Kularian
The definitive way to play this dumpster fire game.
2019
Fun game, sort of a expanded-but-also-limited version of Azure Dreams. Unfortunately, because it's RPGMaker, it has a tendency to freeze or lock up occasionally, which can set back minutes or hours of progress depending on how long it had been since you last saved. Tried my patience one too many times but am willing to check it out agian one day.
2020
Fantastic game. While some of the mystique starts to fade once you figure out where things are located, and how to get items that allow you to trivialize some encounters, it's still a wonderful romp and one of my all-time favorites.
Tried to investigate and open a chest. The chest was trapped. The resulting explosion crashed the game.
TBD
Played the demo before the dev fell off the earth. Really cool, had a lot of fun with it. Kinda basic once you got the idea down but learning it was a blast.
What a cool game.
I have no experience with the Webcomic that this is based from, and am strictly writing it from what I've experienced in the game itself. Overall 40-50 hours I'd wager, depending on how much you go looking for side content.
There are a few factors that make this game really interesting and fun. For the battle system, it runs on a Charge-Turn Battle (kinda like FFX) so you can see the turn order. You have up to four (you learn more as you level up) basic attacks which can do some damage, inflict status, defend, etc. These things build what's called 'Overcharge' which is basically temporary mana.
So by careful use of balancing your basic attacks and your more advanced moves, you can get through most dungeons using very little actual mana at all.
The other thing, battle-wise is the fact that for most of the game, you need to be tactically-minded. For example, you can see attacks enemies are using, and there could be one incoming that will deal more damage than you have HP, so making sure any Taunts, damage reduction buffs, attack power debuffs, etc are present to ensure you can get through the battles.
Near the end of the game, once you start unlocking the legendary weapons the difficulty falls off a bit because you can kind of steamroll most things (and you can also play on a lower difficulty if you'd like).
Storywise, without spoilers, it's interesting enough. Most of the fun comes from seeing the characters interact and talk during battles, downtime and so forth.
If you like turn-based games with a high degree of thinking and strategy, this is your game. Gameplay is top-notch.
I have no experience with the Webcomic that this is based from, and am strictly writing it from what I've experienced in the game itself. Overall 40-50 hours I'd wager, depending on how much you go looking for side content.
There are a few factors that make this game really interesting and fun. For the battle system, it runs on a Charge-Turn Battle (kinda like FFX) so you can see the turn order. You have up to four (you learn more as you level up) basic attacks which can do some damage, inflict status, defend, etc. These things build what's called 'Overcharge' which is basically temporary mana.
So by careful use of balancing your basic attacks and your more advanced moves, you can get through most dungeons using very little actual mana at all.
The other thing, battle-wise is the fact that for most of the game, you need to be tactically-minded. For example, you can see attacks enemies are using, and there could be one incoming that will deal more damage than you have HP, so making sure any Taunts, damage reduction buffs, attack power debuffs, etc are present to ensure you can get through the battles.
Near the end of the game, once you start unlocking the legendary weapons the difficulty falls off a bit because you can kind of steamroll most things (and you can also play on a lower difficulty if you'd like).
Storywise, without spoilers, it's interesting enough. Most of the fun comes from seeing the characters interact and talk during battles, downtime and so forth.
If you like turn-based games with a high degree of thinking and strategy, this is your game. Gameplay is top-notch.
1987
Finally beat this game. Cute, fun but some levels are incredibly frustrating.
End boss can gargle a railroad spike.
End boss can gargle a railroad spike.
2013
This is just paper pusher simulator but it manages to be exciting in a way that I never thought pushing papers could be. Granted, the fact that at any moment my family may die of starvation or cold, or my inadequacy could lead to INFIDELS getting into the GLORIOUS ARZTOSKA amps it up a bit.
I'm genuinely unsure what to think about this game, and honestly most of it comes down to the fact that it felt... flat. The visuals were perfectly fine, the characters were interesting, the way one story grew into the next was great and everything had the hallmarks of being this really powerful story.
But when I got to the ending and the reveal it felt...flat. I think part of it is that when you come into finding out who the big bad is, getting there is just a series of almost kind of silly investigative events that felt that they happened because they needed to happen, rather than organically.
All the same it's still a fantastic game and worth a play. Highly recommend.
