I really liked the time I spent with this game, for the most part. The art is really nice and incredibly expressive, and the designs for the characters are really cool. I love how unique all the NPCs are from each other, too.
I wish I had known that this was a (mostly) completely non-linear game, though. When starting new games like this, I often get caught up in wanting to explore the entire world before starting any main quests, and this time, I wanted to try a more 'normal' approach (mostly because I didn't have a lot of time today). However, there really isn't a 'main quest' here. It's almost entirely just exploring the world and talking to NPCs and doing random stuff. It's not that I even think this method of gameplay is bad or executed poorly here, I think it's done very well, but I just wish I had known that, because I spent the first 30 minutes with it wandering around trying to get the 'main story' to start, and every time I thought I did (the dragon scene reallly got me) it would fizzle out and I started getting confused and frustrated. It's kinda like (and please forgive me for this batshit insane comparison but) that Family Guy bit where Peter's watching the opening cutscene at the movie theater and he keeps thinking the production company logos are the start of the film. And this leads into my second critique of the game:
I do enjoy the use of a limited color palette (although it really trips me up to see official art of the main character in all oranges and reds) but I think the overworld sprites could've used a bit more contrast. Don't get me wrong, they're gorgeous, but something about the low contrast (especially comparing the trees to the grass) and the map design being busy and non-traditional made me constantly feel a bit lost, especially in the forest. There's a hint-bird character outside the MC's house, and I was constantly talking to it throughout my journey, only for it to repeatedly tell me to 'talk to the wolf girl by the cliffs'. I would always think, 'what cliffs?? where is this supposed to be!'. It wasn't until I pulled up the external map of the game showing where all the areas are connected that I was able to find it. I think I struggled in finding it because the maps (at least the ones in the forest) are very large and windy, it's kind of hard to tell where you're able to and not able to walk, not to mention the trees and grass blending into each other. And of course, the walk speed is pretty slow, even when holding shift. I think that upping the walk/run speed by one would've made running around in search of things a lot more tolerable.
But don't let that derail you, if you like RPG Maker games and have 3-4 hours of free time, then please play this game. Shout out to the main Deltarune trio appearing lost in the woods lol.
I wish I had known that this was a (mostly) completely non-linear game, though. When starting new games like this, I often get caught up in wanting to explore the entire world before starting any main quests, and this time, I wanted to try a more 'normal' approach (mostly because I didn't have a lot of time today). However, there really isn't a 'main quest' here. It's almost entirely just exploring the world and talking to NPCs and doing random stuff. It's not that I even think this method of gameplay is bad or executed poorly here, I think it's done very well, but I just wish I had known that, because I spent the first 30 minutes with it wandering around trying to get the 'main story' to start, and every time I thought I did (the dragon scene reallly got me) it would fizzle out and I started getting confused and frustrated. It's kinda like (and please forgive me for this batshit insane comparison but) that Family Guy bit where Peter's watching the opening cutscene at the movie theater and he keeps thinking the production company logos are the start of the film. And this leads into my second critique of the game:
I do enjoy the use of a limited color palette (although it really trips me up to see official art of the main character in all oranges and reds) but I think the overworld sprites could've used a bit more contrast. Don't get me wrong, they're gorgeous, but something about the low contrast (especially comparing the trees to the grass) and the map design being busy and non-traditional made me constantly feel a bit lost, especially in the forest. There's a hint-bird character outside the MC's house, and I was constantly talking to it throughout my journey, only for it to repeatedly tell me to 'talk to the wolf girl by the cliffs'. I would always think, 'what cliffs?? where is this supposed to be!'. It wasn't until I pulled up the external map of the game showing where all the areas are connected that I was able to find it. I think I struggled in finding it because the maps (at least the ones in the forest) are very large and windy, it's kind of hard to tell where you're able to and not able to walk, not to mention the trees and grass blending into each other. And of course, the walk speed is pretty slow, even when holding shift. I think that upping the walk/run speed by one would've made running around in search of things a lot more tolerable.
But don't let that derail you, if you like RPG Maker games and have 3-4 hours of free time, then please play this game. Shout out to the main Deltarune trio appearing lost in the woods lol.