Rate Each Game out of 5!

Hey guys,
 
I was thinking of a place where we can all share our basic views on various games, and I thought why not make a thread about it? Here you can post contest games that you have played, along with star ratings and short reviews. The aim is just to provide a centralized place where you can document your experience with various games honestly and recommend ones that you think people should try.
 
The first game I tried was No Manatees Promised. A solid collection of minigames and awesome visuals undercut by somewhat simplistic gameplay and a puzzle I found a little frustrating. Nevertheless, it was an experience I would still recommend due to its lush underwater scenes. I give it a 3/5.
 
I also tried Painted Heart. This game had gorgeous visuals and fantastic sweeping music, but its battle system was a slightly hodge-podge affair that needed expanding in order to bear its fruits. There were stretches of gameplay that were slightly monotonous and repetitive, but these were interspersed with grand moments of visual splendour and musical prowess. It was a hard one to judge. A little more time and they could have crafted it better. I give it a 3/5 due to the mixed nature of awesome and lackluster moments.
 
The Farming One is an absolute delight to play. The systems are fully fleshed-out, the farming is amazing, and there are always new things to do. This had the most polish out of any entry I had played so far. 4.5/5. Highly recommended.

To play:

• Earth Under Attack
• World Remade
• The Vendor
• Tirawrmisu
• In Arcem Miseria
• The Heart Pumps Clay
• Densetsu no Kusoge

 

Good idea for a thread.

I have played a few games tonight, all for about 20 minutes. My immediate reaction to a lot of the games (maybe all of them I have played so far) is that the pacing feels off. 

Painted Heart - I pretty much agree with what you wrote. The visuals and music were very good. But the battle system felt sluggish (in terms of responsiveness), and needlessly complicated. I stopped playing when I had to backtrack through an area to retrieve an item. 2.5/5 for me.

Space Insignia - Rough around the edges (I got surrounded by enemies and couldn't move or attack during the tutorial and died). But pretty ambitious. There are two battle systems, and what appear to be cgi cutscenes which I found really amazing. I have no idea how he made those cutscenes. I didn't find either of the battle systems that engaging however, and the game clearly needs more work. I would certainly be interested in trying a more polished version when its done. 3/5, this game showed a lot of promise, but its too rough to outright recommend at this point. I just remembered a spaceship flight sequence through an asteroid field which was cool as well.

World Remade - This is one I might go back to. The opening was quite effective, and the characters were engaging/had awesome custom art. This probably had the best writing of the games I've played so far. But the battle's are kind of a slog. I am possibly just an impatient ass, but it felt like the battles took forever, and at least in the time I played weren't that interesting. 3.5/5, worth checking out for that opening and the quality of the writing.

I played several others, now that I think about it, but not for long enough to write anything meaningful about them. I didn't give it the highest score, but I think the best game I played tonight was Space Insignia. It was frustrating to play, but when I think back on what he was doing its kind of fascinating. I sincerely hope he fine-tunes the battles, and just increases the overall polish.

I have a few more downloaded and will check back here to see what other people are liking.

 

Play Unraveled.

4.5/5 - laggy in one of the larger areas, but the story is very well done, though sad ;-;

The gameplay is really original, and doesn't even feel like you're playing an RM game at all.

I have also played Princess of Peril, but I have others on my list of to-play.

 

Ooh, great thread. I've played a few, haven't finished some, but I'll make sure to continue updating "this post" with games I've played, rather than spamming in here with different posts.
 
Games (+ rating) so far:
 
Salvation - Rating: 2.

Spoiler

Drawn in by the artwork (I'm a sucker for this kind of stuff). Artwork is very off-kilter. Was absolutely wonderful to explore the world. The storyline itself has a lot of potential - To the point that if this project were continued, I'd happily hop back on. The battle system, unfortunately, is rather meh. It has a purpose (lots of renaming of attacks to fit the agenda of a holy being), but I believe a game like this would benefit from something entirely custom made. 
 
In other words, this is essentially a full game in the making, and they decided to show us a part of it.
 
The game ends abruptly. No rounding out edges, no conclusions, no nothing.
 Storyline/artwork sucked me in, but the gameplay turned me off. There were times when I hoped to avoid battles just to see where the story went.

Panic At Casa Corotto - Rating: 3.5

Spoiler

I hate how these guys don't have pictures, because they are going to get seriously overlooked. I definitely took a chance on it, since I had nothing more than text to go buy. This game was great on many levels!

The artwork is an amalgam of what seems to be custom tiles and open source assets. The mapping is done extremely well, and everything is clean, tidy, and suits the atmosphere!

I was very impressed with the music. A mixture of jazz, with subtle hints of character. My mouth dropped open when I heard the main occurring piece, which was a Tango! I was not expecting that!

What surprised me the most was the storyline. The developers were able to fit an accurately-paced plot, purposeful dialogue, and dynamic characters, into an hour.The characters all had personality, and I found myself laughing on many occasions.

Though the ending had a couple of cliched points, it's interesting to see how, throughout the turmoil, a lesson was learned! No back-story was needed either - You understood where Stetterely was coming from and how he changed throughout the entire process. 

 

The gameplay was properly balanced! I absolutely loved the chef and appropriated battle terms for characters based on their role in the restaurant. Though the battles weren't exactly special, outside of try to win, there remained a sense of freshness simply because of who it was you were fighting. Did become a little mundane with "go find this" quests, and the battles, when drawn out, became a bit boring.

Overall, a pretty solid game.

Ethereal Nexus - Rating: 3

Spoiler

So, this game right here is interesting because I had a desire to go back to it. There are a lot of things that are good about this game, and most of what is wrong caters to presentation.

The artwork is a mixture of spliced assets (which I wonder could put them in a bind), that did fairly well for the environment. Some aspects were mis-matched (character sprites, battlers), which threw things of aesthetically. Mapping was okay - Nothing mind-blowing, but not at all bland!

I am highly curious about the music. As badly as I want to believe it is legit, I'm 99.9% sure they just went and ripped music without taking into consideration the need for it to be of commercial use. Needless to say, I eff'ing loved it. The music choice for this game was superb, and each tune fit it's needed purpose beautifully. Whether or not it was custom, the developer had a keen understanding of where music should go within this project.