But when I got to the ending and the reveal it felt...flat. I think part of it is that when you come into finding out who the big bad is, getting there is just a series of almost kind of silly investigative events that felt that they happened because they needed to happen, rather than organically.
All the same it's still a fantastic game and worth a play. Highly recommend.
2020
Overall, Monster Sanctuary is an interesting title with a fairly basic overview that steadily gets more complex the more you look under the hood. At its core, it's a monster catching game with some platforming elements (side-scrolling, reminds me of a more cartoony Symphony of the Night or Valkyrie Profile in terms of controls) as there's no real way to 'run' for more distance (although the walking speed is perfectly acceptable) but you do eventually unlock a double-jump to access other areas.
But where it starts to get interesting are the monsters themselves. Each monster has innate strengths and weaknesses to different types of damage (physical, fire, ice, nature, wind, poison, etc. There are quite a few) similar to Pokemon, but the S/W are dependent upon the monster.
Beyond that, each monster, as it levels, has 3-4 skill trees that you put points into in order to get passive and active skills to help in battle. The part that gets fun, especially for those who have a mind for this, is the synergy between all of these different monsters.
There are about 10 different buffs and debuts, and there's one monster that gains a lot of passive stats by having buffs on it, but no way to buff itself. Another monster is a buff machine, applying multiple to your first, and then your third (as you fight with a team of 3) might have auras that allow buffs to stack multiple times, so your primary monster turns from middling to incredibly powerful by synergizing them in this way.
In addition, each of these monsters have different abilities in the overworld, leading you to need to collect many types to deal with platforming with flying up to obstacles, or breaking down walls, or even riding a monster to run over a crumbling bridge.
The story is present but it's...not engaging. It's about on-par with a Pokemon story in having you as a young, aspiring Keeper (Trainer) trying to find new monsters and help people out while dealing with an evil team before eventually facing the boss. It's serviceable to move the plot forward but you can pretty safely skip all of it and not miss much.
tl;dr: Metroidvania meets monster raising, with turn-based combat and intensive synergistic skill trees with a forgettable plot line.
But where it starts to get interesting are the monsters themselves. Each monster has innate strengths and weaknesses to different types of damage (physical, fire, ice, nature, wind, poison, etc. There are quite a few) similar to Pokemon, but the S/W are dependent upon the monster.
Beyond that, each monster, as it levels, has 3-4 skill trees that you put points into in order to get passive and active skills to help in battle. The part that gets fun, especially for those who have a mind for this, is the synergy between all of these different monsters.
There are about 10 different buffs and debuts, and there's one monster that gains a lot of passive stats by having buffs on it, but no way to buff itself. Another monster is a buff machine, applying multiple to your first, and then your third (as you fight with a team of 3) might have auras that allow buffs to stack multiple times, so your primary monster turns from middling to incredibly powerful by synergizing them in this way.
In addition, each of these monsters have different abilities in the overworld, leading you to need to collect many types to deal with platforming with flying up to obstacles, or breaking down walls, or even riding a monster to run over a crumbling bridge.
The story is present but it's...not engaging. It's about on-par with a Pokemon story in having you as a young, aspiring Keeper (Trainer) trying to find new monsters and help people out while dealing with an evil team before eventually facing the boss. It's serviceable to move the plot forward but you can pretty safely skip all of it and not miss much.
tl;dr: Metroidvania meets monster raising, with turn-based combat and intensive synergistic skill trees with a forgettable plot line.
2019
Without being too harshly critical, this game feels like something created with a vision, and then a genuine limitation on knowing how to do it, or at least convey the idea to the player.
As an example, the game starts with a long wordy opening about the main character finding a haunted doll at a curio shop, a number of scary things happening and then needing to return it.
That's the introduction, so I expected to be in the thick of it, with all sorts of terrifying imagery and such... but then I realized as I was playing that the introduction was actually just... the plot. I started and went to the antique store, got the doll, brought it home and then was randomly teleported to terrifying areas inexplicably with a sense of fear but there wasn't actually anything happening?
Sprites would pop onto the screen either accompanied by an evil laugh or giggle or just a roaring sound. Oftentimes, you just needed to wait 2-3 seconds and they would disappear in order to progress.
