Just like it's been said, your income is so low and potions are so expensive, that you can't upgrade your heroes. All you can do is buy potions or your heroes will die. And if your heroes die, you don't get to hire one for a low price, your game is just over.
If the balance was fixed, it could be fun. But, the balance is completely broken, so it sucks.
Really nice graphics, simple to learn gameplay, and very satisfying! I love short games like this. Thanks for making it!
One question, why do my honored heros all have a blue sky background, except for my first human, who has a red sky?
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it! The sky backdrops when honouring heroes is randomized :)
Well ... I actually finished the game with all my accolades achieved, but since I hadn't signed up for NewGrounds yet when I was playing, my medals weren't saved. That's alright, though! This game can easily be completed within half an hour if you invest and focus on the right aspects of your agency.
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Here is the breakdown of my grading.
[GRAPHICS; STORYLINE]
The artwork is simple and tidy, very cute. It fits the straightforward plot of the entire game, which is to manage an agency (like a guild) for adventurers, fostering their *cough*uses*cough*TALENTS so that they can continue your father's legacy, while making money for you. From one look at the art alone you just KNOW it isn't going to be a depressing story, which means it delivered the mood from the getgo.
7/10 - the premise has potential for more complex missions, but for a quick fun, it's easy to digest and interesting enough. Unfortunately, their questing log zooms past too quickly for me. Maybe an adventurer's log could help make each employee unique.
[MUSIC; SFX]
The music is trippy enough to be fun and catchy. The bonus here is that it will remind older gamers of old days when 8-bit music was a big thing (I think it's still a thing now though). The voice acting to remind me of how broke my agency is is great too. It's memorable, even. "Not enough gold."
7/10 - the BGM is very fitting, but since there's only ONE track ... it gets bland after a long time. Sort of like playing Pokemon for hours (walking in the grass) on end on the GameBoy?
[MECHANICS; INTERFACE]
Simple enough, given that the player goes through the tutorial. However, during my very first run, the adventurer demanded for a whooping 1125 wage, and since I thought it was pre-determined by the tutorial, I was none the wiser and accepted. Oh how difficult it was to raise money ... I think an indication of WHAT is considered overprice would be nice? I had to re-run (feeling something amiss) to realise I really was ripped off by my first adventurer, whose name I forgot.
I have no qualms with the interface itself, since it is P much WYSIWYG. Well, maybe the individual adventurer pause button (the green/red dot) could be a wee bit larger (but this is just a request from someone who has a lot of pets interrupting her gaming, on top of being on NG on a laptop with no USB mouse). Something to toggle the speed would be nifty; like a Rush button where things go 1.5x or 2x speed of real-time. (I'm aware it gets quicker as we upgrade the Skill, but sometimes we just want to rush, rush, rush through, yanno? Especially when it's because we didn't get our medals the first time around.)
9/10 - I don't know how anyone can mess up with controls this easy, but I'm not challenging.
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Gamer's Daily Vitamin: 2%
It honestly wouldn't take more than 2% of your day to finish the entire game. I don't see any replay value for this, but it's a plausible choice for management sim players who are short on free time or in need of a quick fix.
Overall Value: Lots of nutrients.
Not withstanding the AMOUNT of content itself, the presentation is sleek and satisfying. No glitches whatsoever, no clunky animation, and no half-assed interface thrown together as a poor excuse. You've got the foundation down. Now, if we can have a sequel with more stuff to do ... (Have you heard of Valthirian Arc 2? Great example.)
Thanks for the nutritious review doc!
Completed the game but miss may badges of newgrounds. Why?!
PROS:
- Simple design
- Very easy to navigate/learn
- The audio and visual components mesh together well
CONS:
- Too much going on graphically; in the later part of my playthrough, I started experiencing lag from the flashing text and shaking screen.
- Felt a bit short when I finished every "task" in under half an hour
- Related to the previous point, the learning curve seemed a little steep and the difficulty went down too quickly for me
OVERALL: 7/10
In spite of its shortcomings feature-wise, this game definitely kept me occupied for a solid hour, until I unlocked every achievement. Thank you for your work and congratulations on the front page feature!
Thanks! Using the quality toggle button on the menu can eliminate lag in the latter stages of the game.