Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2016 2:33 am
Overview:
Revenant Dogma is the sequel and spiritual successor to Revenant Saga( released in 2014 ) and was released by Kemco and Exe-Create on 2015 in Japan and February 2016 globally.
The game improves upon Revenant Saga in number of ways, the gameplay has evolved a little but more could have been done to Revenant Dogma to actually beat its predecessor. Their attempt to make the story in a much darker tone was futile, often the cheesy remarks and the usual banter even in the darkest moments was silly and felt out of place, which with better dialogue writing, which by the way the predecessor had would've made the game more worthwhile. While I am not saying the game is bad but neither is it good, often a lot of times, you might be thinking twice if any usual plot twist will happen, but to your disarray, that does not happen in the game.
Now that the overview is out of the way, lets go in-depth inside the various features this game has to offer:
Story:
The tone of the story is dark.....or you could say it tried its best to be dark, but often the silliness would get the better of you. The character dialogue in often the most agonizing moments were ruined with bad dialogue choices. The prequel had a better shift between humor and dark elements, but this time around it there was nothing of the sort, the game tries to go deep inside the roots of the story but often comes out unripened. That is to say, the story itself revolves around the gods of the mortal realm, which is also divided into two races, namely: Therians ( Which are your usual walking and talking animals ) and Humans. Both the races aren't on friendly terms, and both the races have opposite gods, Humans having Holy gods, and Therian's having Feral gods. Like always, Humans dont like the opposing force because they call Therians pagans and thus want to get rid of them from the planet. While the Therian's on the other hand, want to maintain friendly relations with Humans ( Not all Therians, but you could say that Quarter of them want to, Quarter of them aren't sure, and the other half are the usual ) which much to their disarray doesn't happen, and because of a few human characters in the game, causes them to go into war.
Between the events in which I described above the main protagonists of the story are constantly trying to, obviously save them both, which then leads to even bigger problems, which include talking to Feral gods, and fighting Holy gods. The Concepts in the Story are great, I am not denying that, but most of them where left out to dry and felt stale.
However one thing I like is that, even though they ram you with so many good concepts, the story remains true to the initial concept of the game, and from the beginning to the end of the game really amused me. I wont tell about it here, but ask in the forums, and I might tell you.
Story Score: 7.2/10
Characters:
Even if their dialogues are cheesy, but I must say the characters themselves are good, and do have a back story to them. Caine, is a very likeable protagonist and doesnt fall into the usual Exe-Create Heroes. The two heroins Julie and Lilith are also well written, and really contrast each other in a good way, which was really good, and whats better is that even though they are contrasting, are not like total Mary Sue's in most RPG games. Fleon is also a very awesome Lion man, yes a Lion man ( Basically a Therian, but hey I like saying Lion man more better then Therian, Whose with me?) who is basically the comedic relief as well as the wise old man of the game and the way they have amalgamated these two factors inside Fleon was actually good. Be warned he also gives quite the suggestive Innuendos as well, but hey some may like it, some wont......
Character Score: 7/10
Gameplay:
The gameplay is actually a step forward in the game from its prequel, but the thing is a single step forward is not enough to be a worth sequel. Like its prequel the overworld is 2D, while the game itself is 3D, much like Alphadia Genesis and Illusion of L'Phalica.The only thing that was new in the game was that the transformation's are split into types, and each type learns its own skills, and can only be used when in that certain transformations, but the characters do learn skills to use in their normal form, so don't fret about that.
The gameplay is exactly the same, and has more or less not changed except the usual exception I listed above....... so actually cant really go into much detail there, since the weapon breaking, using ores to strengthen weapons and weapons being divided into types is the same as Revenant Saga..... and the variety type of enemies in also quite low in Revenant Dogma.
Gameplay Score: 6/10
Extra Content:
The game has a place called the Ethereal Est Base which has bonus dungeons inside it. Basically there is the Easy Dungeon, The Normal Dungeon, The Hard Dungeon, and The Hell Dungeon, and each one being stronger than the other. The dungeon gives you awesome items and weapons. The items which are in the IAP shop are there as well as those which are not in the IAP shop and are rare as well. So its really a great inclusion for hard core players. The dungeons also change every time, but actually pre-determined and are actually repeated in cycles.
