Winds of Change

In a world ruled by mysterious forces, a revolution arises that decides to sacrifice everything to free the world of Alestia from these forces and make it free, as free as it should be. For this to happen, we as Seers of Valinorth must make our efforts; Equipped with the Sword of Exodus, we will play a decisive role in the coming war!

It’s funny that our first review of a visual novel on the site is a novel written in the Western world and not from Japan, where this type of work began. In fact, Winds of Change is the first visual novel I’ve read written entirely by a Western author. It was worked on by author Kyle Lambert, who funded it through player crowdfunding. Kyle mentions that Bioware games like Mass Effect and Dragon Age are main sources of inspiration for our game. From experience, we agree that he is right, as the narrative structure is very similar to the Bioware games.

Gameplay and Narrative

Well, this game is a mix of Japanese-style visual novel games like G-Senjou no Maou and western point and click games like Broken Sword. In visual novel games, the story is told in the form of texts displayed in front of the player, in addition to the representation of character models over the backgrounds. In addition to voice acting, visual novels also contain music and melodies, making them a mixture of both books and their narrative style as well as visual works on the screen. Like soap operas. Point-and-click games rely on clicking the mouse to read details about the story or select the location the player wants to go to.

The Triumvirate and the Revolution

The mysterious group “The Triumvirate” has ruled the world of Alesita for centuries. The few who have seen them say that they wear these white robes with gold threads, but their appearance is different from the rest of the creatures. The residents of Alestia see themselves as gods. Their history dates back to time immemorial, perhaps even since the existence of the world of Alestia. Well, after the game’s animal-like characters lived in peace and harmony, everything changed and tragedy struck when the Triumvirate group invaded the sea-city of Mazeo for unknown reasons.

Although this invasion was not aimed at bloodshed and made Mazeo more peaceful, it did ignite the fire of revolution and destroy the sacred image of the Triumvirate, the revolution that had been sparked by the victims of this incident. The Revolution struck its greatest blow when it stole the sword called the Blade of Exodus. Our story begins with the realization of a vision for the Oracle of Valinorth. In this vision, the Oracle sees a new invasion on Valinorth this time and the journey begins.

Character Development and Choices

We can say that the story this game tells is actually very similar to Bioware’s stories. For example, the main character is the fortune teller, who is the “chosen one” who has special powers in the world of the story, just like the hero of Bioware’s stories. In the story there is a group of followers and companions, such as Valessa, the fortuneteller’s assistant responsible for elaborating the visions that come true for him, and her student Fortaime, and there is Damek, the current leader of the Revolution, and a number of other prominent members of the Revolution. Like Bioware games, it’s possible to develop an emotional connection with these characters and you have to win their loyalty before the final battle.

Impact of Choices and Writing

The choices you make in the game, similar to Bioware games, increase the Pure or Corruption meter, which affects how the story progresses and the ending you get. As in the games of the famous Canadian team, here you will make crucial decisions, form alliances and discover many secrets and hidden things about the world of the game, its story and the truths of some characters, it is certainly not without surprises.

Well, in saying that, we see that the game’s story is no match for Bioware’s stories when they are at their best. The plot is a bit slow, with a lot of explanation and details and few actual events, and the characters are not as attractive as characters like “Morrigan”, “Liliana” and “Alistar” from the wonderful Dragon Age Origins. who were charismatic and… Distinctive dialogues and unique viewpoints, although this comparison may not be fair given the different experiences and production volume between these works. The level of writing in the game is really good, and perhaps better than we expect, but it does not reach the level of genius in manipulating the reader’s expectations as the best works do, and it does not use high-level literary language . In any case, the narrative is consistent and good, and it seems clear that the author of the story knew exactly what he was doing, as he prepared the story professionally and masterfully.

We mentioned that the novel is based on the classic “point and click” method. The player can choose to move to the location he wants to go to. There are additional scenes that the player can view, namely scenes that display parallel events taking place in other locations and increase the player’s understanding of the story. Due to the events that take place, there are dialogues between the existing characters that can be viewed by clicking on the icon provided, and there are books that can be found while exploring by clicking on things in the background. These books deal with the structure of the game world (lore) and deal with its mysteries and secrets.

Voice Acting and Music

This game features good voice acting from names who worked on games like Zelda Breath of the Wild and Persona 5, and that was surprising to us given the modest financial resources with which this novel was created. It’s worth noting that some characters like Sovy and Mayor Mazeo got voice acting that may be better than others. The game also had good music compositions, but they weren’t memorable. Some of the melodies had a martial character to reinforce the feeling of confrontation between the Revolution and the Triumvirate, while others were calm and beautiful through the use of string instruments.

Conclusion

Although it does not rise to the level of immortal masterpieces and lacks the supernatural ability to influence, this novel was a pleasant surprise for us. Our expectations were initially very low, but experience is always the best proof, and this story certainly doesn’t lack cohesion and coherence. As with the title of the game: Is it time for the winds of change? A change that may indicate that visual novels are no longer limited to storytellers from the land of the rising sun, Japan.

We received a review copy from the publisher.