Whilst browsing for a game to review ( and ignoring the ones that had 4 or more reviews ), out of boredom, I headed back to RMN's main page and took a look at the random image shown there. I won't lie, the Fire Emblem 4 mugs caught my attention and I clicked on the image and it led me to:

UPRC's Centuria: A project that has sadly been cancelled so he could pursue BPII ( or so I think ) with a thorough 8-bit vibe. My attention caught, I decided to give it a shot.

Overview:

Staple, classic RPG stuff: You are the almighty chosen one that has been awoken from a deep slumber for whatever reason. Oh wait, you need to goout and save the world, recruit allies, traverse untraveled lands, rummage around people's houses for loot, grind until you can grind no more and defeat the big bad at the end of it all.

Good stuff, in other words. While this kind of plot is frowned upon in this day and age, it still remains timeless nearly 30 years after Dragon Quest used the formula. Personally, I prefer games that put a twist on a well-loved genre rather than re-inventing the wheel completely.

So, with this information in hand, I became the Knight Ayra, and started my journey to hithero unexplored lands, with only my beaten and trusted sword at my side and clothed in rags that had seen better days, to seek a disturbance in the depth of the Ralston Mines...

Gameplay:


Sure beats travelling by airship.

Staple 8-bit fare. Your protaganist is the usual strong and silent type,but for some reason, I like the silent protagonist. It makes me feel like I am the adventurer going off on some great quest, with no pre-set personality to define that little avatar, because by all means, the little sprite on the screen IS you.

You pick one of two basic classes then after choosing an ally, you both set off on your journey.

The world map certainly felt ginormous as I was strolling across it, while Shining Force's triumphant map theme blared in the background though I was disappointed I couldn't dash. >< I only discovered later I had to visit Portovan only after clearing out the mines ( but by then I had already recruited Townsend the Ranger ). I actually felt rewarded for straying off the beaten path ( instead of just grinding for levels for my knight and healer and then going to the mines ). Kudos to that!

And being an obsessive compulsive checker of investigating pots and other objects, I was rewarded before I even came across the hint in the first town. :D It's a nice little touch that I welcome in all RPGs since it really does encourage exploration.

However, as with 8-bit era RPGs, gold is hard to come buy and equipment is expensive, as is the norm for early JPRGs. Enemies WILL murder you if you are under-levelled. And you need to be prepared because you can't save in dungeons. Also, battles did become a bit repetitive after a while, and the music didn't help, but I still stuck to my guns because I wanted to know what happened next.


As I discovered, being a meager party of Level 3.

So yes, grinding is the name of the game if you want to survive here. This repetition is somewhat lessened by the nice little Achievements you can pick up while doing several gameplay-related tasks, like finding hidden items or just beating the hell out the numerous monsters hanging out on the world map.

Graphics/SFX

A ripped affair, so not much to say here. It's used well though, and pleasant to look at. There were no mapping discrepancies that I could pick out, though I do question the tileset used for the Ralston mines. So flat. XD

In closing:

It's a pity that this project was neglected in favour of a fan-game, because it does seem like a noble swan-song to an era of RPGs that started it all. Back in the 1980s, gamers played RPGs not for their stories, but to level up their level one heroes-to-be, slay powerful monsters and obtain awesome loot while coming across all things weird and wonderful. Because it was fun.

No rating because not only is the project cancelled, but it's in a demo form. But I'd still give it a deserving 3.5/5.