The prologue was masterfully done and helped set the tone for the rest of the game. The writing was smooth and the series of artwork in particular were gorgeous! Too bad Inna had to die... D: The character art are as good as ever. Ambros is cool, Tulia and Nadja's flashbacks really made me felt for him.
It's pretty cool how you made the CBS work. I've played a little of Helen's Castle before but that was long ago and it was a fun time relearning it! The balance was mostly tight, the upgrades rightfully powerful. Most memorable enemy for me has got to be the tiger which really taught me how to handle evasion.
The open-endedness is appreciated! I went to the visionary first, the castle, then back to the forest for hollies last. My favorite area is probably the castle. Avoiding enemies and traps was a good change of pace and the castle layout design was well done. You've also managed to capture the depressive feel of the city. There was an empty chest in the cave, is there some significance to this? All in all, this is a great piece of work! I look forward to what your future games will bring.
Some minor bugs: -Your character will move while the main menu is still on if you press up/down immediately after exiting the weapon upgrade menu -I didn't receive any ambrosia from the two chests within the secret room inside the cave -Graphic error where bottles on the table turn into a shield when you enter the said secret room -"confidence" spelled wrong in the Amun Shroud flashback -Monsters in the castle don't stop moving when you enter the menu -You can bypass some traps and doors by walking under them -Ring of Hermes chest is described as Ring of Mars
Thank you for playing! I'm glad the intro of the game really left an impression on people. I wasn't sure how people were going to react to *that* part at first, but it seems like I was able to ruse several people with it. Inna will be back in the eventual crossover game with the other characters, maybe not with her head fully intact at all times, but she will be there for more than 10 minutes!
Making the CBS was, surprisingly, not as difficult as expected. Of course, there were some snags along the way, but the simplicity of the battle system along with the Show String Picture feature helped make it a smooth process. I didn't test the game balance too well, but thankfully it looks like it has the right amount of difficulty.
The open-ended gameplay was a nice change of pace for me, since most of my games before were mostly linear. I'm a fan of more open-ended games like Demon King Chronicle and Black Souls, but I wasn't sure how I'd make it work here. In the end, I'm pretty glad I made the game open-ended, I think letting the player explore freely without nagging them about where to go next adds to the feel of the game. I was tempted to make the castle painful with some of its traps, but I decided to hold back. Also, I had no idea there was an empty chest in the cave. Checking the cave, I think I messed up an event somewhere there... I'll have to fix that later.
Thanks for the thorough bug report, I'll be fixing these in the next update!
Made me jealous that I didn't think to do something like this myself: CHECK
I couldn't believe it when I got past the intro just what I was playing, but you've made something that approaches VIPRPG quality and cannot wait to see what other exceptional quality works you put out now that you have tasted the power of RM2k3 Maniacs.
Comments
The prologue was masterfully done and helped set the tone for the rest of the game. The writing was smooth and the series of artwork in particular were gorgeous! Too bad Inna had to die... D: The character art are as good as ever. Ambros is cool, Tulia and Nadja's flashbacks really made me felt for him.
It's pretty cool how you made the CBS work. I've played a little of Helen's Castle before but that was long ago and it was a fun time relearning it! The balance was mostly tight, the upgrades rightfully powerful. Most memorable enemy for me has got to be the tiger which really taught me how to handle evasion.
The open-endedness is appreciated! I went to the visionary first, the castle, then back to the forest for hollies last. My favorite area is probably the castle. Avoiding enemies and traps was a good change of pace and the castle layout design was well done. You've also managed to capture the depressive feel of the city. There was an empty chest in the cave, is there some significance to this? All in all, this is a great piece of work! I look forward to what your future games will bring.
Some minor bugs:
-Your character will move while the main menu is still on if you press up/down immediately after exiting the weapon upgrade menu
-I didn't receive any ambrosia from the two chests within the secret room inside the cave
-Graphic error where bottles on the table turn into a shield when you enter the said secret room
-"confidence" spelled wrong in the Amun Shroud flashback
-Monsters in the castle don't stop moving when you enter the menu
-You can bypass some traps and doors by walking under them
-Ring of Hermes chest is described as Ring of Mars
Thank you for playing! I'm glad the intro of the game really left an impression on people. I wasn't sure how people were going to react to *that* part at first, but it seems like I was able to ruse several people with it. Inna will be back in the eventual crossover game with the other characters, maybe not with her head fully intact at all times, but she will be there for more than 10 minutes!
Making the CBS was, surprisingly, not as difficult as expected. Of course, there were some snags along the way, but the simplicity of the battle system along with the Show String Picture feature helped make it a smooth process. I didn't test the game balance too well, but thankfully it looks like it has the right amount of difficulty.
The open-ended gameplay was a nice change of pace for me, since most of my games before were mostly linear. I'm a fan of more open-ended games like Demon King Chronicle and Black Souls, but I wasn't sure how I'd make it work here. In the end, I'm pretty glad I made the game open-ended, I think letting the player explore freely without nagging them about where to go next adds to the feel of the game. I was tempted to make the castle painful with some of its traps, but I decided to hold back. Also, I had no idea there was an empty chest in the cave. Checking the cave, I think I messed up an event somewhere there... I'll have to fix that later.
Thanks for the thorough bug report, I'll be fixing these in the next update!
Comfy campfire scenes: check
Custom battle system: check
Open ended game: check
Made me jealous that I didn't think to do something like this myself: CHECK
I couldn't believe it when I got past the intro just what I was playing, but you've made something that approaches VIPRPG quality and cannot wait to see what other exceptional quality works you put out now that you have tasted the power of RM2k3 Maniacs.
Thank you again for playing!
Believe me, I've got plenty up my sleeve when it comes to what I want to make next in 2k3 Maniacs. I'm just getting started here!
Now this is some good RPG gaming. Thanks for breaking my heart.
Thank you for playing! Hopefully I can break everyone's hearts even harder in a later game.