I like dragon quest and breath of fire those are great series but this game looks like garbage

Have you tried Black Souls? It's another RPGMaker game, with souls-like mechanics. It's actually embarrassing that Black Souls and Arcane Raise are made with the same engine, considering how much of a masterpiece the former is. Doesn't seem like it's the kind of games you'd make videos about, but just a heads up.

I used to love JRPGs, but now I feel like there is no real challenge and exploration in them. I wish they had more open worlds with hidden secrets and multple paths to beat the game.

Breadtube and it's algorithm. You did the thing. No one knows what it is. But they turn up the flow and you get exponential growth.

I immediately subscribed after this video, your journey to review everything in alphabetical order is fascinating as hell and I wanna see all the ups and downs. Heck you've already made me aware of at least one game that sounds fun that I'd never have discovered on my own

I had a hunch it was an asset flip, but I'm not familiar enough with RPGMaker to make that call... yet. Pretty sure there'll be plenty more games like this in the future. Thanks for clarifying!

You'll find plenty of RPG maker games on Steam. Some big time game ports have even used RPG maker assets.

@@Graeldon well, not an asset flip per se, as they have these for that specific reason in their base kit. There are some rather good rpg maker games that have a majority of their tiles from rpgmaker itself, but it's still an incredibly lazily done game. Oh and controller support is either directly due to rpgmaker or they have found a dll online that basically just enables proper support and maps the keys properly.

@@jwwhitmarsh8411 That's interesting to know, thanks! Hopefully I'll be able to identify these re-used assets in the future

@@BewegteBilderrahmen Yeah, a few other commenters mentioned that! There's likely a good way to use the basic assets, and a bad way - this is definitely the bad way

100% agree. I would've been more forgiving had it been free. Or at the very least, without the DLC.

I agree that it shouldn't have been sold for money, but assuming it's someone's first RPG Maker game is being too kind. Considering the "DLC" on offer, I'm much more inclined to call it a straight up asset flip. They threw it together in an afternoon to try to make a quick buck.

Shit, my first RPG maker project was better than this. And I didn't even finish making it. I put... far too much effort into event triggers for a literal hole in the ground you could invest gold into to expand with more and more shops and amenities.

I can literally make this game. This is premade maps.

Someone out there will buy it. That's the point.

Hehe, good one

This is quite a unique insult, I might steal this. Lol.

Sometimes you get hidden gems, and sometimes you crack it open and lava gushes out and melts your face. :D

can't wait until he gets to the $400 broken Russian shovelware games

Well, to bee fair, that sounds it would be pretty valuable.

honestly same lmao

Dew it!

You should definitely do it

Honestly that would be amazing, give that man a back story 🤣

Please do

Sadly I wasn't familiar enough with the RPGMaker assets to spot this, or at least to confidently say it in the review. I definitely had a hunch while I was playing that most, if not all of the assets were pre-made and not original designs

tbh, a game could be good even if it has default assets if the story is good

To be fair some rpg maker engines make it so you can only use default assests

@@mlpfanboy1701 Yeah but absoutely not the one this was clearly made on. I know for a fact that it is entirely possible to import any new created assets you want for anything in the game

@@mlpfanboy1701 Yeah but not the PC entries fam

If it was a demo with a "coming soon" screen at the end, I would have been far more forgiving of it. But as a final, paid product... yikes.

​@@GraeldonAgreed. The mapping in the game is terrible. These tiles can be used much better.

Yeah I found some games on the 3ds version that are much better than this as well

These kinds of games are the reason why RPGmaker games have heavy, HEAVY stigma against them. Or at least why *I* have heavy stigma against them...

@@Starfloofle if you wanna see something good made in RPGMaker I can't recommend Super Lesbian Animal RPG enough, it looks good, has a wonderful story and it actually has some interesting mechanics

For her neutral special, she wields a gun

That may very well be my favorite part of this game.

Terraria moment

Cosmic Star Heroine (a way better indie RPG than this) has a Gunmancer character, so hey.

I Might Be Outta Mana But I Ain't Outta Options

They tried to be edgy, but they didn't think it through

It should have been "a random shade" or a "just another shade" etc. Lol

That's default description in rpg maker

@@AngPur Ironically, that just makes OP's comment that it sets the tone for this game's quality even more true.

