Sydney's World Reviews

Sydney's world is the perfect first videogame for a child. As I don't have children myself, I've watched the game played extesnivley and can vouch for its claim of being an excellant learning to read tool. The game is best played with a parent because some of the words (depending on the age of the player) will need to be explained to children. However, the best part of the game is that it reinforces kids to read and be excited to learn.

I have only played this game for about 5 hours. I am enjoying it. On one level it is a typical JRPG. It is less grindy than the usual and is a good introduction to RPG for younger players. Very young players might find it frightening and have trouble with some of the vocabulary. This makes it a good game for an adult to play with a child. It is definitely more linear than typical RPg's which I actually enjoy because I don't have to think as hard or take copious notes. Lots of humor.

I am soooooooooooooooo confused... Is this supposed to be a medieval game? An Anime game? So you got one cutesy character and then some scary looking old man with crazy powers... IDK what the little girl is supposed to do, but all she does is whine about food... Then we got the main character and his sister? Priest? IDK Oh and like 3 different worlds going on with not much of a backstory on what's going on...... So how's the game? Well I played it for a little under an hour so far and all I can say is, WTF IS HAPPENING?!? The story is jumping from one scenario to the next with little to none backstory on what's the storyline is about...

Place holder for a full review once I have given it some more time. The problem given was very kindly helped with by Sydney's world, and I have to give full recomendations to the developer for actually caring about the people playing the game. Actual game itself? So far, really really cute, I'm looking forwards to seeing what will come next in the game, and have to admit, so far, the characters and the storyline is making me smile. Thanks very much everyone!

This is one amazing game the fact that it's an amazing refreshment from the standard JRPG's since i finished the game today. Really have to say the game did something that not many rpg maker games dared to do. Take several styles of art from cutscenes to gameplay areas woven around and makes a believable world come to life. While there are no random encounters there are set enemies that drop much needed items when defeated. Which really is helpful considering needed for the several boss battles. By the time i've completed the game i had twice as many revive items as elixirs. Though what helped in item management besides healing spells. is the encouragement of using buff and debuff abilites in battles. Simple but very effective in this family friendly rpg No complex mechanics that have been lately in today's RPG's. It's nice to go back to a simple time. Reminds me a lot of the SNES/Genesis RPG's Era. For one the game encourages exporation and rewards with interacting with characters as well as learning a lot from the world from reading the books. It is worth the $4.99 price tag. You can tell that a game made with rpg maker done right is how the developer put into the game.

This is a JRPG with a difference. It is family-friendly, features no blood, cursing or nudity and has a good underlying message. As it begins, I do wonder if all of it isn't in the mind of a small girl dreaming. Still, it has good heart, and is fun to play. Do try it.

Sydney's World is a family friendly roleplaying game. It is neither hardcore RPG in the roleplaying sense or the JRPG mechanic sense. It is a a wonderful story and trip of father and daughter. A simple game of heart warming story with snazzy music and fun heart. Pros Family Friendly Funny Story and characters with heart and adventure Price Ratio per play through great! 14 hours: (Ignore my time stamp of 1 hour due to playing without internet) Some fun and great voice acting Snazzy tunes. Neutral: Simple combat mechanics can lead to some painful encounters and the classic RPG save resetting, but its not bad like older games of the genre. Some Maze puzzles can be a bit of a trial and error doozy.

