Curiosity drove me to this game a long time ago. After all, what could the ability to eat lies lead to? And while I can not say this was an epic adventure, I can at least say it was worth the time I spent with them.
This game is not just a single title like I expected when I first installed it, but a trilogy of short indie RPG titles that come bundled and can only be installed together. As such this review will cover each in turn with one section to cover any bugs found across the collection.
- LiEat: The Lie-Eating Dragon and the Vermilion Vampire
- LiEat: The Lie-Eating Dragon and the Azure Dreameater
- LiEat: The Lie-Eating Dragon and the Golden Thief
Story: It's been a long journey, but the duo finally arrived.at the isolated town of Vermileon. It is here they will exchange information with a contact of theirs and finally be paid for their work. In addition, this town might just hold a secret or two they can bring with them on their next journey. This is their trade, but they are not the most normal of travelers.
The man, for his part is relatively normal, if a bit sketchy. He keeps his own secrets to such an extent that he changes names and appearances often, using different ones whenever he goes to a new location like this. But the young girl with him is truly something unique.... she's a dragon. This would be special in it's own since dragons are exceptionally rare and powerful, but her power is something truly special. She eats lies to survive. And this small town will have some very large and tasty meals for the young girl... meals you too will enjoy.
Just don't expect too many of them as this game is very short, centering around a mystery specific to this town. It doesn't offer any really good twists so much as a nicely flowing chapter in the lives of our two heroes(?). It works and is actually very pleasant to play through in a sitting or two, though there isn't much more then that.
6/10
Graphics: LiEat is a series of retro-RPG titles, and as such you can expect them to take up a style very similar to what you might have seen in the days of the NES or SNES. Throughout the game you will be shown everything from a grid-based bird's eye view, moving our duo around the world. However expect these graphics to be limited in volume since the entire game takes place in a a single and a handful of small houses within it. Add to this an extremely limited number of enemy types (even if the idea behind them is actually really creative) and you are just going to see much variety in this game at all.
Battles themselves are also nothing too special to look at either, as you will see the scene darken while a picture of you opponent takes center stage, even having it's name and own little health bar below the picture. Below the picture you will see the stats of our duo (or whichever one you are controlling if they were separated). It is all very basic RPG fair.
Still the game does offer something a little unique while staying in the retro art style in the form of images and videos. There are times short videos or even a still pick taking the full screen space (and limitations the game imposes on itself) in it's display. The result is something that fits the era, if not necessarily the size of the cart it would have been on.
7/10
Sound: When playing a game with very retro style, you often can not expect to get much in the way of voice acting, and this is no exception: there is none. Rather you will mainly hear the music of any given scene, assuming there is anything, and sadly the music itself isn't anything special. Rather the skill displayed here is in how artfully it's used and not. Silence hightens the moment as a hint to pay attention, and not always for horror. The opening before you get to town keeps this silence, begging you to take in the scene before you step into the main event and the location everything will take place in. The music then takes up the mood of a quaint little place where things are going "so far" going ok... and that so far is in quotes for a reason. Expect the music to keep up like this, even if it really isn't the kind of thing you will remember well after the game is over.
And sound effects, you can effectively forget about. You have a few notes for your menu actions, opening doors, and when doors are locked in stead, but little else.
This is not a game you came to for the soundwork.
5/10
Gameplay: But for all these limits, how does it play? Well, the game is very much a classic RPG-Maker type game letting you wander around the limited space the game takes place in from a bird's eye view. And I mean limited when I say it. The overworld map for this game consists of 3 areas: the short amount of path at the entrance of the town, the town itself, and a small pathway out back of it. The town is the biggest section by far and I would estimate it's size to be maybe 4 screens at best. Add a few houses you can explore and you've found everywhere you can go. But within this small area the game successfully manages to put all the pieces together for a neat little story to take place and let you experience the essence of a classic turn-based RPG: some story based puzzles and a few turn-based battles.
And these flow as well as one would expect... with the story really only holding up if you lose track of where a character you need to interact with is since these drive everything. The battles, on the other hand exist when Efi (the dragon of our duo) feeds pretty much exclusively. You run into goo-monsters representing these lies: smaller ones stay in place and require you to decide if they are truth or not before you fight them. Choose lie and the battle begins! Or if it's a bigger lie, it can chase you down to start the fight itself. Once in the fight, everything goes as expected however, as you select what your heroes will do before the results of the turn play out. It's not a tough game by any means and even gives you a chance to level up indefinitely if you desire before the big baddie at the end.
Overall the game is very simple, but it works with it since the brevity doesn't let simple become repetitive in the least. Rather it sticks around long enough to be fun before letting credits roll and you move on to the next game.
7/10
Story: Time has passed since the previous adventure, and our star duo has been hard at work on their trade of informant. And in fact, this is what brings them to this casino of all places: rumors of a dragon being there. With the hopes to learn the truth and maybe more about Efi's kind they have slipped in once again as our sketchy party leader has adapted the new identity of Hal, a man who recently was hired as guard.
What will they find out? Is there another dragon Efi can talk to to learn more about herself? And why the hell was the local cat-boy strangled and crucified?!?!? Things are not as nice as they seem at the resort and it's time to dig in and figure out what is going on!
Much like the previous episode this story is short, sweet, and solid for the time you are playing. However, considering the whole game can be beaten taking your time in under 2 hours, that doesn't leave a lot of room for extras. There will be a few lies to decipher (and Efi to devour) and minor twists to go with it, but there just isn't a lot there.
