Recent reviews by ggmcintire

Fair warning, this game is quite a bit more difficult than the original Tiny Dangerous Dungeons, especially the last boss. For example, the only boss in the original game (which was at the end) is now only the third boss out of five, and it's even harder than it originally was (only its head is now vulnerable and it now spawns spiders). It does have interesting new elements like some puzzle elements and some secrets. Other than that, if you played the original and wish there was more meat to it, this easily delivers. If you didn't play the original it's still a fairly small metroidvania (enough that the lack of a fast travel system isn't a serious issue) but one with some scenarios quite a bit more creative than you'd think could be created with the elements that make them up. It's also easily the priciest game by Adventure Islands yet.

If you're reading this, Adventure Islands, I hope you make more metroidvanias and modestly larger, meatier, pricier games than you used to like this one.

This would have easily been Team Ladybug's best outing yet had two things been different: one, if the "warp anywhere" command had taken you only to or from places between save points you'd already reached, and, two, if you'd played as another cute anime girl in a fancy dress rather than Stack Beefload.

There are the seeds of an amazing game in here. The spellcrafting system is something that's rarely been done, if ever, in video games. It really makes you feel like a wizard. The system is also surprisingly fleshed out, from what I've seen of it. Unfortunately there are several issues: first of all, the visuals and music are nothing special. Second of all, enemies don't respawn when you die, which really takes the teeth out of the game's challenge. Finally, the money bag you drop on death may spawn floating in midair, where you can't grab it, especially when it's in the path of a descending stream of fire, and spawns anywhere in boss arenas, not just near the entrance you came in by. If those issues are fixed, the game would be amazing.

If this game lived up to the hype, Dunkey would be a hero. He'd make a ton of money and prove everyone wrong. His name would go down in history with those of Michelangelo, of Pasteur, of Davy Crockett and the JRPG community would never recover from the embarrassment.

If it sucked, he'd make no money, be called a crook, an idiot, and a kook, then be unpersonned and forgotten forever. His doubters would be vindicated and the JRPG artform would skyrocket to the highest levels of cultural cachet.

It turned out awesome. The experiment has succeeded, and Dunkey has won immortality for his name in making that so.

Do you need an evening of wholesome fun? Has rationing your stamina, farming for rare random drops, and poking anywhere vaguely suspicious induced hallucinations of anime girls? Don't want ever-changing dungeon layouts or rains of bullets to keep you up too late to get to work on time? Too tired to manage a factory or collect all 100 coins in every area? Don't have enough time to appreciate unskippable cutscenes or lengthy backtracking? Would florid graphics or heart-pounding music just be distractions? How much would you pay for a game packed with creative gimmicks, or one where figuring out the rules on your own is easy and fun? Ask yourself if you're in the mood for... 20 Small Mazes. Coming to Steam in 2024.

It was the funniest thing ever when the discoverer girl praised the "slab" next to her, while she was with this huge beefy guy. It took me a bit to realize, "oh, she means the literal slab."

The difference between Rabi-Ribi and this game is a lot like the difference between an earlier and later Harry Potter book: the later entry is much darker and more serious, there's a lot more writing, and things that were not problems at all or were forgivable in the earlier entry are now serious issues because of the foregoing two points. The gameplay is still overall great, and in some respects even better, so I'm recommending this game anyway.

I think the best comparison for if you'll like this game is The Guardian Legend (minus the shooting corridors). Overall, this is a great game, and with the amount of content the achievement list implies there is, it would be worth many times the asking price.
Pros:
-The combat scenarios are challenging but fair, forgiving and not frustrating
-The mechanics are all diverse, implemented to a wide extent, and don't overstay their welcome
-The spells have distinct effects and each has a wide use, partly dependent on play style
-The music is amazing
-The "find secrets" tiers of the skill tree are in very generous positions
-The secrets are all in places that shouldn't require much searching if you have a keen eye amid the dangerous enemies
-Everything looks distinct and is quite well designed visually
-Your power and the enemies' power increases along a fair curve
Cons:
-The fast travel system is hard to recognize as such at first
-Your basic attack doesn't level up much until near the end of the game
-Photos still responds to the arrow pad on at least some controllers even while the game is running

The developer hasn't really changed since their very good previous game, The Messenger. Unfortunately, that does NOT mesh well with their decision to follow that game up with an RPG, because flaws that were excusable in a platform game are deal breakers in an RPG.

First the gameplay: Avoiding KOs is frequently finicky and awkward, just like The Messenger, but now also somewhat random due to the moves necessary to stop big spells often being impossible to execute in the required window, especially if multiple enemies try spells on the same round. Action commands, especially defensive ones, involve a lot of trial and rather counterintuitive error and don't even change attack power by half for normal or enemy attacks, let alone completely block enemy attacks. And if the developer limits ability upgrades to a while before endgame again, that will completely destroy half the fun of a usual RPG endgame.

The weakest part is the story again, and this time this was the most important aspect to get right. I haven't gotten to the point where the humor dominates the dialogue, but if it's anything like things were in The Messenger, it might well get intolerable. The characters do react differently to specific things, but so far there don't seem to be any consistencies to those differences. What's worse, the inconsistency in different character reactions doesn't even appear to service the plot. Speaking of the plot, the characters are already far from home at the point I've reached and they have yet to encounter any major villains, threats or even unfriendly NPCs in person. The closest thing to that is one of their friends (who tagged along) losing an eye to basic monsters that are already no match for the party. Other than that, their only reason to go on their quest is the say-so of a bunch of "wise" elders who for all I know may not be telling the truth. And if you can believe it, the worldbuilding is already the worst part. Near the beginning of the game there's a school whose entire class at the time the protagonists are seen attending can be counted on one hand. This alone makes the Hogwarts house system look like Tolkien worldbuilding. And how am I expected to believe that even basic alchemical creations are only even damageable by magic taught at schools like this? This kind of storytelling engenders a lack of trust in linear stories the developer doesn't themselves arguably spoil.

The game does have the same strong points as The Messenger as well, namely the art and music. The soundtrack alone is so long and good it by itself might just be worth getting the game for, especially if it, the game and the artbook are bundled for a 25-40 percent discount. Though, the art is arguably too rich, especially given the severe lack of interactable spots. But if what you see/hear of those before buying isn't your style, or just not worth the gameplay and story flaws, there are Flash, Impact HTML5 and RPG Maker RPGs on Steam that would be a better use of your time and money.

This game is a massive improvement over the developer's previous title, Galaxy Tales: Story of Rapunzel. The pixel art is much cleaner and more focused, the music is much more interesting, the player character's abilities and the level and boss designs are super creative, the controls are a lot smoother, and even the story is more engaging. I have no idea how it got on my wishlist but am super glad it did. I feel bad for this game; it seemed to pass its launch week without getting enough reviews to generate a score, which would've helped it gain more exposure. I blame the developer self-publishing, the very generic title, the surprise release and the lack of a launch discount. Aside from this, I agree with the review that says this game is very friendly to speedrunning. I'd like a couple additional achievements, one for completing the game in a set time and another for completing the game 100% in a longer set time, on top of an external soundtrack release as one other review suggests.