Sounds like you've got a game idea to work on! I do like games that let you challenge the final boss at any time, essentially letting you determine how difficult the fight will be based on how prepared you are. Chrono Trigger and Breath of the Wild are two games that come to mind that do this, but I'm sure there are others.

Sounds like FFX🤔

Imagine the boss is just in the bar of the town drinking some coffe and reading while you are getting stronger to fight him He might not even be a villain but just some really strong hero wanting to retire and training the new generation to make sure the world will be in good hands after he is gone

This happens in a game, but I forget which game. I think it's in one of the Fable games, or maybe Two Worlds or Too Human, there are speedruns of it where they get good equipment and immediately destroy the final boss in the first town. I think it was meant to be a big twist and you're supposed to do it at the end of the game after solving the mystery, I've never played it.

@BAIGAMING it was the first Two Worlds game - and I love that you can do that haha

you don't even have to use a variable, you can literally do this with a self-switch. this game is incredibly poorly put together 😭

Would have been better to have a progress variable. Have NPCs appear/Disappear as you increase it, so you could have different stocks in the shop as you could set it so no 2 versions of the shopkeep would appear on the value. Later dungeons could be unlocked via beating mini boss's that increase the value of the progress variable. I havent used RPGMaker in ages but I remember it not being that hard.

You're better off using a switch (or in this case, a self-switch) rather than a variable. Switches are boolene variables (on/off) that appear to be stored in arrays based on how the game organizes them.

How did the game you made turn out?

I’m guessing your game still had more of a plot at least. Lack of polish can be expected from amateurs (of which I probably still count despite growing up with RPG Maker), but passion can still create something of substance. I’d rather play whatever your game was, rough edges and all, than this pure asset flip that knows it has no reason to exist beyond being an asset flip. And hey, the rough edges on your game couldn’t be any worse than the one game I made with VX Ace. Short version, I got that version of RPG Maker-and Steam as a whole-with my first laptop, but that quickly turned into a potato that lagged running freaking Word. I did finish it, but out of nine chapters, I only tested seven, because by that point trying to actually play the game on that laptop just wasn’t worth it.

@@isenokami7810 It was a long time ago, I think I was 12, and although I think the plot was interesting, I was a bit of a perfectionist and I wanted to have lots of systems all working perfectly. I didn’t understand the concept of “focus”, so I just threw in everything I thought was interesting. Sure, the systems were polished to an extreme, but there were too many. After a year, I only had the tutorial done because that… after a while I abandoned the project, but I’ve lately been thinking that I should take it up again

@@xarim4769 I feel that. Not a perfectionist myself, but a while back ambition got the best of me, made me want to make custom battler sprites from scratch on a project, personalized for each character. I…haven’t been on RPG Maker in years because progress stalled right away on those, never felt up to working on them. Didn’t really help that the project was an MLP fan game, meaning I was dealing with quadrupeds and trying to work out how they’d move in my head. Though yeah, I wanted to put that much effort into a fan game, compared to the non-game that is Arcane Raise. It was more the state of Sonic RPG Maker games that put this thought in my head, but the result is the same regardless: I want anything I make in RPG Maker to be a serious game made with passion, and not one of these lazily barfed out messes. I want anything I may release to be among the better examples of what RPG Maker can do, at least compared to the expectation of, well, this.

Completely unintentional! I thought the settings menu might be similar to Unity in that it isn't pre-set... apparently that's not the case. Now I know for when I'm reviewing RPGMaker games in the future, and I'm sure there will be plenty of them

@@Graeldon As someone who uses RPG Maker a lot for their own games (Which sadly won't appear in these videos cus I am not on Steam) I would like to ask you to be a little easier on their options. The engine REALLY does not give us much wiggle room for what we can do, ESPECIALLY in the days of VX Ace which I am SO glad to have moved on from. I mean, MV (The next one) doesn't even let you change the window colours and still does not have a fullscreen or any default ability to mess with the resolution. (And volume adjusts in figures of 20% instead of something reasonable like 5%, so you'll immediately go from ear-blastingly loud to super quiet.) VX Ace TECHNICALLY lets you mess with the resolution but...uh...no, it doesn't, you can make it like-15% bigger and then all of the assets are going to look weird because nothing was made with this in mind. You can tell by the art style what RPG Maker engine it was made in, and this one was VX Ace so a lot of issues with the game will be because VX is just garbage. I do think MV games are MUCH better even without plugins, but the fact it switched to a language that more people use did WONDERS for its community made assets, and MZ incorporated a lot of those features into the newer MZ. (Wow, over a decade to be able to control the resolution! It even lets you change the game and text size separately!) I'd go into more detail about all the things that make it hard to make a good game with RPG Maker but I'm sure you're already wanting this comment to end.

