Panzer by Orochii

 

Year is 2651. A world in war. Two factions reign and conquered most part of the entire planet.
The army of the kingdom of Reigarn, with huge power and politic influence.
And the tribes of the Urok, with heavy numbers and born for the battlefield.
The fight continued on and on, and for that matter, a small group parted on a mission to stop it in a movement, once and for all. 

 

 

Panzer was an experimental game, a short visual novel adventure with battles. In this game the protagonist isn't a party of character but a mech, that's divided into various parts: left arm, right arm, head and body, each one can be upgraded separately and equipped with different instruments, and in the end it's more or less like playing  party of four characters...  the assets are ripped from various old games from Front Mission to Metal Slug.

 

Download Link (English)

Download Link (Spanish)

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de

Alianza RTP 

 

Random Fact: there are two cheatcodes for this game:

MONEYBAGS - Gives you 5000$ as starting money.
GIVMEWANZER - Gives you an overpowered starting panzer.  

 

Final Verdict: this game is clearly an experiment, and it's not perfect at all: aside from the imperfect translation from the original spanish version (for example loot mention is in spanish even in the english version, but come on, this is not a tragedy), it is quite simple, linear and repetitive but not without its charm. For a 1-2 hours game it's pretty good, especially because it has many clever ideas and aspects that were probably limited by the time constraits. That's a pity, anyway it's still a playable game and a different experience from the usual fantasy adventures, and I would not mind at all a more modern and complex remake at all.

 

So Panzer was an interesting experiment, I know that some people may not like it, and others instead had fun with it and loved the aestetics (this Front Mission redux feel), like me... so I decided to set for a middle ground rating.

DEEP 8 by IndependentArt

The planets of the DEEP 8 universe are populated by different races like for example the mighty Droons with their green martialness, the furry Dominators, also called Summoners or the normally peace loving Dayigons, which is also the race, our protagonist Ramirez belongs too.

Ramirez might be the shyest individual, that you could ever encounter. Aside from being a social cripple, he’s a respectable fighter and reliable employee.
His female partner Meling is not a very pleasant companion. She’s barely talking to him and when she does, she usually does it in an insulting or humiliating way, which not really raises his confidence. Aside form being a real fury, Meling weilds a gigantic axe in battle, which enables her to crush any enemy they encouter.
Ramirez and Meling work for the emperor Vagnus of Antia. That is a big city on planet Lisarya, which is mostly populated by Dayigons.
 

For some weeks now, the people are very anxious, cause’ they seem to face a really great threat. They even have to fear the extinction of their race.
The Droons, allways known for martial behaviour seem to have set their mind to committing a genocide on the Dayigons. They used a weapon called Pluz-Cannon to vaporize several planets and raided others with ground forces. Now they are planning on destroying Lisarya as well with one big bang, but they ran out of the rare mineral Pluz. As soon as they find a new source for it, they would equip their cannon with it and blow up Lisarya immediately. Millions of Dayigons would be dust within a blink.

 

Deep 8 is a story driven sci-fi adventure/rpg with custom graphics and system: the game includes quicktime events, minigames and puzzles to make the adventure rather varied. The setting is original and this is a journey that takes places on many different planets and locations, including many quests and subquests. 

Download Link

Itch.io 

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de

Steam.com

Random Fact: the complete version includes both the english e german version in the same package. The language is selectable when starting the game. From 2023 this game was released as free to play.

 

 

 

Final Verdict: Deep 8 is an interesting game, that while not perfect has many interesting moments (including a section where you will be running around with a flamethrower! And battles between robots!) and a suggestive setting with various alien races and environments. In a certain sense this sci-fi setting reminds of Albion, an RPG released in 1996 by BlueByte Software, with the difference that here we'll be travelling between different planets. Combat is quite complex and pretty challenging, but grinding won't help much, a good strategy is surely more useful, but do not forget to look around for supplies and useful additional items. The only real problem I found were some jumps that required an exceptional (for me!) timing, anyway you can always re-try since they do not lead to Game Over, so it's not frustrating. Could have been worse!

