Darksteel

If Hero's Realm succeeds because it closely emulates the kind of Old School RPGs that Kentona liked (Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy 1), Darksteel succeeds because it closely emulates the kind of slightly-less-old school RPGs that I have always loved, classics like Final Fantasy 6 and Illusion of Gaia.

Story

Darksteel begins in the most cliche way humanly possible. In a flashback, we are shown that a PARTY OF ANCIENT HEROES (with, as I recall, unpronounceable names) DEFEATED/BANISHED/SEALED AWAY an ANCIENT EVIL OVERLORD/DEMON (with a definitiely unpronounceable name) in the ANCIENT PAST using a POWERFUL ANCIENT SWORD. You know, like in every RPG ever.

We then flash forward to an academy for mercenaries (who, in a strange twist, are also devoutly religious...or something). Two young mercenaries, Raif and Reuve, are given a mission to travel to a southern continent and oversee the excavation of a mine where ancient artifacts have been discovered. Hmm...could they be connected?

I liked this line the most out of what I played.

The writing in Darksteel is competent but not exemplary. However, the style in which it is written- in fact, even the unostentatious, workmanlike quality of it- emphasizes the feeling I get when playing Darksteel that I am playing a "real" SNES era RPG. For this, I award...points!

I could not see as much of the story as I would have liked due to a point where the gameplay became impassable because of a (to me) unbeatable boss.

Story Score: 6/10

Gameplay

The battles in Darksteel are really boring from the getgo. None of your party members have any attacks that deal anything but direct damage in fairly small amounts. Elements and status effects are not used. Even healing is barely used. You have the ability to switch weapons mid-battle, but enemies didn't seem particularly weak or strong against any weapon-types. For the most part, although boring, battles are reasonably well balanced. They're not impossible, they don't drag. And they tend to be rather on the easy side.

So, here's the problem. Avoiding battles is actually pretty fun. The patterns of enemy movement are varied and challenging. The relative speeds of the players and wandering enemy on-touch encounters are tuned just right. Dodging enemies is more fun than fighting them. As a result, when I fought the Phantom Shadow (Shadow Phantom), the game's first major boss, I was severely underleveled. And the Phantom Shadow likes to spam Confuse and Blind. And you have only two party members. And you have nothing to cure confusion. And it's not weak to any damage types (that you have access to). And you have only one Phoenix Down. And when you finally wear its health down by dumb luck/making the exact right (limited) choies available to you...it summons two allies and then massively heals itself. All the while keeping at least half of your party confused.

Um, did I mention I was underleveled?

This is where I quit Darksteel, after giving the Phantom Shadow the good old college try. Well, more like FIVE of the good old college tries.

But let's move on to the good stuff.

The dungeon/level design in Darksteel is FANTASTIC. Every standard Zelda/RPG dungeon puzzle/staple--pushing block puzzles, multiple levels, water level puzzles, moving platforms, jumping, guiding two mirrored characters to a switch--is implemented cleverly, cleanly, and WELL...WITHIN THE VERY FIRST DUNGEON. I enjoyed the first dungeon of Darksteel more than I did the dungeons in any other RPG Maker game, even the much-lauded dungeons of Kinetic Cypher. And managing to space my jump properly so I fell from the moving platform on the second level down to land exactly on the cracked tile on the lower level to break it and fall through to the hidden treasure chest on the bottom level? That moment was among the most clever and triumphant any video game has made me feel (although the optional loot I got was lackluster and didn't help me at all defeat the Phantom Menace).

I wish I had not gotten inexorably and frustratingly stuck in Darksteel, because it seems like playing through a game filled with such polished, professional, clever dungeons could be incredibly fun. Narcodis did an amazing job of filling his dungeons with puzzles/obstacles that were CHALLENGING but still eminently SOLVABLE. Bravo!

Gameplay Score: 6/10

Atmosphere

I do not have much to say about the music/graphics in Darksteel. Everything was more or less as it-should be. RTP was used well, with a slightly unusual 3/4 (as opposed to top down) perspective lending things a bit of uniqueness. Weather effects and screen tones were well used to set the mood. Again, the use of music, sound effects, and cutscenes made the game feel, somehow, like a REAL SNES era RPG. It is this ineffable and hard to explain quality that I enjoyed the most.

Atmosphere Score: 7/10

Bottom Line

Darksteel has great level/dungeon design and interesting obstacles set off by boring battles which, at the end, left me personally in a frustrating and unwinnable state. Still, the game is worth playing for the feel of it, which consistently resembles the feel of a classic SNES era RPG, something that surprisingly few RPG Maker games do. If the battles were improved, Darksteel could be one of the greats.

FINAL SCORE (Not An Average): 6/10