Arelite Core

I'm really enjoying Arelite Core, and that's surprising to me, because I don't generally play games with turn-based combat or those that are party-based. That being said, I think it's a testament to this developer that a gamer like myself could find enjoyment in a game that's not typically in his or her "wheelhouse.' To begin with, the graphics are really sharp and clear. Though the images I see on my higher end gaming laptop with a GTX 970 aren't quite as vivid as the stills on the Steam page for this game, they come pretty close. The characters are well-defined artistically, and the variety of enemies took some real time to individualize. In regard to layout, I noted that one reviewer mentioned an RPG Maker-like appearance, and that's partially true. However, I found more diversity in area design and assets the further I progessed in the game. The soudtrack has a retro vibe to it, but it's very repetitive. I can't say that I heard anything revolutionary or that I would want to invest in the soundtrack. This isn't a soundtrack to jam by, and it's not what I would consider soothing, so I don't see myself listening to it outside of normal gameplay. The storyline is really quite deep, and this is a much more involved game than I'd originally anticipated. I've noticed a trend in some of the more recent game publications where emphasis is put on blacksmithing, weaponsmithing, or smithing as a crafting skill. It's a trend that's actually appealing to me and should also hit its mark with classic RuneScape players who spent hours mining and smithing to get the perfect armor and weapon set. As I mentioned above, this is a party-based game with turn-based combat. You'll begin with one main character and add to your party as the game progresses. Each character has its own unique special skills, combat styles, and weaknesses. In this regard, it does require a bit of strategy as the battles gain in complexity. While exploring different areas and completing quest objectives to complete the story, you'll encounter many battle instances, some of which you can see coming by the presence of an enemy you can't avoid, and many you won't see coming at all. During battle, each character rotates and gets a turn whereby you have to decide whether to use a basic attack, special attack, item, or skill. The reverse is also true, because your opponents will essentially be doing the same thing. There is a certain amount of randomness to the battle instances, as you'll see varying types of enemies, number of enemies, hitpoint variations, and a variety of attacks and skills being thrown at you. This fact alone creates some degree of replay value and prevents the game from feeling stale or stagnant. In addition to combat, there is a looting mechanic, as you'll often obtain currency drops or find items while exploring. Some of these items can be used right away, such as weapons, armor, and gear, while others might not have an apparent use until later in the game. You'll also encounter merchants and shops of varying types from which you can purchase gear or consumables for your party. Talking with NPCs throughout the game can point you in the right direction if you're having difficulty determining what to do or where to find something. All gamers should be aware that this is a lengthy game, and it feels somewhat slow-moving at times. I've seen projections somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 hours of gameplay; however, with the high degree to which I've been encountering battle instances, it has made storyline progression feel interrupted. In regard to controller mechanics, the developer has done some really solid work here. I've been playing with a wired XBox 360 controller, and I've not had any issues in regard to controller mechanics or menu navigation. Gamers have the ability to save their game at any time via the menu interface, and that's in addiiton to autosaves along the way. There's no reason why this game can't be played in short durations if time is a factor for you. Overall, I certainly recommend Arelite Core. It's got a very retro feel to it; in fact, it reminds me a lot of Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles of Mystara. If you enjoy that style of game, as well as party-based games or those with turn-based combat, you're in luck. Arelite Core is definitely for you. If, however, you're are a gamer like myself who doesn't naturally gravitate to these types of games, but are willing to broaden your horizons a bit and try something new, I'd absolutely recommend that you give it a try. My assessment at this point is that if you try Arelite Core and don't like it, then this genre of game is probably not for you, but if you have a reasonable adaptable gaming acumen, you may just find a new favorite. Achievements and steam cards are included with this game, but at this price point, that's not a deciding factor for purchasing in my opinion. If this sounds like a game for you otherwise, though, then it's worth every penny.

