One of the better RPGMaker games I have played in a long time. :)

Great nostalgic game! Very well written with beautiful music and graphics. It's great to see developers who put their heart and soul into creating a wonderful tribute to some games from the past. Well done! I heartily recommend this game. It's well worth the asking price!

It's solid, nothing much to complain about.

When you look at an RPGmaker game on Steam, I always feel like the experience boils down into two questions- Is the combat interesting, and are the story/world/characters interesting? A game hits those two points reasonably well, and pretty much anything else can be forgiven.

And I'd say that's the case here- The combat isn't amazing, and I honestly wish it were just turn-based instead of the weird almost-turn-based setup they have going on, but it's definitely functional and engaging when it needs to be. The story is nothing revolutionary, but the characters and the world are engaging and worth your time, and pretty darn well done. I enjoyed it plenty enough to justify the price.

Ara Fell: a wonderful little gem in an amalgamation of RPGMaker garbage. If you're a fan of old-school RPGs reminiscent of the SNES classics, you will enjoy this game. I'll break it down the best I can here.

Story: 10/10

The story here was quite interesting, even though it was somewhat cliche. (Not too bad, though!) Throughout the game I found myself actually reading the dialogue, rather than skipping past it to continue on. The thick layer of humor applied to a lot of it was also quite refreshing.

Music: 8/10

While I enjoyed the soundtrack of the game thoroughly, I found that there was a little less variety than I imagined there would be. Typically, you'll hear the same track across multiple maps and on different ends of the game. Somewhat disappointing, but at least it was good music and not something annoying.

Gameplay: 10/10

The gameplay is where Ara Fell really shines. This isn't your typical "walk around, kill stuff, walk around more", etc. kind of RPG. There are times where you have to crouch, swim, climb, and jump to reach the next area, or secret areas. Also a bit of puzzle solving, which is nice. There's quite a bit of back-tracking, too, which is also nice considering how linear most games like this are. Speaking of linear, you're free to explore wheverer you're capable of going. Considering you can avoid combat 90% of the time if you like, you can even access a few select areas a bit early to acquire a few powerful items that I ended up using until almost the end of the game.

Combat: 6/10

While the combat was good, I was also a bit disappointed in it. It goes a bit slow at first, but once you're used to it it isn't too terrible. What I found disappointing, though, is that the array of combat abilities each character has is... rather small. (None has more than... 7? abilities to use, though you can upgrade them all one time later on. (From level 1 to 2.))

The main character has a special "Scout" ability that you can use to see an enemy's stats, and a later character has two different magic menus (Single/Multiple target)... but other than that, it's the typical "attack/defend/flee" menus.

Menus aside, the amount of skills each character has is very limited, which I found disappointing. No combos between team members, coupled with the small pools of abilities to begin with, made me feel like combat was fairly lacking. It wasn't terrible, but it certainly could have been better.

Overall: 8.5/10

Despite my few gripes with the game, I really enjoyed it over all. I wish it was a little longer, but I'm a bit of a "speed runner" when it comes to RPGs, even those that promote exploration, and typically find myself finishing them quickly, even if I go for 100% completion. That said, I still recommend this game to anyone looking for a neat little RPG to play in their spare time; it really is a great game, and I sincerely hope a sequel, or a game set in the same world, is made, because I'm sure it would be good as well.

Just finished the game and I hope to see the sequel.

Good Story
Good gameplay
Good Graphic at least for Rpgmaker 2K3 ,I'm amazed how dev can pull off the very old rpgmaker and made it very work.

I enjoyed every single minute playing this game. It may be not the best game out there but it worths the time and the money that u will spend for it.

Lovable characters and heartwarming humor. I feel the story was lacking some closure at the end but I don't regret buying this game. If you're mostly after story and don't want to bother with hours of mind numbing grinding, there's a "story mode" ability you can enable to skip the combat. Even without the combat aspect, the game still has exploration and decent puzzles. 9/10

This is an excellent game especially for the price. The graphics, music and story are all great. The controller support is very nice too. I hope to see more from this dev. Highly recommend!

Edit: Just wanted to update this review now that I've completed the game. It was thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, and I highly recommend it. The story picks up in the later chapters, and the combination of sprite animation and music make for some moving scenes.

What follows is my original review.

I am really enjoying this game. It's reminiscent of SNES JRPGs like Final Fantasy VI with its art style and side view battle system. But instead of having an over-world map to link individual towns, it's all there as a series of screens tied together in the same manner as Secret of Mana or Zelda: A Link to the Past. This adds an openness to the game, and it gives a sense of adventure as you are able to explore so much of the world right off the bat.

I'm only in the second chapter of the game, but from what I've played so far, the story seems about what you'd expect for a JRPG in the sense that the world is ending (more or less) and you're the only one that can stop it. The characters don't seem too distinctive so far with the exception of the protagonist, and the dialogue seems to be used more as a means of moving the story forward rather than giving unique voices to the characters.

However, there is a charm to this game from the stirring music to the ubiquitous animations that make everything so vibrant. Just the opening scene where there is the animation of the main character leaping out of bed alerts the gamer to the level of detail that's been put into creating an enjoyable gaming experience.

And these details extend into smart game design decisions. For example, you have the ability to save the game whenever you'd like, and if you are approaching a point of no return or a strong enemy, the game will prompt you with the option to save so that you don't accidentally lose all your progress by wandering into an area that you're not strong enough to handle. And in some cases, if there is a cut scene before a battle, you can choose to skip it, which is helpful if you die and need to try fighting the enemy a second time. Additionally, there don't appear to be random battles, there is a means of “fast travel” for when you want to get from one town to another in a hurry, and the boss battles seem challenging without being frustrating.

In short, I highly recommend this game. Rather than reinventing the mold of the 16 bit JRPG, it refines it and feels really polished. If you like Golden Sun, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, or Zelda: A Link to the Past, then I think there is a good chance you'll like this game too.

Blown away.
RPG Maker Games are usually a game creator looking to tell their vivid story, but limited by the assets within RPG Maker. Ara Fell is an excellent example of an RPG Maker Game with vivid storytelling and stunning visuals and gameplay. Ara Fell has blown me away at its quality and polish even being an RPG Maker Game. It is among the few and the proud of RPG Maker Titles that genuinely feel like something Square Enix could've pumped out onto the SNES twenty years ago. I would recommend this game to anyone because of its depth and careful creation that can be felt with each minute you play it.