i originally played it wayyyy back but i never got farther then the 3rd card. i just put the game down and moved on to other things. this time i vowed to play the game from beginning to end and so i did.

its always important to playthrough others games so you get a deeper understanding of what others have done in their execution of their game. overall i think its a great game and by far the longest game ive played (15 hours of play time, 7 scen cards).

it scores a host of fun mini games like the zombie car slaughter and the wicked tank assault. it has some fun puzzles like capture the flag, and random map stuff thats innovative and makes it exciting. many dungeons where like puzzles in their own so you actually enjoyed traversing them.

i enjoyed the whole gun system, and the character depth was the best ive ever seen. i was also impressed with the use of color and the overall polish of things. the creative use of tiles and effects to make a futuristic setting was very impressive and definitely worth a look for anyone trying to create that feel in a rpg maker 1 game.

to date this is the only game ive ever seen the trade system used and it shown. i cant imagine a better use of a trade system then in a game like this. i only wish i could of traded it for food which i needed more then ammo.

some stuff i didnt like included some improperly balanced battles where i had to restart many times due to punishing attacks and debilitating paralyze and other status effects. the harsh environment forced me to use my weapons more fluently yet didnt provide me with enough opportunities to gain healing items so i had to backtrack to get to a free sleeping location.

the excessive use of the wait command nearly floored my impatience, forcing me to wait staring at a black screen for a huge amount of time during the games many black screen story sequences. speaking of which, these could of easily been built into a mini scene rather then have the player just read words on a black screen without even music playing in the background.

some scenes where done well, like the fireside scene. this creativity should of spilled over into the main scenes but sadly was not there. i found i wanted to flick through the walls of text more then read them when i reached this point. i found i read them more often when they where a part of a visual scene - this is a good idea to keep in mind for other designers.

i encountered only a few bugs, none of much forced me to restart (which is good, switching 3 cards is a lot of work). one of which was a dieing error in which i died and was restarted at the beginning of the chapter. the entire scene replayed but i couldnt see anything. it was only during the final scene of the opening event that the game found a shift default screen to repair the error. the other time was with the lore system where i was able to equip non preforming lore skills on non lore characters and was able to attempt to choose from several lore skills that where clearly cut from the game. the entire lore switching book was a good idea yet was largely neglected which would of easily produced this error. and finally when [spoiler] i regained rob in the sewers, i went back to try to get that big gun in the old mans storage and it refused me with the same message as when alicia was the only one in the party.[/spoiler]

over all id say this was a very good and educational experience for me. a good use of two days.

Hmm, yeah this is on my long list of games to play.

How about playing Cursed Desires Karr?

im on the second card right now. ill post a review when i finish it later tonight. i started playing it last night and ill tell you right now, its the best visually appealing game ive ever seen on rpg maker.

the creative use of tiles shows the pure depth of your creativity. the only problem is bugs. i managed to avoid the game resetting one that was mentioned in the review but i found a large number of other ones that allowed me to shatter the intent of a few mini game and force me to walk away from the puzzle and hope it didnt nullify my progress (i save often so its no biggie) or to find a way to unstuck the puzzle. the two biggest problems where the 3 items on the bridge (the wheat was bugged and appeared in two places at once and forced me to use the reverse combination), and the sliding blocks which somehow jammed and ran into each other after i had to retreat as i couldnt click on the ones i needed to move and should of been able to.

over all im very impressed with it and i do enjoy a good pirate story and treasure hunt. the look listen feel is a nice throw back to my era of gaming.

edit: just hit my first game destroying bug. i have to restart from the last save which was an event or two ago. the stupid desert letter puzzle locks and refuses to reset at times.

Spiteful Dead is my favorite RPGM game. Someday I'll have to finish it, myself.