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Dark Age: Chronicles of Otia (Ver 0.01) (Demo)'s itch.io pageResults
| Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
| Overall | #9 | 3.000 | 3.000 |
Ranked from 5 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
ESRB Rating
M
Est. Completion Time
30-60 minutes
Known Bugs Warning
Random wolf named Socks in the Unit Roster
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Comments
My live notes to the game thing (Spoilers, it's better than FE Engage)
Dark Age: Chronicles of Ostia, the capital of Lycia
-Lore dump is great so far, I usually hate lore dumps but I'm oddly retaining the information. Overall it's great except for one line "The offspring of this union were born with orange skin, instead of blue, and were resistant to heat instead of cold." It just seems out of place compared to how the other lines are written, mainly the second half of said line.
-The RTP music doesn't quite fit the vibe of everything else and it's a little jarring, I know that it's probably placeholder but just wanted to point that out
-seeing the word 'xenophobia' used in this vibe is quite jarring. Oh the curse of language
-The two red bandits should probably actually be seen walking into the map instead of suddenly appearing
-seeing the word 'fuck' used in this vibe is quite jarring. Oh the curse of language. I'm partially joking
-Alright here's the first big one, I don't like the usage of pronouns in the unit's descriptions. Like the music and language discussed earlier, it just feels goofy. Usually information like this is relegated to the extras menu. My suggestion is to find some other way to put this information in the hands of the player, maybe somewhere else in the unit menu like above/below -Supporter- or like I mentioned put it in the extras menu and have their pronouns revealed in-game through cutscenes. I also would've complained about the arcana in the same way but I think I remember hearing there was gameplay purpose to that, like a Fire Emblem affinity. Like I said it just feels goofy
-The swords mention they use 'Dex' to calculate damage, but the stat is still referred to as SKL in the ui
-Unit Roster (banger plug-in btw mind sending it my way?) lists Vander as a support partner 3 times, this is probably because there's 3 ranks, but there's likely some fix to make it only show once per unit
-I feel like there's too much foreshadowing in the prologue's ending cutscene
-Love the demo-exclusive 4th wall-breaking intermission
-I don't see why Map Thumbnail is an option
-The music's audio mixing isn't the best, the map theme/battle theme don't have the same volumes. I assume this won't be a problem once the RTP has been completely replaced, but I just wanted you to know
-The village mapchip uses the Grave terrain
-Kinda wish I could see the names of my unit's classes :(
Overall
Dang I liked that a lot, too bad it's so short.
From what I've seen:
Custom assets: 9/10
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 8.5/10
Characters: 6.8/10
Conclusion: BETTER THAN FE ENGAGE?!?!?!?!?!?!??!?!
My notes:
General feelings:
Specific things (AKA nitpicks):
Is "fuck" even something people would say in your world? For example, in highly religious times, most swears were sacrilegious in nature.
Or integrate it as "He suffers from amnesia."
Map 1
Thanks for your feedback! In response to:
Fair. I’m gonna be moving the lore dump to a future chapter where the information will be more relevant. I’m glad my “map intro” worked for ya, though!
It was a last-minute panic decision before submission. The background and music will change in a future release. Kinda digging the title, atm; simple, yet effective!
That’s fine. In this context, the person swearing is a crude, very-much uncultured bandit who can be inferred upon by players as someone who does a lot more offensive things on the daily besides dropping the occasional “F” bomb. While yes, there is a fanatically religious theocracy in this game—and yes, worshippers likely won’t take kindly to swearing—your beginning area takes place FAR from church’s reach.
As for linguistic appropriation, one could argue that several Germanic or Anglo word variations could be used in place of our modern set of vulgarities, being as that this game takes place in a different world but borrows from languages originating from both archaic real-life languages. For simplicity’s sake, I chose the later option. Now, does this FIT in a fantasy setting? Personally, I agree. I like my fantasy characters to have some degree of interpersonal realism, and swearing can be one quirky way to convey that, depending on the type of character. I find the Netflix Castlevania to be a perfect example of great timing and use of swearing in a dark fantasy setting.
