Recent reviews by Haus

Wow!
I can't believe it... a QUALITY RPGMaker game?!
It is hard to believe, but I think I've finally found it! I've probably played...dozens... of RPGMaker titles on steam and this is the first time I've actually felt like somebody put some real time, effort and HEART into their RPGMaker game.

Pros-
-The premise is amazing; seriously original, and the setting is a new twist on old hat. Good story. Sadly... I don't usually have the patience for JRPGs... but I really want to find out where they take the story! This one might sway me to finish it once I get Fallout 4 out of the way...
-Art and assets are nicely done
-No typos or bad spelling, grammar, etc!!! Sadly, this issue must be addressed in the RPGMaker arena. Anyway, this game clears the bar!
-Funny dialog, not corny crap like others of this ilk. Self-aware dialog, but used sparingly, so it doesn't break the 4th wall and get silly.
-Characters are actually interesting! *SPOILERS* but you get a ghost friend, a lady with multiple personalities and you get to control an enemy character. It kind of has a Chrono Cross feel to it, in that way.

Cons-
-I wish the combat were a little quicker. I know you can remove the combat animations in the options, which would help a little, but it just feels like it drags a little in the early part of the game when you fight 1 v 3 enemies and they all take a second to hit... and then you have to set your cursor over again
-Some aspects of the game could use a little better explaining, like the 'user level' or whatever it was called. The bonus given when beating an area. Not sure I understand the different levels and how its calculated. Also, the item and armor upgrading is a little mysterious and cumbersome since you can't be currently wearing the item you wish to upgrade (Update: they fixed this upgrading nusance)

*Disclaimers*
I played on Easy mode in order to get as far as possible in a limited time (it is the holidays, after all), so I can't comment on the "standard" difficulty, and;
I received a free copy of this game in exchange for my honest review.

Bottom line: I'll admit, JRPGs aren't really my bag anymore, I was really into them about a decade ago, but this one really has some fresh ideas for the genre. Seriously though, this is one of the best RPGMaker JRPGs I've ever played, it's totally worth it for the full price of $3, and if its on sale, definitely give it a go for the current sale price of a buck and change.

All throughout this review, remember, this game is 10 years old!

Now, on to the good stuff

Pros:
-Oddly calming music
-Voice acting that is so BAD, that its good. Comical even. Like the main character's dead-pan reading of his father's death.
-Fun combat
-Has trading cards

Cons:
-The starting just is just TOO SLOW. Or, the towns are all too far apart... maybe a little of both. I just felt like I was playing Euro Truck simulator for a lot of it. Driving a giant, slow truck through acres of nothing.
-Rewards are tiny, which makes it hard to upgrade to more fun weapons and vehicles. I spent a lot of my earnings on repairs, and that was on easy mode.
-Story is... not riveting, at least not as far as I got. Even though I listed voice acting as a funny pro, the downside is that its hard to get pulled in with bad dialog and voice acting.
-Trading system seemed clunky and obtuse.
-No achievements. This game could have really benefited from achievements.
-Graphics are clearly aged, can't blame the game, its old, but I had to list it.

Overall, if you take its age into consideration, I'd give the game a 7/10.

Back in 2005, on the Playstation 2, I would've been playing this game.
However, in the here-and-now (2015), with almost 1300 games in my library, this game is on the back, BACK burner. If you have a slow, old PC or have nothing else to play, then I'd say go for it. Or maybe for the laughs, or nostalgia.

*Disclaimer: I recieved a free copy of this game from the developer in order to review it.

I think I've put in enough time to get a feel for this game.

Pros:

-Good music for an RPG maker title
-Some of the character design is nice
-Can be pretty difficult, that could go either way, depends on if you like a challenge
-Has Achievements
-Has Trading cards

Cons:

-Right off the bat, I noticed that the controls can't be modified, and the default movement is not the D-pad... why? I feel like precise movements should be the thing here.
-Story is... lackluster, though I only made it to chapter 2, but I didn't feel like it was going anywhere suprising... though I did see a zombie screenshot on the store page. Wish I could have made it to that part.
-Some of the items and dialog are good, but some of the item labels make no sense. I'm thinking this might be a translation issue.
-I played on easy mode and got killed a lot in chapter 2, maybe its because I didn't grind enough, maybe I didn't pick the right team, but it feel too difficult to continue.
-Sometimes, squares will be present in the dialog or item descriptions, like a character is missing. Not sure what that's about.
-This game has been out for over a year and these problems still exist, which leads me to belive that they will never be fixed.

Overall, I'd give the game a 5/10. Just barely recommended.

