I haven’t been playing indie games very well, and the reason is simple. It was a very personal thought, “AAA-level games are also pouring out, so it’s hard to do this, but can I afford to play indie games?” However, I am not trying to condemn indie games to be lower than AAA games. I also like B-class games, I enjoyed’Audio Surf’, and I don’t hesitate to play Tsukour if it’s fun.
There is one game that I became interested in saying, “Oh, I really want to try this!” This is the’Marchen Forest’ to be introduced this time. Marchen Forest is a work developed by one person, and the developer, “Ishiguro Shinano,” has been constantly updated and fleshed out. This time, all of the additional elements are put together, and it has been transformed into a whole home game by improving modeling and adding famous voice actors.
However, as I played this game all the time, I often fell into nostalgia without knowing. What is the game… It’s like a Tsukour game or a classic game. To put it badly, it’s less accessible or less convenient, but to put it good, it means it has the inherent fun that only classic games have. So, when I played the game, I had a little dissatisfaction, but unexpectedly, as I passed the stage, I felt more comfortable as I went over the stage.
… … Sorry. When I write it like this, it looks like I chose it only based on the game nature. I will confess honestly. In fact, at first, I was interested in the completion of the limited edition’Figures’, which produced only 5,000 pieces, but it was absurd, but it was a command-type RPG game with a dark dungeon as if renovating the atmosphere and part 1 with a pretty good humor code. This was an interesting game. But at the same time, I was embarrassed. Shall we check it out together?
What has changed compared to the Donginpan?
First of all,’Doujin Edition’ was first released on smartphones and Steam, and it was a game that supported Korean subtitles at that time. Of course, the quality of the translation is much better on the console version, but the fact that you can enjoy the games of the time when you were in Dongin was good because you had more options. Of course, the commercial version has many more elements added than the Dongin version.
First of all, the 3rd part’True Soul of the Other World’, which was added as DLC, has been added for free. On PC (Steam version), the inconvenience of having to separately purchase DLC after purchasing the main game has disappeared. In addition, the voice actors of Meroon and Rosetta were replaced with famous voice actors. Meroon was replaced by’Ayana Taketatsu’ and Rosetta was replaced by’Kanon Takao’, and both showed excellent performances.
And 3D modeling has been improved, and modeling of leading characters such as Meroon and Rosetta has been newly improved. And it is said that the camera function has been improved. This is a little surprising. When I tried it, the camera still needs improvement. In addition, the new OP theme song’Konome Doki’ has been added. The caller was Ayana Taketatsu who played the role of Meroon.
Character illustration is a surprisingly improved version from the days of Dojin. Of course, I really like the version before the improvement, but the changed side certainly doesn’t have a more antique feel.
Part 1-Operation of the baby’s workshop
Part 1 is actually the tutorial and prologue of the game. Is it enough to take about 5 hours to clear it quickly? It is a part that exudes the feeling of an’adventure part’ that solves a case through conversations with several simple mini-games and people around you. Personally, I really liked it, but Meroon’s movement was quite slow, so there wasn’t much stuffiness.
As for the overall feeling, the’Atelier Series’ came to mind, but it also features that there was no complex pension system. In addition, I heard that the penguin without self-esteem was running to confess, the Mushroom King’s quiz was more difficult than I thought, and the sudden battle with the aliens was a bit embarrassing, but I was really satisfied with the humorous atmosphere and fairy tale content.
However, it was relatively satisfactory. Compared to the 2nd and 3rd parts, the completeness is very poor. The quest to reach as a pharmacist only needs to be cleared three times, and the mini-game is close to pressing a button in the case of fishing. Although the Mushroom Fairy’s quiz is like a mini game, it also has the downside of being ridiculously high in difficulty. It is a problem that can be difficult to solve unless you are really’Mushroom Doctor’.
In addition, there are many minor inconveniences of having to go outside again and go to the original fishing location if you succeed in fishing. These factors, combined with Meroon’s slow movement, make it even more stuffy. Would it have been a little more comfortable if Meroon had been able to move faster? That is unknown.
Part 2-suddenly the mood darkens
Unlike Part 1, which was like a fairy tale, the atmosphere completely changed, so I was a bit embarrassed, but the story of Marchen Forest begins in earnest. In fact, the opening of the first part ends and the second part comes out. As such, the scope of Meroon’s exploration will be very wide. Most of them are dungeons.
