Born Under the Rain

[LockeZ]

Masud did a terrible thing.

Now he wears the Mask of Odion, a cursed relic that's forced his soul into the body of a mummy. Worse is Odion himself, the former owner of Masud's new body.

"Keep walking, sweetheart," Odion says, his phantasmal jawbone clacking and clattering. "Every minute we spend in this God-forsaken desert is another minute your body rots in my tomb."

An ocean of sand stretches in front of them. How many more miles till they reach the tomb? How many more days till they break Anuket's Tear and lift the curse?

- Traverse a winding pyramid and other beautifully designed but dangerous areas in exploration-based gameplay.
- 33 relics to collect that boost stats and grant powerful new skills add layers of depth to the turn-based combat.
- A story featuring four well-developed characters with a focus on mystery, duty, and living in an unconventional family.
- Solve puzzles and riddles, and use relics to unlock new areas, while listening to the game's original soundtrack.


Developers:
Indrah: Mapping and Other Stuff
LockeZ: Gameplay and Combat
Kasey Ozymy (Housekeeping): Writing, Music, and Other Stuff
Crazy_Leen: Additional Art

Additional credits:

Spoiler

Scripts:
Fomar0153
Yanfly
Neon Black
DoubleX
Mithran
Shaz
Galv
Hime
FenixFyreX
Acezon
DoctorTodd

Icons:
Ying
Avery

Battlers:
Magellan
qut

Faces:
Makio Kuta

Sprites:
Rajiwali
Mack
Saitou
Momope
Tora
Gmork
Lunarea

Windowskin:
Matseb

Tilesets:
Lunarea
Celianna
Maru
Blanche Patissiere
Gmork
Candacis
Cait
Liberty
Ying
Moon
Mack
Ayenne

The game was created for the McBaconJam over at RMN and developed in three weeks, but despite the short time frame, we poured some blood into making it. You can view the game's RMN page here.
 

 

 

[coyotecraft]

I think the tear could have been explained more clearly. I could tell he was going to have to make a choice. Use it or shatter it. I was wondering why he couldn't do both until you saw it disappear. The part explaining that his real body was in danger came a little late I think. Or at least we should have seen that body swap happen. It just raises the question why he would leave his body behind.

Overall, it was a nice 3hr game.

 

[BeeAr]

Here's a review for your game:

Plot: 7/8
The plot, while simple and sometimes mildly predictable, was presented with appropriate pacing. The game thankfully does not suffer from the "cram entire history of the land during the intro" ailment that seems to plague most RPG Maker Games lately. The story flowed very well. I would have given this a higher score had the story actually been more interesting at its core.

Visuals: 7/8
Another area of the game that almost begs for a higher score. The graphical elements meshed together nicely. The mapping was competent. However, while the map tiles were used well... I couldn't help but notice the sharp contrast in detail between the town and the dungeon. Whereas the town was filled with "the little things that count", from fallen debris to floor carpeting, the pyramid where you spend the vast majority of your time in... was devoid of detail for the most part. Entering the dungeon after leaving town shatters the illusion of polish quite abruptly.

Audio: 8/10
Perhaps the game's strongest point. I'm not familiar with the music used. I'm not sure if it's custom music specifically made for the game. But the musical selection was pleasing to hear. Not overbearing, and every score fit the scenes perfectly.

Mechanics: 5/10
Perhaps the game's weakest aspect. The skill synergy, skill progression, and enemy balance leave much to be desired.

Too many skills too fast... robs each skill of its identity. Add the fact that most of them are rather pointless during normal battles. For most of the fights, I just used one skill per character and called it a day. While it's true I probably could have sped up the fight if I ventured into the other skills... I saw no point in doing so. It was not until the boss fights that I actually felt the need to use anything else.

The entire combat system also feels forced and unnecessary. As if the systems are there just to have something there... whether they add to the experience or not is irrelevant. The combat tactics never grew past the following formula: Raise my stats, lower theirs, hammer them. Increasing the "difficulty" level of the game just means fights take longer. Sure some enemies heal, but they never seemed to affect what I was going to do next... which is hit them with the skill that does the most damage. These healers simply prolonged a boring fight. Never had a reason to do anything different.

Honestly the default battles and default animations would have been better... because they were balanced, and they would have been quicker.

Certain aspects of the game also lacked explanation. For example, you get a Relic that states it allows you to pass through a Rose Gate. What is a Rose Gate? Then it slaps you in the face when you find one because you realize you've come across one already and didn't even know it. A dialogue indicating it is a place of significance should have been implemented. It doesn't give the "We want the player to figure it out for themselves", or even the "We want it to be challenging" vibe. Instead it gives the "lack of polish" or "didn't have enough time" feeling.

Sure, you can make the case that the developer(s) didn't want to hold the player's hand... and there's certainly validity in that. But no matter which side of the fence you're on... the point is it wasn't fun.

Final Score: 6.75

Conclusion:
The game provided enough of a distraction to drop a few minutes here and there. I would consider this game a solid candidate for a visual novel. The story and musical elements scream quality, but the skills development and combat overall is too tedious and holds the game back.

 

[HBGames Staff]