Allow external audio
Response from developer
Hey thanks for sharing. I'm looking into this and will hopefully have something at some point.
Are there still updates?
Response from developer
Hey, the game is finished and I'm working on rebuilding it for PC and Console. That said, I still continue to add quality of life improvements (eg. difficulty selection) and am always open to suggestions. Feel free to email me contact@emergentfates.com
A hidden gem.
Gameplay: 4/5
At first it seems like standard JRPG fare, but there’s a surprising amount of depth that can be gleaned from the mechanics. Battles are turn based with a turn order list present at the top of the screen. Striking combat units with their elemental weaknesses staggers them for an entire turn. Normal battles don’t push this mechanic too far, but there were some boss fights where victory hinges on effective exploitation of enemy weaknesses. Makes the battles feel more like puzzles. The only reason gameplay isn’t 5/5 is because certain basic attacks miss far too often for them to be reliable.
Music: 4/5
The music is odd. It’s not necessarily what I would have expected from an RPG, but it’s not bad. Some of it is really catchy, like the regular battle theme or that one boss theme that had a woman’s vocals echoing in the background in a hypnotic manner. The shop theme is absolutely terrible, however. That song was just eargrating.
Devs, if you’re reading this, I’d love it if you released the OST on some music platform. I really want that boss theme.
Story: 4/5
The story is entertaining and engaging, although I found some parts moved a tad too quickly and were somewhat hard to follow.
The part of the story where Glass and Tristessa suddenly joined you were a bit…fuzzy. Maybe I read the dialogue a little too quickly, but they did a rather quick 180 when they realized that the Spectr of Ice (I think?) starting turning on the people.
Both Rasch and Ava’s backstory with the political corruption in Tyr had me hooked, however. I effectively despised the authority figures in Tyr, so the story there definitely did its job. Seeing Ava regain her sense of self was engrossing. Seeing Rasch put his foot down and realize the kingdom he admired was just a load of balogna was a very inspiring scene.
The flashbacks to Karellen and the four Spectrs left me wondering if they were just heavily affiliated with the main squad or if the four MCs were actually reincarnations of them in some way.
I only have a few gripes with the game, all of them minor.
1.) This game originally had one single microtransaction in order to unlock the full game. The current payment model is vastly superior, yet there are some lingering elements of the original payment philosophy. Sometimes the game will tell me it failed to connect online and that it needs me to connect to an appropriate source of internet. The most prominent example being the two NPCs in the beginning of the game.
They stopped me to ask for 100 Gold, and I obliged. I realized rather quickly that they were originally meant to ask the player for real life currency.
If the original payment model was removed, then I think the game randomly telling you to connect to the internet should also be fixed in some way. I was very confused when I found an option in the menus to ‘Restore Purchase’ when this game doesn’t have that payment model anymore.
2.) I think this game could benefit from a map. It’s very linear and it’s…probably my fault in the first place, but I was lost for a good half hour when the game told me to go to the Altar of Fire. It was a facepalm worthy moment when I eventually realized it was in the Weeping Woods. Regardless, I think a map would still benefit the game.
3.) I think a fast travel point should be added to the Altar of Fire and the Altar of Ice. The Altar of Earth has a fast travel point, so I don’t see why the other two didn’t. It would help the pacing tremendously.
4.) Cutscenes should be skippable. All the cutscenes are relatively short, yet with the occasional difficulty spikes, some bosses may take another try or two. Being able to skip cutscenes would alleviate some minor tedium.
All in all, I enjoyed the game quite a bit.
I’d rate it 4.5/5
Response from developer
Hey huge thanks for writing this up and providing all feedback! I also feel that it's "absolutely criminal that a game of this quality has received this little attention." Please spread the word. And apologies for taking so long to respond, the past few months have been a bit chaotic. Overall it looks like you understood and appreciated where I was coming from. This is my first proper game so I was learning along the way. I'm not sure why you were seeing those "failed to connect" errors. If you want to send a screenshot to contact@emergentfates.com I can try to look into it. I'll see what I can do about the posting the soundtrack somewhere. Some of the songs are licensed but I can easily post all the ones I wrote. I agree with your other feedback about maps, fast travel, and skipping cutscenes/dialog but it's a bit hard to justify sinking more time into this right now since not many people are playing it. Instead I'm in the process of remaking it for PC so I can eventually release it on steam and consoles. Seriously appreciate you playing the game though!
Nice game
Response from developer
Thank you so much. I'm glad you're enjoying it!
Best rpg
Response from developer
Thank you so much. This means a lot. I'm really glad you're enjoying the game! EDIT: Thanks again for your support theredpanda269! Globally the game has been rated well so I'm happy about that. And while I don't have immediate plans to make another game like this, I am working on new projects. I encourage you to subscribe to the mailing list on https://megaphemeral.com if you want to keep updated. Take care.