The story is also centered on the story, unlike Part 1, where there was no deep feeling. For some reason,’The Bard’, who learned the whereabouts of’Luna’, who entered the dungeon to find the’Sage’s Stone’, enters the dungeon as it is. Meroon learns that Luna is her mother through a letter left by the bard, and the story begins by jumping into the dungeon after the bard, without telling her grandfather.
Unlike Part 1, which simply describes the meeting of a novice pharmacist, Meroon and her friends in the forest, Part 2 includes the whereabouts of Meroon’s mother, the relationship between the bard and Luna, and the mystery girl in the basement,’Rosetta’. The depth of the story feels a little deeper than the first part. And the biggest advantage of Part 2 is that the genre changes to’Dungeon RPG’.
First of all, there is a new battle. It was the feeling that I showed briefly in Part 1, but it was a more refined UI. First of all, there are attack, evasion, and defense, but if you learn the skill to attack, you can make additional hits. These include double attack and triple attack. If you want to learn the skill of attack, you can go to Katsura Shizaku and learn from the points obtained by giving sushi picked up in the dungeon.
Evasion allows you to evade the enemy’s’red attack’ or white attack. Conversely,’green attack’ is incapable of evasion, so you can defend and reduce enemy attacks. Blue attacks are unavoidable and defensible attacks, so you just have to hit them. And when the enemy flashes twice in a white attack, if you defend, a paring will be cast, allowing you to use’Ow’ and tools. Five senses are a special move.
And there are many gimmicks in dungeons. There are common treasure chests and gold treasure chests. The latter uses a’magic key’, and there are cases where the key is broken when the lock is opened, but the chest is completely opened. In addition, there are steps or switches that open the door when stepped on, and traps that run out of stamina or food when hit. And there are gimmicks that are only in the beginning. For example, a black door opened by obtaining a golden key.
The dungeon’s depth is thin, but instead you can save the location in a campfire and tent where you can relax. Once saved, you can go directly to the location after maintenance at the dungeon entrance. The tent is only visible in the middle and during the boss fight, so you have to go down all the way. You can cook food on the bonfire, but it’s always better to grill small meats. It makes the food a little bit better.
However, it is difficult to skip the item acquisition result window in the middle of the battle, and Meroon’s slow movement makes it loose. Aside from this, the downside is that if you can use paring and dodge freely, the battle itself can feel boring. Due to the nature of a command-type turn-based RPG, this should be taken into account, but compared to other games that have given additional rules to compensate for this, the second part of Marchen Forest did not.
Part 3-How good it would be from the beginning
The third part, which continues from Part 2, which ended relatively neatly, depicts Meroon’s adventures returning to the entrance of the dungeon without rewinding time and knowing the English. The space between Meroon’s house and the rock uncle opens up, and the entrance to the new dungeon is drawn in front of you, led by the twilight storyteller,’Lete’. And as the subtitle is’The true soul of another world’, you will explore a mysterious space dungeon that looks like the universe.
Overall, the level of difficulty is much higher than that of Part 2, and the depth of various traps and dungeons has also been renewed. First of all, the TP system has been newly added. And it is also a feature that you can use weapon skills using this accumulated TP. Ability is a special system that has been added outside of the five senses. Unlike Ohui, which is mainly for attacking, it has more various effects. Instead, it consumes food as a cost, so let’s use it in an important situation.
The tent and bonfire system has also been improved to give a more camping atmosphere. First of all, you can enter the tent and there is a save point so you can save it. If you make a bonfire, you can eat like the previous one and double the effect of the food. Also, when you eat food, camp points are accumulated by 1.5 points, but when you go to bed, the amount of life recovery depends on the camp points.
The difficulty of the dungeon has also increased really significantly. Every 5 seconds, the food compartment closes by 10, and this hurts more than I thought. When I open my eyes, the items disappear at some point, and there are many cases where the health is reduced by 100. If this doesn’t happen, you have to memorize the road and get back to the camp easily, and you have to think about how to pave the way. In particular, there are a lot of traps around the dungeon, and there are many parts where you have to get out of control or decide with luck.
