Right, before I get into this review, let me preface it with a game I picked up last year. The game was an RPG for the DS called Magical Starsign, and after getting maybe halfway through it, I found that I had very little interest in the game. The battle system had potential, but got to the point where it was just too fucking repetitive. The characters were flat and felt incredibly one-dimensional, from the annoying "deadpan" robot to the hotheaded ladies' man to the stubborn chick who thinks she's strong enough by herself. To me, this game was the perfect example on how to not make an RPG. But why am I talking about Magical Starsign in a review about a completely different game? More on that later. Heart of Darkness presents...
Hoo boy. Prepare the Neosporin.
(Warning: this review is long. No TL;DR is available for this program.)
Haven is an independent non-combat RPG produced by the one-man operation that is Cleril Calamity Studios. The game is made in Enterbrain's RPG Maker VX, a program that I respect for its ease of use but quite frankly despise for everything else. The game is still in its building stages, and is updated on a regular basis, adding new content, usually in the form of a quest, every time. Unfortunately, this is one of the few positive things I can say about this game--its regular updates. Everything else in this game is sadly lacking in what makes a game, well, good.
The game puts you in the shoes of Cleril, a bard. He was called to the titular Haven to do what all bards naturally do: fix the island's failing economy. (Confused? It only gets worse from here.) Actually, let's forget about the plot for now. I can devote an entire section to the bard. To put it bluntly, Cleril is in the running for one of the least likable main characters I have ever encountered. Not only is his characterization flawed--swaying widely from sheer disdain for human kind, to his "let me get in yo' pants, gurl" attitude towards the sweet young "thangs," and to switching from both unabashedly (belligerently in some cases) criticizing and showing some modicum of kindness to an NPC in the exact same conversation--he also finds it relevant to force his own philosophical viewpoints down the throats of the player at any possible chance he gets. This can range from something mild, from his disdain from alcohol, to more hot button issues, such as how religion is just a big scam, and these are delivered as subtly as a ten-pound sledgehammer to the head (some might even call it Anvilicious [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Anvilicious]). The sad thing is, though, that whenever Cleril gets into an argument with another NPC, Cleril always wins. And the NPC's perceived relationship with Cleril doesn't seem to degrade in any way. The whole thing reeks of Mary Sue [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue] syndrome: Cleril is portrayed as an infallible, all-knowing entity in a world populated by morons.
In addition, Cleril's dialogue and spotty characterization are completely one-dimensional: since Cleril has no flaws, he can do no wrong (and thus has no opportunity to experience character development), which can be seen when Cleril handwaves some of his actions to the point where they no longer matter and the NPCs follow suit with Cleril's actions. This issue does spread farther than the main character, however, as the entire game is pretty one-dimensional. Characters often only show disdain or adoration to Cleril, with some changing their attitude towards him with no provocation whatsoever, and in more cases than not showing complete, unwavering adoration. NPC dialogue is also presented in fabulous 1D, often becoming stilted after attempting to mix backstory, plot points, and adoration for Cleril's poetry all into one conversation. The game also offers plenty of poetry for the reader to "enjoy," if that's the right word; which raises the question on how so much poetry could be available to the people of Haven, and yet there is no explanation for most of them having never heard it before or how the works even got there in the first place. If he really is the last of his kind, the number of readable works should be limited to only one or two books. Actually, I think I do have an explanation for the second point: Cleril is a prolific bard proficient in producing inconsequential works.
This has more dimensions than all of the characters in Haven.
"So how are they inconsequential?" you may ask (run with it, I'm segueing here). For one, the poetry, like the dialogue, deals with a number of macabre themes, such as death, pain, suffering, and the peace of the grave (some also talk about how awesome Cleril is, but I won't go there). Like the dialogue, the poetry is flat and unidirectional, usually containing a single message that is easily deciphered by reading the text--there are few, if any, alternate interpretations of the text available without going dangerously far into the territory of "you're wrong." Even the game's one excuse for a play is fundamentally flawed: characters are static and only capable of saying one line from their position, half of the cast is guilty of upstaging, and even one actor turns his back to the audience (fellow Thespians, I weep for good theatre). Not to mention the shameless title drop of the play at the end. You do get to respond to the play, though, which is nice, except for the fact that your responses are either limited to "unending adoration to the playwright" or "you don't get the message but are pleased with the performance nonetheless," even though the play has no message and is not enjoyable in the least. To be fair, however, some of the ideas that some of the poems present are interesting and do show potential, but, much like the game itself, either fall flat on their face due to poor presentation or are too cliché to be remarkable.
