Story Review: The Story begins in a nice chace of a Vampire. A classic scene yes, but the heroes are not your usual heros. It's a skeleton and a person who can control wind. But after that part, you head over to town. Here is a nice chance to talk to several people, and includes the first appearances of Finley and Emma. The characters of these two people are very well revealed, even though you speak to them but for a short moment. And you get to talk to Bones' girlfriend. It's very obvious from several hints left by Andau the vampire and Bones' behaviour. As for Finley with equipment king, EK is just known as another rival.
Continuing from there you enter a Mausoleum and encounter ghosts of Gallian soldiers that once inhabited the area. Talking to them, standing in front of the Gallian Church's main door reveals some history info, as well as talking to a ghost of an elven woman. Most Gallian history can be seen at a glance here. I enjoyed this part thoroughly because I get to know an actually INTERESTING history. You see in most games history is told via books found in game, and that makes it very boring. It's much better if you took bits and pieces and made NPC's utter it out. I found the history very well developed. It made me feel that Gallians were very cruel racists. Then you enter the church, and here you can read Andau's diary to see his history. I felt very sorry for Andau after reading this. I felt even more sorry that we had to kill him here. More character development of Bones and Cade can be seen here. I like the way how you shoved the character right there rather than slowly revealing the character bit by bit. Anyways, after that point more character is revealed, and the story goes on in a decent pace. More of Finley is seen (I absolutely adore him ^^) then you learn of another EK opening south. From the way you made Cade and Bones behave, even as they seem nervous, you actually feel nervous yourself. And then you chase robber with tiger up mountains, you catch him and you're made heroes publicly.
End of Act 1
Start of Act 2 is when Cade and Bones work at the shop commenting about what they did the other day and get a customer: Auburn, a bodyguard. You might think at first she's a little flirter, but turns out Cade is doing the same as well...what about Emma, Cade? Then you get the incredible news of Equipment King opening right here in Port Arianna. This was a major shock for me too, and even more when I found out Barry sold it to them. I was so shocked at this point. In Act 1, we gave him support, and this is what he does!? After the news, you see a speech made by Torto. Torto turns out to be such a nice guy! Well, after this scene,you find Barry, then you kablam him with Reasons Why You Shouldn't Sell Your Hard Earned Shop To Equipment King. Barry disses you for not being supportive, clearly he is very very mislead. And Cade and Bones knows very well what'll happen next after a talk with Morias, the robber you caught. Morias reveals how shady the EK really is. I begin to grow much more hate at EK at this point of time. You really made them dispicable. Cade makes guesses with Emma and Violet, Emma's roomate who works with Blue Tide Estates, and Emma starts hating him for harsh comments against the rich people and Violet's customers, so she shoves him out. At this point, you start feeling angry at Cade for acting so stupid, and pity for Emma and the relationship. I felt most of the time angry at Cade though. But then again, I can't deny how much he hates and I hate EK because of the racist beliefs they have. So bunch of kids get kidnapped, right at the same day EK opens. Suspicious eh?
So you go over to the beach. You find some foremen. You beat them up. You use a boat to go to the mines. Then you see what they're up to: They're making kids dig for stuff! You gotta save them! Well, thing is, at this point, I was almost certain EK was kidnapping kids to work in mines to get rare gems and stuff. But I was kind of proved wrong when I passed that point and reached the Church. In the church, you find kids sitting idly. You find the boss of this place: Dican. Dican is a monk/priest person. You see his courtesy, then he invites you to fight outside. Well, it's more like you want to kill him, but he tells you to go out. Typical of our heroes. Hehehe. So you beat him, and he reveals to you some facts that really made me think 'oh, an extremist cult that worships this god' sort of thing going on. I seem to be right so far. So you save the kids. And Shroud and Stoic discuss about how cunning their new adversary is.
