Just a Cleric
"Just a Cleric" is my new retro-styled action RPG. Become the titular wussy cleric himself and set out to avenge your fallen comrades by attempting to do what no cleric before you has ever done: CLERIC DE COMMANDO.
‘BUT DEL_DUIO!’, you say, ‘I CAN PLAY A QUADRILLION GAMES JUST LIKE YOURS, SO WHY SHOULD I??!!’
My answer is simple: Can you play a quadrillion retro action RPGs?
Of course, this isn’t some weird sorta’ jail!
But can you play a quadrillion games like MINE? Hells no!! And here’s why:
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JUST A CLERIC is more than the sum of its parts.
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To your average Joe you’ll see:
*Retro pixel graphics.
(Well, at least he drew his own and didn’t use Realm of the Mad God’s graphics!)
*Hub / town level -> Missions -> Get gear & rewards -> upgrade and buy stuff at the town -> repeat game progression.
(MEH, but hey at least games like that are pretty fun.)
*4 standard stats that you can boost however you see fit.
(Oh boy, and I’ll bet 3 of them suck!)
*Many (many) different types of gear to find and upgrade. Normal upgrades go to +4, and then you can bless those +4 pieces at the church in exchange for money to get the best of the best.
(Well I DO like Diablo…)
*NG+ where a better loot pool opens up, new status ailments, enemies & enemy placement, and tougher bosses that gain additional abilities. That’s one of the reasons why I think you NEED to beat the whole game once first as the NG+ portion holds some real challenge and of course better gear!
(New Game plus?? Adds to replay value if nothing else, hmm..)
*A game that looks like its budget was $40.
(If that!)
But to the AWESOME and MOST-EXCELLENT observer (P.S. Skippy, this is you):
*Well-written dialogue (some of the writing is smart comedy IMO, even if it isn’t going to win any awards lol) I can’t tell you how many times I’ve played some AAA title and the story is just BORING AS ALL HELL. Damn, all those millions to make a game and nobody thought to hire a real writer? With JAC, I try to take what’s a simple premise and make it interesting where I can.
*Different music. I love chip tunes. I love making computerized music for games and have done so lots in the past. This time though, I wanted to try something different and put my other hobby to use which is playing / writing music. So with JAC, you’ll get an OST full of guitars, bass, drums, and quasi-terrible singing. (Also I don’t think anybody has used a rubber ducky in their game’s soundtrack before now).
*A hero who’s a cleric. Aside from maybe an MMORPG and the old Hexen 64 game I can’t think of any game that stars a cleric exclusively. Also it was a cool thing to be able to have access to prayers that you don’t normally see in any action RPG like Raise Dead.
*A game that has 4 standard stats however none of them suck! I know for me I hate playing some games where your character has 8 stats and 3 or 4 of them are trash nobody ever levels up. Because I personally hate when games do this, I CHANGED THE WAY WE’RE GOING TO FRIGGIN’ DO THIS. In JAC, I made a special point so that each stat is immediately useful to the player in more than one way. You’re welcome!
*ENCUMBRANCE MAKES A TRIUMPHANT RETURN! Haha! When I used to play the old SSI D&D Goldbox games I remember that your gear load used to make you heavier and heavier and in turn you couldn’t move as many squares on the battle map. Since you can’t really do this in a platformer, I’ve come up with an interesting idea where your gear load determines how much damage you’ll take from a big fall. It’s equal to half of your total gear load. HUZZAH!
*A funny intro and ending scene. You’ll see! YOU’LL ALL SEEEEeeeeeee!!!!! (falls off a cliff)
So is this the best game ever?
Is this the best music ever?
No, probably not..
But it’s the best game ever made by a bass playin’ weirdo I’ll bet!
P.S: And it WAS made on a budget of $40! Beat that, sweatshops of the world!!
Steam User 21
First off let me start off by saying the Developer is a really nice guy and is there to help in any way possible. He's very vocal with the community and has fixed some things that really irked me when I first made this review. My review was initially negative, but the developer fixed the issues as fast as you can say, "Just a Cleric." So don't be afraid to contact him or post issues on the forum. I will leave my original review intact, but my new review is as follows...
PROS
-Great and hilarious original soundtrack filled with crunchy bass lines and HILARIOUS lyrics.
-New game plus feature that introduces cool new features that I don't want to spoil for you. HINT: Jump around EVERYWHERE when in new game plus. Trust me, you won't regret it.
