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Quick Review

DISCLAIMER: I haven't completed the game entirely, so please take it with a grain of salt.
Story and characters:
The story revolves around Moxia, a noble warrior woman (amazon?) who goes around cities and dungeons to find her mentor, Brax and fulfill her dream of being a hero in the process. While the story isn't bad, most of the characters are paper thin, and they are either boring or angering. The only character I care is Moxia herself (although she is quite comical at best).

Gameplay:
The gameplay is nothing special. It uses the stock/pre-built system, with a few changes, which is not bad, but the balancing is so bad, you'll swear that the developer limited the strategy on purpose (especially at the start since 1. you can't buy better equipment 2. You'll to buy a lot of potions if you don't grind enough and 3. all attacks deal the same damage, since there is no RNG and while it can be fine, if an enemy deals a lot of damage, you'll have very few chances to recover and attack.) The battles also lack variety, so you'll end up pressing the space button a lot of times.

What I hated:
The over world map is bad, too linear and boring. And sometimes it doesn’t make any sense. There are a few inconsistencies, which make no sense (Brax is here? Are you trapped in the portrait?) and the graphics are confusingly bad.
Overall:
Spirit Blade is a very flawed game. While it’s not bad for a first timer game, the confusing and angering choices made by the developer, along with underwhelming plot and badly used RTP, makes the game mediocre at best.
The good:
-Interesting premise.
-Interesting main characters.
-Interesting ideas.
The bad:
-Limited strategy.
-Bland maps.
-The rest of the characters are either boring or angering.
The ugly:
-Some things make no sense!
Recommendation: Proceed with caution.

Posts

Pages: 1
Lv27MarkerMan
352
03/23/2016 02:30 AM
Question:
What does RTP mean?
Lv27MarkerMan
352
03/23/2016 03:02 AM
I'm actually a bit confused by this review. It needs clarification.

Yes I limited strategy on purpose. How is that a bad thing? Most commercial games do this especially RPGs. Wouldn't it be worse if I gave the player all the abilities right off the bat rather than have them acquire them throughout the game? That's what it sounds like you're asking for. Be more specific.

What do you mean you can't buy better equipment? Before the forest you can upgrade your armor twice. After the forest you can get an upgrade at almost every town until dungeon items eventually overpower them (That happens about when you run out of new towns).

The linear overworld part is true except for one area in the game which is REALLY non-linear, (probably too much).

The Brax in the wall thing was intended to be a photograph.

All in all I'm actually okay with a mediocre rating for my first RPG. So thanks for the review.
Ratty524
The 524 is for 524 Stone Crabs
12986
03/23/2016 03:43 AM
author=Lv27MarkerMan
Question:
What does RTP mean?

Runtime package. It's basically the default graphics/sounds/backend that comes with the engine. It's not really bad but it is overused.

author=Lv27MarkerMan
Yes I limited strategy on purpose. How is that a bad thing? Most commercial games do this especially RPGs. Wouldn't it be worse if I gave the player all the abilities right off the bat rather than have them acquire them throughout the game? That's what it sounds like you're asking for. Be more specific.

Yeah "most" commercial games do it and it's dumb as hell. You aren't making your game "causal-friendly" by stripping it of any depth whatsoever, you limiting your game's replay value by making battles condescendingly boring.

The key is to find the "Goldilocks Zone" between a battle system that is complex enough for people to actually be engaged with what they are playing, but easy enough for beginners/novices to get through, even providing actually difficulty options to satisfy any kind of player. It's not easy, but a "Mash a key to win" battles are utterly boring and amateurish, and among other RPG Maker games of equal caliber, it makes your game fail to stand out.

What do you mean you can't buy better equipment? Before the forest you can upgrade your armor twice. After the forest you can get an upgrade at almost every town until dungeon items eventually overpower them (That happens about when you run out of new towns).

I haven't played the game in question, but you might want to be sure you communicated this adequately enough through your design. Have you suggested that those upgrades are there in any way in your game, or just left the player to find this stuff on their own with no guidance of any sort?

While I agree that this review is a bit vague and its writing feels kind of wistfully put-together, I wouldn't dismiss everything this guys is saying, and you may need to start thinking about your design methodology in a bit more depth.

Sorry if I sounded harsh on you, especially since this is your first game, but stuff like "mash a button to win battles" and the likes are VERY common flaws within the community as a whole and is often a result of a lack of attention to detail.
Lv27MarkerMan
352
03/23/2016 06:59 AM
First my argument for my confusion of some of the review's statements.
Show
You can't literally button mash to beat the game. Regular attacks were nerfed to encourage use of special attacks. I guess you CAN somewhat far that way if you grind (Not on the bosses). Actually it might be possible to regular attack most normal enemies to death, but it's much slower than using special attacks.

Yes I limited strategy on purpose. How is that a bad thing? Most commercial games do this especially RPGs. Wouldn't it be worse if I gave the player all the abilities right off the bat rather than have them acquire them throughout the game? That's what it sounds like you're asking for. Be more specific.

I tried to quote the above paragraph, but it didn't work

I may have misspoke here. I really meant in battle options, but that's so that you have new options for later fights. I honestly can't think of ANY good game that gives you literally ALL of your options and abilities right off the bat.

However...now that I think about it there are more options and strategy than the review is letting on early on especially out of battle preparation. For example you can either buy the expensive Antidote Ring (prevents poison) in the shop or immensely cheaper antidotes to go through the forest which is full of poisonous enemies. Both strategies work. Most players of this game grind up for the antidote ring. I personally prefer the antidotes and no grinding. I only need 11 antidotes and that's still much cheaper than the Antidote Ring. I suppose you could also get through the forest if you find and take advantage of the healing spring.

My point here is that there's more to strategy than having every option be available. In fact if certain options aren't available it forces the player to find a different strategy. That's what I was aiming for.


But I will admit I put more effort into the boss fights than the standard fights. The regular fights I can see them getting repetitive when I think about it. It is good to think about these things.

I'm not mad I'm just trying to seek the truth. I mean I know I'm guilty of rushing to conclusions that are contrary to the facts myself sometimes. I don't think I'm wrong here, but if I am I want it to be pointed out.

Ratty I think you actually helped clear some things up and got me to think about it in a different light so thank you.
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