Congratulations on winning Project of the Month! I’m glad we have such a thing, because it was what drew my attention to your game. I am slightly disappointed, however, that hardly any of the people who congratulated you took the time to say much more about your game. I, for one, value feedback, so I can’t help but feel the need to give you my opinion on your game, considering I took the time to play it. So let’s see, where to begin...?
First off, the mapping in this game is downright beautiful. It’s some of the best I’ve seen. You’re really good at flushing out all the details of the maps, particularly the outdoor ones. The town of Bella was absolutely stunning. This is the sort of project that makes me feel seriously self-conscious about my own mapping. Meh, that’s why I focus mainly on the story anyway. And speaking of storytelling, “The Healer” really has a unique feel to it. The games plays out like any RPG would, but the cut-scenes read like an interactive storybook. It was cleaver to include the subtle descriptions of the characters’ actions and expressions within the dialogue boxes, as it adds a layer of depth to the characters. Not any game can pull this off, but it really feels appropriate in “The Healer.” In fact, I think it compliments the game. The same goes for the emotion animations that you make frequent use of...they really help the player understand what any given character is feeling, even without spoken dialogue. Considering you don’t use face-graphics in the dialogue boxes, this goes a long way.
There wasn’t a whole lot I disliked about the game. It was on the short side, but that’s not unusual for a demo. I did feel disappointed when I reached the end, but that’s only because I was ready for more. I was a little let down by the boss battle, but I think that’s mostly because none of my characters could damage the boss using normal techniques. I had to rely solely on skills to win, which is an iffy battle strategy at best. I don’t know if I was at the “proper” level when fighting the boss, and if I was at a higher level then perhaps I would not have run into that problem. With that said, I would not recommend that bosses be immune to standard attacks. Also, I think the Professor’s skill costs where just slightly too high. Slightly. Granted, they were powerful, so I guess that balances out. And while I’m on the subject of the battle system, let me say that I loved it. It was a lot of fun, and it ran very smoothly. I wish there were more enemies than just spiders, however.
The story is interesting, but I get the feeling that I have a little while to go before I can get the general idea of what it’s going to be about. The demo lacks any large-scale conflict, but at this point in the game that’s probably a good thing. In fact, I’m glad you didn’t rush into the main story too soon. I’ll be eagerly awaiting the next update to find out what happens. I would also like to compliment you on the enormous risk you took. Very few game are centered around a main character that is a healer, and I found that to be very intriguing. So far, she doesn’t appear to fall into any major cliches of her archetype, which is good. It’s hard to judge at this point whether you pull it off successfully or not, but if you continue to work at it I don’t foresee that being a problem.
All in all, this is a very solid demo, and it gets my highest of recommendations. Incredible mapping, a great battle system, and an orginal take on the RPG make this a game worth checking into. This is very deserving of the Project of the Month title it received. Good work. Keep it up.
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