Hello,
I played the entire game and here is my review for it.
This was an amazing experience! I did not expect to e teleported back like that. It reminded me of the old Gameboy RPGs I used to enjoy. I was hooked for the entirety of the runtime!
Things I liked
- The art was fantastic. I really liked most of the sprites and was looking forward to explore more of the world.
- The music was unique and kept the combat fresh
- The combat itself was fun. i liked the master student mechanic so the players get to see what the game has in store for us when controlling the master. This also allows us a benchmark that as an RPG player you want to surpass it eventually.
- The story has a lot of soul and was quite engaging.
- I thought the demo would end with the Dojo burning, but it kept going and the final fight was fantastic! I genuinely enjoyed playing it.
Things to potentially improve.
While I really like the game here are a few nitpicks. You can take what you like and reject the rest.
- The student does not look smaller than the master because of his hat. I think there should definitely be some height difference there.
- The start has a bit too much dialogue. If possible could we have a small fight sooner? I know the old RPG games also had long intros but they could afford it as players had already purchased the game so their retention would be higher. For a Demo a quicker transition to combat is definitely recommended.
- Some sound design needs work. Walking on grass, the sound felt off, and battle start Ding was a bit too loud.
- At the end the top down view showed fewer enemies than in the battle screen. I think you can double down and show as many enemies in the top down view as in the battlescreen! That was truly show the scale of the final conflict imo. I am sure you have a game design decision to do what you did.
- Capsule needs work. Doesn’t communicate the game much.
That being said you have earned a follow! I will be following the progress of this game and recommending it to my friends.
Feel free to ask me any questions you might have.