Othello

pianotm reviews...

Kory_Toombs' Othello
2nd mapper: shortstar
Scripter: Rad



Sometimes it's hard to find a game you like. Just because a game is good doesn't necessarily mean you're going to enjoy it (and just because you enjoy a game doesn't mean it's good). I was having a difficult time finding a game by Kory_Toombs that I liked, but after playing Othello, I can't help but wonder if I was just being too picky. Maybe it had to do with the fact that I wanted to give the best review I could to a Secret Santa event. In any event, I've found that Othello is more than equal to the task. So, before I start rambling on...

STORY: Set in feudal Japan, the story follows the eponymous Othello, a young girl raised by an abusive father in a traditional Japanese family. Othello is a hard worker who only wants to honor her family and father, but also feels she and other women deserves more respect. As she is introduced, she is sent by her father to gather betel nuts (properly called the areca, a nut with harmful carcinogenic properties that people throughout the Orient chew on.). While on her way back, she is robbed by Patel, an ego-centric young girl that uses the betel nuts to force Othello to follow along on a series of adventures and misadventures.



When an alien ship crashes nearby, they acquire the female robot Min. Min is the only survivor on the ship and can perform multitudinous functions based on the needs of her owner. As such, she has vast capabilities, is extremely powerful, and able to fire lazers that can instantly vaporize enemies no matter how numerous. Of course, Patel orders Min not to produce such weapons, and instead makes her a blue mage because plot and game balance. At last, they rescue Claire, a woman condemned for worshiping the ancient pagan gods. Claire can't attack, exclusively being a healer, but she can summon a falcon that may attack in her stead. Eventually, their adventures run them afoul of the evil Empire, who has outlawed the old ways and forced everyone to follow a propagandist religion.

At this point, we're definitely feeling the girl power; and it's a well rounded group of teammates we've assembled. A few parts of the narrative are weak: the reason to make Min a blue mage feels contrived and Claire's entry into the party feels forced. Also, there's a minor nitpick about spelling, but minor spelling errors are minor...and consistent. Other than these weak areas, the story is strong. It's fun and maintains its pace throughout, allowing for plenty of story development and character development in the actual game play and in the cut scenes. As a period piece incorporating fantasy and science-fiction elements, it does a very good keeping the story balanced and intriguing.



GAMEPLAY: For most world map random encounters, this feels like button mashing, but as you meet stronger enemies, you should consider putting some real thought into strategy. That said, character balance actually takes care of a large bit of the strategizing for you. There are some pros and cons with this. You see, Othello's main attack is a sword attack (she's the tank), Patel has a dagger attack, but most of her skills focus on stealing (she's the damager), Min cannot physically attack, but can only cast attack spells and learn new spells from enemies (she's the mage), and Claire can only heal, though her ability to summon does give her some offensive capability (healer). If you use Claire's summon, you get a fifth character on the screen. As a result, strategy is already thought out for you and you can just button mash your way through many of the regular fights. For harder enemies, though, a little strategy goes a long way. The only time you actually have to stop hitting the button is when the selection reaches Claire, since you don't want her to just default heal Othello every single turn. This is fine, though. Obviously, exceptional thought went into balance and the elegance and efficiency of the system is definitely worth a great deal of praise. It helps to assure characters aren't being misused.



But not all is fighting. In the beginning, it feels like this game owes the bulk of its inspiration to Phantasy Star, Star Ocean, and Breath of Fire, but once you start to encounter the puzzles you discover that this game takes a great deal of its influence from The Legend of Zelda and Pokemon. You can't solve puzzles without acquiring special items found in each different dungeon. You start out simple, getting a strength charm so you can push boulders, but as the puzzles advance, so do the items, getting a charm that let you leap over chasms and room teleports, a blade that lets you cut vines blocking your path, a charm that let you sprint and jump larger distances, pick up and throw boulders and so on and so forth and ad infinitum.



My one complaint about gameplay is the random encounter settings. Random encounters are extremely high throughout to the point that they are disruptive and frustrating to other elements of gameplay. When you're trying to figure out where to go or how to perform a certain task, a high encounter rate tends to break concentration and create major disruption. Even without the frustration and disruption, random encounters are ridiculously high.



GRAPHICS: Very nice. The tilesets add a Japanese style to the ground and wall tiles. Also, the battlers, characters, and faces aren't RTP and appear to come from a graphics pack. The combat screen uses a basic side view battle script. The battle screen is slightly problematic. While in the crashed ship, the battleback remembers to switch to an industrial, sci-fi background, caves, the world map, and city dungeons all use the same forest battleback. Likewise, ally character placement is a bit poorly thought out. Othello and Patel are so high that on the battlebacks, they appear to be part of the wall. A simple adjustment to the script parameters could have taken care of this.



MUSIC: Excellent choices all around. The music very nicely fits the feel, momentum and setting of the game.

GLITCHES: After completing the spaceship dungeon, you're not supposed to be able to enter town again, but can easily bypass the guards by jumping on the wall-roof border tiles. You can throw objects onto the black voids on the edges of the map.

CONCLUSION: Othello delivers on all levels. I'm surprised by the fact that it's garnered almost no attention. This game was so close to being a 4.5 game, but rushed elements, a distinct lack of overall cleanup, and a very obnoxious encounter rate take their toll. If only this game were a bit known, I feel that it could easily be an RPG Maker classic.

RATING: 4/5