Kinetic Cipher by Brickroad reviewed by Maladroit Him (Brandon Abley) Medium: RM2k3 |
||||
Kinetic Cipher is one of the most unusual RPGMaker 2003 games I've played in a long time, because it is exactly the sort of game that the program was probably intended for in the first place. It contains few (if any) author-designed content, doesn't violate any international copyright laws, and makes judicious use of the gameplay systems that are part of the original RPG template that the program comes with. In spite of these (debatable) drawbacks, Kinetic Cipher is a profoundly cleverly-designed game, and is a title that I wouldn't recommend anyone miss. Unless, of course, you aren't a fan of wicked puzzles.
Lufia 2 was a Super Nintendo RPG released in the 90s. It featured an excellent progressive rock soundtrack, a story that didn't take itself very seriously (but was still touching at time!), combat that was balanced but not innovative, and consisted primarily of puzzle-filled dungeons with lots of blocks to push and switches to flip. Kinetic Cipher plays like a spiritual fan-made successor to Lufia 2, since it is almost identical in its approach. As mentioned in the caption above, the puzzles are generally quite enjoyable. Their solutions are very clear, but the means as to how to approach those solutions are not. You'll spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to get to a certain switch that clearly needs to be flipped. There was one puzzle in particular that I was extremely frustrated with, and, after 15 minutes of wasting my time, I solved by accident. I contacted the author and suggested that he provide some sort of clue, but all he did was insult me and tell me that the puzzle wasn't going to change. And you know what? That's probably the best part of Kinetic Cipher. It's quite challenging, but it doesn't care, and it isn't going to change. It won't make any concessions if you bitch, because it wants you to be frustrated. Keep in mind, however, that this isn't Unlimited SaGa frustration -- you are usually pretty clear as to what the hell is going on. The problem usually lies in how to get to the switch on the other side of the room.
Brickroad's love of pissing the player off carries into the battles. Unfortunately, this game uses the standard RPG Maker 2003 battle system, and this means that the battle system sucks. You'll spend most of your time watching ATB bars fill up and your characters getting their asses kicked. I recommend that you buy all of the lighter, weaker equipment that boosts agility -- if for no other reason than to make the battles not suck ass. Past the shortcomings of the battle system, the actual design of individual battles is in fact quite good. This is primarily due to an enormous helping of status ailments the enemy can inflict on your party.
A helpful cipher in the beginning of the game informs our intrepid hero, Karen, that she had best make sure to bring lots of recovery items into the first dungeon. If you are a seasoned RPG player like me, and ignore his advice because recovery items are always worthless, you will die an agonizing poison death. There are a lot of extremely punishing status ailments in this game, and they are the prevailing theme in battles. A monster is defined by its ability to poison, paralyze, stun, or terrify you. In a few isolated cases, the enemies are defined by their simple ability to kick ass, but that is another story. Because of these ailments, battles can often pretend to be extremely tactical. Most of the time, however, they'll simply be frustrating. You will either have the appropriate recovery item, or you won't. If you do not, I hope that you're comfortable with running away and walking back to the nearest town, because you will have to. Roughly 1/3 of my total playtime was spent backtracking to town just to take care of a petrification curse. Because the item to deal with petrification was obnoxiously expensive, I could never afford it. I could not save up to buy one because the inn was too expensive. I managed to eventually solve this by finding an enemy that I could steal them from and made sure to get about 5 or 6, but it was a lot of work. The spirit of this game, though, is that Kinetic Cipher and Brickroad don't care that you are having a tough time. If you are into that sort of thing, then this is the game for you. It isn't exactly masochistic, and it isn't exactly boring, but it isn't exactly fun, either -- but it's part of the package. The game wouldn't feel the same if the status ailments weren't so god damn punishing.
All but the first boss fight will probably keep you on your toes, mid-bosses included. The first boss fight was basically a looooong war of attrition, where you'd target the "right" skeleton or suffer a brutal counter-attack. You would have to target to correct skeleton about 25 times, and none of them were able to inflict a great deal of damage, so it was boring and if you lost, it was after a long time. Otherwise, though, I had a great time with bosses. The end boss of the demo I killed with about 20 HP left on my last character, for example, and I had to try about four times -- just about the perfect frequency for a boss that is supposed to be extremely tough but quite beatable. Unfortunately, none of these exceptionally well-balanced bosses had any particularly clever routines or behaviors. Basically they were stronger-than-normal enemies that were just barely incapable of beating the player. They might be able to heal or whatever, but I didn't think they were all that interesting.
