[INDENT]The following review is based on the demo version of Iron Gaia Part II: Mana From Heaven. It may contain spoilers with no immediate warning. Read at your own risk!

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c82/u ... tars-3.gif[/IMG] Story
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c82/u ... tars-2.gif[/IMG] Gameplay
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c82/u ... tars-4.gif[/IMG] Graphics
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c82/u ... ars-25.gif[/IMG] Sound
http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c82/u ... tars-3.gif[/IMG] Presentation

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c82/u ... tars-3.gif[/IMG] Overall (not an average)


I believe it would be best to go about doing a €˜compliment sandwich’ type of thing to describe Iron Gaia Part II: Mana From Heaven: I’ll start with something great about the game, move on to areas needing improvement, and end with a compliment. Although, I do fear that it may end up being more of a compliment ice-cream cone in which the top scoop is a delicious chocolate-brownie-fudge combination and the following scoops are, well, plain Jane vanilla. But hey, the cone at the end is kind of good, right? €¦Right?

I’m sure you’re here for the same reason I am. And if you’re not, then something is wrong with you. Iron Gaia Part II is perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing RMXP game shown to date. Everything seems to have been meticulously worked on for hours, and the result is nothing short of amazing. As to be expected, the first glimpse of this beauty comes in the masterfully created title screen. The foreground is adorned with a flashy, attention-grabbing font, and the background portrays a city wholly devastated and in ruins. Strangely, the combination of mass ruin and inviting text irked my curiosity more than it should have, and I felt strangely compelled to start the game right away.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c82/u ... Gaia-5.jpg[/IMG]

The title screen, which I’m sure you’re all very familiar with.

Following a short and fairly boring summary of the events from Iron Gaia Part I €“ which, from what I could tell, contained only one piece of original artwork; the rest was a handful of Googled scenes from various sci-fi movies and the like €“ I was thrown into a junkyard, as to be expected from the title screen’s background. This was no ordinary junkyard, however; it was a collection of trash heaps at their graphical best. The tilesets are a combination of custom work, ripped graphics, a handful of KNightblade pieces, and a couple of RTP chunks, and as to be expected, there are some consistency issues, but they still are some of the best modern/futuristic sets for RMXP yet to be released. Perhaps the most obvious graphical inconsistency is that the RTP-styled character sprites clash violently with the heavy detail of the ripped graphics. While we’re on the subject of characters, the portraits of the major characters that show up during dialogue are perhaps even more eye-popping than the title screen and tilesets combined. They are beautifully hand-drawn works of art and give a much-needed sense of individuality to their respective characters.

And while we’re still on the subject of characters, this may be a good time to point out that despite their attractive portrait counterparts, these are some of the most mundane, dull, and uninspired characters I have played as. The intro scene is about five minutes of dialogue between four characters as they sit around a fire in this junkyard: Carter, the party leader with a fuzzy memory; Tom, the generic big tough-guy brute; Mariah, the unexplained female tomboy that also has a fragmented memory; and lastly, we have Xenos, the mind-reading alien. During this yawn-inspiring scene, the monotony is occasionally interrupted by a four-second or less scene of a mysterious man running through a nearby building. These brief foreshadowing scenes did nothing to distract me from what I feared most would plague this game: unimaginative dialogue. Every character, no matter how physically different, speaks with the same dialect-less, universal, unheard voice. The only characters that occasionally shows signs of creative dialogue is the alien, Xenos, but these uncommon performances of genuine personality are too far apart. Come on, a large, brute-ish Marine shouldn’t speak with the same enunciation and fluidness as an €˜educated’ alien; similarly, a woman with a disjointed memory should speak in disjointed sentences, not as clearly and thought-out as Carter’s inquiries.

Just as I was about to call it quits and take a nap or do something similarly interesting, a surprising event finally grasped my attention. The man shown earlier running through the building was revealed to be a sniper. He takes aim, and POW! goes the head of Xenos. Carter is infuriated at the loss of his friend (though I half expected him to hardly react to the death) and expresses his anger by swearing. A lot. For the next minute or so, nearly every other word is a curse word. The anger and the myriad of emotions that he is feeling is evident, yet the excessive cursing just seems childish and immature. I’m not sure if that was a creative way for the writer to express Carter’s immaturity or the writer’s immaturity leaking through into the game, to be honest. The three remaining friends then flee into a nearby underground bunker to escape the sniper.

