HASVERS'S PROFILE

After having lost some progress due to a crash (I hadn't used the super-dev-mode-cheat-code to save everywhere, alas), I took ten days to recover, but I finally reached the end of this demo.

Right now this game is just like a lunar rover : futuristic, awesome, and oh so very buggy. With the notable difference that it takes us into a heavy (and nicely crafted) atmosphere. The pure, "hypnotic" immersion may be somewhat disrupted by the turn-based mechanics, the fact that there's time for planning and strategic thinking and everything, but it really got me tense a few times. Usually not too long before a game over screen. Actually I like the fact that there are some quieter moments, as I have a hard time enjoying very stressful games (I couldn't stand the likes of Half-life or Bioshock more than an hour, although I like games where you need to be cautious like Thief - but there's a gap between cautious and downright anxious).

However if your intended audience are the survival-horror fans, maybe you should boost the difficulty a bit, especially by making ressources scarcer. It would be less pleasant for me, but I guess I would survive (anyway they were already getting less available in the second area, so the game is probably following this trend smoothly enough that players like me can follow, which would really be a feat if you manage the slope properly). Maybe someday a difficulty slider could do the trick for those who want some extra challenge - although I for one didn't find your game lacking in this respect.

How long did you plan this game to be in the end, actually ? I'll be sure to review it in due form when it is finished, but I intend to force everyone I know to play this demo already, as soon as you publish fixes for the major bugs.

Getting to the main points of this pre-review :

1) I really, really like your choices in terms of game mechanics. Even the more unusual aspects, such as the exploration system, become quite natural (and interesting whenever the team gets separated and different things happen at once), and I felt they worked very well. I could hardly be more pleased, as I tend to be a sucker for originality (over gigantism or polish) in videogames.

2) However this game is obviously not lacking in the polish department. It has poles aplenty, and very attractive ones at that. (I should stop trying to make lame sci-fi puns.) Even without the bugs it could easily pass for a commercial game. Your graphic talents are put to an excellent use (the beauty and number of facesets is extremely impressive), the audio does a great job in thickening the atmosphere, and the interface is neater than almost anything of its kind that's ever been done with RPG Maker. This feels like a labour of love, and both the quality and the quantity of effort involved are stunning.

3) The setting and story thus far are not the least cliché ever but the obvious inspirations are well worth taking inspiration from, and good amateur sci-fi RPGs are almost unheard of (as for the commercial ones, we all know of one or maybe two good series, but they're standing in the middle of a thematic and/or qualitative desert), which makes it even easier to shine - although you really didn't need it in the first place.

Overall, I'm far more than impressed. This could easily become one of the greatest RM games around, and a brillant "game game" as well, to paraphrase melly-tan, even without taking into account the conditions of its making (especially the single-handedness of it all).

You and Deltree have successively blown my mind. You seem to have a surprising number of traits in common, from the originality of your game design styles to your attention to details and aesthetics, and I adhere almost unanimously to what both of you are doing with your current games*. This is potentially zeitgeist-defining material - I can imagine a new generation of amateur (or "indie", since that's the current buzzword) RPGs headed by the likes of IMTS and Set Discrepancy. Honestly, I would love that. Now if only another mysterious overtalented meister-gamemaker from the shadows would take some interest in the third significant subgenre of sci-fi, the one with all the "-punks" in it, and fill the void left by Lys86, then my life would be perfect.

(* a single less fanboyesque comment : in both cases I would like to find a narrative as original as your game mechanics, and while your writing is very good, the plot in itself isn't what's keeping me on the edge of my seat. But this is far from being enough to turn me away from your games.)

One last comment : if you're worried about the possibility of earning some money from your games, I really think you could. I'm quite fond of the ethics and aesthetics of distributing your creations for free, but I would gladly contribute from my purse for the final version of Set Discrepancy if that could help you in any way, and I'm quite sure that I wouldn't be the only one. This is clearly the kind of games you could sell, or use to sell yourself. Or at least set a donation account for while distributing it freely - this actually works quite well sometimes, and I wouldn't hesitate a second to thank you in a slightly less immaterial way for those hours of entertainement.



(Edit : Okay I've just realised that I've been somewhat longer than I thought. I could edit part of this comment and post it as a preliminary review if you think that would be helpful in drawing some attention to your game.)

