Introduction to the Full-Length Free RPG “Lost Heaven”

Among free games, RPGs are a popular genre.
I strongly feel that long-running RPGs, in particular, have always enjoyed enduring popularity, especially among free RPGs.
I also grew up with the "Dragon Quest" and "Final Fantasy" series since I was little, so it's one of my favorite genres.
Even among free games, many amazing full-length RPGs have been released in the past, and I've always been amazed that such works could be enjoyed for free.

There are all sorts of works: some with interesting storylines, some with exciting battles, and some with incredibly appealing characters.
The full-length RPG I'm introducing today, "Lost Heaven," is a particularly interesting game because of its compelling story.
I get so engrossed in the story that I can't stop playing, and I can progress through it quickly.
This is a game I highly recommend to anyone who wants to settle down and play a classic RPG.
The completion time was approximately 15 hours.

Game Overview

"Lost Heaven" is a traditional, full-length RPG.
The initial plot is as follows:

Next, let's talk about combat.
The battles in "Lost Heaven" are command-based.

The system works by inputting commands for all members, and then having them act in order of their agility, starting with the member with the highest agility.
In addition to normal attacks, there are skills (techniques and magic) that consume MP, and powerful "ultimate techniques" that consume TP.
TP (Technical Points) are generally only accumulated during battles, and return to their initial value once the battle ends.
Therefore, it's best to use your ultimate skill as soon as you've accumulated enough TP.

The "Bonus Gauge" you see on the right side of the screen fills up each time someone takes an action during battle.
When the gauge is full, some kind of beneficial effect is activated for the party, and then the gauge starts to decrease.
Bonus effects can vary, including things like "double defense," "double attack," "double experience points," and "double item acquisition."
The effect lasts until the gauge runs out.
Since it involves a strong element of randomness, it's best to consider it a bonus if it activates when you try to incorporate it into your tactics.

The equipment screen in the menu has the following design, as shown in the image below.

You can equip weapons, shields, headgear, body armor, and three types of accessories.
There are quite a variety of accessories, so depending on the combination, you can create a very powerful setup.
In battles against tough enemies that use particularly powerful elemental attacks, equipping accessories that provide resistance to those attacks can make the fight much easier.

Another distinctive system is the sub-events on the map.

When you're moving around towns or dungeons, you might come across speech bubbles like the one shown in the image above.
A variety of content is available, including casual conversations between friends, hints to help with game progression, and general chat.
While there's nothing you absolutely *must* see to complete the game, I think you'll enjoy the game more deeply by watching the character interactions.
Players who aren't particularly looking for such things can simply continue progressing through the story without worrying about it.

Next, regarding the number of saves, I think there's probably no upper limit.

I kept creating new save files every time I saved, and by the time I finished the game, I had a little over 100 of them.
I haven't verified how many save files are possible, but as long as you're playing normally, you shouldn't have to worry about the number of save files.
However, the readme file recommends using up to 99 save files.
Please be aware that storing more than 100 data items may cause unexpected problems.

Review (no spoilers)

As advertised, the story was very interesting.
The story progressed at a good pace, and the plot moved forward rapidly, which kept me wanting to continue reading.

As clearly stated on the "Freem!" introduction page, the battles are of low difficulty.
Normal battles are easy enough to handle even with auto-battle.
Boss battles are definitely tough with auto-battle, but if you control them manually, you're unlikely to be wiped out except for the losing events.
I think the balance between automatic combat in regular battles and challenging boss battles that require manual control is absolutely exquisite.
I did struggle a few times and had to improve my equipment, but I don't recall ever actually leveling up.
Most bosses can be defeated on the first try.

The dungeons are short and easy to clear.
The treasure chests contain many recovery items and equipment, but since the difficulty level isn't particularly high, it's not a big deal if you miss out on collecting them.
Some dungeons require solving puzzles, but even those aren't difficult.
The encounter rate is already set low, and you can obtain an accessory that adjusts the encounter rate early in the game.
Therefore, I think you won't feel much stress in the dungeon.

Those who seek a challenging and rewarding game might find this title lacking.
However, I think "Lost Heaven" is designed as a game that allows you to focus on and enjoy the story as a whole.
The engaging story, combined with the relatively low difficulty of the battles and dungeons, creates an addictive experience that allows you to immerse yourself in the game without feeling stressed, and progress quickly through the levels.

