Legacies of Dondoran

Battle System- 1/5
One of the worst battle systems I have ever seen in an RPG Maker game. It's mostly traditional rm2k3, except with the added twist that you gain skill points upon leveling that you can distribute to learn new abilities or strengthen existing ones. The problem here is that some skills completely outclass others. The moment you get your first AoE attack spell you'll be wiping out every enemy group with a single spell. When you consider that 2-3 characters can learn these devastating attacks, the challenge flies right out the window shortly after the opening act. There are a few exceptions, notably a few optional bosses scattered throughout dungeons who are so powerful they will swiftly deliver an unexpected game over. Towards the end of the game it shifts to the other extreme, where if you have not invested your skill points perfectly and attained those ultimate abilities at the end of each skill tree, you are doomed. The game does have skill tomes hidden throughout which grant extra skill points, but instead of being an optional boost you are expected to collect nearly all of them and invest them perfectly in order to complete the game. The worst part is that as soon your characters hit level 50 they stop gaining skill points entirely, presumably to force you to start the game from the beginning if you have failed to invest perfectly.

Storyline- 1/5
You are a fantastically famous military strategist, beloved by all. When a kingdom comes under attack by an evil empire, you rush to defend it. Immediately after this short sequence you abandon your army, grab a sidekick and rush off to take down the evil empire singlehandedly. It feels like the author had an idea for a game and suddenly changed his mind 10 minutes into it. While on this adventure the main character picks up an obligatory love interest, and they recruit a fourth party member to fill a slot. Unfortunately about halfway through the game the whole evil empire plot is suddenly dropped as a new villain appears out of nowhere and renders everything you have done up to this stage of the game completely pointless. Aside from the disastrous main narrative there are plenty of strange events, such as your hero abandoning his party to embark on a fruitless solo mission.

Characters- 1/5
There's something about every character in this game that makes me cringe. The main character starts off as a military strategist, which has a great deal of potential. Unfortunately he abandons any sign of this background early on and settles into the traditional role of the stoic loner hero who has assembled a small group to the save the world. There is a point at which he gains a love interest, or so the game tells us. There is no sign of romantic chemistry between either of them, but the game sees fit to cram several sequences in which the two stand around saying how much they love each other for some unexplained reason. The rest of the party seems to exist only to fill the four character party limit, and all settle into traditional RPG stereotypes rapidly. The main villain initially appears to be a surprisingly atypical evil emperor. Unfortunately the moment he starts becoming interesting he is instantly replaced by a villain that literally comes out of nowhere, a far less engaging villain whose personality is inconsistent at best. The sole diversion in this category is the main character's sidekick, a sorcerer called Gain. Although he had brief glimpses of insight and wit, as the game progressed his lines slowly dwindled as far less interesting characters took center stage.

Level Design- 2/5
Dungeons in this game mostly consist of unremarkable mazes. There is the occasional puzzle thrown in here and there, but most of them just serve to delay you a bit rather than make you think. Although the towns are enormous and well designed, they tend to feel completely dead. They are almost completely lacking in NPCs or really anything to interact with, and almost every building you encounter in this game cannot be entered. Something that annoyed me in this category is that it is frequently unclear whether or not walking to one end of the map will lead you to a new area or not. There are several instances of wide open spaces where I thought I was going to be able to move on, and suddenly ran into the invisible wall that is the end of the map. I also have to mention the world map, as it is easily the worst design choice in this category. Although you won't be seeing much of it for the most part, towards the end of the game you are given free reign to explore it in its entirety. It is massive, and although it is dotted with dozens of towns, caves, and other structures, you cannot enter nearly any of them. The game doesn't even give you a reason, it just pretends whatever you're standing on doesn't actually exist. This aspect is particularly frustrating because you are required to explore the map in order to complete various sidequests crucial to completing the game.

Graphics- 1/5
The game uses a mix of RTP graphics and rips from various games. There are a few custom graphics that seem to have been made for this game. There's no consistent style to anything, but more than anything else I loathed the main character's hideous graphic. The fact that you'll be staring at him for the entire game drags this category to the depths.

Music/Sound- 3/5
The highlight of the game, as far as I could tell it used an entirely custom soundtrack. Most of it is serviceable, and a couple of the boss tracks were downright enjoyable.

Random stuff I liked-
The concept of a main character who is a military strategist. The opening act gave me high hopes for this role, but they were rapidly dashed as this aspect of his character was all but completely thrown away.

Random stuff I hated-
A character known as Sarcastic Guard. He appears constantly, at every turn of the game, and attempts to inject humor in the most lame way imaginable.

There is a potentially interesting sequence near the beginning of the game where you are given command over the defense of a kingdom. You are able to decide exactly how your troops fight, but unfortunately the results are illogical and ultimately no matter what you do the battle turns out the same way.

Final Thoughts-
It seems like the framework for a decent game is all here, but everything falls so flat I found myself hating every moment of this 10 hour experience. I cannot recommend playing this game for any reason.