Gameplay, the most important part of the game! This project had two battles - Side-view, and front-view, each having it's on purpose within the game. Though merely the beginning, these battles turned out to be fun since each enemy has a particular characteristic or weakness to exploit. This is included also in the front-view battles, which are more akin to breaking a program, one firewall at a time. I can, without a doubt, say that I enjoyed the battles!

One thing that drove me to continue playing this game was the story. This game kind of throws you in, exposing you to jargon that some may know, but I would assume many don't. Me personally, I enjoy being "thrown" into a situation, and learning about the "language" that is present in the game. It is evident that this is meant to be for a larger work, so though the ending of the game felt "complete", it didn't exactly feel "completed'. Not sure if that makes sense. Though some events seemed a bit far-fetched (like blowing up an entire building), it shows a lot of promise!

Riddled throughout were grammatical errors, graphic slip-ups. Nothing minor, unfortunately. All very noticeable bugs that could have been avoided with proper fixing.

That aside, if this one were to be fixed up (mainly aesthetically), it'd be one heavy contender!

Super Nuclear Riders - N/A

Spoiler

I decided to omit the score because I haven't had a chance to beat it and, unfortunately, don't feel like starting over and playing through the entire game without saving (will explain later).

The storyline for SNR is given at the very beginning of the game. Aliens have invaded Earth, and it is up to a group of bikers in specially designed suits to put a stop to the menaces. Afterwards, it plunges you straight into the "action", utilizing comedic dialogue in cut-scenes, and during battles! Unfortunately, I was unable to see how it progressed since I stopped playing early on.

The artwork is custom and features cute, pixelated characters and enviornments. I only played two maps, with one being a city scape, and another being a barren... grass area. It all looks very polished! I really do wish I could have progressed further.

Music features some kind of rock/dnb hybrid of sorts. It suits the atmosphere and is enough to get your blood pumping for a battle!

Gameplay was fine! Each character has a special suit which gives them certain attributes. I can't give too much detail now since I only made it to the second battle.

Seeing as how I merely grazed the surface of SNR, I won't rate it, but hopefully they'll get the save script bug fixed. If they do, I may go back so I can finish up this review.

Teardrop Distance: Rating - 3.5

Spoiler

Wow. Killer ending. A few minor, yet important things, knocked it back from a 4. I'm going to start with the most important mechanic behind any game (or at least, I believe so)

Gameplay - Hack and slash. I always enjoy a game where defending has a purpose! The battles are extremely easy. I'm unsure if the developers tried to put enemies in a position that would force the player to do "some" sort of strategizing, but before long, you could beat enemies with your eyes closed. 

Artwork - Not bad. Original art assets, which gives it a boosted rating in my opinion! The artwork did well to give off the catastrophic state of the earth, and the mysterious aura of the cavern you're meant to explore.

Music/Sound - The music was pretty alright! It fit the mood of the game, and did as was needed. I added sound because this game had voice acting. Not to be rude, but they could have definitely gone without. It got to the point where I tried to read the dialogue as quickly as possible to avoid hearing the audio, and I cringed at every vocal injecture that happened while exploring.

Storyline - The game ended with a large bang. It pulls you in (with the ominous voices raising intrigue), and really does deliver. Possess a very strong point near the end. 

Overall, one of the best I've played so far, in regards to presentation, gameplay, and polish. If the battle system had been more challenging, this would have been a guaranteed 4, 4.5.

Last Word: Rating - 4.5 *HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*

Spoiler

Yep. Definitely recommending this beaut. Let's get started!

Gameplay - The battle system, though covered in a guise, is turn-based. But, with a twist. Your job is to persuade, out discourse your opponents, using elemental systems, power, and finesse. I FREAKING LOVE IT. I do believe that, depending on your taste, it won't be many people's cups of tea. That aside, I find it to be very intuitive, and quite challenging! I've only gotten an hour in, but I'm taking it upon myself to finish it!

I will admit that upon first learning the battle system, it seems like a bit much to try and learn for a one hour demo. The good thing is, you can spend as much time as you want discoursing (battling), but if you don't catch on quick, I can see others becoming disheartened and rage-quitting.

Artwork - Custom made and simply charming! I especially love the use of colored silhouettes for the characters. You would think such a method would be mundane, but the artist gave each character a subtle yet strong distinction, aside from the color, to make each one stand out! Ironically, the colors chosen tend to fit with the personality traits of the character! It's a very beautiful setting.

Storyline - SO MUCH STUFF. What's marvelous about "Last Word" is the interweaving of storylines, which unravels itself onto an even bigger picture. You think that by holding conversation, you're just wasting time, but by talking, you're getting to know these people, the secrets they hide, and how it effects the game as a whole. I mean, I just started, and I'm already like "Whuuuutt?!"

Music/Sound - This is my only large complaint. The music isn't bad, not at all, it just seems overly intrusive. At first I thought, "Dang, maybe it's the volume", but I truly believe that it's just... a lot, for the setting (I'm talking about the main theme that tends to play when you're walking around). Perhaps something a bit more mellow? 

Secondly, the voice sound effects. For me, it was highly annoying. I am actually a huge fan of these "gibberish" sound effects (similar to Sims), but these played for EVERY text box that changed characters. It was a bit much, and grew to be a strain on the nerves, especially when you had dialogue that switched between two, or three characters, after every sentence.

I'd play the game without sound, but then I'd feel weird having a different style of music play that didn't fit the environment of the game.

Music and Sound aside, fan-TASTIC game. I highly recommend it.

Entity - Rating: 5 *HIGHLY RECOMMENDED*

Spoiler

Awesome non-rpg entry! A ton of great things about it, and if it weren't for the horror atmosphere (which freaks me out), I'd have a hard time putting it down.

Gameplay - The game utilizes only a few aspects of the keyboard. The challenge comes in learning how to dispose of the monsters since many of your weapons are right there in the room! The difficulty comes in timing your attacks, who to kill and when, and also trying to figure out ways to overcome new adversaries that arise! It really does take some thinking, though I wish I could have figured out the more difficult monsters without consulting the book. 

Storyline - The storyline is pretty simply. Being a non-rpg, I don't expect anything lavish. It sets the stage for the game, which is all that truly matters!

Artwork - These gals did a splendid job on the artwork. The setting was indeed creepy, and the different shadow designs did well enough to freak me out. More than once did I feel my heart start racing as different entities made their way to the bed to start doing unspeakable horrors to the poor girl.

