Chronicles of a Dark Lord Episode I: Tides of Fate

1. MarleGuardia

   Feb 16, 2012

   10

   This game is getting a lot of praise lately, and I was hesitant to try it out until I saw the really low price for it on Gamersgate. So seeingThis game is getting a lot of praise lately, and I was hesitant to try it out until I saw the really low price for it on Gamersgate. So seeing that, it was an easy buy for me, since I'm really into the classics of the SNES era. I'm not going to go in-depth about the game, as I would urge everyone to buy it and play it for themselves, but after trying it out and playing it all day, I feel like I've been playing a jewel that I can't put down. The story and the writing is out of this world awesome! Haven't played an engrossing game like this in a loooong time! The music is so epic, so adrenaline-pumping, you'll be playing this for hours just to listen to the normal battle theme nevermind the boss battle themes! You'll also notice quite a few nods to other RPGs that inspired this game's creation, I caught a few Final Fantasy, Lunar, and Chrono Trigger influences already. Polished, well-written, beautiful scores, great retro graphics, smooth and classic turn-based battle system, this game is a required buy for any rpg gamer out there.… Expand

   • 6 of 11 users found this helpful
2. AlexandriaGarn

   Sep 30, 2013

   10

   Now this is a well-made game rpg game! I was initially leery of this game when I bought it off of Amazon recently, but I can say I'm so glad INow this is a well-made game rpg game! I was initially leery of this game when I bought it off of Amazon recently, but I can say I'm so glad I picked this little gem up!
   
   Smoothed out hi-res graphics done in the retro style with some amazing HD animations are real easy on the eyes. The music, my god, this game has one of the best soundtracks I've heard in years and also has my new favorite battle theme as well. Gameplay is solid and nicely-paced, what I really liked was the implementation of a modified ATB battle system that kept combat nice and fresh rather than boring and tedious. What really elevates this game though, is the story, characters, and the writing. The story is absolutely phenomenal, with some plot twists that you'll never see coming. The characters are memorable and the writing is just amazing. I'm definitely hooked on this new series, and I'm looking forward to the sequel!… Expand

   • 1 of 1 users found this helpful
4. VerdantMoon

   Mar 13, 2012

   10

   Just got this game a few days ago to see what the hubbub was about. Epic story, great retro graphics, awesome soundtrack, solid battle system,Just got this game a few days ago to see what the hubbub was about. Epic story, great retro graphics, awesome soundtrack, solid battle system, and smooth gameplay all brought together to make this game one of my new favorites.… Expand

   • 4 of 8 users found this helpful
5. StarlitMe

   Mar 12, 2012

   9

   After reading a few very favorable reviews of this game online I went and bought this game off of Gamersgate (Enhanced Edition to beAfter reading a few very favorable reviews of this game online I went and bought this game off of Gamersgate (Enhanced Edition to be specific), and honestly, I thought it would be a decent game and nothing more. I truthfully did not expect this game to become one of my new all-time favorite RPGs. I seriously put this game right up there with such classics as Lunar: Silver Star Story and Final Fantasy 6. The graphics are retro in design, and done extremely well. Everything is vibrant, and the updated resolution of those retro graphics certainly gives the game more polish, however there's more to it than that. The entire game is just...polished. A lot of heart and soul went into this game to be sure, but what really struck me was the game's style. It felt like a JRPG, it played like a JRPG, but it wasn't really, it was something new, something innovative. The story itself is wonderfully written, and surprisingly deep. As for the music, that is where this game really shines. The soundtrack is rich with great tracks, such as the boss battle themes and several of the dungeon themes. The overworld mapping is very classic, very retro, and beautifully done in Mode 7 view although I did experience some lag for my part. Battles are presented in classic side-view ala Final Fantasy style, and even has a very solid Active-Time Battle System in place (something many other indie RPGs fail to utilize unfortunately). Overall, this game has become one of my new favorites, and I am very much looking forward to Episode 2.… Expand

   • 4 of 8 users found this helpful
6. Anon7

   Mar 12, 2012

   9

   This is what a JRPG should be. This is what I remembered growing up with, and to experience a game recently released in this style with itsThis is what a JRPG should be. This is what I remembered growing up with, and to experience a game recently released in this style with its own innovative and epic story is just something you don't come across often. I would consider this game extremely underrated, considering how easily the player is drawn into the game's world and its splendid and addictive story. I experienced something in this game I have not experienced since Final Fantasy 6...this game brought out my emotions. I actually laughed at some of the very witty dialogue (Xiria Lee is my spot-on favorite), I felt choked up at a particular scene that I won't spoil for anyone, and I event went "hooooooly hell that's f*cken amazing!" during another scene that left me speechless with how amazing it was. The developers are onto something great with this first entry in the series, and I'm really looking forward to experiencing the next entry in the series. For only $5, this was worth every penny and then some. (I went to www.kisarethstudios.com to purchase it for those curious.)… Expand

   • 5 of 9 users found this helpful
7. bleukats

   Jan 3, 2015

   5

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Played for a few hours. I'll highlight the good and bad points based on my personal opinion of this game.
   
