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Silviera
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I am amateur game developer, and even more amateur reviewer, currently in and out of college.
I am currently developing a game called Eternity: The Black Star along with Solitayre, which is nearing its first release.
I have extremely high standards, so please don't be offended if you believe that I have reviewed your game unfairly. My focus is on improving the body of a work primarily by pointing out what I think are its flaws, but feel free to ignore me if I am wrong (and I will be).
I am currently developing a game called Eternity: The Black Star along with Solitayre, which is nearing its first release.
I have extremely high standards, so please don't be offended if you believe that I have reviewed your game unfairly. My focus is on improving the body of a work primarily by pointing out what I think are its flaws, but feel free to ignore me if I am wrong (and I will be).
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Silviera's Review Requests
Game: Darksteel
Battle System- 3/5
Pretty standard system here, and it's all reasonably balanced. I didn't feel like my heroes had a lot to do other than spam damage skills, but since the demo is pretty short to begin with there's not really a wealth of abilities to choose from just yet. There is one feature I appreciated, which is the addition of a Sheathe command. This lets you swap weapons during battle to exploit enemy weaknesses, but since battles tend to be over so quickly to begin with, and bosses didn't seem to be weak against anything at all, there's not much reason to waste a turn doing it. Overall it's a decent concept that needs a bit of tweaking.
Storyline- 3/5
Thus far it appears to be a typical plot about a demonic overlord and the magic swords that once destroyed him. The script is very well written, and there may be twists and turns along the way, but at this stage it's just too early to tell. One thing that bothered me is the game begins by sending you against an enemy with a full party of heroes, and even lets you select their skills in combat. Unfortunately before so much as a single attack goes off control is wrested from the player and we get to watch another cutscene right away. This scene also kind of ruined one of the mysteries you'll be working towards in the beginning of the game, as you pretty much know exactly what has happened.
Characters- 3/5
We begin the game with a fighter and his smarmy mage buddy, and there's a decent bit of banter between the two as the game progresses. Their personalities are well defined and the dialogue flows quite naturally. Still a bit too early for me to tell much about this category, but it's definitely showing some promise.
Level Design- 4.5/5
Definitely the game's strongest point, every map is detailed and interesting. The highlight comes from exploring dungeons, and you'll be spending most of your time here. Everything is far more innovative than your average puzzle, and many areas make use of a perfectly functional jump command. There's a nice visual effect to every puzzle that is immediately apparent, such as draining the water out of one room to get past an obstacle in the next. Several of the areas revolve around jumping, and there's a real sense of elevation you don't see in a lot of games. You'll probably know exactly when you can clear an obstacle and when you can't about 10 minutes into the first dungeon. There's plenty of hidden items to be found, and all of them have a nice visual cue so you know when to start looking. The only thing dragging this score down is one puzzle where you may find yourself trapped if you come across a very specific situation, though I imagine that will be fixed with the next release.
Graphics- 3/5
As far as I could tell this game stuck strictly the VX RTP. Maps are well organized, and everything looks good enough, but the author hasn't really gone that extra mile to impress you with anything.
Music/Sound- 3/5
Mostly rips and default sound effects here, though there are a few extra screams and evil laughs thrown in. You'll mostly be listening to somber dungeon music, but with all the exploration you'll be doing you probably wont' be focusing on this aspect of the game much.
Random stuff I liked-
The jump command. I wish the game let you use it in every single area.
Random stuff I hated-
I was unable to talk to certain NPCs in several areas. It was clear these people were busy and really had no business speaking to me at the time, but nevertheless it still annoyed me.
Final Thoughts-
Thanks to the solid level design this game is shaping up to be one of the better titles out there. I can recommend downloading it to see how far along it has come, and more than that I recommend keeping an eye out for future versions.
Overall Score 3.5/5
----
Some extra notes for the developer-
The fedora item probably needs to say it gives +2 spirit in the description. Since it adds no defense it shows up as +0 on the shop window, so the player doesn't see any reason to buy one (alternatively, there's probably a script somewhere out there that improves the shop window, but then again I've never worked with VX).
In the map Hurst>Caves>Mines 2, you can walk onto the ladder from the bottom. It doesn't cause any major bugs but it sure looks odd.
In the Fire, Water, Earth puzzle (which to me was the best in the game thus far), you can get trapped at the bottom center of the map if you choose a bad sequence. There's no way to escape this area and the player will have to load their last save.
Hurst lags me to death. I know this is largely due to the stone age machine I'm using at the moment, so it's probably not a very big deal. However I noticed you put an exit event on every single tile at the edges of the screen, which causes a lot of event lag. If you instead used a parallel process event (with a wait command to make sure it doesn't run too fast) to check the hero's coordinates and just have them exit when they reach the edge, it would at least reduce lag for people with terrible PCs like myself.
That's it for the bug report, now on to some minor advice.
It felt like the rate at which monsters gave exp was not increasing fast enough to match the inflation of the leveling curve. I'd say one of these needs some adjustment, probably the former if you're confident in your balancing ability, and the latter if you want to keep leveling easy for those players who grind a lot.
Shops in general need some work. You really don't have much to buy other than recovery items after you finally reach the town, and since monsters don't drop much gold to begin with you can't pick up much of anything.
Regarding Sheathe, I think the monsters will need a little adjustment before it's worth using. If I were you I'd be setting monster weaknesses to 200% so that the player instantly sees there is a great difference between using different weapons. Other than that, I'd give every boss a 150% weakness (maybe even 200% on those first bosses just so the player sees how effective the system can be)since those are the battles that really last long enough where a player might see the advantage in swapping out for a more advantageous weapon. Having bosses resist a certain type of weapon would also be effective, since if a player notices they're suddenly doing no damage they're going to try and do something about it. As a final note I found it very strange that a club was not effective against a skeleton.
And as a last, very minor issue, I hate to watch my heroes crawl slowly to the top of a tall ladder. In such situations I recommend having the player climb a few steps and just instantly teleporting them to the next map.
Battle System- 3/5
Pretty standard system here, and it's all reasonably balanced. I didn't feel like my heroes had a lot to do other than spam damage skills, but since the demo is pretty short to begin with there's not really a wealth of abilities to choose from just yet. There is one feature I appreciated, which is the addition of a Sheathe command. This lets you swap weapons during battle to exploit enemy weaknesses, but since battles tend to be over so quickly to begin with, and bosses didn't seem to be weak against anything at all, there's not much reason to waste a turn doing it. Overall it's a decent concept that needs a bit of tweaking.
Storyline- 3/5
Thus far it appears to be a typical plot about a demonic overlord and the magic swords that once destroyed him. The script is very well written, and there may be twists and turns along the way, but at this stage it's just too early to tell. One thing that bothered me is the game begins by sending you against an enemy with a full party of heroes, and even lets you select their skills in combat. Unfortunately before so much as a single attack goes off control is wrested from the player and we get to watch another cutscene right away. This scene also kind of ruined one of the mysteries you'll be working towards in the beginning of the game, as you pretty much know exactly what has happened.
Characters- 3/5
We begin the game with a fighter and his smarmy mage buddy, and there's a decent bit of banter between the two as the game progresses. Their personalities are well defined and the dialogue flows quite naturally. Still a bit too early for me to tell much about this category, but it's definitely showing some promise.
