someguyinahat
Member
I am reviewing GAFQuest by tensuke.
IN-JOKES: THE GAME! After a Star Wars-style intro containing a reference to an early YTMND meme, you begin the game as Evilore, a successful businessman who skips work to follow an elf down a manhole. (So basically Alice in Wonderland.) Other party members join you, who you'll find familiar if you've been reading GAF (and if you're reading this, you have.) You fight various trolls, of course, and rats (Get it? It's Miley Cyrus! She's a rat, am I right? ...No? Nothin'? ...Okay.) and the final boss shouldn't come as a terrible surprise, but I won't spoil it.
The game takes less than an hour to finish, and is not much to speak of mechanically. After finding your initial weapon, you won't upgrade anything. You gain money but there's nothing to spend it on. You have limited resources (since you can't shop) so escaping battles is actually a strategy. At least with that in mind, all the stamina heals (your HP) are full restores. You get various sizes of magic point restores.
Graphically it's not that good. Yes, you get to see various GAF avatars, and a nice segment showing an old picture, but there are graphical glitches that take away some enjoyment: chests turn into crates after they're opened, party member pictures overlap, and your experience is off to the right of the screen. At first I thought it was just removed, but after I gained a few levels I could see hints of numbers at the side. So you're not sure whether it's a point to grind another enemy or two, or just escape every battle. There's a simple puzzle that I'm glad they decided to try, but it does have some bad conveyance in that these circular obstacles disappear. I saw red turn to green, and assumed purple was next, but what had actually happened was red disappeared and green was next. Audio, however, is bangin'. They got some added tracks that are exciting without being too jarring for not being RPGmaker stock, and they even have a great audio effect as the music gets slightly muted when you enter an elevator. The tone is very tongue-in-cheek and hits you over the head with references as blatantly as bishop's banhammer. (Get it? He bans people! ...No? Really, nothin' again? ...Okay.)
Overall, it's cute for gaffers, I suppose, but non-members would take away nothing from the experience, and it doesn't have enough mechanics to keep the experience together.
Fun Factor: 2/5
Story: 3/5
Graphics: 1.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Tone: 2/5
Overall: 2.5/5
And that wraps it up for my RPGmaker reviews! As a special bonus, I'll just finish things off by pointing out the best in each category (in my opinon, of course. Feel free to play, review, and disagree.)
Most fun to play: RivalQuest. I was so ready to be the rival and see where the story led. And the gameplay was tight too.
Best story: Recurrence. Smartly written, doesn't rip off too terribly much from other works with the same concept, and really makes you want to see the main character succeed.
Best use of graphics: The Edge of Darkness. So simple and yet so elegant. Bordering and default black outside create a world you want to save. Too bad I wasn't up to the task. Honourable mention to K.G. whose devs put a lot of effort into their graphics, but didn't back it up with gameplay.
Best use of audio: GAFQuest. Who would have guessed? It got me pumped, and will probably get you pumped too. Honourable mention to Brodzilla, which really hooks you in with its opening track.
Best tone: Recurrence. A lot of these games went for comedy value, and I don't blame them. A lot of the games went for a dark "stop the approaching danger" and didn't let up. That's good too. But Recurrence had a good mix. The protagonist is in a strange situation, has some fun with it, but never takes his eyes off the very serious prize, and in the end you can see just how much it affects him. Honourable mention to The Age of Dusk, which was a "stop the approaching danger" theme but made things palpably heavy.
Best overall: Recurrence. Should come as no shock that the game which won two categories was the best overall. But don't think it was a runaway victory. RivalQuest, the Age of Dusk, and the Edge of Darkness were all hot on its heels. And a lot of the other games were solid efforts. Props to Murder Mystery Mansion for a creative use of RPGMaker as well as an admirable re-imagining of an old game. Props to Brodzilla for the fluffiest villain ever, and a suspenseful yet amusing tunnel scene. And props to everyone who submitted a game! I had a blast. I'm kinda sad it's over now, but all good things must come to an end.
Okay, that's it from me! Everyone else, get your reviews in!