;(

Music/Sound - Good. The sound was made more to set the atmosphere, rather than contain a musical melody. It sought to build tension, and that it freakin' did. No complaints here!

Great game. Probably wouldn't continue playing it because scary things make my stomach churn, but it is most certainly something I would recommend to others!

The Whispering Cliff - Rating: 2.5

Spoiler

A dead girl. Monks. A suspicious village. One man to solve a mystery.

Gameplay - This game is entirely story-based. The only way you can progress is by conversing with the other locals. I mean... that's it. There aren't any puzzles, nothing to think about, you're just a flat out detective, looking for clues, in what would be the early 1800s. So, in other words, there really isn't any.

Storyline - Being a mystery game, the story-line is where the action lies. You're being pulled in by intrigue. I think the pacing was good, the dialogue itself was great, but my problem was the perspective. I felt like the outsider looking in. Though you were talking to people, I didn't really see anything to look for. I was unsure as to whether the story was progressing and, if it were, in what direction. I think what kept me going was the possibility of the story-line/characters growing in depth, but sadly, that wasn't the case. Each particular character was well-written, with varying personalities, but the story-telling felt flat. There was no progression, except for when the character made a note of something. I felt more like a bystander than a participant.

Artwork - The artwork is gorgeous (another reason I kept pressing on). Fantastic work, and the atmosphere was pleasant. I'd definitely love to see a full-game in the works that used the art direction of this game as its foundation. Facesets are custom, and the pixel art is highly detailed, and well animated! Loved every inch of it!

Music/Sound - There wasn't any, and I have no complaints. Truthfully, I felt the absence of music helped establish the overall tone of the game.

Overall, I think this game has a lot of potential, though I believe if it intends to be primarily story-based, they should work on engaging the player more. I thought the ending was rather harsh and unexpected (in a good way!). Unexpected is great, but it doesn't help if the player hasn't become invested in the story.

Pending:

Dust to Dust

Ruselan

The Heart Pumps Clay

Cadence (hopefully!)

Scale Rubric (thanks for the idea, Jesse!)

Spoiler

1 = Needs improvement

2 = Potential is there, but needs work in major areas

3 = Solid foundation, some polish would make it into something very successful!

4 = Solid gameplay, atmosphere, and schematics would lead me to recommend it to a friend, others.

5 = Lasting impressions would keep me coming back, after the game had been won. 

 

Hello everyone, I think that's a great idea!

Would you guys take requests? I would love to get feedback on my game, I know it's not perfect, but I tried really hard and it's this was the first time I've ever made a game / used the RPG Maker, so please be gentle!!! 

Here is the link, the game is called Oubliette. http://bit.ly/rpgoubliette

 

The only one I have played in it's final version has been The Vendor, will probably get to more later (Downloading your's now Decimata).

The Vendor: I liked the concept, and the mapping was well done. Execution didn't work for me though, it seemed the heroes rarely carried enough money to buy the stuff they needed with even small markups, and if you/they failed then they would almost never have a decent amount of money again, they seemed to gain more over time, though I was never sure, but not in a reasonable amount of time. I think it is a good idea that simply needed more time then was allotted for play testing, or maybe I'm just unlucky. 3.5/5

 

@Ralpf: Thanks for the mini review and playing the game! I'm putting my very few comments in a spoiler, since this isn't the place for me to talk about the game

Spoiler

You can get somewhat unlucky with the heroes and their gold if they go broke, this is true. They will earn a random amount of gold within a range if they're below a certain amount of gold for your next visit. One strategy can be to give away items for 0 gold, but it's up to you. I think that if you find yourself really failing, it can be better to load an earlier save, although from playtesting you should never truly get "stuck" in any way: you might have to do a little bit of extra material gathering though. Thank you for your honest feedback: I'm taking it into account when I develop the game further going forward

 

So far i just played Goats on a bridge. Found it hilarious and really fun to play. Great job for developers, 4.5/5. Will try other games and give my thoughts on them too. Here is the link: http://contest.rpgmakerweb.com/game/view/id/228#.U7LWtvl_uaH

 

I started playing The Story of My Town which had a very interesting concept.  Unfortunately the game froze on two separate occasions when I tried leaving the first island (the pirate island) that I found when traveling in a boat.  So I haven't gone any further than that.  But as I said, this was a really interesting idea and there were some interesting game mechanics implemented.  I liked the ability to plant fruit berries, but I'm afraid I got frustrated that they would grow faster than I could plant them.  I feel like if you're going to implement farming, you need to get people to wait for at least some time.  Anyway, I'm giving it a 2.5 but I'd love to see the developer go back and continue working on this project because I think it could be really good.

I just played The Farming One.  Here's the deal.  I didn't want to like this game.  At all.  In fact, when I first loaded it and saw that the first crop grows instantaneously and repeatedly and instantly turns into cash, I exited the game.  But I saw some good reviews of the game so I gave it another try.  Once I got it into my head that this isn't a harvest moon game or even a farming game really, but a money gathering game, then I could enjoy it in its own right.  I didn't see any bugs and it really is a charming game.  I've played to near the end but I haven't got a skull yet and that's taking too long so yeah.  I only got two of the psychologists' books.  I have enough money to pay for the guards twice over, but I don't want to play that ending.  Anyway, I give the game 4/5.

 

Man, this is an excellent idea since there are so many games.  I'm going to try to play a lot of games, so I'll edit this post with more rankings as I go:

Account Mu (2.5/5):

Spoiler

This was actually a competent little puzzle game.  The mechanics were introduced naturally and built on themselves, but the game is incredibly short (my save file is just over thirteen minutes), and the puzzles aren't breaking much new ground.  The ending feels like it's trying to have a message but it either doesn't or is intentionally muddled to the point of nonsense.

Aesperia: The Fallen (2.5/5):

Spoiler

This is a pretty average RPG with excellent presentation.  Most of the game is spent fighting battles, but the battles themselves don't require much strategy, provide zero difficulty, and end up being more repetitive than interesting.  The melodramatic plot seems designed to get the players interested in the politics of the game's world, but the bland characters don't provide a strong foil for this.  Veteran players won't get a lot out of this, but younger players will be more forgiving of its sins.