This game looks amazing ! Just passing by to report a bug : when I drop too many items in the same room (four items in the first trident room) I get

Script 'Z - Game_Event' line 464 : NoMethodError occured.
undefined method 'gain_display' for "bulk":String

I reproduced it once in the trident room, but it didn't happen elsewhere.
Edit : it happened again when dropping some medicine in Common Room 7
I'll avoid this and continue my playthrough.

Also, dropping the common room key and picking it up again blocks the game, anywhere (more precisely, all keys stop responding, although sounds and visual effects continue to happen)

(oh and by the way, there's an "all ready docked" instead of "already docked" in the dialog right after having retrieved the environment suit. I'll try to keep track of any typo I notice, if it may be of help. Edit : "all ready" again in the log "Missing U" in Common Room 7. Is this intentional ? or maybe i'm mistaken, as I'm not a native english speaker)

Edit again :
Script "Z - Zap Preset (etc)" line 120
comparison of String with 12
while fleeing into the room where we find the power cell

Unable to find file
".../Monsters/Zombiewrap/Arifleflinch.png"

Haha well I'm certainly not one to oppose original narrative structures, and yours could even be better suited to the videogame medium than the usual JRPG scheme IMHO, but sometimes the gameplay sections seemed a bit too disconnected from any kind of plot advancement whatsoever. At least in IMTS most missions are somewhat motivated by story elements ; I like it when narrative and gameplay go hand in hand. Even if it's just about the characters (and it can very well be, most TV shows run like this and some are great), it's nice to feel that each mission brings some evolution, else the situation seems a bit static.

But I'm probably more narrative-obsessed than most players (it even hampers my willingness to play story-less games nowadays)

I've just finished it ! My first thought after the endscreen : the story may actually be even more enjoyable due to having played IMTS beforehand (especially the ending with the sixteenth character, of course), even though it obviously removes some elements of surprise.

Other than that, you must have heard it a hundred times already, but I suffered a bit from the slow pacing at the beginning, with so few narrative developments during the first two hours - there was a point where I stuck with it only because I was convinced that it would get more exciting later, and it sure did. This is to be expected of a deconstruction of fantasy RPG tropes, but I was truly relieved when the story moved beyond pest extermination and general uninvolved do-gooding.

Fortunately, the writing started good and ended great, and the protagonists just kept growing more and more interesting, so I was well rewarded for my perseverance ! I have to agree with ludeshka : Dehl's personality and the way he matures throughout the game is one of the most remarkable aspects of this story. I was even a bit pained to see him make certain choices in the last two chapters, which tells a lot about how much he'd grown on me.
Many other characters had their own moments of awesome as well, and I really liked the way they became more detailed, through their interactions and their special quests. Also, I can't believe how long it took me to realize what Tehgonan's last name was !

The overall mixture of enacted and avoided clichés was really fun, as it became hard to know whether any situation or character would turn out as expected, or the opposite, or something in between. Antagonists tended to be quite good in that respect, some being played completely straight and others noticeably less so.

Finally, the setting was rather detailed but less convincing than in IMTS, due to following the common (almost claustrophobic IMO) feeling in fantasy that we're looking at a "pocket universe",a small set of sceneries rather than a true, fully fleshed out world. I guess that one guy in Wadassia would agree, so it's more a feature than a problem (the initiated will get my meaning).
If I dare say so, you've appreciably improved in the way you handle your infodumps between The Reconstruction and its prequel : here, I never found the courage to read the entire glossary.

As for the gameplay, the frequent use of multiple characters in quest mode was really nice ; other than that, I think most of the changes leading to IMTS were in the right direction. The same goes for the visuals and interface of course, your sprites and decors and everything have markedly improved, though they were already quite nice. On the audio side, the musics were good, and once again I have to say it's really impressive to think you handled every aspect of the game yourself.

Overall, if I had to write a review (and I must admit this message is almost one), I'd give it something like four stars : still one of the very few RM games I would suggest to anyone outside the community, and a complete, solid and addictive game. Yet IMTS is an improvement on all fronts that could possibly be improved (even the pacing, although I'd still appreciate a lil' more narrative meat, as the end of The Reconstruction demonstrates that you're fully able to do it).

The awesomeness. The sheer awesomeness. I'm downloading this right now, although I probably won't be able to play it before mid-august ; I'll try to update my review as soon as I do !

Just for a rough idea : how long is episode two, according to the playtests ?