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Sacred Reviews: The Falling Leaves

Foreword

This review is largely built upon some notes and rough drafts I wrote around the time I finished my Let's Play for this game back in July of 2015. Sadly, those rough drafts only cover the Introduction and Story sections of the game. So, I'm going to have to build the remaining sections out of what I remember about the game.

Introduction

"The Falling Leaves" is the final game to be developed by Wishiyo and submitted to RPGMaker.net. Sadly this final submission isn't a grand epic that will stand the test of time, but a game that takes two steps forwards in comparison to his previous projects in some areas, but takes a dozen steps backwards in others. Because of this, "The Falling Leaves" is a very flawed project that should just be ignored by the bulk of the community. Thankfully, it isn't as insulting as the notorious "Hawkman", but it's still a prime example of what not to do in a lot of other areas.

Story

The game starts out with a young monk named Masgard moving to a new town in search of a rather mundane job and an ordinary life, but he can't help but feel compelled to run to the aid of a cowardly knight calling for aid. Of course, the cowardly knight makes a run for the hills in his freshly soiled armor after Masgard arrives. Thus the young monk is left to slay a dragon in one on one combat. Afterwards we make our way to the capital where we are hired by the local king to be an elite warrior/hero in order to save the kingdom from the threat of the "evil king". And while this opening feels rather stock, that isn't what really gets my goat about this game.

What really gets my goat about this game is that Wishiyo never puts any effort into developing the playable cast. As such we never really learn anything about Masgard, Jonnie, or Nociel. We don't know what drives them to fight against the forces of evil. Nor do we see them interact amongst themselves during their travels in order to build up some camaraderie. Because of this the game manages to make both endings utterly terrible. It makes the bad ending feel like a farce since I don't care about any of the characters since they feel more like inanimate objects then actual characters. And makes the good ending infuriating since it simply shoehorns in a romance between Masgard and Nociel out of nowhere. In fact, the only hint we even get at this characters being interested in each other is them blush at each other upon their initial meeting. Simply put, this isn't enough to build a relationship on. Seriously, throw in some fireside chats or late night meetings during required pit stops at inns. Or in short, DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING! IN ORDER TO MAKE THE REVEAL OF THEM GETTING MARRIED AND LIVING THE REST OF THEIR LIVES HAPPILY EVER AFTER MAKE SENSE!

Gameplay

On the gameplay side of things "The Falling Leaves" features your standard Turn-Based combat system that is found in a lot of other RPG Maker VX Ace games. As such, I really don't have a lot to say about it that I haven't said before.

Mapping

On the mapping side of things "The Falling Leaves" follows the long tradition of rookie developers making utterly massive maps, but failing to fill them in with anything interesting. As such, this game ends up being another reminder why people should look into things like the Three Tile Rule before building their game. Since, it's really boring to walk through areas comprised of almost nothing but generic floor tiles.

Conclusion

"The Falling Leaves" is a game whose best aspects can be described as average while it's worst aspect can be described as utterly infuriating. As such, I really don't recommend that anyone play this game unless they're looking for a good example for what not to do when writing a story. But if your desperately looking for a game about man on man action then you might want to check out "You & I". Or if you don't care about the genders of the characters but their orientation then I'd recommend "Luxaren Allure". Albeit that game does have some issues with crashing at random times, but it does contain some of the best romantic writing I've ever seen on this site.

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This review is largely built upon some notes and rough drafts I wrote around the time I finished my Let's Play for this game back in July of 2015. Sadly, those rough drafts only cover the Introduction and Story sections of the game. So, I'm going to have to build the remaining sections out of what I remember about the game.

Are you sure you feel comfortable giving a game a one star review based on partial notes and your memories from over three years ago? Just asking. I certainly wouldn't be.

Don't get me wrong, this game could be genuinely terrible. I don't know, I haven't played it. And I'm not really inclined to, after reading your review, which is sort of the point.

Unrelated notes:

And while this opening feels rather stock. That isn't what really gets my goat about this game.

These two phrases should be joined with a comma, not a period. The first is not a complete sentence on its own.

As such, I really don't recommend that anyone play this game unless their looking for a good example for what not to do when writing a story.

*they're
Are you sure you feel comfortable giving a game a one star review based on partial notes and your memories from over three years ago?


Honestly, I'm quite comfortable giving this game a one. Since, I clearly remember going into multiple rants about how "The Falling Leaves" only attempt at building up a relationship between Masgard and Nociel is that they blush upon meeting each other. A factoid that is really hard for me to forget, because this is one of the few games I can think of where the main character is gay.

And, I took a quick look at a few snippets of my Let's Play for this game in order to get a feel for what the combat system was like. Which allowed me to get in a few glances at some of the maps as well.
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