Skanker's Romantic Review Corner - GIAW RESULTS IN! -

Hello, hello! Today you're joining me to discuss the reviews we've aaaall been waiting for! Unfortunately I missed one game, but that's okay! It'll get reviewed soon, too If you have a problem with my grammar, fuck you I try my hardest to come across well in english. (I reserve all right to ignore any attempts at my life)

First, the average results of the scoring!

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|GAME            | POLISH | PLAYB. | IN.NTY | ENTMNT | OVRALL |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| NIGHTMARE      | 9      | 8      | 7      | 7      | 31     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| CHIBIQUEST 2   | 9      | 6      | 7      | 8      | 30     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| MAJOR ARCANA   | 8      | 5      | 7      | 7      | 27     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| PULSUS         | 10     | 4      | 6      | 7      | 27     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| THE WANDERER   | 7      | 7      | 6      | 6      | 26     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| DIG MOAR       | 8      | 5      | 9      | 2      | 24     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| RED RIDE HOOD  | 7      | 5      | 4      | 4      | 20     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| DREAM W/ DREAM | 6      | 6      | 6      | 2      | 20     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| EXP. 5.2.9     | 7      | 5      | 3      | 4      | 19     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| CHAKRA         | 3      | 3      | 3      | 3      | 12     |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|
| HALLOWED TOWER | 3      | 1      | 2      | 1      | 7      |
|-------------------------------------------------------------|

Oh my, things are getting tense! Let's go into the dirty details, huh? To note, I took the quality of the cutscenes and animations into account in the Polish section. Someone had an issue with this so I'm bringing it up here. I don't think it's unfair at all!

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Nightmare
by Zylos

Polish: 9

Spoiler for:

The game uses a very nice blend of the tileset combined with excellent mapping to create a logical hotel that both seems realistic and looks quite nice. The ambient sound and sound effects work together to really set the mood, no cheap tricks to be found here. Though some hallways lack detail the rooms more than make up for it with their cozy decor. Nothing much to say apart from it being a solid visual experience.

Playability: 8

Spoiler for:

The game doesn't present you with any complex systems, you wander around, collect items and save your game if you so wish. There are no standard game overs to be had, per se, but the first time you're caught by your enemy your heart will skip a beat in anticipation for a game over screen. Luckily it just juts you back to where you entered the room! Being a horror/survival game set in an isolated enviroment you're expected to fetch and collect items quite a bit, and that's what the majority of the puzzles are based on. There are some exception, but no real mind-benders.

Ingenuity: 7

Spoiler for:

It's good for short games not to set the bar too high with regards to a story, but this game feels like it should have aimed just a bit higher. The premise is extremely interesting, but the clues you're given as to what the mystery actually is are a bit too obvious. Some more subtlety would have done the game a lot of justice, as the story in itself and how it ties into your enviroment is quite interesting. The writing and dialogue is solid, and multiple endings (however minor the difference) are always welcome and they don't disappoint in this game.

Entertainment: 7

Spoiler for:

Even though the game has multiple endings there's no real replay value aside from them. You're probably not in the mood for playing this game again after you've already finished it, but if you're grippen enough you'll probably blaze through the game relatively fast and have a fair amount of fun doing it. The gameplay doesn't allow for much variety and entertainment, but the solid writing and attention to detail does it for this game.

Chibi Quest 2
by Strike_Reyhi and Acolyte

Polish: 9

Spoiler for:

I'll be the first to admit it; the visuals created for this game are great! The nuggets you encounter are very cute and the character portraits add a very nice atmosphere to the entire game. It's unfortunate there wasn't enough time to add some custom background to the game and to get rid of the default spell animations; they clash against the wonderful monsters. The music was quite fitting barring a few odd choices here and there; the battle theme in the Spirit Temple was very quiet as well. It doesn't subtract from the experience, though.

