Epic Battle Fantasy 4 - Kupo Games - PC (2014)

Look past the name and give it a closer look.

Epic Battle Fantasy 4 is the 4^th game in the series of flash driven, turn based RPGs by Kupo Games. Its tiny development team, headed by Matt Roszak (Whom is credited for design, art, story and programming) should be praised, at the very minimum, for the amount of effort put into this title. It isn’t a once and done game, this is a well realised and full RPG experience.

The game retains enough nostalgia from old school RPGs but still manages to feel fresh and new. If you’ve ever played any Final Fantasy title, excluding the MMOs, you’ll be familiar with this format. Each of your characters is, usually, given one action to carry out each turn, the enemies are also given a turn. It has all the usual elements you’d expect, being able to cast magic, summon other creatures, use items and attack and it does this as well as any turn-based RPG does. Its appeal for me was that this is a finely tuned machine of a game. Usually with turn-based RPGs you eventually become so powerful that nothing is really a challenge, except maybe some bosses. Epic Battle Fantasy 4 keeps you on your toes and makes you think a little bit.

This is my first foray into the world of Epic Battle Fantasy. I’ve always loved turn based RPGs. RPGs in general, but turn based more so than Action, and the reason being is that it brings an element of strategy. Epic Battle Fantasy 4 makes full use of the strategic element of the genre.

It does this through its use of equipment and skills. The majority of weapons have an elemental effect which will assist you in tearing through enemies that are weak to that element. Lovely for burning up plants in the forest with your flame sword, but will also give you nightmares if you a decide to take this sword into a lava cave where there are enemies who are so masochistic that swing with said sword and you’ll find they love it and healing back up. It’s not a new mechanic but makes picking the right equipment for the right area a bit of a headache. Weapons can be swapped out but this will take up a valuable turn to do so. Not only that, you won’t be receiving that free ride through an area. Remember the fish we were slicing up, well this time they brought back their friend, Mr Flame Sprite.

The equipment also helps with the complexity of the title by questioning your strategy. You can stack certain items to make a character like a tank, throw some protection spells around and he’ll be the wall in front of your defences, but what’s stopping him being hit with an instant kill ability? The skill and specials pool is a very well implemented way of customising your characters and their skillset. Skills can only be learned by that specific character and specials can be learned by all, but only one character may have it at any one time. Once again, brings some difficult decisions forward. Do I have my tank take the healing spells? It becomes a bit of a puzzle, making sure all of your defences and offences are covered by way of weapons, skills and abilities. My only concern, and it’s a small one, is that a new player to RPGs might think it’s best to keep levelling that fireball spell that’s working so well in the forest and then struggle going through the lava cave. I’d have liked to see a recommended skill highlight to show players that are new to the genre a way to build a balanced character.

You can also equip the characters with items that will provide passive bonuses or abilities within battle, another little customisable option for balancing your team. Gone, in this game, is any idea of an “Ultimate” weapon. For me, that’s refreshing.

Epic Battle Fantasy 4’s forge system allows for steady progression to keep your weapons and clothing viable. As you collect item drops and open chests you’ll start to find enough items to boost the power of your equipment and weapons. It’s always good to see that, regardless of how far you go into the game, having a solid set of weapons and clothing can come in handy. I also like the feeling of having a new weapon that’s not great at first, hunting out those items to make it more powerful and then having fun with the new weapon.

The characters are well written and interact nicely. I get the feeling that they may be named after close friends of the developer, and that’s ok. The reason being is that you can take some of the developer’s personality from this. Some of the remarks and comments tend to have a personal touch you don’t see in most games. If they are close friends you can tell they have a lot of fun in each other’s company. This game is no doubt a labour of love, I can’t imagine how many hours Matt and the small team at Kupo Games would have poured into this game but looking at the polish and depth of the game, you can tell that it’s a lot! It’s nice to be given a flavour of someone’s personality through their creativity. The last game that made me feel like this was Super Meat Boy, my own personal opinion is that something creative is enjoyed best when you can take something about the designer out of the work.

You can also see the developers sense of humour shine through in the game. There’s a lot of small gestures and references that experienced RPG fans will appreciate. My three personal favourites where the suspiciously looking can of a popular Scottish soft drink being a consumable item. The snow covered Djinn from Golden Sun in Whitefall Town and the name of some of the achievements you can gain for obtaining certain persistent items to use outside of battle that reference a long running franchise that a lot of people don’t associate with turn based RPGs.

Epic Battle Fantasy’s achievement system comes in the way of medals. Small images you unlock when completing a certain task in the game. Some are very difficult to obtain, some pretty much laughing in the face at how ridiculous achievement systems are. Again, I found the humour to be well placed and fitting for the game. Having an overview of what medals I had still to gain was enjoyable. Coupled with the bestiary gives you that feeling of collection that a lot of RPGs look past. Epic Battle Fantasy wants you to complete everything for completions sense and it helps keep you engaged in that “one more battle” feel.

The only criticism I feel I can effectively levy at the game is that if you are not a fan of the genre or are new to it, this game will have a huge learning curve. It expects you to be familiar with its core mechanics. It expects you to know what a buff and debuff is and it expects you to know how to build a balanced character. But when all is said and done, there are other games out there that do hold your hand through this. This is a game by a turn-based RPG fan, for turn-based RPG fans.

I’ll be honest, completely honest, I did not expect much from Epic Battle Fantasy 4. There’s a few reasons. I was sceptical at first, as I usually am, about games predominately made by one person. In most cases, you’ll find there’s something lacking. For example, the collision detection is appalling or the art is woeful, or it’s just a poorly designed game. I was also a bit cautious of the game, my initial thoughts were that it’s a bit on the silly side. Lastly, when knowing this was the 4^th in a series of games, especially when knowing it was pretty much a one-man-band, my alarm bells started ringing. “This has been greenlit without anyone looking at it”, “These games are being thrown out of this guys room to fill a portfolio”

To quote one of my favourite Dwarfs of all time, Thorin Oakenshield “Never have I been so wrong”

Epic Battle Fantasy 4 is an absolutely fantastic game, made even more impressive by the huge contribution by Matt Roszak. It is a game that I had to force myself to stop playing, just to write the review, and it’s a game I will continue to play for many, many more hours to come. It’s a fun adventure, split into manageable chunks. The art style is soft and friendly, the enemies look menacing but not extreme. The mechanics are solid, the story is well written, the characters engaging and the experience is immersive. The fact that it has been localised into 4 other languages should also show you that this isn’t just for fun.

I still personally believe that the name of the title may put some players off the purchase, but I hope they do their research and don’t look at this game with the shallow depth I did before giving it a go. Well worth the £8.99 asking price. If you are even the smallest fan of turn-based RPGs go and buy this, you won’t regret it and keep an eye on what Matt Roszak is doing in the future. This developer has shown what he can do and I’m excited to see what’s coming in the future.