To pay homage to the past is a tumultuous line that many games walk, especially trying to emulate games that were successful can lead to mixed results. Arelite Core is one of those mixed results. Developed and published by the one-man team Dragon Slumber, Arelite Core is a JRPG that tries to recreate the successful formula that made the genre what it was. Does it succeed? Well, yes and no. The story follows Karden, who is on the path to become a master blacksmith, only to be forced to take on Talameq who interrupts his journey and is wreaking havoc upon the world. He’s joined by your typical motley crew of companions, and together they must save the world. It’s a story we’ve heard before and we will again a dozen more times. This isn’t a bad thing mind you, it’s just a little more cut and paste than what was marketed in the trailers. While the overarching story is lacking, the comedic dialogue between the characters often lands and you do start to believe that they’re friends as time goes on. There’s a sense of camaraderie amongst the group that, while expected, is actually believable considering the circumstances and it doesn’t seem forced, not completely. There is a problem with the artwork however; the character art doesn’t move or react when they talk to each other, which means it looks a bit uncanny when the characters are just staring at each other unblinkingly while a character mourns the death of his good friend. The arts not bad, it’s just if you’re going to use full character art, you need to have more than one expression drawn or it’s just going to be unsettling or just plain awkward. Monsters have more varied artwork; having near death expressions before their death animation that usually reflects the kind of monster it was, like showing a long necked monster slumping over and falling before disintegrating. Though there seems to be a little… issue with the size ratio between the enemy artwork and the main character artwork. In battle, the main characters are portrayed as tiny things while the monsters are portrayed as colossal, that is for the most part. Sometimes the player characters due to their size being about twice as tall as the average 16-bit protagonist are the exact height of the monsters which severely decreases the feeling of danger. This isn’t helped by the fact that the art style for each monster is drastically different leaving proportions to be all over the place. I know old JRPGs like the 2D Final Fantasies did it too, but those used super-deformed sprites for the player characters. Because your party and the enemies used different art styles, it didn’t stick out as much that your characters were just as tall as a wild rabbit. Why this decision was made is a mystery, but if it was to garner a laugh then mission accomplished. Outside of the artwork within the battles, there isn’t a lot to say about the combat in Arelite Core. It’s basic turn-based with some charged action commands and some flashy specials. There’s a nice spread of abilities you can learn and power up as you level throughout the game. Characters aren’t limited to one role or the other, but some characters can perform certain roles better than others. It’s by the book, but it works for its purpose. It’s just there isn’t much to say; it looks good, it plays just fine, it is mechanically sound in the most mundane of ways and could be improved or made more complex, but its not. There is the little troublesome gameplay feature that every boss has the ability to heal a huge chunk of health which, while expected, is perplexingly frustrating when the second boss of the game, which is grossly over-leveled considering the average character at that point, heals himself or his partner and then does a move that will more than likely kill a party member. It’s smacking the player in the face with a difficulty curve that the rest of the game doesn’t have. Most the time, you can combat the healing with status ailments, but early on, you don’t have very many of those if at all when you face them, which means you’re treated to a needlessly frustrating boss. There is one part of the game that does break the mold and that’s the blacksmithing mechanic. While not a mini-game or anything like that, Karden’s original questline to learn from all the great blacksmiths is interesting for what it is. He talks to these people who speak his language about Blacksmithing and we get to see what he knows, what he doesn’t know as well as get a little bit of history about the metals. We learn more about Arelite and why it’s so important that we learn to craft with it, it just adds a bit of lore to the game that was desperately needed. We may learn more about the world as the story goes on but it’s the little things that keep games like this interesting. Arelite Core is a generic JRPG that tries to emulate the games of the past. While it does this successfully, it doesn’t seem to have an understanding of what makes those sort of games unique and timeless. It is by no means a bad game, but it’s a generic one that could have crafted itself a few things to make itself truly great.

