Forgotten Wishes

Yes
that's sad that Forgotten Wishes was cancelled. Anyway this game by Hesufo (one of the authors of the amusing RMW Chain Game that I reviewed in 2021), made with RPGmaker VX still exist as a 2009 demo, and a pretty long one (since it includes the full first Chapter, and it took me more than two hours to reach the end) so why not trying it?

Forgotten Wishes begins in a rather dramatic way: the world is facing a conflict between a mysterious group of terrorists and the soldiers of the various countries. Suddenly this group disappears and the world is again at peace, BUT during one of the raids of these terrorists two siblings, Darato and Konata, are separated by their parents and after a shipwrecks they are rescued by the peasants of a village. After some years, where they lived at the town leader's house, Darato is a warrior in training and Konata is an apprentice alchemist. But they have the desire to explore the world and find their relatives, so they leave the village for a great adventure...


Look at Darato: he's smiling because he is thinking to the reward, of course!

Ok, so nothing really original here: we start the game playing as Darato (even if Konata will soon join him) and his first quest will be completing his training. This is a classic tutorial dungeon, and I admit that the first part explain the controls and the game system very well, and that's pretty good especially for the less experienced players (even if an option to skip could have benefit those expert ones that are annoyed by these explanations), and it's also true that the game introduces some peculiar features.

Which ones? For example Darato can defend to recover some hitpoints and improve his attack and defense for a round, while Konata has not this skill but can collect materials (once per battle) necessary to unleash her spells (she also needs to spend Mana points, so I usually kept her spells for the most challenging battles, the electric attack that paralizes opponents became really useful when outnumbered!). Every character has also a limited set of slots (the number is variable, Darato has only three while Konata has five) that they can fill with the skills they learn, so it's necessary to fill these slots. Anyway do not expect an easy time since the encounters are pretty frequent and battles may be challenging, requiring the obligatory trip to heal and restock (the game is quite generous with loot if we speak of consumables, not much in terms of money!).


There are many battles, and some includes bosses, like this shade guy!

For the rest combat is instead pretty much classic: random encounters, boss battles, equipment from weapons to armors and accessories that you can buy at the various shops, and inns where you can rest. There are some interesting additions like the manual that lets you choose the style of the dialogue window, and the very important diary that lists all the quests started and completed, and that's really useful, but aside for these aspects the game in the end is a classic jrpg game, even if one that doesn't take itself seriously, at all!

Love or hate that, expect a lot of fourth wall breaking (with npcs talking about the game and the player), and also many silly situations like the trainer getting unable to use his teleport ability and having to walk, of the battle fanfare mentioned as soon as you form a party. Despite this lighthearted atmosphere, the game is rather classic: the adventure get quests to complete, kill monsters and rescue people, also their motivation to wander the world is a bit bland but ok. They at least are different: Darato is a more serious and practical boy, and the one that ALWAYS asks for a reward, while Konata is more hot-headed and kind-hearted, and these differences creates some situations and dialogues that can entertain the player.


What a surprise! The game includes also a puzzle! Took me a bit but... it can be done, especially with the hints earned fighting some optional bad guys!

Visually the game is nothing new since it mostly uses Rtps and assets you surely have seen before (I cannot remember from which set are the facesets, that in this game are reserved only for the most important characters, but possess different expressions) like for example the monsters that comes from Etoiler's assets, and for the most part mapping is pretty much ok. There are some areas that are pretty huge (and that's a problem when it's a dungeon with random encounters, and hilarious when it's a house that from the outside looked really small! And this ). At least these maps aren't really bare-bones like in some other Rtp games I played, on the contrary some places like the lake area look good and light is well used in the caves, but I didn't like the lack of interactions in some areas (even if to be honest it's understandable since this is still a demo!) or the generic naming of some characters, like "unnamed butler" (really! Well maybe this was done for laughs/parody of other games, but it's not so exaggerated to be evident). Anyway there are also some really well placed shortcuts, switches that enable new paths and teleports that makes exploring and backtracking not too annoying!

This is still a very classical jrpg with few elements that makes if different from many others. The music? Well unsurprisingly we're some well know themed ripped from Final Fantasy, and also Breath of Fire. It's nothing new but clearly fits the setting and mood of the game.


Ok, looks like that that now I can do some little optional quests (took me two hours to arrive here but I still have to finish something) and then it will be time to read the...

Final Verdict
Forgotten Wishes is an ok demo of an ok adventure, very classical and also not really original: the game feels like a sandbox where the heroes go around collecting quests and completing them, there is no complex storyline, race against time or charming bad guy with white hair and a big sword. Nope. It makes the game feel a bit generic, as we visit various villages where helpful peasants will offer assistance (from shops to indications on what to do next) and quests (like rescue people, collecting animal body parts or flowers), while the wild areas will instead provide enemies to face, necessary to get some levels.

The only problem that I have with this game is the use of random encounters (that I have, even if they're mitigated by the possibility to save anywhere, so no need of save points) and quite challenging combat (but you can also run away, on the other hand the problem is that we have a party of just two characters, except for the temporary guest party members, so there are not a lot of strategies possible). The quests are pretty much good except that one of the gift,that makes you search every corner of the mountain just to find some flowers that aren't indicated by any kind of sparkle or arrow, so good luck finding them!

For the rest, all good, I liked the structure of the dungeons, some maps, and for what concerns the story we just see our duo getting in trouble with creepy hooded guys and evil pirates, that I'm pretty sure were going to return in next adventures. Pity we won't see them since I found this game quite enjoyable, but I am fond of good old classic jrpgs.
If you are too, well give it a try!