Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition

I loved this game. It was such a sweet journey, the characters were well rounded, and I loved seeing where the story went. This is one of those games where I wish that I could play it again without knowing what was going to happen, because it was just that much fun! For new players, my recommendations are to 1) barely buy any crafting things 2) explore/talk to EVERYTHING/EVERYONE 3) grinding is GOOD 4) use your items/ultimates!

A truly beautiful, classic-style RPG, Ara Fell is. This Enhanced Edition, made in Unity, is a substantial improvement on the original, which was created using RPG Maker 2003, now featuring 16:9 aspect ratio, screenshots, new systems, and many other improvements. As for the game itself, it’s a modernised classic RPG with little need for grinding, mana that recharges turn by turn, and a story that’s not quite so traditional, featuring vampires, elves, and flying cities. I’m really glad I chose this one from among the dozens of others waiting their turn in my backlog, and I recommend you do the same. [quote] [i] Follow [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44959158-Critiques-Sans-Frontiers/] our curator page [/url] to discover more worthy indies like this one. [/i] [/quote]

Ara Fell really brought back that nostalgic feeling I used to get playing FF dawn of souls on my Game Boy Advance SP as a kid. It doesn’t fully reach that same level, but it absolutely captures that classic jrpg/rpg charm in a way that’s hard to find now. I found myself thinking about the game throughout the day at work, planning my next moves, and even staying up later than I should just to push the story forward, grind a bit, or take on side bosses. That kind of pull is rare for me, and it says a lot about how engaging the game is. I’ve tried games like Octopath Traveler, but they just feel bland in comparison. Ara Fell made me genuinely happy while playing and really took me to another place. Nothing here felt “new” in terms of mechanics, but somehow it still felt refreshing. It just does what it does really well. Do I wish there was more? Absolutely!!! But honestly, the best games always leave me wanting more, never wanting the story to end, even though you know it has to. Overall, I’m 110% happy with my purchase. If you’re into story-driven jrpg/rpg’s, character progression, boss fights, and exploration, this is definitely worth picking up. Honestly, it was way more entertaining than loading up another FPS shooter XD

Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition is a fantasy role-playing adventure developed by Stegosoft Games and published by DANGEN Entertainment. Inspired by the beloved era of classic 16-bit RPGs, the game successfully combines old-school design principles with modern conveniences to create an experience that feels both nostalgic and approachable. Set in the magical floating world of Ara Fell, the story follows Lita, a young woman whose ordinary life is turned upside down when she becomes entangled in a conflict that threatens the survival of her homeland. What begins as a personal journey gradually evolves into an epic quest involving ancient legends, powerful enemies, and the fate of an entire civilization. The world itself is one of the game's strongest achievements. Ara Fell presents a fascinating setting built upon islands suspended in the sky, filled with vibrant towns, mysterious forests, forgotten ruins, and hidden secrets waiting to be uncovered. Exploration is consistently rewarding thanks to the abundance of optional treasures, side quests, and concealed pathways. Rather than guiding players down a strictly linear route, the game encourages curiosity and often rewards those willing to investigate every corner of the map. This sense of discovery helps the world feel alive and gives players a genuine reason to immerse themselves in its lore. The narrative places a strong emphasis on its cast of characters. Lita and her companions are more than simple fantasy archetypes, each possessing distinct personalities, motivations, and emotional struggles. Their interactions help drive the story forward and provide many of the game's most memorable moments. The dialogue strikes a comfortable balance between humor, drama, and character development, making it easy to become invested in the group's journey. While the overarching plot of battling an ancient evil follows familiar RPG traditions, the strength of the writing and the relationships between party members help elevate the story beyond genre conventions. Combat is another area where the Enhanced Edition shines. Battles are designed around tactical decision-making rather than repetitive grinding, encouraging players to carefully manage abilities, equipment, and party composition. Every character serves a meaningful role in combat, and the expanded class and skill systems offer greater customization than many retro-inspired RPGs. Enemy encounters are visible on the map, reducing frustration and giving players control over when and how they engage in battle. This design choice keeps the pacing smooth and prevents exploration from being constantly interrupted. The progression systems add further depth to the experience. Crafting, enchanting, and equipment upgrades provide numerous opportunities to strengthen the party while allowing players to tailor their approach to combat. These systems are detailed enough to be engaging without becoming overly complicated. Side quests contribute additional context to the world and often provide useful rewards, ensuring that optional content feels worthwhile rather than merely serving as filler. Visually, Ara Fell embraces a pixel-art style that captures the spirit of classic role-playing games while maintaining its own identity. The environments are colorful and richly detailed, with each location featuring unique visual themes that reinforce the atmosphere of the world. Character portraits and animations add personality to the cast, while the overall presentation demonstrates a level of care that exceeds expectations for an indie RPG. The soundtrack complements the visuals beautifully, delivering memorable melodies that enhance exploration, emotional scenes, and major battles alike. The Enhanced Edition significantly improves upon the original release through a variety of additions and refinements. New gameplay content, rebalanced systems, improved interface design, multiple difficulty settings, enhanced crafting mechanics, and numerous quality-of-life features make this version the definitive way to experience the game. These changes modernize the adventure without sacrificing the charm that made the original release appealing to fans of traditional RPGs. The game is not entirely without shortcomings. Some story developments can be predictable for experienced genre veterans, and a few antagonists lack the depth given to the main cast. Certain sections may also feel slower due to the heavy focus on exploration and dialogue. However, these minor issues do little to diminish the overall quality of the experience. The game consistently succeeds in delivering an engaging adventure filled with memorable characters, rewarding exploration, and satisfying progression. Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition stands as one of the better modern interpretations of the classic role-playing formula. It respects the traditions of the genre while introducing enough refinements to feel accessible to contemporary audiences. With its charming world, strong storytelling, strategic combat, and impressive attention to detail, it offers a highly enjoyable journey for both longtime RPG enthusiasts and newcomers looking for a well-crafted fantasy adventure. Rating: 9/10

