Forever Home

I had Forever Home on my wishlist a few years ago because the artwork blew me away. Based solely on it being a turn based RPG and that, I wanted it. Yes, I'm easy to please. A friend bought it for me a while later because he thought it would make us closer. It didn't because sexual harassment is a big red flag. So it turns out I'm not that easy to please. I wanted to return it, but I lost internet for a few weeks, so I assume I couldn't. I downloaded it but never played it. And thus it's sat since then. Wanting to clear out my computer, I finally loaded it up. So how is it?

Firstly, the artwork isn't just amazing in that one picture. I can go either way on the sprite work for characters, but the backgrounds are exceptional! The town in the background and the stars in the sky that night are worth a $2 NFT. They're not because NFTs are stupid but pretend they are.

The music is another thing that piqued my interest. It's filled with soothing melodies across a variety of instruments. And there's so much of it, too. That might be slightly early to declare that statement, as I've only been to about six places, but there's a variety you wouldn't expect from an RPGMaker game. I dig that funky bass line we heard the first time we were at The Spot, but where'd it go? It was replaced by another quality tune the next time we were there. Is it something theme? According to the opening credit roll, both the artwork and music aren't standard RPGMaker affair, which just makes sense. The quality isn't something shovelware can make.

I will say, though, the font doesn't work well with my eyes. My eyesight is terrible, and I fear for my future, but it was hard, but not impossible, to read a lot o fit. Changing the background color to black helped a lot, but it didn't make it go away.

But the story? Is the story at the same height the rest of the presentation is? Let's talk about what happened!

A bird takes off from somewhere, and it flies over the world. We see visions of people going about their lives: soldiers off to war and merchants doing their thing. I was a bit taken aback by this because it just loaded up like this, and I wasn't ready for it. But, again, that's a me problem. While it's airborne, the screen starts to flash. The life of a man with dark red hair flashes between whitenesses until he's standing before a massive window in space. I was not expecting this to be a sci-fi romp.

A man named Slash tells our hero, Xero, that we need to get to someone before the battle is over. We're teleporting down into an active warzone. When we land, a girl with green hair joins our party. But I've forgotten her name. I open the menu because I'm slightly confused and see our levels are in the 40's. It appears we start the game in the middle of the game. Anyway, we walk across a barren battlefield that's littered with holes, ruined barricades, and dead bodies. We're looking for someone named Garis or something; I'm terrible with names. Along the way, we're accosted by various enemy soldiers. This is how the tutorial works, with us thrown right into the thick of it. We have several spells and skills to use, and all three of our characters can do both. Besides HP, we have MP for magic and TP for techniques. Each character seems to have an elemental affinity and access to both of those gauges. It's surprisingly hard, but we make it through three ambushes and reach a comrade. No, seriously, I'm really bad with names! The guy is overlooking the chaos and remarks that it's all over. Slash, who uses a hammer, by the way, tries to remind him of our duty, but the guy attacks him. He says that nations don't mean anything and that all humans can fight for now is survival. The guy attacks again, and this is our first boss fight. Treat it like the others, and it won't be a bother. The screen begins to flash white again, and Xero wonders what it all means as we see what once was of Xero.
 
When the screen stops flashing, Xero is seen on a mountain writing in his diary. Did any of that actually happen? He tells his book about the backstory on the world. We're in the middle of an independence war. His country, Auria, the western continent, no longer wishes to be ruled by the Tran on the eastern continent. This war was raged for years, but it's been pretty peaceful for the last long while. He tells us about himself, his parents, his village, and a girl named Enda. Just as he's about to go into detail about Enda, a girl with brunette hair leaps from out from the sky. She attacks the unsuspecting lad, and Xero falls into the water below. He gets up, upset. Enda, our attacker, just ruined two paragraphs' worth of journal entries. She's unphased and cares not for words, so she tells him to dry off and get up here. Xero does so, and the two of them talk about more stuff. Xero is quite the mage, it seems. Enda asks for an exhibition on lightning magic, so Xero conjures up a spectacular show as the opening credits roll. During this, we see the lives of everyday people: soldiers, merchants, and travelers going about the world.

We return to Xero and Enda at dinner. Xero is a terrible cook, so their mom made it tonight even though it's supposed to be his turn. Enda is treated as a guest despite being a part of the family. I dunno. Something was up. Regardless, Xero monologues that Enda joined the family ten years ago when mom found her alone at the Spot. His dad made a separate wing of the house for her to live in during the rare time he was home. He's a soldier, and an important one at that, so he's always off on his missions. After dinner, mom tells Xero to get groceries. Enda demands he pick up not-celery as well, much to his chagrin. It's a food of some sort that tastes terrible, but Enda can't stop eating it. From here, we can explore the largest first town in video game history. All the people tell us about their small squabbles, but a few have some alright world building. One tells us where monsters come from, and another person is waiting for his army escort somewhere with his sentry bots. So there's more sci-fi for ya. Also, everyone thinks Xero and Enda are dating. We also learn about crafting, but we can't do anything yet. Xero picks up the food, but there's no not-celery here. The grocer tells us to get some slime bottles from the southern forest and craft them into it. So it's off to do some battling.

Any wooded area will suffice for this, so defeat a slime and go to the house in the northwest of town. I did some more exploring, though. There wasn't much, but I know there are mines to the north and south, a lonely old man to the west, and a man who looks a lot like Slash is sleeping in the mines to the north... Do what you want to, and some cartoon violence will take place when we get home between poor Xero and Enda.

That night, the screen flashes white, and Xero has nightmares about war. It wakes him up just in time to hear Enda throwing rocks at his window. She wants him to join her at The Spot, which we reluctantly do. While there, they gaze at the stars and say how peaceful this place makes them feel. However, far off in the distance, they can see soldiers amassing... Xero told us earlier about the war machines of both armies, and we get a sight of them here. They're magic infused howitzers that reign fire from the heavens. A man with long, silver hair and his underling almost seem giddy about what they're about to do. Shortly after, the cannons fire...right on to our hometown of Ellea. Xero immediately runs home to find his mother, but all he sees is wreckage. Embers fill the air as blood and corpse litter the ground. Just a few moments ago, this was a peaceful village. But now it's gone. En route to his home, we get attacked by Tran soldiers, but they're nothing to worry about. In time, he gets home. The only thing there is his fallen mother. Burning wood from the rafters begins to fall as a man with black hair drags Xero out of the house. The boy is furious because he left his mother inside, but the man says he had no choice. Enraged, Xero attacks. It doesn't go well for us, and we blackout. Xero experiences more nightmares until he wakes us the only man's house with Enda beside him.

The man offers us his stuff and tells us the guy who saved us is outside. This IS Slash, and he tells us that Xero and Enda were the only people he could have saved. Maybe if Xero didn't fight back, he could have found more, but alas... He then tells us that we're making out for the army HQ, so get ready. Enda sees no other option but to join him, so we do.

We make our way north through the mines and learn about field skills, which allow characters to use Wild Arms II tools in dungeons. We need to use Slash and Enda's abilities to get through, but I couldn't figure out how to properly use Xero's. Anyway, we get through and come to the world map, which is where I called it!

I'm digging what I see, and I want to play more. But that'll come later. There are still some more things I want to do this week, so I'll put a full playthrough on hold for now. I don't know how I feel about the "future" part of the game, but who knows how that'll turn out? Enda wasn't there, so what happened to her? This is a high fantasy setting, so why were we in space? And I want more of the music and art. Day one plot dumps for a game I won't be really playing until November, eh? Anyway, let's talk about Vikings!