It was the most surreal experience I've had in gaming so in that it was worth the $0.99 I paid for it but I would never recommend this to another living being.
As an example, the game starts with a long wordy opening about the main character finding a haunted doll at a curio shop, a number of scary things happening and then needing to return it.
That's the introduction, so I expected to be in the thick of it, with all sorts of terrifying imagery and such... but then I realized as I was playing that the introduction was actually just... the plot. I started and went to the antique store, got the doll, brought it home and then was randomly teleported to terrifying areas inexplicably with a sense of fear but there wasn't actually anything happening?
Sprites would pop onto the screen either accompanied by an evil laugh or giggle or just a roaring sound. Oftentimes, you just needed to wait 2-3 seconds and they would disappear in order to progress.
It was the most surreal experience I've had in gaming so in that it was worth the $0.99 I paid for it but I would never recommend this to another living being.
So this kind of masquerades as an RPG but in all honesty it's more like an early VN with some (very mild) branching story paths. There are battles but they're mostly puzzle battles. You get up to 4 characters and you have two 'modes' of battle which switch around what special move you have available to you. So it's just finding which mode is best for that specific monster and once you have that, there's no real challenge.
The writing I think is supposed to be witty and clever, but it just feels like Newgrounds-level irreverent gamer humor which just didn't land with me most of the time.
Spritework is very nice. Very pretty to look at- all of their environments are well done and the characters are simplistic but expressive. Most of the 2.5 rating is from the pixel art tbh.
The writing I think is supposed to be witty and clever, but it just feels like Newgrounds-level irreverent gamer humor which just didn't land with me most of the time.
Spritework is very nice. Very pretty to look at- all of their environments are well done and the characters are simplistic but expressive. Most of the 2.5 rating is from the pixel art tbh.
Short game, less about telling a story like other bitsy games and more about puzzle solving. Some clever puzzles were listed in here. Had a fun time with it though, probably took about five minutes to clear.
This review contains spoilers
Even now, having beaten this game a few days ago and sitting on it, I still don't know how I feel about this game. Let me break it down into the good and bad to see what you think alongside me.
The Good
Build a Hero School...Kind of.
You start by being nominated (as a former alumnus) of this hero school as the new principal, as the current one is stepping down due to his wife (the high queen) starting to get older and unable to continue her reign, so he doesn't want to be away from her.
So you inherit this school which is kind of a dump. Problem is, you can't really...change the school. You can choose to add rooms and decorations and outside learning activities, but it's set on a small/medium/large style. For example, a Dorm Room is a Medium plot of land for you to build on. But once you've built the dorm...that's it. It's done.
Some rooms and buildings can be upgraded, and nearly all of them provide some mechanical benefit. (Bonus XP earned, extra stats, etc). But still it offers just enough 'base building' to have kept my interest on that part.
Adventuring...Kind of.
So you have three teams of up to four students for a total of twelve. There are errands, which you send a team of 4 away to do it offscreen, which takes anywhere from 4-12 weeks, or you can do the main missions, which you directly control the students. The AI is...passable, I guess. If they engage in battle with an enemy they don't really move or back off, so any of their special attacks can very quickly kill them. It's usually best to get ranged allies and play as the tank role to keep the enemies at bay.
Levels are either randomly generated or just drawn from a large number of possibilities, and play kind of like Diablo-lite, with that same perspective, breaking barrels and beating up enemies for EXP/loot. So while you'll rarely see the same level twice, a lot of them feel the same, but an adventure only takes 5-10 minutes, so it's great if you just have a small amount of time to kill.
Class Customization...Kind of.
Every new student starts with the 'Student' class, which is a pretty weak melee one. Eventually you unlock the knight, rogue and magi, which are a tank, physical attacker and ranged attacker.
The knight eventually can become a Paladin or a Dragon Knight, which are a Tank/Tank or a Tank/Attacker. The rogue can eventually become a Harlequin or ... I forget the name, but they used guns. But both attackers, one melee, one ranged. The Magi could become a better magi or a healer. So while it seems like a lot, there's really only 6 endgame classes, and as mentioned, with the mediocre AI, it's best to limit your allies to the Gunner or Magic Classes (or healer).
