Very average game, I played for just over half an hour and got up to the monastery, so my review only covers up to there. However I stopped playing since my game would crash with the error; "Script 'Cahe' line 106: RGSError occurred. failed to create bitmap" ever time I tried to talk to the guy there (which I reloaded and did a few times), so this the reveiw only going this far isn't for a lack of trying.

This game is based on the RPG Maker VX Ace system, and uses mostly stock music and art, so most of you already know what it looks like. Combat is likewise very ordinary, with the default VX system used, plenty of grinding of low lvl mobs that basically translates to hammering the enter key so that your party does its basic attack on the first monster.I also found the main quest hard to follow, as often your left after completing an objective with no explanation other than wrapping up the quest you just solved and no clue what to do next, but this is only a small issue since rome around a little and you'll find the quest chain again. On a positive note the spelling and grammar is very good, as is the work creating the main character you can relate too, shame that can't be said for 2/4 of your party who pop up with basically no explination other than they are orphans and don't want to fight anything strong, then follow you as you go off to do exactly that. The map design for city's also annoys me, since there is no way to tell what map boarders you can walk into to get to the next area and which are a solid wall, since its normally a wall even when a road continues through it. Seriously though, even some NPC's walk over map boundaries you can't, such as the boy at the meeting point, which just further reinforces the feeling there is supposed to be something you can walk to there, only to be disappointed by a lack of result.

However the biggest error is the bugs... this is full of them. Everything from picking up flowers after the first quest is completed will show you in wolf form, even when your not, to game breakers such as the "spirt of nature" boss not registering your victory, so after defeating her and the three bosses before her when you try to talk (since she promises to explain something to you after you beat her when you trigger the fight) she'll just attack again... after winning 3 times I gave up and walked around to leave but get absolutely nothing other than the grinding xp and some gold out of the side quest, lame. The only useful bug is that the quest with the small boy at the main city's meeting point can be exploited for free XP after completion, since every time you re-enter the area he is there and talking to him trigger the reward of 250xp... which saves a lot of grinding since you can do this a few times then use "escape" on most of the random time wasting mobs you've already beaten heaps of.

Really this is a 3/10, I see the potential, and really the game that works isn't so bad, but I feel a lack of connection to all characters bar the protagonist, and feel like I'm clawing through the dark rather than following any sort of quest trail. Throw a few bugs into the mix and I honestly can't recommend this game. On the other hand its a shame to say that since the main character and first to join your party are well sorted, with interrelating back stories, there are plenty of different monsters and the map is absolutely huge, with even a few side dungeons you don't ever need to finish but can for fun and profit, yet the uninteresting story and other flaws just kill this game.

This is a game with a lot of potential, and that is saying a lot with a game utilizing the RPGMaker VXA engine. The story follows an hopeful, intriguing, and compelling character named Alena who has a particularly interesting quality that becomes very apparent early in the game.

"The Journey" utilize many portraits and sprites that are not native to the game giving it a certain refreshing quality about the several characters the player will run into. There are short sidequests and minigames scattered about that elevates the monotonous actions that can be devistatingly easy to fall into in other rpgmaker games. The characters have personality, history, and a uniqueness about them, giving each one a measure of depth.

The UI is different, compact, and overall an improvement on the base UI. There are certain features I'm not to aware of doing anything currently in my 1 hour 30 minute play of the game such as the campsite, but it could be an oversight on my part.

The maps are either a maze or unwieldingly large and can be condensed and improved upon with the right object and tileset placements. The overworld map is vast and foreshadows a great endevour to populate and fill the world with landmarks and wonders.

Keep an eye on this game, because it is clearly a gem in the rough.