New release: Heroes of Legionwood: Age of Darkness
The narrative premise:
It has been 100 years since the world ended. Human civilization has been devastated by a malevolent force known only as the Darkness and only the last remnants of humanity remain. Playing the role of Locke, a young adventurer determined to save his people, you’ll discover a world where your choices have consequences and every victory comes with a price. Can you stop the Darkness, or will you perish along with the rest of society, never to be heard from again?
Per Grixti , the aforementioned wRPG elements include the ability to select your hero’s name, gender, and class; player-directed stat distribution upon level-up; Dragon Age-style relationship values among party members; non-combat talents such as Speech, Scouting, and Subterfuge; and the use of branching dialogue with choices that can have permanent consequences.
Here is the official feature list:
- 10+ hours of non-linear RPG gameplay.
- Turn based combat with three different difficulty levels.
- Dynamic companions who react to your decisions.
- Branching choices with far reaching consequences.
Heroes of Legionwood: Age of Darkness is the third game that Dark Gaia Studios has set in this universe, preceded by the jRPGs Legionwood: Tale of the Two Swords and Legionwood 2 (although Grixti states that you won’t need to have played those to get into this one). Heroes of Legionwood: Age of Darkness is planned as the first title in a forthcoming trilogy, although it can reportedly be played as a standalone game, with an ending that provides closure.
You can buy Heroes of Legionwood: Age of Darkness for $6.99 direct from the developer–or, if you need some more convincing, try a free demo. The game is made in the RPG Maker engine, so it’s Windows only.
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So what are the Final Fantasy parts?
Well, it’s made in RPG Maker, so the game is operating off of a jRPG core. (The combat, for instance, looks pretty jRPGish.)
Thanks. -Well, if they can offer a go-nearly-anywhere sort of world, with real differences between locations, as your summary notes, I’d still call it a wRPG. And that’s all to the good. Probably just me, but jRPGs feel like a lot of colorful clothes draped over a series of tactical encounters. Matter of degree, I suppose.
Developer here.
To elaborate, I’d say the “Final Fantasy parts” would be the exploration and combat. The dungeons and encounters are very much in the style of an early 90s jRPG, and the quest lines are far more linear than they’d be in a wRPG.
The wRPG parts are the character development (stat point allocation, non-combat skills etc.) and the actual role-playing and emphasis on choices. Your companions actually have relationship values that the game tracks and different outcomes occur based on this. You can give different responses to NPCs during quests and receive different or extra rewards etc.
Think of it as a typical jRPG, except that you create the protagonist instead of just being given one, and you have some input into the story and dialogue.
Thank you for the information.