In the end I find DEEP 8 to be an excellent product, with just some minor flaws but really engaging and well made.

Fatal Limits by JPC

 

We're in a the far future: Locke and Richter are two soldiers that have to rescue their friend Laine from the Aegil Corporation. During the prison break they meet the princess Ayame, another prisoner that was kept to get informations about the three Lunar Keystones, items that will unlock a great power... so the four join forces against the evil corporation and their leaders.

 

Fatal Limits is a futuristic rpgmaker game, a demo of an epic techno-fantasy adventure about the confrontation of the rebel heroes with the Aegil Corporation (ehm *not Shinra*) while bumping into a princess who has connections with a very anti-technology civilization. The game is a classic adventure that surprisingly uses a custom side-view battle system despite being made with Rpgmaker 2000, where the characters simply appear in screen to simulate what that would look like.

 

Graphics and mapping are probably the best aspects of this game, after all this was made by JPC, the author of Haze, Daze & Curiousness (HDC), the incredble collection of maps and art that I posted months ago.

 

Download Link

Mirror Link 

Rmarchiv.de 

Rpgmaker Historia 

Random Fact: They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and in fact this game was clearly influenced by FFVII: the evil Aegil Corp logo is a variant of the Shinra logo but in blue, the director looks exactly like Rufus Shinra, and the protagonist is a sort of proto-Cloud Strife that is going to rescue his Aeris from the bad corporation. The battle system was in fact turned from the classic front view of Rpgmaker 2000 battles akin to Dragon Questo to a side view perspective to mimick the original source of inspiration.

 

Final Verdict: a very old game that's still impressive mainly for the futuristic maps. The most impressive part is the city, District 7, at the end of the game: this offers a series of really crowded cyberpunk locations, from conveyor belt sushi restaurants (with real moving conveyor belts!) to shops and nightclubs, all found on a rainy city illuminated by neon anime signs constantly cycling in and out. Impressive for the time, and still good looking now, it really recreates a cyberpunk urban enviroment rarely seen in other similar games.

The Burning Grail by eNSO

 

In a post-apocalyptic world survivors of mankind live in wasteland and ruined cities. The only law in such a chaotic society is a military group calling themselves as 'crusaders'. The organisation fight against 'demons' (that's how they call mutated radiation victims) and rebeling 'heretics'. The opposition is mercilessly burned by a special squad of 'executioners'. The primary goal of crusaders is to discover 'The Burning Grail' which was lost long time ago, the ultimate weapon against their foes.

The main hero Vick is one of the crusaders. He lives in the headquarters with his sister and is quite devoted to his duty. One day during the ordinary scout mission Vick discovers something shocking that forces him to quit crusaders and join the forces with his former enemies...

 

The Burning Grail was originally created for one short RPG contest so it only has like 2–3 hours of gameplay. The game itself is very similar to Riviera on GBA. A single click of directional button sends the hero to the other map, comments on object, etc. 

The game is mostly linear, but there are some optional areas, regarding combat it's based on resource use: you can use different firearms that consume different amounts of ammunition based on how much damage they will cause. I didn't see that some weapons are more effective against certain enemies than others, so it doesn't really matter which one of them to use. You can also attack unarmed to spare ammo or use healing items, and so on. The graphics present classic Rpgmaker sprites, few rips and some edits, to create a post-apocalyptic world apparently inspired by the Fallout series.

 

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net 

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Youtube Longplay

 

Random Fact: aside for the battles, the limited exploration and the linar story, the game includes a single minigame based on car chases that happens a single time during the second half of the game. This is a simple action sequence where Vick has to shoot the pursuers, and it's the only playable sequence that happens in real time and when we have full control.

 

 

Final Verdict: The Burning Grail is an interesting experiment: while I am not too found of linearity and lack of exploration and I missed the possibility to explore every map looking for supplies and interactive items, at the same time I appreciated a lot the idea of making something new and different from the usual Jrpg.The game suffers somewhat from the lack of variety in the combat system. However, the thrilling story and the good writing make up for a lot. It kinda feels like an action movie.

