Intrapath's game Reviews on Newgrounds

[Beavus HTML5]

This was really cute! It was a nice, laid-back way to pass time. I wish the assets were a little higher-res, but that wasn't a big deal. I really liked the twist in the final level that challenged my inclination to automatically jump onto every spring. One thing of note though is that this review is based on playing from another site; if I try playing on here, I get a screen that says "THE GAME IS BLOCKED FOR THIS WEBSITE". Hope this is fixed soon!

[Epic Battle Fantasy 5]

What a fantastic title. After 40 or so hours on this, I just had to share some of my thoughts.

As someone who hasn't played 1-4, but saw all the attention this game was getting, I was relieved to see this was a reboot (story-wise, at least). I knew of the other games, but never tried them. Everything in the game here was explained well enough, whether that's game mechanics, the plot, the world, etc. that I never felt like I needed to play the previous titles to understand what was happening.

One of the places this game absolutely hits it out of the park is in the gameplay. Exploring the world had a point-and-click/I-spy sort of quality that was a blast, and really encouraged me as a player to keep my eye out and soak in the environment. That aspect of the game always felt rewarding, and even after 40 hours, I feel like there's still a decent chunk to see.

The meat and potatoes of the game, though, is in the combat. Between summons, equipment, skills, swapping out characters, and more, there was plenty of depth, with all elements layering together in a way that frequently rewarded experimentation. There are so many details of the combat that work great, it would take me ages to list everything out. The difficulty was exceptionally finely-tuned, too; the only time I felt overly challenged was with the final boss, and maybe a few other bosses here and there.

When it comes to the art, you've been making the best I've ever seen in Vector-based games for years now, and this is the crowning jewel. There's so much love and detail packed into the characters, environments, and items, the effort that went into this is plain as day. The environmental art is my favorite part - even though it was packed with detail, it never felt overwhelming, with ample space given where it was needed. It always tied back into the gameplay perfectly, making it clear which elements were meant to be interacted with, and what was just eye candy. Fantastic use of color, too! The only criticism I can give here is that the animation was a little too tween-y for my tastes, but I feel like the game's inspiration from anime, which typically does favor a detailed still image over fluidity of the animation itself, is where that was drawn from. Being a turn-based RPG, I think a focus on how the character's look standing still rather than in motion was a wise choice.

Speaking of visuals, the UI worked pretty well too. Clean, easy to understand, use, good font choices, and easy to compare weapons. I would've liked having stats and equipment in the same window, though.

The music and SFX were good too - Phyrnna did a good job with the score. I don't have too much else to say about the SFX; they were high-quality, and always fit the scenario/character they were being used for. Kudos!

Regarding criticisms, I didn't care much for the story, characterization, or humor. They leaned very heavily into anime tropes, which I'm not a fan of. I did like the final boss acknowledging the nature of sequels and this game's nature as a reboot, though. Speaking of the final boss, I was surprised to see such awful, low-res photos used for the space scenes when the rest of the game has such lovingly-made and highly-detailed art; it felt like there was a deadline that snuck up on you here, and you had to slap something in there. For the final boss, I also would've liked having the two phases split into two different encounters. I found the second part very difficult, so I would've loved being able to go right to that every time I restarted, instead of plodding through the first, much-easier part every time. Also, a fast-forward button during combat would've been nice. The attack animations were fine, but after a certain amount of time, you want to just make your combat choices, instantly see how they play out, then make your next choice.

All in all, it's bittersweet to see such a huge, ambitious, lovingly-crafted game like this likely be the last hurrah for Flash. This is one of the biggest games I've ever seen on this site, and you should be proud. Glad to see it getting some love on Steam!

[A Dragon Named Coal]

MrClam said pretty much everything on my mind pretty well. The art and sounds are fantastic, but the game and dialogue need a ton of work. I'm just not finding the game all that fun yet. The combat feels dull; some sort of combo system worked into the sword would work well. The leveling and quest system is interesting, though.

Story and presentation-wise, the dialogue is full of little errors and clashes with the tone; using emoticons in a dark fantasy makes absolutely no sense at all. The UI could also use some polishing up, but being an alpha, that's not a big deal. On the positive side, the speaker performs his job perfectly! Sounds like a grandfather telling a story, and that suits this so well.

I hope the game is updated greatly over time; I'd even argue against uploading a pre-alpha to begin with, but I won't make a big deal out of that considering this is polished enough.

CleverCrowGames responds:

LDAF, thanks for playing our pre alpha demo. We are currently looking for an editor/writer to help us polish a lot of the writing. If you know of anyone the job description is here > http://steamcommunity.com/groups/a-dragon-named-coal/discussions/1/610574827757077836/
You are right about releasing a pre alpha. But we consider this to be a crucial stage for feedback and would much rather hear people's reactions now than when the whole game is completed.

[Rock Simulator 2015]

A deep, emotional tale of virtue and redemption. It really could use a scoreboard though, I think it'd really add to the experience.

AerionsRealm responds:

Scoreboard is a great idea. :D

[Snowman Slide]

Pretty damn good! I was really impressed with how the levels came out with everything randomized; some were hit and miss, but some were so well made I could've sworn they were done by a person. Fun music, the art looked nice, the story was nice and silly for the holidays..overall, a great package!

Zanzlanz responds:

Thanks for your review LDAF! :D

My favorite part is the generator - it makes the game challenging for even me to play it each time! I'm sure it wouldn't affect most players if it was randomized or not though, but whatever x)

I agree that some levels are VERY clever. It makes me chuckle some times when I get into a puzzle that I would never have come up with myself xD

I don't often add stories to my games, but when I do... lol xD
Thanks again!

[Universo: Gaia]

Excellent job! I've just beaten the second chapter (the medals aren't showing up for me, might just be a temporary glitch, no big deal), but I already love it. The gameplay compliments the story extremely well. This is a very difficult thing to do, and you've done it with flying colors. Great work! Also, the music was soothing, there was great use of color, and the minimalist art style worked really well. The story is one that everyone can definitely relate to as well. Great work!

[Seedling]

Wonderful! Good thing you listed Zelda in the tags, because I just couldn't stop thinking about A Link to the Past when I play this. The designs were creative, the pixel art was charming, the music was catchy, the controls felt great, and the level design was great! I'm not finished, but I'll keep playing, not only for the retro RPG-ish gameplay but the plot (hints at me being the villain, gotta find out what that's about!) The only thing keeping this from a 10 is a lack of a map; it REALLY needs one. Other than that, wonderful job!

[dys4ia]

I actually agree with SeelkadoomPL to an extent. This felt more like interactive modern "art" than a game. I'm not putting down your experiences, or the way you convey them (I actually liked the pixely art style in some areas, I also found lots of the ways you conveyed certain scenes as creative), but as a game, this just doesn't really cut it. Aside from the tiny little interactive parts, I felt like this would've fared much better as a movie than a game. I feel like McMillen has the perfect blend: interesting art/story along with strong gameplay. Again, I'm not against your story, or the way the art was portrayed, but how it fared as a "game", since you did label it so.

[Samurai Asshole]

Ha, classic

Pretty good game. The programming was good for the time, and the graphics were pretty good too. It wasn't the most fun in the world (very easy, little to no challenge) but it did serve its purpose. I do love going back to see the games you did years and years back, and this was one of those "oldie but goodies".

[Alloy: Arena]

Great job!

Definitely a fun game to play when you're bored. The combo system is coming along nicely, and the graphics and animation are superb. I never got very far, but from what I did see, you guys are doing great work. I can't wait to see the finished product!