Ashworth (3.5/5):

Spoiler

It's a Lovecraftian horror game, and it manages to get its atmosphere pretty close to perfect.  There are a couple of cheap jump scares and cheesy moments that threaten to spoil the mood, but it kept together pretty well.  Battles are more fun to avoid than actually participate in.  The characters are bland, but the plot provides enough intrigue to pull you through, though the ending will seem too by-the-books for people familiar with the genre.

D is for Dungeon (3/5):

Spoiler

This is a pretty by-the-books dungeon crawler despite its absurdist hook.  The battles run pretty smoothly for the most part, and there are some puzzle elements that were a welcome change to the formula, but the game tends to drag a bit, especially in the middle, as enemy encounters are frequent and enemy types are limited.  You'll be fighting the same monsters quite a bit.  The class and stat progression systems are functional but not particularly rewarding--neither is item hunting until the final few floors.  Enemy evasion will make you scream at some point during your play through.  The core of this game is still good, but more could have been done to freshen up the experience.

Darkness of Hope: Save the Heart of Painful (1/5):

Spoiler

This game is kind of beautiful in its own right--think "The Room" in video game form.  The dialogue is incomprehensible in the best way imaginable, and there are some bizarre moments that I can only classify as being able to glimpse into the mind of a deranged pervert.  The battle system is completely custom, which almost floored me, but the battles require very little strategy and are also very seldom--they sure look neat, though.  Most of the gameplay is centered around a series of puzzles that are fairly easy to figure out but sometimes a little aggravating in their execution, particularly the three-lever puzzle.  The nonsensical plot, characters, and dialogue both sinks the score and somehow ascends the game to a place of beauty that should be experienced by everyone.  I highly recommend this one--just not for its intended purpose.

Dust to Dust (3/5):

Spoiler

This one has really strong presentation, but the story tends to focus on a government plot instead of seeking out an emotional core, so there's little to connect to.  The gameplay has some interesting adventure game moments, but it also has several different mechanics that felt underutilized, which sadly includes the battle system.  While Dust to Dust is pretty to look at and has an interesting ground situation, the mechanics are downplayed to the point of seeming almost pointless at times, and the story doesn't take advantage of its ground situation and becomes less engaging as it progresses.

Hero for a Day (2.5/5):

Spoiler

This probably has one of the best soundtracks I've heard in this competition in terms of originality and appropriateness.  It's a joke game, and the mechanics support that, so it's a fun little send-up of MMOs that has a few legitimately funny moments among a lot of jokes that might fall flat for certain audiences.  Other people will find the zaniness more funny than I did, probably.  The game doesn't overstay its welcome, either, and can be completed in less than half an hour.  The game doesn't explain the jump mechanic, though, so keep in mind that you can hit A while running with shift to jump, which you'll use early and often.  The score is fairly low because there just wasn't much meat on the bone, but it'll probably put a smile on your face.

In Arcem Miseria (3.5/5):

Spoiler

Pretty solid graphics and atmosphere, and the puzzles were interesting without being overly difficult or too simplistic, which is a tough line to tread.  The battles, though, were pretty boring, and felt more like a needless addition than an interesting mechanic.  Luckily, the emphasis is mainly on the puzzles, but get ready for your progress to be impeded by several essentially identical battles.  My rank might be a bit disingenuous, though, since I wasn't able to complete this one.  If you have a similarly pathetic graphics card as me, a puzzle based around a moving spotlight becomes basically impossible without lots of trial and error that most people won't have the patience for.  The game's rank could probably go down if it doesn't stick the ending, which is a distinct possibility, but I gave it the benefit of the doubt.  Worth checking out if you like puzzles.

Les Visiteurs Dans L'Espace (1.5/5):

Spoiler

While this game had a fairly interesting party dynamic that didn't overstay its welcome, the premise of four medieval warriors in space is somehow less absurd than the game's ending, which will leave the vast majority of the audience unfulfilled and angry.  The gameplay leading up to that is decent but not enough to save this one.

Leviathan (2.5/5):

Spoiler

The mechanics and atmosphere work together well to create a game about survival in a harsh world.  However, an intentionally muddled and stripped-back plot works against it to provide little intrigue behind the unique world, and the ending will probably serve to anger rather than satisfy.  The lack of any means of mp-regeneration for the majority of the monsters that make up your party keeps battle strategy limited, which is another attempt to focus on survival, but here it saps the battles of potential strategy.

Mirror Boy (2/5):

Spoiler

This is a short puzzle game made in Unity.  Unlike Account Mu or In Arcem Miseria, puzzle solutions are pretty obvious, but they're also more active, so the difficulty comes in the execution of the puzzles rather than trying to determine their solutions.  The primary puzzle mechanic is implemented well, but it feels like it could have been more fully explored, and the game is much too short and generally easy.  The story feels tacked on and could have been removed with little impact on the experience.

No Manatees Promised (1.5/5):

Spoiler

The graphics are pretty strong here--basically professional.  However, the game is just a collection of four mini-games that are overly simplistic.  This could work quite well as a little game for small children (one of the games is a memorization game, for instance), but the average age of this community probably would find the mini-games old hat and too simplistic.  Some people might get a chuckle out of the zaniness that bookends the game.

Oh!  Ko! (3/5):

Spoiler

This is a polished little adventure game that could have a little bit more direction behind the puzzles at times, but options are limited enough that the player shouldn't get stuck for long (aside from potentially a puzzle regarding reaching the moon).  The characters, setting, and music are whimsical, and fans of cute things will find this game lovely, but the game holds off from dwelling on more serious subject matter, which makes the parts that are supposed to be touching lose a bit of their emotional punch.  There's not a lot of meat on the bone, but it's a short, satisfying adventure game that might be too simplistic and cutesy for veterans.