7/10
Sound: Just like the previous game, we are looking at a retro-title that in fact uses the exact same engine. As such, I really could just say to read the sound section in part 1 (The Lie Eating Dragon and the Vermilion Empire) and it would say exactly the same thing. You will get no voice acting at all and very limited sound effects (and in fact most of what you will hear in the game itself is the occasional slap sound and menu blips).
Most of the time, however you will have a descent soundtrack playing over any given scene, fitting the style as a midi type of music. It sounds good, but it is nothing you would want to listen to once the game is over. It also sadly has a habit of stopping and restarting rather then looping properly as one would expect of that day.
5/10
Graphics: Graphically this might as well be the first game again. It is literally the same engine using the same style sprites for the characters as they walk around the world it will take place in in the same birds-eye-view of the world. Still the world itself reflects it's new location very well, so this shouldn't be an issue. And the game does use a whole new set of sprites for everyone including our intrepid heroes (and at least this time, it's not a question).
There is one exception to this, and that's the enemies you will fight. For the most part, the lies look exactly like they did in the first game: both on the map and when in combat... which again is ok since their style transcends location easily enough.
Overall, the game doesn't look half-bad... it's just not making any strides from what the first offered.
7/10
Gameplay: Like the rest of this game, the first part describes effectively how this game plays too. You will play a birds-eye-view as you guide Efi and her human friend (now calling himself Hal) as they wander the halls of the casino/resort to solve the mystery before them. And just like the last game, you will do so in an exceedingly small area. In this case, you will have the front-garden, the main halls, and a few entertainment rooms to wander outside the one-screen copy-pasted bedrooms where everything will take place.
But at the same time, this works for the pacing far better then the first time. Just like before, most of the game is controlled by character interaction with a small (but important) dose of combat to keep things moving. But unlike before the structured area and locations used within make it almost impossible to lose track of anyone you need to talk to, making that pacing damn near perfect!
I also do not have much I can say for combat as it is also identical to the first game: If you have played a turn-based RPG, you already know exactly what to expect as it is a basic version of that: pick your actions, watch the battle happen, rinse and repeat. And just like last time, the only really interesting twist is a set of moves Hal can do: he can lie to hurt himself, but fuel up both his and Efi's SP bars for anything more advanced then using candy to heal or basic attacks.
It's simple, but it's effective... and it will amuse you if you like RPGs for an hour or two before you finish up and be on your way.
7/10
Story: Some time has passed since our last adventure with our unlikely duo once again. And while Efi is still Efi, her friend and caretaker has once again changed names as he does in every town. Now being called Sid, he has accepted an invite to a rich party on behalf of his friend who chose not to attend. Together, they hope to enjoy the night and food, though it isn't long till a much larger plan centered around them begins to unfold. Old history is finally catching up in this finale to the trilogy of games.
The story itself is once again pretty straight forward as the night's events unfold, but it does have a couple of twists that lead to a rather appropriate ending. There may not be a lot here, but the lengthh of the game plays a large roll in that, so enjoy it.. it's actually pretty solid.
8/10
Sound: You are not going to get any suprises out of the sound you did not hear in the past two episodes. There is absolutely no voice acting in this game, which one might expect for something this retro and while the music is good, it really is standard for the age being emulated more then anything else. This leaves a standard and very limited set of sound effects to finish the audio department off. It does well enough, but the it just isnt anything special. In fact it is very much more of the same from even this trilogy.
5/10
Graphics: While the graphic engine is clearly identical to the previous two games, there was at least some upgrades to the art. You will not see any significant change to the world or sprites as they still would look in place in an 8-bit RPG game. But the art in combat and profiles in chat have been upgraded.. both for better and for worse.
In battle you will only see 2 or 3 sprites in total due to the length of the game, but they actually look really really good and detailed. The profiles, also look more detailed, but this actually works out to the detriment of the game since it makes some of these characters harder to identify (and that goes double where the game does not have names to go with them). They still look good, but functionally it just gets in it's own way compared to the previous games, creating a different kind of mess.
6/10
Gameplay: Somehow this episode is even less of an RPG then the previous two. Yes, you can and will have to have a battler or two in turn-based fashion to complete it, but it is far from the focus. Rather you will spend most of your time with light puzzles, such as finding someone who is missing or putting together the clues to find an item you need to show someone else. Still, with this new focus, the game could have implemented the item hunt a little better.
In essence the game will not let you find anything you do not need next, which is very counterintuitive where you have an inventory it will require you to select it from anyway. It's not a big deal, but it can hold you up if you think you've already checked a place for the next item and it now magically becomes available since you now need it.
6/10
Bugs: I don't think I found a single bug playing any of these games.
Overall: This whole collection is basically a set of short RPG-style vignettes which each on their own stands as a bite-sized game you can sit down and play in one or two sessions. They do not really tell one story between them, but rather just fit together as an anthology. You can't expect a lot from them due to the bite-sized nature, but what is here is pretty good overall and if you are a fan of small story-driven adventures, you can do a lot worse then to spend the handful of hours it will take to finish all three games here. But you are not going to get anything exceptional here, either.
Score:
System Requirements:
- Intel Core 2 running at 1.06Ghz
- 1 GB RAM
- Windows 7
- 200 MB hard drive space
- Ryzen 5 5600G running at 3.9 Ghz
- 16 GB RAM
- Windows 10
- PDP DX Wired Controller (Crimson)
Source: Steam
No comments:
Post a Comment