Helen's Mysterious Castle

6 hours of cute elf running through whole map while im thinking "WHERE I SHOULD GO NOW???"

Um bom jogo, tem uma mecânica bem única de combate e desenvolvimento, a estória é muito boa, tem algumas coisas aqui e ali que faltam mas não deixa de ser muito bom, pena que o desenvolvedor não fez outro jogo pois ele demonstrou bastante potencial!

A reasonably lengthy game for the price and a side content that is basically a short super dungeon. The story is interesting and tells about the creation of monsters in its world. The combat is 1v1 and you don't level your character but your equipments. There are some RPS and math involved during combat with "wait time" management, a bit of strategy is needed. Only buy I ran into is the end of the game dialogue visual bug. There is no "Game Over" state and you'll just respawn back at the floor's safe zone. There are plenty of secrets and most equipments are balanced. Odd there is no settings but you can save anywhere. Over all, 8/10.

RPGツクールで作られた作品 無料版もあるみたいですが知らなかったので買ってしまいました。 評判のいい戦闘は、戦略性があるぽく見えますが、結局は覚えゲーです 敵の攻撃パターンを覚えて、有効な攻撃方法で対処するだけです。 敵の種類もそんなに多くないので、難しくまではいかないかなと思います。 ラストダンジョンにめんどくさい敵(ゴーレム）がいますがスルー可能です。 どちらかと言うと、謎解きの方が難しいです。 中盤、勇者と出会う場面があるのですが、そこから第７階層に行くのに 散々迷った挙句、結局攻略サイトを見ました。 もう少し妖精さんには有益な情報を喋って欲しかったです。 ストーリーは短いですが、賞を取るだけあって上手くまとめていると思います。 フリー版もありますが、そんなに高くないし、作者への感謝のお礼として、 製品版を買ってもいいと思いました。 （セールで80円で買ったくせに偉そうに言っていますが・・・） 後、他の人も指摘していますが、武器はロングソードSSが強すぎます。 中盤以降は、この武器を使えばなんとかなります。 多分、開発者としては、どうしても勝てないときの救済武器て位置付けだと思いますが、 意思が弱いから、使えるとなると使っちゃうんですよねー

ユニークな戦闘システムのRPG。相手の行動をみてこちらの使用するアイテム決めるSlay the Spireみたいなカードゲームとして捉えた方が良いかも。 シナリオもテンポよくコミカルからシリアスでコミカルで〆る。 バトルもシナリオもとても楽しく一気にラストまで走れるボリュームで満足感もある作品。

This game plays much like an RPG Maker game, so in many ways it's exactly what it looks like, but the reason why this is one of my favorite games of all time is because of the battle system. It works on a tick-based system that stops tick progression on the player's turn so that you have time to think about how to counter the enemy's next attack. Weapon choice determines when your next attack will be, and you choose based on balancing attack, defense, and speed. I played this shortly after being released, back in 2017, and I'm not sure I'd play it now since there's an old-timey dungeon mechanic that is a bit tedious to get through. You can end up spending a lot of time walking back to where you left off, and while there's no random battles, that also means a lot of dungeon progression can hinge on avoiding enemies, which isn't very satisfying given the RPG maker 2D format, but if you're in the mood for an RPG and only care about interesting/compelling combat, this game still holds up.

数時間でサクッと遊べる短編RPGを求めてプレイしましたが、想像以上の出来で大満足でした！ シンプルながら戦略の立て甲斐があり、それでいて難しすぎはしない絶妙な塩梅の戦闘に、旅の先々で出会う魅力的なキャラクターたち、ぬるぬる動くドット絵アニメ、小粒ながらよく纏まっており魅せ方の上手いストーリー…と、 こういったRPGに求める要素がすごくハイレベルに凝縮されていた作品だったように思います。 値段も非常に安い(なんなら元がフリゲなのでフリゲ版もあります)ので、少しでも興味を持った方にはぜひ手にとってみてほしいです！ 楽しくて素敵な冒険をありがとう！