That was quite interesting actually, thank you! I've always been aware of RPGMaker as an engine, but I don't know much about it. So thank you for sharing some of the limitations of the engine

@@Graeldon I'm glad. :) Basically, if it looks like it's in VX Ace: prepare for the most bare-bones thing you've ever seen because nobody wants to code for it and the developers refuse to do so for any of their projects. But at least past then it moved onto languages people used XD I still can't believe HP cost skills aren't a default part of the engine...or life steal weapons.

@@TheGreatBackUpVIDEOS I managed to track down a few scripts that let you use a fullscreen function that decently upscales sprites without blurring the entire thing. They were a boon for my game.

It didn't work for me, so maybe something is broken? Still, I can't imagine myself ever buying a game just to get a monocoloured background lol

Also achievements boost the rate you get cards at

I didn't think Steam did that because it was exploitable?

@@EdKolis They could have cracked down on stuff like that, but it was definitely a thing at one point. There were instances of essentially the same game reskinned over and over, all with super simple achievements.

​@@Graeldon"play stupid games win stupid prizes"

i doubt it's from any consumers. Not uncommon for companies/groups to weasel in fake positive reviews to trick people

Maybe my rpg has a chance if something like this can get a decent amount of reviews😂

​@@wofan1000 you need to constantly design every aspect wrong

They did make sequels (and a prequel) that were apparently just as bad. So bad that they got delisted from Steam

not that as it was a tcg scam@@Graeldon

I wouldn't say using gold in another language is a unique currency name. Pretty sure it's not even the only rpg to use aurum as the currency, but I can't remember for sure what game did it.

this is literally just default RPG maker, none of this is original.

They were smart enough to put it on sale and profit from it as well. And sadly, their success only encourages others to do the same

@@GraeldonThat implies any other wannabe devs actually know this game exists. Which, this is actually the second time I’ve heard of this (forget who I saw talk about it first, just that he specifically tore apart bad RPG Maker games on Steam), so that might be a fair assumption.

@@GraeldonI wouldn’t call it a “success”, I doubt they developed a sizeable enough fanbase to even buy a bag of rice more than once per week from this game’s sales. To me, I don’t think your game can be considered successful until it reaches the level of Undertale/Five Nights at Fuckboys/LISA/OFF/Epic Battle Fantasy/etc. in terms of gaining a following; or, at the very least, has a fanbase dedicated enough to constantly pester you about new releases, and pre-order your stuff.

@wolfetteplays8894 Heya! According to SteamSpy they sold between 50,000 and 100,000 copies - that's a decent amount of cash for most people even after the cut that Steam would take.

@@Graeldon holy shit… I assumed it was in the low 5 digit range. That is far higher than I was expecting 😳 I am losing faith in modern day gaming and my ability to keep up with the scene

honestly preach.

Great analysis, and a very real take on the current gaming landscape...

I've been working on my game for 5 years and sometimes when I see things like this it makes me feel like I'm dumb for not just doing some cheap asset flip just to pay the bills.

there is a difference between not shoting for the starts and not even trying. an indie need to have realistic expectations. when i played ocarine of time i wanted to make an game like this, but even as an kid i knew that it was impossible to do every part of it alone, so i tried to see what other people were doing in small teams and tried to do something similiar instead. nowadays people play games made by 1500 persons and think they could do better by thenselves just because they have an easy to use tool like RPG Maker or an powerful tool like Unreal (that big studios also use)

@@amuro9624 you arent dumb. but you need to pay the bills in the mean time so find an temporary job then when you get enough exp try to crowd fund an project or anything like that.

