Reseñas recientes de Vintage Devilry

Don't let the stock RM assets fool you, this is a surprisingly ambitious JRPG-style title that allows an impressive amount of character customization in a well-realized world. If you remember the NES Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest installments fondly, you'll find plenty to like here. Worth noting too is the extensive soundtrack covering a range of styles, from traditional orchestral fare to prog metal!

A steal at the asking price.

I'd already played this to death on iOS, but picked it up to see its gorgeous artwork in hi-res (and because it's worth supporting). Dark, sad, terrifying, abstract, twisted: all are apt descriptors for this short and highly unique playable folk tale from the snowy forests of Scandinavia. There is nothing out there like Year Walk.

It's clear that a ton of work went into Alpha Kimori's legitimately impressive spritework, visual design (that very much brings to mind the classic Phantasy Star titles) and custom systems. Unfortunately, the experience quickly becomes mired in tedium thanks to an absolutely insane amount of backtracking, terrible writing and boring characters. After two hours I could stand no more.

I've scratched my original review entirely now that I've finished the game. From what I understand this is the first part (of four) of the third game in the Aveyond series; a curious place to start for Steam gamers unfamiliar with Amaranth's work.

As with most games made with RPG Maker, writing quality weighs heavily upon whether or not a title is worth your time and money. Here Lord of Twilight is thankfully relatively solid. Most attempts at humor fall flat, but character dialogue is decent enough, if occassionally a bit unnatural. The overarching plot is kind of all over the place at this point, and the game ends on a really weird note, but of course this is only the introductory chapter of a larger narrative.

Graphics are nothing to write home about, with much of what's on display being RM stock assets. Character designs are attractive though, and the handful of original assets are done well. Map design is occasionally frustrating, particularly in towns, which have a tendency to be needlessly convoluted and complex (a lot of dead ends, no shadowing to indicate changes in elevation, etc).

Many games using this engine are plagued with slowdown, but Aveyond runs smoothly throughout.

The soundtrack is really the standout feature here, featuring catchy town themes and one of the better battle tunes I've heard in recent memory.

Overall I would cautiously recommend Lord of Twilight. It's quite rough around the edges in parts, but I enjoyed myself enough to stick it out and am curious to see what happens in the next installment.

A lot has been written about this game already, so there's little I can add. Without question one of the crowning achievements in storytelling within this little hobby of ours; To the Moon is often heartbreaking, yet also hopeful, joyous and always beautiful. An impressive accomplishment when so much of the story revolves around death and how it impacts those that are left behind. Unless you're utterly heartless, it's pretty much a given the last half hour or so will wring a few tears from you.

Highly recommended if you appreciate quality writing in video games.

TPS from Sega's best internal development team that's somehow so much greater than the sum of its parts. I spent most of the game telling Big Bo that I loved him. GOTD

An endlessly charming and simple Japanese-style RPG that brings to mind Square's SNES efforts, as well as lesser-known Genesis and Turbografx adventures (Lunar and Cosmic Fantasy come immediately to mind). Easy to grasp mechanics and an interesting story punctuated with excellent writing and the first truly likeable cast I've come across in quite some time. It speaks volumes that I enjoyed this humble little title more than recent multi-million efforts from big name developers. It's quite succinct at only 7-10 hours long, but there's also little pointless backtracking and padding to slog through.

Absolutely recommended to gamers that look back fondly on the golden age of console RPGs.

Note: Disregard people dismissing Skyborn because of the engine it was built with. RPG Maker is fully capable of producing unique and captivating games in the right hands, as evidenced by Yume Nikki, To the Moon and the subject of this review.

We can probably just stop developing games now. It's never going to get better than this.

It bums me out to give this a negative review, since I badly wanted it to be good and did enjoy some aspects of it. The art and animation are stunning; it was very clearly made by a team of visual design veterans. I applaud Stoic's attempt at breathing new life into tactical RPG battles by making it more akin to chess than say, FF Tactics. Unfortunately, the system they came up with is easily exploited once you understand how it works. Weaken (but don't kill!) lesser mobs so that they can't deal damage and continue to eat up turns for the enemy team, then focus on the heavy hitters. After a while I started to dread fights because of how formulaic and boring they become. No variation/advantages in terrain; just the same tired grid, battle after battle after battle. The lore is excellent and well-formed, yet the story itself is unfocused and difficult to follow. Even the score by Austin Wintory (whose soundtrack for indie darling Journey is amongst the greatest of all time) is forgettable.

I feel like there's a great game somewhere in here, but the pieces just haven't come together yet. With any luck Stoic will raise enough funds to continue the saga and I'll give it another go to see if they resolve some of these issues. Until then I can't bring myself to finish this first installment. Too bad.

UPDATE: Ended up beating the game anyway since I was at the final boss. Had to cheese my way through on easy thanks to an absurd upswing in difficulty for the second phase of the fight. It did not improve my opinion of the game.

Not quite reaching the elegant fluidity of Bayonetta's combat, nor besting the endless combo possibilites of Devil May Cry 3, DmC is nonetheless a spectacular reboot that definitely ranks amongst the better offerings in the series and indeed the genre as a whole. The presentation is polished to a mirror sheen and often dazzles with twisted creativity (a certain boss fight and the entirety of Lilith's nightclub immediately come to mind).

Yes the origins of the main characters have been significantly altered, and yes the story occasionally beats you over the head with clumsy edginess to drive the "message" home. However, the new Dante isn't so different from the old, the one-liners are still cheesy as hell and the cutscenes are still ridiculously over the top. Despite what some would have you believe, this isn't some massive change in tone.

One of my favorite games of 2013. Highly recommended.