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One shot, one kill. The enemy sniper prepares for his kill while the heroes wait unknowingly.

The bunker, like the junkyard, is strikingly beautiful. It’s dark, it’s eerie, and it has the creepy feel of something you would expect to find in a Resident Evil game. The only source of light is the small globe of visibility around the character. However, similar to the junkyard tileset, the character sprites don’t match well with the high detail of the metallic walls and floors. Despite the dungeon’s physical beauty, I was quite disappointed with the audio of the dungeon. The eerie feel could have been exponentially enhanced with ambient sound effects, such as dripping water and zombie moans. The background music was quite fitting and added to the mood sufficiently, but my eardrums yearned for more.

This dungeon is pretty straightforward in the way it plays out: You turn on the power to open one door, get a key from that room, open a new door with the key, fight a boss, and leave. Nothing too innovative here, and everything is laid out pretty flat in front of you. Even with the lights on, though, the aesthetic creepiness remains in the entire bunker. Some of the rooms have innovative lighting effects that flick on and off, giving a remarkable sense of realism to the game.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c82/u ... Gaia-4.jpg[/IMG]

The light on the right flickers on and off. Spooky!

The battle system, like the dungeon’s gameplay, isn’t anything to gawk over. Its hero battlers are wonderful and certainly unique; the backs of the characters are towards the player while the characters themselves face the enemies they are fighting. (It eludes me as to why this wasn’t done before.) But it is fundamentally the same system we’ve all played hundreds of times. Most of the enemies can be dealt with very easily, I found, by using Carter’s €œFlux” ability. But to be honest, I played through the dungeon twice. The first time, I felt it was extremely hard and the enemies had an unfair advantage in strength and numbers. The second time through, however, I could crush the enemies while getting hit only once or twice. Hell, I even beat the boss of the dungeon €“ a massive, zombie-like blob of flesh €“ without getting hit once. This can prove one of two things (or both things): 1, the battle system involves more strategy than mashing the enter button, and 2, I was a little slow the first time and didn’t pay much attention to strategy. I wasn’t too pleased with and of the battle music options (the player can select one of four battle themes, which seemed more like a gimmick than anything else).

At this point, the only real saving grace of the gameplay is what is called the Augmentation System. The Augmentation System is an enhancement shop that has a wide selection of enhancements and upgrades available for any of the playable characters €“ or at least, the three playable characters in the demo. I must admit that the idea of purchasing an ankle blade that enables €˜devastating power attacks’ was more than enough incentive to try to dispatch enough enemies to earn the 5000 nanites €“ the game’s currency €“ needed to purchase it. If it wasn’t for this enhancement system, I genuinely would see no reason in fighting enemies.

http://i25.photobucket.com/albums/c82/u ... Gaia-1.jpg[/IMG]

The dungeon would actually be much more fun with more easter eggs like this lightswitch-activated treat.

The demo took me about 56 minutes to complete, which certainly could be increased much further if one were to save up nanites and purchase a handful of augmentation upgrades. As the game is right now, there isn’t much going for it other than the great visuals. The gameplay is generic and unoriginal; the characters are flat, under-developed bunches of pixels; and the story is, well, confusing at this point. Sure, it’s just a demo, but we should at least have some clue as to where we’ll be going to next. Still, though, the game is put together well and has a polished feel to most aspects of it. There are very few grammar errors in the dialogue and even fewer technical bugs. The game definitely has potential, if not solely because of the unique graphics; but I still feel it will need more than a character enhancement system to really keep people interested from start to finish.[/INDENT]

*pokes* Oiya! Use the spoiler tag! with <> as [] instead! And use it now!

