It seems like forever ago that I tried the demo for Avalon Code. Crammed into the limitations that all downloadable DS demos must deal with, it nonetheless provided a tantalizing peek at some really neat ideas—though I did have to dig a little to find them.
The full game, which I've played for a few weeks now, has delivered rather well on that promise. Unfortunately, there is one key flaw to the game package that makes it difficult to love unconditionally.
Avalon Code's neat idea—indeed, its key draw—is that you as the hero or heroine are given the Book of Prophecy, a tome within which you can store the codes for living things and items in the world. Once you've recorded things in the Book (a simple process of running up to something pressing a button), you can rearrange that thing's codes to change its composition however you see fit. Codes run the gamut from elements like fire and ice to metals like iron, silver and gold and even concepts like freedom and hope. Individual codes then fit together in grids to make up the thing in question.
The problem is that for as much code-swapping as you must do—and it is very well-integrated into the game, so you'll be doing a lot of it—the Book itself becomes more and more tedious to use as you progress in the game and pack it more and more full of information. There are much-needed indices to take you to key sections of the Book relatively quickly, but flipping pages to actually look at each code grid—particularly necessary if you need a handful of specific codes and have no idea what they were last attached to—moves at the excruciatingly slow speed of about one flip per second.
The net result, that the act of assembling groups of codes (particularly larger ones) can become tedious, is a real shame because the developers have come up with a game that really exploits the code mechanic rather well. You can, as I experienced in the demo, weaken enemies by transposing "ill" codes to their pages or make them stronger by fortifying them with other appropriate codes. You'll also need to assemble code sets into keys to unlock doors, modify weaponry and enemies in specific ways for challenges, and even solve quests. Specific combinations of codes that you can find can even be put together to create special weaponry, or create healing items (actually synthesizing an item takes MP.) I get the feeling that had navigating the Book been made easier, I'd spend a lot of time with this particular system, assembling cosmic puzzles to create the world my way.
The core game is not too shabby either. It's a solid action RPG sporting a few simplified systems, such as Zelda-style HP for your main character, and a few unique ones, like the "Judgment Link" move—essentially, juggling an enemy high into the air to earn currency and recharge your HP/MP. It's got just the right level of challenge, a wide variety of weapons to use as the game progresses, a number of special attacks, and some pretty cool bosses to boot.
Dungeons are done in a different fashion than you may be used to: they are literally a series of attached rooms that lock you in until you complete each room's objective, deceptively simply stated as "Kill all the enemies!" or "Flip all the switches!"; and in the beginning of the game, it is pretty much this simple. However, as you get deeper into it, more and more curves are thrown at you, requiring you to do things remake your weapons with various attributes to get some switches as well as offering extra challenges that you can satisfy by—for example—remaking enemies in certain ways before defeating them. It rarely gets head-scratchingly difficult and largely stays enjoyable.
The game world itself is well-realized, too; architecture in particular can get downright beautiful (within the confines of the DS, of course—but even then it's impressive.) Even though the developer is the same that was behind the Final Fantasy DS remakes, the characters don't exude the same sort of low-poly look. Besides the looks, there's also several subsystems such as a light dating sim element and its associated subquests as well as tournaments to participate in. It all ties together rather nicely.
Avalon Code turns out a rather good game and a good value for DS. I can't help but think that it would be flirting with greatness instead of just being "good" if they'd spent some more time thinking about how to make the Book easier to deal with, but I still enjoyed playing it very much regardless. Here's hoping that if a sequel is in the cards, they'll square away that particular issue; putting it aside, the game is definitely inventive, solid and worth a play.
The full game, which I've played for a few weeks now, has delivered rather well on that promise. Unfortunately, there is one key flaw to the game package that makes it difficult to love unconditionally.
Avalon Code's neat idea—indeed, its key draw—is that you as the hero or heroine are given the Book of Prophecy, a tome within which you can store the codes for living things and items in the world. Once you've recorded things in the Book (a simple process of running up to something pressing a button), you can rearrange that thing's codes to change its composition however you see fit. Codes run the gamut from elements like fire and ice to metals like iron, silver and gold and even concepts like freedom and hope. Individual codes then fit together in grids to make up the thing in question.
The net result, that the act of assembling groups of codes (particularly larger ones) can become tedious, is a real shame because the developers have come up with a game that really exploits the code mechanic rather well. You can, as I experienced in the demo, weaken enemies by transposing "ill" codes to their pages or make them stronger by fortifying them with other appropriate codes. You'll also need to assemble code sets into keys to unlock doors, modify weaponry and enemies in specific ways for challenges, and even solve quests. Specific combinations of codes that you can find can even be put together to create special weaponry, or create healing items (actually synthesizing an item takes MP.) I get the feeling that had navigating the Book been made easier, I'd spend a lot of time with this particular system, assembling cosmic puzzles to create the world my way.
The core game is not too shabby either. It's a solid action RPG sporting a few simplified systems, such as Zelda-style HP for your main character, and a few unique ones, like the "Judgment Link" move—essentially, juggling an enemy high into the air to earn currency and recharge your HP/MP. It's got just the right level of challenge, a wide variety of weapons to use as the game progresses, a number of special attacks, and some pretty cool bosses to boot.
The game world itself is well-realized, too; architecture in particular can get downright beautiful (within the confines of the DS, of course—but even then it's impressive.) Even though the developer is the same that was behind the Final Fantasy DS remakes, the characters don't exude the same sort of low-poly look. Besides the looks, there's also several subsystems such as a light dating sim element and its associated subquests as well as tournaments to participate in. It all ties together rather nicely.
Avalon Code turns out a rather good game and a good value for DS. I can't help but think that it would be flirting with greatness instead of just being "good" if they'd spent some more time thinking about how to make the Book easier to deal with, but I still enjoyed playing it very much regardless. Here's hoping that if a sequel is in the cards, they'll square away that particular issue; putting it aside, the game is definitely inventive, solid and worth a play.