I’ve been poking at an indie RPG for the past few weeks while I’ve been suffering hand problems keeping me from playing anything too intensive. Ordinarily, I’d wait until I’m done to write something, but this site desperately needs content. So, I thought that I should go back to what I did with longer games back then by making a post with impressions and make a later post when I’m done to talk story with big spoilers intact.

A long time ago, I played a game called Ara Fell, by Stegosoft Games. It was a retro throwback RPG that’s probably the biggest commercial RPG Maker success that actually is a fantasy RPG like the engine encourages. It was also… just kinda okay. Not a bad game, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to play it. While I originally played this back in 2018, the game would be upgraded to an Enhanced Edition in 2020 that reportedly revamps a bunch of stuff in a new engine.

While I’m not talking about Ara Fell: Enhanced Edition, I’m bringing it up because I assume its updated engine reflects into Stegosoft’s follow-up game: Rise of the Third Power.

Rise of the Third Power released in 2022, taking place in a fantasy world with the political climate of the 1930s. In the aftermath of a great war, the Arkadya kingdom refashioned itself as an empire. It aligns itself with the kingdom of Cirinthia, marrying the emperor’s son off to princess Arielle for the sake of advancing the emperor’s imperialist goals. However, resistance agents Rowan and Corrina kidnap Arielle on the day of her wedding and have her join the fold in hopes of exposing the secret actions of Arkadya to her in an effort to stop the war to come.

When it comes to the game’s writing, the worldbuilding is generally serious while moment to moment dialogue can flip to being goofy. Rowan and Corrina kidnap a princess for political reasons and basically caused an international incident while said kidnapping is kinda silly and leads into a lengthy sewer level where Arielle’s forced to help out with a cannon. Fascist soldiers invade a religious temple in a neutral country, and while some of its residents are still fearful about what happened, some go back to petty squabbles like who’s favored by the high priest the most and the religious sect differences over performing an extermination.

I think the writing mostly works? I think the most important thing for these kinds of stories to do is not mix that silliness into the truly serious moments, which Rise of the Third Power succeeds with so far. As silly as things can get sometimes, it knows to maintain sincerity when it needs to.

For much of the game I played so far, the primary character I controlled is Rowan, former soldier turned former pirate turned mercenary for the resistance. I’m… not sure what to think of him. He’s very much not a hero and is moreso motivated by vices – which isn’t exactly a problem! I just feel weird about how his alcoholism is used. At times, he’s a funny drunk type of character, to the point that he swigs drinks in battle to self heal. At other times though, it’s played as a dead serious thing where his alcoholism is implied to stem from an abusive childhood and led to serious problems in his life. It just feels weird to me. Maybe he’ll settle in one direction with his issues, but for the moment Rowan feels like the worst example of the writing tone.

Corrina is his partner and a true believer in the resistance’s cause, though she hasn’t particularly stood out to me as a character yet. She gives Rowan a bunch of shit, though the game avoids the usual “wacky guy/reasonable girl” thing I hate in that she’s also amoral and goofy in her own ways; she’s just upset about Rowan’s own personal failings. While she doesn’t stand out on her own so far, I think she has a nice dynamic with the rest of the cast.

Arielle is probably my favorite character so far as the character driving the early plot. Somewhat bratty from her upbringing, she begrudgingly goes along with her kidnappers and flips to becoming a believer in their cause when she sees evidence of the Arkadyan empire’s schemes. She’s kind of a petty asshole, but she’s a petty asshole with a strong moral compass. Generally been the character I’ve had the most fun reading with the most growth in the 9ish hours I’ve played so far.

Really, my only problem with her is that I don’t buy into her affections for Prince Gage of Arkadya – especially considering that she openly acknowledges that the marriage is political. I need to see more of this guy (who’ll probably be a future party member because he had a save screen sprite), but right now he’s teetering on the edge of being Adrian 2.

Finally forcing players to consider party composition is the fourth member Reyna, a priestess that commissioned the kidnapping of Arielle for the good of the world. Rowan has feelings for her, and she weaponizes those feelings to get him to continue being the protagonist. She’s a morally good character, but she clearly has no problems doing unethical things for the sake of stopping the Arkadyan empire. It makes me wonder if she’ll do anything worse than plotting a kidnapping, if she has sincere feelings for Rowan, etc.

As selfish as Rowan is, he isn’t as much of an asshole as Aden, the evil party member that runs with poison and necromancy. His reason for helping is entirely selfish, as his only goal is to kill his sister who happens to be a high-ranking empire officer. He’s fun and I like his forced friendship with Arielle, but being the newest party member in my playthrough, I don’t know where he goes from here.

