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The Legend of the Philosopher's Stone Review
The Legend is Legendary
Review by Rydin
"Legend of the Philosopher's Stone" was the long-anticipated game amoungst the RPG Maker community. It was a while before any gamer had played a 'real' RM game for quite some time. Titles as well known as "A Blurred Line" and the "Legion Sagas" had seem like a dream long past. Philosopher's Stone was the kick, like an extra shot in strong coffee of a fairly weak batch of beans. A title as abysmal as "The Legend of the Philosopher's Stone" can sometimes be misleading. Hearing this title, I tend to think up things like crappy stone-collecting adventures and Full Metal Alchemist. However, the fact is that this game can really only be summed up with one word, 'Legendary'.
The Legend speaks for itself. The game takes the ordinary gamer outside it's 'turn-take-turn', 'walk-n-walk' RPG stylistic experience, and it places the gamer into a completely custom realm of battle and adventure. Nearly every aspect of this game has made its focus on being its own cat with detailed mapping styles, a completely custom battle, and why not--even the menu has taken up renovations from the classy RM2K/3-style. It's the small practices, such as taking the time to change how the hero opens chests and climbs up latters that can sometimes help a game become more original and interesting. It's those small things that we notice that helps us appreciate the game's quality and not always maxed out battle systems. The game compliments itself well in this aspect, and you'll find yourself feeling as though you're not even playing a real RM2K game but a completely different, yet interesting game.
Admist all the renovations that game has made, it still keeps that 'RPG feel' we all love. Exploration, finding chests, and extremely talkitive towns is practically what this game does best. Shortly into the game's storyline you're immediately introduced to many dungeons. I won't ruin it for the players, but the dungeon's designs are quite interesting. Every map is filled with details, details, and chests! Sometimes, Nemises will throw in a few things to help break up the deafening atmosphere of the foggy, eerie dungeons by tossing in some random perks and object-collecting mini games. We love mini games!
Now where did I put my cookies. Wait, is that a flying cat or a dragon I see there..
Throughout the dungeons, you'll find yourself being attacked by random rabid animals. I wouldn't say the encounter rate is maddening, but it can be annoying. With the completely custom battle system, it's hard to even tell if you can run away or not. Aside from the encounter rate, the difficulty of this game is astounding in comparism to usual RPG Maker games. No, wait, astounding would be too much to say. You have to actually think and press buttons (you know, like arrow keys) other than a continous line of space bar jams! Oh my. Difficulty amoung RPG Maker games is always underrated when adding it the enjoyability of the gameplay factor. However, a challenge is always appreciated and the Legend delivers us with just that. If you don't think quick, three hits and your actor will be finding a new place in RPG heaven. Some of us less-experienced RPGers might have some difficulty with the battles though unless they can learn to make use of the..
'Equip' and 'Draw' skills! This is the most custom feature that's been added to the Legend's battle system. "AH, crap no..not Final Fantasy VIII and it's crappy draw system!" Is what most of you might be thinking. This isn't like FF8's systems at all though, and it can actually be more comparable to FF9's systems. Basically, the system is straight forward on Ability Points. Each character obtains these 'points' in battle, and the points can be expended on obtaining new skills from various 'Orbs' you might collect. After learning these new abilities, the actor can equip them to use in battle. Using them in battle won't deplete the actor's magic though, but the system uses these abilities in conjunction with its speed-based battles.
Every turn, each actor will have to wait 10 short seconds, relatively meaning shorter than a second, to be able to take action. Normal attacks will reset the short seconds back to 10 short seconds. However, using skills will add to the time, making actors wait up to 25 seconds after using a skill. This makes things quite fair as skills can sometimes cause massive damage. However, I found that sometimes two attacks equal to 20 short seconds can sometimes cause more damage than a skill that will make you wait 25 seconds, which renders the system 'almost' useless. Of course, the system does well to give each character their own unique techniques (some better than others), awarded over many levels.
Can this thing really take care of a huge flying preying mantis?
Perhaps the only thing not custom about this would be the music. Within the music, I found a huge variety of music from different backgrounds from Chrono Trigger and Final Fantasy all thrown into the mix. Ah, yes, don't we all love Square's music? This isn't an entirely bad thing because Nemises does well to blend the music togethor, and it seem like it all fits. It could've been a lot worse, like using the 'Crystal Theme' for the title screen. Let's priase Nemises for sparing us the cliche music scenes!
Apart from the systems, the Legend offers much more within its storyline. Within the course of the game, you're introduced to many characters. Each character, according to the game, was based off real life people. With each character, details are awarded to the game's character development. Each character has a unique profile and sense of completeness. The Legend does not rip you off when it comes to the storyline and character development section. In fact, I would say that I was even more interested with the storyline than the actual gameplay. I just loved the funny antics and situations certain character pairs were put into! It really makes a gamer step back and think about how the game can make that connection to people in real life. It's a great experience.
While the storyline held true, many gamers might find the introduction to be a bit too much. The gameplay is enticing, but the game has 'too much' development going on within the storyline and characters. I believe Nemises didn't want to leave a single thing out and that's truely wonderful. Yet, the dialogue can sometimes get real lengthy and time consuming. I won't say it's not interesting! However, long dialogue and in-depth story development is a quality that appeals only to those who value it. I may love the lengthy dialogue, but some gamers may not.
"The Legend of the Philosopher's Stone" is a Legend, but it's a Legend that falls short a generation. The Legend is no way great in ALL aspects. Within the field of RPG Making, it's always difficult to call a game out on its flaws and perks because it's uncomparable to the uniqueness awarded to professional games. Of course, with this being said, the Legend isn't entirely custom and that will stop any game from truely being perfect amatuer game. The innovation Nemises has made gave the game a profound feel, but I still sense that it could've used more features to make the game seem more complete. However, the Legend makes up for it with its immense quality. Gamers will find themselves getting involved with the characters, storyline, and dungeons. Those are the things that bring out the true gamer within us and allows us to seek value within amatuer games. The Legend deserves to be a legend.
Reviewer's Score: 8.5 / 10, Posted Tue, 08 Jul 2008 01:27:55 -0700
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Game Details
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Developer:
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XxNemesis29xX
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Platform:
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RPG Maker 2003
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Genre:
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RPG
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Status:
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Complete |
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Last Updated:
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2008-07-07 |
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Views:
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1318 |
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Downloads:
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1971 |
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User Rating:
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  17 Vote(s) |
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