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| Author |
File Description |
| Night Conqueror |
Posted on 11/09/09 @ 08:55 PM
| File Details |
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| Version: |
The Conquerors 1.0c |
| Style: |
Role Playing Only |
T S U B A S A ' S
T A L E
by Night Conqueror
The year is 1850 during the Edo period. Tokugawa Ieyoshi, an ancestor of the famous Tokugawa Ieyasu, rules Japan. Ever since Admirial Perry's forceful opening of Japan to the west his administration has been struggling. As he grows sick, power hungry individuals see an opportunity to marry into royalty. All around him minor governors, Daiymos and warlords attempt to curry favor and join the royal family.
The Samurai caste remains, but barely. In a rapidly modernizing world, many Samurai choose to leave their masters and seek fortune for themselves. They are known as "Ronin".
In the far southwest of Japan lies Chikuzen province; a relatively unknown corner of the country. There, a Ronin warrior is about to awake and embark on a journey which will change his life forever.
Features
Interactive combat system with two distinctive "fighting styles"
Unique boss battle fights.
Engrossing story with several memorable characters.
Several sidequests to offer greater rewards to skilled players. |
| Pages: [1] 2 3 » Last » | | Author | Comments & Reviews ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Mash
(id: Mashek)
Staff
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 11/10/09 @ 07:23 PM
- Blacksmith Admin |
| paperclip007 |
Posted on 11/14/09 @ 10:51 AM
It is both extremely creative and fun, and worth the download ten times over. It is one of the best, if not the best, RPGs ever uploaded to the blacksmith.
A very recommended download.[Edited on 11/14/09 @ 07:26 PM]
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Dtrungle
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 11/14/09 @ 11:18 AM
I enjoyed it a lot, there were some dull moments from walking around, especially the second boss, lol.
Nonetheless, download this and give it a whirl!
I'll write a review when I can, but I'll wait for the author to check out my feedback list first.
PS. Thanks for making this, it's jolting my craving for scenario editing.[Edited on 11/14/09 @ 07:26 PM]
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Jatayu
(id: Sword_of_STORM)
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 11/18/09 @ 03:19 AM
Playability: 5
I really enjoyed playing this game, because there are a lot of quests and side quests , none of them are boring. The boss battles in particular are unique and challenging. You can get gold in a variety of ways and spend them in buying things like healing potions ( or getting drunk :p ). Almost every unit talks and every character has quite a personality ( the bosses, Tsubasa, etc. ). There was only one bug that I found in the bridge corrupt soldiers sidequest: one of the pikemen doesn't change ownership and goes to the bridge.. so you have to change diplomacy and kill him. Other than that there is no problem whatsoever, quite an achievement considering the complex boss battles, AI taunt systems etc. The battle with Crimson Viper was particularly enjoyable, as it really felt like my character was hallucinating, getting confused and poisoned, this is rather hard to achieve in Aok and I applaud the author for doing so.
Balance: 5
I played the scenario on 'hard' difficulty, and I think it's perfectly balanced.. it is hard enough to make it challenging and yet not frustrating. Even in the sidequests or fighting random bandits you have to be careful while engaging them, using terrain advantage and 'luring away' techniques. The healing potions play a very tactical role, you should use them when low but be careful not to die.And of course you have to exploit the different fighting styles that you are trained in.
The boss battles in particular were rather unique and difficult, especially the first one, Crimson Viper, in which you keep hallucinating and getting poisoned. Healing potions are crucial to defeating the bosses and their lackeys. I was a bit disappointed by the third boss, who was rather easy to kill.
One thing I'd mention is that while the katana is extremely overpriced at 22 gold for just +2 attk, healing potions are rather too good for their cost, beating the bosses was not that hard once you stocked up on healing potions. I needed 7(!) healing potions to beat the first boss, but only 3 for the last boss.
Creativity: 5
The scenario is extremely creative. It incorporates popular systems like gold/food system, AI taunts, killing siege engineers to stop the siege machines etc. but it does so in a very good way. Also it has a lot of stuff never seen before, such as the different fighting styles, healing potions, and the very unique boss battles. The first boss creates hallucinations, copies of himself and keeps poisoning you.. it's absolutely awesome. The story is also very creative and the music selection is also good.
Map Design: 5
The map used in this scenario is very well designed, it fits the Japanese countryside theme. The terrain is well mixed, at no point does it look bleak and it suits the strategic elements of the scenario very well ( for example the cliffs with catapults in the northwest and the garden of Crimson Viper. There is good eyecandy but no overuse of it. The governer's palace looked particularly good in my opinion. Definitely a 5 here.