Oneshot (4.5/5)

Spoiler

As of writing this, Oneshot is probably the best game I've played from the competition, but I think the fact that it was made in rm2k3 may end up disqualifying it, though it's going to get a big following regardless.  It's an adventure game that has several meta moments involving the player themselves into the game, and the end offers a choice that can only be experienced once--you can't start a new game, and if you quit the game prematurely, you'll never be able to continue.  This adds a lot of weight to this final choice.  The story is very much high concept, but it's a fully realized concept.  The game is more about its world than its inhabitants, which worked, but I feel like a lot of the dialogue with the inhabitants ended up feeling a bit wasted.  I think I would have liked to see characters have more than one appearance.  I also would have liked some more characterization for the main character, but, conceptually, he's fulfilling his role.  The puzzles were pretty strong for the most part, but there was an earlier puzzle that involves a machine with three parts that got me stuck for a while; I didn't realize it had three parts, and, in terms of the puzzle, it really only needed one part.  A few puzzles were solved just by exploring rather than following any logic; why would I know one person has the ink well I need and how would I know what he wants for it?  These kinds of things aren't clearly telegraphed to the player, but the player will still probably solve them because the game encourages exploration.  I would have liked to see this game take better advantage of its central mechanic throughout the game, i.e. giving the players more choices so that the player's experience would feel even more personal.  These are small complaints, though, as this is a game that really succeeds in its goal, and even if it's a high concept game, the storytelling knows how to convey this concept in a way that feels emotionally resonant.  Looks and sounds great, too.

Painted Heart (3/5):

Spoiler

Beautiful aesthetics, an inventive battle system, but battles can get overly long and require memorization of a convoluted element chart rather than much strategy, and the story is likewise drawn-out and a little shallow.

Peace of Mind (3/5)

Spoiler

This game about exploring an adventurer's mind to dispel his inner demons starts out strongly, but the plot ends up relying on a few cliches that end up keeping the story from being memorable.  Gameplay is split between active combat that more or less consists of trading hits until you win and rpg battles centered around choosing the correct dialogue options, which was more interesting but potentially too easy.  The rtp visuals early in the game feel out of place with the game's setting and pixel movement, but the final section looks and sounds great.  I feel like this was a good game that could have been outstanding with more thought put into the writing and more complexity added to the mechanics.

Remnants of Isolation (3/5):

Spoiler

The battle system is engaging and interesting, but it's lacking much challenge.  The story is pretty forgettable, as is the mapping, but some of the assets--like the portraits--are really well-done.

Ruselan (1.5/5):

Spoiler

This game has some killer mapping, and some players might find the early investigative bits entertaining, but dialogue serves mainly to progress the forgettable plot and make jokes and references that never really landed for me.  Likewise, characters are flat, and the battles are simplistic, suffer some design flaws, and are pretty similar to one another.  Ruselan also forces you to grind, and it doesn't make it particularly easy for you, as your characters don't have healing or status recovery spells, several enemies can poison, and it's a decent hike back to the inn.  Luckily, you only have to make it to level eight or so, which doesn't take too long, but, with no forced battles before the last boss, it's pretty much all grinding.

Soul Echoes (2/5):

Spoiler

The seemingly stock plot, poor mapping, flat characters, and lack of clear direction might be a barrier of entry for players, but after that there's a reveal of a fairly clever design concept that I won't spoil here.  The concept is clever enough to push the player to continue until the end, but the game never really rises above that concept in terms of plot complexity or character development.  The battle system has some cool ideas that aren't fully realized.

Sunken Spire (4/5):

Spoiler

This game focused on long-term mechanics rather than short-term ones, so the emphasis is more on unique character progression rather than difficult battles.  It was kind of a weird choice for this contest, as the game is several hours long (about six if you're a completionist, four if you're not).  It had some game-breaking glitches in it, which I imagine will be fixed soon.  The storyline didn't have much going for it, but the characters did have distinct personalities that make them likable within the context of the greater narrative that Indra and Fomar are weaving across their oeuvre.  As a standalone game, though, the story wasn't that strong.  The art and mapping are great, though, and the character progression makes this game really enjoyable in a left brain sort of way.

The Fantastical Adventures of Ron the Knight (0.5/5)

Spoiler

I'm going to be honest: I originally picked this game because the title seemed ridiculous and I wanted to make fun of it.  After playing it, though, the title makes perfect sense, and it's a cute little story about a kid pretending to be a knight.  This seems like it's someone's first game, and they were probably doing it for fun, so I don't want to insult it.  That said, there are a lot of passability issues, a couple of glitches, some occasionally bizarre mapping, and gameplay consists almost entirely of fetch quests.  This probably isn't worth your attention, but my guess is that the developer mainly did it for the fun of it, so, if you happen to stumble on this little review, keep having fun with rpg maker and we'll be here if you want any guidance.

Unraveled (4/5):

Spoiler

This game looks, sounds, and plays great.  The story is told really well, but it treads into melodrama territory when more specifics about the main character's past are revealed.  I also found the gameplay to slow down a lot after I got lost in the jungle area for a while; that made the game's magic sort of fade for me.  The battles are generally too difficult, but the developer allows the player to continue after a loss and the ranking system encourages playing the battles repeatedly until you master them rather than just beating them, which were smart decisions, though this aspect of the game seemed to conflict with the game's narrative for me.  I think if this game stuck the ending, it could have been a 4.5, but the events leading up to the ending were so melodramatic that the player might come away feeling cheated after the very absorbing first half of the game.

Voices Focused (0/5):

Spoiler

I have a theory: solo game projects can tell you a great deal about the developer.  I've always felt that way about writing, especially when the writer is fairly new, as they haven't learned the ropes and aren't filtering themselves much--other than filtering how they THINK they should write.  Game development, in a way, seems even more personal, since you're in charge of every little minutia.  So, sometimes I like to play a game in order to think about the mind behind it.  In the case of Voices Focused, I admit that I did this for my own sick amusement, as it was clear from the game page that it was either made by someone with schizophrenia or, more likely, a hypochondriac who thinks he has schizophrenia.  What I played was in line with that, but what I didn't expect was a game that played in such a fragmented, underexplained way.  Among its many sins are: random battles with an incredibly high encounter rate, incredibly uneven difficulty levels (bosses tend to be easy while random encounters will sometimes stomp you out quickly), item and skill descriptions that don't clearly convey their function, a "search everything to proceed" mechanic, default everything implemented poorly, and several game-breaking glitches, including one that occurred to me around the two-hour mark that I assume makes beating the game impossible.  While the bizarre ground situation and item/skill descriptions reveal a lot of potential for an engaging-for-unintended-reasons experience, the gameplay is so frustrating that you shouldn't give this one a second thought.

World Remade (2.5/5):

Spoiler

My biggest issue with this one was that it didn't function very well as a standalone game.  The story seemed to imply something larger, and the characters, while having distinct personalities, didn't have arcs, so they felt a bit flat.  The mechanics were cool but the battles were all won with the same basic strategy.