We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one. As a proud LGBTQIA+ community member, I’ve learned the importance of respecting and honoring individual identity, regardless of sex or gender. It is very common for pronouns to be the first thing you read about a person who is educated on LGBTQIA+ issues. Some people may dismiss my game as “woke garbage” for that, but that just means I’m doing my job right.
I would like to expand the tutorial a bit in the future; I just didn’t have time to do so during the game jam time period. Fortunately, Florence gets to shine in the next chapter. I left out a scene where she essentially starts a war with a gang of bandits by impulsively burning one of them to death. 😂😂😂
I got bad news for ya: religious trauma is going to be a major recurring theme in this game. Also, this game originated from a 8-year old book idea, and “Zion” was one of the very few concepts that really stuck, due to its sheer importance in the story. Social commentary towards religion is not a new thing in video games; Final Fantasy X was a very well-done example of how harmful a powerful yet corrupt organized religion can truly be.
If your suggestion that my naming convention for a country inspired partially by Crusade-era Medieval Europe and partially by the concepts of American Christofacism is a bit too “on the nose”, be warned: the comparisons don’t stop just at the names. As you explore the game further, you will discover more horrendous atrocities committed by the Church of Zion, and I WILL be sure to include any trigger/content warnings I can think of at the beginning of my game as I continue to add content to future releases.
Maybe I’m in the minority, among SRPG enthusiasts, but seeing units with zero movement IRRITATES me to no end. Maybe I’m just interpreting the stats too literally, but I feel like to have zero movement, you’d have to have no legs, no arms, and no mobility devices. If a unit is expected to post up at the chapter goal, they’re not gonna wanna move and give the player an easy Seize, skipping combat with the boss (though it might be funny to have happen once or twice…).
…You know what? I might make that happen for the lolz. Gotta have at least one meme chapter/boss! Thanks for the idea. 😂
As for the rest, thanks for your input! I noticed some glaring mistakes after the fact, which are on my to-do list to fix. I’m grateful to have players like you helping me uncover ones that I missed. I hope that my next update will include more of what I’m actually capable of doing, as far as map building and storytelling goes; that chapter 1 map is admittedly weaksauce, I agree. I’m excited to eventually share my first arc finale map, which is a lot more elaborate in design! 😁
Zion is a reference to the land of Israel -- the country of the Jewish people. Perhaps, when it comes to progressive movements, I'm too much of an old guard, but being a Zionist, in the 19th and 20th century meant being in favour of the creation of a Jewish country. Given the rampant antisemitism of the times, I can't say I would have disagreed. Einstein was a famous Zionist. While I understand that current day Israel is a contentious topic, having the "Church of Zion" commit atrocities in a swords & magic fantasy setting --often associated to the medieval period-- is risky. You seem to associate the name to "Crusade-era Medieval Europe" and "American Christofacism", but to me, Zion is associated to Judaism. This is what I mean by Zion being a heavy name.
Oh wow… to be honest, I completely forgot about the Jewish association with the word “Zion”! Thank you for bringing this to my attention. The last thing I want is for people to think that I condone antisemitism (or any form of hate for that matter). The moral of this game’s story is intended to be quite the opposite: to warn people of what happens when one gives in to “taking the easy path” of hate and bigotry. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s recent speech on this issue sums up my thoughts pretty accurately; check it out if you haven’t listened yet—it’s very heartwarming and affirming!
So in light of this realization, I’m adding “Change the name of the Big Bad Empire” to my to-do list in order to avoid any misunderstanding of this game’s intentions, and I’m going to make it a top priority to have completed by my next update.
Thank you again for pointing out this problematic issue! I will always welcome players to bring these issues to my attention whenever possible, so that I can learn, do better, and correct my mistakes in order to ensure a safe place for all individuals, regardless of race, ethnicity, age, gender, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, economic status and other diverse backgrounds.
A really short demo with some interesting ideas going on and a really good amount of QoL and Custom stuff. The first map is a tutorial so no comments, but the second one shows good pacing and enemy placement with a moving sub-boss. I would love to see more chapters.
Thank you for your comments! You’re the first person who liked my chapter 1 map, which is very encouraging for me, because I feel like that was one of my weakest maps. 😅