Story/Instructions: 5
The instructions are very clear, with good hints, so I always knew what to do. The storyline is fantastic really, what with unique characters and their personalities and various plot twists. The ending was great, though I was really hoping for some fight at the governor's palace. Also I was expecting the cloaked man to say something when I got 100 gold ( using food cheat and selling for gold ) but he didn't. Anyway the story is still excellent.
Additional Comments:
One of the best scenarios this year. DOWNLOAD NOW![Edited on 11/18/09 @ 08:09 AM]
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Ilmarinen
(id: Cilibinarii) |
Posted on 11/18/09 @ 01:34 PM
First of all I would like to say this is pretty close to being the ultimate RPG scenario, the only thing lacking that its not free-roam and made on a 255x255 map! I am a great RPG fan and I am fairly dumbfounded. You managed to include everything - learning skills, items in stores, a good-looking map and a great story. Countless twists and turns. Surely the very best part of the map.
BALANCE: 5
Excellently balanced. I got exactly what I expected from my difficulty level and thats all. 'Nuff said.
CREATIVITY: 5
Again a great job! The skills were simply astounding, lots of variation and they werent place-bound or something like more "lazy" designers tend to do. Also the different boss battles were great - I was positively dumbfounded after the first boss, that was just one hilarious fight. As said before the combination of various RPG elements, puzzle and others make this just.. yea, top notch. Great job.
MAP DESIGN: 4+
The map design was excellent and you managed to create a very realistic atmosphere while remaining into simplicity but alas, I like realistic atmospheres better with better terrain mixing! Too few eyecandy and the forests were a bit boring. Too much grass1 visible on some places too and sometimes not quite realistic. But as a whole it looked pleasing enough and gave lots of strategic opportunities.
STORY/INSTRUCTIONS: 5
The instructions were clear enough, no doubt about anything or any difficulties with understanding. The story was great - with some very surprising twists in the end. It starts off a bit plainly and then builds up to a great climax in which the whole story twists and turns like there aint no end to it :p Not totally like that but still a great story.
Additional Comments:
I am sure this is the best Singleplayer RPG I have played to date. If there are others rated higher than this one I think they are overrated- or rather, they just didnt know THIS was around yet and thought the other stuff to be the very best already ;)
DEFINATELY a reccomended download. Stunning map.
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| Haroth |
Posted on 11/23/09 @ 04:28 PM
Tsubasa's Tale follows a deadbeat samurai who has given up a life of honor for... well, booze. After being summoned by the local governor, he is hired to travel out and slay the leaders of a bandit group called the Crimson Three. This scenario diverts from the RPG norm by implementing a unique and interesting combat system in which the player gets to decide how he tackles a group of enemies. Will you slay the weaker enemies to gain momentum with each kill, or will you focus on taking out the biggest threat first? Decisions like this is what makes Tsubasa's Tale a truly unique and extremely fun experience.
PLAYABILITY - 5.0+
Incredible. Absolutely incredible. As I mentioned earlier, Tsubasa's Tale shifts away from the norms of RPG scenarios that make them drag on too long to be enjoyable. Night Conqueror introduces several innovative aspects to the tried and true RPG formula that make the scenario immensely pleasing to play. For instance, you can pick from different styles of fighting that suit your preferences in battle. It also uses a system of healing herbs in which you use a taunt to fully restore Tsubasa -- but there's a catch. After using a herb, you have to wait a full 60 seconds before you use another one, making it essential for you to strategies when and where you use each one. The three boss battles throughout the game are fantastic, as well. Although the first of the three battles out shined the others, each had a unique twist that made it entertaining.
I should also mention one final thing that the designer does exceptionally well in this scenario: Tsubasa has ‘hero healing.’ I applaud Night Conqueror for anticipating that most players would just trek back to the monk after every battle for the sake of caution and making it so that one didn’t have run back and forth and waste time.
Honestly, I’d give this category a 6/5 if I could, but alas, I cannot.
BALANCE – 5.0-
I debated lowering the score to a four originally, but decided against it. The scenario has good balance; it’s not perfect, but it’s close enough to deserve a five. My issues with the balance lay with the difficulty of the last two boss battles, a couple of the “mini-boss” battles, and, finally, the easily accessible herbs.
I felt the second and third members of the Crimson Three were particularly easy to beat, especially Magenta Tiger. The note for the last boss essentially gave away the entire strategy of the battle, which was admittedly disappointing after I read it. In fact, I thought that only the first note from the messenger was necessary, because without it, the player wouldn’t know that s/he had to click on the bushes in order to heal the poison. The fight with the cowardly two-handed swordsman (I can’t remember the name, sorry; it was towards the end in Magenta Tiger’s camp, though) felt far too easy, as well.