 

The first entry I tried: Painted Heart, because it showed a lot of promise in its screenshots with its artwork. 

I give it about a 2.5/5 (I might be swayed to a 3/5 based purely on art), but the game suffers in the game-play department. 

First and foremost the art is really good - that is the main thing the game has going for it. I also love the art for Agiel, she is the best one in the game visually and conceptually (love the eye thing on the inside of the wing). Now, going past the art and looking at the game-play and writing, well, there isn't as much to write home about. The battle system which they trump up as unique and such may well be that, unique, but I found it to be unnecessarily convoluted and just not fun (even on casual mode). Luckily there are not a ton of fights. There is no real game-play to the game itself - you just walk across the screen to go from one scene to the next, and maybe occasionally go up a ladder. That's pretty much it. The writing didn't do much for me at all and I often found it confusing and it left me wondering about what I was supposed to do a lot. The lack of auto-save proved to be the game's undoing for me as when I lost a battle a good part through the game, my last save was somewhere back in the first painting, so I stopped playing at this point and did not really want to bother to complete it. I also felt the entire introductory period of the game (credits, song, tutorials) took up WAY too much time - if the judges are going to sink about an hour into the game, probably not the best idea to waste the first 10-15 minutes with credits.

Conclusion: I feel that Painted Heart could have a really promising future if the game-maker took it and really worked on the game-play mechanics to make the game actually fun to play, and worked on the writing to be more cohesive and interesting. If these two aspects of the game can be brought up the standard of its artwork, it would easily be a masterpiece. But right now, it falls short of its potential.

Scores - [0 = Worst game ever, 1 = Terribly disappointing, 2 = Not terrible, but far from being good or something I want to play for 1 hour+, 3 = Solid game, entertaining, has some shortcomings,4 = I would consider paying money for this game, 5 = Among the greatest games I have experienced.]

 

I've played a couple so far:

Painted: 3/5 - the art and aesthetics are amazing. The custom music with the vocals fits perfectly. Combat has potential but it's just a bit too unresponsive (because it's evented it seems?) and doesn't quite live up to the potential. I could go to a 3.5/5 for this, but feel like it was just short of being amazing and I hope it's revisited.

World Remade: 3.5/5 - could go up to a 4/5 possibly - the story pulls you in more as you play, and you want to see more done with it. I usually don't like riddle-style puzzles, but the graveyard one was actually really well done and I had it figured out, but had to read it again to get the "family" name part, very clever and easy to figure out with just a little effort.

I think 3D might have been a poor design choice to get feedback, I don't think anyone has played my entry yet (In Arcem Miseria) - maybe because it's not a nice 2D one or looks intimidating or just not interesting?

 

So far the only I've tried as soon as I could was Painted Heart, because when I saw it I really believe this game would win this whole thing. When I booted up the intro was AMAZING. I got chills, and the music kept me wanting more. But as soon as the battles started... it felt convoluted. Not only that, but at times it would bug, and do wrong things. And then, it was all pretty spoonfed. It's a beautiful game, with a promising story, but the gameplay and fun factor don't match up. 3/5

I plan to play the farming one and leviathan. But there are so many more interesting ones! I really wish I could get a taste of them all.

I think people should suggest one from their posts, because with so many submissions, it's gonna be a while!

 

The next entry is The Farming One, which showed a lot of promise on the forums.

I give it a 3.5/5. That puts it above The Painted Heart in spite of the graphics. I found the game-play to be pretty fun in the beginning, harvesting the radish and chopping wood. I liked that I could hire helpers to take over that duty and money will just roll in over time. I felt the money progression and cost progression of new things to be well scaled and reasonable. I felt the number of people returning to town was appropriate, though this did bring up some issues that hurt the score a little, I kept getting sandwiched by NPCs and had to wait for them to move out of the way... often. 

The dialogue and writing was light and fun, nothing super, but it was competently written and at times witty. I was unable to figure out the point of the whole gift-giving thing, as I gave 3 or 4 people all three gifts and nothing really happened aside from extra dialogue, which made it feel a bit like a waste of a large amount of money. I enjoyed that there were many different things to do and get, but ultimately they are all pretty much the same - click on this object to receive money/resource. I feel that this is more due to the fact that the game only had 30 days to be made than actual design choice, because having little mini-games for each of the harvesting acts would have really helped keep the game-play from sliding into the realm of monotony. One thing that I did not enjoy was the fact that getting a key or skull was random. I ended up having to waste a lot of time trying to get a festival where I had a chance to get one of them (I began to loath the sheep festival because of this, it was a waste of a festival basically), and by the time I got my first skull, I had more money than there were things to buy and I was just standing around waiting for a skull or key.

But after enough time and enough festivals I managed to get both. I saved the game and tried the bandit ending, and then I tried the psychologist ending. I did not bother with the guard ending, but I assume it's like the bandit ending but in reverse. 

Conclusion: The Farming One is a solid game all around. It kept me occupied for about an hour and a half, though the final half hour+ I wasn't really having a lot of fun anymore due to lack of content to purchase and engage in. But, for what it is, it is fun and enjoyable. The graphics are cute, though somewhat mismatched and the mapping was uneven (combining single tile high walls with double high tile walls, the buildings were kind of a mess, etc), but the game makes up for these shortcomings with its game-play.

Scores - [0 = Worst game ever, 1 = Terribly disappointing, 2 = Not terrible, but far from being good or something I want to play for 1 hour+, 3 = Solid game, entertaining, has some shortcomings,4 = I would consider paying money for this game, 5 = Among the greatest games I have experienced.]

 

First off before anything, I would like to thank you to those who have already reviewed "The Farming One" so far and gave us feedback! I will make sure that everything said so far, both positive or less positive stays noted in case we decide to pick it up again after the contest ends and upgrade it in order for it to become something more entertained, as well as taking some things in consideration for my self, such as the mapping as pointed out by @Jesse since I was mostly the responsible one by that part.

As for myself, I still haven't been able to play any of the entries so far my self, but I am planning to as soon as soon as I get some time and finish some other stuff. Some the entries really are good and I don't want to be one of those guys that just submits something and doesn't give a thing about other entries. Of course not, I want to get my hands on some of the delicious entries out there of the contest. I will make my reviews as soon as I get my hands on some of them specially those people are referring right on this thread.

Thanks again!

