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Tales of worlds
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Tales Of Worlds is a freeware RPG (role playing game) video game, created by Dark Gaia Studios and released to various freeware software sites on July 21st 2008. The game has supposedly been downloaded by over 10,000 players thus far, and is to feature in the upcoming January 2009 issue of Australian PC magazine PC Powerplay. The game has recieved mostly positive reviews on sites ranging from RRR RPG Revolution (RRR Revolution) to the PC Powerplay Site (PC Powerplay Australia) because of it's nostalgic presentation. Overview Tales Of Worlds is a freeware PC RPG. The game took over a year to develop, and was developed using the Ruby programming language. (In a sub style called RGSS) The game was designed to intentionally resemble an RPG game that would have been present on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in the early 1980's. The graphics are all 2 dimensional, and the sounds and story are designed to create a feeling of nostalgia for the games on which it is modelled. Because of this presentational style, the game has cultivated a sizable fanbase, and is hosted on more than eight different freeware websites. Gameplay Tales Of Worlds features fairly simple and ordinary role playing gameplay. As in most games of the genre, the basis for the game is to guide a group of protagonists through the game world, completing challenges, exploring dungeons and defeating enemies in combat to advance the storyline. The player traverses the in game world via a world map, a feature typical of RPGs, a scaled down version of the game's world, which provides access to each of it's locations. Locations include towns, where the player can gain information relevant to their quest, or purchase new items, weapons and spells, and dungeons, which are enemy infested maze like areas often holding an important artifact the player needs to advance. Combat Tales Of Worlds has a heavy emphasis on combat with foes. When the player encounters an enemy in game, either via a randomly generated battle on a map or an in game event, the game switches to the combat screen, where the combat ensues. The combat is played out using a modified version of the Active Time Battle system used mainly by the Final Fantasy series, another series of role playing video games. This system renders the battles in real time, rather than in a turn based manor, meaning that combatants take turns in real time and can be attacked even when not ready. The game features various monsters and bosses to fight, and the player can take on these foes using either the weapon they have equipped, using the character's unique abilities, casting a spell bought in a town, or summoning on of the Gods Of Mana that have joined the group. Battles end when either all the enemies have had their Hit Points (HP) reduced to zero, or all the player characters have fallen, which instigates a game over. Play must then be resumed from a saved game. Character Development In Tales Of Worlds, the player has access to six permanent characters, each one of a different character class, and each one designed to be useful in different aspects of combat. Each of the characters, unlocked gradually as the game progresses, has a different set statistical growth rate, and learns their own unique abilities as they gain Experience Points (EXP) and raise their level. As well as having access to their own abilities, each character can learn a variety of simple spells shared by all the characters, used to balance them out, and to make some characters more rounded. These spells, however, normally never become as useful as the abilities learned by the characters. The characters within the game grow stronger as they defeat enemies, gaining experience points to raise their levels and statistics, or by buying and wielding new equipment, such as swords and armors, which may even give them another benefit outside of stat increases. (The Drake's Claw item, for example, gives it's wielder resistance to the fire element) Plot The plot in Tales Of Worlds is based over a crisis caused by a paradoxical timeloop which has afflicted the fantasy world of Taltarus. Details on this phenomena, and the cause of the space time break, are revealed to the player gradually, as they progress along the quest. The story of the game centers on Rene Dragoon, a twenty six year old young man who lost his adoptive parents ten years prior as a result of the Arechon Empire's sudden and merciless attack on his now ruinous homeland. Since then, Rene has constantly been travelling, aiding frontier towns who are struggling against the monsters that have emerged from the planet's corrupted Manastream and stealing from and trying to hinder the Arechon Empire, who have by now, using mysterious powers they have derived from the Manastream (causing it's corruption), have taken over most of the free world. On one stormy night as he travels through the town of Nevarre, Rene witnesses a breach in the space time continuum, which, in it's short existence, transports a protector of the Manastream, Sedeske into the present from the midst of the war against the empire ten years ago. Eventually, after realizing Sadeske's origin, Rene decides to help the man return