Indeed, when i was 14 i played a VX one that used almost all default assets. It's an Italian game called Overdrive (i think it is kinda "famous"). I checked the dev facebook a month or so ago tho, they won't finish it anymore, as it was dedicated to his then girlfriend, and they broke up TT

Definitely, with a little more effort they could make something better. Maybe they just too lazy and greedy to even try. RPG Maker VXA to me is very handy and inspiring tool!

Or at least find someone who creates art and buy from them(and use it if they allow it which they normally do), just as long as it fits the theme of the game. Or find a friend and they create the art for the game, so you can work as a team or something

Nah it rather play a hand draw rpg maker assets than the default ones, they're over used

Umbral Soul is a great example of this. Despite using mostly RTP assets and default characters, it sets itself apart with its characters, story, and general concept. Yeah, "You play as the villain" has been done before, but this particular game does it really well cause many things are in shades of gray rather than purely black or white. I respect that game despite it having some flaws (Notably a good chunk of permanently missable stuff). Compare that to this, a game with no soul and made solely to make a quick buck.

An insane plot of better than no plot at all!

​@@GraeldonMoloch has stolen the Amulet of Yendor from your god %s! As a newly trained %s of %s, you have been given a quest. Go bravely with %s!

Please don't forget such classics as "Suits," "Mad Father," or "Off." Insane *works.*

​@@underthepaleamber throne got bad reviews but even that at least tried to make a real game.

Yeah, my first demo made in a single night without knowing what I was doing was more of a game than this lol

The classic amnesia story! I actually was hoping Arcane Raise was going to do something like that. Not even close.

I think fear amd hunger dose something similar to this idea

Sorta similar but not quite can be found in Planescape: Torment

I was a bit harsh on it, and I overlooked the fact that the 3 MC's also have Latin names, so there is a thematic link there. So it's not as bad as I initially thought. I'm still annoyed that they chose to put time and energy into a creative currency name rather than the actual game though.

Yeah, it's weird its the only non-cliché thing in the game but it's better than nothing.

Interesting. Now that you mention it, I used to play two horror GRPG titled 'Desert Nightmare' and 'Taut', both were still my favorites to this day. I found German RPGmaker games to be quite unique due its blend of Western and Central Europe mythics in a more realistic theme.

Damn, that's a cool backstory for CrossCode though; that game is amazing

100% agree!

For the sake of my own sanity, I'll choose to believe that this whole thing was satire lol

@@supercyclone8342pretty true

I thought that might be the case originally, but I would have expected a large quantity of achievements. Take a look at my !Anyway! Review as an example - it has 5000 achievements. The achievement farm games I've found so far also unlock them as soon as you begin playing, not after a tutorial, and they certainly aren't optional. It's still possible that's what this game is, they've just done it in a way I haven't seen before

@@Graeldon maybe that "optional" thing is to make an illusion of it being a normal game?

Achivements do not raise your steam level, crafting badges do

Everytime I hear about that the first thing I think about is digital homicide

Achievements don't give levels though. Achievements are completely detached from any other feature but themselves, and their associated profile showcases.

Doesnt steam only takedown games if they're being used for malicious purposes?

I have to agree with you, and that was an oversight in my script. Likely just my personal bias showing as a long time FF fan ❤️

The Grandfather of Premodern RPG and JRPG convention Was Sweet Home and Dragon Warrior. Remember that Final Fantasy was called such because it was going to be Square's FINAL attempt to even DO an RPG! xD

@@metalspinda9594 That's actually a myth. They were originally going to call it "Fighting Fantasy", but the name was already taken, so they just changed it to "Final Fantasy" to preserve the alliteration.

Today Persona 5 is the best JRPG in my opinion, because it has stylized graphics and sticks to turn-based play.

​@@astrahcat1212the rpg gameplay is way too weak imo random encounters feel like mini games

Love the idea of each dungeon unlocking past memories - A journey to discover their past before they can move on... could need to complete something unresolved in their past life etc. Unfortunately we have to judge the game based on what it is, not what it could have been. But yes, more mages with guns please

​@@GraeldonIsn't there a new game coming out called Wizard with a Gun? Also one called Squirrel with a Gun... 🐿️🧙

@EdKolis I actually hadn't heard of Wizard with a Gun until another commenter mentioned it. Weirdly, I had heard of Squirrel with a Gun though...

