Vikings of Midgard: Revisited

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Vikings of Midgard: Revisited

Post by Meatballsub »

<a href="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... .png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-247" alt="viking0000" src="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... 24x639.png" width="625" height="390"></a>

About six years ago, I played through and <a href="http://www.slimesalad.com/forum/viewtop ... ">reviewed the Ubersetzung version of Vikings of Midgard</a>. I'm assuming that most know of the game at this point, but if you don't, I'll provide a brief background of the title.

<a href="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... .png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-248" alt="viking0001" src="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... 24x639.png" width="625" height="390"></a>

James Paige, creator of the OHRRPGCE, wanted a new game to bundle in with the engine to show new players what the OHRRPGCE had to offer. Fenrir-Lunaris, Artimus Bena, and a few other developers made this happen by creating Vikings of Midgard. Though it was a good game back when it was first released, it has come a long way since that time. Last weekend I was finally able to sit down and play the latest version of the game (released in 2012, I believe). For the most part I'm still extremely impressed with the game, though it still suffers from a few minor setbacks.

<a href="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... .png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-249" alt="viking0005" src="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... 24x639.png" width="625" height="390"></a>

The story is essentially the same though the delivery has been tweaked slightly here and there. You still play as a band of Vikings that help the Norse Gods ultimately save the world from dark entities. Unlike the Ubersetzung version, you no longer are able to choose your team of characters from the beginning of the game. Instead, each character is found while traveling the world and all have their own unique introductions. I was extremely impressed by this as it gives the individual characters a little more personality as opposed to before.

<a href="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... .png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-250" alt="viking0006" src="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... 24x639.png" width="625" height="390"></a>

There are TONS of scripted events throughout the game which highlight certain individual characters. Again, I was fascinated by this as it really helped solidify the uniqueness amongst the cast of heroes. Scripted events usually helped push the story further, but occasionally served only as a way to grant your heroes new abilities. This is another big change from Ubersetzung where your characters learned most of the abilities in combat. Instead, there are a lot of script-driven events that give your characters new abilities as well as further insight into their backstories. The dialogue overall is well written though I still saw several spelling errors along the way. Honestly thought that is about the only negative thing I could say about the story or dialogue at this point.

<a href="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... .png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-251" alt="viking0007" src="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... 24x639.png" width="625" height="390"></a>

Graphics are still top notch, as Fenrir-Lunaris always shows in his games. His maptiles are probably the "worst" of what he does but the quality still exceeds 90% of what most respectful OHRRPGCE users can do. Fenrir is the absolute KING of enemy sprites and by far my favorite artist for huge enemy sprites as well. The music is more or less the same as it was before, but it is still an incredible soundtrack the second time around. Artimus Bena, with the help of a few others, did a fantastic job bringing alive the world of Midgard through the score.

<a href="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... .png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-252" alt="viking0009" src="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... 24x639.png" width="625" height="390"></a>

Despite all of the obvious goodness this game has to offer, I still am a little bothered by a couple of things. In my first review, I mentioned how easy the game was, and for the most part it still is today. I noticed that a few things have been adjusted to make some attacks not quite as powerful as they used to be, but it still seems really easy in my opinion. You still have bucket loads of cash allowing you to buy an infinite amount of consumables, encouraging people the spam the strongest attacks to win.

<a href="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... .png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-253" alt="viking0010" src="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... 24x639.png" width="625" height="390"></a>

I do like the fact that Fenrir made it a little more difficult to obtain some weapons and armor though. Before, most things could be purchased solely with cash. In the latest version, materials have to be dropped from certain enemies in order for some equipment to be "crafted". There is one shop that sells most of these reagents, but you can't get to him until very late into the game. I just wish the same feature would have been applied to money as well. In my opinion, reducing the amount of cash every enemy drops or removing cash drops from certain enemies altogether would go a long way into improving the difficulty of the game. I still have no idea what vigor does for the heroes, so an in-game explanation of that stat would be fantastic as well.

<a href="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... .png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-254" alt="viking0014" src="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... 24x639.png" width="625" height="390"></a>

All of the negativity is still extremely small in comparison to all that Vikings has to offer though. Some people may not even be bothered by the difficulty, especially those who enjoyed the SNES versions of FFIV and VI. Even though I like for my coffee to be a tad bit stronger, I still think Vikings is a great representation of what can be done on the engine and I hope that it is completely finished some day.

<a href="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... .png"><img class="alignnone size-large wp-image-255" alt="viking0016" src="http://mocbjsoftware.com/wp-content/upl ... 24x639.png" width="625" height="390"></a>
Last edited by Meatballsub on Mon Jul 01, 2013 7:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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