I felt that the herbs should’ve had more limitations to them. I would’ve preferred if they cost more gold or had a longer cooldown before they could be used again. In some instances (the last two boss battles, mainly), it felt like I was relying more on the amount of herbs that I had rather than the strategy that I was using.
However, I’m mostly just nit-picking and offering the designer suggestions if he ever decides to update the file. Tsubasa’s Tale is neither incredibly hard nor pathetically easy at any point in the scenario. After doing a few tests on Standard and Hard modes, I found that the difficulty scaled nicely in order to accommodate various levels of expertise. The gripes that I had were relatively minor and were fairly opinionated. Most importantly, the issues that I mentioned didn’t completely offset the balance. Therefore, while I’d consider this scenario a “low” 5 in balance, I still find it deserving of the highest score.
CREATIVITY – 5.0+
Another well deserved five goes to creativity. To run over a few previously mentioned things: Tsubasa’s Tale is able to boast a new outlook on the typical RPG formula that makes the scenario incredibly entertaining compared to its predecessors in the genre. Things like different “styles” of combat, healing herbs, and a hero that doesn’t have to rely on a monk all the time for gradual healing really set Tsubasa’s Tale aside from other RPG’s. Although all aspects of playability weren’t entirely original, their implementation and collective affect brought a creative spin to that old formula. The game really shines with creativity and it’s not just from a playability aspect. The designer does an excellent job in using a unique story and eye-pleasing map design to reel the player in. Again, I’d give a 6/5 here if I could.
More on the map and story in a second…
MAP DESIGN – 5.0
The map really has a lot of atmosphere from start to finish and definitely serves its purpose all throughout. Night Conqueror does a fantastic job of representing a Japanese countryside in the pre-Edo period. Though there were sometimes spots where I would’ve done with a bit more variety and terrain mixing (the place where you fight Magenta Tiger is one of the larger disappointments visually), there are a lot of places where there’s a good amount of creative flare to keep the eyes pealed on the surrounding scenery. The lackluster areas were few and far in-between, so I didn’t deduct a point for them.
Special mentions include the governor’s home and the road leading up to it. I really enjoyed the way you conveyed a road being built; that was probably one of my favorite parts of the map design. Made me sit back and think “hey, that was pretty neat.”
Nice job here, too.
STORY/INSTRUCTIONS – 5.0
The instructions were clear, concise, well-written, and directed the player in the right direction. Although the designer implemented a new, potentially perplexing system to the mix, he did a good job of explaining it to the player. No points taken off here.
The story was superb. It was elegantly simple and although I saw most of the plot twists coming before they even appeared, I thoroughly enjoyed progressing through the story. I felt like my actions had meaning instead of having the sour feeling that I was just running around fighting against ‘the bad guys.’ The plot was original, too; most would take the route of describing the life of an honorable, likeable samurai, but Night Conqueror takes a different path and details the endeavors of a deadbeat samurai. Great job.
I implore anyone and everyone to download this scenario. As the year comes to a close, I was glad to be able to experience one last gem before a new year of campaigns, scenarios, and contests begin coming to the Blacksmith.
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| paperclip007 |
Posted on 11/23/09 @ 07:33 PM
Playability: 5
This is an amazingly fun scenario. Rather than pushing you into dry, standard death matches where you watch your hero slaughter countless grunts, the designer has done much to force you to take an active role in the fight. First, the designer has implemented a fighting style system, a unique combat system where you are rewarded for fighting in a certain manner. For instance, the first style you get, called Whirling Hurricane, gives you a bonus of 2 attack points every time you kill an enemy, up to 10, for 20 seconds. This compels you to kill weaker enemies first to build up your attack, than take on tougher ones. Second, in addition to the fighting styles, each battle is very creative, even on its own. From trying to fight your way past a cliff where a bandit has onagers set up, to killing siege-engine operators, every battle feels new and exciting. This finally brings us to the funnest part of the scenario - the boss battles. The three boss battles are the three most extraordinarily fun and creative fights I've ever done in an RPG before. The highlight of the scenario is the first boss fight, fighting the first bandit while hallucinating. The fight is extremely creative in its own right, and when you add faultless implementation...
There are some minor issues, of course, as no scenario is without them. The biggest one, and the only one worth mentioning, is the amount of walking the player must do. It isn't much of a problem, however, since the map is rather small and the designer's recommended game speed is 'fast', making sure it never takes too long to get where you need to go.
Balance: 5-
This scenario is almost perfectly balanced. I played on Moderate, and the boss battles were challenging, as were some of the standard fights with bandits. The first three boss fights required a few reloads each, but were never frustrating, and losing only made me want to beat it more. I felt that the last boss fight was a bit easy, especially considering it was the final fight, but the road there was challenging and difficult, and that helps.
