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A Demo About Mercenaries

This is a demo review.
This is a review for the demo which is downloaded on May 19th. My playtime: 00:07:52 (based on in game clock, before triggering the final boss).

Intro
Tangerine is a turn based game about two lancers who are going to slay a goblin king. At least, that's how it is in the demo. There is only one short dungeon in the demo.

Graphics
The art is beautifully made. I think most of the time spent in this game goes to the art. The background, the characters, enemies, and even the speech balloon are custom made. The only thing that i find it odd is Chieki's walking sprite since it looks like she's only moving her legs at first glance. Also, some of the item collision looks way too far from the object itself and i think a screen transition when moving to other area in the dungeon will look great.


Why can't i get closer to the barrel?


Music
I actually like the music. The dungeon's music gives off the adventure and mysterious vibe that the dungeon gives and the outside sounds relaxing with the adventure vibe. It's definitely the music that i won't get bored listening for a long time.

Story
Actually, i'm not a fan with a lot of texts at the intro but the characters' conversation didn't bore me at all. In fact, i love how cheerful and careless the main character is. All in all, i enjoyed the story.

The game
As i said before, the game is a turn based game where you have to explore a dungeon. The strange thing is, the control is quite different from other RPG Maker games. The selection is done with C button instead of Z (thankfully, you can also use space for it).

There is only one dungeon in the demo, and you are in a party of two. There are random encounters in the dungeon and the enemies aren't that difficult (you only need 2 hits to kill the random enemies), but it might be difficult later on if you fight too many enemies because you can't recover your HP and MP other than by using items. The worst part is, you only have around 7 potions if you didn't buy anything before going to the dungeon and you can't buy more once you enter. There is also no save point inside the dungeon either so you have to make do with whatever you have. On a side note, i like how there is no screen transition before and after battle. It makes the battle feel much faster.

There is a boss in the dungeon and just like the random enemies, it's hard to kill it without using items since the boss can kill your party member in 2-3 hits and it has a lot of HP. You can also cast spells to make the battle goes faster, but again, you need to use item to replenish your MP and the spells' damage aren't that great either to use potion over and over for it. I ended up killing the boss with one of my party member dying (it was an unlucky hit that he died, though). In my opinion, it's better to have a save point (and perhaps a healing spot or a shop) before the final boss so you won't have to redo the dungeon again if you somehow fail to beat the boss.

Pros:
- Beautiful art.
- No screen transition before and after battle.

Cons:
- Relying too much on potions.

Conclusion
This is an enjoyable turn based game if you can ignore the part about spamming your potions in order to finish the dungeon.

Final Rating: 3/5
I like the concept and i think it might be even better once it has been polished. To be honest, i feel that the demo is too short and i want to play more of the game.