If you haven't played the game yet, then don't read inside the spoiler! It's a review that contains ... 
: Spoilers!
Instead, download and play the game. I guarantee you'll love it.
: Spoilers!Instead, download and play the game. I guarantee you'll love it.
Loved:
Auria: Cementing this character into a real-life scenario at the start of the game was a great idea. She goes to school just like we all have (and hates it, just like we all have). She comments on local hang-outs like Ned's diner. She has a strong sense of independance, common in a modern world. She has to deal with menial modern issues like buying a new cell phone charger. She even has friends that comment on things like schoolwork and shows. All of these elements allow the player to build up a really quick connection with Auria, which is something that even a lot of professional RPGs are missing.
The way she comments on the situations she encounters in an honest, humane way, really makes you feel for her. How she reacts to the bodies in Ciel for example, or after killing a Virad who turned out to be her host's husband, really punctuates the fact that these are people being killed here, not typical fantasy monsters. Even her journal, although optional, leads to some more interesting character traits about Auria, giving the player a chance to get to know her logical way of seeing things, and slightly cynical view of life.
The final battle against Auria in her Virad form, although I had suspected the possibility of her being related to them, led to me thinking: "What!? NO! I can't lose Auria! Don't make me kill this character!" And thank god she wasn't ejected from the party to become a villain. But that moment of doubt as to where this would lead was a pretty powerful moment thanks to all the above.
Visuals: The original sprites, particularly during the battles, really give this game a sense of individuality. Even though most of the resources are from the RTP, it still stands out a mile from the plethora of RTP based games thanks to the unique feel generated by these sprites, the character portraits, and the lighting effects used. The mist in Ciel was well implemented, the sunsets were atmospheric, and every village had its own feel thanks to some sort of lighting effect (Mortagne's yellow hue for example).
Customization: Being able to assign stat points through the level up menu is a great addition, especially when it really lends to the tactics utilized in battle, such as the reactions commands. It really gives the feeling that you are in control of how Auria is developing, and leaves you craving for more chances to level up. The skills had a lot of potential to add to this customization, but fell short for reasons i'll get on to further down the page.
Battles: Battles were a love/hate section of the game for me, hence being included in both sections. The fully animated sprites, unique feel, and fresh magical attacks certainly give this an amazing eye-candy quality, and is probably going to be the most recognizable aspect of Vacant Sky. The reaction commands offered a greater tactical approach to battles, if a little unbalanced as Crystalgate mentioned, but were certainly a welcome addition. Hopefully this can be cleaned up a bit in future releases, especially the 'Counter' command on enemies.
Original Score: Wow. And that really is all that would need to be said, but I'll elaborate since Tarranon is looking for feedback! The vocal tracks are very impressive, and give a great entrance and curtain call to the game. It starts with a beautiful song, and ends with a beautiful song. So what about the game's duration? Well, the vast majority of the scenes have slow, easy-listening tracks, which accompany the mood of the storyline perfectly. The tracks that really stood out to me were Ciel's - for the haunting quality of the scene and music combined. And when Weapon jumps out of the portal in Mortagne's library. The sudden switch from slow music to a fast-paced turbo charged track was as much a welcome shock as Weapon's appearance was. just when I was beginning to forget about the trio in the intro, here one of them is! With an awesome soundtrack to boot!
Conversations with Zaq and Seri: These were very well handled. Rather than forcing the history and politics of the world and its people on the players, we're given the option to ask about these things. The information was there for people like myself who love backstory to delve into, and could be easily avoided for players who'd rather delve back into the action and main storyline without any down-time.
Disliked:
Skills: These had great potential as a customization feature, but since they are forced on the player from the start, who doesn't have a clue which ones will be useful during the adventure, it's all a little too confusing to start off with. How many skill points are required for a skill to be useful? Does it pay off to place all the points in one skill, divide them equally between two or three, or divide them between all of the skills? I figured that each skill would be equally useful in one way or another, and opted to focus on Charisma and Lockpicking.
Lockpicking came in useful for a quest in the first town, and then was never needed again. Charisma was a skill I used a few times, one of which rewarded me with a very aesthetic title screen! The only other skill I found I may have needed was Gathering for the herb containers. You're even told that if your gathering skill isn't high enough you can leave the container and come back to it later on. Really? Unless this is going to be implemented later on, there was no way I found of backtracking.
