Bleeding Sun Reviews

cool game, really different from others RPG Maker games. the game gets hard on act 5, but I liked it.

This is actually a neat RPGmaker game, the english is not the best however the characters, plot and setting are pretty solid. The gameplay is quite nice aswell it gets away from standard RPGMaker combat with new resource systems for attacks. The game has polish issues but is worth 5 bucks certainly

Bleeding Sun is the perfect example of a short but sweet experience. A tad rough in some areas but mostly polished. The game put's you in the shoes of Yori, a swordsman whose father was slain by Ichiro, a bad dude. 15 years after the murder, Yori has returned to his homeland to exact revenge/justice. The story is cliche with some attempts to be deeper than it actually is at certain parts. Most of the time, however, it stays simple and serves it's purpose. One upside to this game's story design is that there are a myriad of decisions you can make along the way that produces different outcomes and even leads to multiple endings. These decisions have an impact on combat as well and can lead to your party receiving different minor buffs to even getting new weapons or attacks. The game even tracks your decisions which you can review at any time, kind of similar to what Telltale does after completing an episode. This really adds some fun and replay value to the game, counteracting it's somewhat sub-par story. Even a weaker story can be overcome by the writing. Unfortunately, I found this to be the weakest part of the game. The reason for this is the game's English translation. You have to give props to the Dev for trying, sure, but that doesn't stop it from being very unprofessional with rampant grammatical mistakes and missing words. You'll still be able to tell what is happening but it's just hard to look at. The Dev really should've contracted someone who understands the language better instead of just attempting to do it themselves. Enough with the story and writing though and onto the combat, which I believe to be the game's strong point. Along your journey, you'll get a variety of party members to assist in battle. What's great is that each of these party members have widely different strategies and tactics to use and doesn't simple fall into the "Physical Damager", "Magical Damager", and "Healer" stereotypes. They all even have their own unique way of utilizing there skills instead of just subtracting from a mana bar. Very nice and intuitive stuff. The one negative I have for the combat has to do with it's random encounters; I believe there are just a tad too many. Lowering the encounter rate just a few percentages would've been perfect IMO. Despite this, you do get to face a wide arrange of enemies with their own strategies to uncover and exploit. So, all in all, I found the combat in this game to be very balanced, satisfying, and fun. I really enjoyed the art for this game. While the author does use the built-in character generator for the majority of the sprites, it's a highly customized version of it. There also are some unique sprites altogether, even for battlers which is very impressive. I really liked what the dev did for the battle backs as well, really makes the game stand-out. The regular mapping is also beautiful, though, I did think some of the maneuverability for certain tiles was odd (mainly having to do with the trees). The soundtrack is also nice as well and fits the game's theme but I would've liked more diversity in the battle tracks. There are some little things I feel are worth mentioning as well. You are rewarded for exploring the maps with hidden chests and goodies to be found, which is always nice. One odd thing is that the game has currency but you can only spend it on one item, mushrooms. I feel having currency is just waste in all honesty. What isn't a waste is the New Game plus system, which takes out all random encounters and let's you use a Late-Game party to easily look into the other endings and paths. In conclusion, I enjoyed my experience with Bleeding Sun. As a RPGMaker Dev myself, I like to think I have very high standards for titles using the engine and this game fully met them. It's a small but fun experience well worth it's small price.