Let me just start off by saying that I'm really very grateful people try to tell stories about these themes - my dear old Sweden's role as weapons exporter, for one. That sort of thing is too rarely spoken about. However, I obviously didn't enjoy the game all that much. The backstory is where the game really shines, but the story itself - the dialogues, narration - just isn't good enough. I mean, I can't claim to be able to write better myself, but parts of it just felt sloppy. Another thing I really wish they would have spent more effort is in the sound department. The voice acting wasn't the most stellar performance I've heard, but I won't make an issue of it. (Hell, X3 was MUCH worse than this.) My beef is with the phone calls, and volume levels. The voice lines are very faint, while the music is relatively loud - I have NEVER, I kid you not, encountered such imbalance before, from any independent or established studio. Also, it would've been a nice touch if they'd made the lines spoken through a telephone actually sound like they came out of a telephone - filters, encoding artefacts, that stuff. I also noticed that some interactions, mostly involving inventory items, didn't result in either prompt or animation, further making the game feel incomplete. It is an enjoyable game, clever puzzles, but just a little more effort could've gone a really long way.
Despite the few pixels they used, the graphics in this game are a wonder to behold. The music is well suited to the palette they used. The story does need some more interpretation on the gamer's part to really get the most of it (amazingly deep), but that just adds to the replay value. The voice acting is, perhaps, the weakest element. There's... little else to say, really. This game is made of awesome, period. PLAY THIS GAME, or Crispin gets it!
I'll try to avoid spoilers, so all I'll say about the story being told is: Clever as heck. There. You can argue about the depth, relevance, and involved science (I mean, algae ARE cool and all, BUT...), but the twists and turns are just miles above the competition. The snag about catering to a clever audience is, however, that you might get inspired to make some fiendishly difficult puzzles, which caused at least me some undue frustration. All is not doom and gloom, however: they all make sense! I highly recommend this game, but be aware that it comes packaged in an art style that might not appeal to everyone.
While everyone and their grandmother have weighed in on the graphical splendour (Too pretty for words - you really have to see it to believe it, even if it has some obvious imposed technical limitations. Fantastic atmosphere!), it goes without saying that the control scheme is NOT optimal for the PC. It's probably nice with a gamepad, but not in the slightest for keyboard-only adventurers. (Mouse makes it bearable.) But seeing as I have nothing new to add there, I'll just limit myself to pointing this little gem out: Voice acting. Yes, voice acting in pretty much any game that doesn't have Bioware's or LucasArts (RIP) logo on it has a disturbing tendency to be all kinds of awful - and Dreamfall is no exception. Or is it? Just for fun, I changed voices to Norwegian - and was instantly blown away. Pick any subtitle you like, but you owe it to yourself to experience the norwegian voices! Also noteworthy is that there are often more than one way to progress through tricky spots. For example, you can either walk right up to a not-very-nice-guy and bluff your way through, or lure him away with a pizza oven and sneak past him instead. (There's even a third option in that case: fail stealth/bluff and kick him inna nads.) Refreshing.
Yeah, a bit of a negative review coming, but you may want to read all of it, as it's not all doom and gloom. So, Septerra Core: A new take on CRPG, moving away from D&D and typical console JRPGs, while still playing remarkably similar to Chrono Trigger. Combos are performed with cards here, and they can be powerful indeed - don't skip out on the cards if you play this game! Buffs are IMMENSELY helpful. While playing, it was apparent to me the developers went several extra miles to create a credible game world. But where to properly begin? Gameplay The characters are sprites, moving around on an isometric prerendered backdrop. Contrasting with... just about every game out there, the sprites have been granted a rudimentary physics emulation - if you run in one direction, you are NOT going to turn on a dime! This can be annoying, but there's no real penalty besides disrupting your pace - it's simply literally impossible to rush through this game. There doesn't seem to be a purpose for it, either, though, except as a means of making you think of the characters as... well, more substantial than sprites. In combination with the sprites stopping when they touch a boundary in the walkmesh instead of sliding along the edge... I mentioned the combat system in the preamble, and I don't really have anything more to say about it that you can't read in a manual or a guide on GameFAQs. It's pretty smooth, though, and rewards experimentation and cunning - beam attacks tended to put a wiiiiide grin on my face sometimes. This also holds true for the Fate Cards. It should also be noted that you absolutely have to use every party member at one point or another to progress in the story - you're not going to have just one set trio from start to finish. Level progression isn't an issue, though - everyone gets the experience reward, active party AND reserves. Another thing to note is that some of the items you need to carry on are sometimes VERY well hidden, often out of the way, and it's rarely clear where you're supposed to use them, or how. Fortunately (?), the items' icons get an outline when you hold them over the spot where you're meant to use them. There's no way to get stuck by missing a key item, or using it at the wrong place, as far as I could