RPG Maker Let's Play - Shadow Star (Part Three) - Game Critique
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Hello everyone! In this RPG Maker Let's Play, we return to the world of Shadow Star by Ghaleon. Thank you so much Ghaleon for being a supporter of Studio Blue!
We continue to be impressed by this game's presentation, both visually and aurally. Now that we're done being enamored by the Battle HUD, though, we can see some places it has room to improve. The HP, MP, and TP meters not only don't add anything to the battles, they actually detract, and could be replaced by the beautiful numbers only. However, this is a minor detail that we personally would like to see... not a game breaker.
There are three major things we realized that the developer needs to do to fix his game overall:
The first is the character writing, especially the major characters. As stated before, we have an issue with Bryce and Lance, but it's never more apparent than in this LP. When you take all of Bryce's interactions since the game started, he comes across as a bully and an emotional abuser to Lance, making him utterly unlikable. Lance, once you consider his way of responding, acts like an abuse victim. While that garners sympathy, it also takes away from the developer's intentions. Celestrea is the very definition of "ditzy, dumb blonde" who adds zero value to the story and is just shy of a full-on Mary Sue. Bailey and Caliph are better defined, and while they have their own issues, they are leagues better than the two MCs. The Captain and First Mate, while funny, are nothing more than stereotypes. We've gone over the others from the beginning (Dad, Mom, Mayor, etc) so there is no reason to beat a dead horse.
Unfortunately, we can't say this any more plainly: After three LPs of Shadow Star, we are 100% certain that the character writing issues cannot be fixed by quick line edits. The game's character writing is going to require a complete overhaul in order to remedy. We've discussed it at length, and we're sticking with that criticism. Fortunately, this is the single biggest flaw in the game, and everything else is considerably smaller.
The second major issue is the lack of world definition. Ghaleon has created an expansive and imaginative world full of wonder and beauty, and only a bit of it comes out. Side Note: This issue actually plagues a majority of games that Studio Blue reviews. Anyway, it's not things like game lore (the College of Light Magic gave just enough to whet the appetite on that aspect of the world) and it's also not cultural (from what we've seen, the human race is unified under one Anglo-inspired culture). Both of those are fine for a fantasy RPG--Lord of the Rings does the exact same thing, where all humans have the same general culture, all elves have the same general elven culture, etc. The problem we see is the lack of enrichment, and that can go a long way to create an amazing game. And it's all little lines here and there: Instead of saying "Hey, there's a ship!" it could be "Hey, there's a merchant vessel going from Guardania to Altamora along the Serpent Trench." It's those small lines that add unbelievable life to a world, and they aren't hard work; just a lot of small work. Shadow Star would greatly benefit from this.
The final major issue is something we've been over, so we'll be brief--the game needs to be rebalanced. Not just the encounter rates (it's actually a lot better in the Water Cave), but the monster balancing as well. Some attacks did too much and others, like the Water Cave's Boss's Tidal Wave, had to be effectively reacted to quickly or it would result in a party wipe-out. Game balancing is not easy, and it's tedious math, but it's vital for a game to be well-received (especially if it's an epic). Thing to note: In this call for rebalance, we also recommend a complete rebalance of the world economy. See our in-video notes...it's not working.
But those are our major issues with the game at this point. Overall, the story is really good, the world is absolutely interesting, and the pacing is solid enough. Once the above issues are fixed, Ghaleon will have a great game that we believe a lot of people will enjoy playing.
What do you all think? How else can Ghaleon make this game the best it can be?
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