As always, you may click on images to view larger versions.
Well, this was a surprise. I first played an early prototype version of Ara Fell years ago, long before I started this blog, when I had more time to scour the internet for free games. I delved into the vast catalog of games made with RPG Maker, and found a few gems (including Master of the Wind, which I’ve written about here). Ara Fell was one of the most memorable, with a beautiful world of floating islands, some nice twists on traditional Japanese-style role-playing game mechanics, and the beginning of an interesting tale. But, as with so many such projects, it was abandoned when its author realized it was too ambitious.
Then, out of the blue, I saw the news that Ara Fell was completed and on sale a couple of months ago (there’s also a demo available). I had to double-check to confirm that yes, this is indeed the same game that I tried all those years ago. Apparently the developers, Stegosoft Games (a four-person team containing the author of the original Ara Fell prototype) had been developing a different game and its engine, but this proved a little too much for them, so they were searching for a new project. Co-founder Stephen Anthony then opened up his old Ara Fell prototype for the first time in years, and decided that with his team at Stegosoft they could polish it up, rewrite the script, tweak everything, and actually finish it. Naturally, I decided to give this overhauled version a spin.