Level Design- 4.5/5
Definitely the game's strongest point, every map is detailed and interesting. The highlight comes from exploring dungeons, and you'll be spending most of your time here. Everything is far more innovative than your average puzzle, and many areas make use of a perfectly functional jump command. There's a nice visual effect to every puzzle that is immediately apparent, such as draining the water out of one room to get past an obstacle in the next. Several of the areas revolve around jumping, and there's a real sense of elevation you don't see in a lot of games. You'll probably know exactly when you can clear an obstacle and when you can't about 10 minutes into the first dungeon. There's plenty of hidden items to be found, and all of them have a nice visual cue so you know when to start looking. The only thing dragging this score down is one puzzle where you may find yourself trapped if you come across a very specific situation, though I imagine that will be fixed with the next release.
Graphics- 3/5
As far as I could tell this game stuck strictly the VX RTP. Maps are well organized, and everything looks good enough, but the author hasn't really gone that extra mile to impress you with anything.
Music/Sound- 3/5
Mostly rips and default sound effects here, though there are a few extra screams and evil laughs thrown in. You'll mostly be listening to somber dungeon music, but with all the exploration you'll be doing you probably wont' be focusing on this aspect of the game much.
Random stuff I liked-
The jump command. I wish the game let you use it in every single area.
Random stuff I hated-
I was unable to talk to certain NPCs in several areas. It was clear these people were busy and really had no business speaking to me at the time, but nevertheless it still annoyed me.
Final Thoughts-
Thanks to the solid level design this game is shaping up to be one of the better titles out there. I can recommend downloading it to see how far along it has come, and more than that I recommend keeping an eye out for future versions.
Overall Score 3.5/5
----
Some extra notes for the developer-
The fedora item probably needs to say it gives +2 spirit in the description. Since it adds no defense it shows up as +0 on the shop window, so the player doesn't see any reason to buy one (alternatively, there's probably a script somewhere out there that improves the shop window, but then again I've never worked with VX).
In the map Hurst>Caves>Mines 2, you can walk onto the ladder from the bottom. It doesn't cause any major bugs but it sure looks odd.
In the Fire, Water, Earth puzzle (which to me was the best in the game thus far), you can get trapped at the bottom center of the map if you choose a bad sequence. There's no way to escape this area and the player will have to load their last save.
Hurst lags me to death. I know this is largely due to the stone age machine I'm using at the moment, so it's probably not a very big deal. However I noticed you put an exit event on every single tile at the edges of the screen, which causes a lot of event lag. If you instead used a parallel process event (with a wait command to make sure it doesn't run too fast) to check the hero's coordinates and just have them exit when they reach the edge, it would at least reduce lag for people with terrible PCs like myself.
That's it for the bug report, now on to some minor advice.
It felt like the rate at which monsters gave exp was not increasing fast enough to match the inflation of the leveling curve. I'd say one of these needs some adjustment, probably the former if you're confident in your balancing ability, and the latter if you want to keep leveling easy for those players who grind a lot.
Shops in general need some work. You really don't have much to buy other than recovery items after you finally reach the town, and since monsters don't drop much gold to begin with you can't pick up much of anything.
Regarding Sheathe, I think the monsters will need a little adjustment before it's worth using. If I were you I'd be setting monster weaknesses to 200% so that the player instantly sees there is a great difference between using different weapons. Other than that, I'd give every boss a 150% weakness (maybe even 200% on those first bosses just so the player sees how effective the system can be)since those are the battles that really last long enough where a player might see the advantage in swapping out for a more advantageous weapon. Having bosses resist a certain type of weapon would also be effective, since if a player notices they're suddenly doing no damage they're going to try and do something about it. As a final note I found it very strange that a club was not effective against a skeleton.
And as a last, very minor issue, I hate to watch my heroes crawl slowly to the top of a tall ladder. In such situations I recommend having the player climb a few steps and just instantly teleporting them to the next map.
Silviera's Review Requests
Game: Fenrir: First Operation
Battle System- 4/5
This is a top down action game where you kill enemies by shooting directly forward. You can lock your character's direction by pressing the shift key, which will allow you to strafe. You have a health and ammo meter which are constantly displayed via a HUD, and both can be restocked by picking up various items scattered around the maps. You'll spend the entire game wandering through a space station fighting off guards and other strange creatures, and it's actually a lot of fun. Checkpoints are frequent and will instantly respawn you on death, throwing you right back into the action. The bosses are where the real fun comes in, and there are a handful of them even though the game is incredibly short. The only flaws with this system are strictly technical, and considering it's made with rm2k3 I can't think of a good way around most of them. You'll encounter the odd bug such as bullets being stopped by invisible walls, or enemies who will get stuck trying to navigate towards you. Fortunately none of these bugs are game breaking, and are at worst a small annoyance. Even though it's not perfectly polished the bottom line is that it's a lot of fun to play.
Storyline/Characters- 3/5
You are a soldier raiding a space station full of crazy aliens and scientists. It's a story that would be right at home in an FPS, and is told through raw actions rather than lengthy cutscenes. You'll probably spend 60 seconds at most reading dialogue, but you'll know exactly what's going on because you are seeing it firsthand. It's a simple plot for a simple game, and it works.
Level Design- 3/5
Not a whole lot to say about this category. You'll be blasting through each area very quickly, and you won't be concerned with much other than diving behind cover in order to avoid enemy bullets. The game does include two very short chase sequences that are rather intense, but other than that there's not a whole lot going on here. I felt there was more potential to make levels interesting considering the custom made battle system, but I guess this game was just too short to go beyond the basics.
Graphics- 3/5
The game appears to use primarily graphics ripped from Pokemon and a few edits. Everything is nice and consistent, but I'm not sure this was really the best design choice for this style of game. More than anything else I'd have liked to see a bit of blood and a few dead bodies here and there, considering the level of violence you experience.
Music/Sound- 2/5
Nothing but the RTP here. No major complaints in this category, though there a handful of scenes I thought could definitely use a different song. In particular some of the chase sequences and battle themes were probably a bit too upbeat to match what was happening in the game.
Random stuff I liked-
The 2nd Boss. I never thought I'd feel like I was playing a Bullet Hell game in rm2k3, but for a brief moment I did.
Random stuff I hated-
Not a thing.
Final Thoughts-
It's a short game, but it's also a fun game. Definitely worth a download if you're a fan of action games.
Overall Score 3.5/5
----
Some extra notes for the developer-
During the dark floors, you're unable to see your ammo display.
On the map Stairs>Reception Area, the tiles at (010,011), (011,012), and (012,011) are impassable. This seems to stem from a glitch involving the boss shields that will appear here later. Specifically the shields are set to vanish when an EnemyHP variable is set to 0, except they're set as Same Layer as Hero. Since the variable is set to 0 by default the first time you're in the area this part of the event is active. Setting it to Below Hero should fix the issue as far as I know, though I didn't look too deeply into the boss code to see if it would break anything there.
In the map Lobby>Stairs, just prior to walking up the staircase if you step north your character can walk through the wall. The same problem exists on the map at the top of the staircase, and appears to be a passability error involving the edge of the railing.
That's it for the bug report, now for a couple small changes I'd like to see. I must stress these are only my humble opinions.
After you've been killed by a boss, re-entering the boss room should automatically skip the cutscene and take you straight to the action. It's a small touch but I think it's one players will appreciate.
You should probably describe the differences between the machine gun and the shotgun, I was never able to pinpoint the difference between them aside from the fact they used different ammo.
That's it from me, I look forward to the Second Operation (if one is indeed in progress).
----
To the J-Man: I don't see Phantasia 5 anywhere on this site, but I'll get around to reviewing your other games once I've finished all the requests before them.
