Ocedic 249 Posted September 22, 2013 Your review has a lot of spoilers... I'm currently playing through the game myself and you've revealed a few plot points. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saiffu 26 Posted September 22, 2013 Only on the screenshots that is xD Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ocedic 249 Posted September 22, 2013 Err, you reveal the choice that you have to make at the end of the demo, and mention that someone dies. Overall, you need to be more careful in the future when talking about the plot of the games you review or warn readers that it contains spoilers. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saiffu 26 Posted September 22, 2013 Sorry Ocedic for spoiling you. I shall do those on my future reviews and adding a spoiler alert to the post now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flarify 128 Posted September 22, 2013 First off, I'd like to thank you so much for this review! I wasn't expecting one so quickly, nor one so positive! Under a cut for length and spoilers~ About Combat Mostly due to a focus on other areas and a desire to keep things simple for now, I decided to keep the basic front-view battle system with very few changes. One, an ATB battle system (for strategy regarding combos and healing, and a more interesting way to make battles easier/more difficult via enemy speed. Two, basic actor battlers so the connection between on-world and battle stayed consistent. Three, sprite-based enemies versus the default battlers. I have thought about switching to Victor's side view battle system with the on-map addon to make combat more akin to Chrono Trigger, but I had set a somewhat strict deadline by the time I realized that existed and needed to get the mapping and story done. I also hadn't realized that some of the enemies were configured to attack only on action button - that was a definite oversight, as I always dodged them and hadn't gotten around to giving my playtester a copy that went into the latter half of the game. I have fixed the issue (though haven't uploaded it yet due to next paragraph). After reading your comments about enemies not chasing the player character, I decided it would be a bit more interesting if enemies were more aggressive and had a pursuit capability. To that end, I am in the process of implementing Vlue's Proximity Detection script. I think this should make dungeons a tad more interesting and make it a little bit more difficult - but still possible - to avoid battles. About the Story The beginning was a recent thing after I decided to scrap the original intro which frankly, did not make any sense. I'm more of a fan of dropping players right into the action and giving them an objective, and revealing stuff as they go along. But I can also see how this could - and it did, in this case - backfire on me. However, I did give some dying words to the primary antagonist of the opening, but I will say here that this may not be the last you see of him. He was a master of all things magitech and machine, and it's far too likely he had a plan B in case things went horribly south... Other than that little tidbit I'm glad that you liked the story! It was definitely a labor of love (and hate, in many cases). There's always things I wish to rewrite and a few things I want to flesh out more, but that can wait for future installments. I do have plans that the party camp will give you a bit more insight into your party members as they grow to respect Arianna's leadership, and I definitely have plans for a few of the major NPC characters. The Witch, in particular, will not sit idly by - especially if you decided to turn your back on the deal you made with her in exchange for her ship! The library in the castle will also become a treasure trove of information about the world, especially if you enjoy reading dry and humorless tomes of text. About the Graphics I definitely know what you are talking about in regards to the strange passability of plants. The trees in particular have a nasty habit of enabling passability on cliffs, which I forgot to solve before releasing the demo. This issue will hopefully be fixed in this coming version that should be released in the next week. I have to make a note here for thanking you profusely for documenting the problems you came across so clearly! Even my playtester isn't so meticulous as to climb on every mushroom in a dungeon, and she takes a strange but appreciated joy in breaking my game as brutally as possible. The dragon scene was a disappointing end to what it lead up to, I agree. There is currently an attempt to fix this (by enabling chasing/attacking) but the dragon sprite I was using has no side/back views which could make it intensely awkward to watch it moonwalk up to you and attack. There are a few solutions I can think of to fix this (different sprite, blocking the path and then dramatic death) but I will have to consider further what to do with him. About the artwork - I do have to ask which pieces in particular felt off. Was it the NPCs vs. the party members, stylistic differences, the difference in height, the inconsistent zoom qualities of each portrait...? They were all done by myself in a 2-week period, so there shouldn't really be the sort of inconsistency that you're talking about. I'm not saying there isn't - I've felt a bit of inconsistency as well, and have tried to fix it to no avail - but I would like to know if you can touch on any specifics that throw you off. In conclusion, I am glad that you enjoyed your time playing my game! Or, at least, you tolerated it. Although I will be taking a slight break to fix bugs and find solutions to a few problems that will likely come to view once my playtester breaks my game a few dozen times, I hope that I'll be able to please and improve much in the next installment, coming sometime in the coming half-year or so! TL;DR - Thanks muchly for the review. I am in the process of fixing some issues you touched on as well as adding some features to complement my game. Would appreciate more feedback on artwork opinion - what, do you feel, makes it inconsistent? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Saiffu 26 Posted September 26, 2013 Sorry for the late reply, well, the only character which I feel out of place is Maeve. I dont know why, the first time I saw him, It looked like he did not belong to the game. It might be his clothing or so, or the pose which he makes. He has a different aura compared to the other. Those characters which I felt that blended well together was Cyrill and Arianna and Anima and Zita. Maeve felt like a loner, even with Liz he did not feel right. I do not know. maybe its just me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