-Cool, but very basic leveling/upgrade system. This is both a con and a positive. I'll explain the cons of this in the con section below. You can upgrade your gear to plus 4 and after that you can get your items blessed for even more power, which is a very cool feature.
- Once you get past the difficulty curve, the game is a joy to play. I ended up playing for a few hours last night and didn't realize the time flew by so fast.
-NPCs are hilarious as well and blend in with the cutesy atmosphere.
CONS
-No place where you can farm for money or gear between missions. The gear can be pretty expensive.
-The font is pretty atrocious, but hang in there and you'll adapt to it
-Sometimes the Cleric has a hard time listening to your button commands.Only seems to be this way when you're under attack. The overall feel of the controls is avergae at best.
-Lacks a skill upgrade system. The stats DO affect your powers, but I would have found leveling more enjoyable with something else to invest points in, like maybe passive skills that increase run speed, Attack speed etc, but the leveling system is still solid.
-Sometimes difficulty can seem more artifical than fair. That's when you gotta outwit the opponent by using the ladders to destroy them. Trust me, it's a godsend, especially against the Dragon.
If you end up buying this game I HIGHLY recommend focusing on mostly the Faith stat because you're gonna get annoyed by sitting there for at least a minute or two to heal your magic points in order to heal your hp, only to go fight a Boss that drains your HP like you're wearing a styrafoam armor set. I'm not saying ignore all the other stats, but make sure you have a healthy amount of faith. Also, the SPEAR type weapons are the absolute best weapons to use.
After all my frustrations with the first few hours of playtime, I finally got the hang of it and now I'm having a blast with it. I'm actually destroying New Game plus at the moment with no issues. I recommend this game if you're into Metroidvania style games and also want a good laugh in the process due to the amazing music.
Give it a shot! It's cheap! :)
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ORIGINAL NEGATIVE REVIEW
Pros:
-Great music, very funny lyrics and that bass line is crunchy
-Decent character upgrade/leveling system. (there are cons for this I'll explain later)
-The townsfolk are funny, The humor in this game is top notch.
Cons:
-Lack of farming/grinding for levels or items. This is a problem because of.....
-Expensive Gear. This wouldn't be a problem if we were able to farm to buy said gear and upgrade the gear more frequently.
-Steep learning curve. I'm just going to say. I HATE the Werewolves and the Dragon. Never ending infuriation. It seems that the enemies tend to hit you first if you dont have a spear.
-No checkpoint system. Dying over and over and over again would be acceptable if we didn't have to go through the same stage over and over and over and over and over again, wasting valuable time. Checkpoints NEED to be implemented to lessen the frustration. I would be able to deal with it if the game had such a system.
-Difficulty seems more artifical than fair. Trust me, I LOVE difficult games if it's implemented correctly. Here it just seems artifically difficult,
If you end up buying this game I HIGHLY recomend focusing on mostly the Faith stat because you're gonna get annoyed by sitting there for at least a minute or two to heal your magic points in order to heal your hp, only to go fight a Boss that drains your HP like you're wearing a styrafoam armor set.
This game has ALOT of potential and the developer immediately responds to issues and fixes bugs promptly. At best, this game feels alot like an early access title. As much as I like the developer, I can't recommend this game.
Steam User 27
I've been playing Just a Cleric since it was early in development, so it's had a lot of time to grow on me. I'd consider this game to be the best game made by DXF Games up to this point, both in terms of game play polish and variety.
You play as a cleric whose fellow party members are killed by a dragon. You're then given the choice to loot one of the corpses, then - vowing revenge - you head to a nearby town that serves as a hub for managing equipment and procuring quests to complete. These quests involve anything from killing enemies to retrieving lost items to fishing, among other things.
Graphically, the game resembles something that you'd play on Sega's battery-munching Game Gear system. Everything's bright and colorful and low-resolution. For the most part, this doesn't get in the way of playability, but it's worth noting that some of the text can be hard to read.
I daresay that the soundtrack is the highlight of the game for me. The game's developer plays bass guitar, and his band provided the soundtrack for the game. The music on its own is fine and surprisingly fitting for the action, then the vocals start and bring it to a whole other level. They just have this Randy Newman-esque narrative style going on. It's actually pretty charming and hilarious. "Let's go to the field. Giant cricket!"
The actual game play is simple at a glance, with simple controls and very little in the way of mechanics to get used to. There's actually a lot more going on behind the scenes, though, with plenty in the way of stats and conditions and how they're implemented not needing to be directly communicated to the player.
