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        Vikings Of Midgard by Fenrir-Lunaris
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        Deleted Game by JSH357
        Sword of Jade: Parallel Dreams by RPGCreations
        Purgatory100% by Friend
        Trailblazers by Retrogamer
Blackened early version: UPGRADE v2 vs. Shadowiii
Blackened early version: UPGRADE v2
RPGrealm5
Download: 687 KB
V.S.
Shadowiii
Play Time: 0 hours and 30 minutes
Review # 5 for Shadowiii
Them's Fightin' Words
    Ah, everyone loves Final Fantasy 6. Great game, one of Squaresoft's best pixel works (next to FFTA), cool looking bedframes, and bendy brick ceilings. Yes, all these things look fantastic in Final Fantasy 6. But they sure don't look good in this game. Blackened suffers from a very bad Final Fantasy 6 rip. Very bad. Word's can't even describe it, but luckily pictures can. Take a look at the screenshots and you'll see what I mean.
Graphics
    As stated above, every maptile is ripped, every battle backdrop is ripped. The only original things in this game are the walkarounds, the font, enemy graphics, and hero graphics. And these are bad. VERY bad. I can understand that if MY NPC's looked that bad I'd probably steal from good ol' FF6, but still...

Not only that, the ripping job isn't very well done. As they were imported colors weren't fixed. So the doors that are supossed to have a darker shade of brown have gray spots all over them. The table edges and doorframes are a sickly 'urine yellow' color. It is VERY ugly.
 
Storyline
    At least there is a decent amount of originality, at least at first. You get to pick from three 'guys' as he puts it to enter the arena and fight for some title that I can't even remember, nor want to, for this requires booting up this game again. The three 'guys' have your generic stats; defensive and slow, good dodge but low def, and well-rounded. Good? Maybe. But as it progresses the story just gets boring. I personally had no interest in the character's well-being whatsoever. I actually kinda wanted him to die just so the game would end.  
Gameplay
    Your typical newbie spacebar-smasher with no mini games and basic wandering. Could have gotten the same satasfaction by gluing my nose to a lampshade, only I probably wouldn't get a headache from it.  
  Battle
    Taping down my spacebar is always a thrill, don't you think? You learn a few spells but you don't really use them too often. Battles are easy, and all you have to do is attack. My 2 year old brother could play this game.  
  Map Design
    Overall, the layouts weren't very bad. If this game does have one good point it's that the maps aren't too boring and I didn't get lost. The stuff was placed reasonably, including the save points.  
  Balance
    Much too easy. MUCH too easy. And boring as watching Rosanne reruns on TBS.  
Music
    The good: He didn't rip Final Fantasy 6's music. The bad: There isn't any music, at all. I'd actually have PREFERRED Final Fantasy 6's music, now that I think about it. Anything is better than that silence throughout the game. Luckily I had a music CD nearby or I may have suffered some serious brain damage.  
Enjoyment
    Read my review. Does it sound like I enjoyed it? NO. I liked the title screen, and the font was somewhat unique, but the game overall wasn't fun. Well, I did like choosing my guy, even though he was ugly.  
Final Blows
    You could download this and then wish you hadn't. Its an easy thing to do. Or you could go play Final Fantasy 6 and see basically the same graphics only with sound and good NPC's. The choice is yours.

As for continuing work onthis game, you'd have to give it an overhall. Or you could draw your own tilemaps, bad as they may be, and I'll give you a higher score simply because it'll be a newbie game. Again, the choice is yours.


Final Scores
Graphics: 1.5/10.0
Ripped, ripped, and bad. Even the ripping sucked. You get a 1.5 instead of a 1.0 because the roofs actually kinda fit together.
Storyline: 2.5/10.0
Say what? Story? Yeah, it was there, but boring as anything. But a little improvement and you might have something...maybe...
Gameplay: 1.5/10.0
<---What I did the whole time. Held down my spacebar.
Music: 3/10.0
THERE WAS NONE. AS A RULE, YOU GET A 3.0. GOOD JOB.
Enjoyment: 2/10.0
I didn't.
Overall Grade: F
Final Thoughts
    Final Fantasy 6's tilemaps deserve better.  


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