DR. CASEY'S PROFILE

Hmm...

Comment Posted: 09/10/2009 09:09 PM
Date Updated 09/10/2009 09:09 PM

Cool, an update this very minute. XD

Yeah, even though four hours isn't such a bad length, I couldn't disagree more with the first post. Whenever I read about a game on RPG Maker Network or some other website and it's slated to be a 'casual, short game', there's a 99% chance that I'm going to click back. I want something with meat, and despite what anyone says, games that are lengthy and completed are very rare. I want more Legion Sagas, Starless Umbras, Legacies of Dondorans (Well, I am getting more of these since there's going to be a sequel :P), Laxius Powers, Epochs, Demon Legacys, Phantasias, The Ways, Clouded Hearts, Fable of Heroes, etc.

It's been about a million years since the last demo of Phantom Legacy, Nightblade. D:

Phantom Legacy. This has to be the only RPG Maker game I've honestly waited for besides The Way Episode 6 and Starless Umbra. Nice to see the game get a demo of significant length. Like Neophyte said over at Gaming World, the game does have a perfect opening. The artwork of Shadar included in this version of the demo's opening is a great touch... I hope there's more artwork featured in the game, or at least of the important characters such as Nero, Lilith, and Thanatos. At first I preferred the cleaner, sleeker sprites of Demon Legacy over those used in the sequel, but the Romancing Saga 3 sprites have grown on me. Slade's changed a lot since the end of Demon Legacy. He's about a hundred times more serious and hardened than he used to be. Comparing this version of Slade against his softer, younger self at the beginning of Demon Legacy is like comparing night against day. Slade passes the Character Development Test with flying colors, though I have to admit he's a bit more intimidating now that he's becoming so grizzled. That air of softness which Slade possessed in Demon Legacy was amongst his defining traits for me.

I think Nero has the potential to surpass Slade, though, especially if his development is spread across three games (Assuming the three parts of Phantom Legacy are all one continuous game). He's a character who's both well-defined and has a very clear and identifiable set of flaws from the beginning, something that can't be said for Slade of Demon Legacy. I think that maybe the experience you built up during Demon Legacy has given you a better idea of how to make characters and scenarios interesting from the start. I enjoy the beginning portions of Demon Legacy just like I do the rest of the game, partially because it is so simple and the atmosphere isn't so thick (I think it's important that a story be simple and pure, maybe even barebones, during its infancy to make it stand in stronger contrast with the later parts), its style is a bit different than Phantom Legacy's, which manages to be engrossing and atmospheric despite centering around something as simple as Nero's visit to Madera. I can't make a comparison just yet about how the character dynamics compare to those of the original because we're so early in the game still, but I do like Lilith and Thanatos. Lilith's a funny girl... that line about Thanatos trying to create himself a wife has to be the best line in the demo. XD I'm surprised she's four years younger than Nero, though. She feels more like his senior. Thanatos is a good character, too. I'm enjoying the sense of antagonism his presence brings to the party. Loved Nero's response about how Thanatos' assertion that he should be trusted because he could have killed them both seven times over didn't do a great job of easing tensions.

Phantom Legacy does a nice job expanding the scope of the series. It's fun thinking about where these characters were during the events of Demon Legacy (Or, in Lilith's case, the beginning of Phantom). Nero was only two years old during Demon Legacy. He had absolutely no idea of the things which were going on in the world, things which Slade and company understood all too well. It's... kind of morbid, really, that Nero was a baby during such dark times. It was troubling enough for Slade and the rest despite being in adulthood. And during the introduction of Phantom Legacy, he's only 12 years old. From his perspective, the battle between Slade and Shadar seems quite distant (Yeah, I know he didn't learn about the battle until long after it took place) because he's just a child and he's allowed to rest and take it easy and not concern himself about such things (I'm turning 22 in August... that makes me a bit nervous, because according to the Legacy series, shit always goes down during your twenty-second year). I'm guessing the same more or less applies for Lilith since we obviously don't know her backstory yet, but somehow I get the impression that Thanatos' life wasn't completely normal ten years prior. But, yeah... the addition of Phantom Legacy does a nice job of expanding the world view beyond the characters and events contained in Demon. And speaking of scope, I think this game does a nice job of connecting itself to the original while maintaining its own identity. There have been no unrequired nods or references to the original, which I think is a good thing because in cases like Phantom Legacy, where the sequel isn't entirely direct, it's important to focus on its own characters, world, and identity first and foremost instead of being stuck somewhere in between. There's enough connection to Demon Legacy to clearly establish Phantom Legacy as being a part of the same series (The introduction with Slade obviously being a crystal clear way to bridge the gap), but so far there's been absolutely no threat of Demon Legacy characters and happenings stealing the spotlight from the new generation. It's the happy medium between Chrono Cross (I only played through the end of disk one, but the game seemed to bear very little connection to Chrono Trigger) or Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (The anime opening, anyway. Although the artwork and song itself are great, the montage of original Symphonia characters at the end was somewhat jarring considering that the rest of the video focused on the new characters. I dunno, it just felt weird for some reason). And on that note, I'm very excited at the prospect of seeing Iris in the next demo. I wonder if Rhea and Sharn will turn up, too?

Suggestions... I completely agree with Max regarding the difficulty of the Slade battles, so I'm glad you're taking his idea. Shadar even states at the beginning that the monsters Slade faces don't stand a chance against the man, but with their current levels of strength... well... they do. I'd also recommend changing the part where Nero unlocks the power to save anywhere in the game. I think it's a good idea, but it should come much later in the game. That way, it could be used to powerful effect because the player would feel some relief at having the days of save points being a thing of the past. With the way things are, though, that feeling of liberation doesn't result because it comes so early in the game. You're only limited to save points during your strolls to, around, and from Madera. If the unlocking of the save power and other gameplay benefits come later in the game, I think that could be a strong point in Phantom Legacy's favor. It would be like the feeling of acquiring the Medallion in Shining in the Darkness (An item that allows you to teleport to any floor you've visited in the Labyrinth, the game's single dungeon - a very nice feeling indeed considering that you'd previously had to start at the entrance and retread your steps every time you entered) or the Teleport Orb in Wild Arms 5 (An item which, obviously enough, lets you teleport to any visited location). Those things aside, I have nothing. I'm glad Demon Legacy's level of difficulty has been maintained (I died once against the Bishop, and I'm very rarely killed against RPG Maker bosses), and just for the record, I downloaded the unmodified version from Mirror 1 and did not encounter the repeating cutscene glitch. So, whatever causes that glitch to be triggered, I didn't do it. Looking forward to the next demo of Phantom Legacy.