Speaking of choices, this is another aspect of the game. As a non-combat RPG, something needs to catch the player's attention, and thus a choice system was implemented. Depending on your actions, you can determine whether or not several characters live and even supposedly shape the town around you; however, and this might be due to the game's incompleteness, none of your actions have an adverse effect on your surroundings. Letting characters die has no immediate effect* on the game itself or its progression of events, save for a few differences in dialogue. And any change that is enacted is completely inconsequential to the game--there is no impetus to replay the game again while choosing different actions.
[sub][sub]*There is an exception to this, although it is unintentional. This will be explained later.[/sub][/sub]
Which brings me to the plot...four paragraphs into the review. (Yes, there is this much stuff to talk about with this game. And I'm just getting started.) Like the characters and supplemental material, the main quest for this game is completely inconsequential. To quote Escapist user NewClassic [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/NewClassic], the plot "seems to follow along with a sparsely-believable series of events," or, in my words, is nothing more than a series of fetch quests held together with sand, spit, and bad teenage poetry.[footnote]NewClassic's review of Haven. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.158061-User-Content-Review-Clerils-Haven#3926153] (Remember, reviving old threads counts as necromancy.)[/footnote] And the glue that holds the "plot" together is falling apart, due to holes caused by the producer both not paying attention to the game and by suffering from a bad case of Did Not Do the Research [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DidNotDoTheResearch] (and, at times, from the much more deadly Critical Research Failure [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CriticalResearchFailure]). I think this would be best illustrated as a list:
...Ah, here we are. "Discuss design issues, bugs, and incomplete play-testing before launch." So, let's start this off with design issues: the game is rife with them. Let's start with some of the side-quests and optional plot points: you will be literally forced to wait at points in this game. For an unbearably long period of time. So far, this issue rears its ugly head in two forms: forcing you to wait and not move, and forcing you to wait while wandering aimlessly and not having anything to do. Oh, and don't think about switching screens to do something else, like check your email; the timer only counts down while the game window is active. Your best option here is to just walk away and entertain yourself some other way until the timer runs out, like read a book. (And, for those of you who remember Yahtzee's Super Paper Mario [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/11-Super-Paper-Mario] review, feel free to insert his rant about that here.) Another design issue deals with the maps, which are generally much, much too large. Since the game requires you to partake in many fetch quests, which require you to cross the world map no less than six times, this gets rather annoying. Even while running, the maps completely break the game's pacing, making the game more unbearable than necessary. There are also jarring differences with the maps based on size: a tent in the graveyard only covers one tile, yet its interior is larger than the entire graveyard. So yeah.
There are also quite a few bugs in this game: going back to the (*), if you let a certain character die before a certain point in the main quest, the game is rendered unbeatable. Similarly, letting that character live will enable you to get multiple copies of an item relating to another quest due to a broken dialogue tree ('I need an axe.' "What do you need another axe for?"..."Here's an axe for you"). Similarly, some of the events have scripting issues, where if you back out of a dialogue option before a movement command is completed, the game will essentially lock itself up, preventing any movement and requiring a complete reboot of the game; this happens at least twice. And then there are issues with release, as some updates will leave out an important bit of code that renders the rest of the game unplayable.
Well, I've done a lot of fault-finding; let's see if I can change this up a little bit. Can I find something good with Haven? Well, there's...um...hm. I guess I can always talk about graphics and music. To anyone familiar with the RPG Maker VX program, there's nothing remarkable about the graphics, as all of them are pretty much standard fare. Character sprites are low-res, but polished, and colors are vibrant. Individually, environment tiles and character sprites look nice, but they don't look nice together as implemented in this game. Music is also pretty standard, and by standard, I mean that most of it will be stuff you've likely heard before. Some of the music comes standard with the VX program, and a majority of the music comes from other video games, including Animal Crossing, Silent Hill, and Chrono Trigger, to name a few. The remaining five songs are independent compositions from other sources, two from an Elder Scrolls mod and three from, well, me. For the most part, the use of music is done well, as the music generally fits the mood, but a few minor hiccups still manage to manifest themselves here and there (to be honest, Yearnings of the Wind, as it is used in this game, just plain sounds bad. That takes skill to do.). So, although Haven does not have its own OST, its use of music is one of the few things it does right.