Bounty Angel 2 by Sidewinder

 

It is the star year 2168. 50 years have passed since the Battle of Vulkan. The Resource Wars which once brought fire to the galaxy have since faded away into memory, and new Empires have arisen from the ashes. Throughout this, the strong continue to feed on the weak, and an uneasy peace is kept by a special group of bounty hunters, commonly known as “Angels.”

The new protagonist is Ericka Falken, pilot of the Valkyrie. Ericka will perform a series of missions (some are obligatory, others are optional) travelling between planets, hunt space pirates for money and upgrade her spaceship with the hard earned cash. 

 

 

Bounty Angel 2 is another hybrid RPG/Visual Novel with a custom battle system, basically an upgraded version of the first game: it's a similar adventure Anya in the previous game, but there is s lot more of everything: more planets to visit, more locations, more spaceship upgrades, more Npcs. All actions are managed through the menus interface, exactly like in the first game. The combat is a little more complex, but there aren't mich changes aside for the expanded content and better graphics.

This game contains violence and adult themes that might not be suitable for some players. 

 

Download Link

Rmarchiv.de 

Internet Archive 

 

Random Fact: the game takes place many years after the first, and Anya Von Tannhauser, the pilot of the Nightbird from the first game is also briefly mentioned. Once again there will be three (the main protagonist and two others associates) the girls instrumental to the victory, even if, since this is a demo, the main quest ends with a cliffhanger. 

 

Final Verdict: though this adventure ends with a cliffanger, it is longer and has more variety that the first one. I also liked the cast, especially the three protagonists (even if the blonde girl has a small role in the adventure). Graphically is a step up from the first adventure, and I overall liked the setting and the lore of the game. I don't know if this is easier than the first or playing the first has made me more cautious and skilled, anyway you doi not need to buy every upgrade to finish the story. That is a good story, because yes, this is first a visual novel with many cool parts, like the Council of the Smugglers (I liked that section!).

My only gripe is that some parts would have benefit of more explanations, I'm talking about combat but also some activities like the puzzle in the temple and the bomb that has to be defused... it's a trial and error, and maybe some less experienced player may have some problems with that (well, I had, but I managed to win forcing myself to understand the mechanics and win, so it can be done without sweating too much, no worries!). I also did not mind the use of generic black shapes for minor characters, like in tue first game, anyway the HUDs and the cutscenes are impressive considering that this game is made with Rm2k3!

Bounty Angel by Sidewinder

Almost two millennia have passed since mankind escaped its dying homeworld, and built a new civilization among the stars. But nothing was learned and the mistakes that destroyed Lost Earth have been repeated a hundredfold. The denizens of the Milky Way now find themselves trapped in a brutal war for resources and survival. Millions of refugees flee for the relative safety of the Magellanic Cloud satellite galaxies.

The only known corridor is through an area of space known as the Magellanic Stream, though better known to its inhabitants as Hell's Gate. Pirates operate openly here, killing and enslaving thousands. Law and order is maintained by freelance bounty hunters, commonly known as Angels.

Anya Von Tannhauser is one of them, and she will have to form a squad to stop the menace that threatens the people of the Magellanic Stream.

 

 

Bounty Angel is a hybrid RPG/Visual Novel with a custom battle system and a bunch of FMVs I made in Blender. All actions are selected by the menus, the game uses a quite simple turn-based spaceship battle system. It's a fairly open game that includes a linear storyline and some optional, and in some case repeatable, sidequests.

Before even starting the game you have to decide two different things: the first is if you want to play at medium difficulty (that gives you limited money, and you have to earn the rest to buy upgrades and repair) or story mode (that gives you a ton of money so you can buy everything from the start). Then you have to choose if you want realistic characters or anime characters. This is just a cosmetic choice, by the way the realistic one just has the protagonist, and the anime version has only the named characters, all the rest are just black silhouettes.

