SILVIERA'S PROFILE

Game: Ethereal Dreams

Battle System- 3/5
Very traditional combat here. Things are reasonably balanced, and on the easy side of the spectrum. Although that's not really a bad thing the battles just aren't very engaging. Mashing attack will get you through normal battles easily enough, and it doesn't take anything more than spamming your strongest skills for a handful of rounds to take down the bosses. The method for which you learn skills has been changed up a bit here however. Instead of learning strictly through levels, you gain points in various weapon proficiencies based on the weapon you have equipped at the time of leveling up. While it's a decent idea, there's always a best weapon to use at any given time so there's really not much of a choice involved. Unless you're willing to choose a skill path that requires you to weaken your own damage output.

Storyline- 3/5
The story was rather slow to pick up, and by the end of the demo it hadn't really gone anywhere significant. From what I've seen thus far it seems like a typical fantasy adventure. It's been very predictable so far, but since the demo is in an early state there's still plenty of directions things might end up going.

Characters- 4/5
Although the story didn't impress me much, things fare much better in this category. The main character is a lazy drunk dragoon, who begins the game by attempting to cure one severe hangover. He is joined by a centaur who appears to be a longtime friend, and his daughter who is clearly eager to go on adventures with him. The script is competently written and a lot of these characters are quite interesting, even if a few of them are a bit stereotypical. This aspect is enhanced by optional campfire scenes you can view on the overworld, in which the party discusses a few of the things that have happened recently in the storyline. I'd have liked to see these campfire scenes go on a bit longer, but they are still a worthy addition. The demo ends before any of these characters develop beyond their initial personalities, but things are definitely moving in the right direction here.

Level Design- 3/5
Most of the demo consists of you wandering through various forests, though there is the odd cave or mountain range thrown in. For the most part there's not much involved here other than getting from point A to point B. There are a few minor puzzles, but they tend to serve only as a minor inconvenience at best. One minor hiccup here is that it's not always clear what kind of terrain you can walk over and which kind will stop you in your tracks.

The exceptional addition to this category is the Encounter Orb which rests in the corner of the screen. It warns you of how close you are to your next battle, starting out green and eventually shifting over to red when a battle is imminent. The best part of this feature is the rate at which the orb speeds up is based on the terrain you walk on. Each tile has a noise level associated with it, and the noisier the tile the more monster attention you will attract. If you're trying to avoid combat you can stick to wide open plains, while walking through thick grass my attract attention a bit sooner. Start splashing around in water and you're going to be swarmed almost immediately. It's a great system to have and it operates logically.

Graphics- 5/5
The game uses almost entirely custom graphics. Custom battlers, custom tilesets, custom monsters, even custom battle animations. All of it appears to be hand drawn, looks good, and most importantly every object is recognizable. Both the status and battle menus seem to be custom, and they all look great without slowing the game down. Some of the story sequences are accentuated with a quick cut to a portrait displaying a bit of action, and overall this entire category just feels superbly polished. Everything looks great while retaining all functionality. Really that's all you can ask from graphics in a game.

Music/Sound- 3/5
I never recognized any of the songs, which is always a plus for me. None of them grated on me and none of them really stood out, so that's about all I have to say here.

Random stuff I liked-
The main character's tendency to notice strange things and comment on them.

Random stuff I hated-
The agility stat has been renamed to Elusion. Aside from the fact I had to grab a dictionary to confirm the definition of this word it isn't really as descriptive as it could be. Although this stat does determine evasion, it also determines turn order. Really sticking with Agility or Speed or something of that nature which describes both aspects of the stat would probably be best.

Final Thoughts-
A visually pleasing game. It's a bit average in the gameplay department but is not without a few choice innovations.

Overall Score 3.5/5
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Some extra notes for the developer-

I was never really clear on what the rules are for the brief stealth segment in the prison. I never had any idea what kind of range of sight each guard had and by the time I was through the place I was no closer to figuring it out.

