RPG Insanity

One of the ones I was more interested in trying, as it seems to be one of Kemco's most acclaimed games (for one example, it got the highest review score of any of their games from TouchArcade) and Exe-Create shows off their current 2D engine, which kind of blows away those of the other Kemco teams, with how they have animated sprites and everything (seen in first-person view games, as well as E-C's 3D engine, but not so much in other 2D engines).

The main thing I've been able to take away so far (up through reaching the village you go to after beating the third boss in the temple southeast of the castle) is that this game is more polished and mature than previous Exe-Create games I've played. The dialogue reads more naturally and isn't as awkward as in previous games and they take the extra step of explaining some of their mechanics when you first encounter them (such as barrels and the smaller/larger versions of monsters that pop up in battles).

Overall, it's kind of an improved take on Alphadia Genesis with a different combat engine, as far as mechanics go. The story is both more and less engaging in the early going. I liked the "solve the mystery" angle that AG starts with, where you're trying to get to the bottom of why clones killed some people. But I also like the more light-hearted and humorous nature of the dialogue here. There's a respectable amount of difficulty on "Normal", while higher levels probably necessitate more grinding (started on hard, dropped to normal when I realized regular encounters in the first forest dungeon could tear me up). So far, the toughest battle I've had was an optional one to do a side-quest in the village you go to after leaving your orphanage. The moth boss was a LOT tougher than the plot-based boss I'd just fought in that cave. The boss I just beat (flower woman with two sidekicks) also gave a good test.

That pretty well sums up my first impression, way back when. (I played Asdivine Hearts within about a month of the Amazon release, as all I had at that time was a Kindle Fire. But still, long before any of the other Asdivine series came out.)

I do believe that Hearts was Exe Create's first real "breakaway" from all the games that came before - with the exception of Unlucky Hero (though I don't know if that was released before Hearts, and since it's not officially "Kemco" it often gets overlooked, but I highly recommend you play it next...)

I loved the dialogue, the "why is a treasure chest in the middle of a forest?" type of stuff literally had me laughing out loud. (But now, with the 10 minute long "beg for users to write a review" scenes in Menace and Cross, I think they've taken it way too far.)

Overall, I think Hearts is still one of their best games - I just didn't like the gems and the rubix (but that's just me.) And Zack and Felix are WAY better than any other Asdivine protagonist, in my opinion.

Also - the ridiculously hard side quest boss is normal. I don't know why they made that one so hard, but it definitely threw me for a loop.

I think your assessment of the game being "more polished and mature," and also "light-hearted and humorous," is absolutely spot on. In fact, as far as the story and the dialogue go, I think Hearts is more mature and more polished than Dios or Menace (which aren't bad games, but could have benefited from some extra "polish" as well.)

(FWIW, it's a shame really that Kemco didn't start the Premium/Freemium version with this game, because I honestly think it's a better overall game than Dios or Menace, even though I don't like the rubix system, and I think the Menace Skill system is far superior, I still enjoyed Hearts more than the others.)

[quote="MSG Commander" post=4962]That pretty well sums up my first impression, way back when. (I played Asdivine Hearts within about a month of the Amazon release, as all I had at that time was a Kindle Fire. But still, long before any of the other Asdivine series came out.)

I do believe that Hearts was Exe Create's first real "breakaway" from all the games that came before - with the exception of Unlucky Hero (though I don't know if that was released before Hearts, and since it's not officially "Kemco" it often gets overlooked, but I highly recommend you play it next...)

I loved the dialogue, the "why is a treasure chest in the middle of a forest?" type of stuff literally had me laughing out loud. (But now, with the 10 minute long "beg for users to write a review" scenes in Menace and Cross, I think they've taken it way too far.)

Overall, I think Hearts is still one of their best games - I just didn't like the gems and the rubix (but that's just me.) And Zack and Felix are WAY better than any other Asdivine protagonist, in my opinion.

Also - the ridiculously hard side quest boss is normal. I don't know why they made that one so hard, but it definitely threw me for a loop.