Now is the bit where I shook my head at Shroud's stupid action. He rushes forth in a grand manner and plainly accuses the owner of EK as he was opening the place with bombs of insults and although true, he had no solid evidence. So Cade is rushing to things when it comes to justice and truth? Hmm... So townspeople didn't buy it and hated Shroud and Stoic. Bummer...after that you see a cutscene about the EK owner meeting Ketsu(not sure on his name...just finished today, and I forgot a whole lotta names), a shady mysterious person. Judging from teh sprite, I find it as a she. Well, anyways, you see that it is a bunch of extremists that think that all races but humans suck and since EK is getting support from them, Ek has no choice but to only hire Human workers and nothing else. The next day you find that Emma has left town, and the EK owner is having a party at his house. Seeing this as a good opportunity to find info on the shady EK you go there. Bones discovers more secrets as he sneaks about, while Cade talks more to EK owner guy. You see, here is where I want to slap Cade. He's so stupid! He can't talk very well and just blabs it out directly. Then EK owner makes up an excuse to leave and has Auburn speak to you. So Auburn was his bodyguard. Hmm. You hear more of her character, rebellious, free woman. So you dance with her, and Finley tries to show off (hehehe, go Finley go!) Then you see the rest of the crew of the thieves. For once, you get to fight alongside Auburn and, (much to my enjoyment) Finley. You beat them and send them to jail. Because of this, they didn't finish snooping. The next day you hear of this band coming over. You find out that the band "Daydream" is 'Owned' by the owner of EK. Man, shows you how evil Money really is...Rana asks Bones out for a picnic and Auburn asks Cade for a walk. After Finley urging them, Auburn agrees to meet Daydream members. After badmouthing of Shroud and Stoic propaganda, Cade is annoyed and leaves. Auburn and Cade have a touchy moment, but V--something (forgot >.<) asks Auburn to return to EK owners mansion.
What about Rana and Bones? Man, this is one cutscene that made me shocked as much as Barry and his selling of his store to EK. Rana is a necromancer apprentice! All this time, I thought Rana liked Bones as much as Bones liked her, but Rana...damn her. Under that cute and cuddly face of hers is a Necromancer that wants Bones to become her minion. Bones is clearly shocked and depressed and leaves her. I couldn't stop thinking about this cutscene. I thought you were a cute girl, Rana! ; ; Well after that, they snoop around EK owner's mansion. They find some great clues (and some extra books which I read lead me to hate Gallia even more) including one of the Daydream members was injured badly because she didn't want to be bossed around by money and EK owner like tools as propaganda and all, and some law documents. Man, Money is such a jerk. So you crash the concert, but not after Finley tries to stop you. But you get a word into him that in the law documents Finley's family was robbed and because of EK owner paying them, they dismiss the problem entirely. So Finley hates the lead singer of Daydream (the one responsible) so then you fight him. Another Audrey and Finley help you fight. So you send him to jail, and after some threats made by EK owner, I felt more anger at him. Earlier, I thought the 'hand' was the only reason why he's acting all evil, but after this talk, he's just a money hungry freak.
Last episode here, is when Barry stupidly shouts around that he's challenging Shroud and Stoic. So you try to talk sense to him. Failed. So you head over to Fort Drake and find a new door open and they put the most simplest path for you to reach the end. Shroud enters one door that leads somewhere, and Stoic goes around to back up in case anything happens to Shroud he can help But Shroud encounters a girl from the Robins, a family that is dedicated to eradicating undead. So after a line of insults (which was a nice comedic touch) of what Stoic did to them in his years as a skeleton, they fight. After winning, the defeated robin Gabriella runs off. Meanwhile, Shroud encounters the mysterious Sparrow, and is seriously injured. However, despite all odds, Sparrow is defeated and dissapears. Stoic arrives at a look out point following a trail of blood to Shroud. Shroud was seriously injured, and Shroud appears to have given up hope to stay alive. But, after encouragement, Shroud makes sure he won't give up. The next day he woke up safe in bed. He has suffered terrible injuries and he must rest.
The last cutscene, Ketsu speaks with this mysterious person...and after some talk about some possibly dangerous and cataclysmic spell, mysterious person shows his apprentice. I wasn't expecting Rana to show up here. But then again, I wasn't too shocked. I forgotten about her by this point...stupid girl.
So overall:
-The story is very well developed. You say there's going to be 7 Arcs? I'm impressed.
-Character development is done plain and simple. Very very good way of doing this. It helps keep them remain in character since the start.
