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Sacred Reviews: Dule

Introduction

Dule is an entry in the Golden Week of RPG Maker 2003 event and was developed by Pizza. Though this project might bend the rules of the event a bit since this game is only the opening prologue to a much larger game that only currently exists as a conceptual idea as far as I can tell. I'd say it bends the rules a bit since this game doesn't present a complete story on its own and merely helps to vaguely establish that the future of the world of Dule is shrouded in darkness.

Story

As mentioned previously Dule is a short prologue for a game that doesn't currently exist in any meaningful state beyond being a collection of ideas as far as I can tell. Sadly, this means the game itself has a story that feels extremely incomplete since it only exists to entice players into playing a much longer game that doesn't exist yet. To make matters worse the game itself is rather vague when it comes to story details or world building. The game drops words like allies and the new world to describe characters, but doesn't elaborate on what those terms mean. This is a time when having interactive objects like book cases and what not can come in handy. It allows the developer a chance to put important background lore and information into their games while rewarding the player for exploring every nook and cranny for books and the various places that house them.

Though, what really hurts this game is that the story lacks any sort of major antagonist. Without a clear overarching threat my actions feel rather pointless. I suppose you could argue that the sorceress is acting on future knowledge so the enemy that she is trying to hinder doesn't exist yet or is to young to be a threat at this time. Though, that would just make me wonder why the sorceress doesn't hunt down this potential threat and eliminate it. At least if the game included a line about the future not being set in stone I could understand the need to prevent a complete catastrophe in such an indirect way, but without it or clear understanding of what the threat is I'm just left wondering why I'm doing anything at all.

Gameplay

On the combat side of things the game is a bit dull in my opinion. You can easily get by most enemies by simply spamming your basic melee attacks or by spamming your weaker spells. The game lacks anything that amounts to a real combat challenge. Even the final boss is a letdown in my opinion since it can easily be taken down with a few well placed ice spells.

Another issue in my opinion is that most of the shops in this game are rather worthless. Every time you enter a new dungeon you are likely to find new weapons for your character and these weapons are always more powerful then the stuff you can buy in the town before the dungeon. It makes spending money on anything beyond MP recovery potions or armor rather pointless in my opinion.

Graphics & Sound

On the graphical and sound side of things the game is rather unremarkable. This is because the restrictions of the event are forcing developers to utilize only materials found in the RTP with only a little bit of room to play with them in the form of moving files around. Because of this I'm expecting all of the games to feel rather similar in terms of music and appearance.

Conclusion

I suppose you could say my review only focuses on the negative aspects of the game, but its difficult to think of positive things to say about a game that feels so average in terms of its presentation and uninteresting combat. While the game was always going to be limited on the graphical and sound side of things because of the RTP rule of the contest. A good story or at least the seed of a good story could have easily made this short thirty-minute game far more enjoyable in my opinion. As it stands I wouldn't recommend Dule to anyone.