The pacing is somewhat slow at first, but you can do a lot to customize the speed of your character's attacks and whatnot to make things more to your liking. I'm pretty boring in how I play, so I generally just pump all of my stat points into strength and constitution, but you can really experiment with your character's stats and equipment to the point that replayability is highly encouraged.
Don't go in expecting a technical marvel, in either case. There's no PhysX here. The overall feel of the game is akin to what you might play on a Game Gear or an NES, even though - as I touched on before - there's a lot more going on behind the scenes that effects game play in a meaningful way.
Level design has a ton of variety to it (with my favorite being a dark cave level so far). Some levels have a lot of verticality to them, while others are almost maze-like. Others have sub-areas to explore, and some of them even include boss battles that do a lot to mix things up a bit more. The enemy placement complements the level design really well, too, which is always nice to see.
Overall, if you want a nice, inexpensive game with a ton of replay value, I can't recommend Just a Cleric enough.
Full disclaimer: I assisted in testing Just a Cleric prior to its release, even prior to its listing on Greenlight. I also provided light feedback with respect to content and usability. (I also assisted with testing and feedback on past DXF Games projects.) I also received free pre-release builds of the game outside of Steam, and I received a free code for redemption on Steam to test Steam-exclusive functionality.
Steam User 22
I´ve had the possibility to talk to the Developer a lot and I´ve been keeping an eye on this game since it was put on Greenlight. So far, this game has been one of the best Indie-Releases I´ve played to date, but let me start from the beginning.
The Developer is a great guy who already developed a few other games, JAC being the first one who was put on Steam Greenlight. I don´t know where I met him anymore (I think it was somewhere in the Off-Topic-Hell here in the Steam-Community), but he told me about JAC and after I saw the Greenlight Trailer I immediately knew that this game had potential. After two or three weeks he uploaded a Demo for everyone to try. This Demo was the moment I was really convinced to buy this game. The humor in this game is so awesome, almost every NPC is admireable and throws out one gag after another. Situational Humor, funny Tooltips... The Demo alone already entertained me more than most games in terms of humor.
Gameplay-wise this game reminds me of the old Castlevania Games, mixed with a weird blend of different games. The Cleric Class from the Old-School-RPG´s (take Baldur´s Gate from BioWare as an example), the deadly traps you know from Dungeon Crawlers and Side-Scrollers (like Castlevania), a lovely Pixel-Art-Graphicstyle (which only adds to the charme of the game, I couldn´t imagine this game being 3D or whatever), everything in this game kinda matches.
AND the soundtrack was selfmade. It´s so god damn awesome, I´d recommend this game solely for the soundtrack already, but that´s not the point here.
You start off as a Cleric who never gets to do something (yes, you´ve read it correct, you never get to do something).
His Party-Members are so strong, he just stands somewhere in the back, drinking Milk, while his Party Members have been bringing wrecking carnage upon the enemies. One day though, he has to take a piss after a fight (because he drank too much Milk) and while he is gone, his friends are being attacked by a Dragon. Once the Cleric returns, all of his friends are dead. The Cleric swears to take revenge for his fallen comrades and pillages the dead bodies for loot. (Oh yes, that is macabre, isn´t it?). Actually, this is the first important step in the game. You are able to get the entire Gear during the game anyways, but this choice will influence your early game. You better not fuck this up. Choose wisely.
The game itself is simple but challenging. Don´t expect a game that will change the entire RPG-Genre.
Most of the time your objective is to reach a certain spot of the map, collect a certain item, destroy a certain item, find a certain NPC or protect a certain NPC. Every few missions though, a mighty boss appears and you have to figure out how to beat him. Memorize the attack patterns and exploit the weak spots. The game itself really is challenging sometimes, you will definetly find yourself repeating some stages over and over again, but the Developer really listens to Feedback, he even decreased the challenge in the first playthrough, so that the game doesn´t get too tough.
Once you´ve beat it for the first time, you´re going to find yourself in the New Game +, where the enemies have been reworked completely, delivering a harder challenge now, spitting at the poor Cleric with lots of debuffs, new attack patterns etc. Especially the Bosses are a REAL challenge now. And as if this wasn´t enough, there´s even a Super Boss to beat. (But I haven´t reached him yet, so I can´t really say much about him).
