It was a fun platformer game with interesting visuals.
Mark1929
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The script was... interesting.
There are a lot of creators out there who love to complain about storytelling cliches, even as they frequently use more storytelling cliches than everyone around them.
It's... odd.
But there are many, many cliches when it comes to most itch.io visual novels.
Your self-aware parody was... unique.
Though, it does make me wonder if there are any itch.io creators out there who would sincerely care enough to write a story that doesn't revolve around wit and sarcasm and unoriginal references...
Maybe one day.
I really like the setting and the incredible artwork.
The CRPG gameplay is very fun and the available skills are cool.
I was wondering, are there any other fantasy CRPGs that have robust skill and combat systems? I've heard that this game was inspired by Baldur's Gate and Shadowrun, but I'm not very familiar with those franchises, and from what I've seen from gameplay videos, Price for Freedom: Avarice already has a stronger gameplay loop than what I could find in those other CRPG games.
Well, that's one way of dealing with things, yes. People often forget that classic flash animations and flash games have used similar themes and imagery for a long time, and then they act like it's suddenly supposed to be controversial.
Creators on the net have often been crass and irreverent, but rarely malicious. Unlike those who say nasty things just for the sake of it.
Currently having a lot of fun with the disc 2 steam release, looking for new skill combos.
I've been thinking about getting the soundtracks for disc 1 and disc 2 on bandcamp, and that led me to wondering if there are plans to release the soundtracks as steam dlc, like some other steam games tend to do.
It's a very challenging but also very fun and unique game.
Some of the later encounters can drag on for a bit due to the high wave count and it can be crushing to get partway through and then lose your rank 2 weapons and unique tire sets.
Late demo foes tend to withstand a huge amount of punishment unless you equip a rocket launcher and put up with the subpar accuracy at anything besides point-blank range, and it's practically necessary because you need to take down individual cars as quickly as possible to reduce the number of guns firing on your car at the same time.
It's a fun, cute tower defense game. A bit challenging with the wave with the two highly durable enemies that cost the full 10 lives.
Edit: Beat the game after trying out various 2x2 and 3x3 towers. It's a very fun robust concept, especially when combining the machine gun and sniper mega towers.
Reminds me of Bubble Tanks Tower Defense.
It's an interesting game, but it doesn't seem like there's a strict win condition aside from keeping the four gods and goddesses happy with requests, especially past the initial few cards. The four god affinity meters max out fairly quickly along with happiness and the wreath stat. Food seems like the main concern but there are plenty of cards given to deal with a large population and there doesn't seem to be much of a penalty for having food be low for an extended period.
A short but also fun entry.
A part of me was expecting the game to be harder than it turned out to be, given the selection of party members and skills.
The game's combat past floor 1 doesn't require anything from Roza aside from a bit of healing, and Kasey doesn't really have much value to contribute during the final fight because of Priscilla's two additional skills. Reid also doesn't have much to do in the final fight, either.
Still, I really enjoyed playing your entry.
This was a really fun strategy/card fighting game.
The card-based cooldown was fun to witness and plan around, using forward step and charge to get into position so I could chain one quick punch into a second punch and then a charged kick to close the distance between the characters. Tense and exciting but also fair in execution.
It was cool to be able to counter the foe's charged attacks with simple punches and basic movement options.
"I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times."
Or a punch, in this case.
Well done.
It's definitely an interesting idea, though it could definitely be expanded on for a more unique system, like you said.
Anyone who's ever picked up an RPG can definitely see the appeal in having the tank or the sweeper go first with party damage reduction, single target/aoe physical/magical burst, taunt/aggro moves or enemy debuff skills while the healer goes last.
Knowing when the foe will attack is nice but doesn't mean much at the moment for a prototype where you don't really have to worry about taking big burst damage in the current system.
Of course, with the system you're proposing, being able to visualize when the enemy will act is crucial, such as having a turn order sequence that also shows who the foe plans to act and what skill they plan on using (the latter can be deemed optional, but the strategy aspect depends on knowing/predicting what enemy skill you need to have the party react to in advance, such an area of effect firestorm or a high damage single target physical move with low accuracy that can be countered by an evasion buff, etc.)
But more importantly, a system that lets you decide turn order is going to inherently draw a lot of value from what skills each party member has and how fun it is to chain skills together during combat flow.
For example, Sawyer Friend's recent game jam entry, Meeting of the Selves, has a fairly robust puzzle/jrpg system with turn order where you can focus on offense by weakening the foe with a resistance lowering debuff and then chain the mage's magic damage skill together for great value, a situation where turn order is crucial because the debuff only lasts one turn.
In comparison, this prototype demonstrates the basic idea but the available skills leave a lot to be desired for the moment. Harold has his usual Heal and Spark, Therese has no skills, Marsha has Fire and Lucius has Heal. All useful skills but they don't flow or chain together well in regard to having the usual jrpg strategies like aggro/taunt, buffs/debuffs and exploiting enemy elemental weaknesses. Plus, game balance can become tricky in a hurry when you want to decide on how tough/powerful/dangerous the foes are and how much pressure you want to put on the player to plan ahead and use defensive skills to mitigate incoming burst single or multi target damage or seriously crippling debuffs that require skills or items to cure, something that is standard in many RPG system.
The OTB Octopath Traveller system sounds like it has merit, but I'm not sure if the dynamic nature would do much to improve the strategy aspect. Octopath Traveller and similar titles like Crystal Project plus Time Break Chronicles are fun and easy to pick up and play because it's not difficult to react and recover to burst damage if you remember to hold MP and healing items in reserve during a pinch, which most players lean into by default becuase of all the RPGs they've/we've played over the years.
The current 'choose turn order and skills at the beginning of each round' seems like it has more value to be extrapolated upon for the strategy aspect. I know that most JRPGs have a set turn order system so the player can focus on choosing party skills and reacting to enemy skills, while turn order is something that can be altered and shifted with certain skills in certain RPG systems (Time Break Chronicles has personalized skills that let a character use their turn to give an extra turn to a different character) but not something you normally pick at the start of every round. Done well, and the player will have a lot of fun with deciding turn order as well as party skills. Otherwise, the player will just go with Character 1-2-3-4 / H-T-M-L and spam attack and damage skills.
It was a very fun game with great mechanics, music and story.
I've adored your particular pixel chiptune style, and I liked the inclusion of Cye.
Though, I have a question about the secret ending flow, if there is a secret ending in the game.
I got the bad ending of the game, then I went back to the town statue and cleared the secret boss that gives 25 skill points, then I went back and beat the regular final boss, getting the notice about the 'wish.'
I loaded my most recent save and went back to the village again, but nothing changed.
Did I do the sequence out of order?
Edit: I went back to my older saves and beat the final boss before beating the secret boss again, but nothing changed. Unless the 'wish' thing was just misdirection and there's only one official ending, or I was supposed to beat the final boss before opening the statue passageway.
Either way, it was a fun title. I heard that Paper Castle Games is also working on a RPG called Wander Stars where you combine words to alter skill effects, and I think it's going to be interesting if their version is even half as good as yours.