I thought it was a clever design that checking speech bubbles on the map would trigger skits between party members.
In story scenes that you are required to watch, the main scenario is the primary focus.
For side events that are only loosely related to the main scenario, it's left up to the player whether or not to view them.
For players who dislike being forced to watch interactions unrelated to the main story, the ability to choose whether or not to watch such side events was a welcome feature.

Personally, I'm the type of person who wants to know what happens next in a story.
However, in this game, I didn't feel stressed at all because I was actively looking for the speech bubbles on the map.
Perhaps players don't feel stressed because they themselves have chosen to "watch."

As described above, this work is designed to be enjoyed primarily for its story.
It's a game you can play quickly and without feeling stressed, so I would recommend it to anyone who wants to settle down and play a long RPG.
The playtime is about 15 hours, but I don't think it will feel that long.

Strategy Notes (Contains Spoilers)

The difficulty of the battles in this game is not high, so I don't think you'll get stuck very often.
However, I thought there were some tricks to making the fight as easy as possible, so I'll make a note of them.

Utilize skills that increase and decrease status

Effects that increase or decrease attack power and defense power are effective against any boss.
Raize's "Blade Break" and Tisara's "Weapon Curse" have the effect of lowering physical attack power.
Reducing the enemy's attack power will ensure the safety of your allies and increase your opportunities to attack.
These upward and downward effects can be applied up to two levels, so if you try to maintain a state with two levels of change as much as possible, boss battles will be considerably easier.

Increase your critical hit rate to deal massive damage efficiently.

In this game, critical hits inflict a significant amount of damage.
Equipping items that increase the critical hit rate, such as "Lucky Star" or "Blessed Gold Coin," and then using techniques with multiple hits, such as Raize's "Twin Strike" or Sauer's "Roaring Strike," will result in more critical hits.
Especially in the latter half of the story, you can easily increase your critical hit rate by using "Binbin X," which you can buy at food stalls, or Sauer's "Doping."
Let's use it actively.

Character usage impressions

This game isn't particularly difficult, so you can easily clear it using your favorite character.
I've summarized my personal impressions and thoughts below.

・Reise
The Dual Act passive skill, which allows for two actions per turn, is very powerful, making him incredibly easy to use, as expected of a main character.
The attack power reduction from "Blade Break" remains useful until the very end.
"Secret Technique: Momentary Impermanence Blade" after applying all buffs is also extremely powerful.
This technique consumes a lot of MP, so you'll need to carry recovery items, but it's very useful in boss battles.

Lean
Although primarily a healer, their toughness and resilience make them useful as a tank as well.
The "Devotion" command in the Guardian command is very useful when you have allies whose HP is low.
While they can also act as an attacker in the later stages, they are primarily useful as a healer and weapon breath user.

・Tisara
Since it has a wealth of buff and debuff skills, I think it's the type of character that shines more in boss battles than in regular battles.
He has the most types of special moves of all the characters, but I didn't have many opportunities to use them myself.

Albert
The single-target attack spell "Blast" is useful until the very end because it lowers the enemy's magic defense while dealing powerful damage.
With a full range of magic spells for each element, this magic attacker is useful in both regular battles and boss fights.
"Astral Aura" is a convenient and easy-to-use support magic that will give you peace of mind if you cast it twice during a boss battle.
The ultimate technique, "Divine Pulse Recovery," was quite useful because it could often be used during boss battles when my MP was running low.

Sauer
This is a convenient physical attacker with the easy-to-use "Charge Collapse" attack that lowers the opponent's defense and the "Roaring Swiftness" attack that delivers three consecutive hits.
While "doping" is powerful, if you have money to spare in the later stages of the game, it might be more convenient to use items as a substitute.
If you leave the offensive role to Reise and Sauer, they will be a good source of damage.
However, it struggles somewhat against large groups of enemies in terms of its ability to eliminate them.

Luvis
This character is very useful as they can perform a variety of spells, including offensive, healing, and support magic.
While it has a few weaknesses in its single-target attack options, it can do a lot, so it's useful to include in your team.
If the enemy is a physical attacker susceptible to darkness, you can almost completely neutralize them with "Nigranebra," making it quite useful.

