Baclyae Revolution

My playtime: 04:51:13

Intro
Baclyae Revolution is a turn based RPG Maker game about recruiting people for the army you made. The game has 108 recruitable people although some of them are not available as your party member.

Graphics
The game doesn't really have a lot of areas for the dungeons and it works because the enemies are very hard to beat (will explain it later). The towns, however, seems to be lazily done since the outer layout are mostly the same (2 basement entrances and 1 story line area). To be honest, i didn't know that there is another area that leads to the story in the first city until i went there for a few times. As for the basement, the mapping is decent except for one city that have this "useless" pathways (Staerdale Palace) since it leads to nowhere.

While the portrait for most people looks great, i find that some people (like Hector, for example) looks weird because they look like a young man with a grown man beard.

Story
To be honest, i feel like the story is all over the place. You'll start in a jail, captured, where all of a sudden people are escaping without any reason. The escaping isn't even made clear except with a brief black screen. I only noticed that they are breaking the jail after someone told me. The game also doesn't explain the reason of the jail breaking nor the crime which leads you to the jail in the first place until sometime later and it even looks like a convenient plot material when revealed. I also think that the story is "rushed" from the jail breaking to the army creation. It might look better if the cutscene is a bit paced and the wording are fixed to make the story flow smoothly. Speaking of wording, i find that some dialogues, especially in the first part of the game, are quite hard to follow. It might be because the unusual word choices or the grammar, which i'm not really sure.

There is also one part in the prologue that i find it confusing. Kerry keeps on saying Sarah even though she's talking to Hans. I also didn't know which one Hans is since i didn't see any red haired man on the screen. After going further to the story, i found out that Hans is the yellow haired man on the screen and Devin is the pink haired man. I don't understand why Kerry talks to Hans as if he's Sarah in the beginning of the game though.

As for the cutscene itself, the game almost have none apart from the first part of the story. The rest of the story will be triggered by talking. I admit that it's quite good if you want to finish it quickly, but sometimes i'm confused as to where to go next. Luckily, the NPC are very helpful for this and will usually tell where to go next after you talk to them again.

The game also offers some choices at some point. I'm not sure if those will affect the story or not, but the last option definitely changed the wording when the game ends. Speaking of the game end, i find it hard to read all the text of what people are doing after the game ends since they keep on popping in and out.

The game
The game is mainly divided into two main parts: exploration and/or army recruiting and army battle. In the first part, you are.. well, exploring the world and recruiting any people that you can. Some people will automatically join you if you recruit them, some will wait for a certain requirements to unlock. As for the second part, it will usually happen at a certain point of the story. Your army will be divided into several teams and you'll have to command which team that do the attacking at that turn. It's mostly similar to the turn based battle when you are fighting a monster, but this time it's with a group of a team and each team has their own special effects.

The army battle are quite simple after you know how it works. The game also offers a mock battle for you to learn the ropes. However, i got confused when i did the mock battle for the first time. I thought you're supposed to choose it and the fight will automatically end in one turn, displaying the results. It also doesn't help when you are just quitting the mock battle without any confirmation if you pressed back button. I only understand how to do it after doing the real thing. The battle also quite weird since there isn't any "winning screen" after you beat the enemy.

As for the non army battle itself, the game offers Rune and Unite ability in addition to the normal attack. Rune is basically like skills in other games and you'll need to use MP to cast them. Some Runes are bound to a certain party member while you can buy and equip most of them in the shop for a certain fee. As for the Unite itself, it's a combination attack of a designated party member. The attack is usually better than normal attack but weaker than high level Rune attack. Since your party member have low MP count at the start of the game, Unite skills become the most important thing to spam in battle. However, it is quite hard to see which party members can use the Unite skills because you have to check them manually. Luckily, these Unite skills become useless later on because enemies will become very strong after you reach Glikx Heights, to the point that you have to grind for some levels until you can cast the highest ranking skill available to kill the enemies. I didn't know about this at first and i ended up saving and loading to just bypass the area without battling any enemies.

Speaking about grinding, you'll need to grind some levels at some point in the game. Luckily, the game make it easy by providing a training room. You'll just need to select a difficulty and fight the enemy to get some exp. It's easier to grind that way but i think it'll be better if you don't need to grind at all to finish the game since it took me around 30 minutes to finish the grinding.

Since you'll mostly rely on Runes in battle, you'll need a lot of MP in the party. However, you can't recover MP except by resting on the inns or consuming items. The thing is, the magicians, the one with the highest MP pool, can only cast 1-3 highest damaging skill before running out of MP. This leads to a problem when you have to go to a dungeon. Luckily, the map isn't that big and you can just finish all the dungeons by saving and loading, encountering fewer enemies as possible. If you're wondering why you don't flee in the first place, the reason is, you can't.

As i said before, the game is about recruiting people. Although all 108 people that you recruit won't be available as your party member, a lot of them will still be available to use. However, i find that these party members are annoying later on since there are just too many to choose which is not that different than the rest and they even have lower level than my party members. I end up not caring them later on and even if i did, they still become a bother since my party member will be reset after every cutscene and i have to traverse through those huge list to find my party members.

The game also teaches you about economy. There are some items sold in the cities that is used for... selling. Yes, you buy the cheap items in one city and sell them in a higher price in other cities. There is this weird "bug" where the merchant in Staerdale Valley sells Wine for 5GP while the weapon and armor sellers in the same city buy them for 10GP each though, which kinda "cheats" the whole process.