Playability: 6

Spoiler for:

This is the real weak point of the game, I'd say. Constant crashes during battles cost valuable progress in dungeons and during boss fights. Being unable to spot save points in areas tinted blue was very unfortunate, and when the game crashed against the Water Goddess I felt a bit disheartened. There are some rather severe balance issues as well, Wind is extremely powerful at 6 MP dishing out 260-390 damage against any enemy. Ember, at 2 MP, dishes out 40-60 damage and the upgraded version, Fire at 4 MP, does around 70. Cleave is one of the most pathetic, useless abilities ever and Ylva is a walking V2. Countless passability errors plague the many maps and entering an accessory shop takes you to the item shop; forever rendering the Toneth shopping experience a disappointment.

Ingenuity: 7

Spoiler for:

It's important to set the bar reasonably low when you're making a GIAW game. A good complex story takes a very long time to iron out and perfect, which is why the simple story in this game works so well. There are some major holes in the story-telling (Looking for medicine and then all of a sudden forget all about your dear grandpa just to go collect orbs to overthrow a tyrant you'd only heard about) but the silly light-hearted theme of the game makes this endearing and somewhat acceptable.

Entertainment: 8

Spoiler for:

Would I call this an entertaining game? Absolutely. Most of that could be attributed to the theme of the game; it's very cute and happy. Unfortunately the common problems with balance and abundance of enemies (or, rather, the speed at which they chase you) drags down the experience a bit. While I thoroughly celebrate the skill system it's unfortunate that my melee characters end up being JP hogs with all their skills while my spellcasters are constantly in need of more. It's only a minor detail, however, that can be easily fixed. I didn't need to force myself to keep playing this game, wanting to play came along naturally which is the most important thing.

Major Arcana
by yuyubabe, Dr.Mc and Pacman

Polish: 8

Spoiler for:

Featuring some detailed (although spotwise cluttered) mapping the game look quite great in spots. Some maps seem rushed and not to par with others, but it's merely an excusable detail. Some of the audio choices are questionable, maybe even picked haphazardly, but they work in some spots. There's not much else to say as the default assets are used to fine capacity.

Playability: 5

Spoiler for:

A quirky error that was included in the official entry would have rendered the game a five minute experience, very unfortunate! Thankfully that was remedied, but the next gameplay barrier was encountered during the first dungeon. The script blurb I wrote while playing through the dungeon is quite long as I found it incredibly frustrating, despite how the creators assured me it should be alright. With enemies that cripple you with poison and deal a fair bit of damage per turn getting through the dungeon requires some luck and/or some save abuse. Shame, as the promise of a heap of playable, community-based characters is very neat but with an entry dungeon as unforgiving as this it makes you doubt just how fun the latter dungeons will be.

Ingenuity: 7

Spoiler for:

The story is aiming quite high, compared to other entries this game might have the most dialogue and seems quite ambitious in that regard. Thankfully it wasn't rushed into a full game (as the premise seems quite expansive) but instead services as a short, bite-sized pleasing demo. I'm hesitant to say anything about the story as I'm sure the amount seen in the demo is only a small portion, but as it stands it's quite enough to pique your interest. The promise of a great roster of characters is appealing, but there's a lot of writing involved. The way the main construct of the game works you could see this game being released in episodes. Imagine that; an episodic GIAW game... that'd be interesting for sure.

The mechanics themselves are nothing complex or different, the one unique skill I saw I was unable to use, so that was a shame. If it had a battle system that took into account the more interesting story elements this game could have massive potential for interesting combat and progression.

Entertainment: 7

Spoiler for:

All in all the story, visuals and the somewhat quirky dungeons were enough to keep me entertained. Even though the first one was an exercise in frustration I'm quite used to playing far more unforgiving games, so it wasn't a big deal. But those games can't be described as 'fun', exactly, so unfortunately this entry loses some points for that.

Pulsus
by bluntsword

Polish: 10

Spoiler for:

With some very creative mapping and a nice urban tileset this game really shines in the mapping department. Too bad there are a slew of sloppy details, such as the ever-troublesome 'slithering carpets' and 'carpet benders'. Nice different music. Very refreshing. Sound design, mapping, it's all really quite something.

Actually just the way sounds were used had be amazed.

