Post by BUDGames in The Mighty Clan comments

Score: 79/100

Concept

You come to the city of Adventus, looking to build a clan who will help you fight in the Arena. Build your party, gear up, and gain strength until you qualify the big event.

The Score

Story: 6/10

I imagine that there’s more to the story of the game than I was able to see. So far, the player’s only concern is building their family’s honor by rising in the arena ranks. I’ll be interested to see what else happens as the game progresses.

Characters: 8/10

You don’t get a lot of interaction with your party members, but they do all have unique backstories and skills that they can learn.

Writing: 8/10

The writing in The Mighty Clan is generally very good. There are a few instances where I wished the descriptions of skills would have been clearer to understand. There was also some awkward wording that could be cleaned up.

Mapping: 10/10

I could only see the town map on my playthrough, but it looked very nice. I appreciate how the shop owners are standing outside so that you don’t need to go into their buildings. Not only does it save the developer from creating those maps, but it also saves the player time from having to enter the buildings when all you want to do is buy something and be on your way.

Art: 10/10

There are a few scenes with original art in the game, and they work to set the mood very well. What SolonWise has done with the RPG Maker character generator also looks very nice.

Creative Game Design: 10/10

I like how you can choose to play a male or female starting character, as well as selecting between three levels of difficulty. There are plenty of options to gear up, including learning new skills and buying potions, weapons, and magical items. You can also upgrade or enchant your items at the blacksmith or reliquary. You can get temporary buffs at the tavern and choose from among three starting party members who are there waiting to join a clan.

I also love how you can choose which level of monsters to fight in the arena. Depending on how strong you’re feeling at the moment, you can choose to fight more or fewer enemies. It’s also possible to lose a party member to permanent death, so the game provides real consequences for your choices.

The enemy book is also a nice touch.

Gameplay: 7/10

I had a lot of fun playing this game. You have a lot of choices about what strategies to use and how to build your party.

There are a few downfalls to The Mighty Clan when it comes to gameplay. One is that the NPCs repeat themselves when you talk to them. For instance, when you’re speaking to a merchant and want to make a new selection, they’ll repeat their opening line. If you’re not sure which party member to pick and want to come back to them later, they’ll say all the same things as before.

Second, when learning new skills, there’s no real description of what certain skills will do. Even after you learn it, you can’t tell by the description.

Third, you need to buy a special item to be able to save the game. To me, this is a game-breaking mechanic. I need to be able to save my progress and close the game whenever I want to. I can’t be delayed by having to afford a special item.

Technical: 5/10

The game runs smoothly with sparing use of plugins or alterations. The only mistake I found was that when one of my party members died, the game kept warning me that he would be lost every time I tried to stay at the inn. I had already spent one night, and he was already out of my party, but the game kept giving me the warning that I would lose him.

I also couldn’t leave town and progress in the game like I wanted to with the dead party member “still” with me. This should be an easy fix for the developer, though, and I’m sure the next release will have this problem solved.

Music: 8/10

I enjoy the background music. Unfortunately, there’s no title music yet.

Sound: 7/10

Sound effects are minimal but well-placed. There aren’t many map events that call for sounds. One thing that would make this game stand out is voice-acting for the characters. Maybe after the game is complete, the developer can go back and add in voice-overs.

Recommendation

Keep an eye on this game. It’s shaping up to be a good one for those of us who enjoy building a party up to be the best that it can be and making choices that matter.

_ _ _

Would you like to see your game reviewed?

SolonBarcelos5 years ago

Thank you for the review! I would like to answer some parts of your comment:

Story: Well, I admit the game has a simple main story, but my main focus was to tell the reasons all the characters have to fight in the arena, as well their relationships with each others. As the player reaches in the Silver Division, the antagonist appears, and depending on who is the main character (Aaron or Nadine), the player will learn more about the main plot of the game.

Characters: My main focus on the characters was to make all of them viable in battle. I want the player can play with their favorites, and I want their favorites to be useful, so I spend a lot of time thinking in their attributes, equipment and skills.

Writing: That was, without a doubt, my main flaw, but thanks to a good friend of mine, all writing errors was corrected, and the current version available to download has near zero errors. There is a LOT of text in the game, and maybe I couldn't correct them all yet, but I'm sure I will do this in the final version.

Mapping: Well, The Mighty Clan is a One Map Game, it’s a challenge, and so the Adventus map is the only one during all gameplay. That's why the shop owners are outside the houses.

Art: I can't draw, so I did improvise with internet images and battle backgrounds in the expedition’s scenes.

Creative design: There are three things I had in mind when making The Mighty Clan: The game has to be a strong replay value; the game must be challenging, and the game has to be funny to do a speedrun, and this speedrun is based on the days the player spend to beat the game, or how quick the player can have a score of 100%. Yeah, there is a score system already working on the game, but it will only appear in the final version.

Gameplay: I did some changes, and now all the salesman will not repeat the opening line, neither the mercenary at the tavern will tell their stories again.

About the skill's descriptions, I really think it is well explained. Take a look at the Aaron's first skill description:

Dual attack in a single foe.

Attributes: STR and GUT. May critical.

It's a dual attack, hits only one foe, is based on Strength and Guts attributes, and there is a chance it will land a critical hit. A based it in the pokémon attacks descriptions.

About saving, like I said before, I wanted this game to be a challenge and if the player can save before every single battle it is not a challenge at all. But the player can save whenever he wants, even before all battles, but it will cost him money. Each saving scroll is only 75 Zenary, and you can buy it anytime with the alchemist. It's not a big deal

Technical: The bug you have appointed is already solved, and I thank you for that. I think I would never see that bug by myself.

Music: Here my only role was to choose the best music I could find and put it in the right places. The real heroes here are the composers. Sound: Same as music, but I admit that voice acting would be great in this game.

---

Once again, I would like to thank you for this amazing review. I hope you can download the final version and to it again. And I also hope that with the full version of The Mighty Clan I can get a better score. Hahaha!

BUDGames5 years ago

The main skills that I found confusing were Brozag's. I couldn't tell what his different stances did. For instance, it said "Bear stance," but what benefit does that give him?

SolonBarcelos5 years ago

Oh, I got it. Brozag's skills makes him assume an animal stance during all battle, and depending on his stance, he gains 3 new skills. The Bear Stance grants him the skills Bear paw, Bearthquake and Bloody bear. Once the battle is over, the stance goes off, and so the three skills, but he can assume the stance again in whenever you want.
You are right, maybe it's a bit to confusing for a first time player, but I'm preparing a game manual. :)

BUDGames5 years ago

Okay. Interesting. I would add a brief description in addition to the fuller explanation in the manual. Something like, "Bear stance - provides 3 strength-based battle skills". Or however you can word it to give the player an idea of what they'd be getting.

itch.io

Viewing post in The Mighty Clan comments