Battle System- 4/5
This is a top down action game where you kill enemies by shooting directly forward. You can lock your character's direction by pressing the shift key, which will allow you to strafe. You have a health and ammo meter which are constantly displayed via a HUD, and both can be restocked by picking up various items scattered around the maps. You'll spend the entire game wandering through a space station fighting off guards and other strange creatures, and it's actually a lot of fun. Checkpoints are frequent and will instantly respawn you on death, throwing you right back into the action. The bosses are where the real fun comes in, and there are a handful of them even though the game is incredibly short. The only flaws with this system are strictly technical, and considering it's made with rm2k3 I can't think of a good way around most of them. You'll encounter the odd bug such as bullets being stopped by invisible walls, or enemies who will get stuck trying to navigate towards you. Fortunately none of these bugs are game breaking, and are at worst a small annoyance. Even though it's not perfectly polished the bottom line is that it's a lot of fun to play.
Storyline/Characters- 3/5
You are a soldier raiding a space station full of crazy aliens and scientists. It's a story that would be right at home in an FPS, and is told through raw actions rather than lengthy cutscenes. You'll probably spend 60 seconds at most reading dialogue, but you'll know exactly what's going on because you are seeing it firsthand. It's a simple plot for a simple game, and it works.
Level Design- 3/5
Not a whole lot to say about this category. You'll be blasting through each area very quickly, and you won't be concerned with much other than diving behind cover in order to avoid enemy bullets. The game does include two very short chase sequences that are rather intense, but other than that there's not a whole lot going on here. I felt there was more potential to make levels interesting considering the custom made battle system, but I guess this game was just too short to go beyond the basics.
Graphics- 3/5
The game appears to use primarily graphics ripped from Pokemon and a few edits. Everything is nice and consistent, but I'm not sure this was really the best design choice for this style of game. More than anything else I'd have liked to see a bit of blood and a few dead bodies here and there, considering the level of violence you experience.
Music/Sound- 2/5
Nothing but the RTP here. No major complaints in this category, though there a handful of scenes I thought could definitely use a different song. In particular some of the chase sequences and battle themes were probably a bit too upbeat to match what was happening in the game.
Random stuff I liked-
The 2nd Boss. I never thought I'd feel like I was playing a Bullet Hell game in rm2k3, but for a brief moment I did.
Random stuff I hated-
Not a thing.
Final Thoughts-
It's a short game, but it's also a fun game. Definitely worth a download if you're a fan of action games.
Overall Score 3.5/5
----
Some extra notes for the developer-
During the dark floors, you're unable to see your ammo display.
On the map Stairs>Reception Area, the tiles at (010,011), (011,012), and (012,011) are impassable. This seems to stem from a glitch involving the boss shields that will appear here later. Specifically the shields are set to vanish when an EnemyHP variable is set to 0, except they're set as Same Layer as Hero. Since the variable is set to 0 by default the first time you're in the area this part of the event is active. Setting it to Below Hero should fix the issue as far as I know, though I didn't look too deeply into the boss code to see if it would break anything there.
In the map Lobby>Stairs, just prior to walking up the staircase if you step north your character can walk through the wall. The same problem exists on the map at the top of the staircase, and appears to be a passability error involving the edge of the railing.
That's it for the bug report, now for a couple small changes I'd like to see. I must stress these are only my humble opinions.
After you've been killed by a boss, re-entering the boss room should automatically skip the cutscene and take you straight to the action. It's a small touch but I think it's one players will appreciate.
You should probably describe the differences between the machine gun and the shotgun, I was never able to pinpoint the difference between them aside from the fact they used different ammo.
That's it from me, I look forward to the Second Operation (if one is indeed in progress).
----
To the J-Man: I don't see Phantasia 5 anywhere on this site, but I'll get around to reviewing your other games once I've finished all the requests before them.
Silviera's Review Requests
Game: Solar Tear
Battle System- 1/5
The game uses traditional rm2k3 mechanics, with no twists whatsoever thrown in. Unfortunately, it also suffers from a severe case of poor balancing. The game is merciless right off the bat, and it really doesn't give you enough information to deal with everything. You begin the game with no weapon and no items, and although you do have enough money to equip yourself a wrong purchase or a string of bad luck might kill you outright. Many of the enemies in the first area make liberal use of two different poison skills, each of which requires a separate item to cure and do not wear off after battle. Although it is possible to avoid combat in these early areas entirely, since you're given no exp for taking alternate routes you'll be in serious trouble as soon as you reach the next monster infested dungeon. Battles become far easier if you manage to recruit a second character, but since this does not occur on all story paths it's not something you can rely on.
I will note it is possible to grind out extra levels to progress, though it requires careful planning and an understanding of the enemies you will be facing in each area. It's probably something you won't be able to pull off unless you've died once and started over, but the leveling curve is extremely fast so if you're determined to finish this game it is quite feasible.
Storyline- 3/5
You are a hacker living in the slums, and you are having a bad day. You just got fired from your well paying job in a very bad neighborhood and you'll have to wander through monster infested sewers, gang territory, or get a bit more creative to find your way home. Unfortunately you're also pretty far behind on the rent, and your landlord wants a serious down payment in the next week or you're going to be in serious trouble. A mysterious message on your answering machines informs you of an extremely lucrative job opportunity, though the details are sketchy at best. Since you don't have many options, you're forced to jump at the opportunity. Overall it's a pretty interesting premise, and most of the time the writing is quite solid. There are a few areas where I thought the dialogue felt a bit unnatural. Sadly, the story never progresses far beyond my summary in the demo, and since this project is canceled this is the way things shall always be.
Characters- 3/5
There are really only two characters of note here, the main character and a party member you might end up recruiting on certain story paths (though I haven't ruled out the possibility I've missed a character). The dejected main character is rather interesting, particularly with the way she continues to calmly roll with the punches no matter what crap is piled on to her. There's some interesting banter if you manage to recruit that side character, and having them around helps to develop the main a bit more as well. Unfortunately the demo ended just as I was starting to like them, long before they had any significant development.
Level Design- 4/5
Definitely a strong point in this game, each map is expansive and detailed. Great care has been taken into crafting a believable sci fi slum, and the author has spared no expense for the smallest details. The very first area you'll encounter is the most impressive, as by my count there are at least four different routes to take in order to pass through. Some of them are a bit more fleshed out than others, but they're all worth taking the time to experience once. There are plenty of secret items and hidden passages, some of which will alleviate a bit of the suffering you'll be facing during battles. The game only has a handful of puzzles, but all of them are interesting and will require a bit of thought to conquer.
Graphics- 4.5/5
Part of what makes the level design work is that each graphic has been meticulously selected. The whole game has a very gritty feel to it, and there's a consistency to the style that you don't see in many RPG Maker games. The author has paid particular attention to scale here, especially in the case of enemy battlers where their size is relative to the hero's sprite. However, there is one small glitch in the system. Some of the doors are just plain hard to see against certain backdrops, and you may find yourself wandering past the same area several times before you notice one sitting in the background. This could easily be fixed with an indicator which informs you of exits in each area.
Music/Sound- 3/5
Lots of techno here, which fits the setting well enough. The only song I recognized was a battle theme from Legend of Dragoon, and although this particular song tended to grate on me (I didn't like it in that game either), the overall mood set by the music is quite solid.
Random stuff I liked-
Ben the Bum. More the name than anything.
Random stuff I hated-
Your character's walk speed is set to half of the default. You'll be virtually crawling around every single map, but at least you'll be enjoying the view.