 

Hey, man, don't feel self-conscious just yet.  You're definitely on my radar--there are just a LOT of games out right now.  Yours was one of the entries I saw that made me think, "thank God he's not in the RPG category."  Unless I run into some issues with it, you can expect some detailed feedback from me within the week.  Sunken Spire's next on my list.

 

I've tried out a number of games already. Although I've tried many of these prior to the final submission, this is something I'm going to keep in mind in the scores, so I won't base these on the minor bugs which would've been fixed in the final version, but more on whether the game captivated my interest and kept me engaged, how good the atmosphere was, how well the visuals and music worked together, how fun the game mechanics were, and so on. I'm also basing the score on the game's current state and content, so I can't base it on what the game can potentially be in the future, though I might update the reviews if I get to try the future revisions of the game.

I'm posting honest reviews here. Just to note in advance, I do not want to slam any game or to discourage any developers. Instead I hope this feedback proves useful. These are just short reviews. The longer ones I've left on the respective game threads.

Goblin Noir - A great idea to play as a character who isn't human but in a non-fantasy setting so to speak. So far the game doesn't have all that much content, but the idea seems very promising and I really loved the verbal battle system. 4/5 though the score could get higher as more of the game is made.

Ashworth - A well-executed atmosphere and a healthy number of jump scares are ought to make you jump out of your seat and to feel uneasy by the time you've completed the game. Although the horror element is lost a bit in late stages when there are lots of battles with the monsters, the game still keeps you playing to the end to find out what's going on all along. If you like horror and/or PVGames art style, you should check this out. 4/5

Egbert - I don't think there's a thread on this game here, but I came across this on RMN and the idea of playing as a vampire's son seemed rather interesting. The game's visuals give a great atmosphere to its gothic setting whilst the story is kept mostly lighthearted. Admittedly I haven't managed to get to the end of this due to being stuck in one of the dungeons, but from what I've played so far it's not bad and worth a try. 3/5

Jungle Rescue - I really liked the setting of this game and the concept. The stealth aspects of the game are done pretty well, though there have been a lot of times where I simply had to close the game and start over from a previous save due to failing not to be seen so many times, and fighting enemies directly is usually very undesirable. I admit I got frustrated a few times, but maybe because I am bad at stealth games. Those who do like stealth games might enjoy this more. 3/5

Disaster on Aero VI - The idea of being aboard a spaceship was pretty much what got me to try the game. The puzzle mechanics are done really well and there's a lot of technical knowledge involved, which clearly shows the developer has done the research, but my main gripe is that the game often feels confusing and unrewarding. Getting things right never really brought forth any reward. I think this game can be made good with some updates and some players might really dig this, but it's not so much for me. 2.5/5

Beyond Reality - First of, it must be very hard to come up with an entire story that will fit in an hour and plays like an RPG, but this game does this very successfully. Though it doesn't necessarily excel at any aspect, it's a nice game that doesn't really have any gameplay issues and introduces some interesting characters in the process. Some of the pacing could use some work, and the dialogue was a little strange at times, though it seems to me anime lovers might be more into a game like this where dialogue is kept to a less serious tone. I'd say this game is worth a try. 3.5/5

Vultures - A rather fun arena hack and slash with a really beautiful art style. At the moment there isn't all that much to this game, but with future updates this could be very promising. 3.5/5

Aesparia: The Fallen - This game really blew me away. It managed to be strong in every aspect - an incredibly fun battle system that requires strategy, brilliant level design with nice visuals, and fantastic music choices. The game builds up to a climax at the end really well, and aside from a script error (which has now been fixed) there haven't been any problems with it at all. I don't see there being much point to reserve a 5 star rating for some unattainable idea of perfection, so I shall give this game a full 5/5.

Earth Under Attack - A side-scroller space shooter created in RPG maker VX Ace? Sounds unbelievable, but it's true. This game really does shine with its fun gameplay mechanics, a nice art style, and a crazy (yet doable) level of challenge. I think this game has a potential to score higher and to be one of the best entries, though at the moment it has a number of bugs, one of which prevents the players from getting past a certain point in the game, and so I'll have to keep the score fair and to give it a 4/5 as it is in the current state.

 

I've been busy today, but I spent all day yesterday playing games. I think I got through 8 or so. Some from this page, some from the official entry site.

So I'll say my favorite so far is this one: Aesparia - The Fallen

I'd give it a solid 4.5 out of 5. The review is in the spoilers as it's kind of lengthy.

Spoiler

I'm still trying to get through all the great looking games and I've played through probably 8 or so already and have several more downloaded that I want to give a look. But this one has stood out the most from all of them.

I'll start with the obvious that you can see before even trying the game. The maps and graphics are beautiful to look at. Everything matches in a pleasing way. The only minor gripe I could even come up with was the bottom arrow on the messages boxes stood out a bit. Everything else graphically was flawless.

Now while playing the game I notice all kinds of just neat touches. Some of them were so nice that I didn't even realize how neat they were till today. Like the party members talking while you're walking around town. They talk in a smaller message box so you can still walk around and explore while getting some more of the back story. There's visual enemies on the map, so you don't have to fight them if you don't want to.. but I'd advise cleaning out all the fights because each floor gets a bonus chest when the floor is cleared. You can craft gear. The most notable crafting item is scrolls. The ability/skill system in this game is a little unique in that you can equip runes that will let each player use a certain skill set (defensive skills, fire magic, water magic, etc). Each rune gives the player 3 or 4 skills and you can craft Scrolls of individual skills. So, for example my first character could use fire magic and equip a scroll to have access to a healing spell.

So now to talk about the battle system. It is a side view battle system. Again, everything is really pretty too look at. There is no "attack" option or mana. You use basic skills.. so for the fire magic user, it'd be a little fire base spell that earns some RP. Once your RP builds up, then you can use bigger skills. RP resets at the end of ever battle. So this makes a clean way of doing battles. No more carrying (hording) potions to take with you. The battles take some strategy to work out and the curve at which the enemies grow is very smooth. You start with a few battles to get you use to the system and just about the time that you start to think the battles are trivial, something new happens...they summon a fire demon elemental looking thing! This stepping up process happens a few times. The final bosses had a great surprise of summoning a few allies and then promoting one up.. Yikes! The final boss had even more tricks, but I'll leave that as a surprise. Also all the animations in the battles were big and again.. pretty to look at. And none of them were too long. I hate using a skill and waiting what feels like forever for it to finish playing out. So all in all, there isn't a thing I'd change about the battle system.