Summa Summarum: If you´re searching for a game that is able to entertain you, this game will definetly be able to fit your needs. Challenging Gameplay, the best Humor in a game I´ve seen for a long time and the charming Pixel-Graphic make this game what it is. The Developer is really listening to the Feedback, looking for opinions and ideas on how to improve his game. Hardly I´ve seen a Dev that has been so passionate (might have something to do with the fact that he´s been working on this game in his free time during the last two years. You can see the Heartblood he pumped into this title). I´ve spent 4€ on it, and that´s far less than what I´ve spent on some "AAA-Games" who have been disappointing, to say the least. If you´re even slightly interested in such games, consider to pick this up. You won´t regret it.
EDIT: The Developer added an expansion. A noteable thing among many others is the "grind" level that allows you to increase your cleric´s powers in order to make the whole game a tad easier. It´s still challenging.
The whole expansion turned out awesome, so... if you have some spare money and search for great entertainment, consider to grab this game.
I also recommend looking at his other work released on Steam as they both get frequently updated.
Steam User 8
Long story short
When I purchased Just a Cleric I expected a fun, quick, indie RPG for a weekend of enjoyable gaming. And, for once, I was neither surprised nor disappointed! I was entertained and humored by the story and music, had a blast with the game play, and delighted in collecting each and every achievement. Don’t get me wrong, the game isn’t perfect. It is sprinkled with unpolished bits and pieces that, although not game breaking, can be a little frustrating. Even so, I loved this game. So pick it up for its cheap price and have fun playing Just a Cleric!
Long story long- The gameplay
As with all classic RPG, you choose your class at the beginning and form your playstyle around it. It also has the classic armor system where your choice of protection determines not only defense, but stats as well. Also, like other RPGs, the main point of this game is to complete quest, level up your character, fight bosses, and become OP as crap in New Game+. What makes Just a Cleric special you ask? Well to start when you chose your class (ranger, mage, or warrior) the class’s powers simply gets added to your original class which is, or course, a cleric. What does that mean? It means you’re a ranger, mage, or warrior with cleric spells and abilities. Every class earns the power to heal, summon holy armor, and incinerate your enemies with spinning fireballs MAHAHA! I’ve got to say, I’ve never seen this done in a game and I found it added a whole new dimension to the gameplay.
Art and music
Perhaps what people hate or love most about this game is the art and music. The art is pixel graphics, obviously, and is designed for the small resolution of 160x112. Some people appreciate this simplistic deign with a nod to the past. Others, including myself, don’t necessarily prefer it. As for the music, it’s quirky, VERY quirky, but also catchy and silly. I know at least 3 guys off the top of my head that would go nuts for soundtrack because of its humor, rhythm, and vocals. I, however, am not one of those kinds of people. In fact, some of it I wouldn’t consider “real music” at all. But it didn’t bother me in the slightest. So, basically, when it comes to the art and music, it all boils down to preference.
Achievements and Controls
One of my favorite parts of this game was the achievements. They were almost perfect! There were side quest achievements, completion achievements, progression achievements, even ultimate super hidden over powered boss achievements! To top it off, not one person has reported an achievement that didn’t activate, which is somewhat of an anomaly for indie games. There was, however, one small achievement (Stumped) that was a little frustrating and forced me to crawl around in the discussions to complete. But all in all nice going with the achievements DXF Games! They were one of my favorite parts of the game! I can’t say the same for the controls. I was weirded out by the default controls for the Steam Controller and disappoint to find they couldn’t be changed. It took me awhile to get use to but I only blame a couple deaths on them.
Story and need to know info before playing
I enjoyed the story way too much. This game really wasn’t made to be story driven. But I somehow connected with the characters. I watched the beginning for fun WAY too many times for me to be considered a normal human. I’m pretty sure all 5 voices were done by the same person. Yet, it was some of the best voice acting I’ve seen in a game this small. I’m still baffled as to why I like that cut screen so much, but I do. Now for a few handy tips that aren’t told to you in game! 1, you can save by talking to the bartender. 2, there are two hidden passages to the upper left and upper right in the well under the town. Only use the one on the right until you’ve beaten New Game+. 3, for the achievement “Stumped”, drop a Bow+2 on the stump to the far right of town. These three facts aren’t spoilers, they are merely info that you would have had to look up in the Steam discussions later.
DXF Games
DXF Games is run by a kindly developer who programs, plays songs for, and lovely draws art for his hand crafted games. DXF Games have now released several games into the marketplace but Just a Cleric was its first. That being said, you should not expect perfection. The developer was unable to solve a problem concerning crashes so, to fix it, he disabled full screen. Also, the mission where you have to collect eggs and then kill the blue jays is not able to be completed to my knowledge. Once your objective changes from collecting eggs to killing blue jays, the birds can’t be found. Now those two examples are the biggest ones that show the developer had a lot to learn. But for crying out loud this was his first game! And it’s fricking good considering!