Creativity: 5+
Wow. Just wow. This is one of the most creative scenarios I've ever played. From the fighting styles, to the boss fights, to the characters, it’s just all fresh and new. I won't repeat myself or spoil more than what I've said about the fighting and bosses, only remind you that it's all fantastic and wonderful. There's even more to this scenario than that, however, if those two areas weren't enough. The hallucinations Tsubasa experienced during the first battle were striking and clever, and coupled with the part's humorous music, were just a great job. The music during the other boss fights was pitch-perfect as well, very well chosen. The map was lush and beautiful, with nice touches, such as a crew of peasants building a road and cliffs that added an extra dimension to combat. There is a good use of a taunt in combat, which is almost as creative as the fighting system.
Map Design: 5
Beautiful. The whole map is very easy on the eyes, with a perfect mix of forest and palm tree, elevation, cliffs, and terrain mixing. I especially loved the town, which really felt like a real village, not just a jumble of buildings connected by a road. The map design was on a whole very reminiscent of Japan. Not only that, but it functioned perfectly as well, and it was small enough that it was never tedious crossing the map.
Story/Instructions: 5
Bundled with extraordinarily creative and beautiful package was an excellent story with characters it would be a crime to call just 'memorable'. The plot twists wonderfully, with an ending that you think you see coming, but you don't. Tsuabasa's back-story, when you learn it, fits both his character and the mood of the story perfectly. Not only that, but the instructions are crystal clear and there is never any confusion with what the current goal is.
Additional Comments:
This is one of the best scenarios I have ever played. Just download it.
Now.
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Night Conqueror
File Author |
Posted on 11/25/09 @ 02:14 PM
Once again, my most heartfelt thanks to all of you who enjoyed playing this game. I'm glad to see all the work I put into it was worth it. :) |
| GlObE770 |
Posted on 11/26/09 @ 12:34 AM |
Julius999
Official Reviewer |
Posted on 12/10/09 @ 05:00 PM
If you like RPGs, you will love this scenario - no question. If you don't, I would still give it a go, as there are some great moments. Unfortunately, although I did not experience any bugs or lag, there was one issue that significantly impaired playability. There is a horrible amount of walking. The scenery is nice and the author suggests playing on fast, but even so it dragged. This was especially irritating during the fight with Vermillion Tiger, but there were plenty of other times where you have to walk from A to B with not much happening on the way (no music either). On the other hand, at times the scenario excelled. A particular highlight is the clash with Crimson Viper, where you have to use various gameplay mechanics if you are to emerge victorious.
Balance: 4
Although it's no walkover, I didn't feel especially challenged for most of the scenario. With instant healing potions cheaply available the numerous bandits you will encounter are no real threat. As the protagonist is a hero unit, his health regenerates on its own quite quickly, meaning otherwise tricky fights are made easy by hit and run. In addition, the final battle with Magenta Eagle was somewhat disappointing. The high point for balance was again the battle with Crimson Viper, which I cannot fault. Had the rest of the scenario been similarly challenging and satisfying this category would have been a resounding five.
Creativity: 5+
Parts of this scenario are fairly standard: buying a new sword, fighting little clusters of bandits, etc. It even falls victim to the "slay the iron boar" archetype. But the author has also added in some brilliantly creative elements which make it easily one of the most original scenarios in a long time. Visually, the hallucination is stunning. In terms of gameplay, the abilities added a whole new dimension. The storyline too has had more than usual thought put into it. I could go on.
Map Design: 4+
It is fair to say that the map design is not outstanding. However, at no point is there any real cause for complaint and all in all it provides a fine backdrop. There were some areas that could perhaps have been more detailed, and the palm trees didn't always blend in well, and if the author is looking to update they might consider this.
Story/Instructions: 5
Excellent. The story starts off competently and towards the end develops well, in ways that are unusual for a scenario and refreshing because of it. I also appreciated the effort the author has taken to distinguish his characters from one another, whether by chronic alcoholism or a particular mannerism. It is marred slightly by some typos and other errors, but nothing that will detract from your enjoyment. The instructions and hints were always fine too.
Additional Comments:
Tsubasa's Tale is an exemplary RPG, with some of the typical failings of that genre but more importantly also showing it at its best. I thoroughly recommend it. |
| Pages: [1] 2 3 » Last » |
 
HGDL v0.8.2 |
| Rating |
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| 4.8 | | Breakdown |
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| Playability | 4.8 | | Balance | 4.5 | | Creativity | 5.0 | | Map Design | 4.7 | | Story/Instructions | 5.0 |
| Statistics |
| Downloads: | 3,491 |
| Favorites: [] | 7 |
| Size: | 4.44 MB |
| Added: | 11/09/09 |
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