Anemoia : the nostalgia for something you never experienced... And the exact feeling I had when playing the game. I was too young for the C64 but this game scratched an itch I didn't know I had. Of course, you should not expect anything too complex or deep about Skald. Indeed, evrything, from the writing to the combat system and quests is rather straightforward. You don't have a ton of options, be it for dialogs, skills, quests resolutions or places to go, hence the game can be finished well under 20h. However the game oozes charm and atmospheren the pixel art is exquisite. You deeply feel the tragedy that befell the Outer Isles and even when you score a victory, there will be losses and further, dire obstacles to overcome. There's a "nice" sense of doom, even if gameplay-wise, it doesn't translate that well. Combat is almost never difficult in Skald, sometimes just a bit drawn out- I never felt the need to craft much potions or to bother with spells and clever positioning that much. The final boss itself is quite disappointing. I would say that it's a Lovecraftian horror theme done right- except for the ending, which is a mixed bag for me. On the whole it's a well-crafted classical experience, honest to its retro inspiration. I would say, though, that the pacing is off. Chapter one has a nice length, while chapter 2 and 3 are over in flash- a bit disappointing for the narrative crux on the first isle. Chapter 4 could be also way too short if not for a clumsily hinted optional quest, and an optional village with a big Lovecraft reference- a nice touche, if a bit forced. Chapter 5 does feel a bit rushed and while you can expect not to undersdtand everything when cosmic horror is involved, I think there are some nonsense thrown into the mix, as well as some foreshadowing leading nowhere conclusive. For such a price, if you are charmed by the graphics and the premises, I would still recommend it. I would be delighted by an extended version of the game, or a sequel
Venetica displays ambition and chooses a setting not so often used - Venice during its time of splendor, with a badass heroine, Scarlett, who has Death for father. Unfortunately, you can tell right at the beginning that the story will be lackluster, what with Scarlett's lover's ludicrous demise, kicking her desire for revenge, and Death ordering her to kill the Immortal Archonte but never bothering to explain anything. The game consists then of slaying 5 undead cartoonish villain, until you get the power to vanquish the Archonte himself. There's no real build-up or organic flow to this : everytime you need it Scarlett will meet her deceased lover in the Otherworld, being granted the new required power. The last section is quite farcical : you gather allies on the fly to depose the Doge and people you never met before trust Scarlett to lead the revolt just like that. This could be forgiven if Venetica had interesting gameplay. Alas, the AI is lacking (you can lure them one by one easily) and comboing works on the vast majority of ennemies. With the ability to resurrect several times and the trove of healing items, you barely need to dodge or block attacks. Sadly it makes many of the magic skills a moot point, since combat takes so few efforts. At best you must be wary of not being comboed to death yourself. Questing is your standard uninspired RPG fare, with a lot of slaying enemies and fetching stuff, sometimes copy pasted content- plus sometimes a bit too much of backtracking, in a Venice not that large to explore. From time to time Scarlett can make choices, leading to one of two endings - that, plus the three Guilds to join, is still a bit weak for replayability. Venetica does have its moment though, the voice acting is OK and on the whole it's simple- which can be refreshing. Still I fail to see how this can be viewed as a gem, at best,I think the game is mediocre.
I really enjoyed my time with the main game and of course, adding new factions is a great idea- while being commonplace for many 4X now. And sure, the Sisters of Battle have their own identity, while they can feel a bit like the Space Marines, their unique units and gimmicks are sufficient to have fun. However, in my mind, there is a huge gap between what is offered and the price tag. You see, games like Endless Legends added new mechanics and feature to the whole game, in addition to a new faction. Here, you have none of that and still, the DLC costs a third of the main game's value. So, unless you are already a huge fan of Gladius, I'd recommend to wait before buying it.
Ara Fell badly wants to capture the spirit of classic JRPGs and in that regard, it mostly succeeds. You'll get some retro feelings while having some quality of life improvements : for example, HP and MP are refilled after each combat, streamlining exploration and XP grind (which is not too required on standard difficulty). You won't get tons of items : equipment is set for each character, instead you will have to scour the land to get crafting material, which is an alright motivation for doing so. Atmosphere is generally quite light-hearted, it's an easy game to pick up and play. Graphics are OK too, full of retro charm. So, why only two stars ? As far as I am concerned, the story was quite lackluster. Paying homage to older games shouldn't mean sticking to a generic plot without much depth. The Big Bad is bland and incompetent, unable to obtain what he needed after 500 years of searching in such a small world, what's more, he could have stopped the heroes several times but fails to do so, without any good reason. It defaults to a chosen one gathering artifacts of power, sometimes found in silly locations, while the world is supposedly dying- but nothing in the environment shows that. Expect plotholes and and an absence of surprises, with average characters. I might be demanding but didn't feel motivated to pursue this quest in such a shallow world. However, if you don't care too much about the plot and some padding puzzles, Ara Fell might feel like a blast from the past, comfortable to play, competently programmed but quite forgettable.