[h2]Preface[/h2] I have very mixed feeling writing review for Sydney's World. As educational game (also called DGBL/Digital Game Based Learning by the developer), it lean on good side. But as RPGMaker game, unfortunately it doesn't lean on good side even considering the developer primarily target younger audience. Valve really should let game owner choose "Neutral" or "Informational" when curators already given "Informational" option. [h2]Story[/h2] Overall the story is great, while considering it primarily target younger audience. It has some good moral message, choice which could invoke critical thinking and some fun cast/character. But for older audience, you might find the story/character is shallow/not deep enough. Even though the developer attempt to mitigate that by including selected philosophy quote/text on bookshelf, personally i find it's boring. If you're looking for something casual with teen/all ages age rating which could spark one's curiosity about philosophy, you might want to check Girls Last Tour (anime/TV series version) instead. Unfortunately the story has few serious flaws. The beginning part of story is weakest part where the pacing is very fast, many character shown with little introduction and there's no room for breathe needed by player to figure what's going on. While it gets better latter, i find there are so many characters with little appearance time. Even for child story, IMO fewer character with more appearance time would be better option. [h2]Gameplay[/h2] While many RPGMaker game (even few RPGMaker game which cost higher than 5 USD) suffer from mediocre combat where decent amount of grinding is required and player only spam attack/skill with biggest MP cost, fortunately Sydney's World does better than that. Some strategy is needed to win in a fight where it's not hard to find optimal strategy. Grinding is optional and there's no random encounter, although i find combat on last part of story/area is rather difficult since i always try to avoid combat. Character on your party sometimes changes following flow the story. While it add variant to gameplay and strategy planning to keep you engaged, unfortunately some character has very low level when they join the party which makes that character die quickly in combat. Aside from combat, there's fair amount of puzzle and maze. The difficulty is just what i expected from RPGMaker game, but many of them require trial-and-error which isn't really fun. Halfway the game, the maze become more difficult. While the game let you skip maze by then, i expect younger and impatient player would feel frustrated if they decide not to skip the maze. [h2]Player friendliness[/h2] The game offer so many tutorial/advice without shoving it to player face, which can be found through interacting with the puppy. RPGMaker veteran wouldn't value it much, but IMO it's very helpful for everyone else especially those who're not familiar with RPG game. But on the other hand, this game lack auto-save feature which is very odd choice considering some choice you made could lead to sudden game over or teleport you to entry/spawn point of a level. [h2]Visual[/h2] Overall the visual is mediocre, where it use generic/stock-looking asset. Although i have no problem with mismatch artstyle. The game CG is nice though. [h2]Audio[/h2] This game surprise me since voice acting is rarely used feature on RPGMaker game, even for top-rated or popular RPGMaker I've played so far. The voice acting for Sydney (the main character) is great and greatly enhance story immersion. But voice acting for other characters is mixed bags which varied from improving immersion, just exist or even break the immersion. As for soundtrack and sound effect, i find it's mediocre. But it's probably because i have expectation RPGMaker game should have great soundtrack/SFX. [h2]Conclusion[/h2] Sydney's World is great educational game. It manages to escape major pitfall/flaws which usually exist on educational game, such as gaining player interest first. However as RPGMaker game, it has few major flaws which ultimately made me choose not to recommend this game. Unless you're parent looking for fun-and-educational game or huge RPGMaker enthusiast, you should look for different game. [h2]Reference[/h2] Before writing this review, i checked developers website and read few article about educational game. Take note few links are also mentioned on developer's website. If you seriously consider buying this game, these link dump might be helpful for you. [list] [*]Developer's website which can be accessed by clicking "Visit the website" on this game's store page. [*]https://districtadministration.com/reading-as-an-adventure/ [*]https://web.archive.org/web/20191214113551/https://www.njea.org/digital-game-based-learning-enhances-literacy/ [*]https://www.edsurge.com/news/2019-08-09-how-video-games-can-teach-reading-just-as-well-as-books [*]https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yhTiVbKpP8fapz1Gjldbwgcz18wYoUor/view [*]https://gamedev.stackexchange.com/questions/113783/how-do-i-make-educational-games-engaging-not-boring [/list]

WHO SHOULD BUY THIS? - Fathers of young daughters - old school JRPG fans - People who use RPG Maker and want to support their community - People who want to see what you can do with RPG Maker VX ACE - It's cheaper than buying the full RPG Maker software, and quicker than learning how to use the RPG Maker demo. WHO SHOULDN'T BUY THIS? - People expecting an RPG like Skyrim. This is an old school RPG, not an action game with skill trees. - People who are unforgiving of new devs. - People who hate cuteness, specifically puppies. REVIEW This is the first time I've ever written a review before I have finished the game. Well, I should say 'we' - I'm playing through with my youngest daughter. One of the things that I really like about this game is that the dev is approachable and very friendly. Call me old-fashioned, but that goes a long way in this day and age. He posts gametips in the Steam forums. Contrast and compare to AAA companies, who often don't even come here. Some people say that this game has mismatching art styles: These people have missed the point. According to my daughter - who might I point out, is actually in the target demographic - the art is PERFECT, and explains everything you need to know about the characters before they even speak. That's another thing, this has voice acting. And it's pretty damn good when compared to AAA titles. And the vocal direction is spot on, seriously some of the best I've ever seen. As for the game itself? It was clearly a labour of love for the dev, and I suspect that he would not have released it were he not a father. It's a cute little RPG Maker game. The dev doesn't always use the graphics in the way that we are accustomed to seeing them used, but he is clearly a very creative person. He is not afraid to turn convention on its head, and he doesn't hold your hand throughout the puzzles. CONLCUSION. I 100% think that you should buy this game because it's worth the money and the time, and I would be very proud of myself if I had made and released a game for my daughter: without being morbid, I think the dev has achieved a kind of immortality here, if you take my meaning. (As I play through the game, I will adjust my review accordingly, adding more specific information.)

I found this RPG quite enjoyable. Sydney's World revolves around the adventures of a young girl who is transported to a different world where she finds she can do magic and her toy elf becomes a real elf. There's some voice acting and mainly from a real little girl, actually named Sydney, eight and a half years of age. She does an exceptional job. The main villain on the other hand..... ugh. I'll forgive that though because I love Sydney and the game is chock-full of great music and lovely art. A few things you should be aware of. There are no random battles and no way to power level. You DO level up and gain new abilities and higher stats but almost all battles are part of the story. Some dungeons or hazardous areas have creatures that you can see and choose to come in contact with for a few extra battles. This RPG is more about experiencing the story than fighting. Though there ARE some tough battles so you'll need to figure out what your skills do and come up with strategies. You can save whenever you please so just make sure to do that often and you'll be fine. There's probably a lot more I could say about the game but I think I'll keep this review on the shorter side. In closing, I REALLY liked Sydney's World and I give it two thumbs up.