I wouldn't pay full price for it but it'll kill a few hours. It seems deep... if you really fell into it, it'd last you a long time, but it just didn't grip me.

*Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy of this game by the developer in order to review it.

Buy it on super sale, otherwise, NO.

Its fun for about...4 hours, then it becomes a no-fun-point-and-click-grind-athon.

I can't unlock any more characters... can't get past the...7th floor at best, even with upgrades (that seem to help very little). The rouge-like elements suck, quite honestly. The carry over of gold on most plays is in the double digits. Takes forever to buy upgrades that way. Super frustrating. I think I'm done. I feel like I MUST be doing something wrong for it to be this messed up but I'm completely out of patience to reseach what's wrong.

TL:dr:

I got it in a bundle, otherwise, I'd be REAL mad. As is, I'm only a little mad. I think I'm mostly mad because I loved it intensely at first, but then I felt like I hit a solid wall at about the 4 hour mark. Now, no progress, no fun, I'm done.

Too much to discuss here really but I recommend it. I never would have bought it for the full price so I'm glad it showed up in a bundle. I've never played X-com or enemy unknown so I don't have good points of comparison, but I can tell you the basics.

Pros:
-First dozen times I tried to play: extremely difficult. I'm having fun on easy mode still, not getting destroyed at every corner.
-The writing is great, minimal story but its told in a cool way. Great mythos and some great mystery elements.

Cons:
-Difficulty, maybe I play too "run and gun" but I seem to get murdered on anythign but easy mode.
-FOV is a little silly and night missions just make it even more so. Sometimes you can turn a corner, and unless you are facing the exact direction, you can get shot in the side of the head. IRL, people can see to the side, even if only slightly.
-I wish there were achievements
-I wish auto saves self-labeled and didn't overwrite. It would be nice to have auto check points since the difficulty can be so unforgiving sometimes.

I like it so far, the puzzles are deceptively difficult, I actually had to give up on one and look for solution before I went mad, not something I predicted having to do when I first pulled the game up.

The price point is amazing (free) and provided good entertainment for no investment, something you can't beat.

Great music too btw, seems to have heavy final fantasy or professor layton influences... reminds me of final fantasy 9 the most, the exploration/world map music, nothing hard-hitting, very chill.

So far, no cons to speak of, aside from the fact that the interface could be a little easier, like allowing you to hold down the arrows to move in puzzles and to be able to draw the letters with the mouse in one stroke instead of having to stop at each post. Just tiny things really, the game is still great either way :-)

Anyhow, I think that this free game acomplishes exactly what's intended: get across the artists' vision and make you want to look forward to whatever their next project will be, which I will likely happily pay for when the time comes.

Lots of fun, lots of clicking, wish they could assign more keyboard keys to somethings. I don't know the history behind this game, but sadly, the graphics suck. I find it extra sad because a lot of the art is great and there's not much in the way of intense graphics, motion etc. But fullscreen on my 1920x1080 monitor makes everything pixelate. Otherwise, you have to play it in tiny mode which I can't tolerate either. Still, overall, great title, got it in a bundle, even full price of $5 isn't bad though. Little over 7 hours in and I see no signs of stopping yet.

Fun enough for a $4 game. Kinda corny but its kind of self aware. Also, brings a cool puzzle mechanic to the SHMUP style Bosses are kind of annoying due to be a standard "bullet hell" type boss. It's less annoying in boss rush because you don't have to do a whole level prior to getting annihalated and having to do it all again.

Would be cool to see speacial attacks added or bombs, maybe a '1 use per stage' weapon, to get out of a jam, or help kill the boss if you can keep yourself from wasting it during the stage.

Anyway, I got mine in a bundle but I'd say its a sure buy for so cheap on steam, no real replay value but a solid ~5-6 hours of gameplay. If you include getting all the achievements, might be a little longer but boss rush is nearly impossible so that's hard to calculate.

One of the best arcade style titles on steam! I could play it forever, seriously. With online radio, it just seems like a new game everytime.

Can't recommend it right now. I'm on level...8 or 9 out of 35, and it gotten so difficult that I can't finish the level after many attempts, and I refuse to go back and replay old levels to get more gems for upgrades. I'm not exactly sure what the difficult scales with but after upgrading a lot of towers in the upgrade section, I'm having a hard time even beating old early levels to gain more gems. I'm not down for a grind. Sorry game, you lost me. Very sad too because there were a couple of inovative mechanics. Maybe I'll pick you back up down the line, hopefully the devs will have tweaked the difficultly stuff.