After the whole thief incident, when you return to town with the goods near evening most of the NPCs still act as though it is early morning.

This was such a minor issue I didn't reflect it in the graphics score, but the store signs are way too small to read easily.

And now for some random advice from me, feel free to ignore this as they are just my opinions.

Phyl's Quick Shot skill was pathetically weak. I assumed it was some kind of tradeoff to compensate for the fact that it allowed him to attack first, but I really can't see any situation in which a 20 damage arrow is going to save my life. Considering the SP cost it should at least do as much damage as his normal attack, if not a bit more.

Also it seemed like Ryaena was a bit too powerful. She learns a low SP cost multi attack very early in the game that hits all enemies for her base damage, and on top of that she acts as the party's healer. She was easily the strongest character in my party which seemed to go against the storyline, in that she's supposed to be the most inexperienced fighter at the outset of the game.

Concerning the optional plant boss, it would be nice if you gave the player a chance to run from it. You do warn the player that it's dangerous, but I attempted to fight it anyway never realizing that I had absolutely zero chance to damage it. It's rather frustrating to realize a game over is coming in the next few turns and being unable to do anything at all about it.

I'd really like this game to show off its skill learning methods a bit more. You should have a large variety of weapons available right from the start of the game so the player has more than one path to take with their skills. One thing I worry about in this system is that some weapons are more effective at granting skills than others. For example just after I had leveled up Phyl, I came across a weapon that gave 2 proficiency points rather than 1 and was kicking myself for not finding it one battle sooner. It is a very bad thing to make your player afraid to level up because it might be more advantageous to level at a later time (see The Elder Scrolls series or Growlanser 3 for this flaw in action). If the game lasts long enough to give enough skill points in every category that's another matter, but I figured I'd mention it as something to watch out for.

I definitely noticed the attempt to stray away from RPG stereotypes, and it's something I appreciated. One of my favorite moments in the game is when you bust into a house in the casino town and a guy sitting on the couch says something to the effect of "Does this look like your house? It might to you, but it sure doesn't to me." He's so in your face about it that Markus can't do anything but awkwardly back away.

Game: Phantasia Remake

I'll start this review off by saying I was unable to finish this game. Not 5 minutes into the game I encountered so many bugs I felt like turning it off right then. You can walk over shop counters, the first town is lacking exit events, you can walk on top of certain doors rather than being able to enter them. Some doors just plain have no description at all. Once you get past that intro area you'll find many of the custom systems just don't plain function and a lot of the game to be broken in general.

Battle System- .5/5
The game uses a traditional ATB system, though it attempts to go that extra mile to implement a few new features. The first of which is a limit break of sorts which is supposed to grant you new skills when you are in critical condition. Unfortunately you'll be introduced to this system during a cutscene, and after the battle your ultimate skill is never actually removed from the character. In my two hours of playing I had several other party members reach critical condition, but none of them ever gained any extra skills.

The other extra system is the addition of Elemental Fields, which randomly appear in battle changing the form of certain skills. For example the main character begins with a standard sword technique that will suddenly change to fire element if a fire field should appear. Sadly you don't enough control over this system to really make it work for you. Even though the mage party member eventually gets a skill to randomize it, since so few skills actually utilize it and in some cases an elemental ability is worse than a standard one, it's more of an annoyance than anything else.

The balancing is where this system really breaks down. The disparity between one area and the next is just staggering. At one point of the game enemies were dealing roughly 7 damage per attack, and one map later I was suddenly being hit for 300s which would instantly kill any of my characters. As soon as I left that area the new enemies, which gave far more exp, were back down to hitting for 10-20s. Generally any time there are enemies that use physical attacks, they will be pathetically easy. Any time an enemy is capable of using skills, particularly spells, you're going to die horribly unless you've spent a lot of time grinding.

The only thing saving this battle system from a 0 is that it doesn't appear the game physically crashes at any one point, and if you felt like grinding enough you could probably pass anything the game threw at you.