Playability: 4

Spoiler for:

Characters... ... ... talk with really long... ... ... pauses! This game is incredibly slow and characters take forever to talk! Good thing the cutscenes are greatly animated. You can walk across all tables, I'm assuming that's not supposed to happen but I'm not sure. Some errors in script. I believe I broke the game accidentally by progressing the story and being made to fight enemies without a proper weapon or more party members... I'm not sure if it's intentional but it's very hard. I don't see the game being much easier with a third member in my party anyway, so it's a real big shame.

Ingenuity: 6

Spoiler for:

Sara is said to be 17, and she was present at the station three years ago... so she worked as a scientist as 14 year old? Hmf... The premise of the game is quite interesting but it doesn't feel like there's a real point the story, it sounds more like a backstory to another game. That said the dialogue is really good, albeit a bit off-kelter in spots. The mechanics are nothing special, they do their job and work well however.

Entertainment: 7

Spoiler for:

The game moves slowly, there's not a lot of gameplay (and what there is is pretty shitty) but the well-crafted events and beautiful detail put into the world is really something. The slow pace can be extremely irritating (the whole game feels like one big cutscene) but it's entertaining, at least, despite the predictable story.

The Wanderer
by lethrface

Polish: 7

Spoiler for:

The game features some solid, but uneven mapping. Certain areas have nicely added detail (indoor areas mostly) whereas the outdoors are pretty drab and dull. The music is used well in certain areas but might feel out-of-place in others. I thought it set the atmosphere perfectly in spots. The most important part is that the game isn't offensive to the eyes and ears, but as a whole the visuals are mediocre.

Playability: 7

Spoiler for:

Using some very nice-looking, fast and snappy scripts the battles are not only faster but they also look better. The added damage pop-up is very helpful as the default damage report not only disappears too fast but it's also tough to pay attention to. I was surprised by how polished the game seemed, most other games had had some manner of bugs in them but this one was delightfully free of those (maybe I didn't pay as much attention?). The game does a poor job in spots of pointing you where to go and what to do. It makes it feel a little less linear than it actually is, but it can frustrate you at times.

Ingenuity: 6

Spoiler for:

You play as a 'mysterious' brooding old man. He's incredibly hard to like as a character, and he has a very weird way of thinking. The female part of the story was very interesting though, would have enjoyed to have her be an even bigger part! The writing suffers a bit from random, quirky mistakes. NPCs populating the town bring some nice life to it with what they have to say, though. The gameplay mechanics bring nothing new to the table, but the solidity brings them points in the playability part of the score.

Entertainment: 6

Spoiler for:

As a whole the game is quite entertaining. You just have to hope/be observant enough to not get caught in a loop of being unable to progress as that could really suck the juice out of the game. If you just want a solid RPG with the mechanics you're used to and some situationally great characters, you should probably play this game.

Dig Moar!
by NAMKCOR, Malson and Gracie

Polish: 8

Spoiler for:

The game features some very nice music that loops in the background for a solid 15 minutes at a time. Thankfully the music is actually good and stays in the background nicely for the most part; but after you've entered an area while desperately panning for gold you will notice the music and you will learn to hate it... unless you put some variance into what towers you're braving. The towers feature solid mapping, unfortunately it uses the same base structure for each floor. The details are always new and different, but when you're trying to beat a tower and you go through 10 floors it really starts getting to you. However this is all excuseable thanks to the thought and effort put into the maps. The enemies all come with custom graphics that are very pleasing to look at.

Playability: 5

Spoiler for:

It doesn't take a lightbulb to figure out just from the description of this game that it gets incredibly repetitive. You really must plan your economy well at the start of the game or you'll be stuck in a loop where you climb the towers, fight as many monsters as you can for money, escape and repeat until you're strong enough and with enough money to take on a boss. You will be bored senseless if you just pick one tower to grind in and force yourself up in that one. It's not made easier by the fact that some monsters can cripple your main character, badly. It might seem like a good idea to go grind solo, but it really isn't. Certain monsters will render you useless with their numerous status-inflicting attacks if you're nothing but a party of one or two members.

