rmvxace Darune, The Fate of War [Review by Dante]

[Radiant Arin 412]

Game Title: Darune, The Fate of War

Developer: @HellKiteChaoS

Game Engine: RMVXAce

URL: http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/7088-darune-the-fate-of-war-major-updates-and-changes-coming-read-updated-post-brace-yourself/

Download Link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/1dqzu5obn5gl4uh/Sz0-7a9xt6

 

 

POSITIVE POINTS: The mapping of the game is superb, along with the stunning layout and the enormity of all the maps. The quest system is also very clean and easy to read.

 

NEGATIVE POINTS: A bit of glitches, spelling errors, a few incomplete parts of maps, and generally vague descriptions of quests take off a great deal of points. NPCs don't really make a whole lot of sense and even more so when you're trying to nab information out of them.

 

STORY: When you start up "Darune, The Fate of War", a bit of backstory explains that in the beginning....and then the cliche killed me.

 

The gist of it is there's two creations, one of Peace and one of War, and one cannot co-exist with the other, and vice versa. This is never really explored from what I played of the Demo, so I don't have enough information to judge whether characters are developed enough or not.

 

Moving aside from that, we jump to December 31st, 1399. This is a very important date in history because, well, aside from being New Year's Eve, we also get a new King. Yay. But before that...we have to complete a series of Side Quests and hit on this really weird chick that may or may not sacrifice herself for the MC's ultimate affection later on in the game.

 

So once you get done with that, you set yourself up for the party. It's revealed at this time that you have two other brothers, Lydin and Tenji, whose goal is also to ascertain the throne. One of them is cool...the other not so much.

 

So, when Lydin comes forth to bear the crown, Tenji, who is standing off to the side, throws an extreme fit of butthurt whiny bitch attitude when he doesn't get the crown, and then goes and kills another King out of sheer anger. This scene could have been executed a lot better if Tenji actually had anything to say when he stabbed his sword/dagger into the King's stomach, and threw him over the edge of the river. The Guards capture Tenji, bring him to both the MC and Lydin, and then you fight......and then my game client crashed.

 

AUDIO/GRAPHICS: The mapping, like I said, is the general good point of this game. It's not totally without errors:

 

 

 

but the developer has done a good job with the RTP material in the Hyolden (I think it was) Village. The enormity of the castle map, and the details within it, are completely breathtaking, especially more so with the custom chandeliers, lamps, lanterns, and the general feel of the castle give it an extra sense of amazement. It is abundantly clear the developer spends most of his time mapping.

 

Therein lies the rub, however. There are several facesets strewn about, ones used from Usui, mostly. There are also hints of character-generation with the castle maids, but all of their corresponding facesets don't match their sprite. If it was me, I would just not put any faces in. It feels as though the only significant use of the facesets is only for the game's actors and any major supporting roles, and even then, it still feels unnatural to see Tenji's still RTP face when he's flipping out.

 

Sprites don't make a whole lot of sense either. Your mother has blond, almost yellow hair, like honeycomb, and your father has white hair, but still somehow you end up with blue hair. Logic.

 

Insides of buildings are spacious, and they ACTUALLY MATCH THE SHAPE OF THE BUILDING OUTSIDE. There's a lot of detail that's simply strewn about that you can't access. Not even a simple "This bookshelf has nothing of value" adds just a little bit more depth and creativity to the game. Though I suppose this is more of a game play issue...

 

GAMEPLAY: This is probably the failing point of the game.

 

When you're not running around doing menial Side Quests, you're looking for any information about anyone offering advice for these menial Side Quests...which don't exist. The descriptions in the Quest Log used don't really offer a lot of insight as to what you should be doing (i.e. Sad Sword), and when you talk to the Quest giver, he doesn't actually have anything worthwhile to say.

 

NPCs are bland and generic, and don't make a whole lot of sense. You have bunny waitresses in the 15th Century? Logic. Also, you have a perverted old man that wants to fuck this bunny waitress. That's bestiality and frankly, you shouldn't do it for one, and two, they're not even that hot. But the bunny waitress thing doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

 

You have two random kids who chase each other and don't say anything.

 

You have a sleeping woman outside of the pub, and no one says anything.

 

The scene with the General Store Keeper and the Guard is stupid and probably unneeded. No one cares for development between small random NPCs.

 

At least shopkeepers wish me to come back to their stores. I would, if there weren't 20000 torches scattered about all over the place, lagging my PC.

 

The sound when you pick up an item seems to delay, and then play right back, meaning that if you aren't paying attention, you won't know what you received. The item pop-up looks cool, though.

 

When you are given the quest to chase down the Thief, I probably spent a good ten minutes wandering around town, asking anyone for particular clues, but they all said the same goddamn thing. The place where you are supposed to go also doesn't make a great deal of sense.

 

When you leave the Dungeon Chamber in the Castle and come back up to the surface, the drip SFX still plays.

 

Why are there random maids just standing around, blocking my way to the room. I need to get ready for the festival tonight, you dumb broad. Go sell H-Games or something, like you were meant to do, like in Stringendo.

 

There's an error when you talk to the bartender:

 

 

 

Why is Ayame (I named her that, but it's Akane) in your party when you fight the Guards after the Festival? That doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I would have thought she would have left to go home or something. Also, during that scene, you can move, which is probably the reason why my game client crashed upon entering the battle immediately afterwards.

 

There's also lots of spelling errors, like "jeopardize" and "caught". Really, these are 7th/3rd grade words, respectively. :|

 

BATTLE SYSTEM: The Battle System in this game uses, from what I understand, Symphony along with Lune's CTB or whatever it is. However, the developer has plans to use a different Battle System with a new update. While I generally don't condone switching Battle Systems mid-project, the fact that there's no basic Attack animation probably means something is wrong. The only other viable option for a decent Side-view System is Victor's, and that's even a step up from Symphony. So I, personally, would recommend staying with Symphony and see what bugs you can iron out.

 

The one thing that I would definitely change about the Battle System, however, is the Battlebacks. You can just simply place a ground Battleback (from Battlebacks1) and you'll have an awesome battlefield. Trust me, it's what I did.

 

OVERALL SUMMARY: Mapping is good, everything else, not so great.

 

RATING: 2.5/5.