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A promising game, if only...
Review by eien_tsubasa
Compared to everything else i've seen, Vigour of the Fellowship shows a lot of promise and I believe that it could get an even better rating than a 6, but, there are a few problems kept this game 4 points shy of a perfect score.
>Things that were bad, or went wrong:
*ATB imbalance*
I found the ATB pretty unbalanced. Characters were much faster than monsters. Monsters wound wait 3 whole character turns to do miniscule amounts of damage.
There's also a glitch with the AT bars for enemy. The enemy AT bar would stay in battle after the enemy died. I found this quite strange.
On top of that the first boss, the giant ogre boss is greatly screwed over by the ATB system, starting out as a very challenging boss until you do 2 things: 1)Buy the Crusher weapon for Tristen, 2) Set AT to Wait. Once these two things happen, the boss is set to detonate, explodes, ... and dies(Poison status+Stun loop+the fact that the boss will never see his turn).
*Enemy/Player Imbalance*
There was too big a damage gap between enemies and the party. For instance, Orcs (which I believe are the most pathetic monsters in the game) attacked Bella for 4 damage with a double attack, while Bella smited the Orc for a whomping 90-140 damage. I understand hero characters are supposed to beat monsters to obtain experience, but it feels unrewarding when you have to mow down Orcs that don't even have a chance to attack.
My second problem with party/monster imbalances is that the limit break/overdrives allowed characters to over-dominate battles. My jaw dropped when Tristen did 1000+ damage to the pitiful Orc monster at level 3. I don't mind limit breaks/overdrives, but seeing that damage in the beginning of the game was just silly. You can keep them. I'm not saying to take them out, however I do suggest that you tone the damage down a bit.
>Things that were good:
*Solid Story/Plot*
The story was the first out of many that weren't confusing, typical or served only as a comedy piece, in fact, it was actually interesting. Scenes were well-scripted and beautifully portrayed(The dim lights that would stay whether the scene faded in or out). There were a few spelling errors here or there, but nothing big enough to distract you.
Characters were also well done but characters like Jase and Bella could use just a tad more personality. (Jase was your callous thief but he seemed more empty than callous. And Bella [Liambo?] switched from knight to girl and back w/o character growth)
*Well-Done Maps*
The above speaks for itself, very well-detailed albeit a bit small, but balanced out by slower walking/running speed.
*Great Facesets*
I'd personally like to know where you found them or if you made them yourself.
> Things to Make Better:
*Balance the ATB system*
Probably one of the big things to fix here. One way to solve this is to balance it more so that enemies have a few more chances to attack before they die. If nothing can be done about it, then your other option is to remove it, although personally removing it won't at all ruin the playability of the game.
*Balance the Limit/Overdrive gauge and damage*
Find a way to make sure that the Limit gauge empties at the end of each battle instead of it stockpiling. Along with that, the damage that the special skills do can also be balanced.
"Attack F" in the Damage effect section the Skills tab, makes it so that the amount of damage done by the skill is determined by the attack power of the user and the defense power of the enemy. If this is already being done then one would either lower the number in that coefficient, or the fault is in the base damage of the skill. After all, a limit skill in a game that challenge should be treated as a tide-turner when the battles get really tough.
*Enemy/Player Balance*
When it come to making a fair and challenging battle it wouldn't hurt to be a bit masochistic. You want monsters to do a reasonable amount of damage relevant to the amount of HP your party has at their current level. This would either mean 1) increasing the amount of damage the enemy will do, or 2) lowering the party's maximum HP. This would require a good amount of test play in the "Troop" section of your database. Play around with the the monsters' status parameters. This is a long process, however you'll be amazed at the end result.
*A Soundtrack Hunt*
While playing through the game, I ran into a few tracks that were very familiar. And although I did enjoy the fine throwbacks to the music of FF7, FF8, FFX and Breath of Fire: Dragon Quarter, I think this game has a greater chance at a 10 with an original set of music.
Don't get me wrong, Nobuo Uematsu is one of my favorite composer(up there with Shoji Meguro of the SMT franchise) and it might be that you simply chose songs that you liked, however a game as good as this can survive without them. I suggest going on a music hunt, Specifically in Newgrounds and a Japanese site called Muzie( http://annex.muzie.co.jp/newsongs/).
All in all, I consider Vigour of the Fellowship as diamond in the rough in need of a little improving.
Reviewer's Score: 6 / 10, Posted Fri, 05 Jun 2009 13:52:29 -0400
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