In addition to being large and unremarkable, the maps are very blocky.
It's a problem inherent in VX, but a little more effort wouldn't have killed anyone.
The game promises at least three hours of playtime (some promotional material also touts 50+ hours, but this is just shamelessly wrong), just for the main quest as it is. Honestly, I can get through the entire game as it is in less than half that time, which includes a majority of the side-quests. This game is short and superficial--much like the writing. And although the game offers replayability, there seems to be a dearth of it; without a proper incentive to complete quests differently, there's no reason to go back and replay the game once you've "beaten" it. And even though the game is rated 'M' (by the creator, not by any outside source), honestly, it's not. Since a lot of action is implied rather than shown, there's nothing that offense about Haven. At most, the game is more of a 'T' rating, but with a heavy dose of foul language. Really, nothing in this game screams mature; it all tries to be, of course, but, like teenagers acting "mature," it fails. And then there's it philosophy. Supposedly, it's based on an existential style of thinking. And yet, I don't see it. Much like existentialism itself, the philosophy is intangible and just comes off flat like the writing. It tries too hard and only imports stale, forced morals on the player, resulting in stilted, contrived messages that will most likely scare away most potential players and anger a few others. Not to mention that this is the only philosophy in the game; other philosophies presented by NPCs are predictably shot down by Cleril and essentially rendered moot (which goes back to the whole idea of Mary Sue: everyone, except for Cleril, has a flawed philosophy). The only positive moral that the game imparts is the importance of thinking for yourself, but it contradicts itself by basically telling the player, "Hey, think like Cleril. This is the correct way to think!"
In short, I get the feeling that the game tries much too hard in all the wrong places. Could this game work? Absolutely. Does it work now? Absolutely not. If the game actually focused more on a strong, coherent central plot with varied, interesting characters and more diverse quests and built itself up from there, this game would indeed play much better than in its current form. However, it feels like the game was made first and foremost with the bland philosophy and lackluster poetry in mind, and everything else was just tacked on as an excuse to hold everything together (seeing as how the plot becomes the most important aspect in a non-combat RPG, this presents a serious problem). Top this off with a script so poorly written and riddled with so many spelling and grammatical mistakes, and you have a game that is not only unabashedly shallow and flat, but also downright painful to read at times.
And now, to finish this off, remember how I talked about Magical Starsign at the beginning of this review and talked about how much I loathed it for its flat characters and repetitive battle system? Well, compared to Haven, Magical Starsign seems like it has varied, multifaceted, interesting characters and a riveting story, complete with an amazing battle mechanic. In the same train of thought, I hate Emily Dickinson's poetry, but compared to the poems found in Haven, Dickinson's poetry is much more favored. And I never thought I would say that. Ever.
Bottom Line: While Haven attempts to do something new and unique with the RPG genre, it impedes itself by its own numerous flaws: unlikeable characters, weak story, one-dimensional writing, and forced philosophy, to name the biggest offenders. The game would benefit from a complete rethinking of the game from one focused on its own morals to one with a stronger cast and plot, with more varied supplemental material.
Recommendation: Avoid it. There's just too much wrong with Haven for it to be classified as a good game. If you really want to satiate your existential desires, you'd be better off with reading Waiting for Godot [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot] or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern_Are_Dead]. For dark poetry, give Edgar Allan Poe [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe] a read, and for poetry that makes you think, go ahead and read some poems by everyone's favorite crazy attic lady [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson]. (If you still want to play the game, message Escapist user Cleril [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Cleril] for information.)
Heart of Darkness is a professional student by trade, amateur composer and video game designer by hobby (samples of his work may be downloaded here [http://www.mediafire.com/alexdelesky]). He never thought he'd actually prefer Emily Dickinson's poetry over something else. Go figure.
Hoo boy. Prepare the Neosporin.
(Warning: this review is long. No TL;DR is available for this program.)
Haven is an independent non-combat RPG produced by the one-man operation that is Cleril Calamity Studios. The game is made in Enterbrain's RPG Maker VX, a program that I respect for its ease of use but quite frankly despise for everything else. The game is still in its building stages, and is updated on a regular basis, adding new content, usually in the form of a quest, every time. Unfortunately, this is one of the few positive things I can say about this game--its regular updates. Everything else in this game is sadly lacking in what makes a game, well, good.
