This was a well scoped game, with a solid use of community assets. Loved how you worked in Nowis' stuff again, as well as the whole MZ and MV crew. Story was decent enough, with some enjoyable writing and little moments that hinted at the history the crew had together, like Lucius killing demon lords with light attacks all the time (thanks for making Lucius strong haha!)
I thought the fights were a bit trying on my patience. Waiting for 12 characters to all do their moves made me zone out a bit. There wasn't very good skill balance either. Against a big group of 8, there was pretty much no match for AoE attacks (I think) and all the single target attacks seemed underpowered. Buffs didn't feel worth it, and TP attacks were weaker than their MP counterparts.
If combat were tightened up, sped up, and balanced a bit, that would have made a big impact on gameplay score for sure.
Lastly, can't help but drop some gamejam tips, which you may have already absorbed! Uploading early is super important, as is testing your deployment. It's always sad to see an entry not quite make it, but it happens every year! Still, hope you got some good feedback and that the jam has been valuable to you.
First off I couldn't tell if the game was bugging out at some points with dialogue being the same twice in a row but it didn't bother me too much. The first battle felt just unwinnable enough to where it was cool, I wasn't just getting absolutely bodied. Very well executed. Story was good considering the length of the game, was simple and easy to follow, had a nice flow and conclusion. Default assets are meh but understandable. Combat was uninteresting at first but sped up was actually pretty fun. With only a few battles I felt like there could have been less options for combat and it would have possibly been better but it wasn't too too much, just maybe a little too many abilities. Overall fun little game
I was curious about leaving without checking the Demon Lord first, so I went to the Reid part of the story first. I like this story for some reason XD Though the first battle with Reid's party took quite long and then kind of like a "only to find out I was supposed to lose" thing. ^^; Other than this, I think I wondered if I had stepped into bug territory and battling an enemy group that was too hard, that I wasn't supposed to battle. (Turns out it wasn't, but me skipping the Demon Lord felt like I maybe discovered some extra things that wasn't supposed to be a part of the game.)
Anyway, I like how vibrant the graphics and text are compared to other RTP games here. Both the style and music reminds me of my VX Ace settings before, which I love. Even the music at the map with the airship felt so VX Ace-like. So I had some feelings for your game from this alone. ^^ Being prevented from not traveling in other parts of the map felt good because it's like "Oh sweet, fewer things to do and shorter play time! :D" after having a long list of games to play.
I checked out the Demon Lord for the first time after I completed the game. (Demon Lord's sprite reappears if you leave the place and reenter.)
Then, I checked out the "final version" .zip file to see if I could fight the statues on the first floor, but still run into the missing background issue XD;
Anyway, for some reason, I enjoyed this entry. ^^And sorry to hear what happened when you were submitting the game! Even though your entry is disqualified, doesn't stop me from sharing thoughts and feedback :D
Thanks for playing! First off, you weren't supposed to lose. I mean, I programmed the battle with the player lossing in mind, but you can win. Although the story progresses the same way even if you manage to beat them. Also, yes, you weren't supposed to be able to skip the Demon lord. Thanks to you, that bug is now fixed.
I need to ask, vibrant how? I just really don't get what you mean. On the other side, a little fun fact: the music on the plaza (map with the airship) is actually VX Ace's Town five with a little pitch adjustment, courtesy of MZ's music-picking settings. Another fun fact, you are the first person who liked Harold telling them "Hey, not this way!" on almost every map.
I can't tell you just how thankfull I am you told me the Demon Lord reappears. That is definitely not supposed to happen.
Finally, yes, I realized that bug only when reading the comments, so the "final" version still has it. Right now, I'm working on fixing all the bugs people have found and getting rid of all those typos only my family noticed. I'll upload a 0.3 version once the jam is over and I'm done fixing everything.
This game may be disqualified, but that's not gonna stop me from giving you feedback! Here we go!
I encountered an error when I tried to fight a statue in the first room:
Failed to load img/battlebacks1/DemonCastle2.png
I like that there is a tutorial area even if it's not going to result in my characters gaining levels.
I also like that you railroad the player to the destination. Maybe not the *best* design choice, but for a jam game, it's acceptable.
Demon King fight was easy enough.
Battle against the 6 was a different story; my team got paralyzed on the first turn, which meant everyone died before I could do anything about it. ☹️ Also, no revive items? Double boo.
Second time around: While I can paralyze them, too, there are still too many enemies, the enemy healers can heal away my damage, and I keep getting stun locked. I'm out!
While this game is a fair attempt, there are a number of newbie errors that need to be addressed to make it more fun.
I did warn the fights were most likely terrible as I made the enemies in 10 minutes, though even if you lose the story is supposed to continue. Fight results just get you some different dialogue. Also, since I spent most of the time just writing the story, I created cheats so you can skip battles. In the options menu you can activate them, and Harold gets two skills called "Auto win" and "Auto death", in "Special", so you just play the story.
Thanks also for the bug report, I must have deleted that battleback when I was desperately trying to get Itch to upload my game.
So apparently I'm dumb and forgot to upload the latest version.
Since I'm late and disqualified anyway I'll put a link to it here, please play this version, the other one has some sad bugs.
Although the game is disqualified, people will still be able to play and offer feedback! I will click the "disqualify" button a week or so before jam judgment time closes.