This game contains violence and adult themes that might not be suitable for some players. 

 

Download Link 

Rmarchiv.de

Internet Archive

 

Random Fact: this game was a submission for the 2018 Theme Roulette event on RMN, anyway it spawned a sequel, Bounty Angel 2 and even a sort of remake called Psi Dogs: Suns of Antares. Unfortunately the remake was planned, but never released.

 

 

Final Verdict: Bounty Angel is born from quite interesting concept, its only problem is that it was made for the Theme Roulette Challenge in 2018, so obviously it was made in a short time: the result is a mini-game and short visual novel that's quite good due to its originality and interesting plot, gameplay is simple but graphics are stunning and well recreates a gritty sci-fi setting. Likewise music, that is from some well known sources (like for example Baldur's Gate) is appropriate and the whole experience is good.

My only problem with this game is that there is not satisfying ending, not even a screen or ending slide, and that's something I felt missing (it's true that some old games of the past just wrote "congatulations, you win" and that's it!). The rest is not bad at all, it's something different from the usual rpg, and I am pretty sure that the developer with just some more time could provide an really bigger, refined, improved and more complex remake/sequel of this game, because it shows how much work went into narration, graphics and gameplay. 

Rainbow Nightmare - Chapter 1 & Rainbow Nightmare - Libra by TFT aka TwinFoxTails

 

The Neon Empire is a theatre of a war between the humans and the machines. The humans are ruled by the aristocracy and have several non-human allies like typical fantasy dwarves, kitarians, oak-people and others. The humans have soldiers but also sorcerers called Tarot Mages. On the other side there are robots and machines, that instead rely on hi-tech weaponries and huge automatons.  

 

The game starts with a trio of soldiers of the human army, Myth, Granin and Renders (respectivel a dawrf, a human and a kitarian) fighting a desperate battle against a huge machine. Then, lost in the wasteland they befriend a robot named Bolt and get a vehicle to reach the Neon Empire Capital, but the machines are chasing them. 

 

The prologue ends and we start playing as Wagen, a recently promoted soldier, after he was the only survivor of a bandit ambush. Captain Charnetski assigns him to a team that has to investigate Zakran Pass, where a noble and his son were ripped apart by some monster. He will be aided in this investigation by Sebastian Rosengale, an exceptional swordsman member of the Archilles elite, and by Shield Ninja, a boorish assassin.  

 

Rainbow Nightmare Chapter 1 is a collection of different episodes during the war, exploring various characters during the war. The game is mostly an adventure game where the most impressive aspects are graphics and cutscenes. There is combat, but it's super-simple since there is no inventory management, nor consumables or equipment.  Most characters have two or three special abilities, often one is a healing skill or a TP recovering skill, and the TP are the "tactical points" used to perform some special moves, basically the equivalent of mana in fantasy games. That's it, and combat encounters are usually pretty easy.

 

Wagen in the base has a little fetch quest that involves a character named TFT. Yes, that's TwinFoxTails. And among the soldiers at the base there are also some other Rpgmaker developers you may already know. 

Download Link

Mirror Link 

Rmarchiv.de

Rpgmaker.net 

 

Random Fact: the game had a spin-off called Rainbow Nightmare - Libra, that focuses on a particular squad operating in a corner of the Neon Empire, but only a prologue was released, anyway see below for this game.

 

 

Final Verdict: the first Rainbow Nightmare game is pretty simple but still charming, since it presents many different characters and places, and all are realized with a charming style that seems to belong to a comic book. Moreover the dark setting of a war between humanoid races and automatons is probably unique among the Rpgmaker games.

 

 

EXTRA -  Rainbow Nightmare - Libra: Also (apparently) called "RN short stories", it is a prologue that starts with a letter of Duram, the new squad leader of the Rudhira team to his fiancee, Lisanne. Duram is unfortunately stuck with Priss the Medic and Lutwig the flamboyant noble, two troopers that hate him, when the machines of the Neon Empire attack. Things are going badly when Lutwig remembers a teleportation spell, but being an incompetent fool, it also mixes it with a polymorph spell! The day after the trio gets assigned a scientist they have to escort, and guess what? The scientist is Lisanne, Duram's fiancee. But the machines, lead by Captain Marlwulf, attack the place... 