The Awesome thing in this Dungeon is whether the Dungeon Be Easy or Hard has floors, and each floor although the same increase in Level per floor so that's actually nice, but one thing that I thought was lazy is that the Enemies don't change in either Easy , Normal , Hard and Hell dungeon, and the enemy variety type is very low in the game.
The Hell Dungeon, is basically Endless and the Enemies are also strong as well as the Gear is also Quite nice. And Every 10 floors there is a boss, which you fought early on in the previous dungeons but only a glorified version of them, but its tedious and there is no variation in the floors and it can easily get boring.
A Bonus boss called the Guild Hero can also be fought once you beat the Hard Dungeon.
Ranking the Extra Content is going to be hard here, but its definitely more than Revenant Saga.
Extra Content Score: 6.7/10
Music:
Yes, music, and this game has it. And your here like "bro, every kemco game has music?". Actually that is not my point here. Every Kemco game has music, but not every Kemco game has good music as this game. Believe it or not, Revenant Dogma has very awesome music beating any previous Kemco game.
First things first, the game has variety of music , which any other Kemco game does not have ( Looking at you Asdivine ). Each Music has been composed with great care, and ears are satisfied almost every time I hear them. From the Opening Music ( Yes hear it whole ) and to the Final Battle ( man this one is really awesome ). The Final Battle music has been composed so awesomely that, you feel like you, yourself are participating in the battle itself. The Music in Ethereal Est Base is also great, and offer great variety from the rest of the music the game has to offer ( unlike the games enemies ). The Music from Revenant Saga has also returned, but are now remixed and a few shorts are also added to them( Except for one ) making them even more better than before.
The BGM's are unlockable and can be viewed after completing the first ending of the game from the options menu.
Music Score: 8/10
Conclusion:
A good game, which could have been better in both gameplay and story, then its predecessor, but the Extra Content might have you going for a good amount of days....
Final Score: 7.4/10
Revenant Dogma is the sequel and spiritual successor to Revenant Saga( released in 2014 ) and was released by Kemco and Exe-Create on 2015 in Japan and February 2016 globally.
The game improves upon Revenant Saga in number of ways, the gameplay has evolved a little but more could have been done to Revenant Dogma to actually beat its predecessor. Their attempt to make the story in a much darker tone was futile, often the cheesy remarks and the usual banter even in the darkest moments was silly and felt out of place, which with better dialogue writing, which by the way the predecessor had would've made the game more worthwhile. While I am not saying the game is bad but neither is it good, often a lot of times, you might be thinking twice if any usual plot twist will happen, but to your disarray, that does not happen in the game.
Now that the overview is out of the way, lets go in-depth inside the various features this game has to offer:
Story:
The tone of the story is dark.....or you could say it tried its best to be dark, but often the silliness would get the better of you. The character dialogue in often the most agonizing moments were ruined with bad dialogue choices. The prequel had a better shift between humor and dark elements, but this time around it there was nothing of the sort, the game tries to go deep inside the roots of the story but often comes out unripened. That is to say, the story itself revolves around the gods of the mortal realm, which is also divided into two races, namely: Therians ( Which are your usual walking and talking animals ) and Humans. Both the races aren't on friendly terms, and both the races have opposite gods, Humans having Holy gods, and Therian's having Feral gods. Like always, Humans dont like the opposing force because they call Therians pagans and thus want to get rid of them from the planet. While the Therian's on the other hand, want to maintain friendly relations with Humans ( Not all Therians, but you could say that Quarter of them want to, Quarter of them aren't sure, and the other half are the usual ) which much to their disarray doesn't happen, and because of a few human characters in the game, causes them to go into war.
Between the events in which I described above the main protagonists of the story are constantly trying to, obviously save them both, which then leads to even bigger problems, which include talking to Feral gods, and fighting Holy gods. The Concepts in the Story are great, I am not denying that, but most of them where left out to dry and felt stale.
