Liphidain: Dissonance of Darkness (New Artwork!)

[Tharis 212]

DEMO AVAILABLE!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NOW WITH ARTWORK BY RONINDUDE!

 

 

Game Overview:  Several eons after the "Aurora", the event that caused the first rays of light to shine out into the black abyss, darkness seeks to return to it's peaceful serenity. One by one the bastions of light have fallen, the line of Gods is at an end. The Final God of Light, Talinious, has been imprisoned, none of his progenitors remain to send aid. If this, the final bastion of light falls, all the universe will become darkness again. There is but one hope to stop the darkness from destroying everything, free Talinious and restore the line of the Gods. There is but one key to unlocking the void, the mortal to do so must be pure of heart. For if they falter, the gateway to the greater enemy will be open.

 

At present, tensions between the nations of Forvania and Mogard are again rising. These former allies now vie for power and control of the political factions within their borders. However a more nefarious power works to manipulate both sides of the conflict to move about it's business unseen. Tharis has been tasked with the mission his Father cannot fulfill, to restore the God of Light to is former place. And at every turn, the world will seek to tempt him from his path, yet remaining vigilant is the only option if he hopes to succeed.

 

Genre: This is a High Fantasy/SNES style J-RPG

Game Progression: The game's development has been hankered a few times, however most of these hiccups are due to  getting and listening to feedback by the community. In the end the game experience and story progression will benefit from the extended development time.

 

 

Gameplay: A Quick note on the gameplay of this RPG. I am designing this to be as tactical as I can, which means that you will want to read the descriptions of each of your character's abilities, weapons, and armor so that you know when and how to use them. This will not be a game where spamming the attack button will win the day, outside of your standard battles (and even some of those will require more thought). I don't want to make this game a tactical nightmare, however I refuse to make it "too easy". That being said if you do read your abilities, weapons, and armor descriptions, and understand when and where to use them this should make for a fun and interesting game.

 

Characters:

 

 

Many of you will have noticed that The characters' original portraits have been removed. This is because I am currently in the process of commissioning new bust artwork by RoninDude of Deviant art.

 

to give an idea of eventually what the characters will all look like here are some previews.

 

Talinious

 

 

 

Astris

 

 

 

Tayron

 

 

Bidden by his Father at a young age to prepare to fight the forces of darkness (and as well the very nature of being mortal). With the duty to provide the key to unlocking the gate at the forefront of his mind, Tharis is often asked to make hard choices for the sake of the existence of everything. Though he bares his burden well, sometimes cracks in the façade begin to form. This, is where his enemies will strike at him the hardest at his very heart and soul.

Class - Paladin: These are the blessed warriors of Talinious, lost long ago after the God of Light fell into darkness and obscurity. Paladins engage foes head on, prefering to stay ahead of the damage and protecting their allys with a number of heavenly skills. They were originally trained by the God of Valor to fight with no fear, as such they are far less vulnerable to mind effecting spells.

Effective Roles: Main Tank, Ally Buffs

Strengths: High Defense, High Willpower, High Spirit, High Health

Skills/Functions: Battle skills dealing primarily physical damage, also has limited acess to miracles which heal and buff defensive and offensive statistics.

Weaknesses: Low Agility, Low Attack, Low Mana.

Tharis is susceptible to Area of effect attacks due to his low agility, also skills and attacks that target agility as the defensive mitigation will be particularly effective against him.

 

 

As we first meet Arysana we catch a glimpse of a girl who would like to lead a normal life, however we quickly find out that she is anything but normal. Born with the ability to manipulate the elements of the world around her, she often has no clue how to control her gift. This causes some issues with the Townsfolk of Bayle as they fear her power to destroy. Frequently a point of ridicule for the poor girl, her abilities have branded her a freak, and as such she has learned to be very fiery in her own defense. Despite the fact that she gets heated she is also quick to forgive. Arysana's gifts are not only rare, but actually unheard of, in all the study of magic (which in Liphidain is not extensive by any means) no one has ever been able to do what she does. This fact, combined with the stigma that most mages feel outside the big cities, make Bayle a very awkward place for Arysana to grow up.