A lot of the skills weren't able to be used at all as far as I could see, such as Enchanting and... Blacksmithing? Or Crafting perhaps. Essentially, this skill customization has a lot of potential to be another great addition to the game, but seems tacked on with little thought at the moment. There is no way of knowing which skills will be useful, how many points are required to be efficient enough in a skill before investing in another one, and not enough chances to use a skill (except for Charisma and Gathering). It should also be worth noting, that most games that use skills (KOTOR for example) allow all characters to use skills, so that with the right party match-up you can eventually be proficient in all skills across the board. Restricting skills to just one character feels like you are being forced into deciding which areas of the game to lock yourself out of, rather than being given a fun way of accessing new content.
Battles: Mainly because none of them are optional, though this is obviously attributed to the lack of exploration which i'll highlight below. The other issues I had with the battle system were the lack of effectiveness from items, and the turn bar on the right of the screen. The healing potion costs a fairly large amount of cash for what you have, and only heals 25% HP. At end-game 25% might be a lot, but for the first three levels that only heals for slightly more than an enemy hits for. Using a potion is more like postponing the outcome of the battle than actually doing anything beneficial. Zaq's First Aid skill heals a similar amount and can be used several times in each battle, which works out a lot more efficiently than spending all your cash on a small handful of potions.
As far as the turn bar is concerned, it doesn't always hold true. There were times I saw that Zaq was going to get to act next for example, but then Ray's command prompt appeared instead. It seemed to be mistaking the order in which the party character's would get to act, if more than one of them was lined up to attack in a row. So at least I never saw an enemy take a turn when it should have been one of the party member's turns according to the bar.
Exploration: Or lack of. There were so many moments when the characters were about to leave a village on their '7 hour journey' to the next town, only to have that 7 hour journey encapsulated in one black screen as the game loaded their destination. Even linear games need to have a sense of exploration. The potential for these journeys from one location to the next was slapping me in the face too. Imagine the conversations that could have occured along the way, getting to find out more about the character's backgrounds, and the world in which the game is set. Most importantly, no exploration meant no random encounters, and no random encounters meant no chance to level your characters ahead of the game. Aiming to keep the game a challenge is always a good thing, and having a story line that doesn't require grinding is an exceptional feat. But removing that option to work on building the characters and honing their abilities is painful to play. I kept longing to explore more of the world's environments, and strengthen my characters for the next boss fight. Isn't that part of what separates a game from a book or film? the ability to explore?
Overall I thought this was an amazing game. I loved every minute that I got out of this first chapter, and i'm left with a huge anticipation for the second installment. There may have been some elements that didn't quite come together, but every game has its faults, and these are so far outweighed by the game's amazing storyline, captivating battle scenes, great customization, and lovable characters, that they won't be troubling players much at all. Great work all around!
Auria: Cementing this character into a real-life scenario at the start of the game was a great idea. She goes to school just like we all have (and hates it, just like we all have). She comments on local hang-outs like Ned's diner. She has a strong sense of independance, common in a modern world. She has to deal with menial modern issues like buying a new cell phone charger. She even has friends that comment on things like schoolwork and shows. All of these elements allow the player to build up a really quick connection with Auria, which is something that even a lot of professional RPGs are missing.
The way she comments on the situations she encounters in an honest, humane way, really makes you feel for her. How she reacts to the bodies in Ciel for example, or after killing a Virad who turned out to be her host's husband, really punctuates the fact that these are people being killed here, not typical fantasy monsters. Even her journal, although optional, leads to some more interesting character traits about Auria, giving the player a chance to get to know her logical way of seeing things, and slightly cynical view of life.
The final battle against Auria in her Virad form, although I had suspected the possibility of her being related to them, led to me thinking: "What!? NO! I can't lose Auria! Don't make me kill this character!" And thank god she wasn't ejected from the party to become a villain. But that moment of doubt as to where this would lead was a pretty powerful moment thanks to all the above.
Visuals: The original sprites, particularly during the battles, really give this game a sense of individuality. Even though most of the resources are from the RTP, it still stands out a mile from the plethora of RTP based games thanks to the unique feel generated by these sprites, the character portraits, and the lighting effects used. The mist in Ciel was well implemented, the sunsets were atmospheric, and every village had its own feel thanks to some sort of lighting effect (Mortagne's yellow hue for example).
Customization: Being able to assign stat points through the level up menu is a great addition, especially when it really lends to the tactics utilized in battle, such as the reactions commands. It really gives the feeling that you are in control of how Auria is developing, and leaves you craving for more chances to level up. The skills had a lot of potential to add to this customization, but fell short for reasons i'll get on to further down the page.
Battles: Battles were a love/hate section of the game for me, hence being included in both sections. The fully animated sprites, unique feel, and fresh magical attacks certainly give this an amazing eye-candy quality, and is probably going to be the most recognizable aspect of Vacant Sky. The reaction commands offered a greater tactical approach to battles, if a little unbalanced as Crystalgate mentioned, but were certainly a welcome addition. Hopefully this can be cleaned up a bit in future releases, especially the 'Counter' command on enemies.
