NTC3'S PROFILE

Awesome review! And reading about the timed attacks in here reminded me of Dreams of a Hero, which used the same (or very similar) system. In fact, would you consider trying to review that one next? It's a very nice game, and normally I would just review it myself. However, I just can't get through the Medusa fight there, so it would be interesting to see if you can make it, and what you think of it afterwards.

No problem! Sorry for replying a little late, was too busy to check RMN recently. Anyway, it's always great to see a dev willing to improve when faced with constructive criticism, so kudos for that.

Also, I have just started playing a game on here called Guardian Saga, and I think it might really help you to see it. It was also someone's first game, and it's flawed in many respects (combat is better, but far from the best, mapping has too much empty space at the start, music and sound effects are often bugged and end up not appearing, etc.) but I really like the way it handled flavour text, and especially the dialogue with minor characters.

Those dialogues really have plenty of energy, and the people feel quite distinct, often with their own backstories, even though there are quite a lot of them, since the first settlement, and the location before it, are both surprisingly large and populated. If BLANK's dialogues could be more like those (though, obviously, with fewer jokes and such, since the tone of the two games is quite different), I feel it would be a welcome improvement.

Well, to be honest, I just thought I needed an eye-catching title, and I was already exhausted by this 3000 word text, so this is what I quickly came up with. Probably not the best descriptor, but I guess it can stay.

Also, yes, this is the first version of the game I've played, and so the mechanics were largely new to me (technically, I first encountered Defend being used in that manner in Standstill Girl, but that was a while ago.) In a way, I would've liked further explanation more for the sake of consistency: I just assumed that if Guard was explained, then other similarly important elements would be too, which is why I didn't look through everything, when, I might've had done so otherwise.

And as for the opening dialogue, you're right that most of it is very authentic: I was referring explicitly to the moment when Tristian replies to soldiers' insults by saying "While the late King may have made some fateful decisions which led to the last civil war, he clearly tried to make amends!" That line is what rang hollow for me: it's just too muted, too detached, as if they're arguing about events that happened decades ago while sipping tea. Someone who's there in the thick of things would never use that language to justify the actions of her dead sovereign to hostile soldiers, immediately after battling their comrades.

No problem! :)

Well, do be careful with that. Another commercial game also tried that this year. It wasn't exactly well-received, and a similar dialogue structure was one of the things to blame.

Of course, the judgement to be made from such screenshots will always be limited, which is why it's absolutely for the best to release a demo, or several. A lot of the problems in the game above could've been addressed if it was released earlier at this site, before the critics and the paying audience got to see it.