Really, my main question is wondering how Arkadya is handled. The title of the game and the uniform style of the Arkadyan soldiers brings Nazi Germany to mind, though the names of associated characters and mentions of Arkadya being cold and snowy feels like it’s trying to evoke Russia. Like, Arkadya feels like an amalgamation of American enemies so far and I’m curious to see where it goes, especially after getting a comment from @/fulgadrum calling it the “more mature cousin of Villnoire,” a game which I thought was pure centrist drivel.

Now for actually playing the game, Rise of the Third Power streamlines a lot of things present in RPGs. For one thing, equipment is super simplified. At least at the point I’m at, people can only switch between two weapons (an ordinary one and one with a unique functionality in exchange for a debuff) and accessories.

Instead of buying new equipment, you craft permanent stat boosts as you progress through the game. Ara Fell had crafting, but I was whatever about it. But here, it’s mandatory and is practical in keeping the inventory decluttered. No need to hassle with switching around equipment and selling old stuff, just switch between weapons and accessories whenever the need calls for it and keep up with crafting and you’re good.

Stat boosts also define the game’s side content. Whenever you do a side quest or an optional dungeon, you’re rewarded with relics that provide a stat boost to the whole party. Because everyone gets tangible benefit from relics, Rise of the Third Power provides a pretty good incentive to engage with side material. Treasure? Equipment that only one guy benefits from? Whatever. Everyone getting a higher attack stat? Yes please.

Building off of everyone having a shared benefit, the “leveling” system also plays fair with characters. There’s only one shared experience bar for the whole party that gives a tech tree point every time it’s filled to invest in a character’s tech tree. The trees provide the stat ups and new skills normally associated with leveling, but the more you invest in a character’s tree, the more points you need to invest later. I see the advantage in this in that when new characters join, their upgrades will be cheap compared to their peers, so you can quickly upgrade them to be on par with the shared points you’ve built up. I like this system because it counters a problem I usually have with RPGs, which is that I feel no reason to level characters that join later because I’ve already settled in a groove with the characters I’ve had longer.

But enough about leveling, let’s talk battling. Three characters fight at a time, and you can choose your starting team at the start of battle (unless you’re ambushed). Each party member leans toward a specific niche: Rowan’s encouraged to be a tank, Arielle specializes in AOE, Corrina and Aden are heavy on status effects (which almost always work) while Reyna is an all purpose mage. There is no real bad team composition in the game, just different ways to play.

Fighting is some good fashioned turn-based combat with a timeline system showing turn order, and man do I love when games have that. Enemies with stronger moves take at least a turn to charge it up, so you can visualize how many people can take a shot at offing them before it goes off – or maybe just interrupt with a kick from Rowan. Besides turn order, the game presents transparency through identifying enemy types, which enables you to hard focus on healers and the like.

After battle, everyone gets exhaustion alongside experience. I don’t fully get how exhaustion works because sometimes only one party member suffers it after a fight, though it certainly dives for characters that get owned. However, people on the backlines recover exhaustion, which incentivizes you to constantly swap around the party to keep people in fighting condition. This keeps you from getting complacent with one party composition and encourages you to try to make everyone work.

Visually, everyone’s animations and attacks carry a sense of flair that original 16-bit RPGs could not have. The effects might feel a bit too “modern” for the game’s overall pixel art direction, but you know what? I like it. Besides, at least it isn’t overly obsessed with bloom like Square-Enix’s HD-2D offerings.

Speaking of which! One of the strongest aspects of Ara Fell was its visual design. That game really made the most of RPG Maker in making lush fantasy environments, and Rise of the Third Power is certainly no slouch either, especially in throwing off the limitations of RPG Maker. The environments feel more lived in than it did in Ara Fell with its attention to detail. Towns tend to have rooms with no practical use besides, well, it makes sense for this house to have a separate bedroom, right?

As for the music part of the presentation… well, that’s a mixed bag for me that really comes down to preference. Like, on a technical level, the music is composed well. However! I do not care for the airy fantasy stylings of most of the soundtrack so far. Uh, I like the boss music, but that’s pretty much it.

Rise of the Third Power is a pretty alright game so far. It’s easy to slide into and I think the characters are fun, but I’m waiting to see where else the story goes. I’ve hit chapter 4, which is immediately after a dramatic turn for the protagonists and they’re currently trying to bounce back from that and reorient for the fights ahead. I’m enjoying it, but… @/fulgadrum’s comment hangs in my mind…