Love and War: Act I

I loved Love and War when it first came out, because Admiral Styles tells one of the best stories of all indie games. The best parts are obviously the characters, dialogue, and story itself. There seems to be a greater emphasis on surface-level storytelling than on deep, intricate plotting or plot twists, but that could change in future releases beyond the Act I demo.

What's interesting is that Love and War, despite being a fairly recent RM2K game, resembles in many ways the older 'classic' RM2K games in both its successes and flaws. The graphics aren't particularly amazing, with even some *gasp* RM2K RTP involved, although as you can tell from the screenshots there is a little custom work. There's no almighty CBS if you're into that, either, but battles are generally well-balanced and fun.

The real reason you should play this game is the extended cast of characters, going beyond Ryan and his party members and into the regular NPCs you'll meet. I really enjoyed exploring and talking to everybody I met to soak up all of the atmosphere Admiral Styles created. In the demo of Act I most everything in the story is involved with character relationships, although you can tell by the end that things are going to delve deeper rather soon in upcoming releases.

If you are like me and take the most pleasure out of RPGs with great storytelling, then you need to download and play this game. Some folks might find it limiting that L&W doesn't try very hard to excel at much else, but I nevertheless rate it as one of my favorite indie games.