The opening scene to this game sucks. It was confusing, the music was terrible, the text bos was an enormous shock to my system, the scrolling panorama was cheesy, and there were really sloppy edits of RTP tiles to make the place look mysterious and magical (they failed). And the big bad guy and his bragging were pretty corny. My only advice is to tolerate the intro and stick around to enjoy everything that the game really has to offer.
Kinetic Cipher has an absolute load of secrets. This is an early build of the game, so don't expect any earth-shattering super-bosses or overpowered ultimate weapons that take days of concerted redundance to collect, but there are plenty of extras nontheless. A dedicated player could spend a lot of time scrounging every enemy and gathering the resources to build every item, for example. Dungeons in this game are probably only half as long as they should be for the players who don't push against every wall in order to get to those weirdly-hidden treasure chests. The best part about these extras is that if you don't take the time to enjoy them, you will never succeed. It's imperitive to find hidden treasures and contruct items, because you won't have enough gold to buy anything decent and none of the best things can be purchased anyway. Encounters have all of those nasty status ailments, and most of the recovery items will be found, not bought; so it's best that the player looks for them. My wrists hurt because the desk at my girlfriend's apartment really fucking sucks. Plus, I don't have a rest for my wrists and I have improper typing technique. This does not influence the actual review, but I thought it was worthy of mentioning. I'll state this objectively: the author of this game frequently refers to me as an "artfag" and is pretty clear on the fact that he hates everything I stand for, particularly the fact that I prefer games to have a sense of style. Lamentable it is, then, that his game certainly has one! This style is in the cruel spirit and in the overall sense of bubblegum awesome of the game. I've already spent a good deal of time discussing why this game has a "cruel spirit," so I'll summarize. Battles are ripe with unforgiving status ailments, a few of the puzzle solutions are unbelievably obscure, and there is a boss fight of two that will definitely keep you on your toes. The dungeon at the end of this release is what the author describes as an "uber-dungeon," and needs to be completed in about 48 trips and is more like 6 dungeons in one. It's reminiscent of a final dungeon in a typical RPG, and that's what makes it so satisfying. I know that there is a lot more game after that point (in later releases anyway), but Brickroad isn't afraid to posit an epic obstacle early on. It does a great job of breaking the feelling of an obligatory forest-dungeon that always shows up in every game -- the sort of dungeon that exists for no reason other than to make the passage from point A to point B take longer. Granted, all but one of the dungeons in Kinetic Cipher are of that very type. And the uber-dungeon in question is of that exact variety. But it's an uber-dungeon; it isn't a 10 minute-long distraction with an easy end boss that exists for no reason. It's a real challenge, and while it exists for no reason, it's fun because it's challenging.
There is an Electric Six song called "gay bar" where there are the lyrics, "I want to spend all your money at the gay bar" and "I've got something to put in you at the gay bar gay bar gay bar NUCLEAR WAR." I am listening to the song right now, and it is making writing this review an absolute delight! Comments like this are why my reviews are adolescent and unprofessional. The screenshot above is the definitive reason why you should play this game. Aside from that, the game has a certain atmosphere to it reminiscent of titles like Dragon Quest. It's charming, and it has a few jokes, and the message box is the second ugliest message box I have ever seen in an RPG. The first two primary characters are interesting, and the third is not, but god damn it is she useful and that is probably why she is in the party. The game doesn't take itself seriously in any real way other than when it comes to puzzles, and this works in its favor, since its primarily role is as a puzzle game. What is really remarkable is, despite all of this, the game has a number of extremely sentimental moments where you will legitimately care about the characters for a moment or two -- and the game will graciously transition smoothly back to its lighthearted self. Kinetic Cipher is fashioned of tradition console RPG titles on the Super Nintendo. It has the same sort of puzzles, storytelling, and atmosphere. It takes place in a fairly generic fantasy world and is populated with modern people. A little bit of steampunk is thrown in for good measure. These are all good things, these are all things that you've seen before, and Brickroad is very aware of these facts. Kinetic Cipher is, like all of those older RPGs, generic in a very creative way. I can't think of many people that wouldn't enjoy this game (unless the mediocre-to-average graphics and awful music selection get them down, which are very legitimate issues).
Play? Play. Kinetic Cipher is a classic pleasure that will piss you off for several hours. It's a digestible amount of gameplay and can be completed in a couple of moderately long play sessions. Reviewer's Notes Bad I don't really like the music, atmosphere,
or really any quality about the introduction. |