The main mechanic of the game involves you bashing rocks until you find a teleporter. This is fun the first few times you do it, but when you're just desperately trying to make it up to the boss as fast as possible it really works against the game. The average floor has 49-55 rocks in them and one of those will contain your precious teleporter! All the while you're swarmed by enemies you can't escape from. Good luck trying to preserve your stregth for the boss, you'll need it. Some of the floors will do their very best to make sure that you're ganged up by monsters.

Thankfully the difficulty is well though out, in a sense. The hirelings you get will be your main damage dealers, your poor sap of a character will be stuck on healing duty. Hirelings all have their specific thing that they're good at, but if you're aiming to get a level 10 hireling (which you really do need) you can expect to go grind for money a fair bit. The best ones are very expensive, and you'll want to hire some in order to go get loot... it's needless to say that a fair bit of time and effort goes into making sure you have a stable economy.

There's a very fresh and well-needed originality in the enemies. They're sophisticated in their patterns and well-thought out (barring the incredibly mean few), making the tower climbing more fun and rewarding. Definitely a high-point of the game! The bosses drop 'relics' with some shout-outs to members of the community. That's always fun.

The game shipped with a few bugs, one of them barring you access from two of the four towers in the game. I was also subject to one where, while teleporting out of a tower as I stood in water, I was permanently slowed down to a snail's pace. Not game-breaking, but definitely reload-worthy. Perhaps for this same reason the game disables the sprint feature: being slowed down while you're wading through water is a great detail but it's not worth the sacrifice of having to play without a sprint button. Me and a fair bit of others will agree that the sprint feature is one of the best additions to any RPG Maker ever made, to have it taken out if quite a let down.

Ingenuity: 9

Spoiler for:

It certainly is interesting for a GIAW game, though the implementation of the mechanics need some polish and work done. The simple yet solid story is perfect for the premise; you're an archaeologist. You want to explore towers. That's perfect! Just make the exploration work better! The game featured some things that functioned as a refreshing second-wind during the judging period, especially thanks to its interesting systems.

Entertainment: 2

Spoiler for:

I sat here thinking for quite a while over whether or not I was actually entertained during my time with this game. There's a great big difference between being entertained and being compelled in one way or another to push forward. Playing this game was an exercise in frustration as I didn't want to give up but really didn't want to keep on playing it either. The moment you die inside the tower you're returned to town and you feel frustrated, but with the replenished gold supply you get a terrible moment of 'What if...' and it drives you to explore the towers again. I was genuinely bored and downright hated playing this game at times, but the compelling nature to drive on kept me going back into the towers. Fun it aint, but it certainly is addictive.

Magical Red Riding Hood
by mobychan

Polish: 7

Spoiler for:

The mapping is quite extraordinary in some certain areas of the game, the earlier maps are populated with roaming animals and feature nice paths through a forest. It's very, very unfortunate in spots as the mapping gets progressively worse, downright lazy towards the latter half of the game. The game unfortunately decides to go for a very unforgiving, obnoxious labyrinth design that doesn't come close to the great mapping seen earlier.

Playability: 5

Spoiler for:

Featuring solid difficulty and thankfully some healing spots the combat keeps up throughout the game. Unfortunately the normal character archetypes lend no excitement to the excessive random encounters that you're bound to run into. Some odd quirks in the writing and a particular aggravating bug serve to hamper the gameplay further, lending great disservice to a project that otherwise had some interesting potential.

Ingenuity: 4

Spoiler for:

I will straight up say that while the premise, introduction and end to this story is quite interesting the mechanics would greatly benefit from not being traditional. It might seem a good idea to turn a loved old story into a JRPG, but doing a conversion like that has to be made more delicately. Having our favorite red-hodded girl sport a fitting japanese name and acting as a magician may seem great (and believe me, it is) but the dissonance it creates with the story is just too much. The start of the game promised a forest that changes and haunts the character, and that got me really interested! Unfortunately I didn't notice any of the sort and was sorely dissapointed. Having the lass stalked and chased throughout an ever-changing forest would have been more fitting and interesting, but I digress. This game doesn't exactly lack originality, per se.