Personally I figure it'd be nice if reviewers, instead of being finicky about systems (not you, Unimagi, but gamingworld folk who got nasty) turned around and contributed things they thought could make it better. Instead you get people all pretentious about something they couldn't create a shadow of if they tried, being all idealistic and bagging someone else's hard work. Again, not bagging you, Unimaginatirun. Unless you don't put things in spoilers. Then we're all gonna poke you! ^_^

I personally thought the intro was great. Played other games with the cliché, "oh I have a dark past, I have a dark past too, none of us remember" introductions, but HERE you had the sniper with his cloaking device and all sneaking by - and you weren't sure you saw him at first - I think that was marvellously done. Clichés can be just fine if they're done differently to the usual thing, and by breaking the intro conversation up like that it stayed interesting.

I figure you'll learn more about the kind of voices your characters have as you create, and you'll go back and polish as needed, if needed. It's a DEMO, for chrissakes ^_^

And there's nothing wrong with using pictures offa google. Some of us aren't spriters or artists at all! If we had to draw everything ourselves we'd be in our graves and still not past the half way mark. As long as the picture is relevant for the feel, gopher it! But whatever, personal opinion. Heh.

Anyway, thassall. Just in here to whack people with spoiler tags. :)

Wow. Unimaginitarian, can you do that for every game?

I didn't agree entirely with your assessment of IG2, but as a critic myself I have to tell you that was a splendid review. I liked how you worked in the screenshots. Feedback like that for every project would really help me and others sort through these threads quick and pick the projects we want to take a look at.

It is probably in poor taste to defends one's own game, particularly with vehemence and a sharp tongue. I am not always a classy guy. This is probably an instance of said unclassiness. Sorry, guys.

UNIMAGINITARIAN:
1. In principle and theory, thank you for the lengthy and detailed review.

2. In practice, I don't know what to say but 'eff you, buddy'. While I love Ryan's art and Ryan's mapping as much as the next guy (and probably more) the REAL REASON I'm making this game is to tell a great story with great characters and if that's not intact than I have FAILED COMPLETELY. So why the hostile reaction? Why not just accept defeat and humbly bow and scrape and try to make my story and characters less 'yawn inspiring'? I'll tell you why:

DEPENDING ON HOW YOU LOOK AT IT, THIS IS THE THIRD GAME IN A SERIES OR THE SECOND GAME IN A SERIES AND THE THIRD GAME IN A FRANCHISE. IT IS ALSO VERY MUCH THE SECOND HALF OF AN EXISTING GAME.

Most of Iron Gaia I is spent characterizing Carter and Xenos and Iron Gaia: Virus spends a great deal of time characterizing Tom. You have to admit that it's nearly impossible to HIT THE HIGH POINTS of two full games worth of characterizaiton and reveal every single nuance and quirk of four characters' personalities in a five minute intro. Even with that said, I DON'T THINK I DID A BAD JOB.

You make an outrageous claim that every character speaks in the same way. This could not be farther from the truth. I am so totally BEFUDDLED by how you could not recognize the not-so subtle differences between Carter's gregarious, casually profane and oft-sarcastic middle-class junk culture intellectual banter and Tom's few-worded, stoic pragmatism, Xenos's condescending telepathic musing and Mariah's demure, often timid and shocked exchanges that I am actually going to do something very uncharacteristic:

I am going to ask you for PROOF, please, that these characters all speak and act the same. In the form of screenshots or excerpts of ingame dialogue from each of them where their style of speaking is exactly the same. Obviously you have no OBLIGATION to do so, but I'm asking you to anyway: PROVE IT.

From a personal standpoint, I think your problem might be the fact that you're already squeezing them into stereotypes based on their character art, and when their characterization doesn't exactly fit those appearance based stereotypes, you mistake that for the ABSENCE of any characterization at all.

As for the other stuff, I'm not going to continue to be a jerk and dispute a reviewer's opinion on it. Anyway, thanks for the review, seriously. But you shouldn't be surprised when a writer takes an attack on his writing to heart.

Iron Gaia I (back when I did everything and Ryan was not involved) started as an rm2k game with what, at the time, were some of the WORST graphics in the entire community, and was one of the least aesthetically pleasing games available. In spite of that, the game was able to succeed and generate a fan base and critical acclaim SOLELY on the virtue of its' story and gameplay.

Needless to say, Iron Gaia has come A LONG WAY if people are praising the visuals and trashing the story. If the story had actually been sacrificed in favor of gorgeous graphics, I feel that would be a terrible waste, and the loss of the game's heart and soul.