Conclusion
When I picked up Just a Cleric I thought it looked like a nice little indie game that would be fun to play over the weekend. And boy was it! The art, achievements, and music all delicately designed to make the experience as enjoyable as possible! All weapons and enemies balanced and rebalanced until they were perfect. Far better then what you’d expect from a developer that never made a game before! Truly, it isn’t perfect, but most games aren’t. I’d give it a solid 7.5/10 which is saying something because I’m rather picky. So go ahead and pick it up for its cheap price! There plenty of bang for your buck! And have fun playing Just a Cleric!
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Steam User 11
The game is hard, it's Nintendo hard. It's not unfair but it is challenging for those retro gamers out there. Even if it gets frustrating at time. There are tons of secrets throughout and multiple ways to play the game as you can choose different character classes at the start of the game. The controls never feel stiff and move perfectly with a keyboard or gamepad. Although with this type of game I strongly recommend playing with a gamepad instead. The music is fun and hilarious. Instead of some retro bit music or synth soundtrack you are treated to an actual rock band doing the music and lyrics. In a way the soundtrack sort of reminds me that of Home Movies if anybody recalled that show. The game's pricing is really not that much even at full price it's an enjoyable experience. My only complaint about the game is that there is no Steam Cloud. It isn't need but it would be nice. 7.5/10
Steam User 5
Just a brief rundown of Just a Cleric as I need to sink more time in. First impressions, though, are good!
The game has a lot of heart and an endearing sense of humour; there's a definite self-awareness to the proceedings and nothing here takes itself too seriously. The pixel art is decidedly a bit crude yet thoroughly charming and consistent. Clearly the work of one artist, which contributes a great deal to Just a Cleric's world feeling cohesive. While the game is built for a diminutive resolution (160x112), it means you won't find any unevenly scaled pixels knocking against each other as tends to happen, for instance, when a game aims to merely approximate a low-res presentation. For me, the only real drawback to the pint-sized resolution is the readability of the game's sprite font in lower case, something I gather to be a common gripe. This is an extra shame as the dialogue and description text is generally pretty hilarious.
Mechanically, Just a Cleric isn't the most polished action platformer on the planet but it plays more than competently enough. The RPG elements are well executed and there's real fun to be had taking on quests one-by-one from the rotating cast of snarky characters populating the pub. These bite-sized missions present a wide variety of locales to blunder through and the soundtrack is equally diverse, offering an eclectic mix of self-produced Primus-flavoured tunes with lyrics that often break the 4th wall.
On the technical side, there are some rough edges to Just a Cleric but nothing I'd call dealbreaking. Controller support is a little iffy (an Xbox 360 gamepad wasn't detected at all on a Windows 7 machine but no issues under XP), the instant drop to desktop upon hitting escape is a touch rude and the complete lack of configurability is certainly not ideal, but the game is good.
For those seeking a lo-fi platformer with RPG accoutrements and a whack of personality, Just a Cleric fits the bill. Based on my experiences thus far, definitely recommended :)
Steam User 9
As a Cleric out to kill a dragon in revenge for his fallen allies, you start out in a small hub where you can buy and upgrade equipment before leaving to perform certain tasks on a series of missions. Some levels are small and require you to beat the nearby enemies in some way, while others are more maze-like and feature optional paths and secrets. There's also a New Game+ mode that has incentives such as stronger enemies, hidden powerups and some different items to obtain.
The controls are simple enough, with your character being able to equip a variety of weapon types and to learn a series of spells. You can choose what stats to increase when levelling up and even reset them for a small price if needed. I've found that increasing Faith is quite useful so you can recharge MP quickly and use the healing spell any time you find yourself in trouble.
Some missions are rather difficult, but it shouldn't take long for any action game fan to get the hang of it. Get good, will ya? Most of the time you can turtle out of battles, even some bosses, to heal yourself and there's a rather cheesy fire shield spell that trivializes several areas. As a wise man once said: "Ninjas can't catch you if you're on fire".
The low-res pixel art gives a cute cartoony feel to it, not unlike Environmental Station Alpha. Plus, it has a silly soundtrack with corny lyrics.
All in all, the game feels like an improvement to one of the dev's more well known games, Hasslevania. Frankly, the ongoing Hasslevania 2 project, as I remember it from the betas, would feel more unrefined and slow-paced than this one. Just A Cleric is good fun, lasts for a couple of hours and is well worth the small asking price.