The Spirit Engine 2 Released as Freeware

By: Derek Yu

On: February 17th, 2010

The Spirit Engine 2

Mark Pay has decided to release his RPG The Spirit Engine 2 for free, citing poor sales as one of the primary reasons. Which is a shame, really, since it’s a lovely game and was a steal for $10, I thought (initially $18). You can read Mark’s announcement here.

  • Derek

    One thing: even though it’s a very impressive game, I always thought the combat system in TSE was slightly too complicated for the amount of depth that it offered… and occasionally you’d have battles with regenerating creatures that would feel like a slog (i.e. they seemed like they would literally never end). It’s a lot improved in TSE2, if I remember right, but still makes the game a little hard to get into.

  • Crimsontide

    I bought TSE2 ; )

    I like it but ya, the regenerating creatures were just annoying, some fights would take over 1 hour at high speed, it just got silly by the end.

    The graphics story and music were great though. Never did see the ending sadly, couldn’t beat the final boss. Even after a number of play throughs I still had no clue what to do, I’m sure there was some trick I was missing..

    That and lack of side quests/storylines was a bit annoying, they kinda railroaded you through the story line.

  • Frank

    I’m one of the apparent few who purchased the game, absolutely loved it. Loved the story and the battle system, and the amount of different conversations your capable of with the customizable party system is amazing.
    Truly a great game.

  • reindall

    I always meant to try some demo or trial (if there was any), but never got to do it. I do feel really bad now.

    But if it gains some popularity I wouldn’t be surprised for quite a few donations/buys to happen.

  • Don Andy

    Only reason I didn’t buy this back then was because of that battle system. Didn’t even manage to finish the demo because of it.

    Really would’ve liked to though, the rest of the game was fantastic.

  • http://lumberingdream.com/ !CE-9

    Impressive. And a bit saddening. I’m definitely checking this game out.

  • Mitch

    Mark Pay admitted that the game sold poorly because there was zero marketing done for the game. So don’t feel TOO bad.

  • sinoth

    It’s a crime to offer this for free, but I can see why it didn’t sell well. Sad really, because the game is bursting with all the effort put into it. Beautiful art and music, fun characters and story, interesting combat system. The interface just isn’t very good, and lack of proper resolution scaling is annoying. Seems like they only went 95% of the way. Who knows… the engine may have kept them from that last 5%. Live and learn.

  • http://www.microwaving.net Alex

    the battle system is so complicated and at the same time you can just tell your two guys to attack and the priest to heal and just sit and watch and you win

    the art is super cool though, and i love the guy with the mask

  • AmnEn

    Well concerning the marketing, I didn’t even know it was out yet and just thought it had gone into hinbernation like so many other projects.

  • judgespear

    The story, the graphics, and whole presentation of the game is top notch. However, when you get into battle that’s when it all falls apart. The battle system looks very antiqued, and has a very old school klik vibe to it (reminiscent of RPGs made in klik and play or games factory).

    I think if he remade this with proper resolution scaling, an improved battle system (maybe something faster paced, less reminiscent of the Final Fantasy RTB system), and promoted this game more (maybe tried to get it on Steam), then it’d be an instant hit.

  • judgespear

    oh, and the music is amazing, really seals the dead as far as presentation goes.

  • judgespear

    Err, i mean deal. damn crappy school computer lab keyboard

  • Nillo

    Alex, I have a friend who did just that (he put two of his guys on an attack move and had the priest heal them) and then quit the game, complaining about the Burbundle enemy being impossible to kill because it heals itself faster than he could deal damage. I told him to let the priest use an attack simultaneously to increase his total damage output, and he said “but he’s a healer, he’s not supposed to do that”, haha.

    I do believe that it is impossible to win this game using only a single strategy for every battle. And the battle system is designed in such a way that even if you max out one of your attacks and have zero points in the others, they can still be worth using in certain situations depending on resistance, amount of enemies, etc.

  • MisterX

    I’m a bit confused by the many comments about the combat being the main shortcoming of TSE. I’ve only played through a large portion of TSE1 without finishing it, didn’t finish the TSE2 demo and am now glad that it is freeware and I get to sink more time into it. But, apart from several other good things about the games, the combat system was the only really exceptional one for me. TSE1 was one of the only games which I would describe as an actually “proper” tactical game. Combat may be repetitive, frustrating and what not else on the long run, but some of the harder fights were just so amazingly satisfying to figure out. Kind of like a puzzle I would have to find out about the enemy’s weaknesses, how I could abuse those with my party’s abilities, how I could counter his attacks, etc.
    One of my fondest memories is one battle against a giant boss monster, which I lost extremely quickly at the first try and thus it seemed impossible to win. But, after putting a lot of thought into my tactics and tweaking them over the course of a few tries, I succeeded gloriously.

