Recent reviews by Andrew

I randomly found out about Repella Fella from looking at the flash games Ray on a nostalgia trip. Finding out that it is based around legitimate Australian culture in a medium was a treat seeing something about my own culture in a work dominated by American and Japanese games.

This game is riddled with gore and crude humour but it isn't pure shock value like modern day Family Guy and its imitators but with some more substance like a better South Park episode, taking place in a world with a solid lore along with characters that have clear motivations. The fact that this ties into looking to the adventure game mechanics, where your search for items and options allows you more variety to cause mayhem. This is also a mixed bag, as the items you find are one use only, that you're searching for thing's that'll only help you out that one time.

The UI making itself more accessible is also a plus, bigger subtitles, a button that shows what you can interact with, an easy mode that doesn't penalise you for playing on the easy mode. However, there are also some kinks that need to be worked on, such as NPCs that are supposed to be roaming essentially walking on the same spot taking immersion out of the game. The fact you're pushed into making a choice of what to vote for what direction the sequel will go for to get the full ending rather than vote at your own leisure after completing the game is also annoying, I essentially picked what I felt was the "third option" when in hindsight looking at the Bomb Dodger's Manual, I may have been more interested in a different option.

All and all, despite the game's flaws it is a solid adventure game that you'll have fun with for 5-6 hours with replay value extending play length. I do hope a sequel for this game is made so we can see more of this world and the characters within it!

This game is evidence that Steam really needs a Mixed option for Reviews. There's things I loved, things I felt needed to be better explained and glitches that should have been dealt with.

This game really captures the feel of a devastating war, the loss of life extending to party members. Not only that, but the atmosphere of damaged towns added to the Pixel Perfect remaster helps captures this feel. And while the main party members does not have the same strength of characterisation you'd see in later entries, the journeys of the side characters along with the sheer ruthlessness of the emperor makes up for it. As for the battle system, it felt good you could build the party the way you suited them through picking the weapons and magic they used, although not as refined as SaGa series inspired by FF2 even in the remaster feel gives a distinct feel of customisation. And the refinements such as showing the current party's weapon levels at the end of battle to give a feel of progression along with auto-battle for encounters that can be trivially dealt with, not only auto-repeating commands but speeding up the battle as well.

However, I feel there are areas of the gameplay that should have been better explained. Namely not only how some weapons, shields and heavy armour hinders magic, but this is never said up front in game, merely something the player has to discover. The descriptions could benefit by making it clear what penalties equipment bring to magic. I will say, while this bothered me at first, I eventually adapted and appreciated how it made use of light armour and how dual wielding could be used as a way to make up for the lack of shields for characters built as mages, giving them an evasion bonus along with an extra attack. That being said, I feel that while the penalties were good to apply to heavy armour, maybe they shouldn't have been applied to weapons and shields. And then there was the weapon levelling that is linked to HOW MUCH you use the weapon in a battle, which meant I spent days trying to get weapons to level 16 until I switched to a weaker weapon, which while extending the battle ensured weapon levels increased.

And then there's things of this game that made me feel it was a remaster that was rushed. First, the life spell when used on a group of enemies can freeze the game if it kills more than one. This is a pity as it is a good way to level the spell along with kill undead with out the risk of killing living enemies. However, this is minor change compared to the fact that certain status effects are not protected by equipment that should protect from these ailments, namely instant death attacks which means if you get in an ambush against the wrong group of enemies, you could risk getting a game over before you even have time to flee. Good thing this game has auto-save whenever you enter a new room. More minor issues I noticed is that facing one boss turned random encounter turns off auto-battle and the credits music featuring FF2 music suddenly gets interrupted at the first quarter by louder FF1 music.

Until the two major glitches are fixed, I can't give this a true positive review that should be given a mixed review label instead. However, if Square Enix returns to finally remove terrible glitches from the game, the heavily mixed feelings would disappear. In any case, I do not regret playing through Final Fantasy 2, though I feel due to the issues it is not as definitive a version of the game as it tries to write itself off as compared to the Final Fantasy 1 Pixel Perfect Remaster.

This game gave me the same vibe as the "mostly story with RPG battles in-between" games that I remember playing on Newgrounds back in the '00s. There is no question that gameplay is something you need to pay attention of in this game (especially on Hard difficulty) but the real draw is the story, namely on how it tackles grief.

Starting with the Gameplay, it is a bit tricky at first, I had to read both Steam Guides to fully wrap my head around how to build Griselda along with the importance of aggro, buffs and debuffs. The game did nudge what you'll need in battle by pointing out the need for Griselda to learn more offensive magic but I do wish there was similar amount of nudging where to find spellbooks. But when you finally figure out the game mechanics, its a blast. The battle system is unique in that both the PCs and foes can make as many actions as they like as long as they have the mana, which separates itself from other turn based combat systems. The very fact that it can be better to do nothing one turn so you can hit HARD the next shows the depth battle can go.

