Post by Razuth in AGOT comments

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What a journey...

Now that I've played through to the end I want to give my thoughts on the game separately to those that I expressed in the jam comments.

Vibes and aesthetics are what I really enjoyed most about the game.

Although very unique and uncompromisingly it's own thing, I can see many influences from other great RPGs like Franzen in here.

The party really reminds me of the Onion Knights in Final Fantasy III.

Ocean, Terra and Gale I get, but Ashleigh is kind of the black sheep as far as the naming modus operandi goes. Perhaps the 'Ash' part has something to do with Fire but maybe you could clear that one up for me?

Again, very enjoyable game and art experience in general. The game is just so lovingly made that at some point I want to go through it again.

I didn't find everything, got to level 20 and beat the final boss. Didn't find the treasure on the treasure map nor beat the optional tank boss.

On my next run through I want to try get to level 25 and do all the optional stuff so I could maybe write up a spoiler free walkthrough on the game if time allows in the near future (with your permission, of course!).

Thanks again for making this unique and beautiful treasure. i LoVe YoU

onamint3 days ago(+1)

Thank you for playing AGOT! As long as it was enjoyable in some way I consider it a success. Here are some quick replies to your comments:

-FF3 and FF4 were deliberate inspirations; I really enjoy working at like a 16 x 16 tile size and that era of console RPGs I'll always carry with me. I am still working on my playthrough of Franzen but it's a wonderful game ^^

-Ashleigh's name is less direct than the others, but you have the intended interpretation of its wordplay correct!

-The final boss's balancing was decided around not completing the treasure map and not defeating Guernica, so that's all groovy. There's no changes to the ending for finding all the levelups, so it's strictly up to the player if one wants to do so. If I fully polish AGOT, and there is a little more I'd like to do with it, I'd probably think of something to do with that.

-If you want to write a walkthrough for the game, I'd hardly mind! Depending on your format for it I could get the map images or contribute some notes, whatever would benefit the effort.

I appreciate ya making it to the end screen too, thank you so much again for giving it a go! :D

Razuth2 days ago

Thanks and yes today I did fancy another bash at the game in preparation for making a walkthrough for other players.

In this latest run I discovered some more quartz to get to a level 23 ending and I am only missing the treasure map clue which I assume is where I will get my greedy mitts on the final two.

Pending another run tomorrow I should be at the stage where I would feel confident enough to make a decent walkthrough.

I will probably mock it up in something shitty like Notepad and just get a basic .txt file containing all the info to start out with.

To be fair I don't own any decent writing app due to Microsoft gating stuff behind paywalls and subscriptions nowadays but Google probably has a decent free one so I'll see what I can come up with and send you a link to whatever I get made to Google Drive or something and get your OK on it or any additions you would want included.

Not 100% sure what time frame it's going to get done in but I'll be sure to keep to you updated.

onamint2 days ago

Yeah! No sweat! I mostly use like the LibreOffice suite or google doc type stuff too; everything "mainstream" going subscription only or whatever just makes me sick to my stomach XD

The treasure map does have the last 2 quartz, but it might be trickier to figure out than intended. If you need a soft hint feel free to lemme know :3

Razuth1 day ago (1 edit) (+1)

A soft hint would be most welcome!

I think about as soft as I would want to go is:

'Is it on the overworld?'

I look at the map and it doesn't look like the overworld but then I think to myself what the hell else could that map clue be?

Like if it is then I don't mind manually searching every square on the overworld but if it's not I really have no clue even on which map it could be XD

EDIT: Fast forward six hours and my raw walkthrough for AGOT is ready now here.

This is all the info I gathered in my three runs to get a player through the game including the Presidente fight if they wish. All I believe that is missing is the treasure map section.

I will edit and add to the walkthrough as needed. If you would kindly give it a skim over at your leisure and make suggestions or corrections I would be grateful :)

onamint1 day ago

The treasure map location is not on the overworld! Though in retrospect, it probably should be? It's probably what people think of most when they think about a treasure map quest, and it would give more purpose to all of the overworld tiling that is largely set dressing. I'll stick a pin in that XD

I'll give the walkthrough a poke today if I can, off to a slow start so far this morning ^^;

Razuth1 day ago(+1)

Awesome and I did spend an hour trying to find that dang treasure location and I finally found it in the place that I least expected it to be of course.

Guide updated to give the location and also due to some very shrewd game design by your good self, placed it in the correct part of the guide recommended for the players :)

onamint1 day ago

Good job figuring it out! It is designed the follow like the "intended line" of the game's "quests", but it is also the most readily leapfrogged I think? That's just based off my feelings about it and not hard numbers XD

Good job doing all of the game's quests! Sorry to tie up more of your day with it, but awesome job all the same. If this was still the 80s or something you could probably send in a card and get like, a high score reward type thingy like companies used to do!

onamint23 hours ago

Also, sorry for double reply, but I read the guide and I think it is good! The possible line through the game is a little flexible and this one is close to how I laid it out and ran it in my tests and how my playtest group approached it too.

Thanks for putting effort into writing it all out! It was fun, reminded me of like, reading GameFAQs back when I was a sapling? Very cool ^^

Razuth19 hours ago(+1)

Thanks I am glad you like the guide.

It's a tad raw but I kind of like how it came out TBH so I don't think I will tinker with it too much now.

I think because you made the game non-linear it needed at least someone to make a route map through in order to avoid potential frustration.

Correct me if I am wrong but you can go swing your fists at Phlogiston right after you activate the elevator at the start?

Also compiling the walkthrough gave me another excuse to make another run through the game haha.

I believe AGOT really found it's audience with me and I am lucky you submitted the game to a jam I was participating in or it would have completely flown below my radar. Now I can follow whatever you make with great interest - you've won a fanboy for life haha.

But in all seriousness, I think making a walkthrough was my best compliment to the game as perhaps it will make it more accessible to those who are drawn by the art but are struggling with progression.

I think I'll go ahead and post the link to the walkthrough on the game's jam page too whilst voting is still underway just so it's out there :)

onamint9 hours ago

I am happy you had a good time with AGOT, and feel free to post the guide! I have no real idea how many people are making it to the ending, but the ending is what I am happiest with, so if the guide helps more people get there than all the better ^^

I thiiink the only quest you are "forced" to do is escaping the oubliette, which forces you into being level 5. The only encounter that is stopping you from fighting Phlogiston at level 5 is the drone encounter, which can't be avoided and is between you and the switches needed to open the final hallway. I think the drone is balanced around level 12, I'd have to check the numbers, but you can probably beat it a little earlier with the right abilities and speed order? It's designed to quickly dump you in the trash if you're too low in order to point people elsewhere.

But past that, yeah, I don't think there's any other required encounters, just practically you need to be strong enough to beat the drone and Phlogiston. Given how some of the quartz is blocked by fixed encounters there is kind of a "soft requirement" of levels needed to get more levels, but I think you could possibly get from 5 to 13ish without additional fights if you're quick enough and the pathfinding works out in your favor.

I am happy you found a lot to enjoy in AGOT; I have always struggled to hold my creative stuff with positivity and the general reaction to AGOT has given me a lot to think about in evaluating my perspective. I'd be happy to have you try my other works as stuff comes out of the workshop, of course, and I'll keep an eye out for your things too! :3

itch.io

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