The game puts you in the shoes of Cleril, a bard. He was called to the titular Haven to do what all bards naturally do: fix the island's failing economy. (Confused? It only gets worse from here.) Actually, let's forget about the plot for now. I can devote an entire section to the bard. To put it bluntly, Cleril is in the running for one of the least likable main characters I have ever encountered. Not only is his characterization flawed--swaying widely from sheer disdain for human kind, to his "let me get in yo' pants, gurl" attitude towards the sweet young "thangs," and to switching from both unabashedly (belligerently in some cases) criticizing and showing some modicum of kindness to an NPC in the exact same conversation--he also finds it relevant to force his own philosophical viewpoints down the throats of the player at any possible chance he gets. This can range from something mild, from his disdain from alcohol, to more hot button issues, such as how religion is just a big scam, and these are delivered as subtly as a ten-pound sledgehammer to the head (some might even call it Anvilicious [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Anvilicious]). The sad thing is, though, that whenever Cleril gets into an argument with another NPC, Cleril always wins. And the NPC's perceived relationship with Cleril doesn't seem to degrade in any way. The whole thing reeks of Mary Sue [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue] syndrome: Cleril is portrayed as an infallible, all-knowing entity in a world populated by morons.
In addition, Cleril's dialogue and spotty characterization are completely one-dimensional: since Cleril has no flaws, he can do no wrong (and thus has no opportunity to experience character development), which can be seen when Cleril handwaves some of his actions to the point where they no longer matter and the NPCs follow suit with Cleril's actions. This issue does spread farther than the main character, however, as the entire game is pretty one-dimensional. Characters often only show disdain or adoration to Cleril, with some changing their attitude towards him with no provocation whatsoever, and in more cases than not showing complete, unwavering adoration. NPC dialogue is also presented in fabulous 1D, often becoming stilted after attempting to mix backstory, plot points, and adoration for Cleril's poetry all into one conversation. The game also offers plenty of poetry for the reader to "enjoy," if that's the right word; which raises the question on how so much poetry could be available to the people of Haven, and yet there is no explanation for most of them having never heard it before or how the works even got there in the first place. If he really is the last of his kind, the number of readable works should be limited to only one or two books. Actually, I think I do have an explanation for the second point: Cleril is a prolific bard proficient in producing inconsequential works.
This has more dimensions than all of the characters in Haven.
"So how are they inconsequential?" you may ask (run with it, I'm segueing here). For one, the poetry, like the dialogue, deals with a number of macabre themes, such as death, pain, suffering, and the peace of the grave (some also talk about how awesome Cleril is, but I won't go there). Like the dialogue, the poetry is flat and unidirectional, usually containing a single message that is easily deciphered by reading the text--there are few, if any, alternate interpretations of the text available without going dangerously far into the territory of "you're wrong." Even the game's one excuse for a play is fundamentally flawed: characters are static and only capable of saying one line from their position, half of the cast is guilty of upstaging, and even one actor turns his back to the audience (fellow Thespians, I weep for good theatre). Not to mention the shameless title drop of the play at the end. You do get to respond to the play, though, which is nice, except for the fact that your responses are either limited to "unending adoration to the playwright" or "you don't get the message but are pleased with the performance nonetheless," even though the play has no message and is not enjoyable in the least. To be fair, however, some of the ideas that some of the poems present are interesting and do show potential, but, much like the game itself, either fall flat on their face due to poor presentation or are too cliché to be remarkable.
Speaking of choices, this is another aspect of the game. As a non-combat RPG, something needs to catch the player's attention, and thus a choice system was implemented. Depending on your actions, you can determine whether or not several characters live and even supposedly shape the town around you; however, and this might be due to the game's incompleteness, none of your actions have an adverse effect on your surroundings. Letting characters die has no immediate effect* on the game itself or its progression of events, save for a few differences in dialogue. And any change that is enacted is completely inconsequential to the game--there is no impetus to replay the game again while choosing different actions.