Lots of Equipment...Kind of
With the aforementioned classes, there are about 12ish different weapons within each weapon type. 12 or so Daggers, which are Students, Rogues and Harlequins, 12 or so Swords, which are Knights, and Dragon Knights, 12 or so Hammers, which are Paladin only, 12 or so Guns, which are gunner only, and 12 or so Staves, shared by all of the magic classes. And admittedly at the highest tier, there's about 3-4 'Legendary' ones, so there is some diversity.
There's also like 50 accessories, but they're pointless. As an example, a mid-tier weapon may add 150 attack power, 15 Strength, 20 armor. A Legendary-tier accessory may add 3 Strength, 15 HP and 10 MP. It's wild how little they matter.
As a final note, there are three legendary weapons, which are a Dagger, a Sword, and a Staff. Which means that if you want to use them all, your final team needs a Dragon Knight, a Harlequin and a Caster. There aren't even four. I don't understand.
The Bad
Unexplained Stats
You've probably picked up that there are a number of stats in this game. In total, it's HP, MP, Attack, Armor, Luck, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence. HP is fairly straight-forward. MP is for your special moves, which all classes get...but AI doesn't use them. Only you do. So while you can switch between characters to use them, generally in the heat of combat you're trying to lead enemies away from harming your allies so doing so isn't done often, so MP doesn't do much. Attack power also is self explanatory. The rest...I have no idea. I think Dex impacts your hit/dodge chance, but it's not said anywhere. Strength doesn't seem to have a noticeable impact on damage and Int doesn't on your special moves (which is what I'd assume it'd be). Really Attack Power and HP are by far the most important.
Leveling Students is a Pain
This'll mostly be a quick note, but as I mentioned, you get 3 teams of 4. Usually, 2 of those teams will be on errands that last up to 12 weeks of game time. Which means you have one team that can either A) tackle important story content or B) level students to graduate.
That's a piece I guess I neglected to mention. At the end of each semester (4 months in-game) you have to graduate students, at least one. They have to be at least level 10, and putting them in a new class starts them over at 1. But juggling the leveling of these students while also advancing the plot when you have one team you can do that with is restrictive and limiting, especially because you can get more students not assigned to a team, based on the number of dorms you built. They don't get passive or partial EXP and sit at level 1 til you use them. It's just mind-boggling.
Plot is Serviceable at best.
Mostly it's the fact that there's this disconnect between what's happening and the impact I personally felt. Spoilers to follow if you care, but eventually the High Queen passes away, and while she has a daughter (who is like 50-some years younger than her, it seems like), no one knows where she is, so the five Regional Queens (it's a Matriarchal Society) all seem like they're vying for the throne.
This could be interesting, and there are several missions introduced for each of the queens, and the game gives you a brief tutorial that doing missions for a particular queen can increase your reputation with them.
So initially I thought this would play a little like the early Armored Core games, where favoring a particular one would lead to you allying yourself with them against the others. So I picked my favorite and only did theirs, but nothing happened, and eventually I moved onto the others as I progressed further in the story.
There was also a cult of some kind who was trying to use the Princess' blood to summon some extraplanar deity (which they do succeed and you beat the ever-living tar out of it if you're appropriately leveled) that never really seemed to go anywhere, or explain their existence.
Eventually (getting back to the Queens) it turns out that doing their missions just allowed them to support the Princess to take the throne (even if she doesn't want to (another plot point that goes absolutely nowhere)). She's got a young guy guarding her most of the time who isn't from the same empire, and it's implied there's some sort of love interest there, but they're just kind of thrust upon you without much explanation and a mission or two of loredumps about the relationship, how they came to be friends, etc but you don't really 'see' them ever actually showing any caring.
At the coronation, after beating back the cultists and getting the queens to support the princess, another country, (of which the princess' guard is the son of its leader (gasp!)) attacks and the final battle takes place at the academy, and all your teams are present, fighting against the enemies which was admittedly kind of cool.
And then the game ends. I just...don't know what I was supposed to feel.
The Final
Okay that didn't help at all. There's more good than bad, but the other review that mentions it as a 'glorified mobile game' isn't too far off. It's great to pop on for like an hour, update your school, do a few missions, and then back out. It's got just enough customization and interactive playtime to keep interest, and the plot, while goofy and disconnected, is at least coherent enough to tell a single story.
