AMERK'S PROFILE

The review shouldn't dissuade you from checking it out for yourself, especially since most indie games are free. If I saw a bad review for a movie, I may not run off and buy it but wait for it to come to tv to check it out for myself. If I read a bad review about a book, I may check it out at the library before deciding whether or not to by the book.

The point is, if you were considering it before Soli's review, then you should probably still download it and see for yourself whether or not his points have influenced you, since it's not costing you anything aside from a few hours of your time. After all, everybody has their opinions, and there are some things people like over others. If you find it's not to your liking, no harm done, you haven't wasted that much time and can delete it. But on the other side, you might actually enjoy it and be missing out.

I have to admit, the review is well done, even if I may not agree with everything. I gave it 3.5/5 stars based on my personal experience, but it's interesting to see what other people disliked about the gaming. Revisiting the areas didn't bother me that much, and I actually enjoyed the first half of the game.

The scenes ripped from popular games (eg., the raft scene) didn't throw me off or lose the effect. I figured Strangeluv just used these scenes as they were readily available. However, now that I think about it, a good twist would have been to have Farrah go into the coma, and eventually captured by the evil clown, and have Danais come to her rescue. Since Farrah is always rescuing Danais, this would be a good chance for him to finally show her he's capable of taking care of himself and assisting others in times of need.

It does seem though that I'm not the only one thrown off by not having a central conflict or a climax, and having to do all quests at once.

Again, I say make the evil clown a major part of the second half of the game, have him terrorizing the town as you are trying to do various quests, and when you rescue Danais (or Farrah depending on if Strangeluv wants to add my above twist), have the clown escape and then make one final attempt to trash the celebration when all quests are completed. It would still avoid the "save-the-world from the overpowerful uberduper Sephiroth wannabe super villain" cliche, but it would give the players that sense of purpose through the whole second half (to kill the clown) and thus a climax.

Besides, any game that centers around an evil clown gets two thumbs up in my opinion.

Just curious, but did the release date get changed?

I don't think it's so much the quests in the 2nd half, as it was the story taking a sudden halt. Up until this moment the game was very story-driven, but the gameplay seemed to suddenly switch around in the 2nd half. I think the game lacked any real obstacles for the characters, a final confrontation, if you may. I know it's cliche, but most people who play an rpg are looking for a villain that the characters must contend with through most of the game. At first, I thought it would be Skaarsgaard, but he ended up on our side and became a pretty likeable guy. Then I thought it would be the evil clown, but you fight him off too fast.

One solution to this could have been making the clown as the final quest. The town is an uproar, the Mayor can't help with their problems while dealing with the evil clown, least of all trying to get you home, so you are asked to help with the normal quests while he looks into the evil clown. You solve a few quests, and then Danais gets kidnapped. Farrah halts solving quests and talks with the mayor, who has acquired the Bounty Hunter. You follow along until you've come across the clown's lair. You answer the questions, save Danais and the other children, but the clown runs away before he can be stopped. Back in town, the Bounty Hunter claims he was the hero, you resolve to continue to help people, but the clown is now seething with anger and wants revenge. After solving the other quests, the mayor holds the festival, but the clown attempts to sabotage the event. The mayor calls for the bounty hunter, but the bounty hunter becomes too scared and runs off. It's up to Farrah and Danais to fight the evil clown once and for all.

The town now recognizes you're the hero, the mayor realizes the bounty hunter is a fraud and demands he pay back the money that was gathered from the townspeople, and the celebration goes without a hitch.

Anyway, just a possible idea for future games. But now, on to the thief and the game bug.

One possible option for the shop thief may be, once you get the camera and jump on the crates, have Farrah say something like "Okay, in order to incriminate him we need a picture of his entire face."

As for the bug I found, not sure if others had that problem, but it seems that if I peek in on him at night at least once before talking to Amis and getting the camera, then I don't have any problems. Perhaps this can be tested, and if so I'm not sure how this can be fixed aside from checking over the event.

Drats, my posting looks not to have gone through. I think I hit a different button.

Anyway, sounds like Dragon Quest 4. The game was set up as chapters. Each main character had their own specific chapter and agenda and goals. Ultimately, these became entangled with the other main character's and their chapters. In the final chapter, the hero came forth when an agenda of his own and gathered the main characters from the previous chapters.

You could set this up in similar style. Give each group their own specific backstory & agenda, but include a common goal as well. Each group could start at a certain area of the overworld, so that it's not repetitive when going from one group to another. In the course of their chapter, have each group eventually meet at a specific destination. Once they get to this destination, that group's chapter ends, and the next begins. Once they are all at the specific destination, move into the final chapter, allowing the player to gather characters from all groups for the final battle.