REVIEW OF FALL OF TERRA BY OBSORBER
I played The fall of terra and this game has got to be one of my favourites out of all the rpg maker games I've tried. In just moments of starting a new game you will be engaged in a thrilling story line with epic cutscenes showing a lot of action and drama.
STORY/PLOT
8/10
Ok the plot is solid, maybe not unique as there were a few minor clitches similar to other epic fantasy games of it's genre. The story is non linear because you do engage in some flashbacks of the characters but it's still pretty straightforward. I liked the way the flashbacks were inserted during scenes, they weren't too long and got to the point. You play the game from the point of view of Damian, who has a horrid past of losing someone he truly loved after being alone for many years. He stumbles upon his current hometown where you start the game off after searching for a purpose to his miserable life. Damian, our young hero has some strange and unusual powers which he himself does not understand. Later on, he manages to save the town when enemy soldiers attack it by reporting to the King in another city. He alongside with the soldiers manage to defeat the enemy force. While this is going on, he befriends a young girl named Ciara who reminds him of his past life with his old lover. Ciara also has some strange powers too and decides that they must find out more about why they possess them. So Damian, Ciara and her brother Brutus all set of on a journey to uncover the secrets ahead of them. They face a few challenges and defeat new foes on the way. They end up finding a priest who also bears these unnatural powers too but he too cannot explain why he has them. A soldier informs them of an attack on the main city of the lands they dwell. The King wishes for their help to use thier powers for assistance. Damian decides to go and give the King aid alongside with his friends. One the way to the Castle Caira reveals her feeling towards Damian. A huge battle awaits and a dark new enemy approaches who is after Caira. There is something morbid occuring behind the scenes...
Ok, I don't want to spoil the whole game so I haven't explained it in complete detail but thats the outline of a lot of the story from what I recall. You'll find that the plot is truly great when playing it for yourself. Instead of explaining what occurs in the game with boring text to start it off, the developer used interesting and relevant cutscenes to keep the player wanting to know what unfolds next. The developer also makes the plot simple to understand. You know there is a war going on at the same time Damain and his friends are trying to uncover the secrets of thier powers. (Well not Brutus) One thing I liked about this game was the way the characters interacted with each other and the good use of dialogue. It really added a sense of realism to the game. I thought Damian was you're typical depressed teenager who lost someone he deeply cared for. Ciara, I didn't really know what to think of her but that she had taken an interest in Damian after he saved both thier lives. Brutus was cool, a protective and rude brother which added more of a spice to the game at times making it funny. Again, theres nothing unique for me to say about the priest Dominic but that he's the self doubter in the story. The way the developer uses comic style dialogue really makes the game much easier to understand. The thing that really bored me about the story was that it was that type of game which made you feel as if we've got to journey to so and so place, now we are here lets head to some place else to find more info and go there too. Although the story does pick up more when you find out about a demon warrior who is after Ciara. There wasn't really a serious reason why they were journeying, I know they want to find out about why have the powers but it's not as if thier powers are making thier lives worse or whatever. Even so, there was a lot of action scenes in the game and something interesting was always occuring which made it exciting.
Music/Sound
7/10
The music was great. There were a lot of tracks that I've never heard before so I'm not sure if some of it is original or used from other games. There's not much I can say but that the developer implemented them well in his scenes. He used a good choice of music in the right maps. One thing I loved about this game was the way he added sound effects of the encountering enemies on the maps adding a sense of realism. One thing I didn't like was that sometimes I felt during the game that there was a lack of music because some maps didn't have music in them at all...
Mapping
8/10
The mapping was well detailed. I must say, I do like your style of mapping and I wish my style could be much more like yours. I felt that you used lighting effects really well and I especially enjoyed it when it was night time making the maps look even better at certain points in your game. I was pleased while journeying through the environments and areas you created so good job there. I did however feel that there were some maps that needed more of your attension because I felt they were more sloppy compared to some of your other maps like the areas on the way to that snow town. Also, none of your maps are orginal but are however used well from default resources.
Cutscenes
10/10
Truly the best part of your game. The cutscenes are what make this game so great and make the player litterally dribble with excitement. All the music I fealt matched well with the scenes so I can tell the developer worked hard on them and thought long and hard about the setup before creating them. Good job!
It really makes me feel so pleased when I play a game as good as this. The cutscenes were truly epic, especially when you battled enemy soldiers during the earlier part of the game and when you have to protect the main city. I liked it when the other non playable soldiers were fighting each other and even getting knocked down. It was very realistically set out and this game even has a boulder smashing a soldier of the walls and a flying dragon crushing a soldier of a cliff. I don't want to spoil all the exciting parts of the game so I won't go into complete detail about them.
Gameplay
7/10
Ok, the gameplay was very good. I did feel that this game lacked more features though. Maybe adding fishing or mining minerals to also help you gain some gold. Why not even try a card game to also keep you occupied. That said, I still enjoyed the few most important things about it such as the dialogue with npc's, the battlesystem, the skills, the easy boulder puzzles and simple exploration.
Ok a big nonono for me when it comes to frontal view battlesystems unless the characters are facing the enemies like in Phantasy Star. Even so, with the good battlers you used, I found myself actually enjoying battling after a while and getting use to the annoying layout. This game doesn't use the default frontal battlesystem but a frontal battlesystem with active time gauges. Battling wasn't too long or too short but just right. Another thing I liked about this game was that you couldn't constantly use a skill because they had a lag effect on them stopping them from being overused which made game more challenging making the player think more.
Skills were good, the more you used them, the better because you learned more powerful or useful skills from using them. I like this because your characters could develop in different ways depending on your choices.
There was a simple journal to keep track of what you had to do next, this is good for newbies to rpg games. I also really felt that the game got more challenging due to progression which was great.
A thing I disliked about your game was the lack of sidequests to do. One I can remember was the quest where you had to go into the cave on the mountain town to save that little girl(This was enjoyable although a bit simple). I think it would be better if you added maybe some more quests especially at earlier parts in the game. There are many rpg players out there who like to dominate thier foes and because battling in your game wasn't random encountering but enemies lurking in the environment that come after you when you're nearby, this could be a downfall. I found myself returning back to towns on many occasions to heal up because I would always run out of recovery Items I needed to proceed on. This could be annoying for some players because many players don't like going back an fourth. There was a lack of variety of monsters in your game, I felt at times that players lacked the opportunity to gain extra experience so they could be stronger than they needed to. Maybe you could add respawnable enemies at some places. There was also a lack of equipments in shops too...
What was definately unique about the game was the epic battles like when you are defending the main city. This was very challenging at the same time you engage enemies with the soldiers fighting at your side. This was something unique about your game because the soldiers that fell in battle were fallen out of battle and visa versa as if they had health. I also enjoyed saving the civilians afterwards and the dialogue was funny at times. I can tell a lot of work was put at that point of the game...
Overall
8.5/10
Overall I really enjoyed this game. It's now on my list of one of the best rpg maker games I've played. The fantastic cutscenes alongside with the detailed storyline truly make this game epic. Aside from a few small issues and slight mistakes, this game is truly what players want in an rpg game.
