Score: 8
"Pretty nice start"
date: April 29, 2008
This was a pretty nice start for a first flash game. I really enjoyed playing it, although I had some problems myself. I don't know if this was affecting anyone else, but I couldn't save at all. Whenever I closed the window, the save file would be lost. With that said, here are the Pros and Cons
Pros
Nice selection of music, and graphics were pretty good in my opinion.
Innovative gamplay that really required thought, and unless you're really good, several playthroughs.
The dialogue was orignal, potraying the main character not as the classic knight in shining armor, but with a more darker personality.
Nice way you could choose a variety of skills and modify stat emphasis.
Overall interesting game
Cons
I'm pretty sure I won't be the first nor last to say this. Somtiems selecting the targets for spells were too hard. It wasted some time that could easily decide whether you win or lose. There was a list for selecting characters for actions. Maybe you could make one for targeting?
There was a lack of items; more customization would have been better.
Skills were almost identical between different classes, and almost none of the skills were class-specified. I actually managed to make my spearman a part time healer; he managed to learn final heal by simply being high enough level, and he got that high for being a melee unit.
Another problem was the classes. Although I could see you tried to make them as best as you could, it could easily be abused. By choosing several melee characters in the beginning and sticking with them for every battle until the last one, they would be high enough level for most skills, whether melee, range, or healing. Coupled with stat emphasis, you could make an army of seemingly invincible units that could do great in both melee, range and healing. This almost made all the other classes useless, since as ranged characters, they constantly relied on skills, being physically weaker.
Overall, the game was a extremely nice experience and I even specifically logged in just to review it! I hope you finish the sequel soon, because I can't wait! I know it's going to set a high bar for future newground games!
April 30, 2008
Author's Response:
Thanks for your long and thorough review! It's this kind of feedback that very much helps the production of the sequel. I'm glad you enjoyed the game to a certain degree, and will definitely take your suggestions into consideration. In fact, I'm very glad you brought up enemy targeting -- I had previously been focusing on allied-unit selecting, and just came up with a (hopefully) good idea to improve enemy targeting instead. I will also aim to make each class more unique - the reusing of skills in this version was mainly due to time and file-size restrictions.
I've never encountered problems with the saving -- if, however, you happen to be on a "workstation" computer (one in which the flash shared objects are constantly cleared -- for example, at some sort of computer lab) your saved game will be erased by the computer whenever you log on.
Thanks again for your review!