You also can play blackjack with someone and bet money in it. Strangely, you can keep on betting the money over and over again even though it was listed that the other party have lesser money than the one you bet. This feature becomes the easiest way to get money because you can just save and load to keep on winning though. I ended up using it to get a lot of money. In case you're wondering, you won't really need a lot of money until you reach near the end of the game, which is also optional to do.

You'll be able to buy a permanent stat enhancing item near the end of the game, provided if you have enough money. At first, i thought it was not a big deal since you have traversed all the areas and you might only need to do army battles afterwards, but there's actually a final boss that requires you to battle in the normal battle system (not the army one) and this particular battle relies on your stats. I have enhanced my party members' INT to 300~ before this battle and i ended up beating the boss easily. I think it's quite game breaking especially since you can kill the final boss in one turn if you maxed out your party members' INT.

Pros:
- A lot of recruitable allies
- Army battles
- Customizable Runes
- Unite attack
- Training room

Cons:
- Party members are reset after each cutscene
- Useless mock army battle
- Game breaking permanent stat enhancer
- Requires a bit of grinding to clear the area
- Runes require too much MP

Conclusion
To be honest, i got frustated a lot when i played it for the first time, especially when i have no choice but to grind levels to continue. I even have to save and load for a certain times to bypass some areas. However, i like the recruiting part of the game and the army battle is quite interesting.

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Typo:
- After getting out of jail: "Same, but, something feels a bit off. Like, I dunno. That this escape was planned? Davin>" should have no "Davin>" on the end of the text. Perhaps it's meant for the name tag above the dialogue since there isn't any.
- When asking Mae to teach you about blackjack: "Like i mentioned before, if your score is ever over 21, you "Bust", and loose the game right then and there." should be "Like i mentioned before, if your score is over 21, you "Bust" and lose the game."
- When talking to Curtis in Windwhisper Outpost: "I managed to have Nicky ready for Her Highness' jubliee, and I was able to get this far." should be "I managed to have Nicky ready for Her Highness' jubilee, and I was able to get this far."
- On the cutscene after you sleep in Windwhisper Outpost: "Indeed, we were still celebrating her one thousand year jubliee when she passed!" should be "Indeed, we were still celebrating her one thousand year jubilee when she passed!"
- When recruiting Chris: "Recruite Chris!" should be "Recruited Chris!"
- When talking to Zoe after you out of Sraphyhl Peak: "It's strong will may determine your fate." should be "Its strong will may determine your fate."
- When talking to Zoe after you recruit him: "The Cheif Star of Heaven." should be "The Chief Star of Heaven."
- When talking to Mae on the castle: "Are you looking to loose against poor ol' Mae again?" should be "Are you looking to lose against poor ol' Mae again?"
- When talking to Momo on the castle: "Do you have a voracious appitite... for knowledge?" should be "Do you have voracious appetite... for knowledge?"
- Second cutscene on hot bath: "I served as bodyguard, trained to be cautous in everything." should be "I served as bodyguard, trained to be cautious in everything."
- Cutscene after second "army battle": "I must relay the possibility." should be "I must rely on the possibility."
- When talking to Anton the first time at Clafton Keep to offer your proposal: "A battle between our best units, and whoever looses will join the side of the winner?" should be "A battle between our best units, and whoever loses will join the side of the winner?" (somehow i think the grammar is also wrong, but i can't make out the correct one...)
- When talking to Anton after returning to the palace after the war with his force: "I still can't believe what happend!" should be "I still can't believe what happened!"
- When recruiting Vanessa: "I'm all ouuta cash, and no roof over my head." should be "I'm all outta cash, and no roof over my head."
- When talking to Skye in castle: "After her death, everything just seemed to cumble to peices." should be "After her death, everything just seems to crumble to pieces."
- When talking to Zoe in castle: "Other stars will be guided by that light, and will inevitibly follow." should be "Other stars will be guided by that light, and will inevitably follow."
- When talking to Niku in castle: "Or contract ends when a person asends to the throne of Baclyae." should be "Or contract ends when someone ascend to the throne of Baclyae."
- When talking to Maya in castle: "The sphere represents althletic competition!" should be "The sphere represents athletic competition!"
- When talking to Beatrice in castle: "It seems such a shame to not be in a more prominant place!" should be "It seems such a shame to not be in a more prominent place!"
- When talking to Clide in castle: "This certanly isn't were I thought I'd end up!" should be "This certainly isn't where I thought I'd end up!"
- When talking to Natasha after the pincer attack by Expanse and Vapleissan forces: "Lady Sarah, I pray for both your saftey, and your success." should be "Lady Sarah, I pray for both your safety, and your success."
- When looking at Tablet of Destiny, the tablet is written as "Tablet of Destinty"
- When talking to the woman on the southeast corner of the Parltron Citadel: "They really need to figure out where their loyalities lie." should be "They really need to figure out where their loyalties lie."
- Item name: "Stone of Stength" should be "Stone of Strength.

Rune typos:
- Earth Rune: "Clay Gaurdian" should be "Clay Guardian"
- Condemnation Rune: "Inevitible Blade" should be "Inevitable Blade"

Bug:
- You can bet more than 10000GP with Mae in blackjack even though she only have 10000GP. I ended up using her to get a lot of money.
- The armor shop doesn't show stat increase in boots (light armors too, i think).
- You can't choose which party to attach or remove rune on the rune interface. You can only choose the party member by selecting them in status menu beforehand.
- After you recruit Maria and Rosie, you'll see that they are training in the castle but Maria is nowhere to be seen.

Suggestion:
- You access Parltron Citadel last but the items sold in the elf village is way better than the one in the citadel. You might want to switch them.