-Emotions are built by the player quite well through great dialogue and keeping characters in character.
Awesome. Great job man!
Score:
-Character Development: 10/10
-Remaining in Character: 10/10
-Development of Story (Climax, Anticlimax, etc): 15/15
-Plot: 15/15
Total: 50/50
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Graphics: The graphics is done using mainly RTP. RTP doesn't bother me when you use it. On a plus note, RTP of RMXP is very good that I don't care. In fact, I urge more people to use RMXP RTP since it's good. Designing of dungeons is incredibly good and not dull. Designs of town are also very good and makes it look more like a town. However, I think that you made the apartment because it's easier to use and doesn't make you have to make many houses? :p I like the travelling system and the pathways from town to places, it makes you see more scenery, and the scenery is very good too. They don't look boring at all. Except for the mines, but oh well. Mines will be mines, after all.
Animations are mainly RTP, but battle scenes are one thing I have to do a /clap for. Seriously, the fight sequences are very good. (Out of battle fighting, I mean) It's incredible how you do it. It runs quickly without a hitch too. Dancing was also quite well. Even though it's a myriad of turn right turn right move up-left and all, it's fine by me.
Battlers, portraits and font are also very nice and match with each other. Your artist is very very good. Battlers look awesome and very good, and portraits are so so nice. I liked Finley, Rana and Barry's the most. Font and windows are very great too, they look so cool and hip. Hehehe!
Spelling...there were a few mistakes. So sadly, no perfect marks for graphics. But everything else was fine.
Battles are excellent. But this will be covered in gameplay.
Score:
-Design of Areas: 15/15
-Animation and movement Sequencing: 10/10
-Appearance of Battlers, characters, portraits, fonts and windows: 20/20
-Spelling, Grammar, Vocabulary in relation to character: 4/5
Total: 49/50
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Sound and Music: Sounds are RTP, and some are custom, I think. They are used effectively and there are none too annoying when repeated. I liked some of the sounds in fact.
Music is very very very very good. I liked how you use Castlevania songs. Use more of them in Arc 3 pwease! They are used quite well, and depict scenes well. There is one problem though--in the mines, when you fight the boss, there was no music. I had to fight the moles without any :\ but that's okay by me.
The Music and sound really give atmosphere to the places, especially Port Arianna, the song for that place, and Gino's workshop was perfect. I liked it a lot. It gives that nice feeling. Also, I seem to think about past events more when I listen to it...once again, good job.
Score:
-Music in relation to situation: 15/15
-Sound in relation to situation: 15/15
-Atmosphere: 20/20
Total: 50/50
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Gameplay: Ah. This is one part that I enjoy. Battles are basically exactly the same thing as normal battles without any scripting at all. They run the same way. Nothing is that special about them. But, with how you kept moving the camera and zooming...that was a very good feature added that it doesn't make battles seem dull the least bit. There was also centering and resizing of the player character box so it seems neater and unique. Scripting however, has made some parts sorta problematic, but doesn't hamper me, and I kinda like it that I treat it as some sort of combo attack.
For example, when Shroud does Healing Wind and Stoic does Bone Cleave. For some reason, Healing Wind's animation appears on whomever I'm healing and then Bone Cleave's on the enemy. No values appear until the end of the Bone cleave. They happen right after another, and the text reads 'Healin Cleave' it sounds cool that I laughed when I see 'Bull Control' or 'Adrenaline Push' or 'High Annoy' In fact, I feel that I heal more and do more damage when this happens. Cool!