Class - Scion: The Scion is a gift from the heavens. Using magic in ways not seen by other mages, the scion is theorized to be decended from a celestial lineage, and thus granted access to the powers of creation and destruction, as are all celestials.

Effective Roles: High Damage, Battle Control

Strengths: High Willpower, High Spirit, High Agility, High Mana

Skills/Functions: Arysana primarily deals damage and is effective against both large groups and single targets, she has limited access to debuffing and debilitating skills but most of these will effect whole groups rather than a single target.

Weaknesses: Low Defense, Low Health

Arysana is highly ;vulnerable to stunning effects, due to light armor. Her evasion is much higher than that of Tharis or Balidor, but if struck with a stun she will likely not resist.

 

 

Balidor is the often underappreciated younger brother of Bayle's local hero, Fadar. He is driven by motivations of proving himself beyond his brother's notoriety. He wants to be able to step out from behind Fadar who seems to have eclipsed him since birth. Balidor is Loyal, and as many young teenagers quick to anger. His distain for his brother has become quite potent recently to the point of being unhealthy for their relationship as family.

Class - Champion: These fighters are often found in the frontlines of the battlefield, because of this, they are effective at engaging multiple foes all at the same time. Effective with their chosen weapon to the point of deadly precision, Champions rarely miss their targets.

Effective Roles: Secondary Tank, Area Damage

Strengths: High Attack. High Agility, High Defense

Skills/Functions: Balidor operates best when engaging multiple targets at once. Many of his skills have a modifier for defense. As such, High Defense will actually raise Balidor's damage as well.

Weaknesses: Low Spirit, Low Willpower, Low Luck

Balidor will not be able to withstand many magical attacks, because of this penchant for using metal armors and weapons he is particularly vulnerable to fire and lightning. Skills that use a target's defense against itself will be particularly effective against Balidor as well.

 

 

Edwin is the younger brother of Arysana, he is obsessed with becoming an adventurer. He would do anything for his older sister. He often sympathizes with her as she is rejected by the entire town. He does on occasion tease her about her 'gifts' but usually at the wrong time, as is the case with most younger brothers. He looks up to Tharis, and enjoys his company as he seems to be of like mind.

Class - Rogue: This profession is often entangled with illegal activity. Swooping in and taking that which is not theirs and leaving undetected is a skill many would not consider learning, but for those that do it can be quite profitable. When stuck in a jam, rather than wasting time slowly killing their foes one blow after another, rogues prefer to weaken enemies and be as efficient as possible, ending battles before having the opportunity to loose too much blood, or gold.

Effective Roles: Debuffs, Damage

Strengths: High Agility, High Evasion, High Luck

Skills/Functions: Edwin's skills are primarily based on agility. Often Edwin lowers the effectiveness of an enemy's defensive statistics, this opens an opportunity to use another skill that takes advantage of that weakness and debilitates yet a new statistic. This being the case Edwin's major strength, when fighting, is to open opportunities to gain an advantage over the enemy during battle and turning an enemy's strength into their biggest weakness. In this Edwin is effective in controlling the flow of battle and turning the tide for the party.

Weaknesses: Low Defense, Low Health, Low Attack, slow to gain TP to use for combo skills

Because Edwin's attack is low, using his standard attack is not very effective and thus a lack of TP can be a point of frustration to his combination attacks. Also the player must know which attacks to use in combination with others for his damage to be effective, this can slow the battle down when first learning to use this character. Also Edwin is easily damaged by earth and wind based attacks due to his use of light cloth armors.

 

 

Aylindra is part of an Honorguard called the Astril. They are crusaders that protect the Astrialus, the gateway to the crystal palace of Astris, Goddess of Love. She is passionate and driven. When confronted with the idea that the Goddess, may have had something to do with the down fall of another God, not only does she disbelive it, she actively tries to disprove such blasphemy. She joins Tharis, not only to protect Lynnessa (a priestess of Astris), but to show him the error of his ways. What she will find will open her eyes forever.