I think your assessment of the game being "more polished and mature," and also "light-hearted and humorous," is absolutely spot on. In fact, as far as the story and the dialogue go, I think Hearts is more mature and more polished than Dios or Menace (which aren't bad games, but could have benefited from some extra "polish" as well.)

(FWIW, it's a shame really that Kemco didn't start the Premium/Freemium version with this game, because I honestly think it's a better overall game than Dios or Menace, even though I don't like the rubix system, and I think the Menace Skill system is far superior, I still enjoyed Hearts more than the others.) [/quote]

You did bring a good point about the rubix, and I would like to stick with this topic, especially now that the Asdivine Hearts II is in the works. I actually do not know what to say about the rubix, whether I like it or hate it. From one side it allowed us to have multiple effects attached, something what is impossible with the fixed amount of "Accessory" slots. Here, we can attach more effects to our character than just one or at max two ring or jewel slots. But in my case it still ended up being equipped with the same jewels for all of the characters. Double Edge jewel (deal and suffer twice the damage) and STR+32%. It just made my characters much stronger than I could imagine. But is this really a good thing? Once could say that it doesn't matter since we as well can reach lvl 999 that does the same thing.

But that's not what makes the rubix scary or really bad. The Experience Jewels actually are making it. Twenty five of them. All equipped at once. Now, is this a good thing or a bad thing? It benefits the players after all. This is kinda important question, because the screens of Asdivine Hearst II show that the rubix will return to us...

[quote="MSG Commander" post=4962]That pretty well sums up my first impression, way back when. (I played Asdivine Hearts within about a month of the Amazon release, as all I had at that time was a Kindle Fire. But still, long before any of the other Asdivine series came out.)

I do believe that Hearts was Exe Create's first real "breakaway" from all the games that came before - with the exception of Unlucky Hero (though I don't know if that was released before Hearts, and since it's not officially "Kemco" it often gets overlooked, but I highly recommend you play it next...)

I loved the dialogue, the "why is a treasure chest in the middle of a forest?" type of stuff literally had me laughing out loud. (But now, with the 10 minute long "beg for users to write a review" scenes in Menace and Cross, I think they've taken it way too far.)

Overall, I think Hearts is still one of their best games - I just didn't like the gems and the rubix (but that's just me.) And Zack and Felix are WAY better than any other Asdivine protagonist, in my opinion.

Also - the ridiculously hard side quest boss is normal. I don't know why they made that one so hard, but it definitely threw me for a loop.

I think your assessment of the game being "more polished and mature," and also "light-hearted and humorous," is absolutely spot on. In fact, as far as the story and the dialogue go, I think Hearts is more mature and more polished than Dios or Menace (which aren't bad games, but could have benefited from some extra "polish" as well.)

(FWIW, it's a shame really that Kemco didn't start the Premium/Freemium version with this game, because I honestly think it's a better overall game than Dios or Menace, even though I don't like the rubix system, and I think the Menace Skill system is far superior, I still enjoyed Hearts more than the others.) [/quote]

Yeah, just the way the story is progressing feels like a more mature attempt to tell one in this game. Where you always have a clear goal that is carrying the characters. For a good chunk of the game so far, I've been chasing a "legion" of the shadow deity around from temple to temple, only for it to escape while making me fight a boss encounter. And then you have the occasional side story, such as the whole deal with preventing the leader of another town from committing a human sacrifice. It's the sort of thing that keeps me interested to see what happens next, which was also a strength of Tears Revolude's story.

I guess the difficulty of that first optional boss came as a surprise, just because it was legit tough. I remember the first optional side quest boss of Alphadia Genesis (a golem that pops up in the first dungeon) wasn't that difficult -- it just had so much health that it was a battle of attrition to wear down its life meter. To the degree that I let it sit until I'd done another dungeon or two, just so I had more strength and more MP for skills, as well as a few better skills and spells.

One minor annoyance I've found lies in the optional monster-killing missions you get in Gutenberg Castle town (in the same building as the obligatory Exe-Create battle arena). You have to go to the desk to take a mission, you have to return to get your reward AND you can only take on one at a time. I currently have three I could be doing (one next to the town I'm at and two in the nearby forest), so doing that's going to be a bit of a time-consumer, especially since I don't have an airship or anything like that yet.