Intrigued by the title, I decided to give it a go. As a RPG Maker title, it was refreshing to witness a story more mature than the average title in this category. Whatever your morality might be, you WILL commit heinous acts in order to progress the plot. I won't spoil anything, but be prepared for some haunting actions, all in the name of the greater good. Sometimes it suitably strikes the emotional chord, sometimes it seems a little forced, just to push the main character beyond the pale once more. War is a messy affair and Bleeding Moons does not stop at anything to show us that. Hower, you will still have to suspend your disbelief quite often. Ian might be described as a "natural" in this line of work but as the missions get increasingly difficult and risky, the contrived coincidences keep piling up in his favor. Even being tutored by a master assassin, it gets ludicrous sometimes... Beyond that you will also have to pursue one of three possible romances : River, your childhood friend, Luna, said master assassin, and Sélène, whom you are bound to marry. Problem is that you will spend most of your time with Luna. With less screen time, it is harder to develop the other two's characters... Of course the game invites you to play multiple times, to get different endings and different romances. Problem is you cannot skip anything, making repeat plays a chore ! In the end, Bleeding Moons might suit you if you are all looking for a different kind of visual novel, with a dark tone. Do keep in mind though that all choices are not cleverly offered to you and that the "gameplay" parts are not terribly riveting.
The Fallout series met a grim fate with Fallout 76, but the earlier titles inspired a lot of games, Atom included. The general setting (albeit we are here in post-apocalypse Soviet Union), atmosphere, inventory systems, use of perks, turn-based combat etc.- it all can be found there. The premises are alluring enough and going on a quest given by an organization created for such dire revents is a great start- which falters as soon as the first foray into the world, were your character is incompetent enough to leave his rifle out of place and gets robbed of his belongings. Naturally, beginning the game with an AK-47 would have been too easy, but this is just an early sign of poor storytelling. The sad thing is that with all the quests related to more-ore-less zany quests, you can the potential, but it's badly implemented- all mentioned conspiracies seem to be true but your actions mean little in the grand order or things, and your character has no personal involvement with this world or the main quest. Unlike Fallout 1, you can sometimes easily forget you have to check for a lost battalion... Humor is hit-or-miss and companions rarely add anything useful to the events or the dialogs, and are note efficient in combat. Combat system itself is nothing innovative and quite clunky. The game seems afraid to really explore the ideas it comes up with, giving a general sense of dullness. One of the most baffling faults shown by Atom is its overuse of references to better piece of media, for the sake of references- no witty deconstruction or commentary, a far cry from Fallout 2's take on the matter. All in all, including too frequent random encounters on the world map and tedious fights, I would say Atom RPG does not respect your time. It could be more alluring for those living in ex-USSR countries but there are much better alternatives on the indie scene. In any case, I would strongly advise to watch a Let's Play of the first few hours before buying...
Black Geyser has great inspirations : Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale. And you really feel they wanted to make their own, humble version of BG. At first glance, the usual fanfare is here to back it up : an open world, a main quest as a red string to follow but the meat of the game is in the sidequests, party-based combat (even if you can try to go solo), several classes and lots of opportunity to take the ever present sweet, sweet loot. Combat, while not challenging, is decent with serviceable stats and skills system. So, where does it go wrong ? This is not really a story-rich game : the lore about the world is scarce, the main quest see you as a nobody propelled to the rank of savior of the kingdom because there's apparently no one more competent to do it. The civil war theme is poorly executed and you end up with an uninspired prophecy intrigue. Story is sometimes convoluted, at one point you will have to travel through time for the silliest reason. Memorable characters ? Plainly, no. They only seldom intervene in dialog, there's almost no party banter and their dialog tree is quickly depleted- as for their personal quest, nothing exciting. They don't feel really involved with the world or the story. But the main issue is the greed system. It won't be after two-thirds of the game that stealing and taking items raise the world greed gauge, so you will have way more gold than needed at this point and no problem to buy what you want : there are very few interesting equipment in the merchants' stalls. So you can act a like a saint when you finish a quest : you won't be impacted much, as greed mainly raise the prices (inconsequential) anyways. The game pretends it leads the world closer to utter ruin but those are words : you can travel across the kingdom and now real manifestation of this will show. This is a big letdown because player's greed in RPG is well-known, it would have been meta and interesting to tackle it... My advice : boot BG or buy BGIII.
I'm not usually attracted by those kind of games, but the setting seemed alluring and I gave it a go, thinking it couldn't be worse than Close to the Sun. And as far as exploration goes, though it is very limited, the landscape is a delight : branches moving the wind, proud mountains, rural houses, bucolic paths under a gentle sun, the whispers of the sea... Quite immersive. Not much "findin your own path" though, there's a road to follow, not in a set order, but still. Lissie is a boon to the game : dynamic, malicious, full of life and dreams, she is a good counterpart to our avatar, a feeble and rational scholar who can be quite insensitive at times. There's no real forks in conversation, but the voice actors are good and the dialogues, pleasant. There's two majors problems for me, though. From the store page we are told that Edward is a "an increasingly unreliable narrator ", and if you have a bit of flair for narrative tricks, it becomes far too obvious what the twist will be, and the other big one associated with the previous. Second, and I know it's a matter of point of view, but I didn't find the story, the quintessence of such a game, to be that gripping. Once the first twist is done, you come to realize that there's no real connections between the characters and the tragedy that befell Graavik. It's like going somewhere and stumbling upon a mystery to solve by accident, it lacks meaning. What's more, Lissie criticizes stories with "horrible loose ends and unanswered questions" but... That's exactly what we have here. Edward realizes something important during this trip, but the tragedy itself seems almost an accessory. Considering the game lasts roughly 3 to 4 hours, I wouldn't recommend buying it at this price. I doubt I'll find more meaning by "playing" again, and I'm skeptical about another story with them. Still, if you want to load off, it's quite the contemplative game.
