Absolutely loved it! :)

Battle Every Step was one of my favorite games in the jam. I find Turn-based battles and grinding enjoyable anyway (I'm weird) but, your take on random encounters was so unique. 

It helps that you sped up the battles, had a variety of enemies and the battle theme changes after every boss. All of those details help to keep the game/battles fresh.

Again, I loved the game. Excellent work! Can't wait to play the updated version, try out the other character classes and go for a 100% playthrough! :D

- IvAnu

KV! Haha , so let me tell you that I hated turn based battles in most games that I have ever played, but enjoyed your game a lot for some reason... lol okay so... I think you made me realize that I don't hate turn based battles... Actually I like them... I hate random battles/encounters, and these battles weren't random, because I was expecting a battle every step! Thanks! 

It was pretty cool for such a short game. Mixed it up with tons of enemies and I saw you had strengths and weaknesses for each enemy. The first path is kinda hard, but after that I did pretty well. I crushed the last guy.

Unfortunately I was forced to rate 3 other games that I could not test and one that would never run on Linux Arm (cos it was a windows x64 download only) before I could rate this (Like I Do WIth Any Other Itch.Io Game That Is Enjoyable Or Worth Commenting On). I would not say it was overly original (except the premise of only random encounters), but it was definitely enjoyable/fun, even though I completed one character quest the 1st time, I almost died at least a dozen times, including on the Demon King boss (12 health), definitley potential for moola to be made from a game like this, base map is a bit bland, and the menu system is slightly quirky, but overall really high level of polish - definite replayability - definitely worth all those stars - thanx for supplying web version (most others didnt) - hmmm.. I just reviewed all the other submissions that have web version, and this was hands down the best of the lot by a mile (or 100)

That was a whole lotta action for a 15x15 map :) 

At first glance I thought, "man, this is gonna be a grind"...and it was, but a fun one! 

I really enjoyed the fast-paced grinding! I levelled up Oldhar and whacked the demon lord with my sword. Would be even faster paced if the heal point was auto-heal on touch rather than asking for confirmation!

The master of browser based games! You turned a universally hated part of rpgs into your central feature! True bravery. Luckily you did a lot to execute it well and take off the usual annoyances. Small map, no dead ends, very fast battles, quick and easy grinding, all made it so the battle every step had some intention. I also noticed the escalation in enemy numbers approaching bosses, which is a nice difficulty curve (I just ran from the triples though). 

I died way more than most games, often due to surprise attacks. But I realize that managing the danger levels and doing some grinding is part of the gameplay, so lesson learned!

Would have been nice to save before the final boss since he can really do a lot of damage. I felt some new moves didn't have great applications sometimes (one of Oldhar's attacks did 0 damage to the final boss when I just unlocked them).  Often, just spamming attack was more efficient. Some action sequencing was cool to see. 

I enjoyed the Harold representation as well, including your diverse artwork from Nowis and Muyuko. I beat it with all three! Would be nice to see some ultimate form as a result of winning with everyone for those completionists who played through all the storylines.

Oh, final note: this is about unplayable on mobile, maybe because I'm not certain how to control. Two finger tap seems to be only menu access, but too often I'd just move and battle, so that was a problem that made saving and using items challenging. But browser mode worked perfectly (aside from a missing asset in regular Harold story, but near enough to the end that you could plow through with retries).

It was nice to play an entry that was entirely battle-focused, even if they were prety simplistic in nature. So thumbs up for that. The MP-demolishing attacks (mana bubble, wind slice) were pretty irritating though, but being able to (as far as I can tell) flee with 100% success definitely helps by letting me just flat-out avoid problem enemies once identified.

Also note that, after beating the Demon King at around level 10 or so:

• “Thundercat” is unusable since it costs almost twice what his max MP is
• “Failed to load: img/pictures/Harold_Scream.png” :(

I love grinding games like that and see "Level Up"!
The concept is very nice.

I lost multiple times, but since we can save when we want it's not a big issue.

The idea of speeding up battles was an excellent one. Since we have to grind, it's gold.
Maybe enable it by default? ( Since we do only battles in this game )

Nice entry, I'll play other with other characters when I'll be done with rating all games! ( Played only Dark Harold )

I'll start off by saying I am not a fan of battle grinders, so take what I am about so say as very biased.

I played several times and could never get more than a few steps away from the healing start. Maybe I am terribly bad at this. The main problem was the random powers and strengths and abilities of the enemies that I had to fight. 
On one play attempt I was drained of MP on the first fight with no drops to replenish me. I didn't last after two more battles.
That said I think it's a fantastic concept that with some polish, and maybe some better leveling and a little more work towards balance, would make a frustratingly fun game. I can definitely see this as a plot point map in a much larger game where a character is separated from his party and tossed into this pit like scenario.
It's definitely something that, were I better at battles, I might have done better with. As is it works for what it is supposed to be. The map works, the mechanics need fine tuning but work, and the lack of any meaningful plot also works.
I may try again after I play other games as practice to get better at the RPG battle system too!

Really solid!

So, it's an interesting concept that mostly delivers, and I think I might go back and replay one of the other characters if time permits, as I want to get a feel for whether some of my nitpicks are specific to Hrld or just the overall design.

Pros:

1. A very unique mechanic (and I know a little about those!)
2. On there's a risk/reward feel that can be pretty engaging, especially at the beginning
3. Choices! (even if it's just which boss you fight)
4. Difficulty is fair and seems reasonably tuned, with some caveats below

Cons

1. No scaling of random fights (or maybe quantity per troop but not new encounters? hard to say)
2. Enemies with MP damage abilities are exponentially more deadly than those without (unless you have unlimited stock of Potion + Coffee like I did toward the end) - could be a Harold character issue due to limited MP
3. Illusion of choice in some respects - the minibosses are kind of different and one was substantially weaker than the others from what I saw, but not enough to really impact one's approach to gameplay
4. In the latter half the fights become a bit of a slog and basically just further pad your Potion stack (I had 14 potions, 12 coffees and 6 Magic waters starting the main fight)

Overall, very fun, and even my critiques are just things that could be better, not stuff that's bad. I could see this becoming a full project or being further explored in future jams to enhance the mechanics.

An interesting mechanic that can get draggy unless you can speed up the fights. That being said, the annoying factor makes for its charm and the different Harolds have different playstyles depending on which Harold you choose. It makes for an interesting gameplay loop. 

The maps are designed specifically to cater to this philosophy, which I can make leeways on. Everything else is just about as standard fare as it gets for an RPG Maker game. The action sequencing is simplistic but it works. The overall presentation is fine, albeit the inconsistent art can be offputting to some.

Overall, not a bad game and I enjoyed the ride.