Review (contains spoilers)

I was able to complete the game without losing momentum, pushing through to the very end.
The story was that interesting, and the game system was designed to encourage players to continue playing.
Below, I will write down my thoughts and feelings as I recall the story.

The story begins with an exciting premise: a protagonist who has lost his memory, and a village inhabited by immortal people.
The overarching goal of "discovering who you are" slowly drives the narrative, while the immediate objective of "visiting temples to forge a divine covenant" gives you a sense of adventure as you travel around the world.
The diverse maps, including deserts and snowy landscapes—essential elements of RPGs—were beautiful.

Then, you'll be separated from your initial party and start traveling with Lexes and his group.
The party members had been pretty much settled for a while, so the sudden change in members dispelled any sense of monotony and felt refreshing.

At this point, it wasn't clear whether Lian was actually Reize, but I suspected there was some kind of connection.
However, the fact that it was the same person, straight up, was actually unexpected.

As the story, centered around Tisara's role, drew to a close, the sci-fi elements gradually became apparent.
The combination of fantasy worlds and science fiction settings is common, which is precisely why it tests the author's skill.
In that respect, this film was well put together and very satisfying.

And with the first part now complete, the story will begin to delve seriously into Reize's past.
I had thought El and Lexes were just noble people from another country, so I was surprised to learn that they were immortal beings who had been alive since ancient times.
At the same time, various plot points began to connect, and the story became increasingly interesting at an accelerating pace.

It was revealed early on that Sauer was the team leader.
However, unlike with Reize, we didn't know the details, such as why she looked a little older.
I had speculated that it might be some kind of time travel device, but it turned out to be cryogenic sleep, so my guess wasn't far off.

Sauer is one of my favorite characters.
I thought the event leading up to the beach would be comedic, but it turned out to be very moving and left a lasting impression on me.
Unlike Elle and Lexus, Sauer probably doesn't know anyone in this day and age, and in a way, I thought he was the loneliest of them all.

As a side note, I felt that Luvis had truly become a comrade when Veronica transformed into a sword.
Up until then, I had a different stance from the other members, as I was only accompanying them because it was my master's order.
Both Albert and Tisara initially joined the group due to circumstances or events that were not of their own volition.
The process involves individuals going through various events and then deciding to join the group of their own volition.

I was concerned about the fact that Luvis was the only one who accompanied us out of obligation the whole time.
However, I was relieved when, finally, at this very end, an event was inserted where Luvis willingly joins the party.

The scene where Lian, Lexes, and the other Emerald Knights fight together in a doomed battle is not a typical or conventional plot development, but it was exciting to watch.
While Raize and Lexes have fought together before, this was the first time for Lian and Lexes, so I enjoyed the fight as a brother tag team, considering it a valuable opportunity.

I liked the sequence where, after seeing a bad ending, you go back in time a little and try again; it felt like the steps to reach the true ending in a visual novel.
I felt that seeing the inevitable outcome if the story continued on this path made the true ending more convincing.

I thought that after defeating Astraea, the story might lead to a battle with the God of Destruction, but that didn't happen.
If a god of destruction had appeared, the final boss would have been a being that suddenly showed up at the end, so I'm glad that wasn't the case.

Then the scene shifts to the starting hill, and an epilogue reminiscent of a prologue begins.
The fact that the ending takes place in the same location where the game began made me feel quite emotional, realizing how much had happened.

Neither Lian nor Diana have any memories, but unlike at the start of the game, I think they now have a sense of accomplishment from having completed something.
I hope to travel the world again and reunite with my old friends.
Sauer, in particular, has made comments suggesting his life may be short, so I hope they can reunite soon and start a farm together.

Despite the large number of characters, each one utilized their unique strengths to enhance the story.
Rosetta's past is only speculated upon and not discussed much, but I think that's fine for a villain.

You won't see the carefree atmosphere of Reise or the gentle atmosphere of Lean in the second half.
However, now that they are free from the constraints of the ending, I sincerely hope that the two will return to being Reize and Leen and enjoy a new journey, "Part 3."

Bonus: Photo taken with Katerina at a coffee shop in Norleisa.