Seeing Mark Kern post on twitter about how great it would be were there a channel dedicated to Indie games. While I can't really make that happen, I can spread around a review I wrote up for Crystal Story 2 I finished recently. So, for newcomers to RPG's and fans of the genre in general, here you go. A review of a fun little 3$ RPG on Steam, that gives you more bang for your buck then one would expect.
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Looking for a small title to pick up between other releases, I grabbed Crystal Story 2 off of steam. In part because I like RPG's, and in part it was only three bucks. Considering the small price tag, I wasn't really expecting much going in. I'll give the game this though, you get a lot more then what you would expect out of a three dollar indie game off of steam.
To get this out of the way, since there isn't much to say, visual design and music are decent. They do a good enough job of setting the scene, and nothing really looks or sounds bad at all. Nothing really stands out in either regard though, it's pretty much just competent.
Story is pretty basic. Stop evil witch from messing with powers beyond her control, and as a 'Dragon', a term that is used very loosely here, you are tasked with prevent the 'Dargons', which quite frankly I find cringe worthy to say, from eating this world. You gather up the crystals, form your party, and save the day. Nothing all that fancy, but again serviceable. The story does have a few genuinely engaging moments though, and the characters are all pretty fun. Not to mention some rather silly and amusing references thrown in here and there.
Where the game really starts to shine is it's rather expansive customization options. Now again, this is taking into account we are playing a three dollar game, but there are a lot of choices you can make that I really wasn't expecting you to be able to do. You can pick a specialized kind of weapon for you play style to build up rather then just upgrading to the newest weapon, as well well as build up armor and accessories. This is complemented well by the alchemy system, which is pretty basic 'but these things together to make this' stuff.
You build equipment by using Scrap Metal and various gems later on to upgrade it's stats. And depending on how you build your characters class's can change what weapon you may want to use.
Each character starts with one class, except one who you get to pick his starting class, and after the first level is mastered (Done by spending points gained in battle. This is done in place of normal leveling.), you pick a second class to grind up. Once that happens, you gain access to the level 2 of all classes, even ones you may not have put points into prior.
Now the impressive thing is each class varies from character to character in what stat boosts you get. You will get the same abilities from the class, but your stats are going to be slightly different even if two people select all the same classes. Compare Kaz to Lina, for example, if both of them have thief, while it stat boosts still favor speed for both, Kaz is going to see a few less speed boosts, and a few more attack boosts. It keeps each character unique, while giving you a good stretch of customization.
Combat plays out pretty typical for an RPG, and it's not really long before you start learning some tricks to end encounters fast, especially if you build your characters down the right paths. For RPG Veterans this game is not going to pose much challenge for you. A bit of thought is enough to overcome the games toughest fights, and a well built team.
A couple problems are noticeable however. One of which being the game can get a bit grindy. I've mentioned before the grinding doesn't really bother me, I quite like to grind honestly, but it can feel excessive if you like to gain large amounts of abilities, or like upgrading your gear a lot. The Battle Arena makes this go by pretty fast though If you use that for your grinding purposes.
The big issue can be long and repetitive maps. The map is basically composed of connected square areas, and some maps have a lot of areas to go through, and really not much to do. This can leave a few area's feeling like you're just wasting time.
A final gripe is, that while it comes with Crystal Story 1, there are some references being made that feel like you are missing out if you don't play the first, which I had not done. Nothing in the plot stops making sense, but there are definitely a few things that just leave you scratching your head wondering what just happened.
The are some Minigames as well. One is basically just playing Bejeweled, a fun little tower defense style minigame where you can move around the units you set out, and the minigame for unlocking chests is enjoyable. Basically you are moving around arrows to create a path from point A to point B, getting around obstacles and what not. All fun, none of them to complex or anything. They simply work as small diversions to keep the game from becoming to monotonous.
The fishing minigame is there, but fairly boring, and the card game is a bit to based on chance to feel like you are really accomplishing anything though. Both of these are very easily ignored though, as I cleared the games main plot without reaping any of those rewards.
I've not done any of it, but there seems to be some end game content you can play through. Additional boss's, fights, and maps. So even after completing the plot there is a more difficult stretch of road those interested in such things will be able to cover.
This is a great game if you've not played any RPG's before. It gives you a solid ground work for how RPG's in general work, it gives you a good amount of customization, and the game has very few draw backs. And the biggest draw? Even if you don't like it, you are only out three bucks.