   Narrative
   - Weak and shallow. From the hours I've played, all I have been doing is going from town to town, castle to castle speaking to its queen or king to get permission to move on to the next region.
   - Not 'punchy' enough, predictable story
   - Family members all over the continent? Doesn't interest me at all one bit.
   +- Play this game only if you like role-playing a dark, immature, silent, brooding guy for a main character.
   + Couple of interesting background stories sometimes.
   
   Dialogue
   + Every single NPC has something different to say.
   + Once in a while you will get a choice in a conversation which could end with rewards,
   - but dialogue mostly still shallow, loose and basically boring, uninspired stuff that you could skip through.
   +- Once in a while you will meet someone who would talk back or bad to your main guy, causing you or one of your party member to cut him/her down. Like what...? I feel like a kid raging against the world again.
   
   Art Direction
   + Great job on monster designs.
   + Nice graphic details in game.
   
   Gameplay
   + Battles are fun, skills make a difference and enemies are challenging.
   + Interesting ideas employed in various parts of gameplay.
   + Hidden items that are fun to find (in barrels, wells, etc),
   - but a lot of them are potions,
   +- and also an elixir in every, and i mean, literally - every - single - well - that I came across in the game. Really..? but yay elixirs.
   - Bosses... they are all humans/humanoids. Every - single - one of them... really mundane.
   + Sensible, good drops from bosses
   + Equipment progression is fun and really does make a difference in your strength,
   - however, time between towns can be really quick and you can upgrade in every town you come to, making equipment bought in the last town obsolete. I feel like I'm playing three minute hero with a 25 hour long story.
   
   Rating: 5/10
   
   Personal opinion: What I think the designer of the game has done, is to take some fun, important elements of an RPG and mashed them together.
   e.g. Towns, buying of items, resting in inns
   Castles, treasuries to access for sweet loot
   Boss fights, item progression
   And basically you are just bouncing back and forth between these 'elements' with nothing much of substance in between.
   I do not doubt that these elements combined together does form some sort of fun. However, there is only so much these can do.
   I rate this a poor man's RPG at best.… Expand

   • 2 of 2 users found this helpful
8. cjaymarch

   Mar 30, 2015

   2

   Chronicles of a Dark Lord is a story of (as the bulk of this is right from the intro, there are no real spoilers in this review) a guy whoChronicles of a Dark Lord is a story of (as the bulk of this is right from the intro, there are no real spoilers in this review) a guy who gets mad, kills his father in front of his army, has a sister who wants to flee his parents' empire for some reason, and... then he kind of softens up, yet he still kills townspeople anyway if they do as much as look at him funny. The game's characters and motives don't add up, and furthermore, there's a contemporary nihilistic teenage angst vibe flowing through both their designs and dialog.
   
   You'll spend a lot of time traveling from kingdom to kingdom, warning their empresses that an evil empire is set to invade everybody else on the planet. This makes for heavily redundant gameplay, and the maps don't help--even if the overworld implements Mode 7 somewhat well, the graphics are overly blocky and the towns lack detail. Also, the visuals are really, really dark (perhaps the developers took the name of their game a little too literally), to the point that it will likely bother your eyes.
   
   The game uses a unique combination of scripts to establish its battle menu, which is Chronicles of a Dark Lord Episode I's biggest plus. Problem is that there is much lag in this game, and not natural lag from simply waiting for ATB meters to fill up, but the RPGMaker engine gets overloaded, and you'll be waiting to do things like select an attack, open the main party menu when on the overworld, and wait for parallax fog effects to load (when you enter one town, the parallax effect loads first, so you're seeing sky before you see the town... strange stuff.)
   
   As for the exact moment I gave up on CoaDL: I got two cheap game overs in a row. One was for incorrectly guessing a password to a treasury, and the other was upon completion of a side quest. Both events triggered battles that sure seemed impossible to beat, so I was expecting the game to continue after I lost. ... It didn't.
   
   There are some good ideas in CoaDL part one (most of them battle system related, but I also enjoyed the high rate of items searchable in pots, clocks, wells, and other pieces of scenery), but I do believe the reason this game has gotten so many ratings is because of how many free keys, and cheap keys in Steam bundles, were distributed. I want to stress that I do not write negative reviews to diss any creator and his/her hard work, but to encourage re-examination of flaws so that improvement can be fostered. Perhaps a remake of this game is in order.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful

See all 12 User Reviews