[h1] ❤ Audience ❤ [/h1] [b]☑ Beginner[/b] [b]☑ Casual Gamer[/b] [b]☑ Normal Gamer[/b] ☐ Expert [h1] ☼ Graphics ☼ [/h1] ☐ Bad [b]☑ Alright[/b] [world map and dungeons are quite boring] [b]☑ Good [/b] [nice battle backgrounds and enemy/character models] ☐ Beautiful ☐ Fantastic [h1] ♬ Music ♬ [/h1] ☐ Bad ☐ Alright ☐ Good ☐ Beautiful [b]☑ Fantastic [/b] [h1] ☠ Difficulty ☠ [/h1] [b]☑ Easy[/b] [if you use the battle-system to its full potential] [b]☑ Average [/b] ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Hard ☐ Unfair [h1] § Bugs § [/h1] ☐ Bugs destroy the game ☐ Lots of bugs [b]☑ Few Bugs [/b] [sometimes you can skip event triggers like cutscenes or bossfights by simply walking around them, Lleanas tier3 and Ibrams tier2 skills caused the game to crash several times, in some areas you can clip through the background or the map and get stuck so you have to reload] ☐ You can use them for speedrun ☐ Nothing encountered [h1] ☯ Story ☯ [/h1] ☐ There is none ☐ Bad ☐ Alright [b]☑ Good [/b] [but often very cliche] ☐ Fantastic [h1] ⚔ Gameplay ⚔ [/h1] ☐ Frustrating ☐ Sleepy ☐ Boring [b]☑ Fun[/b] [nice battle-system] ☐ Challenging [h1] ۞ Game time / Length ۞ [/h1] ☐ Really short (0 - 3 hours) ☐ Short (4 - 7 hours) [b]☑ Few hours (15 - 20 hours)[/b] [main story alone + there is a (very hard) bonus chapter] ☐ Long (21-50 hours) ☐ Very Long (51-100 hours) ☐ Extremely Long (101+ hours) [h1] $ Price / Quality $ [/h1] [b]☑ Full price [/b] [if you like oldschool-rpg's] ☐ Wait for Sale ☐ Don't buy ☐ Refund it if you can

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ncwWgC0yJhk My video on Youtube for Arelite Core. Played Arelite core after a interview with developer Dragon Slumber. Very nice guy, but thats not important right now. Arelite Core is Dragon Slumber's first game, with its own engine. It's a JRPG adventure game, and you play the adventure Karden is going trough. But, you have the ability to change the name, so my Karden was renamed. I named him Steve. Graphics are good looking, however at the start the movement of the character does look a bit stif. This is something to get used to. The stif look on character movement doesn't influence the gameplay. The soundtrack is just amazing, it really fits with the game. The variaty in enemies is huge, and that's awesome. It has about 200 different enemies. So for people that like to play JRPG games, this one is a game to play. The story is fun to play and the engine works perfectly for me.

Lord, how I wish there was a "meh" button along with thumbs up or down. This game isn't bad, just bland. It's a strictly by-the-numbers RPG. Plot, writing, etc. just standard fare. Crafting advice: DON'T DO IT! Not until end game, Resources are finite, found through exploration and do not respawn. This was done intentionally to portray the rarity of materials in the game world. The equipment you can buy are almost as good as what you can craft (or even better at points) so save your resources until the end! The combat mechanic feels like it can be interesting, but the novelty wears off quickly. Each character has a set of skills (different attacks or defense measure) you can distribute points to enhance, and you can redistribute points outside of combat as much as you like. In reality, you'll likely just min/max then leave it be until level-ups provide more points. The tediousness of battles means you'll be using the item mechanic to reduce or avoid the plentiful random encounters. Unfortunately, boss difficulty scaling does call for some grinding. I'm near the end-game and just have no desire to slog through the finale and see how the story ends. Again, not a terrible game. Just a bland RPG-maker game that has its moments. Buy on sale, if that sounds like something you're down for.

