Hit-Level is again with one other RPG, Gale of Windoria. Regardless of what the clickbait headline on one other Nintendo web site mentioned, there’s nothing Zelda-inspired about this. It’s a standard RPG, the type KEMCO is thought for publishing. They’ve revealed so many who we will’t presumably sustain. And reality be instructed, they will blur collectively.
Typically, what elevates one among these titles is the plot. Sadly, Gale of Windoria’s story is uneven. It begins with a mom telling “a narrative of legend” to a toddler. You’ll quickly take management of a younger boy named Shan. Ultimately, alongside his magical band of elemental allies, he’ll discover himself making an attempt to avoid wasting his good friend from being a stay sacrifice and the world from a cult and evil deity. It has its moments, extra so within the earlier goings, nevertheless it doubles down on cliches the additional you go.
Gale of Windoria appears to have its sights set on a type of technomancy/magitech hybrid. Nonetheless, different video games from this developer/writer duo have pulled it off higher. Honoka, the hearth maiden, says it finest: “Unknown know-how, eh…For me, that’s similar to magic”. The steadiness positively ideas in favor of the latter, typically in goofy methods. Even Shan admits he can’t observe all of it.
Deities are used as minimal-effort story tropes. Your robotic Gachu? It’s not sufficient that he’s armored, stuffed with circuits, and has a mechanical mind; he’s additionally a golem powered by magic. Your flying ship? Scientific cutting-edge tech is cool, nevertheless it wants a deity spirit to energy it. Not solely does this promote the tech angle quick, nevertheless it makes satisfying explanations uncommon. Slap a deity on it and name it a day. A few of the bush-league writing will be eye-rolling at occasions.
When it comes to gameplay, you’ve got your customary turn-based battles and dungeon crawling battling all manners of mutants and monsters. The basic angle comes primarily by way of your allies. Whereas Shan can solely use wind, Bathlet, for instance, makes ice platforms so you possibly can navigate over water. Gimmicks like these are useful for opening paths within the dungeons. After every enemy encounter, your well being and talent factors revert absolutely, as seen in different Hit-Level RPGs like Monster Viator. So no inns to sleep at or potions to purchase, making for a breezier journey. The mini-map (in lots of however not all KEMCO-published RPGs) can be appreciated for exploration. Whether or not these parts make the sport err on the aspect of ease is subjective.
What could make the sport objectively simple is the standard KEMCO DLC. I’ve performed many video games from this writer, however this was the primary time I made a decision to examine one out. So I went for “Expertise x3, the place expertise gained in battle is tripled, at $4.99. In need of the second wave of the ultimate boss (which I received’t spoil), I assumed the sport was too simple. Saving your cash and grinding the standard approach may be preferable. In the event you get bored, use auto-battle (although the CPU isn’t shiny); it’s not as dangerous as I’ve seen in others.
The relative ease leaves me with little to say in regards to the Quartz battle system. On paper, you navigate by means of cluttered menus and small icons to boost your stats, purchase new abilities, and so forth. However in follow, it’s not often wanted. As soon as I landed on a collection of go-to strikes, my want to experiment weakened. It wasn’t till that final boss that I felt inclined to correctly spend money on it because of the problem spike.
My emotions are much like Machine Knight (additionally from the identical dev/writer duo) so permit me to cite from that assessment. (substitute board for Quartz) “There’s depth potential for these wanting to actually delve into it, however on the similar time the board can be pushed extra in the direction of the background and fiddled with simply every now and then.” Have been this my first KEMCO-published RPG, I most likely wouldn’t bat a watch. However after taking part in so many, I used to be left hoping for extra. Unusually, there’s no post-game content material on this one, additional eliminating the necessity to dive deeply into the battle system.
Graphically, Gale of Windoria is a fairly enticing sport from this dev/writer combo. Hanahana (the Land of Earth) particularly impresses with its lush greenery. Occasional scenes of background imagery give a delightful sense of scope. The characters all differ in look, reflecting their elemental background. The dearth of character portraits hurts, although. In principle, enjoyable display screen artwork might compensate, however these screens are so few and much between they fail to make a lot of an affect. The supporting music doesn’t at all times match (some easy jazz), however I preferred it. I even obtained a optimistic remark from my spouse when she heard it. Aesthetics, whereas typical, are performed effectively for what they’re.
General, Gale of Windoria is likely one of the extra common RPGs I’ve performed. The story is uneven, the battle system choices largely pointless, and the dearth of post-game content material makes it an outlier amongst its contemporaries. So whereas the breezy familiarity can maintain some enchantment for followers, in the event you’re in search of stuff you haven’t seen earlier than, I’d look elsewhere.
The place do you have to look? How about beginning with Crystal Ortha, one other Hit-Level RPG revealed by KEMCO.