Final Thoughts-
A game that's worth trying if only for the visual experience. If you've got a problem with incredibly difficult battles, you'll want to stay away.
Overall Score 2.5/5
----
some extra notes for the developer
There was a lot I liked about this game, but since you spend way too much time in the broken battle system it really detracted from my enjoyment. I'm a little sad to see you've given up on the project as I was really interested in seeing where things were developing, but I suppose it's always better to move forward.
----
And a final note for GamesOverGames Productions- judging by the story so far I'm going with teer (as in crying).
Battle System- 1/5
The game uses traditional rm2k3 mechanics, with no twists whatsoever thrown in. Unfortunately, it also suffers from a severe case of poor balancing. The game is merciless right off the bat, and it really doesn't give you enough information to deal with everything. You begin the game with no weapon and no items, and although you do have enough money to equip yourself a wrong purchase or a string of bad luck might kill you outright. Many of the enemies in the first area make liberal use of two different poison skills, each of which requires a separate item to cure and do not wear off after battle. Although it is possible to avoid combat in these early areas entirely, since you're given no exp for taking alternate routes you'll be in serious trouble as soon as you reach the next monster infested dungeon. Battles become far easier if you manage to recruit a second character, but since this does not occur on all story paths it's not something you can rely on.
I will note it is possible to grind out extra levels to progress, though it requires careful planning and an understanding of the enemies you will be facing in each area. It's probably something you won't be able to pull off unless you've died once and started over, but the leveling curve is extremely fast so if you're determined to finish this game it is quite feasible.
Storyline- 3/5
You are a hacker living in the slums, and you are having a bad day. You just got fired from your well paying job in a very bad neighborhood and you'll have to wander through monster infested sewers, gang territory, or get a bit more creative to find your way home. Unfortunately you're also pretty far behind on the rent, and your landlord wants a serious down payment in the next week or you're going to be in serious trouble. A mysterious message on your answering machines informs you of an extremely lucrative job opportunity, though the details are sketchy at best. Since you don't have many options, you're forced to jump at the opportunity. Overall it's a pretty interesting premise, and most of the time the writing is quite solid. There are a few areas where I thought the dialogue felt a bit unnatural. Sadly, the story never progresses far beyond my summary in the demo, and since this project is canceled this is the way things shall always be.
Characters- 3/5
There are really only two characters of note here, the main character and a party member you might end up recruiting on certain story paths (though I haven't ruled out the possibility I've missed a character). The dejected main character is rather interesting, particularly with the way she continues to calmly roll with the punches no matter what crap is piled on to her. There's some interesting banter if you manage to recruit that side character, and having them around helps to develop the main a bit more as well. Unfortunately the demo ended just as I was starting to like them, long before they had any significant development.
Level Design- 4/5
Definitely a strong point in this game, each map is expansive and detailed. Great care has been taken into crafting a believable sci fi slum, and the author has spared no expense for the smallest details. The very first area you'll encounter is the most impressive, as by my count there are at least four different routes to take in order to pass through. Some of them are a bit more fleshed out than others, but they're all worth taking the time to experience once. There are plenty of secret items and hidden passages, some of which will alleviate a bit of the suffering you'll be facing during battles. The game only has a handful of puzzles, but all of them are interesting and will require a bit of thought to conquer.
Graphics- 4.5/5
Part of what makes the level design work is that each graphic has been meticulously selected. The whole game has a very gritty feel to it, and there's a consistency to the style that you don't see in many RPG Maker games. The author has paid particular attention to scale here, especially in the case of enemy battlers where their size is relative to the hero's sprite. However, there is one small glitch in the system. Some of the doors are just plain hard to see against certain backdrops, and you may find yourself wandering past the same area several times before you notice one sitting in the background. This could easily be fixed with an indicator which informs you of exits in each area.
Music/Sound- 3/5
Lots of techno here, which fits the setting well enough. The only song I recognized was a battle theme from Legend of Dragoon, and although this particular song tended to grate on me (I didn't like it in that game either), the overall mood set by the music is quite solid.
Random stuff I liked-
Ben the Bum. More the name than anything.
Random stuff I hated-
Your character's walk speed is set to half of the default. You'll be virtually crawling around every single map, but at least you'll be enjoying the view.
Final Thoughts-
A game that's worth trying if only for the visual experience. If you've got a problem with incredibly difficult battles, you'll want to stay away.
Overall Score 2.5/5
----
some extra notes for the developer
There was a lot I liked about this game, but since you spend way too much time in the broken battle system it really detracted from my enjoyment. I'm a little sad to see you've given up on the project as I was really interested in seeing where things were developing, but I suppose it's always better to move forward.
----
And a final note for GamesOverGames Productions- judging by the story so far I'm going with teer (as in crying).
Silviera's Review Requests
Game: The Realms Shattered
Battle System- 0/5
The battle system is buggy, terribly balanced, and will probably end your game the moment you reach it. There is only one segment of the game that contains combat, but if you haven't prepared perfectly for it you are going to die. The worst part is you get locked into this battle area and can't return to heal or pick up items you've missed.
Storyline- 3/5
A pretty standard start here. We've got a village girl who doesn't quite fit in and spends her time exploring and fighting monsters. The quality of the writing is very high, but at this stage of the demo there's just nothing going on beyond the initial premise.
Characters- 3/5
This category is fairly promising. The first town is absolutely packed with characters and they're all quite lively. They're all provided with names, but since they are everywhere it will be pretty rough to keep track of everyone. I don't have a whole lot to say about the main cast since they don't get a lot of dialogue in the demo, but there's definitely some potential here.
Level Design- 2/5
The map design is pretty solid here, though there are a handful of dangerous bugs lurking about. One of which will cause your game to crash. There's not much to do here. No puzzle to solve, no hidden items to uncover (that I found). There are a handful of sidequests, but none of them involve much other than hunting down a specific person in town. The mapping looks decent enough, but things are at too early a stage for me to elaborate any further.
Graphics- 3/5
Definitely an old school feeling to these graphics, which is mostly drawn from the character sprites. They're all confined to a single tile and are reminiscent of some of the older Final Fantasy games. The characters blend surprisingly well with the RTP, but there are a couple things that bothered me such as having wardrobes that are twice the size of the person opening them.
Music/Sound- 3/5
You don't get to hear a lot of songs since the demo is quite short, but from what I could tell most songs were remixes of rips from various games. Most of the music seems to have been chosen with that old school theme in mind, so I have no particular complaints in this category, though at the same time nothing really jumped out at me.
Final Thoughts-
In its current state the bugs and poor balance render this game virtually unplayable. That said, there's definitely some potential here.
Overall Score 1/5
some notes for the developer-
In Mirror Realm>Towns>Louva>House 01, the exit event is set to action key rather than touch. This lets you walk out on to the black space part of the map and may end up trapping players who are confused by what's going on.
After Ewan gives you your mission to enter the forest, entering the Inn will cause a crash to the game giving the message "The file Chara2 cannot be found". The offending event is Halbert at 008,004, on the map Mirror Realm>Towns>Louva>Festival>Inn, who appears to be missing his character graphic.
When Ewan gives you 3 herbs, the message saying you have received them is off center.
Narissa has a skill called Lyfe which costs 0 MP, it is lacking any kind of description and plays a punch animation when used.
Narissa's buff skills are described as doubling various stats, but all they do is add +5. Since her stats are all in the 20s-30s at level 1 they have no visible effect on combat.
If you die during the Green Bean fight for a 2nd time, Jidor will appear and attempt a rescue a second time as though the fight had never happened in the first place.
