Ara Fell
Game Title: Ara Fell
Released: June 2, 2016
Game Length: 24 hours
Grade: B-
Setting
Backdrop: I'm going back a long ways with this one. Ara Fell was a game released during the RPG Maker era. The game might appear rough with its chibi-style sprites and dialogue boxes, but the game has a lot to offer. There is a bit of atmosphere built into the game with critters moving around and the type of music playing. The characters are decently designed and there's a bit of personality that shines through. The protagonist will react similarly to the player when looting convenient chests, using various teleportation techniques, or finding spontaneous encounters.
Enhanced: The enhanced version introduces a bunch of new features and music, including a fast battle animation option that definitely hastens the repetitive sequences of the game. Although they added an auto-save feature, it failed me the one time I put trust in it. When there were two bosses and I fell after the second one, it placed before the previous one. Several options were available and still needed to be adjusted from the master volume, brightness of the flashes, and input prompts.
Interactions: The prologue does a good job introducing mechanics like jumping, swimming, mining, collecting herbs, crafting, and crawling. Each character level allows you to choose between four options that increase power, defense, speed, or wisdom. What they increase and by how much is shown as you highlight them. While there is a map system, the rudimentary overview only shows you where each save point is when teleporting and the name of each major location. Relics found in hidden passageways or bought from vendors can permanently boost your stats. You can only reset your stats. Any upgrades on equipment, traits, or the ultimate choice of class identity cannot be undone.
Crafting: As much as you can build your stats through gaining
levels, the crafting system is what really distinguishes you between
success and failure. You collect various herbs, ore, and other reagents
through the game to upgrade your equipment. Since this can take some
time, it is crucial to determine who and what item should be upgraded
each time. A weapon might increase your damage seven levels worth or a
cloth decrease damage from enemy attacks. A trinket can open additional
enchantments that allows you to steal health, increase the amount of
currency you earn, or other miscellaneous perks.
Gameplay
Combat: One major deviation from other games is how encounters are designed on a per battle system. This means that your health will always reset after a battle. There are two things that remain consistent. There is an overload bar that each character can contribute to. They can expend a portion of it for their special ability or to flee a battle. The second thing is that your party will accumulate wounds every time they lose all their health. Although there are options to revive members during a battle, these wounds will put limiters on your stats and can build-up overtime. The only way to remove them is through a checkpoint. While there technically is a Story Mode, it only enables you to instantly defeat any foe that crosses your path. There are no elemental combinations - you can cause a fire elemental to burn or heal a member who currently has reflect.
Enemies: The game doesn't force you to fight enemies since they wander around the landscape, but you don't exactly level up enough for the boss fights if you don't. The amount of experience you earn will depend on the disparity of your level and some crafting material are only obtained through certain enemy types. You will always be warned with a point of no return notice before any major event or boss fight. While they don't necessarily always change the environment, they are a nice addition to the game. They even added an option to skip a cutscene if there is one. Some encounters are designed for you to come back later when you are stronger whether they warn you from the outset or force you to retreat if you attempt the fight.
Environment: Being able to explore the world at your own pace was pretty fun... for the first five hours. You slowly begin to realize that there are progressional level gates everywhere. Perhaps this might be what was added in the enhanced version, but there seems like a second layer of additions that require you to revisit places after you get better. For example, there is a bridge with some trolls on it that will utterly devastate you until you reach the very end of the story. There is a convenient teleport system that sometimes "turns off" during pivotal moments during the story.
Summary
Review: While I can certainly see the appeal in playing this game, there were too many frustrating hurdles that I had to overcome. The characters, especially the protagonist, tend to display a mocking attitude of all the convenient mechanics made for gameplay purposes. Upgrading your equipment with material found in certain locations proved to be more important than your levels. While you could avoid enemies, there were quests specifically designed for you to collect reagents and level up. The biggest problem is that the world isn't quite as open as it appears to be when you initially start the game. The obscure quest text and limited map will ensure you will get lost traversing the various maze-like environments while searching for where you need to go next. I stopped playing multiple times and eventually chose to end my playthrough after 15 hours in when nothing else could be upgraded. I do not recommend this game.