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Play this game, no, don't speak, don't think, play...now.

  • Tyranos
  • 01/31/2009 12:26 AM
  • 5052 views
Forever's End by NicoB This update will contain spoilers to the game, get over it.

Gameplay: 9/10

Where to start. This game has a few systems in it that I found very cool. One allows you to equip books to learn spells while other skills are learned in various ways from other sources such as monthly issues of a swordsman magazine or drawing the skill from a monster. To make it more fun monsters are balanced and often you have to experiment to find a weakness. What's more is that the game doesn't let you spam special moves by placing a very balanced cost. No more of this 2 MP cost fire spell that does 500 damage a shot. The balance in this game is amazingly well done. It makes you think and try. Another feature that got me was the ability to upgrade certain skills like Atom Slice into Neo Slice making it more powerful and cost more. I not only found myself buying restoratives but I found myself actually using them. Combat is standard rm2k3 fare but it doesn't happen so often that you find yourself constantly in conflict. In fact you have to really try to grind to grind since monsters are encountered on the field to prompt a combat and there typically aren't many. Between solid systems and balanced difficultly a couple of minigames and puzzles only help by adding some spice to the game. This is still spot on but I would like to add that a new feature really is cool. Goldo. That's right the Goldo system. He functions JUST like my D&D alchemist which is a big boost for me. I always said games needed more customized characters and here it is. It's hard to explain in words but and lengthy though easily gotten used to and used. If it's developed right the Goldo system is going to be freaking awesome, period. Only thing keeping gameplay from a perfect 10 is all the minor bugs. Such as passability on certain maps and typos in the dialogue and that the girl Elise is pretty standard for all the awesome people around her. I mean Epoch gets blade techs and spells, Lee gets to learn monster moves, Goldo is a battlefield alchemist ; Elise? Just spells... But once that's brushed up this game is on the track to a perfect 10.

Characters: 8/10

Major update in this catagory. Everyone has a story now. Even the girl has a valid reason which was questionable at first. All in all I think the people are fairly unique. Some people have cliche personalities but considering that the inspiration is clearly from REAL people it's not unwelcome. The demo still leaves you in the dark but a lot more is explained AND a lot more is asked. Mark my words...Alexander and Marcellus have one interesting past. As far as everyone else goes I don't think you can get more original then some of your own group. The bottom line is that they are all trying to survive and find out why. Why what? Well the impression I got is that Epoch is curious as to who these people are in his dreams and why his king acts the way he does. Elise is merely trying to get revenge for her master who she gets blamed for (talk about having a bad day). Lee is a child who has been curious about many aspects of his life for a long while but just didn't get the time to ask those questions (here is to you little guy may you gain clarity of mind in the future). This leaves us to Goldo. Not sure what his story is as you get him at the end of the demo but I am quite curious as to why he lives alone and likes Lee as much as he does (lets hope we find out). Either way even the bad guys seem interesting at times, minus Elijir, I just want him to die...thats a good thing, makes beating them more satisfying. I'm tired of all these damn games having bad guys out of Detective Conan it's nice to have a douchebag, asshole, or even insane bad guy or two once again. Something that has been denied to me since FF7. I love the people I play as and hate some of the badguys I hope you eventually need to kill. Anyways too many spoilers in here so I will try to tone it down the rest of the way.

Storyline: 7/10

Ok, I've seen save the world, save the girl, save the child, save the whales, and save the rainforest. But this is new. Although the game makes several passes at saving the world it would seem those are un-updated parts of the game as of yet. Because the real story seems to be more about saving your species, humans. I mean I have seen this before but only in the context of post apocalypse, zombies, and alien invasion style games. It's new to have an RPG have the actual story be about saving humanity, and not in the lame ass holy/religious/self righteous way. In the literal sense of save humans from being wiped out or (forcibly changed from their nature as the king says his intent is) by another human being who simply is tired of being human himself and figures while he is at it he will do everyone else the favor too. No conspiracy bull. Just a man who has slipped into madness wanting to gain peace of mind and taking everyone and thing around him with himself. It's almost like I have seen this before...Still cliche but much better execution. Not to mention all the good little dramatic bits that I don't want to mention but kick ass. I don't want too many spoilers in here.

Graphics: 8/10

This was improved on a lot. No more random user submitted feel to the maps. I still remember the random switch that did nothing in the first demo *shudders*. Anyways the mapping still needs work but now it's in passability. The graphics for the moves and attacks? MUCH BETTER. I swear to you that the last time I played this game the damage numbers popped up before my character even got across the battlefield. Not anymore. That was a major weird out since multiple people could go at one time and no knowing who actually went when made it hard to assess which monster posed what threat. Not anymore. Move graphics are actually REALLY good. The explosions and other effects really match up. Not once was I dissappointed with a really cool sounding move having a really lame graphic effect. All effects are now very precise in timing and good in quality. Why the 8? Because there aren't many special moves in the game yet and no big badass moves as of yet for the main characters.