Now as for the story, namely how grief is explored. The grief that Dianthus has hit the poor girl hard and for quite a bit of time, something that Griselda is ready to unravel. Funny enough, Griselda is in a way both connected and disconnected from her, which allows the protagonist to both understandably build a bond with Griselda while also being capable of pushing the wrong buttons. It's very clear the game is about these two as Griselda's friends lack the portraits this duo have which can be a bit distracting but doesn't pull you too much out of the game. But the art that is actually there shows an imaginative world, with the characters, fae and backgrounds being beautifully done, helping pull you in!

I do have to appreciate the direction the game's ending goes.Or rather, the game's endings, namely how Griselda and Dianthus relationship will pan out, either as best friends or as lovers. Now, while you require making the right choices to allow the romantic ending to be accessed, you can still get the more platonic ending even if you meet the requires with a last minute decision. I do appreciate this option as it shows that platonic relationships can have the same level of strength as romantic relationships...something a lot of modern media need to wrap its head around...

All and all it's a few hours of engagement at no price, so if you are looking for something short but sweet right now, this is the visual novel for you!

A well done remake but it could be better.

They really put the extra effort to make this game have more of the feel the original did by returning the original sprites and spell point magic system while also ensuring that the luxuries of the remakes are still present like Phoenix Downs and Ethers. And the art of this game has as special touch, as anyone can see from the fog as they enter the Chaos Shrine for the first time. The problem is that this game removes features that the later remakes implemented such as the Soul of Chaos dungeons and the Labyrinth of Time.

Now, this could have been easily fixed by allowing two different modes in the game. Classic Mode, which would resemble what we are given and Modern Mode, which adds all the dungeons of the previous remakes along with the Dawn of Souls MP system and Max Level of 99. That would unquestionably take extra effort but that should be expected from the "Ultimate" remake of Final Fantasy I.

This is no replacement for the previous remakes and as such should not have replaced them but it does give a unique experience from the previous remakes of FF1.

I'm one of the guys who put down $500 of this game on Kickstarter, most I have ever paid for a video game and much more than most would ever be willing to do. All because I had a cool idea for a planet in this game.

I found this game on Kongregate back when there was only one island and I had a blast with it. I tried the other islands too and had a blast there. I played the islands and planets exclusive to the paid version and had the same blast. What made this game fun, the content and the world's lore. I admit, there's similar games with better gameplay like Terraria, but this game has a charm a lot of similar games won't have due to the flavour this game brings.

I can get not everyone will get into this game, whether due to the gameplay or graphics. But those who can get over these issues will find a unique and fun experience.

Angels with Scaly wings is a very well put together visual novel, however it has a few glaring flaws that stick out, possibly because of the game's strength

+A lot more freedom than most visual novels, rather then being railroaded on a route after your choices at the beginning, the plot sections allow you to go to the location of your choice and the character sections allow you to meet up with the character you want to catch up on.
+The dragons have overall engaging personalities. Not just the major ones but so do the minor ones and you can even have a meeting with these minor dragons and see more of their character.
+Both the plot and world building of this game is finely turned. The world feels like it's a world tailored for dragons rather than just the dragons you see and the plot has an interesting mystery behind it that further unravels hidden depths with each ending.

-The backer characters and creator made characters are a bit different in art style making them stand out a bit too much. It's only minor compared to the other two flaws though...
-The protagonist is overall a weak character. I can understand what the creator was going for, he was trying to go for a midpoint between a vague character which the player can project themselves into and a defined character with a distinct background and personality. This backfired, the protagonist knows things and has plans the player doesn't which increases the disconnect and with the character not being too defined to make them more relatable, we overall have a flat main character we feel more like we're a guide to rather than in the role of. And while visual novels can usually get away with a faceless protagonist, there are two incidents in the game which would favoured the protagonist having an avatar.
-The last issue is linked to the final ending of the game. While most endings have good payoff, the last one does not answer enough questions raised by the game. This was ripe for a "Where are they now" ending that would fit perfectly! Hopefully an update in the future fixes this issue. (I won't go into too much issue about this issue as that would be major spoilers)

Overall, this is one of the better visual novels I have played no question but it's hard to get the two noticeable flaws out of my mind. I do recommend giving this game a go though, especially if you're a dragon fan!

This is a great game to put on your laptop and bring to parties!

The audience participation feature was a great addition too, allows people to participate even if you pass the player limit.