However one thing I like is that, even though they ram you with so many good concepts, the story remains true to the initial concept of the game, and from the beginning to the end of the game really amused me. I wont tell about it here, but ask in the forums, and I might tell you.
Story Score: 7.2/10
Characters:
Even if their dialogues are cheesy, but I must say the characters themselves are good, and do have a back story to them. Caine, is a very likeable protagonist and doesnt fall into the usual Exe-Create Heroes. The two heroins Julie and Lilith are also well written, and really contrast each other in a good way, which was really good, and whats better is that even though they are contrasting, are not like total Mary Sue's in most RPG games. Fleon is also a very awesome Lion man, yes a Lion man ( Basically a Therian, but hey I like saying Lion man more better then Therian, Whose with me?) who is basically the comedic relief as well as the wise old man of the game and the way they have amalgamated these two factors inside Fleon was actually good. Be warned he also gives quite the suggestive Innuendos as well, but hey some may like it, some wont......
Character Score: 7/10
Gameplay:
The gameplay is actually a step forward in the game from its prequel, but the thing is a single step forward is not enough to be a worth sequel. Like its prequel the overworld is 2D, while the game itself is 3D, much like Alphadia Genesis and Illusion of L'Phalica.The only thing that was new in the game was that the transformation's are split into types, and each type learns its own skills, and can only be used when in that certain transformations, but the characters do learn skills to use in their normal form, so don't fret about that.
The gameplay is exactly the same, and has more or less not changed except the usual exception I listed above....... so actually cant really go into much detail there, since the weapon breaking, using ores to strengthen weapons and weapons being divided into types is the same as Revenant Saga..... and the variety type of enemies in also quite low in Revenant Dogma.
Gameplay Score: 6/10
Extra Content:
The game has a place called the Ethereal Est Base which has bonus dungeons inside it. Basically there is the Easy Dungeon, The Normal Dungeon, The Hard Dungeon, and The Hell Dungeon, and each one being stronger than the other. The dungeon gives you awesome items and weapons. The items which are in the IAP shop are there as well as those which are not in the IAP shop and are rare as well. So its really a great inclusion for hard core players. The dungeons also change every time, but actually pre-determined and are actually repeated in cycles.
The Awesome thing in this Dungeon is whether the Dungeon Be Easy or Hard has floors, and each floor although the same increase in Level per floor so that's actually nice, but one thing that I thought was lazy is that the Enemies don't change in either Easy , Normal , Hard and Hell dungeon, and the enemy variety type is very low in the game.
The Hell Dungeon, is basically Endless and the Enemies are also strong as well as the Gear is also Quite nice. And Every 10 floors there is a boss, which you fought early on in the previous dungeons but only a glorified version of them, but its tedious and there is no variation in the floors and it can easily get boring.
A Bonus boss called the Guild Hero can also be fought once you beat the Hard Dungeon.
Ranking the Extra Content is going to be hard here, but its definitely more than Revenant Saga.
Extra Content Score: 6.7/10
Music:
Yes, music, and this game has it. And your here like "bro, every kemco game has music?". Actually that is not my point here. Every Kemco game has music, but not every Kemco game has good music as this game. Believe it or not, Revenant Dogma has very awesome music beating any previous Kemco game.
First things first, the game has variety of music , which any other Kemco game does not have ( Looking at you Asdivine ). Each Music has been composed with great care, and ears are satisfied almost every time I hear them. From the Opening Music ( Yes hear it whole ) and to the Final Battle ( man this one is really awesome ). The Final Battle music has been composed so awesomely that, you feel like you, yourself are participating in the battle itself. The Music in Ethereal Est Base is also great, and offer great variety from the rest of the music the game has to offer ( unlike the games enemies ). The Music from Revenant Saga has also returned, but are now remixed and a few shorts are also added to them( Except for one ) making them even more better than before.
The BGM's are unlockable and can be viewed after completing the first ending of the game from the options menu.
Music Score: 8/10
Conclusion:
A good game, which could have been better in both gameplay and story, then its predecessor, but the Extra Content might have you going for a good amount of days....
Final Score: 7.4/10
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