Aveyond 4: Shadow of the Mist

While [b]Aveyond 4: Shadow of the Mist {A4 SotM}[/b] is from the same wonderful folks at Amaranth Games who gave us the earlier Aveyond series of RPGs, it is completely detached from Mel and her adventures. It is a well written, comedic tongue-in-cheek tale from the perspective of the imperfect Anti-Hero, [b]Boyle Wolfbane[/b]. In Amaranth Games' own words: "Boyle Wolfbane wanted to rule the world. He failed. [u]Miserably[/u]. Forced into retirement early, Boyle now spends his days arguing with haunted trees and scaring off the occasional knight. At least he still has Fang, his loyal storm wolf. Things could be worse. He could have been born a hero." Couldn't have said it better :D While I still am working my way through A4 SotM, I recommend it as a break from your run-of-the-mill serious RPGs. EDIT: There is a [b]"Strategy Guide"[/b] available as a DLC

This has had a massive facelift from its predecessor and is in many ways vastly better. If you haven't played any Aveyond games before, start here. There is virtually no overlap between the stories so you're missing nothing, and Aveyond 3 was such a drag I never finished it. For those unfamiliar with the series, this is an RPG that focuses heavily on fetch quests, with a fairly simple combat system. If you love being a master battle tactician, this is not the game for you. There is a really impressive depth of quests here, and most of the characters have their own individual journeys to explore. There is a much greater sense of getting to know the characters. Robin's shop was a particularly good add-on. A few points to decide whether this game is for you: - It focuses on fetch quests, not fighting. However, I was impressed with the way that the very simple combat system was expanded with new options, for example being able to equip Hi'beru with books that gave him different spells. Another very clever touch was that Robin's abilities depend on who else is in the active party. - There is a lot of walking backwards and forwards, so some patience is required. The amount of pointless walking has been cut back massively from Aveyond 3 (thank goodness) but travelling is still lumpy in places. The maze-like quality of maps has also reduced to an extent, but some of the early areas may be frustrating if you don't make a quick sketch. - It uses a humorous storyline rather than going for the serious take of its predecessor. Personally I enjoyed this; it gave it a fresh angle and plenty of originality. The ending was weak and very abrupt, but much of the story's purpose comes from following the journeys of the characters anyway, so saving the world is an afterthought. - A very detailed free guide is available online, so there's no getting stuck working out what to do. Overall, a solid recommend.

作为一个RPG谜，并在玩完了阿月前几部之后，我对阿月4很期待，实际上它也没有辜负我的期望。更加精美的画质与完善的机制，更加多的支路副本，都增加了这个游戏的可玩性。同时致敬要素依旧少不了，从阿月1贯穿到阿月4的Aveyond与老太太，永远不死的吸血鬼夫妇，以及开着高科技飞船从山洞打到城堡的松鼠大军们，无论哪个都会让人会心一笑。

Story: Basically after the first couple of chapters... The men get bossed around by the women. Boyle turns out to be incompetent and foolish (is the worst player at a card game where you're [b]supposed[/b] to cheat — but still keeps challenging people to play him at that game). Robin is a straight up idiot — basically a dumb blonde. Hiberu is pretty wimpy and clueless too. If the devs want to make a game in which women are the winners... fine. But be honest about that and tell people that Ingrid will be the one in the driver's seat, not Boyle. Aside from that: The difficulty at the end game suddenly ramps way. Difficult is fine, but the game shouldn't suddenly change gameplay difficulty/style right at the end — like this one does. Also feels like it was made to sell the strategy guide. Like the swordsinger thing... Very non-obvious that you would backtrack so hard to get it started up. Only time where I dropped so much time into a game, only to decide that the gameplay at the end was just too tedious to continue.

A really great RPG and definitely ranks amongst my favourites. It's a long game with loads to do and plenty of side quests. The main character is Boyle - a retired evil lord :D who acquires various minions to fight alongside him. Full of humour, and hilarious character interactions. Fights are quite challenging and you have to think about your strategy. A couple of very complicated puzzles, but I like that. Sadly this is the last Aveyond game and I've enjoyed all of them.

This game is excellent up to about half way then it gets very boring and repetitive. No maps to help you and the world map is completely useless. I really enjoyed the characters and dialogue but just couldn't stand any more running around here and there with very little help from the game. This is one time I agree with the negative reviews. Prophecy of Darkthrop is the best of all and will be my last Maranth game. They should have stopped there.

The entire Aveyond series is wonderful well written, thought out and composed. I have completely enjoyed all of their games. This is what others in this class of games should aspire to be like.

Aveyond was right in the heart of the Indy RPG maker craze and Aveyond 4 continues a line of solid games. It's not really special or unique, but it does the usual things well. In Aveyond 4 the hero of your story is "Boyle The Horrible". Boyle is a retired villain living in a dark and spooky community for the former villains. But when his pet wolf is taken captive he embarks on a quest to save his faithful companion. The world may or may not be saved along the way. The story is well-enough told in cartoony way. I laughed and I've smiled and I've really enjoyed my time with the game. It isn't an emotional roller coaster, nor is it a literally classic. It's lighthearted, alot of the jokes landed for me, and theres just enough plot to keep me motivated. Mechanically, if you know RPG maker or classic JRPGs you know what to expect. So I'm not going to go deep into anything but just call out a few stand-out features good and bad. On the good side, every character is a completely unique playstyle. The main character charges special moves with normal attacks, the witch has MP, the white fox has unlimited use of skills, the paladin is all cool downs etc. It's a really cool system that makes each character feel unique and original. On the flip side of that coin, not all of the moves are balanced. I find myself using the same combination of moves battle after battle because they work and the others don't. This wouldn't be a major issue except that the combat is legitimately dangerous (I'm on hard). One bad RNG roll and you'll lose a character... meaning you can't afford to play with weaker options. My healer? She has 3 other moves that will never be used. It's worth noting that while moves aren't balanced, the game is surprisingly decent on the combat front. I've never felt like I've outleveled a challenge. Every combat is dangerous, but this leads to a tactical feeling more than anything negative... at least when you have a party of 3+ people. It can be a little too harsh when Boyle doesn't have a healer to keep him alive. The other major negative on balance is that the gold rewards are absolutely pitiful. The XP is great, but I find myself skipping shops because I can't afford new armor or weapons. I'd need to clear a dungeon 2-3 times to get one piece of equipment at times. I sure as heck am spending my precious gold on consumable items. The economy is just overly harsh for the light comic tone of the world. This is made far worse because MANY quests involve making a cash payment. I can't imagine this game without the respawning enemies that come from hard mode. Oddly though, Boyle's upgrades has the opposite problem. His upgrades are so few and far between that every time I reach a new shop, I have enough to purchase EVERY skill at once. So instead of a slow buildup of strength, its stairs. I don't really play with skills because I just get all of them. Really, this is probably my biggest complaint with Aveyond 4... progression on a power front is just too darn slow. You rarely unlock new skills, you rarely unlock the Metroivania abilities to older areas, you rarely find new stuff. I didn't have even a full party until about 9 hours into the game. The progression just leads to long stretches of sameness followed by brief moments of "Woohoo this is great". If I was to describe the feeling, "It feels like a great 20 hour RPG that takes 40 hours". I assume this comes off sounded really negative, so I want to explicitly say this is a really good indy JRPG. I've enjoyed the vast majority of my time here and I feel more positive about it than negative. This is the kind of game that I would have eaten up 20 years ago when I could afford to spend forever on one big RPG. I'm just old now and vastly prefer short and sweet experiences.