During the festival, entering any building will screw up the lighting effects outside.
If you get 7 tokens in the dig minigame, you'll actually get two sets of prizes.
Alright, now that all the bugs are out of the way, here's my advice on fixing up the battle system. Feel free to take it or leave it, I need to stress that these are just my opinions based on what I know about rm2k3.
First problem is there are way too many opportunities for an attack to fail. Weapons don't have a 100% hit rate, skills don't have a 100% hit rate, and enemies have a chance to dodge due to their agility stat. Put that all together and accuracy drops to a miserable percentage. I'd suggest leaving both weapons and skills at 100%, except in a few rare cases. One is in the case of an extremely powerful weapon, where the downside could be that it loses a bit of accuracy. Pretty much the same advice on skills here, though with the addition that multi target skills may want to take an accuracy hit as well.
Next up, the first area you actually reach combat is far too difficult. You can't really do anything but attack, and since enemies drain life faster than you can deal damage a string of bad luck is going to be a game over. There's really no reason you should lock the player into this area when they enter, especially without any indication. The Green Bean boss is ludicrously powerful. He can kill anyone in two hits and can effectively heal 4 hits worth of damage any time he chooses. Since he's got a great deal of hp I really can't see anyone progressing past this point. If you're going to be focusing on the writing of your game you don't want to have your players get stuck spending all their time trying to pass your incredibly difficult battles.
I suggest powering up Narissa's buffs a great deal, and giving her at least one attack skill to start off with so the player has more to do than mash the confirm button as fast as they can.
And always, always, keep a close eye on the Agility stat for both your heroes and monsters. It determines how frequently anyone gets a turn during battle, and unbalance here will break your entire battle system. I'd suggest at the very least your heroes should be faster than your monsters, just so the player doesn't spend all their time waiting for a turn while they watch the enemy beat them senseless.
That's it for advice from me. This game is very rough around the edges but it's something I'll be keeping an eye on. I look forward to future versions.
Battle System- 0/5
The battle system is buggy, terribly balanced, and will probably end your game the moment you reach it. There is only one segment of the game that contains combat, but if you haven't prepared perfectly for it you are going to die. The worst part is you get locked into this battle area and can't return to heal or pick up items you've missed.
Storyline- 3/5
A pretty standard start here. We've got a village girl who doesn't quite fit in and spends her time exploring and fighting monsters. The quality of the writing is very high, but at this stage of the demo there's just nothing going on beyond the initial premise.
Characters- 3/5
This category is fairly promising. The first town is absolutely packed with characters and they're all quite lively. They're all provided with names, but since they are everywhere it will be pretty rough to keep track of everyone. I don't have a whole lot to say about the main cast since they don't get a lot of dialogue in the demo, but there's definitely some potential here.
Level Design- 2/5
The map design is pretty solid here, though there are a handful of dangerous bugs lurking about. One of which will cause your game to crash. There's not much to do here. No puzzle to solve, no hidden items to uncover (that I found). There are a handful of sidequests, but none of them involve much other than hunting down a specific person in town. The mapping looks decent enough, but things are at too early a stage for me to elaborate any further.
Graphics- 3/5
Definitely an old school feeling to these graphics, which is mostly drawn from the character sprites. They're all confined to a single tile and are reminiscent of some of the older Final Fantasy games. The characters blend surprisingly well with the RTP, but there are a couple things that bothered me such as having wardrobes that are twice the size of the person opening them.
Music/Sound- 3/5
You don't get to hear a lot of songs since the demo is quite short, but from what I could tell most songs were remixes of rips from various games. Most of the music seems to have been chosen with that old school theme in mind, so I have no particular complaints in this category, though at the same time nothing really jumped out at me.
Final Thoughts-
In its current state the bugs and poor balance render this game virtually unplayable. That said, there's definitely some potential here.
Overall Score 1/5
some notes for the developer-
In Mirror Realm>Towns>Louva>House 01, the exit event is set to action key rather than touch. This lets you walk out on to the black space part of the map and may end up trapping players who are confused by what's going on.
After Ewan gives you your mission to enter the forest, entering the Inn will cause a crash to the game giving the message "The file Chara2 cannot be found". The offending event is Halbert at 008,004, on the map Mirror Realm>Towns>Louva>Festival>Inn, who appears to be missing his character graphic.
When Ewan gives you 3 herbs, the message saying you have received them is off center.
Narissa has a skill called Lyfe which costs 0 MP, it is lacking any kind of description and plays a punch animation when used.
Narissa's buff skills are described as doubling various stats, but all they do is add +5. Since her stats are all in the 20s-30s at level 1 they have no visible effect on combat.
If you die during the Green Bean fight for a 2nd time, Jidor will appear and attempt a rescue a second time as though the fight had never happened in the first place.
During the festival, entering any building will screw up the lighting effects outside.
If you get 7 tokens in the dig minigame, you'll actually get two sets of prizes.
Alright, now that all the bugs are out of the way, here's my advice on fixing up the battle system. Feel free to take it or leave it, I need to stress that these are just my opinions based on what I know about rm2k3.
First problem is there are way too many opportunities for an attack to fail. Weapons don't have a 100% hit rate, skills don't have a 100% hit rate, and enemies have a chance to dodge due to their agility stat. Put that all together and accuracy drops to a miserable percentage. I'd suggest leaving both weapons and skills at 100%, except in a few rare cases. One is in the case of an extremely powerful weapon, where the downside could be that it loses a bit of accuracy. Pretty much the same advice on skills here, though with the addition that multi target skills may want to take an accuracy hit as well.
Next up, the first area you actually reach combat is far too difficult. You can't really do anything but attack, and since enemies drain life faster than you can deal damage a string of bad luck is going to be a game over. There's really no reason you should lock the player into this area when they enter, especially without any indication. The Green Bean boss is ludicrously powerful. He can kill anyone in two hits and can effectively heal 4 hits worth of damage any time he chooses. Since he's got a great deal of hp I really can't see anyone progressing past this point. If you're going to be focusing on the writing of your game you don't want to have your players get stuck spending all their time trying to pass your incredibly difficult battles.
I suggest powering up Narissa's buffs a great deal, and giving her at least one attack skill to start off with so the player has more to do than mash the confirm button as fast as they can.
And always, always, keep a close eye on the Agility stat for both your heroes and monsters. It determines how frequently anyone gets a turn during battle, and unbalance here will break your entire battle system. I'd suggest at the very least your heroes should be faster than your monsters, just so the player doesn't spend all their time waiting for a turn while they watch the enemy beat them senseless.
That's it for advice from me. This game is very rough around the edges but it's something I'll be keeping an eye on. I look forward to future versions.
Sore Losers Review
It's true a lot of them are foul mouthed and ill tempered, but that's how I like my cyberpunk characters. Just my opinion though, as all these reviews are.
Silviera's Review Requests
Silviera's Review Requests
I do have it on my list, but I wanted to give every developer equal time so I figured I'd get back to your 2nd game after a while. Since Dungeon Quest was actually extremely short compared to the last few games I've played, I'll probably get to Solar Tear after I finish The Realms Shattered.