This is exactly what I was thinking. I was thinking it would've made a decent roguelike game where progressing will slowly uncover the protagonists' pasts, how they died, why they want to return to the world of the living, etc.

And you already put more thought and came out with a better concept than the devs of this game... cheers!

yes, only his left side stays the same if u talk to him

It would need to be INSANELY balanced for that to work.

@@JacredHart To be fair, balancing that wouldn't be hard, assuming the intended way to fight the final boss is after you've appropriately prepared, with any low level attempts being for studying boss behavior and movesets

That game exist and is named Chrono Trigger, developped in 1995

​@@shadourow-bathory6965 Came here to see if anyone already said it, cheers

there is a few games not just jrpg that have the final boss at the start

It's a bit disappointing that RPGMaker (and other game engines) get abused in this way, but it's also unsurprising. I thought stock assets were being used, but I didn't know to what extent.

I'd love to see the creators of RPG Maker sue this joker, but that might discourage people from using the tool... Would that be a bad thing or a good thing?

@@EdKolis I don't mean to discourage people from using the RPG Maker series / engines. Some cool products have came out with people who built experience over years to create beatifical projects like Changed, Omori, Lisa the Painful, etc. The problem is that many new developers try to go straight into the engine expecting to make the next "Mona Lisa" and then selling it on Steam for $10. (Even worse if you sell it for $0.99 like newer devs). The best advice is that for your first, second, third, etc ; do not sell it. Even if it's your tenth, create your own assets. Barely anyone will buy a RPG Maker game with default assets, except RPG Maker devs. Again, the engine is perfect for beginner AND expert devs, but don't try to sell a game with only default assets without a purpose.

Correct, and that's why I take issue with the name - nothing else in the game has names with latin origin so thematically it just doesn't fit. Everything else is just standard high fantasy stuff. Funnily enough though, the "lore" DLC text dump actually has several latin references in the chapter titles. So had the lore actually made it into the game, I would have been less harsh on it

@@Graeldon Ehh, I thought your criticism of the word was way more pretentious and obnoxious than the inclusion of the word itself. It's where I clicked away from the video.

same, his reasoning also makes sense

"Fun" is an additional DLC that they never finished creating

I agree, and I would have cut the game some slack if it had those instruction on the launch screen. It shows they are trying to work with the game engine to the benefit of the player. That's helpful to know though, and I'll keep it in mind for when the next RPGMaker game crosses my path!

One of THE best RPGMaker games in existence, OMORI, doesn't have a "Adjust Window Size" on the Title Screen. I wouldn't hold too much against a game for not telling the player that. There IS an option in the options to adjust the window size, though. And most people find it, and do use it.

@@Dhalin it's a very unusual engine limitation

@Dhalin I haven't played OMORI but I'd be curious to see what the player drop-off rate is like

@@Graeldon Well, it was released in Dec. 20. It is now June '23 and I am *still* watching playthroughs of it to this day. It has 51,253 ratings on Steam, 97% of them are Positive, putting it very comfortably within the "Overwhelmingly Positive" category by Steam itself. It has 179 tracks in its OST (not counting the 5-ish tracks in the Console-Only content). If you wanna see spoiler-free examples of some gameplay, the newest two videos of my own channel are of OMORI.

He saw the rest of the game and noped outta there

If it's on Steam, maybe I will! If it's not on Steam, why not?

@@Graeldon It's nowhere near steam, haha! It was one of my "exercise games" where I was getting to grips with with the new maker. Still, I think it would be interesting to see it contrasted to this dumpster fire of a cash grab.

Feels like an early attempt at an AI generated RPG. That's an interesting future to consider.

@@Graeldonit very likely was

@@Graeldon THIS is exactly what I thought the whole time

That's an incredibly poetic description, I love it

i miss actually good rpg maker games

The things I have learned since releasing this video... I've filed that away for the next time an RPGMaker game comes up

​@@GraeldonLove how knowing this means there isn't anything the game does right XD

Yeah, I did some extra research after publishing this video and realised that there were other games that appear to now be de-listed. It's going to be interesting to see how many more games like this I have to play before I come across an RPGMaker game with some actual effort put into it

Creative use of stock assets will get a thumbs up from me for sure. As long as they get the level design, plot, character interactions, worldbuilding and core mdchanics right, it'll be a game worth of praise. Arcane Raise... did none of that.

