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A Demo About 6 Trials

This is a demo review.
This is a review for the file which is downloaded on Jan 6, 2020. My playtime: 01:27:03 (stopped playing because i'm stuck on the second trial).

Intro
Forsaken is a RPG Maker game where you are trying to gain audience from a higher being by completing 6 trials.

Graphics
Aside from the weird looking tile on the bridge intersection, the mapping is very well done. Each area looks unique and both the rainy and foggy effect in the first trial makes it look beautiful. The bgm also complements well with the graphics which makes it even better.

Story
Honestly, there isn't much in the story. You're asking for an audience with a higher being and someone wants to judge you whether you're worthy or not to do so by completing the trials. There are some options that you can choose when doing this, but i see that most of them are leading to the same thing. After you complete a trial, there will be a cutscene about someone else's past which is still unclear at this point.

Also, i just want to say that the font is kinda bugging me. Perhaps you need to change it since some texts are kinda hard to see.

The game
Surprisingly, the game starts off with a tutorial, whether you want it or not. The tutorial covers basically everything in the game and although most of them is similar to other RPG Maker games, i failed to notice that skills in this game is cast by using TP bar that is gained by guarding or being attacked by your enemy. I only noticed this after redoing the tutorial for a second time since i didn't know how to cast a skill. It's mostly my fault though because i'm too lazy to read the tutorial and just skimmed through it.

As far as i know, you'll go solo in all of the trials that you encountered. These trials are basically just a dungeon with different theme one after another. There will be a heal and save portal in the dungeon entrance which is useful since you can't cast skill outside the battle.

The game has touch encounter mechanics where enemies won't respawn as long as you're not staying in an area for too long (actually, it's very long that i need to be afk while doing other stuff to trigger it). However, some of the enemies might be too difficult for you if you're just entering the dungeon for the first time that you might die from it. I ended up saving and loading after fighting each enemies just to make sure that i'm fully healed and i can safely load from my last save file in case i died from the next encounter. Some of the enemies might look the same, but some of them might have more enemies in the encounter that might kill you. Luckily, you can also flee if you're sure that you can't make it.

Enemies also have different behaviour. There is one that is not moving, one that roams around, and one that will roam around and also chase you if they see you. I'm quite surprised when they're chasing me since they are suddenly gaining speed, but i have fun with it anyway.

Since the enemies are strong when you enter the dungeon for the first time, i ended up avoiding all enemies to make a rough map of the area before trying to beat my first enemy. However, this becomes difficult since sometimes there isn't much space for you to move in. There was an ocassion where i have to wait for an enemy to finigh crossing a bridge before i have to go past it.

There is a boss in the first dungeon. I'm not sure about the rest of the dungeons, but there should be a boss too. The boss is kinda difficult to beat because of the number, but you can beat them if you use a certain set of skill. Sometimes, you'll also need to be lucky to dodge the enemies' attack to survive though.

You'll only have heal skill at first. Sadly, i find that the heal is not giving me much HP since your enemies can deal more damage than your heal if they attacked thrice (or twice for certain enemies). This makes it difficult to use it when you're facing a lot of enemies at once.

You can learn more useful skills from interacting with a blue torch. This skill is usually necessary to make it easier to finish the dungeon you're in. I noticed that there will always be one per trial (judging from the first and the second trial) and you need to solve a puzzle beforehand to reach it. I can't seem to solve the second trial's puzzle though so i stopped playing at that point because it seems that i have to grind for a lot of levels to continue the game if i didn't take that skill.


Pros:
- Tutorial
- No MP based skill

Cons:
- Heal is too weak
- Difficulty spike when you enter the dungeon for the first time

Conclusion
To be honest, i see that this game is more like roguelike rather than RPG. It's more about which enemy that you kill first before proceeding the game. I kinda like that part though although it might be too punishing when you're just entering the dungeon for the first time.

Final Rating: 3/5
To be honest, i really enjoy the game. It's just that i find that the difficulty spike when you're starting the dungeon is too much especially with the heal that is practically useless.

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Bug:
- Sometimes the bgm played late when you are fighting a monster in the first dungeon.
- I can't exit the area after i finish the first boss (i still can go to the crystal though).
- You can't do anything in Nautis Valley.

Posts

Pages: 1
Hey Aqua, thanks for the review. I actually stopped development on Forsaken a while ago and postponed it indefinetly, might get back to it but I lost my latest build in which I fixed A LOT of issues and at least gave a little things to do in Nautis Valley. I hope to one day find the time and motivation to pick it up again but with my current activities, it's hard to say. Anyway, thank you for playing and im relieved you had a good time, though it wasnt meant to be THAT punishing :P
No problem! Hope you will get back to it though. The game is good after all.
Pages: 1