Silviera's Review Requests
Game: Sore Losers
Battle System- 3/5
Pretty standard rm2000 here, though most of it is balanced pretty well. Skills tend to focus on raising your party's stats while lowering the enemy's, and they tend to be supremely effective. Maybe a bit too effective. After you've spent one round altering everyone's stats you can pretty much just mash attack or turn on Autobattle and win without much trouble. The one extra feature thrown in is the addition of Limit Breaks. These appear when a character is in critical condition and tend to grant two extra skills temporarily. Unfortunately these skills are only moderately better than the ones normally available to a character, and since they cost MP to use you may find yourself in situations where a Limit Break adds nothing at all. Overall I didn't find the battles all that interesting, but I wasn't dreading the battle screen either.
It's worth mentioning the first real boss is pretty damn lame. He spends the entire battle charging a laser, and if you don't kill him before he's done it's an instant game over. He's at the end of a decent length stealth sequence, and unless you've done some extra grinding even if you smash him with everything you've got if you happen to be unlucky with damage rolls you may find yourself getting fried anyway. I usually don't doll out advice in these reviews, but I'll make an exception here. Find the supersoaker and equip it before you infiltrate the Scott Building. It will save you some suffering (maybe).
Minigames 4/5
I don't usually add this category to my reviews, but this makes up such a significant portion of gameplay it warrants having its own section. You'll come across everything from block puzzles to stealth sequences to math quizzes. There's even a brief Frogger segment thrown in. Nearly all of them are entertaining and they serve to break up the monotony of the battle system. The highlight is easily the lockpicking game, which functions as a sort of block puzzle where you attempt to slide the proper 'tumblers' into place by pushing them around a small map. They start off easy and slowly become more challenging as the game progresses. Most of them are optional, but you'll usually get a nice item for your trouble. The weak point here is definitely the computer hacking, which is done via a series of simple math questions. It's not all that bad at first, but it tends to wear out its welcome long before the game is finished.
Storyline- 3/5
You are a mercenary working in the burnt out of slums of the towering city of Ferusia. Rather than wasting time and resources maintaining proper prisons, Ferusia has locked all criminals in this decaying part of the city and left them to fend for themselves. Everyone lives here just trying to get by day to day, and no one is above picking pockets or slicing throats to increase their own chances of survival. You'll be spending most of your time doing various missions for a variety of different groups, some for money and some just for the thrill. At times it feels the story lacks a bit of direction, and you may find yourself not 100% sure why you're breaking into this facility or wandering through that sewer. Overall I did find myself caring about the fate of the heroes, so it was at least effective in that respect.
Characters- 5/5
I loved this aspect of the game, not every character is particularly deep but they're all very believable. Everyone has a clearly defined personality, and most of them are pretty interesting. Often times you'll be able to choose dialogue for the main hero. Even though you're given a lot of dialogue options to choose from in any given situation, every choice is reasonable and within his character. The game has no central villain, but since your characters are pretty much just doing their own thing there's no reason for one to exist. Another highlight is the often overlooked NPCs of each town. Rather than just wandering around spouting random phrases they're all out actively working on something or talking to each other in the streets. It goes a long way to make you feel as though the game world is alive, and more than that it makes you feel as though your character is not the center of the universe. It's worth actively seeking out every NPC before leaving any area just to hear what they have to say, and you'll probably find a lot of extra surprises as you're doing so.
Level Design- 3/5
Mostly consisting of unconventional mazes, you'll usually find yourself looking for a broken window to jump into or an open duct rather than searching around for keys. Enemies are actively wandering around the map and most can be avoided pretty easily. Puzzles aren't very frequent, though I suppose you could consider many of the minigames mentioned earlier to be puzzle like. Things have been put together reasonably enough to give the world a proper broken city feel. If there's any problem in this category it's not always clear what you can do in any given area. It may take a while before you realize you can jump through windows, and there's the occasional bridge you might not realize you can actually walk right under. Although the main narrative is mostly linear (aside from a branch near the end), you're given plenty of sidequests at all stages of the game. They all give experience when completed, and a lot of them give useful items or piles of cash and are well worth taking the time to explore.
Graphics- 3/5
The graphics are ugly. Very ugly. However, since this game is attempting to create a believable dystopia I would not have had things any other way. There are some odd choices here and there, such as a poster that feels out of place or a battler that doesn't look like it belongs in the game, but overall nothing too distracting.
Music/Sound- 3/5
Lots of rips here, most of which seem to be from Streets of Rage and Final Fantasy. Everything sets the mood well, and there's enough variety that you may not even notice this isn't original music. Overall there are a few too many rips here, but they're all well placed so it didn't bother me as much as this usually does.
Random stuff I liked-
Lockpicking, lockpicking, lockpicking. Why don't more people lock their doors?
Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra playing during a hyper violent riot. Classic.
Random stuff I hated-
The To Do List, which acts as a quest log of sorts. Usually I'd love having this kind of reference in an RPG, but unfortunately it hijacks the menu, putting an extra step between you and the main menu. I felt it would have worked much better if it was called by an item or some other event.
Most of the time when you rummage through trash bins, the game discourages you from doing so. However, the game also tends to hide a lot of objects in them, so you kind of feel like you're being pulled in two directions at once.
When enemies use a health spray, they recover 50 HP. Mine only recovers 35. Are they using some kind of plus brand I was unaware of?
Items that cure status effects are way too expensive. Most effects wear off after a few turns, and you're usually better off suffering through the effects than shelling out the cash to cure them.
Final Thoughts-
A solid romp through the desolate streets of a sci fi dystopia. It never really excels in one single area (except the characters), but it's so well put together that it becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Overall Score 4/5
----
some extra notes for the developer-
Lozzie's "Who's a pretty boy" technique is described as lowering offense, but it lowers defense instead.
Thanks for making me play through this one, it has demonstrated how uninteresting the towns in my game truly are. I'm going to have to spice things up a bit before I release a demo.
Battle System- 3/5
Pretty standard rm2000 here, though most of it is balanced pretty well. Skills tend to focus on raising your party's stats while lowering the enemy's, and they tend to be supremely effective. Maybe a bit too effective. After you've spent one round altering everyone's stats you can pretty much just mash attack or turn on Autobattle and win without much trouble. The one extra feature thrown in is the addition of Limit Breaks. These appear when a character is in critical condition and tend to grant two extra skills temporarily. Unfortunately these skills are only moderately better than the ones normally available to a character, and since they cost MP to use you may find yourself in situations where a Limit Break adds nothing at all. Overall I didn't find the battles all that interesting, but I wasn't dreading the battle screen either.
It's worth mentioning the first real boss is pretty damn lame. He spends the entire battle charging a laser, and if you don't kill him before he's done it's an instant game over. He's at the end of a decent length stealth sequence, and unless you've done some extra grinding even if you smash him with everything you've got if you happen to be unlucky with damage rolls you may find yourself getting fried anyway. I usually don't doll out advice in these reviews, but I'll make an exception here. Find the supersoaker and equip it before you infiltrate the Scott Building. It will save you some suffering (maybe).
Minigames 4/5
I don't usually add this category to my reviews, but this makes up such a significant portion of gameplay it warrants having its own section. You'll come across everything from block puzzles to stealth sequences to math quizzes. There's even a brief Frogger segment thrown in. Nearly all of them are entertaining and they serve to break up the monotony of the battle system. The highlight is easily the lockpicking game, which functions as a sort of block puzzle where you attempt to slide the proper 'tumblers' into place by pushing them around a small map. They start off easy and slowly become more challenging as the game progresses. Most of them are optional, but you'll usually get a nice item for your trouble. The weak point here is definitely the computer hacking, which is done via a series of simple math questions. It's not all that bad at first, but it tends to wear out its welcome long before the game is finished.