Music and Sounds: 6/10

The music is themed this time. If I am correct the soundtracks are from the Shadowhearts games. (I own all three so no surprise I recognize it) as well as some other game tracks. The main point this time is that it seems MUCH less randomly selected. No heavy metal woods and hippie flute fortresses anymore. Seems like NicoB has decided to go with tunes that match locales but still have an underlying theme. No randomness. Seriously though it's a lot better. Still lacking sound effects. This could be on my end but no other games do it except this one. I tried re downloading but nothing works. After Alabastor is halfway done the sound just disappears...

Overall: 38/50

This game is fun, challenging, unique, and even simple yet mysterious enough all at once. This demo is worth a play in fact you should save the game to a backup drive because this game should never be lost to time. It shows what a person can do when they focus and dedicate themselves to something. It's made using free software yet it trumps a lot of other games out there that you have to pay for. Just download it and give it a try. Sorry for all the spoilers but this game is fucking awesome. Pardon my french.

A well earned 4 and still honoring the place on my list.

Posts

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Nice review, though I would disagree in 2 topics. 1st, the rating is a bit too low imo, especially in the story and character topics. It is a demo of the game so it is obvious the story is far from complete plotwise,and the character depth likewise. Your ranking is a bit severe for a demo of a game and especially for a well-done one as Forever's End is. Second and more important (and much less objective):(Quoting) "Combat is standard rm2k3 fare but it doesn't happen so often that you find yourself constantly in conflict. In fact you have to really try to grind to grind since monsters are encountered on the field to prompt a combat and there typically aren't many.(/End Quote) Hmm are we on the same game here? Average monsters 2 groups for small rooms and 10+ for large, plus respawn, plus insane run speed? When in the dungeons, 80% of the time you spend in a battle, more than even random fights games (partially because of the slow fights too). Sure, if you are grinding the leveling is much slower than random fight RPGs where you stay in 1 small area and fight, but why would you grind in an single player RPG anyway?
Aside from that point and a somewhat unjust (in my opinion) rating, the points you highlight in your review are deadly accurate, a good review!
My review seems harsh if you compare it with everyone elses but if you think of how I rate things this game has an excellent score for a demo in my book. It seems like my score is mean but my own standards are darker and not as light and fluffy as most. However I didn't feel like all the fighting that was done was a lot. Of course this is coming from a guy who loves fights.

I do hear you though. To a normal person it seems like I am calling the game average or crappy but I am actually calling it great.

But seriously don't let my hard review score deter anyone this game is great and is on my list of most wanted games. It's a must try.
Ratings are really something I don't pay attention but I thought my 4.0 score was fair. I mean I enjoyed Forever's End a lot but I'm sure others would disagree. One thing's for sure, it's the longest RPGMaker demo I've ever played.
This is one of the best games in the site and the average score is 3.5...a big WTF if going here? there's games with 4 and 4.5 that are not worth half what this one is....
dude delete this review or edit it...this score should be a lot higher
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
okay we get it
agnitio blows a one year old conspiracy wide open
Just when i thought this is a new review...until I saw the date...-.-
Tyranos, please edit this review a lot has changed, or just delete it like Agnito said. =p
alternately you lot could stop your tearful tirade and recognize that a reviewer does not have to keep a catalogue of all games previously reviewed, watching each game page like a hawk in case anime derivative y now has a different haircut.
That's why I don't review demos.
I merely lost the internet I do keep track though. Sorry for the inconvenience. For a demo this game is awesome. This is like the third release I got to play. Damn comcast.
Thanks a lot for re-reviewing the game Tyranos. Glad to hear you enjoyed it! The sound glitch you're talking about should've gone away after saving and exiting the game...did the sound really never come back? If so, then it was a bigger problem than I realized. Anywho, I think I fixed the problem for next time (hopefully). It wasn't intentional, I promise.

Thanks again, bro! I hope you will continue to enjoy future releases.
As far as sound goes I seriously think it's somehow on my side...don't ask me how I know I just have this gut feeling...I mean when I turn it up you can hear the beginning of the sound but then it goes into a popping crackle. My only explanation is my purely shitty sound system. Quality is fine but sometimes it just doesn't compat with random programs this has happened to me before so I will be checking out what type of sound files you use and get a program on here that recognizes them. See if I can play them then or if they still come through as frizz.
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