Impressions of some RPGs on Android

The quest for fun RPGs on Android continues! However, I think I discovered 3! ❤

The Bard’s Tale

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.inxile.BardTale&hl=en

Like all the games I’m writing about in this entry, I only put in a few hours (or maybe even less) into The Bard’s Tale. I just got to the jail part in Houton Forest. Managed to kill one of the prisoners by accident but I got the door open on a second try. XD I didn’t save since I want to see if I can keep all three alive.

I’m not going to write much about the gameplay or story since that’s what search engines are for. But here’s a link to a walkthrough, just because. Anyway~ Quick pros and cons. XD

Pros~

• The voice acting isn’t all that bad so far
• Has subtitles (I always enable subs in games)
• Fun dialogue. The bard’s a pretty snarky guy and it can get a little grating at times though.
• Handy familiar! 😀 I love my Thunder Spider. Can’t wait to learn more tunes because hopefully, I’ll get even better partners. :3
• Decent graphics. They look very sharp on my Galaxy Tab 10.1. Given the fact that this is a port of a game that came out 9 years ago on the PS2, I’d say it looks pretty swell. (I’m unsure if they tweaked the graphics though.) Incidentally, I’m playing the standard definition version.
• Graphics-related customization options such as lowering details, shadows, frame rate, etc.
• Quest/target locations are marked on the mini map.

Cons~

• Big ass file size. I have a 16 GB Galaxy Tab 10.1 which doesn’t have a card reader of any sort. This means I am stuck with only 16 GBs of storage space. Standard def file size is 1.3 GB or something. HD is 3 GB. I chose the former due to storage size and I also had some doubts on how well the tablet could run a high definition version. (Wait. I never did check to see if HD only applied to  pre-rendered videos.)
• Fixed camera. For some reason, I think I would have preferred it more if the camera followed the direction of your character in dungeons. I have to keep rotating it to make sure I’m not missing barrels to hit or treasure chests to loot and stuff.

9th Dawn (Demo)

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.valorware.vw9thdawntechdemo

Sweet bejeezus. Why couldn’t Forgotten Tales be like this? 9th Dawn reminds me of  Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny which automatically means good times because U5 is among my fave Ultima games. (I really wish people wouldn’t compare FT to the Ultima series because it’s a massive insult to the latter.) I’m not sure there’s a party system in 9th Dawn since I’ve only played the demo and it restricts the player to some very early quests as well as a small portion of the world, but based on the battle system, I kind of doubt it.

Real-time battles have taken the place of the turn-based ones seen in pre-Ultima VII: The Black Gate. People left critiques on the product page complaining that the character can only face one way in battles and that the controls were terrible.  I must admit that I thought the same thing initially too until I started tapping within the circle in the direction of an enemy instead of flicking. This made fights infinitely easier and didn’t result in constant death.

Unfortunately, tapping doesn’t work with ranged weapons such as bows and arrows; you have to remember to flick away from enemies. Otherwise, you would probably think that the character can only face one way. >_> One neat thing about using a bow is that you can retrieve some of the arrows that missed their targets.

Oh hey! There’s an Aim Assist option in the Game Options menu. I kind of prefer rapidly firing arrows wildly though because with the Aim Assist on, I’m forced to …. aim properly.

Now on to the good and bad about 9th Dawn (demo version):

Pros~

• Decent balance. Levelling up doesn’t take an eternity and enemies don’t swarm you like bees. And if they do, it’s possible to move away from them while attacking (if you have room).
• Hot key binding. Super useful when being attacked since everything happens in real time; you’re not safe even when you’re perusing your inventory.
• You can sleep in anyone’s bed. That’s right, be like Goldilocks — just wander into a stranger’s home and take a POWERFUL NAP.
• Quest hints. Although not all areas are clearly marked on the overworld map, it’ll at least give you an idea of where to go, what to do, and what to look for. Oh, there’s also a handy quest log too (which can be easily accessed if you map it to one of the Item Binding slots :3).
• Day and Night system. I remember this from Ultima V as well but in that game, there’s more of a reason for it since you had to pay attention to moon phases and such to use Moon Gates (which only worked at night). In 9th Dawn, I’m not sure if there are any specific quests or monsters that come out during certain times of day but I suppose it’s there to add more depth or something? I mean, your field of view is severely limited during night hours. But come day time, you can see things many squares away!

Cons~

• Better documentation. Maybe like some step-by-step screenshots or even a video in-game of how to use melee and ranged weapons. That should cut down on the amount of low ratings the game gets. 😛 There’s an NPC that gives you a run-down of the basics but lord knows visual aid would work better for a lot of people.
• Not enough places to explore. It’s a demo so … XD

Twilight War

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ycgame.vampireen

OMG. How did I not discover this earlier!? The developers of the hilariously translated Gods Wars: Shadow of the Death released another RPG in English! I loved Gods Wars and even though I’m not even an hour in, I’m already enjoying Twilight War. Gameplay mechanics and features seem identical so far which is great because those are the things I liked about GW.

Sadly, the whacked out localization seems more in check this time. Still, you get silly sentences such as what you see in the screenshot below:

Since there are many similarities to Gods Wars, you can probably refer to this link for the Pros: https://koukoupuffs.net/2012/08/16/gods-wars-shadow-of-the-death/

It’s too early to list the cons but I’m thinking grinding for levelling, money, and materials will fit the bill since Gods Wars eventually ended up that way. Still, I really appreciate the fact that the game doesn’t slap on restrictions for the sake of egging players to shell out money for more inventory space, stats, items, and equipment like certain Korean mobile game developers do.

Oh, there’s a slight issue about audio in Twilight War! To get around the no audio problem, right before starting or loading the game, go to the Options menu and at Volume, press left or right. For some reason, the game starts of on mute. I think this is some sort of trend that Chinese developers have (at least with their older games?) since I’ve seen many of them include a screen that pops up upon starting a game where it asks whether or not audio should be enabled.

Actually, I’m going to mark this as a con because not only does the game start off with no sound, but I can’t make use of the volume buttons on my tablet to adjust the volume. I have to go into the device system menu and raise or lower the audio from there.

Edit:

• Ran into an issue! The side quest named “Treasure Exploration3” causes the game to freeze. 😦 I sent an e-mail to GTWMarket (the developer) in simple English in regards to the bug. I read at the Play Store that there were other people experiencing freezes but at different points in the game. Hopefully, they might update the game in the near future.
• Selling equipment and items is still as hazardous as it was in Gods Wars. There’s no confirmation of whether or not you want to sell something. D: It actually requires double tapping an item but the big problem is that the touch accuracy (not sure what to call it) is off so it’s extremely easy to sell something you don’t mean to sell. The proper place to touch is the empty space that’s right of an item to select it. 9__9 Not sure if this is the case with all devices though.
• Oh, there’s a con (that’s also present in Gods Wars): You can’t sort your inventory. 9__9

Edit #2:

• Well, the game freezes every time I try to load up a save in the Corruption Area(?) 2. I e-mailed the dev but no reply and no updates. I’m not surprised at all. Well, it’s been a fun few hours I suppose.