Dungeon Trawler

I beat the game! I'm not going to continue with the plot summary because it goes some unexpected places; suffice to say that it stays interesting until the end. Instead, I'm going to talk about something else: the surprising extent to which this game is a spiritual predecessor to One Way Heroics . Firstly, consider the Force system. Despite the change in genres, it works essentially the same way: each Force power, in addition to a FORCE/SP cost, requires one or more stacks of Concentration, which are gained by spending an action ( Gensoutan ) or turn ( One Way Heroics ) Concentrating. Stronger powers require more stacks of Concentration. Many, perhaps even most, of Gensoutan 's Force powers made the transition; it's hard to be entirely sure when I played one game in Japanese and the other in English, but I recognized Force Flame, Force Lightning, Force Heal, and the attack buff from OWH. Itemization, too, is more or less identical. The player character has a maximum car...

To begin, a short primer on the battle system: In battle, the player may fight normally, launch an all-out attack, run away, or consult with their Totem. Fleeing offers generous odds and is possible even in event battles (but not when you're cornered, such as in the battle with the purple lizardman); your Totem offers an estimate of the enemy's strength (this doesn't use a turn); all-out attack simply has you use all your actions on basic attacks (essentially an autobattle function); and fighting normally opens the battle options proper. From there one may use a basic attack, concentrate (required before activating Force powers), defend, use an item, or use a Force power or skill; once they have multiple actions, they can do any combination of these things, other resources permitting. One can, for example, spend one action defending and the rest attacking, cutting damage taken while still dishing out; or spam a bunch of different healing items; or use an attack-strengthenin...

Silfade Gensoutan / シルフェイド幻想譚, SmokingWOLF 2005-2022, RPG Maker 2000  Silfade  is a 2005 freeware RPG by SmokingWOLF of One Way Heroics fame. It's the second game in his Silfade  series after the episodic, forever unfinished Silfade Kenbunroku  (official English subtitle: Records of Silfade ), which I just finished playing. I downloaded the 2022 version (the first update since 2007!), which apparently improves some of the portraits. It opens with a character creation sequence in which a disembodied voice calling itself Riqureil asks for your name, gender, and finally choice of Totem. Totems, a setting element that originated in Kenbunroku , are immortal animal spirits who take up residence within certain individuals and grant them superhuman powers. Here you have your choice of three: From left to right: the wolf Crow, who promises to make you excel at combat; the bird Feather, a generalist who aids in travel; and the serpent Scale, if you want to be this game's...