Nonetheless, I think the story is as good as ever, and I feel that we can have our ice cream, and eat it too.

Thanks for the feedback,
-Legion

*hugs Legion*

Ya. I didn't notice the character stuff like that at all. It's the best intro I've seen from the games I've grabbed. And as a writer... I totally get the feeling. Heh.

Not that it wasn't a well enough written review, but opinions are opinions. People focus on different things, different things matter to different people.

Anyway, don't lets turn this into a flaming thing. You haven't failed as a writer, neither has he, people will always disagree on how things are done and a demo is hardly an example at this stage of the final product. Noone's ever happy, and when it comes time to give opinions people will always find something to niggle about. Just see it as something that might be open to improvement later, rather than the be all and end all now.

As long as YOU were happy with it, and people who's opinions you value the most are genuinely happy with it or willing to offer constructive criticism, or lend a hand - then that's all that matters. Don't let it be a seeking approval thing (not that it is, just that it can be for some) - I do that, it just makes me miserable and label everything I write in advance with "I know I suck, please don't judge me by my awful suckiness."

^_^

Well I think a lot of writers are fundamentlaly insecure, myself probably included.

But how much I'm seeking approval isn't really the issue here so much as the fact that if someone says something I strongly disagree with about my work, I can't just let it pass: I have to say "NO, I DO NOT THINK THAT, HERE IS WHAT I THINK" often at length and ad nauseum. This is, I admit, a weakness.

Nonetheless I would urge Unimag to play IG1 and/or IGV. If he still thought I sucked at characterization after that, there wouldn't be much I could say in my defense.

I'd do the same. Heh. With more angst eating into my guts. Silly. Need thicker skin.

Unimaginitarian loved everything I had to do with the project. :P
No qualms there.
The story isnt vague at all if you've played the first game, everything in the end makes sense if you've played it. So if you think its alluding to something that'll be explained later(and it might if Legion decides to do a more in depth optional recap not unlike what Xenosaga does) well it isnt, not really. As for what you mentioned on the character thing, I agree only to the extent that Id like carter and tom's personalities distanced a bit more. Tom being what he is and the fact that essentially he lossed a lot more, he's is capable of handling loss a lot better than Carter, who obviously cant handle it. Think of it like a rich boy and a street urchin, and how differently they react to a scratch on the knee. Mariah has an excuse for being sort fo dull, she doesnt remember anything. Also (spoiler tag) for the blue man event plz :P
Not to dissemble your opinion, cus its yours and you make a lot of valid points. Some of the dialogue, due to the mindset of the creator at the time of writing it, might of been comprimised and compared to Eldritch for example, isnt as fantastic and individualized as it could be. But then, knowing what I know about the story's direction, it wouldnt be a bad thing for carter and tom to, at least initially, start off somewhat similiar. IMO, the type of scene at the beginning couldnt not be monotonous, that's kind of the point. It was as dynamic as a scene about 4 people literally hovering around a fire talking about basically nothing could be.
Though I think the way you described the BS sounded a star better than what it was rated. So yeah. Also I take it the missing star is due to the clash between the size ratio of the sprites and the tilesets? We might be changing that, I mentioned it before but at this point its not a priority cus once it happens a whole bunch of new clipping errors will present themselves, plus do to the sheer mass of the total number of chars its just too much work for one or even two people. But it is acknowledged.

Tom lost alot? Oh yeah he mentions that in the intro. I still don't see how they are similar. Tom is more laid back then Carter. Maybe he uses drugs to forget the past? XD. I would get high everyday if all my man got slaugthered and lost everything I had.

He's former military, people like that have to be able to handle loss. As opposed to former civilian scientists or whatever carter was(or thought he was)

I played your demo last night and it was time well spent. I can already see the makings of a solid game. At this point I doubt there is much you would change to the general structure of the game. Though there are a few things that could use a little tweaking.

For instance, your battle system seems grossly unbalanced. Especially in fights with large groups of monsters which can last one turn if you blow all your Mp in one of Carter or Tom's ultimate attacks or several if you dont. I suppose I don't like such an easy way out option. I certainly abused it when I was fighting the boss, coming out of the fight for the most part undamaged. Just something I wanted to point out.