Class - Astril: The Honorguard of Lady Astris, Goddess of Love. The Order of the Astrialus was created after Humanity was nearly wiped out, following the great celestial war. Forvan, the Hero that rallied the humans behind the banner of hope, established these warriors as a replacement for the lost paladins. Over time, as changes were made to the order, only women were allowed to join. These fighters employ great passion on the battlefield and are relentless and focused. They target one opponent at a time either using the enemy's strength's against themselves or simply overpowering them, they take battles one fight at a time.

Effective Roles: Secondary Tank, Single Target Damage

Strengths: High Agility, High Attack, High Spirit, High Willpower

Skills/Functions: Aylindra's skills are (like Edwin's) Primarily agility based. Her damage is focused on one single target at a time, with very few skills that hit more than one enemy. She does not debilitate her foes but does use some of their strengths against them making her and Ediwn a very effective pair in battle.

Weaknesses: Low Defense, Low Health

Aylindra is not effective against swarms of enemies, because of her low defense, being hit multiple times in succession can be a point of detriment to her. Use of metal armors makes her weaker to Fire and Lightning.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lynnessa is the cousin to Arysana she has wanted to be a priestess her whole life. Most of the clergy of Astris are male despite the fact that the Diety is not. However some of the most influential of Astris' Acolytes are Female. Lynnessa has no ambition for power, or fame, she simply wants to serve the Goddess. One of the tenets of the religion is to fall deeply in love, and even though she has not admitted openly, this is secretly why she wants to be a priestess. When Tharis comes to Forvania to find Arysana, and brings news of potential treachery on the part of the Goddess, she feels it is her duty to get to the bottom of the accusation.

Class - Priestess: After the fall of Talinious, most all of the major cities were decimated, in every case the first targets were the chapels and churches, as the large demonic horde washed over Liphidain like a wave of filth. After the war was ended, Astris herself appeared to the humans that were left. She promised her protection, and from this point forward no one remembered the other gods. Astris' priests are given acess to the goddess's ability to heal and and protect as part of the fulfillment of that promise. Some of the more trusted clergy are given acess to the offensive abilities the Goddess harbours, but only in limited amounts.

Effective Roles: Healer, Ally Buffs

Strength: High Willpower, High Spirit, High Luck

Skills/Functions: Lynnessa's primary function is to buff and keep the party alive. Her healing skills often have multiple effects beyond restoring health. The temporary buffs of these healing abilities are to prevent frequent repeats of the same spells over the course of a battle. Leaving more time for Lynnessa to apply more effective, offensive buffs to the group.

Weaknesses: Low Mana, Low Health, Low Defense

Lynnessa's mana pool will prove to be a detriment to the priestess, she has a wide array of skills but a very low pool of resources to use these skills from. She will often need to recharge her mana mid-battle in order to maintain effective coverage of the team's health. She will have skills that will help to alleviate this problem but they are not immediately effective and must be planned, in order for Lynnessa to maintain adequate mana.

 

 

 

　

　

　

　

　

　

Main Credits:

Lead Designer .............................. Tharis
First Director ................................. Tharis
Art Direction .................................. Tharis

Lead Artist...................................... RoninDude
Lead Writer ................................... Tharis
Lead Alpha Tester ........................ Tharis
Lead Music Contribution ............... Jonnie91

Testing and Feedback .................. Ocedic
Eventing Consultant ..................... Obrusnine
Design Consultant ........................ Ocedic
Editor Design ................................ Enterbrain


Artistic Credits:

Major Contribution ....................... Enterbrain
Title Screen ................................. Rgangsta (Booker Dewitt)
Character Design ........................ Linni
Character Design ........................ Holder
Character Design ........................ Archeia Nessiah
Character Design ........................ Scinaya
Character Design ........................ Lunara
Character Design ........................ Momope
Character Design ........................ Earth587
Character Design ........................ Vibrato
Character Design ........................ Pandamaru
Character Design......................... Vee
Character Design ........................ Closet
Character Design ........................ Zanara
Character Design ........................ Khobrah
Character Design ........................ Loose Leaf (Mack)
Character Design ........................ Charlesthehurst
Landscape .................................. Enterbrain
Landscape .................................. Celianna
Landscape .................................. Tharis

　

　

　

　

 

 

Music and Sound:

 

 