The world's lore felt well developed, however I felt like I was just missing a ton of information on it. I played the game before reading much of anything about it. So it is a prequel to a much bigger game. The story for this game is enough to get you through.

So all in all, this was a very polished and fun game with very few things that could be criticized. I will definitely follow the progress of the bigger game to play through it and see how things turn out and to learn more about the folks in the game. I'm curious about the races.

I played The Vendor and I'd give it a 3.5

Spoiler

It's very cute and has a lot of statistics to keep up with.. and I'm an ocd nerd gamer and I like keeping track of all the little things that this game has too offer and it's so out of the box I'm embarrassed to say how much time I spend putting game info into spreadsheets. I like the light crafting/trade system in it. It also had a cute story with the father and you (you get to pick if you're male/female). You gather information about what you should sell to the hero party by exploring and talking to the folks in the various towns. The little cart you pull behind you on the world map is also very cute. I didn't rate it higher because it just felt like it could use a bit more tweaking. It's hard to get all the items needed to sell to the party with what you start out with. So this means you can go gather random spawn items that you can sell or trade for rarer items. I haven't found the balance for what to sell/tip/buy things for just yet and the last bonus dragon just keeps kicking my butt even with all the items I practically gave to the hero party.

I'd give The Farming One a 3 out of 5.

Spoiler

It was a great Harvest Moon like game. I'd say it was Harvest Moon Lite. You didn't have to spend ages growing things and caring for them. So it's very fast paced and you can hire helpers to do the crop picking for you (WOOHOO!). The graphics were cute and the busts were great But the game was too easy. The hardest part was trying to win keys in the festivals. I ended up with half a billion gold while waiting for keys to finish out one of the quests. If the game was made slightly harder, it'd probably give a more rewarding feeling when playing.

Goats on a Bridge rating 3/5

Spoiler

I orginally marked this game down a lot because the controls were too hard to use. There is a spot to set the controls up how you'd like.. however I was to stupid and was using the wrong area to do it So after giving the controls another shot.. yes they're still hard to use for the two characters. I think I will end up sinking countless hours into this game trying to get 3 stars on all the levels. I set the first map up to use controls with both hands (moving with one hand and rolling/jumping on the other) and got 3 stars after like 5 run throughs. Then I forgot to set up the controls for the other goat. So I had to reconfigure the keys and it's basically a modified version of the default settings. After getting 2 stars and calling it good for the 2nd level, I went to the 3rd level where my head exploded! Now you're controlling both goats.. one with each side of the keyboard (if your using the default keys). So I'm plucking away at moving them both at the same time.. up to a point and then I'll control each separately cause I'm just not THAT coordinated This might be a really good game if you have someone that likes to play these games with you as they could control one character while you get the other one. I think I'll have to settle for not perfect scores for now.

PS skip this game if you don't like failure. You will bump your head many many many times while trying to get through the levels.

Sunsong. 2.9/5

Spoiler

The pixelated graphics were cute for a minute.. some of them for longer then that. But after a while it detracted from the game has it became really hard to see what was really going on at a glance. I had to really look at stats when buying gear because everything was the same tone. Some of the maps were hard to tell what was what because of the color scheme. The game let you pick your classes and you could change them at any time and level them up independently. The max level was 10. So if you were a level 10 Warrior and switched to Paladin, then you were a level 1 Paladin and would get your butt kicked while in the more advanced areas of the game. I liked the style and feel of the really old school games. You never enter any of the buildings on the map, instead you just interact with the npc's at the doorways. It was a good job at making a completed game with out any bugs, but it didn't stand out in any way. The story was short and sweat.. go find the two parts of a song and reunite them. Once you reunite them you unlock an airship so you can go to the final dungeon to beat the Vampire who had blocked out the sun. There were some puzzles in each of the dungeons. Solid game, just needed something that made it really stand out.

Oh! Ko! 3.7 of 5

Spoiler

Cute little graphics and short enduring story. There is no combat in this game. It's like a puzzle novel type game where you can go around inspecting areas of your house and using items you've found along the way.. like putting a coat hanger in the toaster! It's cute and a different to most games I play. Althought I was thinking the child either has a very active imagination or really needs her meds

As for the list I've yet to play.. it's still growing... (in no particular order)

Our Hero! ORIGINS

Stormblood

World Remade

Wake: Blooming Lotus Dance

Sacred Earth: Promise

Earth Under Attack

edit:

I just want to say, congrats to everyone how made an entry as I can't even begin to understand how stressful it was and thanks to everyone for all the great games. Hopefully you all get caught up on your rest

 

First up today is In Arcem Miseria. I'll start by saying I don't generally play and/or like puzzle games (or regarding RPG's, puzzles are my least favorite part of the experience, I much prefer digging into combat systems like skill trees, stats, equipment), I was also playing on my laptop with the trackpad, I sat down on the couch and didnt feel like going back to my desk where my mouse is. I don't know if there is a way to adjust the viewing angle, but it was not ideal for me. The opening was pretty good, if a bit generic, The way you kind of just appear in front of the tower was odd. I'm conflicted a bit about the first puzzle. There was no context, or explanation. On the one hand I think thats cool, it makes the player feel empowered when they figure it out. On the other hand, I didn't figure it out. I'll try to be vague about why I didn't finish it, so other people can try it to. I got one of the two doors open, and went in and tried to flip the switch and it wouldn't flip, it stayed red. I tried 2-3 times and couldnt get it to work, and then I gave up. I didn't play this enough to give a score.

I played ~20 min. of Oubliette. The first thing I noticed was that the date on the file was from march. Im pretty sure somewhere I read in the rules the game had to be started no earler then may 29. I played it anyway. The voice acting was decent to good. The writing was okay. I wasn't in love with it, I think it was something about how the tone kept shifting. The battle's looked pretty good, not sure if its custom art, certainly looked that way. The actual battle system was functional, but not that exciting. I give it a 3.5/5. Everything sort of came together to make a polished whole, but none of the individual elements were that exciting in and of themselves (aside from the voice acting).

Next Up: Aesperia

 

One thing I will say, if people want their game played/recommended, I would definitely either make a thread (like many people have), or even do a shout-out in this thread.

I know for sure that in a week, I'm only going to graze the surface of these entries.