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For anyone interested, a link to the original Review.
http://www.aguywhogames.com/?p=173
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Looking for a small title to pick up between other releases, I grabbed Crystal Story 2 off of steam. In part because I like RPG's, and in part it was only three bucks. Considering the small price tag, I wasn't really expecting much going in. I'll give the game this though, you get a lot more then what you would expect out of a three dollar indie game off of steam.
To get this out of the way, since there isn't much to say, visual design and music are decent. They do a good enough job of setting the scene, and nothing really looks or sounds bad at all. Nothing really stands out in either regard though, it's pretty much just competent.
Story is pretty basic. Stop evil witch from messing with powers beyond her control, and as a 'Dragon', a term that is used very loosely here, you are tasked with prevent the 'Dargons', which quite frankly I find cringe worthy to say, from eating this world. You gather up the crystals, form your party, and save the day. Nothing all that fancy, but again serviceable. The story does have a few genuinely engaging moments though, and the characters are all pretty fun. Not to mention some rather silly and amusing references thrown in here and there.
Where the game really starts to shine is it's rather expansive customization options. Now again, this is taking into account we are playing a three dollar game, but there are a lot of choices you can make that I really wasn't expecting you to be able to do. You can pick a specialized kind of weapon for you play style to build up rather then just upgrading to the newest weapon, as well well as build up armor and accessories. This is complemented well by the alchemy system, which is pretty basic 'but these things together to make this' stuff.
You build equipment by using Scrap Metal and various gems later on to upgrade it's stats. And depending on how you build your characters class's can change what weapon you may want to use.
Each character starts with one class, except one who you get to pick his starting class, and after the first level is mastered (Done by spending points gained in battle. This is done in place of normal leveling.), you pick a second class to grind up. Once that happens, you gain access to the level 2 of all classes, even ones you may not have put points into prior.
Now the impressive thing is each class varies from character to character in what stat boosts you get. You will get the same abilities from the class, but your stats are going to be slightly different even if two people select all the same classes. Compare Kaz to Lina, for example, if both of them have thief, while it stat boosts still favor speed for both, Kaz is going to see a few less speed boosts, and a few more attack boosts. It keeps each character unique, while giving you a good stretch of customization.
Combat plays out pretty typical for an RPG, and it's not really long before you start learning some tricks to end encounters fast, especially if you build your characters down the right paths. For RPG Veterans this game is not going to pose much challenge for you. A bit of thought is enough to overcome the games toughest fights, and a well built team.
A couple problems are noticeable however. One of which being the game can get a bit grindy. I've mentioned before the grinding doesn't really bother me, I quite like to grind honestly, but it can feel excessive if you like to gain large amounts of abilities, or like upgrading your gear a lot. The Battle Arena makes this go by pretty fast though If you use that for your grinding purposes.
The big issue can be long and repetitive maps. The map is basically composed of connected square areas, and some maps have a lot of areas to go through, and really not much to do. This can leave a few area's feeling like you're just wasting time.
A final gripe is, that while it comes with Crystal Story 1, there are some references being made that feel like you are missing out if you don't play the first, which I had not done. Nothing in the plot stops making sense, but there are definitely a few things that just leave you scratching your head wondering what just happened.
The are some Minigames as well. One is basically just playing Bejeweled, a fun little tower defense style minigame where you can move around the units you set out, and the minigame for unlocking chests is enjoyable. Basically you are moving around arrows to create a path from point A to point B, getting around obstacles and what not. All fun, none of them to complex or anything. They simply work as small diversions to keep the game from becoming to monotonous.
The fishing minigame is there, but fairly boring, and the card game is a bit to based on chance to feel like you are really accomplishing anything though. Both of these are very easily ignored though, as I cleared the games main plot without reaping any of those rewards.
I've not done any of it, but there seems to be some end game content you can play through. Additional boss's, fights, and maps. So even after completing the plot there is a more difficult stretch of road those interested in such things will be able to cover.
This is a great game if you've not played any RPG's before. It gives you a solid ground work for how RPG's in general work, it gives you a good amount of customization, and the game has very few draw backs. And the biggest draw? Even if you don't like it, you are only out three bucks.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________
For anyone interested, a link to the original Review.
http://www.aguywhogames.com/?p=173