Sound Track ............................... Enterbrain
Original Song ............................. Jonnie91
Digital Arrangment ..................... DjDarkX
Sound Contribution .................... Milo (freesound.org)
Sound Contribution .................... Stk13 (Freesound.org)
Sound Contribution .................... Robinhood76 (Freesound.org)
Sound Contribution .................... Argitoth (Freesound.org)
Sound Contribution .................... Nextmaking (Freesound.org)
Sound Contribution .................... Audione (Freesound.org)
Sound Contribution .................... Tharis


Game Flow and Programing:

Major Scripting .......................... Victor Sant
Major Scripting .......................... Yanfly
Scripting Contribution ................ Modern Algebra
Scripting Contribution ................ Kal
Game Design .............................Tharis

A Special Thanks to all community members! Thank you
all for playing and giving feedback and help where needed.


(Please if you happen to see some of your graphics,
hear a sound or song you made, feel free to message
me and I will add you to the credits. Some of these
resources I found on sites that did not give credit, so
if I missed you please feel free to let me know.)

NEW Screenshots:

 

 

 

 

Forvania Square (formerly Forvania entrance)
 

 

The Fallen Star Hotel - Tharis is standing in Larik's room (formerly Forvania inn)

 

 

Fallen Star Hotel Lobby

 

 

 

 

 

Current Features:

 

Quest journal: To help keep the player organized and maintain their direction.

 

2.5 hours of gameplay (roughly)

 

　

Features to be released:

 

Crafting: Including, Weaponsmithing, Armorsmithing, Smelting, Alchemy, and Jewelcrafting/enchanting (possibly more as I get into the databasing phase)!

The crafting in the game will feature additional effects the player may add to their crafted items. This means enhancing things like potions to add additional effects, or to increase the potency of weaponry, perhaps raise the weak points of defense in a piece of armor. These effects will help to make the game more tactically engaging and fun.

 

New extended, retooled storyline, to give more depth to some of the main characters and world of the game.

 

New Graphical direction to add a bit of uniqueness to the look and feel of the World of Liphidain.

 

New and more places to explore, previously small areas have been increased to allow for greater exploration, and all new areas have been added!

 

New optional quests have been added allowing the player to connect with the world in some standard, and some more interesting ways.

 

Lots of animated sprites filling the world with motion and life.

 

The current Demo is available! Feel free to post any problems you find in the current demo here on the page.

 

(NOTE: This currently does not contain the Features to be released)

 

https://www.dropbox.com/s/j1wib0hqchtvsxw/Dragon.exe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liphidain: Dissonance of Darkness

Demo v1.2

Available Now!

 

Support this Game

 

 

(Made by Chalesthehurst, what a stud)

Edited August 5, 2014 by Tharis

[Tharis 212]

My apologies all I just checked my Rapidshare account and Im not sure how this happened but people were downloading an older version of the Demo that had the RTP included along with it. I have reposed the link the main post but didn't want to put this message in there as it has nothing to do with the game and this is about the topic. This new Demo has some updated stuff and bug fixes included so please use the new link provided above ( I have completely removed the Rogue Demo from Rapidshare)

Edited February 22, 2013 by Tharis

[Ocedic 249]

I thought I'd try out your game and review it, it can be found at the critique:

 

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/12861-review-liphidain-dissonance-of-darkness/

[Tharis 212]

I have made quite a few alterations to the way the game begins. There will be a little more reward at the begining to help make up any truly lacking deficiencies. As well as a quest that will reward the player handsomly and put them right on track to being finished with William's quest (it won't be handed to you but you won't be far off of it).

 

I do want to get a quest log script, but I'm afraid that being so new to this I do not know how to get Yanfly's Scripts opened. I have downloaded a few of them but they are all in a ruby format that I do not know how to use.

 

With regards to the Mapping and the player speed, I have it set to a 4 right now but if I increase it to 5, it becomes ridiculously fast, so the remedy is going to have to be smaller maps. And that will come with time I am currently working on completely remapping bayle altogether. untill I get it remapped and re-evented i'll be releasing another Demo version that fixes some of the basic short comings.