Difficulties of battles are hard. I must admit, the battles are quite hard. I heard that the Dican battle was the hardest battle in the game, but I found the mole one to be harder because the mole moves so quick. In fact, I think the Foremen mini-bosses are the biggest challenge to me lol. Don't know if I was underlevelled, but I think I was because I was only level 9 when I encountered the first two. However, I'm one that likes challenges so this is a big plus. The good part is that this game deviates from stereotypical Warrior, Some Thief/Monk job, White mage and Black mage set up. It's just Wind Mage/Knight/White Mage and Warrior/Dual-Wielding Pirate/Berserker for most of the game. Throughout the first Act of the game, normal encounters are very annoyingly hard. But I didn't mind. I could beat them, it just takes long. At the second act, however, random encounters are not that hard, and some are quite humorous that it's good (Sledge Mole, anyone?) I actually leave the two Sledge Moles he summoned stay alive as long as possible to let them help me actually kill the boss' HP while I heal up and stuff. I found the game to be heavily reliant on Ethers and Phoenix downs. Healing is mainly done by Shroud, While Trouts and Hi potions help a ton. Stoic's damage is so insanely high for me up to the point that I abuse Bone Cleave as much as possible. In some cases I do Bull Charge and do double attack for more damage. Basically, stratergy is very essential, because in most cases when you're fighting enemies in groups of 2 or 3, when one of your allies die it's almost always over for you. Because, I revive Stoic, for example. Then after doing so, all three enemies (Namely foremen) do Chuck Norris' allmighty Roundhouse Kick on poor Shroud and he does. Stoic raises Shroud, then the same fate befalls him, and so on.
When you have Auburn and Finley join you for those two fights (which I cherished since I like Finley a lot, and Auburn has the ability to do a Roundhouse kick as well) the battles become very easy, but still a tad challenging. Against the Toutens? It was a piece of cake. In fact, most multi-boss battles are cake when you have Willy-Willy. Stoic's main job is to hurt, Shrouds is to keep them dizzy and us healthy. Against the summoner and his summons had me killed because Willy-Willy never landed on them >.< But second time was a breeze; High Cleave had most of them defeated very easily. I took out smallest to largest, then defeated the lead singer dude. It wasn't that hard.
With Difficulty of battles and battle scripts outta the way, now comes the adventure!
Gameplay is quite linear in this game, but hey, you're restricted to Port Arianna, it makes absolutely full of sense when you play as superheroes who work in an armor shop. You don't have any actual reason to wander off...people who demand a game be non-linear while bending character or making no sense to story should look at reality. Back on topic, later on, you get to revisit old places. I found that you could still talk to the Gallian Merchant even though it was daytime. Also, plenty of cutscenes to see in the church, including a rematch with the three Lancers that nets you a new weapon for Shroud which was very hard by the way...though I didn't use it much because his main role wasn't to attack much anyway. Another scene is that old retired Gallian Soldier visiting that girl's grave...it's very good, all in all. Gameplay outside of battles is very simple; travelling, walking around, interacting with several things here and there...some scenes could be seen if you wandered around more and talked to more stuff. Collecting money isn't a hard task, since the mines have some monsters drop some metals that could be sold. I keep a healthy stock of 15 Potions, 15 Ethers, 10 Hi Potions, 15 Phoenix Downs and 5 Pocket Shelters at all times because I need them a lot. Crafting system is simple, but nothing that special to it but yet efficient. Needs more variety of stuff though...and more metals required, but make them more abundant this time...I know you'll get to that in Act III.
One thing I liked is the Mansion. The puzzles there were all intriguing, some were very easy, some required some thought. Good ol' notepad helped. I easily solved the hEll problem because I saw the ad for Girl From hEll that had 1134 reversed into that. So...I was stuck at the multiplication lock. I wondered about 20 minutes, continously reading that book that showed how multiplication is done...searching around for anything that stacked on top of each other...I tried multiplying any digits I had spare, like the guest room number and something...until it hit me. I went over to the red chest and saw the answer. So basically from there, I finished it all. Good job, hope to get more outta Act 3 for puzzles like this.
one thing I didn't get, though. I know what numbers stood for in the switch in the mines, the first digit is the order you push it in. But how do you know the third digit is 2? I thought it would be 4.
Otherwise, Gameplay is very well done.
Score:
-Fun Factor: 25/25
-Difficulty: 15/15
-Interactivity: 10/10
Total: 50/50
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Score Totals:
Story: 50/50
Music and Sounds: 49/50
Graphics: 50/50
Gameplay: 50/50
Total: 199/200 --> 99.5/100
Man that was longer than I thought. Sorry for any spelling and grammar mistakes. I'm very sleepy when I wrote this.
Once again, very very very very great game.
