The following is a transcript of my thoughts while playing the game:
+ Nice custom title screen.
+ Wow, a window skin! Cool!
+ So much custom art and I'm only on the intro cutscene. Wow, you put in work!
- Battles in which you have only one skill shouldn't last for more than 2 - 3 turns; otherwise they get boring rather quickly.
- You put in so much work on the custom sprites, but only used front view? I understand that cuts down considerably on your workload, but it's not as nice to look at.
- I would have liked to see a life bar on the enemies so I can better strategize.
- The large trees make for a beautiful map, but it's too easy to lose yourself and other characters behind them.
- Some of the foliage/doodads block movement, others don't. Feels inconsistent.
- I prefer the spaces that transfer the player to new maps activating on "player touch" rather than "action button."
- Tiles at the beginning of the second map imply different levels of elevation, but you can walk on all of them equally.
+ I like how you get a signal when you've done everything on a map.
+ Harold's face reminds me of Link from the Legend Of Zelda.
+ I see why you decided to make your own custom face sets: you can express emotions more exactly than with the default sets while keeping the style consistent. Good move!
- I saw in the description that you heal by dying or running from battles; that seems a little clunky. Couldn't we heal at a specified location, or maybe after each battle since they are so few?
- It's kinda odd that the on-map enemies are depicted as slimes, but they're always flowers.
+ OK, one of the enemies actually was a slime pod.
- I find I'm relying on Wide Sweep exclusively. Also, it doesn't seem to be that different from dual attack. Needs balancing.
+ Wow, that plot twist toward the end!
Also, is this a typo? If not, what do you mean by "untained?"
There are also a couple of tile passage errors:
These are just minor issues, though; nothing game-breaking.
Overall, this is a fabulous effort for making a story-driven game with beautiful artwork. If this is just the first draft and you're planning on fleshing this game out, then you did well because you've overcome the most important hurdle: everything works. The things I would recommend prioritizing as you edit would be the mapping and the battle system. As stated earlier, the maps are beautiful, but there are some design issues that make them difficult to navigate. The battle system feels a bit tacked-on, too; while it exists to keep the game from being a plain walking simulator, there doesn't seem to be much point to it beyond that. It doesn't have any effect on the story, which begs the question: why have a battle system at all? Here's an idea: instead of a battle system, put puzzles in each of the maps that the player has to complete in order to progress through the story. For instance: a moving-block puzzle at the final temple in order to gain access. Just my 2 cents (though maybe more like 10 cents by this point 😛).
Hopefully this isn't too much information. It's a solid entry, and a cool story.