 

Thank you ever so much Ocedic, for your review. I'm sure there are still a lot of glaring mistakes in this game but over time I'll get them knocked out.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Tharis

[Tharis 212]

I suppose that since I have a substantial enough addition to my demo, namely it's a bit more playable and actually should be able to be finished by those who choose to play it. I would ask if I could have this moved to The Gaming Lounge as it does have a working (crosses fingers) demo. I clocked my playthrough at just over 2 1/2 hours. Yes the maps are big and the character is not super fast  I will as the game moves forward address this issue as I will take a lot of the maps back to square 1 but the demo is now ready.

Edited February 26, 2013 by Tharis

[Tharis 212]

A new Version of the Demo creating a much easier flow of the game is now availible Please check it out, see if this one suits your fancy a bit more. This includes the Modern Algebra Quest log and barring any major bugs will be considered the full Demo, the Extended Demo (the Magnum) will be ready for play soon, when... I cannot say but I will have it out as soon as I can.

[Tharis 212]

I think I have come up with a solution to a potentially annoying portion of the game. There is a spot where the character must explore the darkness, with very little light. This exploration would normally have been impeded by random encounters. however, because this part may not be the easiest I have decided to use Event encounters, there is a monster spawner set to spawn 1 monster per minute. So as not to be overwhelming. I will still use random encounters as some of the maps are have too narrow a walking space to begin with so having sprites walking around that with you would be more annoying in my opinion. My goal is to be the least frustrating I can be while still providing an adequate challange. once I get some more feedback from those I have currently play testing this I will likely update the version of the demo.

Edited March 5, 2013 by Tharis

[Radiant Arin 412]

I'll try this later on tonight. I need some way to vanquish my boredom.

[Tharis 212]

Thanks much Arin. I don't yet have the update I was talking about loaded up onto the Rapidshare so if you play this version remember that there will be a new one with event encounters in the darkness. Also if you see a 4 pack of bees, and you are level 1... run, but just the 4 pack the rest are easy enough.

 

Version 1.12 is ready (link above) right now, This will include a fairly significant update to those who hate Random battles, but in all honesty it actually feels like the same thing just at a lower rate. Even though it's insignificant to me I'll include it so that people don't go crazy.

Edited March 9, 2013 by Tharis

[Radiant Arin 412]

Well, I was going to download it, but Rapidshare is kind of a dick.

 

Have you tried perhaps using Dropbox? It's much faster for downloading speed than Rapidshare.

[Tharis 212]

I hadn't. But I suppose that doesnt hurt to have more distribution.

 

 

Not going to lie though, one of the reasons why I didn't originally do this was, although the interface for the downloader is easy and simple. The interface for the uploader is almost nonexistent and unhelpful in tracking (at least from a basic standpoint). But in the end I don't really care. I will have to say though Arin I think you might lag... just saying.

 

-Dropbox ready to rock.-

Edited March 9, 2013 by Tharis

[Radiant Arin 412]

Here's what your hard work has earned you.

 

http://www.rpgmakervxace.net/topic/13327-liphidain-dissonance-of-darkness-review-by-dante/

[Tharis 212]

Thank you for your review Arin! I love seeing this kind feedback because it gives me ideas on how to get the game to be a bit harder as well as deeper and more interesting. I don't want to make every single fight a tactical nightmare, but I do want players to weigh their choices a bit more.

 

So after having had a chance to mess with the player after the boss at the end of the demo (which I sincearly hope you get a chance to fight), I will be adding more magical enemies to the repertoire of the beastery in this game. With that said, there will be elemental consequences for even mundane choices such as armor or weapons. With the idea that Metal armor makes a character more susceptible to lightning/fire or Cloth armor makes them more prone to wind/fire based attacks is only the start of it. I am currently databasing this into the game, after the demo takes place(largely there is no use for it in the current demo as most of the enemies attack with physical damage).

 

Also I have added 6 new Physical "Elements" these are as follows: Slashing, Piercing, Blunt, Slashing/Piercing, Piercing/Blunt, Blunt/Slashing. These seem like reduntant elements but they cover quite a wide variety of weapons that the player will have options to choose from, as well as things to consider defending against. Which means that although you may have a resistance to slashing you may not have AS much of a resistance to Blunt/slashing which will mean that you will want to consider different armor choices to supplement these weaknesses or have a glaring hole in your defensive strategy. Also this means a HUGE selection of armor and weapons must be made availible to the player so that these choices are not pigeon-hole inducing.

