Sarab: The Dark Tower is a traditional JRPG-styled game, which focuses on story-telling, exploration, puzzles and turn-based battling. Each main character has its own mysterious story. Also, the game has a unique atmosphere which absolutely makes it a different experience from other JRPG games.
8 user reviews
8 Steam reviews
| LANGUAGE | AUDIO | SUBTITLES | INTERFACE |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | — | Y | Y |
Sarab: Duji Tower is an RPG Maker game filled with a simple yet nice story, okay characters, killer ambiance, and the usual turn-based combat system. However, it also has poor writing as well as moments that I found unnecessary. And unfortunately, the amount of errors in the text became too much for me to handle.
Let's start off with the cons, shall we?
First things first, writing wise it has an alright beginning with minor mistakes here and there, but the further you go along there will be a lot more. And it doesn't end at words spelled wrong but the misuse of question marks, exclamation marks, commas, ellipses, you name it. There are also too many sentences where I couldn't even edit it on the fly because it made so little sense. As it stands, the writing needs to be revamped, and then I'll consider finishing the game. As is? There's no way.
Second, there are a lot of scenes or moments that I can't understand why they're there. Examples:
1. The text boxes below the notes you find. Now, if they were written in another language or scribble goop that nobody would understand, I get having the text box for English. But when you can read the words already, there's no need for that box. It's just in the way. And don't try to give me the, “It might be hard to read.” Because it isn't.
2. The change in perspectives. I'm not talking about the change in perspectives with other characters since that's cool, but rather the showing of what the bad guys are up to. This is something I've never really understood because it's not engaging to see what the villains are doing unless it helps to move the story along or is interesting. And in these instances, neither happened. It was just bad guys being, well, bad. Or as I'd like to call it, “The main antagonist having anger management problems while the rest keep being terrible at their jobs."
3. Forcefully spoon-feeding the player. This is a thing that you want to avoid at all cost, especially in story-telling. As an author once said, resist the urge to explain. Show, don't tell. In the beginning, we're shown what's happening with the protagonist through different scenes and dialogue, which is nice. That's what we call the good stuff. However, it's not long before you're given exposition and the pain starts. Sometimes, that can be nice. Just not in large quantities and certainly don't tell the player the same or similar stuff again. To me, that reads that you think the person is too stupid to not get it the first time around. And I have only one thing to say about that: don't assume. You're not giving the player enough credit. Let them make guesses or play until events reveal the story little by little.
4. The poems. At the start of every chapter, there's a poem attached that I don't understand why they're there. Now, if they had been foreshadowing of what the chapter was about, that would've been awesome. But no, it's unnecessary cryptic text that we get exposition for anyway or have already figured out thanks to the opening, which means that it doesn't matter.
5. The dialogue. Most of the time, I love this part in any text but for this a lot of the time it fell flat. Even when you should get some knowledge of who the characters are, you quickly realise that they're kind of milk-toast. And these are the ones we're supposed to be rooting for?
Third, this'll focus more on what it lacked. Say, the portraits. I say that if you're going to have that for the characters, then why not go all out? You have no idea how hard it is to take a grave moment in a game seriously when the main character is smiling like nothing is wrong. If it was meant to be comical, then that's nailed. But if not, that completely sucks away any seriousness in both the story and events that transpire. What I'm trying to say is: give them more expressions if you're already going to show their portraits whenever it's their turn to speak. Or better yet, have their portrait be neutral.
Fourth, names needs some work. I'm not talking about the good guys' names, they're fine as far as I'm concerned. But the bad guys? Goblet of Death and the Five Devils sounds more like a horrible band name than some evil dudes to be feared. And while we're on the Goblet of Death, that alone sounds a lot like a name he came up with when he was fourteen in his edgy phase and never changed it—the hilarious thing about this is these are not my words but my sister's. And let's not forget about the weapons. The first one, I can accept. It sounds cool enough to be considered something great. The second and third? Nah. The second sounds like no thought was put into it and the third—even if you were making a reference to Cupid—still sounds terrible.
Last thing, what is AED? You pick it up in places but you never get an explanation of what it is. There's not even any sign in your inventory or anything that you got it. For all my complaints about explanation, it's the one time it would've been useful.
Now onto the pros!