I should have been more suspicious when early achievements were rare, despite the positive review ratio it seems like most people barely bothered to get far in the game, and it's not that difficult to see why. First of all the story is very bland, the characters are pretty one-dimensional and they all have relatively boring dialogue. NPCs rarely have much interesting or helpful to say. We don't get enough conflict or backstory about the protagonists to flesh them out or make them interesting and emotionally interested in their motivations. There's also a duo of annoying side characters that are almost unbearable to listen to and read the dialogue of, and they'll keep coming back with no way to speed or skip past. The world-building has interesting bits here and there but the environments are generic and cookie cutter and poorly done. It does 0 in properly immersing you into this world. Pretty much all the towns seem eerily the same, and the overworld is so basic and devoid of personality it almost feels like it's unfinished. In a game that was apparently built in its own engine I'm pretty surprised by the lack of detail or thought that was put into a lot of design choices. Navigating the world is confusing, there's no quest log or indicator of where you need to go at any time. Many areas of the game are confusing and convoluted and similarly designed, which will lead you to get lost very frequently and there is no in game map and no guide which it desperately needs. The huge number of random encounters and the slow pace of combat will frequently lead story beats being hours apart, leading to you forgetting why you're even here or what you're doing and praying you can slog through and not get lost to get to the next major story event. The game also has 10 hidden plushies to fight some ultra boss or something, but with how agonizing navigation is in this game I highly doubt anyone ever bothered because I'm certainly not. Another dimension I don't like is frustrating achievements, one is to get these hidden plushies which in this poor to navigate game good luck ever tracking those down in the labrynths or dungeons, and also an achievement for beating the game in under 10 hours, and considering how bad and how LONG of a slog this game is I have no idea how anyone would even go about achieving it. I tried to power through and just beat the main story and I've just gotten lost and turned around several times and quite frankly I don't even care to finish it, the game is generic and like eating plan white rice, pales in comparison to even other RPGmaker games that I got for .49 cents or a dollar. If you dislike long, boring slogs this should be avoided, it's made even worse by the fact there is NO FLEE FROM COMBAT option like in every other RPG in history, so everything is just an agonizing and slow confusing crawl to figure out where the heck to go. Would be good for a first effort/college project but laughable to ask $17 for this.

Arelite Core. My review! Story: Traditional RPG with terrifyingly powerful supervillain who wants to bring about utter destruction of the world. You play a blacksmith who has made up his mind to journey across the world seeking out all other Master Blacksmiths to learn from - you want to become the greatest Blacksmith who ever lived. Oh, and it just so happens the most powerful sword in history is needed to kill the supervillain and guess what Blacksmiths do? CREATE SWORDS! Along the way cities are razed, friends die, levels are gained, and fun is had. Music: Fantastic. 8/10 Combat: Simplistic yet fun. You use a point system to make certain Moves of your choosing more powerful/more effective. These points can be subtracted or added anywhere on the map - no Inn or anything needed. Your healer can Parry and heal your entire party for some HP. There's a "Stun" system which the more you hit the enemy the better your meter until you fill it and the enemy is stunned for a turn or two. Gameplay, Mechanics, Funness, Overall Enjoyability: I mean it's an Indie SNES-era RPG released in 2017. It's done very well. I noticed some typos which I wasn't fond of, but there were only a few. I think the game is worth $19.99. Overall: 7/10

Well, I'll say this, the impressions were very good... diverse! At first, everything looked good — the style is kind of old-school, and it's honestly captivating. But the action game sometimes felt like you were hitting an enemy with a pillow — well, there wasn't enough dynamics at all. But the plot is catchy in places, like a book that's hard to break away from, even if it's a little too long. In general, the emotions are more from indignation, but I can't say that there weren't moments that you cling to and enjoy. 🌟😅 As a fan of the plot, I would give a plus But it's too boring to play, it's better to read a book.

“Arelite Core” is yet another fantasy JRPG, but solidly built. The story is a typical example of high adventure with linear storyline, where a group of the good guys goes on a journey to defeat all-threatening evil and help people (entire kingdoms even) along the way; your party will consist of maximum 4 characters at a time, though these will change during the game. Combat system uses large variety of offensive and defensive abilities, put together into a system that still manages to be streamlined and easy to adopt, and most enemy encounters are easy to beat and don’t pose any serious problem. Game features also the possibility to craft your own weapons and armor, and extensive encyclopedia of enemy types. On the technical side the game feels a bit underwhelming, graphics have nice character drawings but the environment feels a bit bland and bare-bones (too much flat green grass everywhere); music is a bit rackety but has a certain retro-flair in it. If you enjoy JRPG games and want to try one that is more casual, then Arelite Core is the game for you.

Really good old-school RPG. I had a game breaking glitch and the developer fixed the glitch within a day, even though this game is from 2017! Pretty awesome response. This RPG has really cool enemy design/folklore and scattered secret areas/items/achievements. This game kinda reminds me of Paladin's Quest (SNES) and Suikoden.