Posted on the behalf of family member. This gave was obviously made with love, but I cannot in good conscience recommend it to anyone. I just beat it, and could barely bring myself to talk to most people during the epilogue. The game fails to hit the mark on so so so much. The story is as generic as can be. The one interesting plotpoint (everyone lives on floating islands) is the only one you get, otherwise it's a generic vampires vs elves story. It tries to go for surprise reveals, but, every single one can be predicted from a mile away. I really really don't understand how someone would call the story "inspired". The combat is your run of the mill turn-based "Attack, or use skills from a single menu" kinda deal. On its own, it is not enough to add any sort of depth to the gameplay. The game never expends it further sadly The music is alright, never interesting though. It's as generic as the rest of the game. One of the songs (the one that plays in Talita's shop) was so grating, I needed to quickly buy the stuff I needed before leaving forever. The overworld gameplay was, ehhhhh. At first, it was really fun to go into every corner, discover relics or secrets and whatnot, but in the second half of the game, it seems like the level designers just, gave up? You end up exploring every dead end, pressing A on every suspicious wall, but never ever getting rewarded. The amount of times I got to the edge of a map expecting a transition to a new screen, but just hit an invisible solid wall is uncountable. Spoiler for the end of the game: [spoiler] The "boss cannot be beat" trope for a final boss is, a surprising choice. Especially when you're allowed to reflect the boss' insta-kill attack, revive everyone and repeat in the time that the boss charges it up again, while all in the meantime, it hangs onto its 1 HP. Definitely not a fan of how that played out [/spoiler]

เกมนี้เป็นเกม JRPG ที่สนุกกว่าที่เห็น ตอนแรกก็ไม่คิดว่าจะเล่นจนจบ แต่ก็จัดจนจบ บทสุดท้าย สำหรับเนื้อเรื่อง เป็นการผจญภัยของสาว และผองเพื่อน Lita กับการปกป้องการล่มสลาย ของ อาณาจักร Ara Fell ที่ลอยอยู่บนฟ้า เกมเพลย์เป็กลักษณะ JRPG เนื้อเรื่องเข้มข้น มีการพัฒนาตัวละคร เพลงเพราะ ภาพสวย ถือว่าสนุกและแนะนำครับบท่าน

I've kept hearing about Ara Fell for years on rpg maker forums and reddit. I finally picked up this gem and was blown away by the music, the mature dialogue, and the the game play loop. One of the best RPGs I have had the pleasure of playing. Thank you devs for respecting my money, time, and intellect.

My first thought when booting this up for the first time was, “I hope this RPG maker looking game is at least decent”. Having completed it, I am happy to say that I enjoyed my experience a lot more than a decent game would provide. It didn't take long to realize that this was going to be better than decent. In the first 5 minutes of the game, you can tell from the quality of the weather effects, sound effects and music that this game was going to be a step above the average indie RPG. Now with that praise out of the way, it not a groundbreaking title, but it is quite good. The exploration is a lot of fun and you get to do so very early in the game. The characters have actual personalities in their responses and the changing character portraits help in delivering their responses quite well. I was surprised at the depth of the writing and the devs put together a fun story with some things we have seen before and the knowledge that we have seen it before. It gives the narrative a certain maturity and the characters a certain level of sass that I found enjoyable. The music is quite enjoyable as well. The songs are fun to listen to. The biggest downside to the soundtrack is that the songs do not loop cleanly, so songs will often end and then start up again. It's a minor issue, but it is there. Some of the sound effects and ambient sounds do repeat a little too much for my tastes, but its not a major issue. The character building was far more complex than I was expecting and I found it enjoyable. They skipped the need for buying equipment by allowing you to upgrade your equipment with the right materials. This means that there are a lot of items laying around towns and dungeons to collect, making exploration rewarding. There are character classes and you get to pick between two options for each of your characters, which adds some interesting options to replaying the game. You also get to pick between two different options for upgrading your skills, again giving the player more agency in how your characters are built. The combat is design around dealing as much damage as fast as possible in most random battles, at least that's how I played it. It started out requiring a little bit of strategy, but as time went on, I found a combination of attacks that I could use in almost every random battle and win in a couple of rounds, so combat kind of lost its challenge after a point. I did switch from normal to expert difficulty and there is an even harder difficulty option as well, so I would lean toward the harder difficulties if you plan to play this one. With that said, the exploration and the character customization was fun, the music was enjoyable enough that a few are going to make it into my playlist, and the characters were interesting enough and emoted well enough to deliver a enjoyable story. This one is a definite recommendation if you enjoy indie RPGs.