to his homeland to come to peace with the people whom he left suddenly. Sadeske reveals to him, however, of an ancient weapon forged in the darkness before recorded time which was hidden by his people for use against anyone who ever unlocked and utilized the Manastream for evil. The two journey to obtain this item, the Katana Of Odrin, and are soon joined by Holt and Arlia, who were ordered by an anti-imperial rebellion based in the free nation of Farris to locate the item as well. Eventually, the four reach the tower where the item is held, and there they learn, from a spirit contained within the katana, of it's origin. It becomes apparent that the sword was the weapon used by the world's creator, Odrin, when he fought an evil entity known as Tartarus which he had brought from a populated world into the then empty Taltarus to kill. Odrin could not defeat Tartarus completely, however, so he sealed his mind for ten thousand years, at the cost of his own life, using the last bit of his energy to enshrine his sword so that the life that would soon emerge on the planet as a result of the energy he and Tartarus created in their encounter, could use it whenever Tartarus recovered from his seal and began to try to destroy the new world he would find himself in. The spirit in the sword explains that the unnamed emperor, the leader of the Arechon Empire, is the reincarnation of Tartarus and is seeking to unlock and derive power from five Mana Pools which would be used to destroy Taltarus itself. The four then journey to discover the location of these mana pools, eventually passing through the ruins of Rene's destroyed homeland, where they find the spirit of Odrin awaiting them, who reveals that Rene was brought back to life after he too died in the battle ten years prior, carrying Odrin's soul and thus being the one chosen to defeat the resurected Tartarus. And so the group continue their journey, meeting more people as they go on, bringing the group to a total six people. However, they are never fast enough to decipher the locations of the Mana Pools, and Tartarus beats them to each one, allowing him to gain the power he needs to unseal his true body and begin destruction of the planet. Using his newfound power, Tartarus turns to the heroes, and kills them easily, due to the Katana Of Odrin not yet being fully powered. Just when all seems lost, the dying heroes are rescued by a sqaud of strange, sky dwelling people known as the Laymark who bring them back somehow from the brink of death, and begin to relate to the player the true extent of the world's crisis. They tell the heroes that Taltarus is gripped in an eternal Time Loop. They reveal that time is like the sphere of a world. If you go far enough, beyond the end of time, you emerge once again at the beggining. Like a world, in which if you go north, north past the pole, you begin to go south. They reveal that the end of time is near, and ready to loop again. Then they reveal that Tartarus has embedded himself within the time loop eternally, by destroying the world and ending time, he emerges at the beggining of time, where he fuses with his past self, ensuring that Odrin cannot defeat him, thus ensuring that he remains alive to emerge in the future and start the time loop again. The Laymark then reveal that this revolution of the time loop will be different. They reveal that, normally, in the world's history, the heroes are never revived from death, but this time, the Laymark have been sent to Taltarus from Odrin's homeworld to alter and change the course of Taltarus's time loop. The heroes then realize that their path is very clear. They must allow Tartarus to destroy the world, so that they can emerge in the beggining of time, where they can become part of Odrin, and help him finally defeat Tartarus, erasing him from history, and ending the time loop of destruction the Taltarus has to face over and over. The heroes carry this plan out, and after a climactic and gruelling battle, they defeat Tartarus in the dawn of time, ensuring a new future for Taltarus without Tartarus's demonic influence. The ending of the game shows the heroes observing the creation and formation of their new world, before disapearing from the history of time themselves, having also eliminating their own purpose. Development Development of Tales Of Worlds began as early as 2005, when the creator became dissatisfied with the availability of old style, traditional RPGs available to players versus the amount of complex, new style titles. The first version of the game was worked on under the title of Destiny's Chronicle and although it featured the same characters, abilities and concepts, it was based in a totally different world with a wildly different plotline. Production on this game was halted at around fourty percent, when the creator became unsatisfied with the extremely hard difficulty setting and supposedly cliche story that had been created so far. The production team then began to work on a new version of the game, which was easier to play and featured a new story based on the concept of parrelel worlds and time travel. This warranted the name change to Tales Of Worlds to fit the new story theme. Since then, Tales Of Worlds has been released in three different versions. Version 1.4 was the first public release, however, this