Also, there is a quest system, and when you return to the entrance,’Owl Uncle’ will take the quest order. If you wake up, you will be rewarded like any other game, so it’s a good idea to receive and clear the quest at the right time. In addition, you can now freely go to and from all floors through the portal, but there is also a point where you need to obtain a rare item called’George of Oblivion’. It’s a case with restrictions rather than part 2, where you could easily escape if you only got a lot of’exploration ropes’, but I think you have to roll your head a little more.
As a whole, the person who is interested in the system is part 3, so I wondered what it would have been like to reorganize parts 1 and 2 while making it for home use. The downside is that players have to devote time to Part 1 or 2 to reach Part 3. In particular, in the case of battles, there is a’preemptive chance’, which gives the enemy a kind of chance to fall into confusion, unlike Part 2, which was a general random encounter.
As such, the fun of battle in Part 3 is different from that in Part 2. Of course, it means that it has become worthwhile as a game, but it is still difficult to quickly navigate through the battle cutscenes and battle results, so there are many things to improve. In the third part, however,’Rosetta’ became a colleague and became Meroon’s support, so it’s nice to be a colleague.
It’s a game that’s subtle, but it’s fun to watch it develop.
Part 1 -> Part 2 -> Part 3 is a game where the feeling is completely different. Part 1 is a bit closer to an adventure game with a quality that is truly worthy of’one person development’. From there, if you move on to Part 2, the rogue-like dungeon RPG begins, where true fights unfold. And if you go to Part 3, a more advanced game system saves the battle that was a little stale.
However, what was a bit disappointing is that this work I am enjoying now has been ported to a’home video game’. Wouldn’t you know if it remained an indie game, it was finally released as a home game. Because of that, the uncomfortable feeling of operation remaining in the game as a whole and the completed game system that cannot be touched until the end if you cannot reach the third part always hold onto your ankle.
First of all, when the camera moves at various angles within the cutscene, it sometimes passes through objects, which hinders the sense of immersion, and unlike Part 2, where the modeling is refined to some extent, in Part 1, the character modeling used in the days of Dojin is often seen. Not only that, but I often use’Fade In/Out’ as a game directing, but this speed is very slow and it is often frustrating.
In addition to that, I often felt uncomfortable in terms of the system, such as having no skip/auto mode of dialogue and having to view all dialogues unconditionally. However, if you look at this game a little generously, you can feel that the development factor is very noticeable. One of them is the combat system. The combat system that requires simple paring and dodge is developed with the TP system in the third part.
It is also noteworthy that the atmosphere in Part 1 and Part 2~3 is reversed. Part 1 is a bit lacking in fun and sometimes tired of moving, but sometimes the element of showing interesting humor was okay. However, in Part 2 and Part 3, that element of humor disappears, leaving only a dark atmosphere. Instead, it’s a part where you can feel the fun as a game by adding a combat system.
However, this sudden change of mood doesn’t look very good. If you look at the humorous atmosphere of Part 1 and explore the dark dungeons in Part 2, it can be a big shock to anyone who thought it was a healing game. I would rather have simplified or eliminated Part 1 and put Part 2 as the starting point of a full-fledged game. What I feel while playing the game is definitely not a healing game.
To what extent the users take this into account, and the opinions will vary depending on whether you enjoy the game until the end. Even if it’s a little uncomfortable, those who liked the atmosphere of Part 1 may be embarrassed in Part 2 and Part 3, and those who have cleared Part 1 in about 5 hours would rather like the dark atmosphere of Part 2 and Part 3. It seems very ambiguous in either direction.
Marchen Forest is a game where the level of completion changes with each step up. Part 1, in particular, has a lot of feelings from the days of Dongin. Therefore, it is true that there are still a lot of deficiencies compared to general home games. However, when you realize that it was made by a small number of developers, you also feel that the game has a lot of volume and fun. In other words, it can be seen as a game with indie characteristics.
What kind of game will be born if the next game comes out with the 3rd part system? I’m excited a little.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|
+ Main story getting thicker from Part 2
+ Characteristicity that leads to cute characters and Meroon’s bright personality + Easy to adapt battle system. |
-There is no uncomfortable feeling of operation and no dialogue auto/skip mode.
-The fixed viewpoint is uncomfortable, and the viewpoint is seen passing through the object. -There is a strong sense of disparity between Part 1 and Part 2~3, and the balance is not aligned with each other. -Structure that cannot proceed unless you are familiar with evasion and paring -There are many fade ins/outs in the middle, and it takes a lot of time. |