Gomie doesn't want to dogpile on Dragon Chaser

Write and read reviews of games that have been uploaded to Slime Salad.

Moderators: Bob the Hamster, marionline, SDHawk

Post Reply
User avatar
Gizmog
Metal King Slime
Posts: 2622
Joined: Tue Feb 19, 2008 5:41 am

Gomie doesn't want to dogpile on Dragon Chaser

Post by Gizmog »

The other reviews of this game are so close to my experiences with this game, I'm going to keep it very short. It's not a bad game, there's a lot of towns you can visit and NPCs and it's got that first game charm. So long as you stay on the paths, you'll have a pretty good time. In that respect, it's probably a pretty accurate depiction of what life would be like in an RPG world. There are a few mistakes made, and unfortunately they're bad enough to make the game pretty unplayable beyond a wandering villager sim.

Battles, battles, battles. It's always the battles. I played this game for ten minutes before I ran into my first battle. Sticking to the paths IS safe, and no doubt, I had wondered off the path when I hit the battle. Maybe battle is a generous word. A couple of goblin lookin things took me out in one hit. So I started over. Found the mayor, found a place to save the game, and wandered just outside of the first town to do battle. A rat! Perfect! 20 seconds later, I was ready to take a swing. He hit me first, and my character, whose name I finally knew was Kaliope, let out a scream! A scream I was going to hear 9 more times before the battle was over. The rat and I swapped blows for a few minutes before I was the victor, bloody, but victorious. And what prize did I get for this epic battle of enter holding?

2 Exp. No gold. 14 more like this, and I'd be at level 2. I went back to town to the inn and was shocked: Healing cost 5 GP. I had 10 GP. Looked like Level 2 was being cancelled due to budget cuts. So, I went back to the trail of bread crumbs. Knight told me to go to town. First townie told me to talk to the mayor. Mayor told me to go upstairs and get some armor. That was the end of the trail. Wandered around and decided I'd pretty much seen what there was to see.

A lot of effort went into this game. The graphics are original, the maptiles are super retro and the walkabouts are only okay. Even though I like the maptiles, I stsill gotta harp that it can be hard to tell what you can walk on and what you can't. There's a map with dirt and grass and its hard to tell if its a dirt path through a hedge maze or what. Hard to tell if brick walls can be walked on, too. I can't hate on it too hard because Dragon Warrior was a lot like that, and the title screen cites DW as an influence.

The dude also composed his own music, some of which is promising. Title screen in particular. I think it suffers a little from OHR midi support, where you can't control the volume of individual instruments? So the percussion and the melody are right there at the same level of loud and it gets kinda noisy. Hearing the scream sound effect so many times in the battle got kind of annoying, but the first games that had voice were like that too, so maybe that's also a concession to retro.

If you like to wander around, it's not that big of a download (though the author didn't provide the executable which is an extra step to playing your game. Always make it as easy to play as possible! The game description even acknowledges that the author knew better! The more steps between the player and your game, the less likely they are to check it out! And it sounds crass, but no pics = no clicks! Even slimy screenshots are better than nothing.) so you could maybe check it out. The battles are too hard to make a run at, there's not enough bread crumbs to follow the story, but you can see the effort there. Hell, I think in the first town you can see the point the author learned how to do doors. An interesting time capsule in that regard, good first step as a game designer.
Attachments
My interest in the game was revived for 4 more minutes.
My interest in the game was revived for 4 more minutes.
dragonchaser2011x0034.png (26.97 KiB) Viewed 2289 times
That's good advice, but aren't these guys spooky?
That's good advice, but aren't these guys spooky?
dragonchaser2011x0031.png (22.35 KiB) Viewed 2289 times
If you see this, it's already too late.
If you see this, it's already too late.
dragonchaser2011x0025.png (36.11 KiB) Viewed 2289 times
Oooh, sidequest!
Oooh, sidequest!
dragonchaser2011x0021.png (26.04 KiB) Viewed 2289 times
Love NPCs with personality.
Love NPCs with personality.
dragonchaser2011x0019.png (23.4 KiB) Viewed 2289 times
Legalize it.
Legalize it.
dragonchaser2011x0012.png (28.57 KiB) Viewed 2289 times
This is what the mayor looks like.
This is what the mayor looks like.
dragonchaser2011x0038.png (40.84 KiB) Viewed 2289 times
Presumably, this is foreshadowing!
Presumably, this is foreshadowing!
dragonchaser2011x0040.png (26.2 KiB) Viewed 2289 times
Post Reply