 NDS Game Reviews: Review : Tales of Dagur by LiraNuna
Posted bylynx on Friday, April 07 @ 11:35:09 CDT
Contributed by lynx
I hope I can do this game justice with this review. I'm not
qualified to do reviews on commercial games.. and this is closer to a
commercial game then a homebrew one.. but I'll do my best.
Gameplay = 10
Graphics = 10
Sound = 9
Fun = 10
Overall = 10
Author: LiraNuna
1 min. 14 sec. VIDEO (3.2MB)
Here are the instructions provided:
Tales of Dagur
Roll Play Game for the Nintendo® DS™
=====================================
The
kingdom of Dagur is in deep troubles: The holy stone that protects the
kingdom has been stolen. Further more, the queen of Dagur has
disappeared. A young lad named Alex is summoned by the king to fix the
situation. Help Alex return the holy stone, find the queen, and by that
save the kingdom!
DONT FORGET TO EQUIP WEAPONS!
How to Play:
------------
Game:
D-pad - Movement
A - Perform Action
B - Dash
Start - Ingame menu
Battle:
D-pad - Navigate in battle menu
A - Select
B - Cancel
Shop:
D-pad - Navigate in shop menu
A - Select
B - Cancel
Missing:
---------
Sound effects
Magic system
Comments:
---------
The
battle system is poorly programmed due to the lack of time. As a
result, a magic system hasn't been implamented yet, but i plan to
release it after the competition. The game engine is very sleek and
smooth, very customable: just change a few variables, and you are ready
to go with your own game. This game is not a one man's project. Many
developers and game artists had given their hands with this production
from the font tileset to the eyecandy graphics. I thank all the
developers and artists who dedicated their time to improve this game
and become what it is today.
Credis:
-------
Code: LiraNuna
Moral support and font tileset: Chetic
Storyboard, Script, & Music collection: RVman
Graphics: Enterbrain
Mapping and level design: Nikolas Lahtinen
Beta-testing: Cameron, Chetic and Nikolas
Special thanks to Rat for the amazing splash screen!
Greetz
fly to: The mellow fellows from #mellowdsdev for the great support,
especially: natruim42, dovoto, cReDiAr, DragonMinded, DarkFader,
[DS]LynxW, pepsiman_, joat, dsboi, DynaStab, Furre, GPF, neimod,
Patater, mic, laZmike And everyone else I have forgotten.
Hey! I'm on the list! YEAH!
Anyway, on with the review...
On
the top screen it displays all the character information as well as any
interfacing. Talking with other characters, equipping weapons, saving,
etc. It is very pleasent and well layed out. On the bottom screen is where the action takes place.
As
with any RPG, there is a story to follow and this one isn't that bad..
actually.. it's pretty good.. your standard bad guy took the stone and
kidnapped the queen, but there is a minor plot twist in the middle. Go
find the pieces of the key, take on the bad guy, and rescue the queen.
Sounds easy enough. :)
So,
let's start the adventure.. After talking to everyone in the castle and
opening all the chests, we head out to fight some monsters to gain
experiance points and get some gold. You can wonder around the town and
talk to everyone, but nobody really has anything usefull to say.. or..
at least not that I can remember. So,
before we run off empty handed and get ourselves killed, let's take a
look at the inventory system and equipment. Pressing start will give
you the interface to show/use items, magic (not working yet),
equipment, config (also not working yet), save, and resume. Selecting
item will give you a list of everything you have. In the picture
provided, I had been playing for around 2 hours and had picked up
everything needed to beat the game without much trouble. So,
if we plan on fighting, we need to make sure we are actually using the
equipment we have.. One very nice feature is that when you scroll
through your items, you can see the effect they have on your stats in
the upper right corner. Numbers will turn green if they raise your
stats and red if they lower them. So make sure you put your helm on,
grab your dagger, and shield if you have one. Fighting!
What we all really play these games for. Nothing more satisfying that
showing a monster who is boss.. that is.. unless the monster shows
you!.. But, with all the stuff we found in the castle, we are in pretty
good shape. When a fight starts, you see the screen shown. When it is your turn, you have the option to attack, use an item, or flee. When
you select attack, you are then prompted with a hand to choose which
monstor you are going to attack. At this point, you are only attacked
by one monster at a time, but this system allows you to choose a
monster, if you were attacked by multiple. If,
in the middle of a battle you are getting low on health, you can choose
item from the list and drink a potion to keep you in the game. When
you have killed the monster, you are shown your current EXP, how much
EXP you have just gained by killing the monster, how much more EXP you
need to get to the next level, and the amount of gold you received from
the monster. When you gain enough EXP to get to the next level, you are
allowed to add 1 point to any of your stats.
"> So now that you've added up some gold, let's head over to the store and get ready for some real battles.
Now
we see a list of items to purchase, how much they are. Again, that very
nice feature shows us what the effects an item will have on our stats
prior to wasting money on it. If your health is getting low, and you don't want to waste a potion, you can head over to the Inn and take a little nap. When you wake up, don't forget to grab any free items laying around. ;) I
guess the only thing left to mention is the save system. Very nice, it
allows you to save at any point in the game (except when you are
fighting) and allows for up to 3 saves at one time.
Overall,
this game is pretty awesome for a homebrew game you can download for
free off the internet (this site)! There are a few bugs, and some
settings that need to be adjusted to make the game more fun. As I was
building up my character, I was able to pretty much kill all of the
monsters without any problems at all. So, I decided to head over to
Fire and take her on. If it wasn't for all the free items in the castle
and around, I would have lost this fight for sure, but having 5 full
potions to keep me going was more then enough to beat her. Once killed,
she gives you 3000 gold. 3000 gold at the store is enough for a
shopping spree. Once you leave, there is nothing left in the game (not
even ANY of the bosses) that can stop you. I guess if you purchase the
wrong stuff, there might be a challenge, but watching the effects on
your stats, you are able to set yourself up to be safe. From there, I
headed over to Ice/Water and stomped on him. I had to contact LiraNuna
to find Earth, as I thought I had walked the complete map and coundn't
find that boss.. At this point, walking around the map becomes a
challege as you are attacked every 2 seconds, even when you are on a
path. Walking from one boss to the next can take up to 5 minutes and a
whole lot of A tapping just to get through the fight seens as no
monster stands a chance anymore.
As for the bug, you complete the game and the save screen indicates you are only 37% done. Oops.
Sum Up:
Good:
- Game is awesome
- Story is good
- System has major potential
- As good as a game you would buy in the store - FREE! :)
Bad:
- To many free items
- Monsters attack on paths making it hard to move around
- Prices in the store are to low, and boss rewards are to high
1 min. 14 sec. VIDEO (3.2MB)
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Article Rating |
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Average Score: 4.42
Votes: 14
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