Storyline- 0/5
The world is rotting, and you're going to need to find the four elemental orbs to restore it. Sound familiar? If not, this is the plot from Final Fantasy 1, and anyone who has played this game will recognize it as soon as the intro movie plays. For the first two hours of that game you pretty much follow this plot verbatim. You'll be rescuing princess Sara from Garland, beating down some pirates to acquire a ship, and eventually trekking off to a cave in order to reclaim the Earth Orb to save your dying village. The names have been changed (some of them not by enough), and there are a couple of extra events thrown in but that doesn't really excuse the fact this plot has been stolen. None of this is played for comedy at all. The author plays the whole thing straight and having to sit through this irritated me to no end. On top of that spelling errors are everywhere and grammatical errors are plentiful enough that you'll often be confused about what's actually going on. The game is also rarely clear about where you have to go next, and is usually satisfied with telling you to go directly North or West even if that's going to lead you straight to an ocean or mountain range.

Characters- 1/5
I'll start this category off by saying the main character is completely obnoxious. He starts off by leaving his village for some vaguely defined reason, and spends most of his time listing the measurements of every female you'll encounter and saying how hot everyone is. The rest of the characters have confusing and often inconsistent personalities, and although it made sense for them to join up with you in the context of saving the world there was never really any point where I thought this group of people should be wandering around dungeons together. I don't particularly have anything to say about the villain other than he is completely stereotypical, which I suppose is fine for a game like this.

Level Design- 1/5
I'll begin this category by describing the dungeons. Most of them are full of small empty rooms, and you'll usually only spend a few seconds in one before moving on to the next. There's really no real sense of direction to the layout, though since every dungeon is so small and lacking objects in general you'll be through all of them in a few minutes at most. The one puzzle I did encounter (a teleport maze) frequently broke and I found myself having to exit the area several times in order to get it to work. The towns seem haphazardly thrown together, often with the same exact building pasted around the map with a few trees and paths thrown in to separate things. Some towns inexplicably have two of the same shop .

Graphics- 3/5
From what I could most of the graphics here have been ripped straight out of various Tales games, and although it generally sticks to this consistent style there are a few areas that use the RTP and completely clash with everything else. One thing in particular that bothered me is the game does not have a large selection of sprites, so occasionally you'll see the odd thing like an NPC walking around town who looks identical to a villain you just killed moments earlier. Aside from those complaints the game looks decent enough.

Music/Sound- 2/5
Nothing but rips here. The songs I could pick out were from various Tales games and Star Ocean. Since pretty much every song is used in the exact same context that those games themselves employed it tends to be more distracting than anything else.

Random stuff I liked-
The title system. Sure it was shamelessly ripped from every Tales game ever, but it was still a clever use of the 5th equipment slot.

Random stuff I hated-
Nothing I haven't mentioned elsewhere.

Final Thoughts-
This may turn into a decent adventure at some point, and in many ways this is a complete game. Unfortunately with the multitude of bugs and hideous balancing it sure won't feel that way.


Overall Score 1/5
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Some extra notes for developer-

I can see you put a lot of work into this project, but it needs some serious fixing before it will be playable. Really all you need to do is play through the game once yourself in order to fix most of them, as a lot of the bugs are completely unavoidable and glaringly obvious. Unfortunately even if you fixed up this project I don't think I'd be able to give it anything higher than an average rating. There are of course people who will be completely satisfied with that type of adventure and that is fine, but I am not one of them.

My advice would be to drop this project and start playing some of the other games on this site for ideas. You seem to have an understanding of the underlying mechanics of RPG Maker, so I'm confident you'll be able to make a far better game than this. It's fine if you want your story to be cliche, but ripping it wholesale from an older game is just inexcusable unless you're attempting to parody it. You may also want to look around for someone to proofread your game in order to help correct a majority of the grammatical erorrs. Of course if you're not confident in your ability to tell a story you're best off keeping a bare bones script and just concentrating on the gameplay itself.
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To Nocturna- I am going to remove Death Proclaimed 1 and 2 from my list for the sake of my sanity. FG and Hali are both lined up to review your games and you'll find both of them to be competent and fair in their reviewing style. If for some reason you really feel my feedback is also required, I'll add them back in.