 

The game uses basically the simple combat system of the first game and focuses on the story, although  this time with a single protagonist and his squad. There are in fact no separated scenarios like in the first game, even if a bad guy is briefly playable, but all takes place inside the same base at the same time. Graphics improved from the first game, but there is less variety since there are lesser locations to explore.

 

Download Link

Rmarchiv.de

Rpgmaker.net

 

Random Fact: in the first game in fact the various playable characters were all soldiers of the human army or neutral characters and civilians, instead here there is a short part in which we have to play as the machines, that are basically the bad guys of the story.

 

 

Final Verdict: another excellent demo, more focused on a single situation and team, but unfortunately the story ends just when it becomes interesting, with the arrival of  Lisanne and the attack of the machines. What a pity! In any case it's also graphically superior to the first game.

Mystery Man Zero by Yeaster

 

A man is sent to Earth to chase after a dangerous foe who was exiled from the Pleiades for attempting to seek control of the Milky Way. With Earth as this demon's personal playground, is Zero alone enough to stop it? And what other secrets surround this demon?

 

In this game you assume the role of Zero, an enigmatic masked demon hunter from another world, sent to Earth in pursuit of a dangerous, plague-spreading demonic creature that poses a terrible threat to mankind. Aided by hapless civilians and fellow demon hunters, help Zero unravel the clues that will lead him to the demon while discovering the secrets behind Zero’s own origins…  

 

Mystery Man Zero is another bizarre modern-fantasy game by Yeaster, this time with more futuristic influcences: we play as a special agent that has to investigate a demonic threat, and the gameplay is basically more or less the same of Complete Chaos and Vanity. What makes the game really better is the unique setting and characters, the edits and the portraits taken from the Persona games really make this game look stylish.

 

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de

 

Random Fact: this was the last game made by Yeaster using Rpgmaker 2003, and unfortunately this wasn't completed. However the demo is pretty long and enjoyable. Unlike Onyx, Vanity and Complete Chaos, the story is set in the far future and has no relations with the other games, nor cameos of the characters from the previous games. 

 

 

Final Verdict: One of those rare games that appears to be set in the modern world, although naturally there’s no shortage of aliens, demons, magic, or any of the other fun stuff that we love about RPGs. Executed in a very noir style, this game is a rare stylistic gem.

Seekers of the Sun by Remains of Scythe / Remainaery

Long ago, a dream seemed to be coming true for humanity. With the help of the Tiphareth, who possessed the gift of gathering and harnessing the energies of the cosmos, a period of prosperity and progress followed. But humanity's greed, as so often before, proved greater when the Seekers of the Sun appeared. 

 

With their help, it was now possible to obtain even more energy, energy from the nearest star, their own sun. But the joy was not to last. The sun, once the eternal source of life's power, now lies dying, brought down by decades of exploiting its life force. Since then, humanity has been forced to live in the safety of bunkers, but for how much longer? 

 

Thus, the rulers of this world made a decision, the decision to give the sun what they had stolen from them, even if it meant paying a terrible price for it.

 

 

The game is set in a cold dystopian underground complex and we play as an artificial being called Abyss on a rampage. I will not spoil the plot but the story starts in media res and the game is just a short demo in which we play as a very powerful single character, that's unlikely he was supposed to be the protagonist of the series (the reason why I suppose Abyss isn't the protagonist is because the game includes many custom made attacks of another character named Aery, a swordwoman with green/purple hair). The strength of this game is the grim dark tone and sci-fi setting, there are some nicely made facesets and the rest of the graphics are mostly CT edits that are cohesively put together.