Entertainment: 4

Spoiler for:

The promising start strings you along for a great adventure that unfortunately falls flat to some questionable design choices and a monotonous gameplay experience. I would have preferred this being cut as a demo after meeting the wolf, just that would have boosted enjoyment ratings for the game immensely. As it stands it's an exercise in frustration and sullied potential.

Dream within a Dream
by Illumination<insert trademark icon>

Polish: 6

Spoiler for:

Though the game uses the default assets it also adds in some flavor in the form of a vignette and floating text to convey the poem it's based on. The limited visibility can hurt you in certain parts where it's quite hard to see certain things, but it's excusable. I was happy to see the face generator put to good use in this game; it can be hard to create a face that looks different and yet not dorky. The music fits in fine, there's nothing bad about it but nothing that stands out, either.

Playability: 6

Spoiler for:

The game doesn't require complex input from the player at all; as a matter of fact the inclusion of the party menu seems like a very poor choice to me. The game take a big hit for that as it feels so out-of-place and breaks the flow. The only actions you're required to perform is walking right/left (and sometimes up and down) and occasionally searching around your feet to progress. There isn't much gameplay to speak of, but what there is works for the purpose of why it was put in.

Ingenuity: 6

Spoiler for:

Oh my. I'm very happy someone decided to do something different for once in a GIAW, which definitely earns this game top scores. It's different and unique; but what is it trying to do, really? The game is a glorified reading and interpretation of a poem. Your direct input progresses the poem and lets you read more of it. The game is definitely original in comparison to other entries but it just falls flat on many levels. The only moment I felt like this was a really cool idea was at the half-way point, but it's not worth spoiling since the game is short enough for anyone to play through it.

Entertainment: 2

Spoiler for:

This was not a very entertaining experience. It was interesting and provoked some thoughts, but the fun factor wasn't exactly there. I'd recommend others to play it as a way to think about how you could use RPG Makers to convey poetic interpretations of other things instead of playing it to have a good time.

Experiment 5.2.9
by Dartdaman

Polish: 7

Spoiler for:

Some of the isolated rooms have quite nice mapping, actually. The later halls feel a bit empty and bland though. The vignette is a nice touch, but the inconsistent movement of it in some spots is a bit distracting. It's tiny enough that you can't see the first zombie encounter, it looks like the main character is shouting at nothing to stay back! The single one song that loops throughout the experience isn't very jarring, it blends nicely into the background... but you can't be without noticing it eventually and when that happens you'll start to get annoyed. Some variation would have been nice.

Playability: 5

Spoiler for:

The combat system isn't the most intriguing or complex system out there, but it does its job for the genre of the game. It is, however, pretty unrewarding and with zombies being so easy to avoid you can stroll through the entire demo without ever needing to fire your gun. But the combination lock puzzle was quite nice.

Ingenuity: 3

Spoiler for:

Oh my. The script is plagued by bad writing and the story is your typical experiment-gone-wrong sludge that you'll find in most horror media. I found myself thoroughly amused by the lackluster writing, turning this game into a comedy. It's hard to create a passable zombie story nowadays what with how prevalent they are; I think the bar was set a bit too high on this one.

Entertainment: 4

Spoiler for:

With this game being an obvious homage to classical Resident Evil games I came in expecting to find a plethora of fetch quests and puzzles, but thankfully the fetch quests were nowhere to be seen. The one puzzle the demo does have is simple but effective, more effective than the cumbersome battle system. This would be a game better served as an adventure/puzzle hybrid, not survival horror. It's hard to say whether or not I was entertained by the game. The demo was short enough for there to be no room for boredom, but the battling was not entertaining at all! I don't want to say it but what kept me going was the funny writing and the script; if that were to be fixed with proper grammar the entertainment value would sadly be diminished.

Chakra
by Eternimus

Polish: 3

Spoiler for:

Using all-default RTP the game looks respectable, but the mapping is quite lacking. Carpets bend around cornes in the weirdest way possible and windows, bookshelves and vanities are place willy-nilly. It's quite bland and lacking detail in a lot of places, sadly. The selection of music is also a bit disappointing, opting to use the songs of more questionable quality from the RTP.