[sub][sub]*There is an exception to this, although it is unintentional. This will be explained later.[/sub][/sub]
Which brings me to the plot...four paragraphs into the review. (Yes, there is this much stuff to talk about with this game. And I'm just getting started.) Like the characters and supplemental material, the main quest for this game is completely inconsequential. To quote Escapist user NewClassic [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/NewClassic], the plot "seems to follow along with a sparsely-believable series of events," or, in my words, is nothing more than a series of fetch quests held together with sand, spit, and bad teenage poetry.[footnote]NewClassic's review of Haven. [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.158061-User-Content-Review-Clerils-Haven#3926153] (Remember, reviving old threads counts as necromancy.)[/footnote] And the glue that holds the "plot" together is falling apart, due to holes caused by the producer both not paying attention to the game and by suffering from a bad case of Did Not Do the Research [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DidNotDoTheResearch] (and, at times, from the much more deadly Critical Research Failure [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CriticalResearchFailure]). I think this would be best illustrated as a list:
- [li]At one point, you are asked to help a baker make bread by putting flour, not dough, into an oven.[/li]
[li]In the same vein, you can make Cleril eat some flour he finds lying around. Not only is it disgusting, but who the hell eats raw flour?[/li]
[li]You are asked to fix a broken well. No, it's not a pump well. It's one you drop a bucket into.[/li]
[li]Cleril suggests that maybe a carpenter should fix the well. Hopefully I don't need to explain this one.[/li]
[li]At one point, you are asked to bring turnips back to a character. Apparently, the seeds work just as well. And she can smell them. And turns the seeds into a drink. To cure drunkenness. So yeah. [http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SoYeah][/li]
[li]You are asked to head to another locale to try to negotiate a trade route. Even though the two locales are already trading with each other.[/li]
[li]You are tasked with having someone warm up the ocean enough to save someone trapped on the ice. Not only is this nigh impossible to do (as should be apparent to anyone who paid attention in chemistry), it would also make more sense to walk across the ice to save her, not melt it.[/li]
Holy generic deity, this review is long. So here's an unnecessary commercial break. Seriously, get up and stretch your legs. It'll do your circulatory system some good.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h05ZQ7WHw8Y[/youtube]
Yes, this is partially related, but I'll leave it to you to figure out how.
Yes, this is partially related, but I'll leave it to you to figure out how.
...Ah, here we are. "Discuss design issues, bugs, and incomplete play-testing before launch." So, let's start this off with design issues: the game is rife with them. Let's start with some of the side-quests and optional plot points: you will be literally forced to wait at points in this game. For an unbearably long period of time. So far, this issue rears its ugly head in two forms: forcing you to wait and not move, and forcing you to wait while wandering aimlessly and not having anything to do. Oh, and don't think about switching screens to do something else, like check your email; the timer only counts down while the game window is active. Your best option here is to just walk away and entertain yourself some other way until the timer runs out, like read a book. (And, for those of you who remember Yahtzee's Super Paper Mario [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/11-Super-Paper-Mario] review, feel free to insert his rant about that here.) Another design issue deals with the maps, which are generally much, much too large. Since the game requires you to partake in many fetch quests, which require you to cross the world map no less than six times, this gets rather annoying. Even while running, the maps completely break the game's pacing, making the game more unbearable than necessary. There are also jarring differences with the maps based on size: a tent in the graveyard only covers one tile, yet its interior is larger than the entire graveyard. So yeah.
There are also quite a few bugs in this game: going back to the (*), if you let a certain character die before a certain point in the main quest, the game is rendered unbeatable. Similarly, letting that character live will enable you to get multiple copies of an item relating to another quest due to a broken dialogue tree ('I need an axe.' "What do you need another axe for?"..."Here's an axe for you"). Similarly, some of the events have scripting issues, where if you back out of a dialogue option before a movement command is completed, the game will essentially lock itself up, preventing any movement and requiring a complete reboot of the game; this happens at least twice. And then there are issues with release, as some updates will leave out an important bit of code that renders the rest of the game unplayable.
Well, I've done a lot of fault-finding; let's see if I can change this up a little bit. Can I find something good with Haven? Well, there's...um...hm. I guess I can always talk about graphics and music. To anyone familiar with the RPG Maker VX program, there's nothing remarkable about the graphics, as all of them are pretty much standard fare. Character sprites are low-res, but polished, and colors are vibrant. Individually, environment tiles and character sprites look nice, but they don't look nice together as implemented in this game. Music is also pretty standard, and by standard, I mean that most of it will be stuff you've likely heard before. Some of the music comes standard with the VX program, and a majority of the music comes from other video games, including Animal Crossing, Silent Hill, and Chrono Trigger, to name a few. The remaining five songs are independent compositions from other sources, two from an Elder Scrolls mod and three from, well, me. For the most part, the use of music is done well, as the music generally fits the mood, but a few minor hiccups still manage to manifest themselves here and there (to be honest, Yearnings of the Wind, as it is used in this game, just plain sounds bad. That takes skill to do.). So, although Haven does not have its own OST, its use of music is one of the few things it does right.
