Quick Review: Eternal Senia

Ready for another episode of “Nic goes through his collection of RPG Maker games”?

Blond hair, sweet eyes, cross pendant...
...hunts demons... yep, a fictional nun alright.

A production of Sanctum Games released on June 18th, 2015, Eternal Senia is a game that was, according to its own creator, heavily inspired by Ragnarok Online. This is the story of Senia, who was almost attacked by a demon at her mother’s funeral when she was little, only to be saved and protected by Sister Magaleta, who took her in. Magaleta, a demon hunter, always refused to let Senia follow her on missions. Now several years later, a grown-up Senia walks into the Tower of Eternity, in which Magaleta has seemingly disappeared, intent on solving that mystery and finding her.

Begone, Slime! You're not even worth
going into turn-based combat!

The game shows early what it does differently from other RPG Maker games. For starters, it trades turn-based combat for an action RPG system; you deal damage to an enemy by walking into them, then you can freely move around to avoid their attacks or strike again. Enemies can walk into you to attack, or use ranged weapons. There are two types of bosses: Regular world bosses that are fought like average enemies, with the same action RPG tactics; and bosses at the climax of a chapter or challenge, who are displayed taking up most of the screen, using the sprite one would see in a normal turn-based RPG Maker game. You still fight them like in an action RPG, coming up to them in the center of the screen to fight, but there can be some puzzle element. One such boss, as an example, cannot be damaged unless two protective crystals appearing in the lower part of the screen are destroyed first.

A giant boss enemy, an attack that hits across
the screen, enemies to kill, and crystals to
break to be able to hurt the boss?
For RPG Maker, that set-up is super impressive.

Second, it innovates by including a weapon and armor crafting system, one that’s admittedly quite basic but functional, and it allows Senia to eventually obtain some pretty strong gear just by exploring. The rarer crafting materials are obtained by beating challenges or completing quests.

Wham, how do you like a Splash Leap to
the face, you monster plant?

Third, it includes a handful of skills learned through the story. Most are useful in combat as well as outside of it. As examples, the first allows you to slide across gaps you can’t walk over, and the second deals area damage in the 3X3 grid around Senia, and can be necessary against some bosses. However, they’re mapped to the top letter keys on the keyboard (Q/W/E/R), so reaching for them in a battle can be tricky (you can also hit the S key accidentally, which opens a menu in which you can pay the game’s ‘currency’ to upgrade said skills, so that they’ll deal more damage).

Even in the overworld some monsters/bosses
can display some pretty cool moves.

Fourth, there’s a ton to do on top of everything else. There’s a lot of secret chests to look for; some mini-bosses scattered around the map; Arcane levels that involve a series of randomized rooms with big rewards at the end; side-quests to kill various enemies around the world; and much more. Unlike most RPG Maker titles, you cannot save in the menu; only at statues on some screens. That said, these save points also completely refill Senia’s HP and MP, and also serve as Waypoints between each other within a chapter, allowing you to teleport around the world rapidly.

Oh, and the story, while it starts out as very simple, packs a handful of surprising punches along the way. Much like game design, writing tends to be a weak aspect of a lot of RPG Maker titles, but I was pleasantly surprised by the turns the plot took. (Throw in a handful of nods, like a thinly-veiled reference to The Legend of Zelda's Triforce, and the result is even better.) There’s even three endings, two of which are found behind the real final boss (which was insanely challenging, for the record).

Sure, it's a little clipped, but that blast of light
is an impressive move nonetheless!

In case it wasn’t clear, I love this one! I love what’s been done in this game, with so much content. Add this one to the file of “RPG Maker games that ought to be an example for everyone who wants to make games with the software”. More impressive is how this game’s creator only took one year to make it. Let me be clear: I’ve tried my hand at making an RPG Maker game before, and it took me several hundred hours to get only a working demo done, and even then it didn’t contain half the stuff I see here. Crafting, side-quests, skills, an action RPG gameplay in place of turn-based; all of these require custom scripts to be added to the software’s basics.

It's a small but important thing of game design: If you have
multiple mechanics, try to feature them wherever you can, and
especially at key points of the game. As an example, here,
the final boss has two phases: An overworld action RPG
fight first (shown here), a giant sprite puzzle battle second.
Both combat mechanics contained in the game.

On top of the action RPG elements, there are many puzzles as well as a couple of moments that almost feel like platforming. The extra challenges are nice. The game is split across three chapters, but one donside is that there’s no going back to a previous chapter after defeating its boss, so you can’t return to finish previous side-quests. If you’re a completionist, better be aware of that. Speaking of, there are quite a few things I needed to figure out on my own due to the game’s text sometimes being in broken English. It’s not a bother most of the time, but it does make some mechanics tricky to understand. Still, considering the level of quality in everything else here, I can give that a pass.

The endings imply a sequel hook, but there hasn’t been any sequel released since. Even if that never comes, I would say Sanctum Games can be quite proud of what they created, perhaps even moreso from the fact that this game was a passion project started out of a love for another video game. Genuinely a game you must try out if you want to see what can be achieved, even with simpler game development software and tools if you're willing to put in the work and effort.

Eternal Senia is a free game, too!