I'm going to say it's "fun" but not "good". It's like the game version of the movie Venom.
The Good
Build a Hero School...Kind of.
You start by being nominated (as a former alumnus) of this hero school as the new principal, as the current one is stepping down due to his wife (the high queen) starting to get older and unable to continue her reign, so he doesn't want to be away from her.
So you inherit this school which is kind of a dump. Problem is, you can't really...change the school. You can choose to add rooms and decorations and outside learning activities, but it's set on a small/medium/large style. For example, a Dorm Room is a Medium plot of land for you to build on. But once you've built the dorm...that's it. It's done.
Some rooms and buildings can be upgraded, and nearly all of them provide some mechanical benefit. (Bonus XP earned, extra stats, etc). But still it offers just enough 'base building' to have kept my interest on that part.
Adventuring...Kind of.
So you have three teams of up to four students for a total of twelve. There are errands, which you send a team of 4 away to do it offscreen, which takes anywhere from 4-12 weeks, or you can do the main missions, which you directly control the students. The AI is...passable, I guess. If they engage in battle with an enemy they don't really move or back off, so any of their special attacks can very quickly kill them. It's usually best to get ranged allies and play as the tank role to keep the enemies at bay.
Levels are either randomly generated or just drawn from a large number of possibilities, and play kind of like Diablo-lite, with that same perspective, breaking barrels and beating up enemies for EXP/loot. So while you'll rarely see the same level twice, a lot of them feel the same, but an adventure only takes 5-10 minutes, so it's great if you just have a small amount of time to kill.
Class Customization...Kind of.
Every new student starts with the 'Student' class, which is a pretty weak melee one. Eventually you unlock the knight, rogue and magi, which are a tank, physical attacker and ranged attacker.
The knight eventually can become a Paladin or a Dragon Knight, which are a Tank/Tank or a Tank/Attacker. The rogue can eventually become a Harlequin or ... I forget the name, but they used guns. But both attackers, one melee, one ranged. The Magi could become a better magi or a healer. So while it seems like a lot, there's really only 6 endgame classes, and as mentioned, with the mediocre AI, it's best to limit your allies to the Gunner or Magic Classes (or healer).
Lots of Equipment...Kind of
With the aforementioned classes, there are about 12ish different weapons within each weapon type. 12 or so Daggers, which are Students, Rogues and Harlequins, 12 or so Swords, which are Knights, and Dragon Knights, 12 or so Hammers, which are Paladin only, 12 or so Guns, which are gunner only, and 12 or so Staves, shared by all of the magic classes. And admittedly at the highest tier, there's about 3-4 'Legendary' ones, so there is some diversity.
There's also like 50 accessories, but they're pointless. As an example, a mid-tier weapon may add 150 attack power, 15 Strength, 20 armor. A Legendary-tier accessory may add 3 Strength, 15 HP and 10 MP. It's wild how little they matter.
As a final note, there are three legendary weapons, which are a Dagger, a Sword, and a Staff. Which means that if you want to use them all, your final team needs a Dragon Knight, a Harlequin and a Caster. There aren't even four. I don't understand.
The Bad
Unexplained Stats
You've probably picked up that there are a number of stats in this game. In total, it's HP, MP, Attack, Armor, Luck, Strength, Dexterity, Intelligence. HP is fairly straight-forward. MP is for your special moves, which all classes get...but AI doesn't use them. Only you do. So while you can switch between characters to use them, generally in the heat of combat you're trying to lead enemies away from harming your allies so doing so isn't done often, so MP doesn't do much. Attack power also is self explanatory. The rest...I have no idea. I think Dex impacts your hit/dodge chance, but it's not said anywhere. Strength doesn't seem to have a noticeable impact on damage and Int doesn't on your special moves (which is what I'd assume it'd be). Really Attack Power and HP are by far the most important.
Leveling Students is a Pain
This'll mostly be a quick note, but as I mentioned, you get 3 teams of 4. Usually, 2 of those teams will be on errands that last up to 12 weeks of game time. Which means you have one team that can either A) tackle important story content or B) level students to graduate.
