| Them's Fightin'
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This is a game that I made myself a couple of months ago. I've definately moved on since then but thought that for good measure that I'd review my own game, I won't be kind (I'll be harsh on it, were needed.)
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| Graphics |
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The graphics were probably the strong point, with a fairly wide range of colours, the walkabouts however were too small and all had thick black outlines, some characters were overshaded, and on most sprites the shading was slightly off. The worst walkabout was probably the Guard at the castle, having so many colours on him, he looked a compleate mess. The hero graphics were all from a side on veiw (like hyrogliyphics) this made then feel very flat, the enemy sprites were better than the hero graphics, especially some of the foes added later on in the game. Some of the magic effects looked rather nice, if I dare say the flame spell and the lazer were possibly the best looking things in the game. The water in the game looked 2D and lacked perspective, and the grass tiles were very overcrouded and didn't break the grid.
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| Storyline |
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It was pretty simple: You follow the life of a girl called Thella. We watch her as a child during a war time, and because the demo is so short (barely 30 minutes long) we don't see much development. We find out from Gyrm (you play as both sides) that the war was caused many centuaries ago, and now no-one is fighting for anything but survival. Of course then you get a plot-twist that now Thella's brother is working as a private guard to Grimhildr, of course due to the demo being so short we don't see this going anywhere anyway. The story only just starts in the demo, and leaves us with much to wonder about. If I had taken this any further (maybe one day I will in another RPG file) We would of seen two more time periods, seeing Thella's world while she is a young woman, and Grimhildr being Queen, the world being a very different place at that point, then the main part which would of been following Thella as an adult, as a pirate in a world without much order. The plot was full of holes however and fell apart around itself as I wrote it down.
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| Gameplay |
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The majority of the gameplay was watching text-boxes, and listening to the story. I believe it was top heavy on story and felt very remonisent of Lost Oddyssy (Oh no! A cut-sceeeeeeeeeene!!)
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Battle |
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They were your generic RPG style battles, very bland, some of which were 'hold down the spacebar' battles. There was enemy, the Wasp whice had a poison sting attack that instant killed you. The bosses were uncreative and the second and third you couldn't lose. There was an enemy called Midnight Moth which spawned Midnight Coocons if you used Ice, but die to the fact that you didn't get the spell until towards the end of the first (only) dungeon it had no tactical value what so ever.
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Map Design |
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The map design was probably a strong point, although there are some exceptions, the first dungeon had a very high encounter rate and got rather dull, there was also a huge room in it that served no purpose what so ever. The castle felt very empty, not like a main castle of an entire kingdom should feel, there were 4 NPCs in it, 2 of which you don't see until a cut scene.
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Balance |
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The balance was tilted very far into the 'Interactive Story-telling' rather than a 'Game', with very little gameplay, and alot of scenes.
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| Music |
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It was all ripped from FFV, VI, VII and I believe IV. Except for 1 song, which was a Led Zeppelin song. For the most part it was well placed, but when FF6's battle music came on it really took you out of the game world it was trying to create. Also the fan-fair was from FF, so it scores very low here.
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| Enjoyment |
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I've played worse, but I've also played much better, the plot twists (would) of been quite interesting, but 1) This game is very incomplete, and 2) I'm the author.
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| Final Blows |
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There is alot of room for inprovement here, the graphics need working back into, and the story needs being continued, the map design is alright.
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Overshaded much? |
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Final Scores
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Graphics: 4/10.0 |
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Most of the graphics were overshaded, the remainder were under shaded. Some of the enemies were good.
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Storyline: 4.5/10.0
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It just drags, on and on, if its going somewhere it isn't any time soon, however its doesn't fall into the generic swing of 'Your here to save the world' thing that we all see far too often. |
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Gameplay: 1.5/10.0 |
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More like 'Interactive Storytelling' than 'Gameplay'.
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Music: 2/10.0
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"There's a lady who's sure, all this music is ripped..."
The music was well placed in places, but the battles weren't so good, FF6's theme, was ment for FF6. |
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Enjoyment: 2.5/10.0
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Given the choice of: being hit with a rotten fish, and playing Thella, I'd go for Thella. |
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Overall Grade:
D+ |
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| Final Thoughts |
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If your bored stiff, this game is a good way to kill half an hour, its not bad, but it isn't good. |
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