tell. Conversations are carried out by clicking icons in the bottom bar. Using key items with characters will sometimes lead to conversations as well. Equipment follows two paradigms: There are characters that you equip in typical RPG fashion - new weapon, armour, whatever - and then there are those who get to keep their weapons (assault rifles, sticks) from start to finish. They purchase upgrades and extensions to their gear - similar to the Gears in Xenogears (yet oh so different, of course). Graphics Well, obviously 'dated' is going to be an apt description, so I'll just skip all that (although the sprites are impressive, considering the technology). Cast Cards and summons might be a bit on the lengthy side (yet nowhere near Knights of the Round or Eden!), but the animations are fine in my book. The movies (Bink video) suffer quite a bit from compression, but that shouldn't come as a surprise. One thing that came as a surprise to me, though, was the UI design, and visual design (art direction?) in general. The GUI design is - in my eyes, at least - simply bad! Questionable choice of fonts, particularly unpleasant borders around the buttons on the main menu (New Game, Continue, Quit), cluttered background in the element where we're supposed to read... This is easily the game's weakest point. Which, I suppose, is a good thing. The credible gameworld comes back as a double-edged sword even here. You remember what I said about items being placed a bit out of the way? Well, what if several key items are NOT in chests, and lying out in the open on the field maps, amid the richly decorated (if not always decoratIVE) backdrops? As for the backdrops, they aren't all that, either. It's not always apparent where there's a doorway (a further incentive not to rush, I guess), and the only cues you get about area transitions are a cursor change (hover on exit gives you a really groovy one) and a yellow zone on what passes for an in-game map screen (hit Tab). The level design seems to be based on tiles - the related criticism people might have for Neverwinter Nights (1) applies here. The biggest negative point about the backdrops as experienced by me: The viewpoint is too close to the sprites - it's difficult to navigate efficiently. The combination of inertia, the occasional long corridor with lots of visual goings-on (pipes, hoses, debris, corpses, busted droids, lockers...) you might actually WANT to run through, having to watch the walls intently in case you miss your exit, and the physics quirk I mentioned earlier... This could have been done better. And was, as I recall, in Crusader. But I digress. Sound Pretty good, I'm tempted to say. (Though dated, again!) I don't remember how games sounded back then, but the sound effects pass muster. I had an issue with poor synchronisation, but considering I'm using an onboard soundchip, you might not have the same problem. The music is surprisingly appealing, despite its glaring MIDI-parentage - yet there is so little of it! Maybe some of you remember the criticism Xenosaga I took for not having 'ambient' music, only bringing out the Mitsuda for cutscenes and dungeons? This game beat them to it. There is music on the seven world maps, in combat, in some cutscenes and FMVs, and in the main menu, but most of the rest of the game is only populated by ambient sounds. Drip-dropping water, roaring flames, sounds of war, beeping computers... I actually kind of like it, but this is as far as that concept should be taken. Really. The voicework? It has nothing on Mass Effect (then again, what does?), but it's not bad, as such. Mediocre, I'd say, with some bright moments. Story This is actually pretty good. The finest point of the game, unless you're really into combat engines. The efforts in crafting a credible world really shows here. Uh... Well, as credible a world as you can get with seven shells in orbit over a gigantic computer, connected by a mostly organic spine, but you get my drift. No references to inventions in the real world (shame on Shining Tears for the reference to battery-powered toys in a fantasy setting!), all the lore you can shake a stick at... AND: Your party members tend to have different things to say about things, often fleshing out their backstories. I'll leave you to discover this for yourself - I highly recommend going back and speaking to residents with different characters in your party. I won't spoil the story for you, but I'll swear to the absence of anime tropes. Ok, true, religious crazies, swordsmen seeking revenge, nutty pirates, a sacrifice or two, but the efforts towards that credible world balances this out. A relatively solid construction - though it does have some... chinks in the chain. The end, however, was over much too soon - which is also the case for many FMVs. For better or worse, Square-Enix never touched this game. I think I actually fought the last boss, saw the ending, AND watched the end credits in less than 15 minutes. I just sat there thinking '... That's it?' Somewhat beautiful though it is, it really needed to be longer. Conclusion In all: This is actually a bit of a work of art. Sure, I've had plenty of bad things to say about it, but I can attribute most of it to poor art direction and testing. An innovative title, to be sure, with a ton of lore built around it, though the art style is really not for everyone. That said, it is difficult to be enthusiastic about playing this game. Sure, the game in its entirety takes some smarts to finish (or a good guide, which I was unable to find; GOG's maps are almost crucial, though the pictures need to be renamed before you can use them with confidence - I spent a lot of time browsing through them to find what specific map I was actually at), which is a welcome sign of respect, but you can't get away from the fact that, outside of the combat, it's simply a bother to play. Chrono Trigger + Riven + Fallout with iffy art direction.
