An atmospheric little game thats worth playing.
The storyline is certainly cliché and ordinary (A girl is destined to save the world from evil), but sometimes it is nice to play something cliché, something which is truly…nice.
And “nice” or “cute” is the best way to describe this game. Sure, the graphics aren’t as good as most buy-in-the-shop RPGs, but it has an good, old-school feel to it. It wont entice you to stay up half the night playing it, but you’ll may find it hard to switch off occasionally. The dialogue can be humorous, and you may enjoy the occasional character interaction.
In both Ahriman’s Prophecy (its predecessor) and Aveyond, the music is beautiful, certainly better than most RPG maker games I've played, and a lot of PC games. It adds to the fantastical atmosphere of the game and I think it’s a true bonus. There are some nice sound effects too.
The graphics are above average for games made with RPG maker, and each area has a distinct feel to it. Butterflies and birds occasionally pass by you, which is a nice touch.
The combat is fairly standard, nothing special. You wont find yourself thinking “Ooh! Another battle!”, and once you get stronger you’ll end up playing in the same style every time, so a lot of the battles feel the same. Also, the difficulties of your enemies can be rather…strange. Some enemies will kill you with just a couple of swipes, while others can barely touch you, and both of them can be on the same map. The game also requires that you train up your characters, so pretty soon you’ll find yourself battling the same enemy over and over again for quick XP.
There are plenty of side quests to keep you amused, and there are fewer “fetch and carry” quests. For quite a few quests, its not instantly clear how to achieve what you want, so you can either puzzle over it for a while or consult a walkthrough. There are a small selection of characters that you can bring along with you as well, each of which have different advantages.
I played it when it first came out, and it did have a few minor bugs in it. It also certainly isn’t as long as the advertised game length (50+ hours): I spent under 20hrs playing it. However, I did consult a walkthrough a couple of times, and I only played through it once. It does have some replay value, but it still wont satisfy those who are use to 40+ hours.