So
far, the little independent developer John Wizard has been mostly
noted for the two RPG-Maker-made series “Dawn’s Light” and “Lilly & Sasha.”
Both combine a big world and good pacing with a fun and interesting story.
Recently, however, things changed a little.
This
Saturday, the ‘new company,’ now going by the name John Wizard II, has released
their second new game, “Our
Love Will Grow.” While their first new game, “Madame Extravaganza’s Monster
Emporium,” still has battle and certain RPG mechanisms (such as levelling
up and equipping the character), “Our Love Will Grow” is a farming simulation
in the style of “Animal Crossing” or “Harvest Moon.” And don’t get me wrong: I
love those two new games as much as I love their RPGs (especially the “Dawn’s
Light” series). I’m a little surprise they’re suddenly going new ways. It makes
sense, though, now that the team has changed.
“Madame
Extravaganza” has a certain ‘Pokemon’ touch to it. You have to fight monsters
to gain stuff and level up and you need some monsters with you, in order to be
able to win the fights. Once you have seen a new monster (there are several in
each dungeon of the game), you can buy it from Madame Extravaganza in town (where
you can also rest, buy and sell stuff, and talk to people). You can rearrange
your group in town as well, exchange the monsters or just their position in the
group. Then there’s rare monsters which you only get by doing specific things
in specific places. The dungeons are randomly generated and not too big, so you
can easily play one or two of those as a break from whatever else you’re doing
at the computer. Not that it ever stops with one or two of them for me…
“Our
Love Will Grow” on the other hand is completely missing the ‘RPG’ component
that levelling up and fighting still provide with “Madame Extravaganza.” You
play a young guy who (as the strategy guide you can buy with the game explains)
just found out the woman he loved cheated on him with his best friend. He comes
to a small town and buys a farm to live his dream of raising crops and making
produce. This is how you start out. The farm, some farming tools given to you
by the town’s mayor, and a pack of strawberry seeds. Everything else is completely
up to you. As far as the ‘Love’ part of the title is concerned: you will meet
five girls in town you can romance. It’s part of the natural game play - you
will meet them at the parties held by the mayor every seven days, you can
impress them with presents, too, and you will be able to trigger special events
for each of the girls, once her affection for you has risen enough. There’s a
lot to do: keeping the farm working, mining stuff for upgrades of the house and
the tools, romancing your girlfriend, fishing in the lakes around the town, and
playing with your dog. Where “Madame Extravaganza” has that ‘one more dungeon’
feeling, “Our Love Will Grow” has that ‘one more day’ feeling, which is just as
bad for everything else I was planning to do.
After
playing both games for a while, the ‘just one more’ feeling diminishes a bit,
but it doesn’t completely go away (it’s just the same with “The Sims” for me).
It’s the short time you need to do ‘one more thing’ in those games. Just one
more day, it’s only a couple of minutes. Just one more dungeon, it’s not that
long. And, perhaps, I can get the next tool upgrade done… And, perhaps, I will
finally find that last Orb to open the last dungeon… That’s my undoing with
those games. You always have the feeling you’re working on something. The next
harvest is coming up, the next rare monster can be found, the next update, the
next level-up… John Wizard II has managed to make very addictive games - which
doesn’t mean their former games are not addictive, I’ve spent a lot of time
with Harvey (the main character of “Dawn’s Light”) in the past. I simply adore
the two Christmas games they give away for free and play them once every
Christmas time (they’re about four hours playtime each). But the ‘new’ John
Wizard has handed me two games I will most likely keep playing for a long time.
Have a look at John
Wizard’s games. Download their free Christmas games, if you like.
Keep away from “Jack Of All Worlds,” though, it’s their only ‘terrible’ game.