That's a piece I guess I neglected to mention. At the end of each semester (4 months in-game) you have to graduate students, at least one. They have to be at least level 10, and putting them in a new class starts them over at 1. But juggling the leveling of these students while also advancing the plot when you have one team you can do that with is restrictive and limiting, especially because you can get more students not assigned to a team, based on the number of dorms you built. They don't get passive or partial EXP and sit at level 1 til you use them. It's just mind-boggling.
Plot is Serviceable at best.
Mostly it's the fact that there's this disconnect between what's happening and the impact I personally felt. Spoilers to follow if you care, but eventually the High Queen passes away, and while she has a daughter (who is like 50-some years younger than her, it seems like), no one knows where she is, so the five Regional Queens (it's a Matriarchal Society) all seem like they're vying for the throne.
This could be interesting, and there are several missions introduced for each of the queens, and the game gives you a brief tutorial that doing missions for a particular queen can increase your reputation with them.
So initially I thought this would play a little like the early Armored Core games, where favoring a particular one would lead to you allying yourself with them against the others. So I picked my favorite and only did theirs, but nothing happened, and eventually I moved onto the others as I progressed further in the story.
There was also a cult of some kind who was trying to use the Princess' blood to summon some extraplanar deity (which they do succeed and you beat the ever-living tar out of it if you're appropriately leveled) that never really seemed to go anywhere, or explain their existence.
Eventually (getting back to the Queens) it turns out that doing their missions just allowed them to support the Princess to take the throne (even if she doesn't want to (another plot point that goes absolutely nowhere)). She's got a young guy guarding her most of the time who isn't from the same empire, and it's implied there's some sort of love interest there, but they're just kind of thrust upon you without much explanation and a mission or two of loredumps about the relationship, how they came to be friends, etc but you don't really 'see' them ever actually showing any caring.
At the coronation, after beating back the cultists and getting the queens to support the princess, another country, (of which the princess' guard is the son of its leader (gasp!)) attacks and the final battle takes place at the academy, and all your teams are present, fighting against the enemies which was admittedly kind of cool.
And then the game ends. I just...don't know what I was supposed to feel.
The Final
Okay that didn't help at all. There's more good than bad, but the other review that mentions it as a 'glorified mobile game' isn't too far off. It's great to pop on for like an hour, update your school, do a few missions, and then back out. It's got just enough customization and interactive playtime to keep interest, and the plot, while goofy and disconnected, is at least coherent enough to tell a single story.
I'm going to say it's "fun" but not "good". It's like the game version of the movie Venom.
Not a whole lot to say but will at least go into the basics.
FE: Shadow Dragon is a very clear first step into the Fire Emblem franchise. The gameplay is simple but tight, and there is little-to-no fat involved with it. You will get short, to-the-point cutscenes at the start of each map, and occasionally some in between while Marth and his crew lay waste to anyone that thinks to challenge them.
Marth is unfortunately fairly middling compared to some of the other characters, mostly because he doesn't get the option to class change, as nearly all the rest of them do. He's quite strong early on but against the final boss, I actually ended up killing it with another unit, which given that the special weapon does double damage against the boss, is pretty telling.
Keeping everyone alive all the way through requires some careful planning, but only a few resets were needed. I enjoyed the fact that it didn't waste my time with pointless extraneous systems (Looking at you 3H) and if the story had been tighter and the gameplay a bit more diverse would've edged out another half-star, but it's still a great remake with much-needed QoL for the first game in the series.
FE: Shadow Dragon is a very clear first step into the Fire Emblem franchise. The gameplay is simple but tight, and there is little-to-no fat involved with it. You will get short, to-the-point cutscenes at the start of each map, and occasionally some in between while Marth and his crew lay waste to anyone that thinks to challenge them.
Marth is unfortunately fairly middling compared to some of the other characters, mostly because he doesn't get the option to class change, as nearly all the rest of them do. He's quite strong early on but against the final boss, I actually ended up killing it with another unit, which given that the special weapon does double damage against the boss, is pretty telling.
Keeping everyone alive all the way through requires some careful planning, but only a few resets were needed. I enjoyed the fact that it didn't waste my time with pointless extraneous systems (Looking at you 3H) and if the story had been tighter and the gameplay a bit more diverse would've edged out another half-star, but it's still a great remake with much-needed QoL for the first game in the series.