Playability: 3

Spoiler for:

At the start of the game you start out unarmed and wielding crappy armor. There are healing items in the house you start out in, but they're missable and not very obvious. The area outside town holds weak, easy enemies with crappy rewards. You'd need to slaughter a dozen and a half of the monsters to go up one level, and if you forgot to pick up the stray items that litter the abandoned shops and houses you're in quite the pickle. The second area of the game ramps up the difficulty quite a bit with dangerous monsters that poison you. The frail main character stands little chance against them if you missed the items earlier, like I did. It's still possible to pull it off, after all, that's what I did. But it is -not fun-. When fighting the boss you had better have those healing items; the battle will consist of you attacking twice and using a healing item. Rinse and repeat ad nauseam. There were also weird eventing issues with graphics not being fixed and doors changing graphics when they're being interacted with.

Ingenuity: 3

Spoiler for:

When the game starts up you're treated to a confusing speech about energy, souls and other pseudo-science babble. I felt very disheartened at this and didn't expect much, but at the end of the demo the story does pick up in an interesting way. It's just a great shame that had to happen at the end of the demo, really. There's nothing to incentivise further playing at the start of the game. As far as ingenuity goes, the story may have a bit of it but the mechanics don't. The game uses the default systems which most people have grown quite bored with already. Sure, they're new in the sense that they're the VX Ace default systems but they're not that different from the previous iterations systems.

Entertainment: 3

Spoiler for:

I really had a hard time to blast through the demo. The premise wasn't very interesting and I had no reason to like my character. There was very little to interact with barring random items you have to meticulously search for and a puzzle that was padded out a bit too much. The fighting was boring, the story was boring barring the last few lines the game spouts at you,

The Hallowed Tower
by Skaraflame

Polish: 3

Spoiler for:

The game contains some situationally mediocre mapping coupled with very frustrating level designs. The music selection works, but it doesn't stand out. The game uses all the default animations and items, leaving the sound design very boring and far from unique. There's a distinct lack in detail and polish in the whole design that makes me think it would have been a better idea to either remove a few levels from the game and focus on what's left, or turn the game into a demo.

Playability: 1

Spoiler for:

Oh dear. This game left me very frustrated and bewildered at some of the gameplay designs it incorporates. There are barriers placed within the game that won't let you pass unless you're at a certain level. You might think that's fine, nothing wrong with that! But you're very, very wrong. The game involves you climbing a tower with around a dozen floors, and you encounter the first barrier on the second floor. You can't pass unless you're at level 15. You're seriously expected to run around the second floor and grind until you hit level 15! It's absolutely bewildering why this barrier was placed on the second floor. Couldn't you at least place it on the third or fourth floor? Better yet, why even incorporate it? If it's to assure a player is of a high enough level to survive the latter floors then you shouldn't underestimate the player; it's easy to notice if you've progressed too far when the enemies are too strong for you.

 There are, of course, more of these barriers. But the ones you encounter later are placed on far more reasonable floors. But there's still more to complain about! The game features a dubious choice at the start that determines which ending you get. I'll spoil the choice for you; you have to decide whether or not you have a third party member or not. Being the responsible idiot I am I replayed the game twice so you don't have to and found out that it only pushes one minor scene from the start of the game to the very end of it, and it changes a few lines of dialogue during the ending. But you won't even need a third party member, ever! Why? Because the tower is littered with salesmen who insist on selling you stat boosters for 200 gold a pop! Nothing wrong with that, you say? You're -wrong-. This is reaching out more broadly than it should, but GIAW games really need to put more effort into customizing the database or at least think about what their shops are selling.