I also couldn't bring myself to using your Augmentation System (though now I realize I should of since it is just a demo) because I was worried it would change the story later on in the game. Since I see other people made use of it I now think better of it as a way of allowing the player to make a moral decision on their own. Become more powerful at the cost of your own humanity or use the parts your mother gave you. A very interesting story mechanic.

I also found a few bugs that I enclosed below. Nothing major.



Looking foward to your next release.

BTW, I had to do a dance everytime the Metal Slug victory song played. It made winning battles that much sweeter.

Hey thanks. I still think it's the best title screen I've ever made.



Actually, I made a few backlers many months ago, I think back when I used the name Evincar, on rmxp.net. The idea never caught on, though. Hopefully this game will help promote it.

I had a feeling Des would like the four lines you devoted to praising his title screen. : )

I agree with you, it's definitely his best work.

I finished the demo, but I'm far to tired to give you a review right now. You do have an error(or something) in the beginning though.

-Carter's sprite in the beginning is not shaded properly. Once you get in the pipeline it changes to one that is.

-Carter first refers to Xenos as Zee then changes it to Xee

Disregard if this has been mentioned.

The Zee thing was actually intentional. Minor point as it is, the initial 'Zee' was to let everyone know how it's pronounced (so no one is saying Exenos in their heads) and after that it reverted to the way it was actually spelled rather than a phonetic spelling.

I'll look into the wierd shading error.

Nevermind about the first error I found out what it was. My computer was just acting weird. I don't think there's a problem.

It's alright. Just finished both of them, didn't captivate me too well, or come across as anything spectacular, but it's decent.

Legion, while I was playing the demo, the sound was not properly good, I mean, I heard some noisy sounds that hurt my ears... But when I listen the musics outside the game, I can listen to them well... What is happening? Is this an error or something?

DJ, did this error occur after you turned on the generator? If so, as strange as this is, I think it might have something to do with your end, either the sound settings on your computer or the sensitivity of your ears. Because one other person did complain of that, but besides you two, no one has mentioned it.

K since Im banned from the gay forum that this topic shouldnt even fucking be at if I had any say(which I guess I dont, one of the reasons Im taking a little internet vacation) I'll respond to Myo's comment here. Feel free to relay this back to the other forum if you'd like to give those assholes a bit of insight on "the other guys" opinion. Here's what he said after several other people making similiar(though crudely worded) remarks:

K so I think I figured out why it seems slightly unnatural. Its not what he said as you guys insist, its when he said it. There are steps in the greif process. Carter only experienced mild shock, followed by immediate anger, then later followed by minor sadness. Where was the denial? That's the step after shock, which also could of taken a little more time. I think it would of worked better if the anger didnt even click until he was safely within the bunker, and above ground was pure denial and shock, like a dream. You're just sort of going through the motions because your mind has yet to except what the eyes have witnessed.
Once you're out of danger, it all hits you and naturally whatever reaction emerges(sadness or anger, depending on the personality) will come out in spades.
The soudn thing is noise pitch. Lower pitches, to less reactionary ears, seem to make less of a sound. Its kind of like how the same shade of yellow and purple on the color wheel, purple just "appears" darker even though its the same shade. Pitch is like that too. For my ears, the low pitch appeared to make less noise, but for younger people it would be very loud.

I bet it would be more understandable if the line was voice acted, instead of just being read. You can't really put all the emotions and personality in the dialog alone. That's why I didn't comment about it. I just tried to visualize the situation and put a voice behind the words.

What exactly is my temperment, Myo? : ) I'm real curious.

Anyway, the intention was that Carter is on the verge of crying even while he's screaming, so yes, a shaky voice would be an appropriate thing to imagine! After the event, you'll notice that Carter's self-confidence as the group's leader is more or less shattered, another nuance people who posited that his sole reaction was DIRTY WORDS seem to have missed.

Anyway, Ryan is absolutely right about Carter's reaction. It was an ACCELERATED GRIEF PROCESS. One message box of denial, several message boxes of anger, and for the sake of the gameplay, a full dungeon of acceptance. The speed through which Carter drops through the steps of grief is naturally MUCH FASTER than most (real?) people will do so.

