Oracle Towers Reviews #12: 8-bit me!
By Trodorne 3 Comments
8-bit Theater
Writer: Brian Clevinger 
Art: Nuklear Power
Normally i would do reviews on regular comics on this site. but today is something special and that i was told to do this review on a series i did not know existed. so as the comic vine site does not allow me to do a regular review format for this ill have to do the best i can for what i can. and for that i wonder why i do this. cause apparently outside of comic vine i have people who like my opinions. if that is the case then go buy a maple donut and enjoy this review. buy donuts!
The Story
Though i have to say i only read this for only 6 hours and i only got a fraction of the way through it. the story is thick and detailed. but its a simple comic strip based off of the original final fantasy game that came out for nintendo entertainment system. With this humorous twist to the story we follow 2 main characters called Black Mage and Fighter. were as they travel and go on adventures. the entire thing starts off with them heading off to find the armor of invincibility in the cave of no return.
As the story goes on we meet other characters and are subject to running gags through out the story. each strip is considered an episode by it self. which makes sense as the entire strip is very wordy.. though i never read web comics much this however was easy to get into as i do remember playing the original final fantasy game back when i was a young lad growing up in the frigid cold winters of the canadian wilderness, hugging my tv screen as i hoped winter would pass and i would reach level 25 in final fantasy.
Two other members end up joining called Thief and Red Mage. with many sub characters that help carry the story to the end goal. though i never got through the entire thing i have to say it was a good read non the less. the story is deep as well with a great sense of humor that will carry you to the next page. just when you think you are done, they lay in a cliff hanger joke and you wait for the response on the next strip. running gags also carry the story as the characters advance on their quest to save the world. or at least what they are required to do.
The characters are simple and easy to love. with many of the aspects resembling that of a group of characters who play a dungeons and dragons game. now on the flip side of all of this that the story can be very "wordy" at times and can easily loose track of where you are. or the panel designs might throw you off. this is indeed lengthy as it runs 1225 strips long. and you would be hard pressed to read the entire thing in one sitting unless you have a fast internet and your even faster at reading.
Overall for the story, very indepth, can get lost if your not familiar with the series. but easy to get into as it is a simple comic. often makes fun of the genre of video game fantasy. very wordy, but if people are into novels then this should be alot easier to get into. so i give the story a 3.5 out of 5.
The Pretty Colours
The art. well not much on this art as the design itself is based on the original sprites of the video game. but with that said many new expressions and facial features are made using those sprites from the original game plus others. so we do get a diversity of what the characters are showing emotionally. but at times we do not know what they are showing emotion wise. its more of a cut and paste are in the beginning.
background gets better over time, as well as the art style picks up. for the first 20-30 episodes, the series bases it more on cut outs and pasting old 8-bit graphics of backgrounds and buildings to add to the scenes. with the 8-bit styles comes issues on colors of characters and back grounds as they are often simple colors and can get the person lost very easily. this issue gets better when background is changed to more real style pictures of buildings and panoramic views.
The sprites or characters how ever you want to call them are very basic, but with the little added effort and some graphical enhancements done by nuklear power. the characts come to life and really can stick with you. I myself love the main characters as they remind me of my old group in which i used to play games with. you have one person who seems to be crazy and wants to kill. the superior ego driven thief, the rule obsessed guy who tries to find loop holes and always wants to win arguments, and the stupid guy with a heart old gold who does things cause he wants to help others and kick evils face in.
Overall the art is hardly note worthy or ground breaking in that matter. its very simple and too the point. it does not bring much to the table, but much like schindlers list you end up forgetting that the sprites are bad and fall into the story and love the characters. so overall i have to give the art a 3.5 out of 5. its not great but it does bring back the idea of what the series is about.
Overall thoughts
Never again will i listen to do a review on a webcomic. just only its hard enough trying to write a review for people to see but... well i got nothing else. the story was interesting to say the least, as the main characters go on this amazing quest based on the original final fantasy game, but if your not familiar with the series or prefer more action than anything else i would suggest trying to read something else. this series is about story and not art.
Much like my last statement, the art is not that great but it is entertaining to watch some of the sprites of an old NES game fight each other and be given character roles. as we grew up on this system it is always interesting to see an old video game art style be given a 3-Dimensional background where they have full life in story and character development. the art simply does not carry the story, but it does keep the reader interested enough to turn to the next episode.
Overall the story gets a 3.5 out of 5. shocking i know. its not a fantastic story but it simple is a great story for anyone who used to play into the series. I would recommend this to any old school NES gamer who used to play final fantasy or just any NES game. also to those who play dungeons and dragons as they do have many events or inserts based on the game itself. its not a must pick up series to read. but if you ever have the time and nothing else to do with your sad life and are full of Maple donuts which i hope everyone bought when they started reading this review.
well ill be back again on Thursday with hopefully a regular comicbook review. I have posted the page to the first comic right here. and hope everyone has a good week, and be sure to follow me on comicvine. Good Journey and don't forget to get more maple donuts.