NEStalgia, a properly titled game by Silk Games , brings you back to your childhood( At least mine...I'm 22!) The start screen, the sound effects, the music, the animation, the opening cut scene, the character creation, even down to the name selection succeed in their job to immerse you in the world of NEStalgia. The storyline piques your interest with the opening cut scene, introduces you to your character and the world of NEStalgia by a mysterious voice narrating on how the controls work, and a couple of "beginner" tasks for you to complete. I think this game does exactly what "Seika/Teridal" attempts(and fails) with it's opening cut scene. The very best intro to a game I have seen so far on BYOND, I would even go as far as to say it feels just like a commercial game.
The Interface
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The interface is great, using only the arrow keys (or W,A,S,D) the TAB button and your mouse to control your character. There is no right clicking, no verbs, no stat panels, all information is displayed easily and flawlessly on the HUD (which doesn't take up half of the screen or block anything important and have several thousand stats). To view your inventory, your click the inventory icon and a box appears on your screen, which shows what you have (with a similar menu to that of most NES games) . You click on the item you need and then you can easily do what you need to do with it fluidly and flawlessly. Everything is very self-explanatory or blatantly obvious.
The Gameplay
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I am NOT a fan of turn based RPG's, I actually hate them. NEStalgia does a great job of making them bearable for me. The battles are never too long, and dare I say, FUN! Although you can travel the world alone in most areas, all of the bosses are best to be tackled with a party system (which is very well integrated!). The great thing about bosses is that they require strategy, instead of just having the team "over power" the boss with their uber stats. The game plays like a single player game with interaction from other players who can actually help you out. There are side quests, secrets, new items to save gold for and purchase, and different abilities that you learn with experience. The game has an exp/level up system typical to those RPG's of the NES.
Graphics and Sounds
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The graphics and sounds are every bit of the 8 bit games that we remember. The animations make me feel like I was just playing a game on my NES (flashing screen for poison/teleportation/battle enters/etc) . EVERYTHING has a sound effect (using a potion, opening a door, etc) and it has the same exact sound that you would expect and NES game to have! The graphics are right on point, but nothing ground-breaking (I don't really remember a beautiful game on the NES... correct me if I am wrong though)
Overall
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The great plays great, feels smooth, and this beta testing has very few bugs. I've only encountered one in my extensive testing of the game! Very minor, too! The game is VERY polished , and I can definitely appreciate what Silk and his people are trying to do here. They are upping the standards of BYOND's games -- and I love it! NEStalgia has the BEST cut-scenes that I have seen on a BYOND game by far. Everything works very well with each other, the game is presented flawlessly to the gamer. Well, almost flawless, BYOND seems to have trouble doing certain things, but Silk and his people are pushing BYOND to it's limits. I highly recommend trying the game out, it is very fun and addicting. Great job guys, I can only hope more to come!
PS -- Next project you guys have should be out of the middle ages, and something more modern! Either way, I can't wait for this to be done, and see what else you guys have in store for BYOND!