In addition to being large and unremarkable, the maps are very blocky.
It's a problem inherent in VX, but a little more effort wouldn't have killed anyone.
The game promises at least three hours of playtime (some promotional material also touts 50+ hours, but this is just shamelessly wrong), just for the main quest as it is. Honestly, I can get through the entire game as it is in less than half that time, which includes a majority of the side-quests. This game is short and superficial--much like the writing. And although the game offers replayability, there seems to be a dearth of it; without a proper incentive to complete quests differently, there's no reason to go back and replay the game once you've "beaten" it. And even though the game is rated 'M' (by the creator, not by any outside source), honestly, it's not. Since a lot of action is implied rather than shown, there's nothing that offense about Haven. At most, the game is more of a 'T' rating, but with a heavy dose of foul language. Really, nothing in this game screams mature; it all tries to be, of course, but, like teenagers acting "mature," it fails. And then there's it philosophy. Supposedly, it's based on an existential style of thinking. And yet, I don't see it. Much like existentialism itself, the philosophy is intangible and just comes off flat like the writing. It tries too hard and only imports stale, forced morals on the player, resulting in stilted, contrived messages that will most likely scare away most potential players and anger a few others. Not to mention that this is the only philosophy in the game; other philosophies presented by NPCs are predictably shot down by Cleril and essentially rendered moot (which goes back to the whole idea of Mary Sue: everyone, except for Cleril, has a flawed philosophy). The only positive moral that the game imparts is the importance of thinking for yourself, but it contradicts itself by basically telling the player, "Hey, think like Cleril. This is the correct way to think!"
In short, I get the feeling that the game tries much too hard in all the wrong places. Could this game work? Absolutely. Does it work now? Absolutely not. If the game actually focused more on a strong, coherent central plot with varied, interesting characters and more diverse quests and built itself up from there, this game would indeed play much better than in its current form. However, it feels like the game was made first and foremost with the bland philosophy and lackluster poetry in mind, and everything else was just tacked on as an excuse to hold everything together (seeing as how the plot becomes the most important aspect in a non-combat RPG, this presents a serious problem). Top this off with a script so poorly written and riddled with so many spelling and grammatical mistakes, and you have a game that is not only unabashedly shallow and flat, but also downright painful to read at times.
And now, to finish this off, remember how I talked about Magical Starsign at the beginning of this review and talked about how much I loathed it for its flat characters and repetitive battle system? Well, compared to Haven, Magical Starsign seems like it has varied, multifaceted, interesting characters and a riveting story, complete with an amazing battle mechanic. In the same train of thought, I hate Emily Dickinson's poetry, but compared to the poems found in Haven, Dickinson's poetry is much more favored. And I never thought I would say that. Ever.
Bottom Line: While Haven attempts to do something new and unique with the RPG genre, it impedes itself by its own numerous flaws: unlikeable characters, weak story, one-dimensional writing, and forced philosophy, to name the biggest offenders. The game would benefit from a complete rethinking of the game from one focused on its own morals to one with a stronger cast and plot, with more varied supplemental material.
Recommendation: Avoid it. There's just too much wrong with Haven for it to be classified as a good game. If you really want to satiate your existential desires, you'd be better off with reading Waiting for Godot [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot] or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosencrantz_and_Guildenstern_Are_Dead]. For dark poetry, give Edgar Allan Poe [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Allan_Poe] a read, and for poetry that makes you think, go ahead and read some poems by everyone's favorite crazy attic lady [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Dickinson]. (If you still want to play the game, message Escapist user Cleril [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/profiles/view/Cleril] for information.)
Heart of Darkness is a professional student by trade, amateur composer and video game designer by hobby (samples of his work may be downloaded here [http://www.mediafire.com/alexdelesky]). He never thought he'd actually prefer Emily Dickinson's poetry over something else. Go figure.
x-49) where x is the number of individuals who have not responded or didn't like the game). I'd be more worried as to how (x-49) compares to 49.