You could chalk this up to or just bad writing, but my intention in the super-fast grief process was to basically get it out of the way because writing a full length, realistic denial-anger-acceptance cycle would probably be boring for me and the player. (Can you imagine it? On the sixth day, Carter continued to cry, rock back and forth, and hug himself.)

But don't worry, Carter's feelings about this tragedy- yes, overwhelmingly anger and all consuming thirst for revenge- will continue to be a major influence on his character development throughout the game. The 'grief' process is far from over.

You have a hard time accepting criticism and attack people who don't like your game?

Um...you're saying that's what HE'S saying, right? That's not what you're saying, right, man? Cause I thought we were buds...and that is harsh and for the most part untrue

[QUOTE=Legion]Um...you're saying that's what HE'S saying, right? That's not what you're saying, right, man? Cause I thought we were buds...and that is harsh and for the most part untrue[/QUOTE]

It's what he's saying, and to a degree I can see where they come from when they say it. Sure we're friends, but that doesn't mean I can't be honest. While I don't think it's true that your IG thread was a circle jerk or anything, I've seen that you tend to shrug off criticism.



Then again, I can't say I disagree with you, but just that I can see why people think of you the way they do. You're still the most badass game maker in the community, though.

no, it kinda is true. However, you have a right to defend your self, you kinda over do it.

Some people confuse accepting critique and defending possible shortcomings when they invest a lot in something. Its common, that doesnt make it superfleus. Its fine to not agree with what someone points out, but when you go on a tangient and make that person feel like some kind of jackass for ever bringing it up, that's not accepting critique. Rome wasnt built in a day, DeVinci didnt get Mona Lisa right on the first coat of paint, etc.
In other words, nobody's above improvement. I guess we're different that way, cus I could give two shits about "wow those are good maps can I use the tile" and "omg mariah's hot yer a gude drawer", that'll buy me about a nickel's worth of gas in Cali. People who are wanting and willing to get better can accept critique better. Unless you think you've piqued, you're not above improvement-- nobody is. Pointing that out isnt a betrayal or trust, its an opinion. That's why these threads are made, opinions. There's a big difference between what Myo thought of the game and what Trystero chose to concentrate on(silhouettes, lyrics, band prefference, none of which are actually part of the game in any way). You dont need to agree with it, but that doesnt make him WRONG or right. Its just an insight, undermining it because you dont agree with it makes you look like the jackass, not him.

Anyway, I don't know. It is very hard to be objective about one's own work. Probably impossible. The reason that I responded to Unimag's review isn't because HE DARED BLASPHEME THE GLORY THAT IS IRON GAIA 2 or some such. Quite simply, from what I BELIEVED was an objective standpoint, I thought what he had to say was empirically wrong, unsupported by critical evidence. Not completely innacurate, but exaggerated to the verge of hyperbole. I like to think that I would have said what I said if it wasn't my game, as well, but obviously that's a hypothetical question we can never know for sure.

I mean, does being able to accept criticism mean forfeiting the right to disagree with any points made about my game? And if I disagree with something, I personally can't keep my mouth shut about it. That's just who I am. (I think everyone knows about that 'lil character flaw by now, tho.)

Anyway, was my response to Unimag probably less than classy? Yes. I'm sorry.

Do I have some kind of chronic difficulty with accepting criticism?
No, at least I don't think so. If I couldn't take criticism, I doubt I'd have lasted five years in this hobby without throwing a gigantic hissy fit and deleting all my games in a fit of pique. (Usually I restrict myself to THREATENING to do that. ':| )

Unfortunately, in attacking Unimag's critique I have overreacted to 100% of the serious criticism offered me in this topic.



Well thank you. I don't know, as long as I keep involving myself in good games, I guess I don't need everyone to like me, as nice as that would be. I wish I could have the best of both worlds in that regard, though.

-L

Class: http://www.gamingw.net/forums/index.php?topic=44655.0



Taking criticism: http://www.hbgames.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3397&page=10

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Oh brother....I can see this thread is about to head in a very constructive direction. *groan*