Storyline- 3/5
You are a mercenary working in the burnt out of slums of the towering city of Ferusia. Rather than wasting time and resources maintaining proper prisons, Ferusia has locked all criminals in this decaying part of the city and left them to fend for themselves. Everyone lives here just trying to get by day to day, and no one is above picking pockets or slicing throats to increase their own chances of survival. You'll be spending most of your time doing various missions for a variety of different groups, some for money and some just for the thrill. At times it feels the story lacks a bit of direction, and you may find yourself not 100% sure why you're breaking into this facility or wandering through that sewer. Overall I did find myself caring about the fate of the heroes, so it was at least effective in that respect.
Characters- 5/5
I loved this aspect of the game, not every character is particularly deep but they're all very believable. Everyone has a clearly defined personality, and most of them are pretty interesting. Often times you'll be able to choose dialogue for the main hero. Even though you're given a lot of dialogue options to choose from in any given situation, every choice is reasonable and within his character. The game has no central villain, but since your characters are pretty much just doing their own thing there's no reason for one to exist. Another highlight is the often overlooked NPCs of each town. Rather than just wandering around spouting random phrases they're all out actively working on something or talking to each other in the streets. It goes a long way to make you feel as though the game world is alive, and more than that it makes you feel as though your character is not the center of the universe. It's worth actively seeking out every NPC before leaving any area just to hear what they have to say, and you'll probably find a lot of extra surprises as you're doing so.
Level Design- 3/5
Mostly consisting of unconventional mazes, you'll usually find yourself looking for a broken window to jump into or an open duct rather than searching around for keys. Enemies are actively wandering around the map and most can be avoided pretty easily. Puzzles aren't very frequent, though I suppose you could consider many of the minigames mentioned earlier to be puzzle like. Things have been put together reasonably enough to give the world a proper broken city feel. If there's any problem in this category it's not always clear what you can do in any given area. It may take a while before you realize you can jump through windows, and there's the occasional bridge you might not realize you can actually walk right under. Although the main narrative is mostly linear (aside from a branch near the end), you're given plenty of sidequests at all stages of the game. They all give experience when completed, and a lot of them give useful items or piles of cash and are well worth taking the time to explore.
Graphics- 3/5
The graphics are ugly. Very ugly. However, since this game is attempting to create a believable dystopia I would not have had things any other way. There are some odd choices here and there, such as a poster that feels out of place or a battler that doesn't look like it belongs in the game, but overall nothing too distracting.
Music/Sound- 3/5
Lots of rips here, most of which seem to be from Streets of Rage and Final Fantasy. Everything sets the mood well, and there's enough variety that you may not even notice this isn't original music. Overall there are a few too many rips here, but they're all well placed so it didn't bother me as much as this usually does.
Random stuff I liked-
Lockpicking, lockpicking, lockpicking. Why don't more people lock their doors?
Come Fly With Me by Frank Sinatra playing during a hyper violent riot. Classic.
Random stuff I hated-
The To Do List, which acts as a quest log of sorts. Usually I'd love having this kind of reference in an RPG, but unfortunately it hijacks the menu, putting an extra step between you and the main menu. I felt it would have worked much better if it was called by an item or some other event.
Most of the time when you rummage through trash bins, the game discourages you from doing so. However, the game also tends to hide a lot of objects in them, so you kind of feel like you're being pulled in two directions at once.
When enemies use a health spray, they recover 50 HP. Mine only recovers 35. Are they using some kind of plus brand I was unaware of?
Items that cure status effects are way too expensive. Most effects wear off after a few turns, and you're usually better off suffering through the effects than shelling out the cash to cure them.
Final Thoughts-
A solid romp through the desolate streets of a sci fi dystopia. It never really excels in one single area (except the characters), but it's so well put together that it becomes greater than the sum of its parts.
Overall Score 4/5
----
some extra notes for the developer-
Lozzie's "Who's a pretty boy" technique is described as lowering offense, but it lowers defense instead.
Thanks for making me play through this one, it has demonstrated how uninteresting the towns in my game truly are. I'm going to have to spice things up a bit before I release a demo.
Silviera's Review Requests
Unfortunately, I'm suffering from some graphics card issues at the moment and I'm pretty much unable to play any 3D games at all. Which is disappointing, because I was really looking forward to being able to shoot something in the head after being hurled back to level 1 for the 10th time in a row.
I will review your game when I can, but I can't say for certain when my computer issues will be fixed.
I will review your game when I can, but I can't say for certain when my computer issues will be fixed.
Silviera's Review Requests
Game: Cyber Factor
Battle System- 5/5
This is one of the most finely crafted battle systems made with rm2k3, and perhaps even of any platform. Balance has been fine tuned to the utmost degree, and every single boss is downright epic. I'll mention up front this is an extremely challenging battle system, and it doesn't pull any punches right from the start. The first few encounters can kill you if you're not careful, and by the time you reach the first boss you better be on full blast to stand a chance. Although it's mostly a traditional combat system, there are a few extra features thrown in. The first comes in the form of a small adjustment to the status window during battle, each enemy has listed a series a symbols which represent their weaknesses. These symbols are also attached to all of your abilities, which makes for easy reference in heated combat.
Your characters are given a small boost to stats upon leveling, but you're also given the option of adding points to one of three categories. Body, which accompanies offensive and defensive power. Mind, which effects your MP total and the effectiveness of various skills. And Spirit, which grants additional agility and HP. Aside from giving extra stats, when you reach a certain point in these attributes your character will learn a new skill based on their fighting style. Bonus skills come in the form of consumable items called .exe's, which can be given to any character.
As soon as your character learns at least two skills of different elements, they will learn a combination technique which consists of two elements at once. The combination gauge builds up over time through combat, and when full you will be able to use 3 combination arts before the gauge is depleted. If the gauge is only 1/3 full, you can still use a single combination. These skills tend to be slightly more powerful than others, but not overly so. The best part about them is they will strike at both weaknesses of an enemy, so they tend to be effective on a larger range of opponents than normal skills. Most of them also don't consume any MP, so you'll find yourself mixing and matching combinations and normal skills during combat.
It's worth mentioning that instead of random encounters you'll run across enemies as they wander around the map, but even this has been improved over most variations you see in games. Initially enemies are in a passive gray state where they wander around the map, usually at a very low speed which will let you avoid them if you're careful. When you get close an enemy turns red and will begin to rush towards you, if you manage to evade the enemy for a short time they will shift to blue and become immobile for a brief period, allowing you to run past.
Storyline- 3/5
I'm going to skip ahead about an hour into the game for this one. Although the intro is pretty interesting, the real hook of the game comes just a little after the first boss. You are a being comprised of data, who has somehow managed to assume a human form. You awake in a world destroyed by Geists, a monster with the ability to delete entire continents from existence. Along with a few friends your task is to restore the deleted world by restoring the data to its proper place. I have to admit I really enjoyed the novelty of this idea, basically a sci-fi twist on Soul Blazer/Act Raiser/Terranigma. The game spends a lot of time developing the lore for their universe, including explanations for the various powers you'll employ and on the nature of the Geists, which is quite unique. Unfortunately the script suffers from a lot of problems in the actual writing department. Spelling errors are common, grammatical errors are frequent, and there's a lot of unnatural sounding dialogue. I've reflected this in my score, but if this kind of thing grates on you, you may want to drop it even further.
Characters- 2/5
The main hero is a silent protagonist, and you're able to choose most of his dialogue which will eventually define his personality. The rest of the characters are pretty interesting, a bit one dimensional at first but slowly develop a bit more depth as the game progresses. Unfortunately this category is also dragged down by the poor quality of the writing I mentioned earlier.
