AeternoBlade – Demo Review

Alright. So I’m floating around the eShop and I see that there’s a new demo out, called AeternoBlade. I have absolutely no clue what it’s about (alright, it's about avenging your village, changing your destiny and things of the like), but it kinda looked RPG-ish, and I’m an RPG freak (though the eShop labels it as “action”). I’m a demo whore so every time there’s a new demo that sparks my interest, I download it. …I’d say I have about 3/4s of the eShop’s demos XD


Overview
So immediately you get into the world where you play a some chick. Clearly these is some dreary desolate, and the background music like you’re in some wilderness helps emphasis that. You get a bit of handholding with the tutorials, such as “Use the circle pad or d-pad to move.” You also have an orb system that accounts for UP, MP, HP and whatnot.



After you beat up your first enemy, you’re already treated to a bit of plot. The chick’s name is Freyja, and she’s going on about how some dude’s minions won’t stop her and she won’t stop until he’s dead (please don’t let this turn into another overly-used cliché…). Though it’s pretty amusing to see the enemies waddle towards you, only for you to hack ‘em down. :3 She fights kinda odd though, like…I’m not entirely sure how to explain it. Just that the way she handles her sword is really girly ewe The Time Splicer…whatever thing (L Button) is nice because you can zoom pass enemies on a ledge so that they don’t knock you down and then be able to get behind them to strike.

So as you go to the next screen, some portal beams of light appear, and the heap of armor that’s just obviously lying there suddenly pops up to life and you need to fight him. Though the music is pretty catchy. The change from this nearly silent wilderness to this upbeat tension-filled song is a huge, and great, contrast. He was far too easy to beat; just upload the Y button onto him and watch as you hack him away. ewe

Oh and look. Our villain is revealed to us: some… tall dark mage-y looking dude named Beladim. He seems a little surprised to see you alive. You beat more of his soldier dudes but then he hands your ass to you on a platter with some tiny shadow ball. Then some random futuristic-ish looking chick named Vernia pops out of nowhere and tells you wind the clock on your blade. Wait what? ಠ_ಠ

Ah, I see we got some time manipulation here. Apparently Freyja is too dumb (I kid I kid: A stranger gave it to her as she was escaping from her village) to realize what her blade is capable of, so Vernia tells her that it’s called “Time Reverse” (Gee, couldn’t you have been a bit more creative with that…?) It turns out you’ve returned to a state of being unharmed, Beladim has no idea you’re there, and then he vanishes. Vernia then introduces herself and explains the blade.

And then we get some background info about Freyja that’s sounding just a bit too cliché and way too early in the game for this. >__> So Beladim destroyed her village and she’s the only survivor and blah de blah. ANYWAY. The sword is called the “Aeterno Blade” (hmmm, that sounds awfully familiar… *gasp* It’s the name of the game! 8D). Vernia then says it allows you to travel back in time, as if that wasn’t obvious enough already (come on, I don’t need any handholding here). Vernia also says that her village was destroyed by Beladim and she can’t defeat him alone.

So….so far we’ve got victims of a tragedy wanting to take revenge on some evil dude that’s way too powerful and we’ll probably be able to beat at the end of the series. ._. Besides gaining enough power to beat Beladim, you need to finish collecting pieces of your blade to reach its full potential. Oookay.

*sigh* So much handholding ;___;

So then we come across this giant plant mini boss. It’s not really all that difficult to defeat him. Just avoid his rape vines popping out of the ground and his poison balls and you’ll be perfectly free to just jump and slash at him relentlessly.

Some hacking and slashing later, we find another piece of the Aeterno Blade, known as the “Timeless Emblem.” It seems pretty helpful: stuff can go back in time while you won’t, and green platforms won’t be affected, making them easier to access since you can only jump about an inch and not grab onto edges. (Remember, if you’re stuck at getting onto a platform, that “Timeless Emblem” really helps~)

So then Beladim’s Archmage shows up and and we get to fight him. Yaaaaaay. There’s some..attempt at witty remarks. (“I’ll deliver your soul to Lord Belahim.” “Funny. How about I deliver your corpse instead?!”) >__> Idk. It just seemed a bit forced

Ooh look, he has a health bar. Except that um… he’s basically a sitting duck the whole time. And isn’t he aware you’re using time travel on him lol? *sigh* He was painfully easy >__> Vernia makes this thing called the Eternal Gate to be our base, and whoop whoop, stage 1 cleared. :3

Specifics
Art: 
It’s different. The art did look a little derpy though (such as the face) which was why I wasn’t entirely sure if I wanted to download it. But hey, it’s free: why not.

Music:
The Intro/Title is pretty nice. The intro has all these cymbals and trumpets going on and whatnot while the characters are fighting. Title music is a lot more tranquil, with the piano and flute. I like the music when Vernia introduces herself; it’s dramatic and mystical, and it helps show that A) You’re not some little kid playing soldier dress up and B) it reflect a bit on Vernia herself, because she’s clearly not human….at least I don’t believe so. There’s also another battle theme that sounds pretty nifty, and I’ve noticed it’s used when you’re forced to be in an area where enemies spawn up the ass apparently.

Gameplay: 
It kinda sucks you can’t dodge roll, meaning that L button is your only source of quick getaway, and you have to wait for it to recharge. There are also these bat things that just kinda..sit there. What, are they like those pink little devils in Kirby’s Dream World where they don’t angry until you provoke them (such as trying to suck them up)? XD At least if you fall into a spike pit, it won’t be insta-death like it is in Mega Man and games like that. The controls are pretty simplistic: move with the d-pad, jump with B, slash with Y, and “dash” with L. The thing though is that Freyja iiiiiis quite slow at swinging sword. She also can’t dodge roll or grasp onto ledges. Some good things about her blade is the gear and the emblem: if you die, you can wind up the gear, and to have everyone else travel back in time, you tap the emblem.

Conclusion:
AeternoBlade is a fairly nice Indie game: music’s great, the story hints at plot, and for the most part gameplay is great. I don’t think it’s anything to ride home about though. I felt some of my interest wane a bit as I played the demo. I felt like there were some clichés that just…didn’t make it all that appealing to me. It’s a nice action game to hack up some monsters and pass some time, but I’m not sure I’d cough up some money for the upcoming full version.

I DON'T KNOW. Maybe I'm judging too early because it's just a demo and not all the neat-o features are released yet, but whatever.

Until next time~!