroy our word?-
"The God of Space and Time. The answer is Deimos."
Me: Oh. Alright, I guess. But are you sure it couldn't be ? "No."
Me: Damn. (unless there really is no Deimos)
Social chats- Alma: "Now what?" Okay, she knows nothing about conversation, it's and odd outsider thing that she doesn't do, maybe a little embarrassed, scene could have more pauses, sweat bubbles, messed up opener "How do you do?" to show its awkward, but so far so good. Lines like "very powerful, very hard" don't mean anything to me. I want to know how powerful, what power, what goes on, and then judge for myself, though I suppose you cant stop people from adding in their opinion. I'm guessing that Alma also wouldn't think of her life as hard if it's all she knew since she grew up, rather she would think of it as normal and other's lives as strange, and struggle to come to terms. Still, I can't help but imagine what it must be like night after night, and when it says there's tears in her eyes, I believe her. And then the last line "Those tears say more than she ever could." Just, no. Remove it. Now. As Sviel said, it doesn't add anything, and worse it seems like a bad pun on her hardly speaking.
On meeting Manor boss, learning that he did all of this to stop Deimos- It could've been a real and ominous glimpse into their own quest and the mad desperation of the final days before the world ends, what happens if you are so focused on the ends that you forget the means, depicting an honest man gone mad trying to get the power needed to save the world. It brought moral questions to mind, such as "at what point is it too much?" and "Could his options be justified if it meant this same thing wouldn't happen to everyone else in 30 days?" Then Leona more or less brushes it off as the man's cowardice in the face of fear. Which it could just as well (even more likely) be, but that requires its own explanation (from he was a coward-> people, as a whole, are feeble/frail).
And after reading through all that, at least you know there's enough going right to waste another 5 hours writing a review for a demo.
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CloseCool review. It would have been nice to have a conclusion to wrap things up, since I'm still not sure of your overall view of the game (was it good? average? terrible?), and summing up what parts of the review were most important to remember about the game.
author=CashmereCat
Cool review. It would have been nice to have a conclusion to wrap things up, since I'm still not sure of your overall view of the game (was it good? average? terrible?), and summing up what parts of the review were most important to remember about the game.
"Good for gameplay, loot.
Less so for story, characters. "
I guess that sums up pretty well.
Yeah, I'm still new to this reviewing thing. I actually put those first lines in when thinking of ideas and forgot to delete them. Should've wrote more on the battle system, but I was tired.
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