Arcen Games

General Category => A Valley Without Wind 1 & 2 => : martz September 02, 2016, 09:41:44 PM

: Why A Valley Without Wind 2 is my favorite Arcen game
: martz September 02, 2016, 09:41:44 PM
Hey there.  My first time on these forums.  Let me start by saying I wasn't a big fan of AVWW1. It was okay, but I didn't play it for too long.  AVWW2 I played for 40 hours, though, and in my eyes, it's the best game Arcen Games has made.  So I was pretty surprised when I found out not a lot of people liked it, and felt like I should make up a post explaining why I think it's great.

Let's get this out of the way first, the game isn't perfect.  I have a number of complaints, chief of which are:

There. Now that that's done, let me talk about why I love the game.

First of all, it's really the strategy part that does it for me.  I REALLY liked the system.  I liked unlocking new territory, and I like that you had to really plan your moves in advance.   You had to pick key areas to unlock in order to reach resources and objectives, but if you weren't careful about how you did it, Demonaica would catch up to your troops and kill them off.  So for me, the fun came from trying to keep ahead of him while gathering the resources and figuring out what the best way to cut a path to the objectives was.  The sidescrolling parts were alright, but nothing special.  They served their purpose well enough, but for me, they were just kind of something to do in between turns.

Second, even though the story was minimal, I liked it quite a bit.  I liked that the world was basically destroyed, and the survivors are trying to get by on what little is left while avoiding a godlike being who's intent on exterminating them.  I liked the villains' personalities, and their different motivations for following Demonaica.  And I liked how it was insinuated your character had to do some pretty terrible stuff in order to earn Demonaica's trust so you could gain access to the one thing that can kill him, and how in doing so, basically none of the rebels were willing to trust you.  I liked the twist at the end, too, although I do kind of wish the story was resolved a bit more.

Third, the music is fantastic.  I'm listening to it even as I type this.  Pablo Vega is an excellent composer.  Most of the music is kind of soft and slow paced, which really led to a feeling of loneliness, which fit in with the world and the idea that you and a handful of survivors were all that was left.  It was a pretty great atmosphere.  And when the music did get intense, it was at the right times, like during a boss fight or escaping a factory. It's just great all around.

Anyhow, I might be in the minority, but I for one am glad AVWW got this awesome sequel. What I'd love to see is if Arcen Games could incorporate that strategy system in a future game of theirs.  I'd love to see a game that used a similar system.
: Re: Why A Valley Without Wind 2 is my favorite Arcen game
: Captain Jack September 04, 2016, 04:30:03 AM
That's... actually really affecting. AVWW is the only Arcen game that I do not own or really want to, and am not familiar with the ost beyond what snuck into other games, and I'm heard more negative opinions of the sequel than positive. Thanks for sharing!
: Re: Why A Valley Without Wind 2 is my favorite Arcen game
: x4000 September 04, 2016, 11:41:09 AM
Thank you, as well!  That is definitely a fun read, and it also gets at what I love about the strategic part of it, too. :)