    I’m still hoping for good tactical games to be released all the time, and again and again I am disappointed by how shallow most games are which call themselves “tactical”. So far, I think The Spirit Engine was, despite its flaws, the only game (series) which didn’t disappoint me in this regard.

  • rodnonymous

    I’m conflicted because one the one hand “awesome game becomes free” but on the other I haven’t really heard much Mark Pay (or natomic in general) news and am kinda worried the poor sales on this will discourage him from making more games.

    I’m among the people who just missed out on this when it was released, only having seen newsposts about the soundtrack being for sale to help cancer research (awesome soundtrack by the way, love Josh Welchel’s stuff)

  • Quanrian

    I think the simple solution for people bothered by the fact the game went free is to try donating some money to the developer. Even a couple bucks here and there might add up. Think of it as leaving a tip after a meal, for those of you who do tip.

  • paul eres

    @MisterX – there’s no contradiction really — some people prefer combat that is basic, without having to figure out the way to win, as if it were a puzzle to solve, and some people prefer those types of battles. final fantasy 5 had extremely difficult boss battles that you could only really win with specific combinations of jobs/classes in your party, this game is similar in that it requires very specific strategies in order to win some battles. it’s more strategic, but at the sacrifice of being a less casual game (since many people are likely to get frustrated and give up when they can’t solve a particular battle’s “puzzle”).

  • Charlton heston

    I don’t know what’s the game’s worth, but I can understand why it doesn’t appeal to the masses. I mean , just look at the screenshot!It looks like a total mess, are these characters taking a dump or sthg?

  • undertech

    And what’s wrong with taking a dump? Mr. Heston?

  • http://del_duio.sitesled.com Del_Duio

    I would’ve tried harder with the marketing before releasing this as freeware. How long was it out before he starting giving it away for free anyhow? It couldn’t have been more than a few months right?

    Disheartening news for others with hopes to sell their own creations in the future. After all that effort, he might not want to try as hard next time.

  • Charlton heston

    Nothing, provided you can carry your gun with you to fend off those brown people everywhere

  • Mischief Maker

    Well I bought this game at full price and loved it. Whoever says the battle system was weak is a fool. It’s the best jRPG-style battle system I’ve ever seen, with every single type of enemy bringing a different strategic wrinkle to combat. If your battles were slogs several hours long, then you were using bad tactics.

    To be fair, jRPGs are one of the most brainless forms of videogames this side of Dragon’s Lair, so I can assume most jRPG fans would be completely out of their depth with this game.

    I gave this game a writeup a few years ago on Caltrops. Shame on everyone who didn’t buy it.

    http://www.caltrops.com/review0053.php

  • Lailoken

    I’m a cheapskate and I bought this game when it was $18. I personally loved the combat system. My only gripe was that the preprogrammed skill chains were all but useless. I found myself micromanaging every battle down to each skill, because timing was so important. It was 5 times better than TSE1 due to the fact that skills with no points invested in them were still useful and the tactics felt much deeper. And I liked that the main advantage to grinding was that you could re-pick your skills, not that you could just become so strong you can auto attack everything (anything) late game. I’m writing way more than I meant to.

    In a nutshell play this game if you like having to think and actively participate in RPG battles. It’s one of my favorites.

  • MisterX

    Lailoken: That’s also the one major problem I see with the combat system of TSE1 and 2. The skill usage is very much focused on using the skill chains, but in practice it is only really useful to manually activate each single skill every time. But, if I remember right from playing the demo, TSE2 also improved on that by “properly” letting you activate single skills. So, it’s not an actual problem during gameplay, but it shows that the design probably doesn’t quite work out the way it was ment to.

    Here’s hoping for TSE3 or an altogether new game with a similar but further improved combat system :)

  • Nillo

    Skill chains can mostly be ignored, but they are essential if you plan on charging your Knight’s attacks or adding concussive damage with the Musketeer’s Enpowder skill.

    I don’t see why skill chains are a problem at all. If you don’t enjoy using them, you can select skills manually whenever you want.