Download Link 

Mirror Link

Rmarchiv.de

Rpg Atelier 

Random Fact: the custom battle system of Seekers of the Sun was made by Kokibi, the author of A Gate into Eternity, that was posted previously.

 

Final Verdict: a small demo but a very stylish one, it was pretty popular at its time, and it's a real cool prologue. Unfortunately it wasn't followed by an actual game.

Robosaga by unknown (italian)

 

The evil General together with his henchman Ashura commands the alien invasion of planet Earth. But the humans are ready, Tetsuya Tsurugi, the pilot of Great Mazinger, the robot designed by Dr. Kenzo Kabuto is the one that will start the counterattack to save Japan. However to defeat the alien army he will have to recruit other pilots and their robots: Hiroshi Shiba with Jeeg, Ryo with Getter Robo, and many others.

 

Robosaga is a homage to the robots of the anime, presenting a character able to recruit various heroes. And there is a reason to do this, since each robot has some kind of power, like being able to repair items, move boulders or swim in low water. This allows to reach normally unreachable areas and progress.

The game also uses a side-view custom battle system, a couple of years before Rpgmaker 2003 made its default system.

Download Link

Rmarchiv.de

Random Fact: enemy robots have often silly names, like Gutalax, that's very similar to Guttalax, a stimulant laxative medication used for the short-term treatment of occasional constipation.

 

Final Verdict: a classic Italian fangame developed using RPG Maker. It is most prominently featured in the Italian indie and fangame development community (such as on the Rpg²S Forum) as an example of what can be built using the engine's older iterations.

The Cerebral Symphony by Faenon

  

Brad, a jock, trips one day (at a party, we can only assume), accidentally plunging himself into the hallucinatory world of The Cerebral Symphony where he meets a guy called Ivan, who you might wonder is a human metaphor for repressed teenage angst.

 

Join the schizophrenic, multiple-personality-disorder afflicted Ivan, whose destiny (and personalities) you can steer through his individual choices as he bumbles his way through his life as a renegade thief into a big war between the underground cyborg Mafia, the omnipresent, all-seeing Corporation and the corrupt, power-crazed Government over the six elemental stones that, when gathered together, bestow ULTIMATE POWER on their holder. 

 

On the way you will meet Liz the ADHD werewolf, Jean the insomniac minstrel, Catherine the telepath with a firey temper, Carys the delusional young stage actress, Robert the narcoleptic doctor, Zak the homeostatically-imbalanced fighter-pilot, and Bain the accident prone Gladiator. You will decide whether in the final estimation it is Ivan's more "upbeat" or his "darker" pesonality that will win control of his mind as they battle with his more balanced, "pensive" side.

 

The Cerebral Symphony is a bizarre rpg by Faenon: with a strange cyberpunk world where three powers are competing to control the masses and a bizarre cast of character, the game offers an epic series of adventures. Game combines some classic battles and exploration to puzzles, survival and stealth sections.

The main aspect is that the protagonist, Ivan, has a multiple personality disorder, and in many scenes it will be possible to choose his response to certain events.

 

Download Link 

Itch.io

Rpgmaker.net 

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Random Fact: at a certain point of the game the player may be able to create an alter ego to enter the game and assist Ivan and friends. Really.

Final Verdict: a pretty enjoyable game, a little rough around the edges, but complete and fun. 

Nicolas by Promatheus

 

You're a space marine partaking in a mission on a distant planet, Nicolas. Normally, industrial missions such as this require little or no military support. Things started to screw up early on though, so no languidity for you.
Just at the moment when you think you took control of the difficulties, they took control over you. You must struggle to survive with your teammates, and carefully reserve your equipment.
If you still hope to reach Earth sometime, of course... 

 

Nicolas is a sort of open-planet rpg adventure: you have to perform a series of mission on the surface of the planet, like reactivated some automated mining facilities, and these can be in any order. There are also some optional quests like obtaining samples for the scientist, anyway the biggest difficulty will be the resources management, since these are scarce. Enemies are mostly weak, but they often outnumber the party members.

