SILVIERA'S PROFILE

Not sure if this is the kind of feedback you're looking for, but I'd like to see difficulty ramped up in a way that doesn't require various forms of grinding.

I guess I'd like to see enemies hitting with more status effects, or doing strange things that the player needs to notice and react to. Kind of vague advice, but I think it's a lot more fun than running into a boss who can one shot your party and then spending 30 minutes bringing your characters to a state where they can survive. Especially in a game that is encouraging you to run from most encounters.

I felt the pacing of the difficulty curve has been pretty solid thus far, but I wouldn't mind things going up a little bit as the game goes on. There may be some room to increase difficulty outside of the battle screen as well.

And here's a random thought, but how about rewarding players with exp/AP for getting through an area without getting into X number of battles? Obviously not including the enemies that block passages, and never making it 0 to guard against bad luck with the random movement of enemies.

Game: Dragon Fantasy II

Battle System- 4/5
It's good that the battles in this game are fun. Since it is the oldest of schools, you will be spending 90%+ of your adventure staring at the battle screen. Combat is heavily influenced by Dragon Warrior (or Quest if you prefer), especially Dragon Warrior 3. In almost every way it captures the feeling of playing through those old NES games, and retains the superb balance that series itself maintained. The moment you start the game you won't be getting more than a few steps past the first town before you realize you're going to have to spend some time leveling up. You'll explore as far as you can before running home to heal, restock, and upgrade your equipment. Each trip ends up being a little longer than the last, until you finally reach the next town and the journey begins again. This game demonstrates very well that one of the oldest battle systems ever envisioned can still be a great deal of fun if constructed with care.

The game also allows you to create your own party at the beginning of the game (except the obligatory Hero of course), and unfortunately this ends up being the battle system's biggest flaw. The author has created several new classes for the game, though they tend to be quite overpowered compared to the original DW3 classes. In particular the Beserker seemed particularly insane, as he began the game with enough strength to one shot any non boss enemy he came across, an ability he retained even up to the climax of the game. The Berserker's insane power was most evident in the final boss fight, where my Hero and Wizard (who is traditionally supposed to be the main damage dealer), were routinely dealing 30s while my Berserker hit for 100s (and 270 in the case of crits). It's true the Berserker class had a few weaknesses, particularly a vulnerability to elemental damage and the fact that it was AI controlled and only used attack. However with its high hp and ability to kill whatever it was hitting, I didn't feel it balanced things out enough.

Storyline- 3/5
As with most old RPGs, there is not a great deal of a story to be had. The game begins by sending you off to strike down an evil overlord with no real explanation. It does get a bit deeper than that, and most of the story is told through the game's various villains moments before you strike them down. Things do take a rather unconventional twist at the end that I won't spoil. Essentially this was not a story that impressed me, but it was enough to keep me playing to find out what would happen next. The one minor flaw here is that I felt some of the villain monologues went on for a bit longer than they should have.

Characters- 3/5
The game is not very text heavy, the heroes are silent, and the villains are completely one dimensional. However, each town in the game is populated with an abundance of NPCs and they tend to be more animated than your standard RPG fare. You may not grow attached to anyone, unless you find yourself growing close to your blank slate heroes. That said, the towns are entertaining enough to keep you exploring.

Level Design- 3/5
Maps are rather unremarkable here, but they remain very functional. Every dungeon is a monster infested maze, and puzzles usually consist of finding a patch of dirt or a statue that is out of place. Most barriers are logical, and you'll usually instantly know if an area is accessible the moment you reach it. Clues on where to go next are often cryptic, which is typical for a game of this style. You'll need to spend a bit of time thinking and a lot more time exploring to find your way to the end. Fortunately if you look hard enough there are plenty of hints to go around, and since you're often limited in just how many places you can explore you're bound to find your way eventually. There are a few extra dungeons and other interesting surprises to be had, which definitely helps heighten the exploration element of the game. It's notable this game is very generous with treasure chests, which is not something you tended to see in these older games.

Graphics- 3/5
Everything is ripped from old Dragon Warrior games here, and it shows. Some people will undoubtedly find this style hideous, but for me it is quite tolerable. Objects are recognizable, passable tiles are clearly defined, and traps are easy to identify. The strong point here is definitely in the enemy battlers, drawn by Akira Toriyama long ago. Although most of the graphics feel completely dated, the monsters remain vibrant and colorful.

Music/Sound- 4/5
Mostly rips from the NES Dragon Warrior games. Particular care has been taken to reproduce every sound effect, which goes a long way into immersing you into the old school adventure. I have to confess to being a fan of those old soundtracks, so my scoring in this category may be a bit skewed. The one thing that bothered me was the victory music, which seemed very out of place against the chip tune style that the rest of the game revels in.

Random stuff I liked-
A collection quest involving slimes, which will force you to explore every corner in the entire world in order to complete.

Random stuff I hated-
Not a thing.

Final Thoughts-
A well crafted game that skillfully upholds the spirit of the genre it is attempting to emulate. Old school fans will undoubtedly enjoy the experience, but it is not something that will appeal to everyone.

Overall Score 3.5/5

Some extra notes for the developer-

As far as I could tell your game was completely bug free, nice job.

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And to the rest of you following this thread, I have begun pouring more effort into my own project so my reviews are going to slow down a bit. I'll still try to throw one out every few days (assuming nothing on my list is as long as Dragon Fantasy II was), but I probably won't be going full blast again like that for a while.

I'd like to thank everyone who submitted their game, as you have all inspired me to work on my own (even if I rated you poorly, I did find something I liked in every game). More than that, you helped me identify countless things that were lacking, which I will strive to correct before I release anything.

Pretty much just any class that is designed to dish out a tremendous amount of damage in a short amount of time. The most general case being a Mage who has very low attack power, but has spells that far outdamage anyone else in the party. The tradeoff is unlike Fighters who have a constant source of damage with their weapon, Mages are all but useless as soon as they run out of mp.

Creating a single sample game with all the makers wouldn't turn out that well because a lot of them function in fundamentally different ways. Even in the case of 2k3, which actually included a function to import 2k projects into 2k3, the balance of battles could be completely destroyed (mostly due to how differently agility works).

Really, it's possible to make a great game with any of the makers. A skilled developer can create something unique even from the most limited of tools. XP and VX clearly have the most functionality due to the versatility of scripting, but that's not to say those projects made in the earlier programs can't be just as impressive with a bit of creative use.

The fact that 2000/2003 have a wealth of resources available is also a valid point.

To me it largely depends on how the scene is done. A case where I enjoyed a playable intro segment was Lufia 1, which dumps you right on the Final Boss's doorstep and throws you into a boss rush immediately. It's short, it tells you a lot about the backstory, and most importantly it is completely relevant as the main character is a direct descendant of this hero and will be facing the same threat (not to mention you'll actually be seeing 6/8 of the characters present in this intro later on in the game).

As for an example of where I thought this was poorly done, I look towards FFXII and Metal Gear Solid 2. The former case which was apparently used to flesh out Vaan further which was not really needed as he was basically irrelevant to the main plot in the first place. And in the latter case the game starts you off with the hero you've grown attached to only to replace him with a less than desirable lead.

Anyway, it's complicated, but I think it's a valid replacement for a lengthy scene if done correctly.