First, despite everything that I've said above concerning story-telling and whatnot, I did enjoy it. Yes, it's simple and cliché but it wasn't too bad. It made me keep playing even after I realised how bad the writing was after an hour. Which means that either it has something to give or I'm a masochist. Hmm, I'm gonna go with both.
Second, the imagery doesn't end at character portraits. This was one of the things that I really liked about it. Even the most trivial items have a drawing, so we can actually see what we picked up instead of the usual text box version. Of course, this doesn't fall in the same category as health, armour, or those types of things where we get the usual RPG Maker images. But it's still nice. There's also some attention to detail in battle. In the beginning, you use a normal sword to attack enemies but some time later that's exchanged for the next weapon.
Third, the ambiance is actually amazing. This game is absent of music, relying only on the atmosphere. Even when fighting there's none for battle, which threw me off for a moment but like anything, I got used to it. And in the end, I came to love it more.
In conclusion: If the writing is fixed, it can go from an alright game to a good and even a great one.
Things I liked about the game :
Such a great game and Journey and long complicated story it took about 9 hour from me to finish it, I am curious about who took the box, I get mad about the fact that Sarab didn't met his twin brother, I don't know how many chapters will take from you to finish the whole story .
-I liked fight effects they are really cool.
-I like characters arts.
Things I disliked:
- we hit a lot of obstacles when walk, and I got stuck one time in one of cities I rest the game for it.
-more music is needed eventhough I forget about it while I am playing and the game is designed well without music.
-I didn't like most of sound effect especially when leave the place or cave.
-Monster art need more improvements.
-the game don't have enough animation.
-the main menu art can be better and changed depend where did you reach in the game.
-the way of rising the level of player
-the environement can be improved too
I enjoyed the story and I am waiting to see the next chapter of the and with all new improvements.
I love this game. RPG maker games are my favorite genre, which I am fully aware makes me a weirdy.....but this game is a unique gem among them. Puzzles, unique leveling for weapons, good story line, fun fights. And a developer who is willing to answer questions when you get stuck!!
Finally, I finished it. Well, the game is so good. I like it. I really enjoyed playing this game. The puzzles are interesting and give you a challenge.
Story: 9\10 - (Very intersting and engaging)
Graphic: 9\10 - (The game's enviroment is absolutely wonderful and beatifully done)
GUI and Menus 6\10 - (It's original RPG Maker GUI)
Battle System 4\10 - (It's acceptable)
The game: 7\10
I recommend this game to all RPG games fans. They have to try it out. I'm sure that they will like it.
This is an interesting little game. It appears to have been translated into English, so there are some odd phrasing. It is a traditional common man has to save the world story, but the writer put a lot of effort into the story... and by that I mean this might work well as a novella outside of the gameplay aspects...
Might be worth a look.
Overall, this is a satisfying, but unremarkable game. Made with RPG Maker, it has all the standard features of its genre; the gameplay is simple and straightforward, and doesn't weigh you down with a lot of unwarranted complexity. There are no glaring problems or annoyances, but some may be put off by its simplicity.
The story is simple, satisfying, and lacks anything painfully silly.
The battles are easily won, with the exception of the boss battles, which may require a bit of grinding before you attempt them.
Treasures, and powerups are uncommon, as are the special abilities you acquire when you level up. As with other aspects of the game, the nature of these features will be familiar, if you've played a lot of these games.
The game is mostly linear, and your progress through the world is met with many random encounters, but is quick enough to not be tedious.
I recommend this game especially to those who have never played a jRPG before, or to those who want an uncomplicated, laid back experience. If you are looking for something new or groundbreaking, this game will possibly disappoint you.
Nice game! I am enjoying the play and battles. Good strong puzzles and playability!
Sarab: The Dark Tower erinnert mich immer wieder an secret of mana. Wer mit diesem Spiel seinen Spaß hatte, der wird auch hier Freude haben, da auch der Preis kaum der Rede wert ist. Etwas nervig ist, dass Gegner wie in Pokemon immer wieder aus demn Nichts auftauchen. Jedes mal wird kurz(wirklich sehr kurz) der Kampfbildschrim geladen und das Spiel dadurch unterbrochen. Das Leveln wird zwar etwas leichter, aber wenn man sich einfach mal umschauen will, nervt das unglaublich. Bei dem Preis will ich mich aber gar nicht weiter beschweren und allein die Hier und da zu spürende Nähe zu Secret of Mana rechtfertigt für mich eine Kaufempfehlung.