IN-JOKES: THE GAME! After a Star Wars-style intro containing a reference to an early YTMND meme, you begin the game as Evilore, a successful businessman who skips work to follow an elf down a manhole. (So basically Alice in Wonderland.) Other party members join you, who you'll find familiar if you've been reading GAF (and if you're reading this, you have.) You fight various trolls, of course, and rats (Get it? It's Miley Cyrus! She's a rat, am I right? ...No? Nothin'? ...Okay.) and the final boss shouldn't come as a terrible surprise, but I won't spoil it.
The game takes less than an hour to finish, and is not much to speak of mechanically. After finding your initial weapon, you won't upgrade anything. You gain money but there's nothing to spend it on. You have limited resources (since you can't shop) so escaping battles is actually a strategy. At least with that in mind, all the stamina heals (your HP) are full restores. You get various sizes of magic point restores.
Graphically it's not that good. Yes, you get to see various GAF avatars, and a nice segment showing an old picture, but there are graphical glitches that take away some enjoyment: chests turn into crates after they're opened, party member pictures overlap, and your experience is off to the right of the screen. At first I thought it was just removed, but after I gained a few levels I could see hints of numbers at the side. So you're not sure whether it's a point to grind another enemy or two, or just escape every battle. There's a simple puzzle that I'm glad they decided to try, but it does have some bad conveyance in that these circular obstacles disappear. I saw red turn to green, and assumed purple was next, but what had actually happened was red disappeared and green was next. Audio, however, is bangin'. They got some added tracks that are exciting without being too jarring for not being RPGmaker stock, and they even have a great audio effect as the music gets slightly muted when you enter an elevator. The tone is very tongue-in-cheek and hits you over the head with references as blatantly as bishop's banhammer. (Get it? He bans people! ...No? Really, nothin' again? ...Okay.)
Overall, it's cute for gaffers, I suppose, but non-members would take away nothing from the experience, and it doesn't have enough mechanics to keep the experience together.
Fun Factor: 2/5
Story: 3/5
Graphics: 1.5/5
Audio: 5/5
Tone: 2/5
Overall: 2.5/5
And that wraps it up for my RPGmaker reviews! As a special bonus, I'll just finish things off by pointing out the best in each category (in my opinon, of course. Feel free to play, review, and disagree.)
Most fun to play: RivalQuest. I was so ready to be the rival and see where the story led. And the gameplay was tight too.
Best story: Recurrence. Smartly written, doesn't rip off too terribly much from other works with the same concept, and really makes you want to see the main character succeed.
Best use of graphics: The Edge of Darkness. So simple and yet so elegant. Bordering and default black outside create a world you want to save. Too bad I wasn't up to the task. Honourable mention to K.G. whose devs put a lot of effort into their graphics, but didn't back it up with gameplay.
Best use of audio: GAFQuest. Who would have guessed? It got me pumped, and will probably get you pumped too. Honourable mention to Brodzilla, which really hooks you in with its opening track.
Best tone: Recurrence. A lot of these games went for comedy value, and I don't blame them. A lot of the games went for a dark "stop the approaching danger" and didn't let up. That's good too. But Recurrence had a good mix. The protagonist is in a strange situation, has some fun with it, but never takes his eyes off the very serious prize, and in the end you can see just how much it affects him. Honourable mention to The Age of Dusk, which was a "stop the approaching danger" theme but made things palpably heavy.
Best overall: Recurrence. Should come as no shock that the game which won two categories was the best overall. But don't think it was a runaway victory. RivalQuest, the Age of Dusk, and the Edge of Darkness were all hot on its heels. And a lot of the other games were solid efforts. Props to Murder Mystery Mansion for a creative use of RPGMaker as well as an admirable re-imagining of an old game. Props to Brodzilla for the fluffiest villain ever, and a suspenseful yet amusing tunnel scene. And props to everyone who submitted a game! I had a blast. I'm kinda sad it's over now, but all good things must come to an end.
Okay, that's it from me! Everyone else, get your reviews in!