Original Score: Wow. And that really is all that would need to be said, but I'll elaborate since Tarranon is looking for feedback! The vocal tracks are very impressive, and give a great entrance and curtain call to the game. It starts with a beautiful song, and ends with a beautiful song. So what about the game's duration? Well, the vast majority of the scenes have slow, easy-listening tracks, which accompany the mood of the storyline perfectly. The tracks that really stood out to me were Ciel's - for the haunting quality of the scene and music combined. And when Weapon jumps out of the portal in Mortagne's library. The sudden switch from slow music to a fast-paced turbo charged track was as much a welcome shock as Weapon's appearance was. just when I was beginning to forget about the trio in the intro, here one of them is! With an awesome soundtrack to boot!
Conversations with Zaq and Seri: These were very well handled. Rather than forcing the history and politics of the world and its people on the players, we're given the option to ask about these things. The information was there for people like myself who love backstory to delve into, and could be easily avoided for players who'd rather delve back into the action and main storyline without any down-time.
Disliked:
Skills: These had great potential as a customization feature, but since they are forced on the player from the start, who doesn't have a clue which ones will be useful during the adventure, it's all a little too confusing to start off with. How many skill points are required for a skill to be useful? Does it pay off to place all the points in one skill, divide them equally between two or three, or divide them between all of the skills? I figured that each skill would be equally useful in one way or another, and opted to focus on Charisma and Lockpicking.
Lockpicking came in useful for a quest in the first town, and then was never needed again. Charisma was a skill I used a few times, one of which rewarded me with a very aesthetic title screen! The only other skill I found I may have needed was Gathering for the herb containers. You're even told that if your gathering skill isn't high enough you can leave the container and come back to it later on. Really? Unless this is going to be implemented later on, there was no way I found of backtracking.
A lot of the skills weren't able to be used at all as far as I could see, such as Enchanting and... Blacksmithing? Or Crafting perhaps. Essentially, this skill customization has a lot of potential to be another great addition to the game, but seems tacked on with little thought at the moment. There is no way of knowing which skills will be useful, how many points are required to be efficient enough in a skill before investing in another one, and not enough chances to use a skill (except for Charisma and Gathering). It should also be worth noting, that most games that use skills (KOTOR for example) allow all characters to use skills, so that with the right party match-up you can eventually be proficient in all skills across the board. Restricting skills to just one character feels like you are being forced into deciding which areas of the game to lock yourself out of, rather than being given a fun way of accessing new content.
Battles: Mainly because none of them are optional, though this is obviously attributed to the lack of exploration which i'll highlight below. The other issues I had with the battle system were the lack of effectiveness from items, and the turn bar on the right of the screen. The healing potion costs a fairly large amount of cash for what you have, and only heals 25% HP. At end-game 25% might be a lot, but for the first three levels that only heals for slightly more than an enemy hits for. Using a potion is more like postponing the outcome of the battle than actually doing anything beneficial. Zaq's First Aid skill heals a similar amount and can be used several times in each battle, which works out a lot more efficiently than spending all your cash on a small handful of potions.
As far as the turn bar is concerned, it doesn't always hold true. There were times I saw that Zaq was going to get to act next for example, but then Ray's command prompt appeared instead. It seemed to be mistaking the order in which the party character's would get to act, if more than one of them was lined up to attack in a row. So at least I never saw an enemy take a turn when it should have been one of the party member's turns according to the bar.
Exploration: Or lack of. There were so many moments when the characters were about to leave a village on their '7 hour journey' to the next town, only to have that 7 hour journey encapsulated in one black screen as the game loaded their destination. Even linear games need to have a sense of exploration. The potential for these journeys from one location to the next was slapping me in the face too. Imagine the conversations that could have occured along the way, getting to find out more about the character's backgrounds, and the world in which the game is set. Most importantly, no exploration meant no random encounters, and no random encounters meant no chance to level your characters ahead of the game. Aiming to keep the game a challenge is always a good thing, and having a story line that doesn't require grinding is an exceptional feat. But removing that option to work on building the characters and honing their abilities is painful to play. I kept longing to explore more of the world's environments, and strengthen my characters for the next boss fight. Isn't that part of what separates a game from a book or film? the ability to explore?
Overall I thought this was an amazing game. I loved every minute that I got out of this first chapter, and i'm left with a huge anticipation for the second installment. There may have been some elements that didn't quite come together, but every game has its faults, and these are so far outweighed by the game's amazing storyline, captivating battle scenes, great customization, and lovable characters, that they won't be troubling players much at all. Great work all around!