 

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Random Fact: the portraits of most characters seems to be edited pictures, maybe of the developer and friends.

Final Verdict: Nicolas is an interesting adventure game where managing the scarce supplies is crucial to survive. The plot and gameplay are both pretty simple and it's pretty much an ok game, I just have liked it more if it was more generous with loot or if battles were shorter, since the atb bar recharges so slowly. Sigh. I know that combat is a big part of the game, but I found it pretty annoying, there aren't lots of abilities or equipments and feels a litte repetitive, but I kept playing to see what was going to happen next. What can I say more? Give it a try!

FF: Endless Nova by Delita Hyral X

The game follows the exploits of Deren Star, an odd jobs person who, along with his android companion Motor, is unexpectedly pulled into an adventure to save Hell's Dome, a solar system surrounded by an impenetrable asteroid belt from an artificial supernova. Along the way he meets a number of companions who all end up helping him for some reason or another; Lisbeth, an amnesiac girl with cat ears, a thief named Ibis, a Blue Mage named Ellana, a monk named Fuban, and a walking, talking doll named KioSen, who used to be human.

FF: EN was made in RM2K and focuses on making a fangame that has the spirit of the series without treading on the story of already established game worlds. In fact, that is one of the greatest points about the game - that it creates the feel of a Final Fantasy game without having to use the story and characters of other Final Fantasy games before it. 

An interesting detail is that the custom levelling system is taken from Final Fantasy 2, where what you did in battle determined your stat upgrades. It's very different from other FF games, but that is where it comes from. 

 

The graphics are a hodge-podge of rips, RTP and custom, maps do suffer from the typical large map syndrome, sadly, but as was usual of the era in which it was made, most attention was focussed on story and systems and this game pulls both off quite well. There are a few different kind of custom systems in play and any player will find something interesting to take away from the game. 

If needed you can find a walkthrough here: https://indiefaqs.com/index.php/FinalFantasyEndlessNovaWalkthrough

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net

Rmarchiv.de

Rpg Atelier 

 

TvTropes

 

Youtube Playthrough

 

Random Fact: in 2021 ReloadPsi released an fan-updated version with more dialogues, rebalanced battles, bug fixes and more. You may get this version from the links below:

Download Link

Rpgmaker.net 

 

 

Final Verdict: With an epic tale and a nice setting, maybe not always presented in the best way, Final Fantasy: Endless Nova is still an impressive work of love and a good game to play still now that there are lots of similar games. This is original but still faitful to the genre and I had fun playing it despite some "clunky" design choices. The game is also old, so sprites and charsets aren't probably as good as those that can be found today (those from the Record Keeper would be better, for example), but the author did a great job with the few resources available.
This is a classic, and surely one of the best, if not THE best of the Final Fantasy themed Rpgmaker games available! 

The Genesis Project - Phase 2: Resurrection by Christophomicus

 

One year has passed since Suzaku, warlord of the Kalashi alien race, was bested in combat by Vernandos Luce and his team of three. Since the death of the evil being, the galaxy has returned to peace, and life to a vague form of normality. The Tandrum Generators, the structures responsible for launching the mineral Tandrum - the Kalashi's only weakness - into space are still operational.

 

However the Tandrum Generators, for all their worth, have proven disadvantageous to humans; people are becoming infected with Tandrum themselves, and suffering disastrous side effects ranging from lucid, controllable dreams to fatalities. And to make matters worse, the Kalashi are once again on the rise, seemingly now unaffected by the Tandrum. All that stands in their way is a single young man, infected with Tandrum, suffering from these very dreams: Tarin Overshore, our protagonist, has absolutely no idea of the journey that awaits him.

 

 

The Genesis Project - Phase 2 or Gens 2 is another memorable sci-fi adventure among different planets.

Like the previous adventure, this is another story driven with battles and many memorable cutscenes, and includes the return of some characters from the original cast.

 

Download Link 

Mirror Link

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Random Fact: there is an extra title screen included that uses the same style of the one used in the first game. It wasn't removed, still it was changed by one that's less stylized.