Level Design- 4/5
The main focus on these maps is brought about by the main character's primary ability. He can break down physical objects and process them into a raw form of data that can be easily carried. This data is used to traverse obstacles in a variety of ways. Say you come across a river that needs to be crossed, you can break down some nearby logs into a Wood data, and then use that data to create a bridge. It's a rather novel approach to what boils down to a simple collect item, use item to unlock area mechanic. As you progress this idea is expanded upon further, and even used in a few puzzles. The towns are pretty average, and I have nothing to say about them in particular.
Graphics- 2/5
Consisting of rips and a bit of RTP, nothing is particularly ugly here, but everything is completely inconsistent. I get the feeling the author just grabbed every resource he was interested in and cobbled them together without much thought.
Music/Sound- 2/5
This game uses a large collection of music ripped from various games, and the occasional odd voice clip. Most of the songs fit fairly well, but some of them seemed oddly placed. Having so much commercial music is a big turn off for me in this category, since when I recognize every song it tends to interfere with immersion.
Random stuff I liked-
The 'save recommended' warning. The game allows you to save anywhere which might cause some players to be lax, but here anytime you're approaching potential death a warning appears. Wordlessly, it's also telling you to prepare yourself for what's up ahead.
The game offers a rational explanation for the character status window during battle. It's completely unnecessary and entirely awesome.
The game has a crafting system which allows you to combine accessories to create more powerful equipment. I didn't feel it had enough of an impact on gameplay to mention earlier, but it was still something I enjoyed having available.
You can examine a lot of objects, and you'll occasionally get a bit of humorous dialogue for doing so.
Random stuff I hated-
Not a thing.
Final Thoughts-
The finest example of an RPG Maker 2003 battle system I have ever seen, and a solid game besides. With a script editor and a few smarter design choices this could become a perfect game. Knock off a full star if you hate games with the difficulty set to High, because this one will kill you.
Overall Score 4/5
----
No extra notes for the developer this time, since this was not a request from the author.
Many thanks to Nightblade and Darken for bringing this epic battle system to my attention. It has helped me fix a few flaws in my own project's design. Hopefully I'll actually find a little time to work on it in the next few days.
Battle System- 5/5
This is one of the most finely crafted battle systems made with rm2k3, and perhaps even of any platform. Balance has been fine tuned to the utmost degree, and every single boss is downright epic. I'll mention up front this is an extremely challenging battle system, and it doesn't pull any punches right from the start. The first few encounters can kill you if you're not careful, and by the time you reach the first boss you better be on full blast to stand a chance. Although it's mostly a traditional combat system, there are a few extra features thrown in. The first comes in the form of a small adjustment to the status window during battle, each enemy has listed a series a symbols which represent their weaknesses. These symbols are also attached to all of your abilities, which makes for easy reference in heated combat.
Your characters are given a small boost to stats upon leveling, but you're also given the option of adding points to one of three categories. Body, which accompanies offensive and defensive power. Mind, which effects your MP total and the effectiveness of various skills. And Spirit, which grants additional agility and HP. Aside from giving extra stats, when you reach a certain point in these attributes your character will learn a new skill based on their fighting style. Bonus skills come in the form of consumable items called .exe's, which can be given to any character.
As soon as your character learns at least two skills of different elements, they will learn a combination technique which consists of two elements at once. The combination gauge builds up over time through combat, and when full you will be able to use 3 combination arts before the gauge is depleted. If the gauge is only 1/3 full, you can still use a single combination. These skills tend to be slightly more powerful than others, but not overly so. The best part about them is they will strike at both weaknesses of an enemy, so they tend to be effective on a larger range of opponents than normal skills. Most of them also don't consume any MP, so you'll find yourself mixing and matching combinations and normal skills during combat.
It's worth mentioning that instead of random encounters you'll run across enemies as they wander around the map, but even this has been improved over most variations you see in games. Initially enemies are in a passive gray state where they wander around the map, usually at a very low speed which will let you avoid them if you're careful. When you get close an enemy turns red and will begin to rush towards you, if you manage to evade the enemy for a short time they will shift to blue and become immobile for a brief period, allowing you to run past.
Storyline- 3/5
I'm going to skip ahead about an hour into the game for this one. Although the intro is pretty interesting, the real hook of the game comes just a little after the first boss. You are a being comprised of data, who has somehow managed to assume a human form. You awake in a world destroyed by Geists, a monster with the ability to delete entire continents from existence. Along with a few friends your task is to restore the deleted world by restoring the data to its proper place. I have to admit I really enjoyed the novelty of this idea, basically a sci-fi twist on Soul Blazer/Act Raiser/Terranigma. The game spends a lot of time developing the lore for their universe, including explanations for the various powers you'll employ and on the nature of the Geists, which is quite unique. Unfortunately the script suffers from a lot of problems in the actual writing department. Spelling errors are common, grammatical errors are frequent, and there's a lot of unnatural sounding dialogue. I've reflected this in my score, but if this kind of thing grates on you, you may want to drop it even further.
Characters- 2/5
The main hero is a silent protagonist, and you're able to choose most of his dialogue which will eventually define his personality. The rest of the characters are pretty interesting, a bit one dimensional at first but slowly develop a bit more depth as the game progresses. Unfortunately this category is also dragged down by the poor quality of the writing I mentioned earlier.
Level Design- 4/5
The main focus on these maps is brought about by the main character's primary ability. He can break down physical objects and process them into a raw form of data that can be easily carried. This data is used to traverse obstacles in a variety of ways. Say you come across a river that needs to be crossed, you can break down some nearby logs into a Wood data, and then use that data to create a bridge. It's a rather novel approach to what boils down to a simple collect item, use item to unlock area mechanic. As you progress this idea is expanded upon further, and even used in a few puzzles. The towns are pretty average, and I have nothing to say about them in particular.
Graphics- 2/5
Consisting of rips and a bit of RTP, nothing is particularly ugly here, but everything is completely inconsistent. I get the feeling the author just grabbed every resource he was interested in and cobbled them together without much thought.
Music/Sound- 2/5
This game uses a large collection of music ripped from various games, and the occasional odd voice clip. Most of the songs fit fairly well, but some of them seemed oddly placed. Having so much commercial music is a big turn off for me in this category, since when I recognize every song it tends to interfere with immersion.
Random stuff I liked-
The 'save recommended' warning. The game allows you to save anywhere which might cause some players to be lax, but here anytime you're approaching potential death a warning appears. Wordlessly, it's also telling you to prepare yourself for what's up ahead.
The game offers a rational explanation for the character status window during battle. It's completely unnecessary and entirely awesome.
The game has a crafting system which allows you to combine accessories to create more powerful equipment. I didn't feel it had enough of an impact on gameplay to mention earlier, but it was still something I enjoyed having available.
You can examine a lot of objects, and you'll occasionally get a bit of humorous dialogue for doing so.
Random stuff I hated-
Not a thing.
Final Thoughts-
The finest example of an RPG Maker 2003 battle system I have ever seen, and a solid game besides. With a script editor and a few smarter design choices this could become a perfect game. Knock off a full star if you hate games with the difficulty set to High, because this one will kill you.
Overall Score 4/5
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No extra notes for the developer this time, since this was not a request from the author.
Many thanks to Nightblade and Darken for bringing this epic battle system to my attention. It has helped me fix a few flaws in my own project's design. Hopefully I'll actually find a little time to work on it in the next few days.
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