was soon withdrawn as it featured numerous bugs, such as chests that could be opened over and over, and an optional boss battle that could not be defeated due to a glitch that reset his hit points when he reached a certain damage level. Version 1.5 came soon after. It remedied these bugs that severely hindered the game's playability, but contained a new accidental bug in which the game froze after a certain story related cutscene, making the game impossible to complete. The current version is Version 1.6, which has eliminated any of the bugs previously found in the game, and features a newly made, extra dungeon to compensate players for the long amount of time they had to wait for a fixed version. However, a few minor bugs still remain in the game, though these do not affect gameplay greatly. Bugs and Glitches . In the opening cut scene, the player can walk around, encountering monsters found later in the game which then kill the player, instigating a game over. This can be avoided if the player doesn't move while the intro is in progress. This bug is present even in version 1.6. . In the monster arena, the player can fight the NcroMncr enemy which was a boss early in the game, and defeating it yields the player with a Bottom Artifact, which means they have two of the same quest item. This however doesn't affect gameplay at all. It still remains in the current version. . In the Syclis Pass area, there is a Mimic monster that can be fought repeatedly, which drops a Cobalt Potion and 10,000 Gold upon defeat. Needless to say, this allows the player to get overpowered quickly. The glitch was fixed as of version 1.6. . In the Tyne Sewers area, there is a group of chests that can be opened repeatedly, which yield stat increasing items. This too allows the player to get very overpowered by using these items, so it has been fixed as of version 1.6. Now the chest remains empty after being opened. . The minimap of the world displayed while the player is on the world map does not actually show the player's location. Because of this, the map was removed in version 1.6. (Though a message "You got the World Map" still appears at the point where the player previously obtained it.) . One of the game's optional bosses, Machine, could not be defeated as upon losing fifty percent of his HP, he would use a miscalibrated attack called "CPU Reset" which made him automatically recover 9999 HP each turn. As of version 1.6, "CPU Reset" only speeds up the boss, and heals him by a once off amount of 5000 HP. . When the player recieves the item Syn's Sword, which allows them to learn to summon the god Syn, they can use it and they will not learn any ability at all. As of version 1.6, this is fixed, and the player can learn Summon Syn from it. . In the city of Ishar, there are stone pillars on the ship dock that, although they are meant to be solid, allow the player to pass through them. This still remains in version 1.6. . Upon watching the scene where Tartarus kills the heroes, the game fades out and freezes, preventing further game progress. As of version 1.6, this is fixed. . In the pub in the town of Lihr, the player can talk to the bartender and recieve a key item, "Ogden's Mead". In the game's previous incarnation as Destiny's Chronicle, this was used for a quest, but when the pub in which the item is found was reused in the current game, the bartender who hands over the now useless item was not removed. This means that the player can obtain an item in the game that does absolutely nothing. Trivia . The game sports numerous references to Final Fantasy, an obvious inspiration for the game. In the town of Archon, an NPC mentions a play that was once performed in the city called Final Fantasy VII while another one links a murder that recently occured in the city with Sephiroth, the villain of Final Fantasy VII. Also, the player can obtain an accessory called Ribbon, which, like it's Final Fantasy counterpart, makes the player immune to status effects. The FireBall enemy is also modelled closely on the Bombs from the FF series. . The ingame bosses Timoth and Daye, and the ingame mythology about their neverending battle is referring to a Magic The Gathering game which the creator, Dayle, played with his friend Tim, which they could never finish due to both becoming too impervious to attack. The story in the game describes how their game played out as well. . In an area of the game, there is a dinosaur type enemy named "Yilane". This is a reference to Harry Harrison's West Of Eden book trilogy, in which the dinosaur type creatures that wage war on humanity are also called Yilane. . One of the areas, Caliban Cove, has it's name taken from a Resident Evil novel. . The Ninxes, which are a race in the game, are modelled after the character Vivi from Final Fantasy IX. . The Scaven race, an enemy in the game, are modelled after the Scaven in the Warhammer strategy game. . One of the enemies in the game, the "Grant", an ogre type creature, is named after one of the creator's friends, who is supposedly angry like an ogre and very smelly and hairy. . Several instances of the game use Indonesian words as names. Examples are the zombie called Bodoh (which means "stupid") and the Ayam Spice, Ikan Spice and Cabai Spice items. 
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