Sellsword

I played several entries for A Golden Week of 2k3 so far. Most of them had some neat ideas. Most of them were broken in some way. This one wasn't and so I was able to spend some delightful moments with it. I'm very positive about Sells World and I'm not about to wait till the conclusion to say, that this is my very adept for the Hero of 2k3 achievo.
And now to the review itself in its classical categories.

Story
Ratty works really well with twisted logic of classic RPG tropes for the majority of game. It's amusing and It does function well. Characters are extreme, kind of tropes of humorous games. But that doesn't bother me as dialogues are written with light hand and fit well. I would remove some lines and some wits are from the cheaper side of Ratty's shelf with jokes. I didn't like the length of the revelation cut-scene as it was awaited and I wanted more action, which felt like being artificially delayed at that point. Also I haven't liked the twist of this scene where outcasts became heroes and that is something very cliche to do. They even forgot about the money or revenge and set off just to stop Bahamut and a possible destruction of reality or whatever could be destroyed, ralated to the monster.
On the other hand I really enjoyed it till that moment and most of lines afterwards too.
Also I appreciated that the final showdown took place at a volcano.


Have you seen Yojimbo around, Daughter?

Gameplay
Basically, You run around maps and fight monster. And it's fine. There are some environmental puzzles too, which are easy yet well implemented.
Traveling is swift and fun as Ratty's work with transitions is rad. He uses the most impossible ones all the time. Of course that it adds to atmosphere and I naturally liked it.
ATB is quite standard with some interesting twist. There is no equipment. And that is so reasonable for a game of this length and I praise it for it. Overall, item management was managed great. I used almost all items I had found and buying items, especially alcohol, proved to be necessary too. Okay, I could live without alcohol, but it was boring as hell.
Also removal of default attack button made a lot. Two of three characters still have a default attack, which was my first choice in majority of cases, but it looks and feels better without the attack button. I think, it made battles more dynamic looking.
Selection of other skills was nice and I used most of them. However to the end I started using Paris's most powerful skill as an ultimate tool of destruction and battles started to feel a bit repetitive. I'm looking at these six dragons, I had to defeat in a row.
Luckily, Author probly felt the same and added some special encounters in the mix. These really helped to keep me engaged.
In general the game is well balanced and dungeons are ideally long.

Art
The Game uses yer old 2k3 RTP with all of its flaws and benefits. Sellsword has solid mapping with some nice looking locations. There exist some blind spots and tint used within the third map of the first dungeon is too strong.
Also use of RTP sounds is good. I love Vehicle 2 being used for the title screen.


Flashback or flashforward?

Conclusion
Sellsword sells itself well. It's definitely a strong, solid product with high amount of fun factor. I hadn't played any of Ratty's games before and I feel kinda ashamed right now as I really liked this one. I recommend it to everyone who is in search of a good and lighthearted adventure playable in reasonable amount of time.