 

The Physical elements are logically based in the game, as are the magical ones. So if your enemy is made of wood or stone, piercing weapons may do little damage, while Piercing/blunt will do considerable damage (IE a dagger vs a pickaxe or a Warhammer). Or your sword might be resisted by a treant but your axe would be a good way to take it down (Slashing vs Slashing/Blunt) this will play into the difficulty of the game throughout the tale. And although it wont be central to the strategy it will suplement the dynamic enough to be of use to clever players.

Edited March 11, 2013 by Tharis

[Jonnie91 1,149]

Just thought I'd share a small little snippet of the music to come in this brilliant project  It's still in the early stages and has most likely another 3 minutes to go. This is the main theme that will be featured throughout Liphidain: Dissonance of Darkness, in different forms. 

Main Theme/Tower Scene Demo

[Tharis 212]

Thanks so much Jonnie for this wonderful song, I am going to have to commission more from you when you have the time. If you have not had a chance to listen to this track. it's an example of just how good Jonnie really is with his songs. This is an unfinished track that once completed will add lots of depth of emotion to my story. If you are able to purchase Jonnie's songs I Highly recommend doing so!

[Tharis 212]

Fairly significant update to the recruiting status of this game. Please read the headliner for recruitment for more details.

[Tharis 212]

I am Proud to announce that all of the Main characters have been redone in Mack style. I will start working on the rest of the characters for the whole game using the Loose Leaf generator. I hope you enjoy the new look... feel free to tell me what you think.

[Tharis 212]

The first part of the extended Demo (The new extended opening cut scene and prologue) Will probably be finished by the end of this weekend! WOOT! I am so glad because I really want to get moving on the last part of the first chapter and now that I have Forvania set up pretty well I think this will be a few new maps (Lion's Tooth and the Forvanian Harbour) and she'll be ready to launch!

[Tharis 212]

I swear I am just a few weekends away from being done with Chapter 1 (the prologue is finished) Once chapter one get finished I'll (hopefully) have some beta testers run through it and see if they can find any bugs, I'll also be going back through over and over to try and weed any out. Please if you are interested in helping out on this i would greatly appreciate it. Just PM me if you want to help bug test. If you are waiting for the Actual Demo (Bug Free - hopefully) then give it a few more weeks I have a lot of things in this portion of the game that should start to really fuel interest in this Project.

 

I would ask anyone who wishes to review the game, to please wait untill the new demo version is availible, it will give a much smoother experience to your play through and I have taken a few of the restrictions out that are currently in the demo that is above. If you want to get a taste of the story at hand feel free to download the Demo up top and play around with it. The battles will get a bit more interesting though so don't judge the current version too harshly.

[Tharis 212]

Ok to those who have said they would beta test the game, I have it loaded on Drop box right now... Rapidshare should be done by tomorrow. PM which link you would prefer, I have currently sent everyone just the Drop Box link if you want the rapidshare let me know.

[HumanNinja 144]

I downloaded your demo from rapid share (the one from dropbox says nothing is there). I'm having trouble finding the north exit from town after the girl you save starts following you around. When I get to what I believe is the exit (just north of the inn), it doesn't take you anywhere. Am I missing something, or is that the end of the demo?

[Tharis 212]

Sorry its northwest. Take the trail that goes west, past the inn and it will take you into the forest.

[HumanNinja 144]

When I take that trail, Tharis says "This way won't take us any closer to Lion's Tooth." It won't let me leave town. If I go south, he says dad wouldn't be happy if he ran off into the woods. All the quests are highlighted green and say complete. Is there maybe someone I should speak to before it lets me leave town?

[Tharis 212]

Oh crap! well in that case I am currently in the process of having people beta test the new version. Since the one you are playing and the one that I am currently working on have several differences, I'll say that you should probably wait till the new version is out as it will have reworked most everything in the game (sprites included) and will have that problem fixed.

[HumanNinja 144]

Sounds good. May I make a suggestion? Since the maps are kinda big, being able to dash would be nice