sorta! mz updated with a full suite of interconnected maps (on top of the disparate ones each previous maker has included since ace). no tie-ins with the database though
"The more exciting lesson in this had to do with structure. For this game, I divided the world into three maps and populated each with approximately one-third of the premade encounter formations, one town that sold approximately one-third of the premade equipment, and one boss gating the way to the next area."
I've done basically this a bunch of times, just to mess around or attempt a jam game. I've only actually published it like once I think (for some now-lost RMN jam) but there is absolute an un-perverse joy in it. how much do i have to grind to beat rtp medusa vs rtp satan???
i've also found the same re: party size and the rtp troops between entries. sure a lot of that is just rpg fundamentals but it's shocking how MUCH it really does affect the feel and pacing of "fight some scorpions". it makes me think a lot about what the design could have been here (if there was any lol). is this troop made for just alex or ralph? it's way too easy if you have ylva and bennet like the game wants you to start with in the default system tab. so why is it like this???
as for final fantasy, i did get pleasantly jumpscared by ghosts in the immediate northern forest. i thought that was cute. i'm sure with enough number cracking you could come up with the mathematically perfect way to lay out the rtp database encounters and equipment. and would it still be fun...?
ouuuGHHH i love the concept of making games out of the sample database. usually do it in vx ace but i guess i sorta did it for dragon seeker too (then wound up tweaking it lol)
Yeah, I hate Discord for anything but DMs so I leave servers pretty often, sorry! Nothing personal to anyone there.
I'm really glad to hear a Cedar shout-out. Everyone loves Karin and Uuva, nobody loves Cedar any. Poor guy. I definitely made Queensblade too easy to get but maybe that's just how it needs to be to give people a leg up.
Despite pre-empting me: thank you for seeking the dragon! Really appreciate hearing you tried it multiple times.
i did immediately guess the gimmick cuz there's no way you'd use dalig for just a single-target boss fight!
the meta knowledge part of it is neat though. unlike doll i actually didn't get any woofy drops for a long time but i was like... i know these fuckers are gonna drop some healing eventually right? lo and behold, precious dog meat. thankfully the one carol i encountered 1) immediately got zerk'd by dalig's badass scriptures and 2) dropped a sacred blood that let me get the rest of the way through
but, i do think i like this less than dalig's first go-around. it was satisfying to succeed but the dungeon is purely a monster tripwire this time -- not that i, craze, of all people am going to complain about that, but in this particular case i found the gatekeeper puzzle to be more compelling, especially when sharing the game with friends and not telling them shit. some chests to lure you off the path might have helped (i know the struggles with switches in the time limit there lol)
re: your reply to doll, i do think a slower burn fight would work better because it would make dalig's attack spell drain her way more overall on the expected first try. i actually spammed it plenty and still managed to get through.
edit: i did not make it clear enough how much i liked QUOTE SCRIPTURE as a new tool though. really loved when like, each enemy got a different status effect. offensive oration that felt sticky and useful was fun
the 2k3 battle system is so funny. any tweaks to AGI just destroy it. i felt that letting uuva do that with the tradeoff of her also being the best potential nuker (if you choose to spend gold on her runes) was pretty fair lol
howdy. i love this pack and have used it for multiple jam games now. it's got a really good spread.
however, if you were ever to update it, my vote would please be for a spider! it's like the only classic monster i feel is missing.
either way, i will continue to use and love this pack. it has that retro feel you're so good at while being suitable for modern resolutions/palettes. impressive work
this is such a wonderful idea. you really translated the elements of baseball into deckbuilder mechanics well. would love to play an expanded version of this in the future too
this one felt like a cross between waldemar's game and aria's poison rpg, where movement is really important and actively hostile to you.
i think i agree with the slightly less punishing scorps would make the desert areas a bit more interesting. i found that one little corner toward banzu where you must walk over two sand patches both thrilling and horrifying.
i would like to say that the one time on a near-winning run that i crossed a tiny bit of desert after killing a field slime, just next to the oasis, too, supposedly rerunning the encounter clock... i won the lottery and got the fabled "immediate next step is also an encounter" blessing of an iron scorp. i'd like to think this was intentional and hard-coded into my copy.
e: i do think that this is an improvement on your goals for waldemar's, ftr!
okay, given the title and the size of the world map i assumed there was something to do with secret entrances but i couldn't find any edgemashing and somehow, despite trying like 8 times, never found any in the dungeon LOL
i do think it's an aspect of dungeoning worth exploring though. something i feel a lot of amateur rpg designers fail to understand is just how much the typical jrpg compounds its power progression -- gold, exp, new spells, dungeon knowledge, path unlocking, etc. all make things easier in a multiplicative way. breaking a game down into one solitary aspect of that (in this case, length of attrition/path unlocking) is a more than worthwhile sketch even if i couldn't figure it out ;;
edit: even if you think your lessons learned are simple, remember you're not the only one. your fanclub is also playing/sharing these and picking up/reaffirming ideas from them ~
I actually thought that backtracking idea was what was going to happen, but I couldn't find Nouf despite trying so I wound up just getting to Valdivia from Luwoll.
I love the idea of a game like this with trading between ports and such. I wanted to make one for a jam a while back that was on a huge landlocked sea but after a couple of days the evil kraken queen would start tormenting you or w/e, putting your smooth sailing on a time limit. One day, one day...
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what a cool game!! i love the char swapping for speed vs interactions
Yeah, the loading takes a bit cuz it's trying to make sure the random hook-ups can reach the town and final boss within two transfers from the world map or town. Some maps are definitely missing each run cuz I didn't just want to like, swap single-exit maps with each other... I wanted it to be really random. I decided I was cool with this and just added a couple ways to heal throughout. I especially like it cuz it means it's really rare to get all four characters' ultimate weapons so you're more invested in drops (or if you're lucky enough, stores lol).
Glad you appreciated the crunchy flavor. Thanks again.
Enjoying where I'm at so far with this. The concept of a "poison rpg" is really, really good. Buuuut yeah it's so hard lol, I'm a bit stuck at how I'm supposed to burst down all these DireTrees without any more ways to refill Serenade. Quick Sky doesn't seem to be fast enough to do it.
I'll try again in a little bit, though. I'm curious where it goes.
Just left a positive Steam review but wanted to bring up a concern here as well. The description mentions spears and multiple keys in the icon set. These are not included! There's not a single spear and only one golden key.
Adding at least one spear and a simple brass/iron key would be much appreciated.
yeah i had a similar experience -- all the highs and lows of rpg maker football without the concerns. i just liked wailing on shit and restarting to get better luck vs the ressurectoids lol. liked this one quite a bit!
