{Review} Escalia

"Escalia" by BCj

I believe that excellence has a way to shine through. Someone who is utterly bored by a certain sport may still appreciate a spectacular feat of athleticism. A person who loathes musicals can still find a certain singer's voice charming. Any detractor of chocolate ice cream might be able to recognise a superbly made chocolatey exemplar of it.
In case it's unclear, "Escalia" is my chocolate ice cream in this long-winded introduction.
Full disclosure: I am just coming of the final hours of "The Witcher 3" so I may be simultaneously harder to impress and a bit more generous.

Story
The old king is dead, long live the advisor. Until he dies as well. And that's the longish prologue, with which the game starts you off.
The story proper begins when a young woman named Fayeh is awoken by her friend Lumia so they can see a recently returned friend.
On a side note: Is it somehow mandatory for games like this to start of in someone's bedroom? Do you get bonus points on your JRPG-card for including mom standing around between your bed and the door to adventure?
Anyway, after picking up a few sidequests along the way, you reach the friend, just in time for him to join your party and return to the village. Please stop reading now if you have not seen a movie or read a book in the last fifty years and wish to remain spoiler-free.
To all others: You know how this goes. When all you have is a torch, any village looks like kindling or however the saying goes. And actually, that's where my playthrough ended so far, so I can't spoil any more, even if I wanted to.

Mechanics
You walk around, you encounter enemies to be subdued in turn-based combat. You level up.
So far, so well-known. But there are a few wrinkles. If you want to, you can evade the enemies that visibly roam the map with a combination of good navigation and the sprint button. Guarding is present, but each character does so in a different way. Some regenerate MP, others are more likely to be attacked by enemies afterwards. Add to that normal, special and magic attacks and your toolbox of pain is well-stocked.
"Escalia" also manages to make the characters' gameplay feel fitting towards their personality. The lumbering hunk in his shiny new armor feels like he is begging to tank. Lumia, she of the little patience for sleeping friends, feels like the more pragmatic and robust of the two women, while the magic user Fayeh feels frailer, but capable when her niche of magical expertise is needed.

Presentation
The game feels polished. There is simply no other word for it. And in this day and age, that is an achievement. Insert your own EA/Ubisoft/WB Games-rant here. This is a positive space, people, don't make me ruin the vibe.
Well, okay, I do have some complaints about the abrupt nature of the music loops and the jarring change that occured once. So... okay, one point from Gryffindor.
The menus still feel like they are designed for a controller, but the hexagonal shapes somehow give a much slicker appearance than the drab lists you get in most other genre examples.
And now for the art... oh, the art. This game is gorgeous. Even the overworld map, that at first glance looks like run-of-the-mill JRPG fare, is beautiful and detailed. I still feel the aesthetic of smiling bobbleheads clashes with a cruel and sadistic court advisor murdering everyone in cold blood, but that is just a JRPG ignoramus talking.
But even I can see that the big character portraits are top notch quality. And not only that, but each character has different portraits, a standard face, one for being selected in the menus, one for being selected in battle... The characters' standard expression seems to say: "Oh, hey, haven't seen you in a few weeks, I've really missed you, how are you?" When you select them in the menus, it looks more like: "Oooh, a present, for me? And it's carried by a puppy? Awwww..."
It's such a little touch, but it shows the extra effort that went into this game.

On the whole...
Like our chocolate-ice-cream-despising friend from the introduction, I appreciate the high quality and craftsmanship of the game, but it is what it is and its aftertaste is just not to my liking.
But if you're not like me, you'll like this game. If you want a good, polished RPG maker game that looks like it's setting up for a grand quest and does things just so different that everything feels fresh and familiar, go for this one.
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Link: http://contest.gamedevfort.com/submission/126#.VeDJ2PntlBc

Dev: BCj

Time Played: 30 minutes

Got My Vote? Yes, because it just feels so polished. I know, this is the third time I used that term, but I had to in order to get the bonus points on my game reviewer card.