 

 

Final Verdict: an improvement over the first game, unfortunately this wasn't completed too and it's really a pity considering how rich of content, details and memorable characters this game is. Also, the music and cutscenes are awesome like in the first, if not more. 

The Genesis Project - Phase 1: Imperfection by Christophomicus

 

In an alternate universe, a war-torn galaxy is caught in the middle of an inter-galactic war, spanning both time and space. The protagonist, Ashanti Kasou, is a member of the Galactic Marine Corps, a force dedicated to wiping out the Kalashi, an evil alien race from beyond the stars. When his past is shattered in a stunning attack by the Kalashi, Ashanti is left with little left to do but swear one vow to himself: that he will completely and utterly obliterate the Kalashi.

 

Naturally, the task is too big for one man. Crash landing on the planet Daskat, Ashanti sets out on a journey to find allies. Three will join him in his quest: Hanal the elemental mage, Luce the legendary scoundrel mercenary and the mysterious military leader known as Kryon.

The Genesis Project, or Gens 1, is the first part of a saga that unfortunately was never completed. Anyway the demo is a story driven sci-fi adventure that covers the 80% of the plot, and the game features a non-linear storyline that mainly was about visiting four different planets in any order, with some others extra optional locations.

 

The game won the 2006 Misao award for Best Futuristic Game.

Rmarchiv.de (fixed version)

Download Link 

Mirror Link 

 

Random Fact: the original version seems to be bugged in the first area. I somehow fixed to make it playable but I didn't check if there are other errors. Anyway there are some savegames included if you want check more game areas. Also note that in this very first area you can play minigames like Pacman and Asteroid... but they are bugged too. Yes this demo is a little buggy but if you know how to use Rpgmaker 2003 you will be able to fix most issues.

 

 

Final Verdict: despite the bugs I absolutely loved this game, it has an unique setting, memorable characters, especially Luce and Kryon. Music and cutscenes were also excellent, anyway if you want a more stable experience, play the sequel.

Abstract Paroxysm by DarkCrono

 

The nations of Aggreiok and Nagaryu have been fighting for ages. While Aggreiok has always led battle with swords and military waves, Nagaryu employees have been studying the art of war the entire time.

Xac Hiroshima is the son od a legendary pilot in the Aggreiok Air Force, that grew up with his brother Dahntay, until one day, while he was out practicising his aim with his bb pistol, a group of Nagaryu soldiers attacked his town, killing his parents. Dahntay was nowhere to be seen so Xac reached the Aggreiok headquarters, where his father told he would have been safe.

 

Today Xac is a brave soldier in the war against Nagaryu, together with his best friend Vinny Froher and Dragon Debberman, a mysterious and maybe insane warrior.

 

Meanwhile Dahntay is now the leader of a gang called the Thuds, and also a close associate of the evil President Nagaryu. For a twist of fate the two brothers ended on the opposite sides of the war, and they also take two different sides even for their religious beliefs: Xac becomes a devout Christian, while Dahntaya cultist of Satan.

 

 

Abstract Paroxysm is a very old demo, divided into two parts: while the prologue is in common, the demo has two different linear storylines, one where we play as Xac, and the other as Dahntay. They face different enemies and visit different places, but there are some recurring characters, even if the battle among the two brothers never happens in the demo, but it is predictable to be probable in the future. Most charsets are edits from FFVI, but the setting is modern, almost futuristic.

 

Download Link (demo II 2004)

Download Link (demo I 2003)

Rmarchiv.de 

 

Official Site (Waybackmachine) 

 

Random Fact: the title screen of Abstract Paroxysm shows the subtitle "fratelli di anima" that's the italian for "soul brothers". Despite these italian words, the entire game is in english.

 

 

Final Verdict: an impressive introduction to a sort of futuristic/military crime rpg, that uses lots of edits and some custom made art to create a gritty and dark setting that's very distant from the usual Rpgmaker games. Interesting also the use of two different playable paths.