Temple of Memories

I went into this game blind. All I knew was that it didn't have a review, so hey like Zeus throwing some lightning down I decided to take a crack at it. After finishing it, I can say that this is a flawed, but relatively decent first game from this developer.

Story - 3.5/5

I figure I might as well get this out of the way first, since the whole point of the project was to have an emphasis on story rather then gameplay.

The game follows a group of four adventurers who are stuck in this mysterious temple, and, as would be expected, they decide to explore said temple to find some way out.

SPOILERS:

One thing I really liked was the attempts at fleshing out the characters. I mean, the characters themselves are perhaps a bit on the generic side, but there are multiple sequences where you can walk around and talk to your fellow party members, and get some backstory and characterization from that. Considering this is the developer's first game, this is a wonderful thing to have, and I am very happy that they took the time to bother with it.

The only problem I have with the story, and this is mostly a minor issue, is how dialogue is written. While it is readable for the most part, there are some frequent grammar errors and dialog that could have done with some proofreading.

An example:



Luckily, most of these instances are easily fixable via some quick revisions, and they didn't really detriment my enjoyment with the game.



Gameplay - 2.5/5

Sadly, this is where the game really falls flat for me. This is due to the variety of puzzles the game utilizes, two of which I would like to discuss.

The first one you're presented with is a simple button pressing puzzle. You walk around, pushing buttons, and for the most part it's fine.

However, the crippling flaw with this puzzle is the overabundance of random encounters.



In most RPGs, you can use enemies to level up and grow stronger, a very standard thing. However, in this game all enemies are good for is crafting ingredients for your resident alchemist Ybenor. You get no experience, only items for healing. This might not seem like that big of an issue, but when you're trying to solve this puzzle and every ten steps you run into an encounter that doesn't even give you anything worthwhile, it gets annoying extremely quickly.

The second puzzle is extremely annoying.



I think the idea for this puzzle is to warp between locations that have orbs that glow the same color, but this is hindered by the fact that you can't see most of the area, and you have no idea if the warp you're about to step into is going to send you all the way back to the beginning, or progress you forward. You DO get a vague hint via the top doorway being marked with green orbs, but actually understanding how to warp TO there is almost impossible without trial and error. This is further hindered by the orbs constantly changing color, making it even more confusing to actually know where you're going.

Besides those puzzles, I really have no other complaints on the gameplay. It's mostly just typical VX Ace battling, so take of that what you will.

Overall - 3/5

This game really isn't that bad. It has an interesting story that resolves itself rather satisfactory, and it's short enough that you can sit down and finish it in one go. It's just held back by a plethora of minor issues with the gameplay and dialog that prevents it from just being more then OK.