Game: Never Ending Maze of Death

Since I'm reviewing an FPS this time, I'll be throwing out my standard review format.

This game begins by dropping you into a gigantic maze filled with hostile enemies and numerous turrets. While you're running through a computerized voice will be insulting your feeble attempts at navigating the maze's treacherous corridors. Think Glados without the promise of delicious cake. You start off with a pistol loaded with one measly clip and nothing else but the shirt on your back (presumably, your character model is never shown). Fortunately there are all kinds of guns and ammo hidden throughout the maze, though you may have to fight your way past swarms of homicidal cyborgs in order to reach them. There's also plenty of health hidden about, and more importantly armor that will vastly reduce the damage you sustain until it is finally shredded by bullets and shrapnel.

The hardest part of the game is definitely right at the start. Enemies have a lot of health and if you're not accurate you're going to be running out of ammo long before you've killed anyone. Prior to gaining armor you'll also find yourself to be quite squishy, so you really need to prioritize gearing yourself up before you venture into the deeper parts of the maze. If you manage to equip yourself half decently and you still have enough to health to survive a few shots the game becomes much easier. It's mostly a matter of shooting first, strafing to avoid enemy shots, and running like mad in a serpentine pattern through turret infested hallways. Although most of the maze itself is fairly unremarkable, you'll occasionally find the odd tunnel to crawl through or a gap to jump over. The exception is the climax, which I will not spoil but will definitely have you on the edge of your seat (assuming you don't die horribly). I should note the controls included swimming, but I never encountered water in the maze myself.

I must take a moment now to describe the graphics. They are...minimalist. The maze itself consists nothing of a series of checkered white and black boxes (until the final moments of the game). You won't be taken in by the wonderful atmosphere but this small detail provides enough perspective to clearly define every edge of every corridor.

The game included a lot of features I really appreciate in a homebrew game. It allows you to change graphics options, remap controls, and even includes a perfectly functional save system. The game has multiple difficulties, multiple routes to the exit, and a lot of hidden areas, so there's a decent bit of replayability here.

Random stuff I liked-
The death animation for the machinegun robots. Parts fly everywhere.

The final stretch towards the exit of the maze, it was very intense.

Random stuff I hated-
Those floating orbs of death that wander the corridors.

Final Thoughts-
A worthy download for anyone who needs a FPS fix. You're going to die a lot, but it's engaging enough to keep you playing until the end. And yes, it does actually end.

Overall Score 3/5
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Some notes for the developer-

The random ally you find in the 2nd part of the maze probably needs an AI adjustment. Every time I encountered him he ran straight to the nearest enemy and hugged them furiously until they blew his brains out. I guess he was kind of useful in that human shield aspect, but I would've liked to see him at least kill a single enemy before he got mowed down.

I felt the machinegun robots were a bit too strong, especially since you'll be seeing a lot of them of throughout the earliest areas of the game. They're the only enemy you can't dodge and since they tend to be guarding a lot of necessary items I felt it made things a little more difficult than it needed to be.

This game ran really, really slow on my PC. I am using a total piece of crap so I gave your game the benefit of the doubt and tried not to reflect this issue in my score. Unfortunately as this was a high difficulty game I had a really hard time finishing it on Normal, and did not have the heart to try any other difficulties. I wanted to give a more in depth review than this, but hopefully it was sufficient to provide at least some useful feedback.

Enemies Killed: 43 of 98. Weak.
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And now, back to being level 1...again.

To Chaos- I am a huge MegaTen fan, ever since I picked up the first on SNES.

Hey, I actually spent 6 hours working on my own game today! The real trick is to never sleep. It's just throwing away 8 perfectly good hours every day. I also find you can complete games a bit faster if you grow a third arm.