Exit Fate – and what you shouldn’t do when you’re making an RPG

By: Xander

On: February 17th, 2009

Exit Fate is a new RPG from the creator of Last Scenario. Whilst sharing a number of similarities such as the portrait artwork, its general style is a lot closer to that of the JRPG Suikoden. In this regard there is a far greater number of recruitable characters, up from the 7 of the first game to a staggering 75. Unique portrait work for each as well as battle art is an astounding achievement for a single man development team. It also features some interesting mechanics, such as the large overhead tactical battles similar to Suikoden, as well as a bribery system which alerts you to nearby enemy encounters an lets you buy off fighting them in order to continue adventuring without conflict. The battle system is fairly standard turn-based combat, but with the interesting twist in that you gain MP as you fight, rather than slowly deplete a mana pool. This stops you from instantly nuking foes from the offset, giving the battles an interesting flow.

Enemy art and backgrounds I believe are also hand-made and the entire project feels rather well put together, though the 150MB size might put off some people from trying it. Give it a go though, and see what you think.

In the extended are my main criticisms of the game, where I’m suprisingly mean and consequently feel like kind of a jerk! (EDIT: And is in no way an actual review.)

To start with, I don’t really like some of the portraits. This isn’t a real criticism since they are certainly well drawn, it’s just to do with my own personal taste. If I don’t like the look of the main character though (He has a big face) then I’ll find it hard to engage with him. However, a major gripe I do have is that there is only one portrait for each character whenever they’re talking, which can lead to some goofy juxtapositioning such as the main screenshot here where Ayara recounts a tragic night ambush yet looks fairly pleased to do so.

Another large problem I have is that the game is described as being a Suikoden style RPG, but to spoil the first hour of gameplay; There’s a suprise ambush on your protagonist’s camp, he is nursed by the enemy forces, he’s branded a traitor by his old countrymen, he joins the enemy army and en route to another objective will travel through a forest and FIGHT A MIST MONSTER.

I get that it’s supposed to be in the style of Suikoden, but this basically IS the first hour of Suikoden II, and even then it was a fairly regular plot for the genre. After ten years it just doesn’t have the same impact at all, espeically without a creature like Luca Blight driving it. The plot may pick up later but I’m afraid it was feeling too stale for me to progress much further than the Mist Monster (Seriously, he was on the misty mountain pass in Suikoden II. What the hell is he doing in a completely clear forest?). The funny thing is that the game could’ve kept my attention if it didn’t insist on reminding me of a better game at least once a minute. The battle theme is pulled straight from Suikoden II, plenty of the town themes are instantly recognizable from Final Fantasy games and when you finish off a boss you’re rewarded by the victory theme from Chrono Trigger.

It just doesn’t seem like sensible practice. I understand it’s a freeware release, so it does seem a little unfair to compare it to The Spirit Engine or the like, but at the same time the difference in quality is clear. It’s still a good game, it just feels like a game that tries to create an identity for itself whilst also taking iconography from famous titles which does little else but spoil the effect.

I appreciate the time and effort that developers put into making games and clearly a lot of thought was put into certain parts of this game, especially since the entire game apparently took two years to create. And it’s because of this that the areas where that effort is missing feel somewhat unsatisfying. I really want to like the game, but that seems entirely contingent on whether or not I can look past the unmistakable signs of RPGMaker. And I really don’t think I can.

TIGdb: Entry for Exit Fate