MFGG - Mario Fan Games Galaxy

Review Information

Game Reviewed	Yoshi RPG: Secret Legends, by DJ Yoshiman
Review Author	Q-Nova
Created	Apr 22 2019, 3:43 AM

General Commentary and Game Overview

Have you ever narrowed MFGG's games down into just RPGs? If you did, then it's obvious that MFGG doesn't get much for RPGs, nor are any spectacular in quality (the best one has an average score of 6.3!). I think it's because RPGs can be very complicated and take a lot of time to make, and most people see fangames as just a fun, simple hobby to do for their free time, so you're not going to see much people be willing to spend the time and effort to even attempt to do something as complicated as an RPG (let alone produce a completed one).

MFGG's occasional attempt to do an RPG can be traced all the way back to 2002/2003, when DJ Yoshiman decided to do what was unheard of back then (now rarely heard of, though). However though, as stated by the game's description, Yoshiman didn't get very far into its development before he shelved it and moved on. Yoshiman has stated in one of the comments that he doesn't know why is this even up on the site to this day! I think it's clear that there is very little that you'll actually witness in this game.

Pros	+It features Yoshi! +Story is kinda original +Yoshiman at least tried to do some RPG stuff...
Cons	-...but the RPG stuff is very poorly done -That voice acting, YIKES! -Graphics have too much clashing -The game keeps on-CRASH!

Impressions

Gameplay 1 / 10	Before I dive into any gameplay stuff, I'd like to note that the game crashes whenever I get past the title screen, and this is someone who uses Windows 7! Turning on compatibility mode for Windows XP prevents this particular crash from happening, but it doesn't stop any other crashes, which we'll found out about later on in this review. It's weird, because I played quite a number of old fangames and they never forced me to use compatibility mode! It actually used to work fine on Windows 7 when I played it years ago, so I don't know what's going on here. When starting the game, you get to know about the story: Humans from the year 4000 found a time machine in Brooklyn and used it to travel to who-knows-where. That's what literally happens. You soon gain control of a Yoshi (whom I assume is THE Yoshi), when you explore some grassy area that has grassy stuff. I was figuring out the controls, when I discovered that Enter brings up this... weird red-and-black screen that has a time counter at the bottom-right corner and eerie music playing. What makes it even weirder is that when I press Enter again, the game sometimes ends up crashing! You have to go to a mailbox and get a letter from it by pressing Z of all of the available keys. Having Z as a key may not seem so odd today, but back then, it seems to be like unworldly. After reading the letter that was sent by other Yoshis, Yoshi goes to their town. Before that happens, though, we have to watch a very loooooong cutscene that shows some Yoshi running back and forth and then the time-travelling humans appearing out of nowhere! Once all of that is FINALLY done, you can explore the town and talk to the people and the now-surprised Yoshi seen in the cutscene before. Actually, DON'T DO THAT! Why? Because the camera will stop following you, which made me feel lost on what I'm supposed to do next for quite a long time. Last time I did that, though, I got graphical glitches and then yet another crash, which I suppose is a good thing in a game like this. We're not done yet, however! In the town, there is a path that leads you to a wide, open field filled with Goombas. These creatures will trigger a turn-based battle, even if you're jumping over them, and it's not very exciting at all. You only have two options in your turn: Attack or defend. Attack just makes the Goomba lose 30 HP and defend doesn't seem to do anything at all. The Goomba always makes you lose 10 HP, which doesn't matter since you'll live even after your HP hits zero! There's no strategy involved and your reward is experience points that have no effect at all whatsoever, so it's better to just pass these Goombas. If you head down south in the Goomba field, you'll find another path that takes you to a screen that tells you that the demo is over and then the credits are shown! sigh Thank goodness.
Graphics 3 / 10	I feel like the screenshot already sums up the graphics department here. The graphics are taken from various sources, some that I'm familiar with, and some that I have no freaking idea where did they come from! Super Mario RPG Yoshis clearly don't go well with the SMW baby Yoshis. With this and Yoshi Gone MFGG, I wonder if Yoshiman was even aware of the concept of clashing back then. You'll get to see some really awful-looking Yoshi artwork during this game. There was even a CGI thing that tries to look like Yoshi, but ends up looking nothing like him at all. In fact, I thought it looked kinda creepy at first, especially given that it's motionless on a black background. I could tell you everything wrong with the title screen if I wanted to, but I'll just say that if there is ever a hall of shame for title screens, this one must be included.
Sound 1 / 10	Blegh. You got MIDIs that just sound horrible here and very little sound effects playing. What really drags this part down through the ground, though, is the voice acting. It's nice that Yoshiman tried to do something unusual, but holy smokes, that voice acting is just HORRENDOUS, ATROCIOUS, and DREADFUL! It seems to be implemented badly as well, since the humans kept on cutting off another when they're talking to you.
Replay 1 / 10	Are you serious!? The only reason I replayed this is so I can properly review this game, and since I just done that, I can move on and do something else that's actually worth my time. I think my Windows 7 computer even agrees with me, considering that it has made the game crash quite a few times.

Final Words

It's no secret that MFGG is lacking in RPGs, but this game doesn't do anything legendary with the genre at all.

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