This was the first RPG I've ever played and probably the game that is responsible for hooking me on this genre. So I think it just fittingThis was the first RPG I've ever played and probably the game that is responsible for hooking me on this genre. So I think it just fitting that I give my first review to this game.
I'm judging games by three categories, immersion, gameplay and story.
Immersion is determined by graphics, sound and world-building.
Gameplay is well just the gameplay and how fun it is.
Depending of what kind of game it is, one or two of these points can be more important than the other(s).
Story includes not only the story, but also the overall narrative and characters.
First I want to talk about the immersion:
The game is quite old by now and even when it was newly released, it wasn't a big AAA game, so the graphics are nothing to write home about. But I still found them pretty beautiful. I think with the limited resources and engine they had, they really did squeezed out the absolute best. It was not as realistic as possible, but it had charm. I especially liked the forest.
But the real boost Digital Tome gave to the immersion, was with the sound. The music was amazing and the atmosphere they build with honestly pretty simple background noises totally hit home with me.
And to add even more to that, they build a really rich and consistent history for the world Eurale, which you mostly could read in books, true the subtitle "Played any good books lately?"
Sadly some bugs, which game had quite a few of, could really break the immersion at some point, especially the ending bug, that let freeze the game after defeating the final boss and before you could read the final pages of your journal. The journal told the whole story from before you arrived at Avalon and even what happened after the final boss fight. Luckily the game was easy to edit, which dedicated fans used to expand the game and obviously also fix the bugs.
This leads to a score for immersion of 8/10!
Next is the gameplay:
About the gameplay I don't have that much to say, it's very simple: Click on enemy and attack. Not much fun if you play as a fighter or scout. I preferred to play as mage, who had a nice arsenal of diverse spells. You can take some companions with you, which you gain throughout the story and you can control these too. These companions can actually die for good in battle, which adds to the stakes of these in my opinion. Considering there is no player skill involved in fights, tactics play a more important role, like which enemy to take out first or where to position your companions. Which can really get in the way and **** up the fight, if you don't take care of them. Asides from battles, there are two other focuses in the gameplay, exploring the world and conversations with important choices to make.
I had overall fun with the gameplay, but it honestly did get carried by the story and atmosphere, so I give it a 6/10!
Finally let's talk about the story:
I think even nowadays people could enjoy this game, so I'll refrain from any spoilers. The basic plot is easily explained: You're a young who arrived at the castle Avalon to meet his brother to tell him about the death of your father. Though the whole truth is, the castle is under siege from the Sha'ahoul (basically something like the orcs of this world) and you want to join the fight, dreaming of accomplishing very heroic deeds. You have to learn the harshness of being in a castle under siege and that becoming a hero is not so easy, but in the end you'll obviously rise to become the savior of Avalon.
The setting of being under siege and the whole world with its history build up mostly through books really engrossed. And even if you feel constricted in the castle first, you'll even be able to travel to different worlds throughout the story.
To avoid spoilers, I'll just get to my score, which is 9/10!
Combined this three scores lead me to my final verdict of: 8/10
Conclusion:
The game is not perfect, it has annoying bugs and the gameplay is only average, but the awesome story and atmosphere raises it to one of my most beloved RPGs, even today!… Expand
