After 2.2 hours, here are my thoughts of the game.

The design was very similar to Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, where you not only have traditional JRPG battles but also have ARPG elements to interact with the environment. This game takes it a step further with corpse looting. The graphics match up to late-gen SNES titles (I compare it to 7th Saga to a certain degree). The interface is competent and the controls are smooth when walking the overland map. Menuing in the limited shop menus is fluid. There is a metal vibe in the battle music which is a nice departure from the more "ambiance" style of RPG music. There is a sense of a huge story in the background and it could potentially develop into a good game to give a full playthrough.

The game has a number of flaws though. Controller support is listed in the help menu but doesn't work. Also the "instruction manual", if you can call it that, is buried in the game files and you have to hunt for it. The introduction is overly-long and very boring (just text w/ a little music) and if you include the tutorial can take well over 20 minutes before you actually play the game. There is also a problem where if you play the game in full screen the only real option as a content creator is to use Display capture; otherwise you end up playing it in a ridiculously small window with a window capture (I think the window isn't even 640x480 in size. However, thankfully if you are not content creating the fullscreen option helps you immensely.

However, despite the slow start of the game, I have a feeling based on my gaming experience that there is much more to the game once you get past the first area. However, the developer really needs to put full controller support in the game, especially if the game is to live up to the "Zelda-like" overworld feel they claim it has.

At $4.99 the cost is comparable to many other indie RPG titles and while the negatives I listed are irritating it is nothing that I feel should stop anyone from enjoying the game. As I stated, there is a feel that the game has a good story that will develop once you get past the the initial 2 hours of the game. So I can recommend this game despite the faults.

Watch my Heroes of Shaola video to see what I experienced -
https://youtu.be/RdhOSjzQwC4

After 2.2 hours, here are my thoughts of the game. The design was very similar to Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, where you not only have traditional JRPG battles but also have ARPG elements to interact with the environment. This game takes it a step further with corpse looting. The graphics match up to late-gen SNES titles (I compare it to 7th Saga to a certain degree). The interface is competent and the controls are smooth when walking the overland map. Menuing in the limited shop menus is fluid. There is a metal vibe in the battle music which is a nice departure from the more "ambiance" style of RPG music. There is a sense of a huge story in the background and it could potentially develop into a good game to give a full playthrough. The game has a number of flaws though. Controller support is listed in the help menu but doesn't work. Also the "instruction manual", if you can call it that, is buried in the game files and you have to hunt for it. The introduction is overly-long and very boring (just text w/ a little music) and if you include the tutorial can take well over 20 minutes before you actually play the game. There is also a problem where if you play the game in full screen the only real option as a content creator is to use Display capture; otherwise you end up playing it in a ridiculously small window with a window capture (I think the window isn't even 640x480 in size. However, thankfully if you are not content creating the fullscreen option helps you immensely. However, despite the slow start of the game, I have a feeling based on my gaming experience that there is much more to the game once you get past the first area. However, the developer really needs to put full controller support in the game, especially if the game is to live up to the "Zelda-like" overworld feel they claim it has. At $4.99 the cost is comparable to many other indie RPG titles and while the negatives I listed are irritating it is nothing that I feel should stop anyone from enjoying the game. As I stated, there is a feel that the game has a good story that will develop once you get past the the initial 2 hours of the game. So I can recommend this game despite the faults. Watch my Heroes of Shaola video to see what I experienced - https://youtu.be/RdhOSjzQwC4