The developer is given the capability to change the resolution at will, they just didn't know how to do it (it requires changing the script files, which are written in Ruby Programming language).

Sounds like it may be worth revisiting, polishing, and putting some of your older content out in the wild!

Well they probably tried to finish it in like 1 month, if you can make maybe like 3 thousand bucks in a month off of Stream you can make a business out of it. 🤷

I tried RPG maker myself for a while, but I never personally liked it as much as I did GameMaker. I felt it too hard to control the curve, though that was years ago and I may look at it again to try something. I do enjoy the process of making a game, and have always been a huge fan of RPGs. I still can't really art though.

I'm surprised it was this far along too, but I'm 100% sure there's many more on the horizon. I am hopeful though as a few people have commented that there are some great games made in the RPGMaker engine - just few and far between from the sounds of it though.

The funny thing is that there is a RPGMaker game I've played for so long that these stock assets to me have names and a story. And it's so goddamn weird to see them in a completely different and much worse context :D

rpg maker games actually take a long ass time to make lol

@@TsukiStuffs Games in general take a long ass time to make. But this is just an asset flip, asset flips aren't games.

@@antonioscendrategattico2302 that's debatable, but its also besides the point. if you've ever tried to make anything in rpg maker you know damn well it takes a while

You were doing a game of limbo with your expectations - they were doing a game of limbo with their effort.

All these years and years of technological and aesthetical development in JRPG and RPG Maker were only for THIS to be made! I'm very proud!🎉

Thanks for stumbling across my channel! RPGMaker definitely attracts a lot of first-time game devs, and that's a good thing! I'm looking forward to playing some actual good games made with engine someday. Unfortunately, there's likely a ton of asset flips like this to get through first. Ara Fell isn't too far away though... maybe only a couple of years at the pace I'm going haha

It'll definitely be worth the wait. If I were to make a direct comparison, Ara Fell is a lot like the Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. A good RPG for people new to the genre. It's simple, but the humor and music more than make up for it, in my opinion. In any case though, looking forward to hearing more reviews from you!

@@lionwithglasses8590 Mystic quest is one of the few Final Fantasy games I'm yet to play, so playing something in the same vein sounds interesting! Thanks for giving me something to look forward to!

You're very welcome!

@@Graeldon Projared didn't like Mystic quest cause its Easier than FF1.

The achievement count aspect could be correct, but there's only 37 of them. I've played a game with almost 5000. There were Steam reviews that mentioned being able to purchase a solid black steam profile background though, so maybe that's a part of it?

It's a good theory, but it's been confirmed that Steam achievements only count if the game has been played. That's why achievements that trigger when initializing the game will be 100%, but ones for starting a "new game" or competing a tutorial will not

😂😂 Apologies, that was not my intent, but it's a valid point! Chrono Trigger is definitely in my top 5 favourite JRPG's! I am always worried when reviewing these games that at some point I'll accidentally attract the ire of a fanbase I was completely unaware of haha

Given how much else is copy-pasted, I wouldn't be surprised if the bio line is also stolen from somewhere. If it is original, then it just adds to my confusion as to where the project went so wrong. And yes, more mages with guns please. Guns are just slightly less magical wands after all

@@Graeldon Dunno if guns are even magical if they have limits, like limited ammo and jams

It's not stolen from anywhere. It's the default bio for that character in RPG Maker, which makes It worse xd

@@ArjunTheRageGuy Like MP?

@@GeorgeDCowley what do u mean "MP"?

Thanks for taking the time to check out the channel! It's been really cool to see all the people discovering AND enjoying the content =)

I agree, it could absolutely be salvaged, but what we have is a project that feels like the dev just gave up after the tutorial was finished. A project with sky high ambition, but rock bottom realization.

Thanks for clarifying! I suspected that was the case! So the one thing the game gets right isn't even by design. Sounds about right haha

@@Graeldon yeah pretty much... this is lazy FOR a lazy rpgmaker game

@@shadoeboi212 And then they try and claim it'll be the best JRPG ever made... likely just intended as clickbait

Thanks for the love! I'm definitely trying to keep improving the scripts and editing, which makes me excited to see what the content will look like in another 6 months!