I appreciate this game for what it is, and at $2, it’s certainly not a bad deal financially. It’s also not too big of a time sink, just 4-6 hours if you don’t let yourself get stuck. I’m just not sure that it’s a hidden gem that’s worth your time. My biggest gripe is that the QoL is pretty bad. You have to expect that an older game from a tiny dev has a few flaws, but they really added up during my playthrough. The resolution is stuck at 640 and can only get smaller or blurrily cover a third of my 2560 screen with the rest blacked out. The controls are in a .txt manual instead of anywhere in the game, which I didn’t see when I was booting the game from Steam. I didn’t know you could run until the end of the game, and I never figured out how to return to menu (F12? Really?), so I had to keep closing and opening the game when I wanted to reload a save. It also glitches from time-to-time where the controls get stuck, so I had to download a keyboard resetter. The story is sort of unique, I like the twist it puts on the save the world from monsters plot, but it’s poorly told. I didn’t understand what I was doing until halfway into the game, and characters kept popping up that felt like they weren’t properly introduced. I liked the Demon King and his minions, and I sort of liked the guy who kept cooking me steaks, but I didn’t appreciate anyone for what they contributed to the narrative. There are also a handful of irritating mechanics. The hidden paths and obtuse puzzles seem pretty par for the course with classic RPGs and their older, less user-friendly design philosophies. Save for one puzzle, they aren’t too cryptic, but they aren’t clever enough to justify their frustration. I also don’t like how you have to grind for max level upgrades in the early-to-midgame. Once they reach level nine, you have to max them out one at a time by battling 12-15 enemies until the blacksmith is willing to work on another weapon. That said, if anything makes the game worth playing, it’s the combat, where your pace is determined by the weapons and spells you choose, which are upgraded for experience points. It helps to keep some lower-power, quicker weapons to get in hits while your opponent is charging a big attack, but sometimes you also need to risk a big attack or take a hit to set up a heal. It’s not that complicated; there’s a bit of prediction involved, but it doesn’t take long at all to track any given opponent’s pattern. It’s also fun to search out items for your build, hidden behind twisting paths and optional bosses. However, as unique it is, the game’s small scope doesn’t allow it to become the killer feature that balances out its other flaws. I don’t mean to be a contrarian, it’s a cute game, and a commendable effort. I’d even say the endgame was kind of epic. This is another tough call. The Helen's Mysterious Castle is probably worth more than a couple dollars, but for doing one or two things well, I don’t think it’s worth five hours of your time.

挺有趣的一部游戏，体量不算小，中间花在练级上的时间有点多，不练级的话会打得很难受。 故事简单直白，也有一些转折，揭开真相的时候是最有冲击力的，然后会让人有一种一鼓作气直奔结局的冲动，但是不好意思你得先练练级，不然打不过。后期boss战为主，体验连贯性会再次好起来。 主角主打一个呆萌可爱，各路角色则是各有特色，结局算是一个安稳的收场，反派居然在眼皮子底下跑了，这真是哭笑不得。大部分人物的塑造都是正向的。 玩法也是简单粗暴，攻防cd 三个主要属性，然后就是各种机制，后期和隐藏地图的战斗中敌方机制会比较强，这个时候就要使用我们的超级数值了。主角能拿到的机制有限，另外是有背包限制，只能携带8个武器，去掉被动装备就更少了。有个地方可以拿回丢掉的装备，拿新装备的时候要先收进包里才能找回，这把我害惨了，来回跑了几趟呢。 如果对上胃口了，就好好享受吧，会是一段很有趣的体验😋

> You have to use ‘Burning Agony’ with the ‘Kite Shield +9’ to kill it before the ‘Nuke’... It’s the sort of cool line (or name like "Kugelschreiber") you hear in certain work that evokes a sense of nostalgia. Usually, it makes me smile and feel a bit sad at the same time, because I would have loved to understand what it really meant. If you’re a fan of modern JRPGs but didn’t get the chance to play the classics when you were younger; if you feel a sense of nostalgia for a time you never experienced (anemoia) whilst watching certain anime or listening to music… Just give this game a go. The storyline does a surprisingly good job of sparking curiosity whilst keeping you hooked from start to finish. The beginning of the game feels a bit slow and repetitive, but once you realise you can upgrade your gear and unlock a few essential features (like healing), that ‘grinding’ feeling will fade away, replaced by a genuine curiosity to discover the story and the world. The battle system is also a gem. So simple, yet so effective. A beautiful demonstration that working with limitation can bring the best out of a system. By the end of the game, you will loose the first fight against any elite/boss just to learn their moveset, then you backtrack and will know how to adapt your gear to face it. Sometime you will even try stupid strats (like trying to overpower a Total Defense ability to learn... that you can't lol). When you finish the game, you will have the feeling that you mastered a system and uncovered a genuily underated trope (no spoiler). The game is memorable and well packed without ever becoming boring. All of that for 6-8 good hours, at the price of a burger. Thank you to the dev team for putting so much love into it and for bringing back to life an era often considered too crude by modern standards. We really need more games alike at this day and age.