 The problem is, the default database is absolutely terrible. The best weapon by default raises your attack power by 128 and sells for 30,000 coins. Whatever, that's fine. I wonder how many attack boosters I can buy with 30,000 coins, though? ... 150, that's how many! These boosters raise your attack power by 3 a piece, so if I use them all on one character I'll be a whopping 450 points stronger! There were other games in this competition that overlooked this but none of those games had as lucrative an economy as this game. You're gaining money behind every corner and the monsters drop a pretty penny though (and after all that forced-grinding you'll be practically swimming in money anyway!) so the intelligent player will stock up on these attack boosters. It doesn't help that you're given a free 600,000 coins before the final boss.

 I wish that was all there is to say, but it's not. There are wandering creatures roaming the tower that instantly teleport you to the first floor. They serve as nothing except a major annoyance since you're guarranteed to lose at least some progress while you're at a high floor. They serve no purpose, the player will simply save more often and get more and more mad at the game for the kick in the balls they dish out. Also, after you reach Chapter 2 and you're before the final boss there's a nondescript crystal that looks incredibly inviting. Guess what it does! It teleports you back a few floors! No big deal, you can run back in a few minutes. Except the game hangs when it tries to push you back into chapter 2 again. Hope you didn't save!

 Being that this game offers no difficulty or interesting mechanics whatsoever I am compelled to give it the worst score possible in this category. My justification? Chakra may have not been playable by any means but at least it offered challenge! The challenge was half-assed and bad, sure, but it was just right to push you and make you want to keep on trucking through the game. The Hallowed Tower will make you yawn, bore you and then frustrate you to the point where you'll never want to play anything like it again.

Ingenuity: 2

Spoiler for:

I will give props for the multiple endings, even though the difference is so minor. With more effort put into those this game could have had a shining point, but as it is it's not a feature to write home about. Still, it adds a sense of artificial replayability for those that want to replay this game. As for the story, the writing leaves quite a bit to be desired. I had no idea the girl who was tagging along with me was supposed to be my girlfriend until a single line during the ending clarified that, and there's a hinted-at backstory of a race that engaged in war with the humans or something like that. It's not explained very well and it fails to interest.

Entertainment: 1

Spoiler for:

Well, I wouldn't write five paragraphs on how boring and frustrating this game because I found it entertaining. Were the story better explained there might be a tiny reason to brave the tower, but there really isn't a reason to do so at the moment.

Sorry Skara, hope this helps you improve for next year though! If anyone wants clarification just post a comment/ask in this thread. I have larger text files in my native language where I've blurbed stuff, so it's possible to go even more in-depth Missing review will be up soon, promise!

You've mentioned quite a few things that I chose not to, mapping is one of them, I'm bad at judging maps unless it is painfully obvious what needs to changed.

I agree on 'Magical Red Riding Hood'.
That game would've been high on my own scoring if it had ended when we met the wolf, sadly the labyrinths and the constant random encounters forced my fun level to drop severely.

Thanks for being a judge! All of your critique is merited on my game. I agree: very buggy and a little slow, I'll be working on it and trying to improve. Pacing is definitely one of my weak points. Thanks again!

Will definitely try to fix things in the full release. Thanks for the critique.

Will definitely try to fix things in the full release. Thanks for the critique.

Will play it regardless, your game really got me hooked and I'm looking forward to the full release

Thanks for being a judge! All of your critique is merited on my game. I agree: very buggy and a little slow, I'll be working on it and trying to improve. Pacing is definitely one of my weak points. Thanks again!

No worries, I really appreciated a lot of the stuff you did in your game!

Well thank you for trying it anyhow. Sorry you didn't have fun. There are reasons for everything in there, perhaps if I expand on the game I will resubmit it to you. Or at least offer.

Fair enough. I can't say I disagree with that review XD
It'll certainly help me in my current project, Scarlet Skies. I'm simply TERRIBLE with time constraints.
Oh yeah, forgot to move that crystal, it was for testing purposes XD

Since someone decided to get move-happy, I'll re-write the question here.

What can I do to possibly make things a little more simple for people like you who may have issues locating things, for whatever reason you had troubles finding out where to go? 

The best solution in any game is to add in a mini-map that plainly points you to where you need to go those are never bad, unless it's in dungeons or other cryptic places.