I am indeed! It's 100% an impossible task though. With over 70,000 games on Steam, and new ones added daily, even if all I did was spend 2 hours playing each before writing a review, that would still be nearly 16 years of continuous playtime. Reviewing one game per week would take roughly 1346 YEARS. I'm content to simply get as far as possible, and who knows, maybe one day someone will take over this project for me. Imagine in the future if there is a KZfaq account that has played and reviewed every single Steam game in existence. That would be incredible.

@@Graeldon they probably make games faster than you can download them

Other commenters had been speculating that the dungeons might be pre-made assets as well, thanks for confirming!

The accessibility of a game engine is a double-edged sword... I'm looking forward to playing a good RPGMaker game in the future. Heck, I'll take a mediocre one!

I hear the reason Unity stopped requiring games made using the free version of the engine to display a splash screen is they realized it was being associated with garbage!

Sturgeon's Law: 90% of everything is crap. Get more everything, get more crap. (But also more gems!) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

RPG Maker gets an unfair reputation, mostly because of trash like this.

@@Graeldon There are some great games that use RPG Maker as the foundation, such as Lisa: The Painful a side scrolling adventure through a wasteland where all the females have vanished. A feat not easily accomplished in an engine primarily designed for top down RPGs.

That's interesting, I can't find them on Steam even when I search by the title. Perhaps they've been region-locked?

Welcome to my little corner of madness!

That's a pretty accurate description. I finished it and thought "well that was pointless".

It looks like literally someone's first attempt at understanding how RPGMaker works. Putting it on Steam is like trying to sell your child's kindergarten scribbles on the international art market.

Thanks for the support! I was aiming for 100 subs at the end of the year hahaha

Welcome to the channel! Plenty of strange games to uncover, that's for sure!

You're right to call me out on that - I overlooked the Latin character names and the Latin chapter titles in the lore PDF. I'm still not a fan of it, simply because gold/Aurum as a currency doesn't make a lot of sense in a limbo world inhabited by spirits, but that's likely my personal bias coming through. I'll aim to do better in the future!

But latinizing some stuff IS just that - a stupid attempt at being pretentious while adding nothing of value.

@@noop9k It is when it's done with an air of just look of how clever I am, like most of what Neil Gaiman writes. World building is difficult in not getting hung up in minor details and focussing on separate elements without it coming together organically as a whole. (...And No Tolkien did not achieve it, just for the record.)

@@Graeldon Fantasy very often doesn't make sense and this RPG look incredibly bland. But most RPG maker games are. Well, that or they're really pretentious, like those angsty horror rpg games. "Look, it's trauma manifested in pubescent bloody symbolic images....shocking, daring, profound"

Having read a lot of the comments here, I'm actually shocked by how many assets are samples/free. I think only the tutorial, the hub area and maybe the tavern are original assets

Same thing with music also?

Probably the sole mercy is that they left the combat as easy instead of like some bad RPGMaker games where there's a stat wall, between an area you can curbstomp through and the next where you die in 3 turns max.

Absolutely, I want to be able to spot the minimum effort games from a mile away

@@Graeldon Mind you, not all RPGMaker games are bad, just the majority, because it's simply *that* easy to use.

But this VX Ace, which doesn't have a built-in settings menu.

Yeah, I'm generally less harsh on free games. But this was paid, with about $20 of DLC.

That sounds like a well thought out system! Just goes to show that stat boosts can be balanced when done right

Personally, I just made them available in limited quantity, a nice reward for exploration that gives you some character customization opportunities. That is, until the pre-final area where you could farm them. I mean, at that point you can grind to infinity, might as well make it fun and involve some further decision making.

They do indeed exist, but cannot be purchased, which is probably for the best. Judging by the comments, I'll have plenty of bad RPGMaker games to play in the future!

The channel is growing, and faster than I was hoping for! I was aiming for 100 subs by December haha I'm really glad to see people enjoying this content!

I like this idea! Two sides of the same person... stuck in a limbo world until the halves are united into a whole. There's some interesting potential there!

​@@GraeldonAnd it was already realized...by another Atlus game, Digital Devil Saga 2