Costa Rican indie game that takes us to an elemental world
The game can be purchased through Game Jolt: https://gamejolt.com/games/Full_elements/646448
Summary
- Name of the game: Full Elements
- Launch date: September 10, 2010
- Developer: Lujoca Games
- Publisher: Lujoca Games
- Platforms: PC
- Genre: RPG
- Context: A world where the elements (fire, water, earth and air) not only define the environment, but also the protagonist's abilities and the development of the main conflict.
History and narrative
The story of Full Elements is simple. It places us in a world where the Elementers, The game is a game about a race of people with elemental powers, who lived in harmony, but then there was a catastrophe that threw everything out of balance. Our protagonist, who starts with a name that we can change (in my case I have chosen FMRIZI to represent me in the game), is the warrior chosen to restore peace and order by facing the threat of the Dark Elementers.
It really is an easy to understand story. In short, you are a young boy from school who is chosen to end the threat to the world and restore order by defeating the main enemy called Belfegor (the Dark Elementer King), along with the help of other characters who will accompany us on the adventure. It is not the most innovative story ever seen, but it is entertaining enough to pass the time.
At the narrative level it has its moments. The depth is not the main thing of the game, but the concept and the description of the elemental world are well presented and clear. Sometimes I would have liked to have more context of the world, since the game starts with a battle in the middle of a war. In some moments it is explained what happened through descriptive objects that expand the lore of the game, but perhaps I would have liked to see it more developed.
The characters are simple, but functional to make the experience bearable. Akiko, a friend of the protagonist; Kaito, our best friend; Belfegor as the villain; the teacher Luka; the king of fire, who gives us the powers through a pact; Kimura and the typical characters of the game. bullies school.
The dialogues are interesting and very direct to the development of the story. They have their humorous moments and this generates more charisma in the characters. A notorious problem of the game is, without a doubt, its script. For a game where reading is fundamental, I have noticed a lot of spelling mistakes in the dialogues, which is a very important point to improve. To make the project more professional, I would expect to see a well-written text. I can understand one or two mistakes, but I saw a lot of them.
The concept of the game really seems to me to be inspired by Avatar: The Last Airbender because of its similarity both in narrative and in some characters and story. Only here it is more direct, shorter and focused on basic mechanics.
Gameplay
The game has simple and basic mechanics, easy to understand and master. We have basic attacks, defense, stamina bar, magic for special attacks, a state where by filling the bar we get a higher power for a while, some healing items and so on.
I felt that the game focuses more on dialogue than combat. It has its special moments, but yes, the action moments are more few and far between. Also, a point of improvement is the clarity and visibility of who attacks whom, or when to defend and attack. Many times it feels like a mess in combat against various enemies and you don't really know what is going on, so you don't know if you are winning or losing against the enemy. This can make it a bit frustrating and confusing.
In addition, if an accompanying character dies, it is considered as a Game Over, which can feel a bit unfair, since we don't know if he's about to die to escape or if there are ways for him to defend himself, or at least it wasn't clear to me.
The exploration tends to be linear, it's very straightforward, and while you might find something interesting on occasion, it's not its greatest strength. The controls feel functional, fulfilling what is necessary.
The learning curve is accessible to all audiences: easy mechanics, no previous experience in games of this genre is required. I liked that it also has an indicator of cardinal points to know where you have to go to advance.
I think the gameplay is good, although it does have several aspects to improve.
Graphics and visual design
Full Elements features 2D visuals with classic sprites and scenarios built in top-down view. The characters are designed with small but expressive sprites, while the environments show detailed interiors with furniture, ambient lighting and various decorations.
The textures are simple but clean, and although it does not seek realism, it maintains visual coherence in all its scenarios. Its artistic style bets on being retro moder, pixel art and classic RPG design. The colors are warm which generates a cozy feeling for the player.
Scenario designs feature: clear room distribution, good separation between zones, decorative use of elements to be more detailed and visual identifiers such as the red arrow on the NPC that guide the player. This indicates a functional design, designed for the player to quickly understand what is and what is not interactable.
It doesn't compete visually with modern 3D RPGs, but within the indie and 2D scope it fulfills correctly. It is closer to the classic RPG style of the early 2000s than to current high-budget productions, but this is understandable as it is a game developed independently by a very small studio.
Sound and music
The soundtrack fulfills its function well; it is simple music, with good accompaniment in exploration, environment and combat. Of course, it's not a memorable soundtrack by any means, but at the moment it does the job well.
The sound effects are basic, mostly noticeable in combat; in other aspects they don't stand out much. When you attack or defend yourself, that's where they become noticeable. They are clear impacts, but simple effects.
The game has no voice acting, as there are no audio dialogues, but everything is done through reading. Although the characters, at times, emit certain sounds depending on their emotions and the context of the conversation.
Difficulty and accessibility
I consider the game to be simple, although some fights may require a few tries. It's very linear and intuitive; it's not too hard to know what to do to advance. I feel it is balanced for casual players. If you are looking for a very high challenge, the game is not for you.
Regarding accessibility options, being an indie project it does not have advanced options; it is very limited to the basics, with a simple interface and a generally readable text for most people. But beyond that, don't expect more options because it doesn't have them.
Additional content
The main campaign can take between 4 to 6 hours, although it depends on the pace of the game and how much you decide to explore. So I consider it a short and bearable game.
Regarding replayability, I would say it is low, as it focuses solely on the game's campaign. If you enjoyed it, you could play it again; however, beyond this there would be no other incentive to put more hours into the game. I could say that, once you've finished the campaign, you've finished everything. There are no mini-games or side quests; you get straight to the point.
Technical Aspects
In this section will depend a lot on your PC. I have played it on my personal PC, a laptop with 16 GB of RAM, and I can say that there were no problems. It doesn't require heavier specifications to play it; with a basic PC you can run it without problems.
Sometimes it does have FPS drops, although for the most part it feels stable. With respect to bugs or glitches, I must say that I have seen a few moments where the game froze and I had to restart it; also, moments where when changing zones it was a bit laggy.
In the end it has points of improvement. Although, to be honest, I have seen cases of more developed games with worse technical errors and more broken; this is not the case, as it is well optimized for being an indie.
Value for money
Being an independent project, the game is free on the Game Jolt platform, so the price-quality ratio is fine in the sense that it may be worth giving it a chance. All in all, it's a short and free game, so the risk of not liking it is not very high, as you don't lose much.
It makes it an attractive option to try something short and experimental. Compared to other indie projects, it offers a fair experience for its scope.
Conclusion
Full Elements is an indie RPG that bets on a simple but functional proposal. It doesn't try to reinvent the genre or offer an extremely deep story, but it does present an interesting elemental concept that manages to entertain during its short duration.
It is not a game that marks a before and after, but for a new project developed by one person and a Costa Rican game, I think it is good with the available resources.
My final rating for Full Elements is:
3.0 / 5