Comments
This was a well scoped game, with a solid use of community assets. Loved how you worked in Nowis' stuff again, as well as the whole MZ and MV crew. Story was decent enough, with some enjoyable writing and little moments that hinted at the history the crew had together, like Lucius killing demon lords with light attacks all the time (thanks for making Lucius strong haha!)
I thought the fights were a bit trying on my patience. Waiting for 12 characters to all do their moves made me zone out a bit. There wasn't very good skill balance either. Against a big group of 8, there was pretty much no match for AoE attacks (I think) and all the single target attacks seemed underpowered. Buffs didn't feel worth it, and TP attacks were weaker than their MP counterparts.
If combat were tightened up, sped up, and balanced a bit, that would have made a big impact on gameplay score for sure.
Lastly, can't help but drop some gamejam tips, which you may have already absorbed! Uploading early is super important, as is testing your deployment. It's always sad to see an entry not quite make it, but it happens every year! Still, hope you got some good feedback and that the jam has been valuable to you.
First off I couldn't tell if the game was bugging out at some points with dialogue being the same twice in a row but it didn't bother me too much. The first battle felt just unwinnable enough to where it was cool, I wasn't just getting absolutely bodied. Very well executed. Story was good considering the length of the game, was simple and easy to follow, had a nice flow and conclusion. Default assets are meh but understandable. Combat was uninteresting at first but sped up was actually pretty fun. With only a few battles I felt like there could have been less options for combat and it would have possibly been better but it wasn't too too much, just maybe a little too many abilities. Overall fun little game
Thanks for playing!
Thanks for all the feedback!
I was curious about leaving without checking the Demon Lord first, so I went to the Reid part of the story first. I like this story for some reason XD Though the first battle with Reid's party took quite long and then kind of like a "only to find out I was supposed to lose" thing. ^^; Other than this, I think I wondered if I had stepped into bug territory and battling an enemy group that was too hard, that I wasn't supposed to battle. (Turns out it wasn't, but me skipping the Demon Lord felt like I maybe discovered some extra things that wasn't supposed to be a part of the game.)
Anyway, I like how vibrant the graphics and text are compared to other RTP games here. Both the style and music reminds me of my VX Ace settings before, which I love. Even the music at the map with the airship felt so VX Ace-like. So I had some feelings for your game from this alone. ^^ Being prevented from not traveling in other parts of the map felt good because it's like "Oh sweet, fewer things to do and shorter play time! :D" after having a long list of games to play.
I checked out the Demon Lord for the first time after I completed the game. (Demon Lord's sprite reappears if you leave the place and reenter.)
Then, I checked out the "final version" .zip file to see if I could fight the statues on the first floor, but still run into the missing background issue XD;
Anyway, for some reason, I enjoyed this entry. ^^And sorry to hear what happened when you were submitting the game! Even though your entry is disqualified, doesn't stop me from sharing thoughts and feedback :D
Thanks for playing!
First off, you weren't supposed to lose. I mean, I programmed the battle with the player lossing in mind, but you can win. Although the story progresses the same way even if you manage to beat them. Also, yes, you weren't supposed to be able to skip the Demon lord. Thanks to you, that bug is now fixed.
I need to ask, vibrant how? I just really don't get what you mean. On the other side, a little fun fact: the music on the plaza (map with the airship) is actually VX Ace's Town five with a little pitch adjustment, courtesy of MZ's music-picking settings. Another fun fact, you are the first person who liked Harold telling them "Hey, not this way!" on almost every map.
I can't tell you just how thankfull I am you told me the Demon Lord reappears. That is definitely not supposed to happen.
Finally, yes, I realized that bug only when reading the comments, so the "final" version still has it. Right now, I'm working on fixing all the bugs people have found and getting rid of all those typos only my family noticed. I'll upload a 0.3 version once the jam is over and I'm done fixing everything.
Thanks for all the feedback!
This game may be disqualified, but that's not gonna stop me from giving you feedback! Here we go!
I encountered an error when I tried to fight a statue in the first room:
Failed to load img/battlebacks1/DemonCastle2.png
I like that there is a tutorial area even if it's not going to result in my characters gaining levels.
I also like that you railroad the player to the destination. Maybe not the *best* design choice, but for a jam game, it's acceptable.
Demon King fight was easy enough.
Battle against the 6 was a different story; my team got paralyzed on the first turn, which meant everyone died before I could do anything about it. ☹️ Also, no revive items? Double boo.
Second time around: While I can paralyze them, too, there are still too many enemies, the enemy healers can heal away my damage, and I keep getting stun locked. I'm out!
While this game is a fair attempt, there are a number of newbie errors that need to be addressed to make it more fun.
Thanks for playing!
I did warn the fights were most likely terrible as I made the enemies in 10 minutes, though even if you lose the story is supposed to continue. Fight results just get you some different dialogue. Also, since I spent most of the time just writing the story, I created cheats so you can skip battles. In the options menu you can activate them, and Harold gets two skills called "Auto win" and "Auto death", in "Special", so you just play the story.
Thanks also for the bug report, I must have deleted that battleback when I was desperately trying to get Itch to upload my game.
Thanks for all the feedback!
So apparently I'm dumb and forgot to upload the latest version. Since I'm late and disqualified anyway I'll put a link to it here, please play this version, the other one has some sad bugs.
https://drive.google.com/u/0/uc?id=16-CoXFp_kMLPNTj_kmhbxgavPQoBrMP1&export=down...
Although the game is disqualified, people will still be able to play and offer feedback! I will click the "disqualify" button a week or so before jam judgment time closes.