The best solution in any game is to add in a mini-map that plainly points you to where you need to go those are never bad, unless it's in dungeons or other cryptic places.

Would a minimap truly help?  I ask this mostly because if the dialog is too long winded that you found yourself drifting on to other thoughts, maybe I should correct the dialog?  Would different colored text for key information with the dialog help?  I just typically try to keep from throwing in too many distracting elements into the game and hope that the story would be enough.

Throwing ideas out there to see if any of it sounds good.

Actually I think you're just trying to slyly insult me with witty suggestions taking a piss at how stupid I am

Actually I think you're just trying to slyly insult me with witty suggestions taking a piss at how stupid I am

Nope.  I actually just came up with different thoughts while typing that.  If the story is too long winded, I want to change it slightly.  You mentioned that the main character is hard to like so story is obviously something that I need to address.

You should take most of what I say at face value.  I only use sarcasm on people that I don't feel necessary to spend my time dealing with.

Colour text would be good, I tend to notice things more when they stand out.

If you have time, a voice-over for important dialogues can be good too

Colour text would be good, I tend to notice things more when they stand out.

If you have time, a voice-over for important dialogues can be good too

LOL EW I hate my own voice when it is recorded lol  Something about how I speak bugs me.  I may or may not do voice-overs depending on if I can get people with decent voice acting skills and mics to do that lol

I may certainly add color text.  It would really be nice to know if some of the dialog is too long winded, though. 

Well that's really not something that there is a true answer for.
I have a good attention span, so I can follow things for a pretty long time.

(So if I ever complain that a story has lost me, it is either really fucking bad, or they had non-stop speech for 10 minutes straight)

But just cause I have a good attention span doesn't mean that everyone else does; so in your game, have a replay of it, see if you can shorten the dialogue but still provide the necessary lines that you needed to give.
Colour codes work well here, but only on the actual important things.

Short and simple, you can't please everybody, if you can't find anyway to fix it, well that's too bad, it's time to get on to the next thing you were planning to do in your game.

Ugh and don't worry about recording your own voice... I know EXACTLY what you mean, mine is just terrible, even worse is that if I needed to do voice acting I would have to do the female voices as well... That would severely cripple both my voice and my male pride ;_;

Modern Algebra's Quest Log.
That is all.

Modern Algebra's Quest Log.
That is all.

Not gonna use a quest log to store one quest.  That's too much screen real estate taken up by blank space.

Just read this. Thanks for the advice, Skanker! I'm glad to know Major Arcana has some potential, should I fix up some issues. The poison dungeon thing and the annoying bugs were an unfortunate victim to me not play-testing the game (other then as I was making the maps and story). I was running out of time, and ultimately I think that's what kept us from the big 3rd place. Also, due to the rushed time and limit to how long Pacman and I were on at the same time, I'd say that was also an issue (him, being across the world from where I am. When he got on, it was WELL past time for me to get some sleep lol). I should have looked into that, and at least provided a numerous amount of antidotes, and asked if he'd nerf the enemies. The Deep Woods scene actually seems to have the opposite issue (lol).

For a bit there, I wasn't sure I wanted to continue making it. But these reviews are causing me to change my mind and go for it anyways. I kinda like the episode idea, too.

I'm glad you're not giving up on it. You could very well turn it into a solid series

I'm glad you're not giving up on it. You could very well turn it into a solid series

Thank you!

P.S.: Your thread title image is too cute for words!

I'm glad you're not giving up on it. You could very well turn it into a solid series

Thank you!

P.S.: Your thread title image is too cute for words!

I wanted to turn this into a project where I review tons of games, then I realized the topic structure doesn't allow for that. Boo.

you could always have a master list and link to the replies you post the reviews in.

you could always have a master list and link to the replies you post the reviews in.

I like this. I'll just edit the second post to host all the GIAW reviews

you could always have a master list and link to the replies you post the reviews in.

I like this. I'll just edit the second post to host all the GIAW reviews

Take a look at my reviews layout. You can easily get the link you need to copy by clicking the post title above the replay # on: information and copy the address bar.