Battle for Esturia

Nice little very old-school RPG that is enjoyable if, like me, you love that kind of game. I've no idea how long it takes to finish it but it's a cheap game so even if it would be not be too long that'll do. My main critic would be that (so far) the quests have been rather linear and typical, nothing too fancy nor surprising nor inovative... so may be a bit too classical ?

bessie = best girl

Battle For Esturia is a fun little tactical cRPG that I cleared in 4.5 hours reading the dialog out loud (as an LP). It never was too rough on Normal difficulty with a Barbarian protagonist. It takes some clear cues from games like Shining Force, which is neat! I wish some of the quests didn't rely so much on old 1e-type stereotypes (oh look, the desert tribal society are constantly called "savages") and some strange parallels to the real world (a country that blames a desert nation to the south for a drug problem and builds a border wall? At least I could overthrow that jerk) don't really feel good, but ultimately you're not here for the writing.

An 80's style, retro RPG which seems to be influenced mainly by Ultima games, maybe with a sprinkle of Zelda as well in terms of dungeons (usually has a boss blocked by a special key). It is a party based RPG with turn based battles that take place directly on the map. Like most Ultima's, you start with one character and all others are found during game play and are set classes. The game is open world, although the world is smaller than most RPG's. Unlike Ultima, the dungeons are also the same 2d, looking straight down view. The controls are very simple, point and click for movement or using skills, etc with no keyboard needed (never tried controller so not sure if it supports that). This is a fun little RPG. Although it looks like Ultima, it is a simpler game and much smaller in scale. The story is straight forward and pretty standard (defeat the big baddie) but well done and executed and to the point. No walls of text or a bunch of unnecessary lore (just what you need to know), which is kind of refreshing. The game is mainly about combat and exploration, with the combat being fun with a good variety of enemies. Each class has it's own skills (about 5 or 6 I think by games end) and each can have multiple points placed into it to make it better. These give you tactical options, and for spell casters will be the backbone for everything you do. Characters also have abilities and these have a direct impact on things like how fast you move, how much damage you do, etc. Pretty standard but gives some good options such a wounding shot that slows enemies, retaliatory strikes, area attacks and spells such as heal and fireball. By games end you will be close to maxing out all your skills, but not quite assuming you do the side quests. Difficulty isn't bad but some later battles will require some thought with a handful of creatures that can instantly kill you or cast some nasty spells. Exploration was good but was maybe a bit more linear than it needed to be as areas are locked off until you complete some quest basically. There is some choice in the game but I couldn't say how it effects the game. Seems like some characters might leave if you do certain things. The negatives are pretty minor. The game was short, okay with me but might bother some. It felt about right in length though, it probably isn't deep enough to make long game out of. The log would often fill up and not show what you wanted to see and had no way to scroll back. As that is the only way to see how much damage you did or what spell was cast on you, it was mildly annoying in a few cases. Of course this game is retro so the graphics and controls won't work for every body. Interface was fine but could gave been better. Probably the biggest negative was the ending, with paragraph of text followed by a "The End" screen. That's it really, a fun little RPG that will probably mainly appeal to older people due to it's looks. It is a great game to play for 30 mins or so at a time and just relax and do some adventuring.

Well I completed everything and beat it in 8 hours, it was quite a bit of fun. Totally worth it with the bundle.

December 28, 2024 and I just completed Battle for Esturia which I purchased back in June of 2021. I have a habit of beefing up my game collection during Steam sales and a large number of them either get tossed to the side after purchase because I have others I also want to look at or I completely forget about them. In this games case, it was a combination of the two. Well, over three years later and I am on a retro-looking RPG kick and deciding to give this game another look. Honestly the old style graphics don't bother me at all and hold a certain charm as they take me back to my C64 days. Back then game play ruled because you could only do so much with the limited graphics. For some reason I was thinking this was a rogue-like game - random maps, no saving, death is permanent, etc. I think it's because the developers other game The Sargosian Abyss IS a rogue-like game. The Battle for Esturia, however is a full fledged story based game on a static world. Perfect. A beginning, a middle and an ending which I have to admit sucked me into several prolonged gaming sessions to get through it. While visually it looks simple and the game play seems to be simple as well, after leveling up a few times and selecting various skills I started to notice there was a bit more depth to this game than initially meets the eye. The battles were a nice challenge and positioning your characters - you get 6 that you pick up along the way - becomes a bit of a chess game. For example, having your archers pick up piercing skills as they level up makes you try to get those characters to face monsters that were lined up so you could maximize their damage by having their arrows punch through the first enemy, then the one behind that, and the one behind that, etc. It's rather satisfying seeing the arrows pass through 4 monsters! The game is also VERY forgiving despite you not being able to save. There is no scrolling world. Each screen is a section of the map. when you move off the edge of the screen, you are at the beginning of the next one. From what I could tell, the game auto saves every time you leave a screen. So if a battle was too tough and your party died, you could select continue and you would be at the screen just prior to the one with the encounter that killed you. I REALLY liked this. I could either try a different tactic or leave and beef up some potions before heading back to try the encounter again. Story-wise there is nothing earth shattering or new. Pretty standard stuff - find an object someone lost, find a missing person, etc. The ultimate goal is to reclaim the throne that is rightfully yours from a lich king. The maps and graphics are diverse enough to keep things from becoming redundant and stale. Overall, I found this a be a solid and enjoyable gaming experience and well worth the time. I was actually sad when I finished it. It was well worth the $10 price tag, even cheaper if you get it during a sale. I've paid a lot more for games that sucked, so I find this one easy to recommend if you are looking for an enjoyable 10-ish hours of gaming.