Video Game Fables Review – Weighed Down by Excess Baggage

Parody always relies on something else to define itself. When the crutches of the source material are removed or stuck on unstable ground, parody often struggles to maintain balance. Or you risk being hit in the face with a rake or falling into a pit. Even if it’s fun now, it’s unfortunate in retrospect. Video Game Fables has its sights set on satirizing traditional turn-based RPGs, and while it doesn’t trip you headlong into a pit, it’s enough of a peril to make you wonder if you need to pack extra baggage. there is.

My main concern with games like this is that they often feel like they’re made to be mean. Developers have some kind of bones to choose from, and they use games to make choices. I see it a lot, especially in visual novels and RPGs, but I’m not a fan. You can’t make a good parody, or really good games in general, with that attitude. If you don’t like the material used, it will be reflected in the final result.

Thankfully, there’s no sense that the creators of Video Game Fables hate RPGs. A true love of the genre shines through here. In some ways, though, that attitude clashes with the kind of games Video Game Fables is aiming for. The central message Video Game Fables conveys is that you shouldn’t blindly cling to convention. This is the story of a video game character breaking out of his traditional role and finally breaking his RPG tradition. Loving RPGs and advocating for them to change are not necessarily mutually exclusive positions. These factors must be carefully balanced. Otherwise, the overall message will be confused.

Despite its ambition, Video Game Fables fits in well with most RPG conventions. The game takes place in a typical fantasy world with all the expected character archetypes, locations, and concepts. You’ll encounter enemies in a relatively random fashion and loot their corpses to gain items and experience points to become stronger. Travel the world map, explore dungeons, defeat bosses, and advance the story linearly. Technically that’s the whole point. The game world is supposed to be that of a typical old fantasy RPG video game. However, whatever your excuse for using generic settings, you’ll end up with generic settings if you don’t do enough to make it interesting.

The game distinguishes between its world and its inspirations, primarily through its writing. Every character almost always has something vile and goofy or vile and goofy at the same time. It’s interesting, but I think it’s not enough. Don’t get me wrong, the writing is lovely and I appreciate the silly way it meets your expectations. I honestly can’t say that it dramatically changes what Video Game Fables really is. Remove the wacky dialogue and you’re left with a fairly simple fantasy adventure.

This feeling was most pronounced while traversing the world map. Moving around the world map completely disconnects you from writing. It’s you, your compass, and the enemy fog happens to appear on your face. During these silent treks between dungeons, your gaming personality hibernates and finds yourself playing a no-frills, relatively simple RPG.

To be fair, Video Game Fables also deviates from convention in its battle mechanics, at least in theory. The game, on paper, is deep and interesting mechanics, and it’s heart-warming early on. Critical hits are very common, and landing a critical hit converts it into a resource that opens access to more powerful abilities. Turns are executed on a timer. The faster you select commands, the more powerful your attacks. The order of turns is displayed in the timeline, and actions can be voluntarily delayed to later turns in the timeline for strategic purposes. Loadouts, equipment builds can be readjusted at almost any point in the game. It’s a lot. This Avalanche mechanic initially buried me in the notion that a surprisingly complex game must be lurking beneath its simple presentation and structure.

In practice, the combat system hardly needs this depth against the majority of enemies. First party he balanced the setup because you never know exactly what to expect when starting an RPG. There were dedicated wizards, dedicated physical attackers, and ranged attackers who spent most of their time healing. As such, my strategy was to mourn my enemies with my aggressor. Departing from normal attacks, the occasional charged critical hit ability allowed the healer to keep everyone alive. Based on my intuition, I’m no math wizard). There was no reason to change the situation or consider options.

The nuances of the combat system appear only in boss battles, and even in a handful of boss battles. Boss battles using mechanics are the most engaging part of the game. My favorite boss fight makes good use of the delayed turn order mechanic by pitting you against groups of enemies, each with unique “rules” associated with it. They come and go in combat, so you should pay attention to the rules that are currently in force. If you attack on a turn against the rules, you will be penalized. This battle will test not only your memory, but also your long-term planning skills. That’s excellent. I wish there were more situations like this in the game.

Instead, there are more bosses that focus on gimmicks that have nothing to do with the actual combat system. Another is to control off-screen allies to blast away enemies who are charging into your party during combat.Action elements like these are another example of him where video game fable subverts convention. It’s a way. These elements are not limited to combat, as you progress through the dungeons, jumping through gaps, driving cars, and flying on beanstalks.

These sections aren’t frustratingly complex, and their variety makes for a fun distraction, but they certainly leave you wondering about developer priorities. Left unexplored, it seems a little unfocused when throwing in some messy but innocuous action elements. That doesn’t change the fact that it’s a relatively simple, standard RPG with a relatively common setting.

To be clear, there’s nothing wrong with RPGs per se being simple, standard, or relatively generic. The main reason I bring this game down is that it’s also an RPG about RPGs, and as a result tries hard to convince players of its atypical nature, making it the central theme of its narrative. Drawing attention to its atypicality amplifies how typical it actually is.

What developers do with their games is their own prerogative, and if developers really need to make this a game about games, they should. For me, the parody element hinders more than it helps in this case. It relies too much on the subject to properly critique or claim its own merits. Many of the strong elements present could have been left intact in a setting that felt more like the real world than a video game. Unfortunately, Video Game Fables is unsure of its messaging and gameplay.

Jack’s background is in law, but he’s been writing about games long before that. He aims to write the essence of the game (hopefully) in a new and interesting way. Occasionally, he even reads his own articles for fun. Results will vary. Talk to him about Mega Man! Preferably not a third party!