*vibrates with excitement*
It's two things, kind of contrasted. As revealed in the end of 1, it's a reference to the sound of Mezz beating up an opponent, and violence/conflict more generally. But also yes, it's a reference to the nature of the narrative: it's a game about Mezz losing, over and over again, and suffering various cruel fates as a result. But I also don't want to just nail it down to those specific things. As seen in the end of 2, it kind of flexes and twists to mean different things as the story goes on.
Interesting, well could mean the fate of Mezz is about to about twist as well if you wanna go that way, at least not like anytime soon. I love how a character can grow as chapter move on, Mezz became stronger since he can replenish used energy after each fight and have more powerful abilities, but let his luck remain the same would just be perfect, no amount of skill can save you from ass pounding here. I am only more invested in the game and story and will continue to support it.
Could have seen it also being a reference to mind control. The messages in his head are the serenade and their purpose is to humiliate and corrupt him. A cruel serenade.
you could probably do it similar to that green area in the first one I remember losing a level through that or a mimic chest kind of thing
That was kind of a stub of me playing around with it, but I never really elaborated on it and ended up pulling that out. In order for it to be fun the lack of level would have to be noticeable when fighting enemies and so on. It is a fun idea though, so I might find a way to slip it in briefly in the future.
I am glad that you find the idea worth consideration. It is alright if it doesn't fit into these games, I just wanted to suggest it.
Thank you for answering! :)
Really like level down thing in games, but yeah it's hard to implement it properly. Personally I think having specific events that use that mechanic and after you're done with them you get your levels back works well, but that can feel underwhelming to some people since level downs are not permanent. Maybe an option depending on if you loose or win decides if you get those levels back could work. Either way can't wait for what you come up with. The previous game became one of my favorite hypno games and I can't wait to eventually play this one when it's a bit more finished.
Glad you're enjoying it! I may be able to help, but there are a few things to keep in mind: 1. Make your second purchase on this account, then reply to let me know you have (or let me know what account you're going to use.) 2. Make sure the email you have attached to your account is accurate, because that's where the link is going. 3. Download it quickly, because the link will only be up for a couple days after I send it. 4. Early releases tend to have a number of patches as bugs are fixed leading up to the public release. You won't be getting any of these, just the initial release, and then the public release with everyone else.
If you're fine with all that, feel free to purchase a "second copy" and let me know once you have. Also, note that while I'll try to be quick, I may be in and out a bit the next few days, so it may take a day or two for it to get sent out.
Not directly, but if want to do like a2ce7y above and buy the game a second time (as that comes to the same amount), then let me know the account you used I'll send it over, with the same cautions as I gave a2.
Excellent, exactly what I like to hear. Part of the motivation to make the games hypnosis/mind-fuckery focused was just that there was so little out there that was good, but I also always try to make them fun explicit games overall, rather than just niche titles, so I'm glad whenever I hear they're having that broad appeal. And you've got it exactly: they're hypnosis games, but more broadly they're corruption games, which is a lot of fun.
The first content pack that was just finished caps off all the absolutely crucial stuff. I have two more smaller ones planned, but we'll see what the timeline on those ends up being.
I decided to backtrack from a previous save file and I tried a different approach instead of beating all of them. I definitely find this more doable than previously when i made the original comment. I was stuck at the right alley where I had to fight all those stages of hyenas that were waiting for me. When you lose to them then it's gameover (in my case since I was in my third stage of hypno). I guess I should saved my special move for those and just preserve them when I'm fighting the normal enemies.
So first of all, thanks for the feedback! While I like hearing what people like, hearing what they DON'T is also important. May not always result in a change for a variety of reasons, but I at least want to be aware of what is and isn't working for people.
Second, there are a few different things that are getting entangled here:
1. During the normal, initial playthrough of the entertainment districts, the enemies have a daze move they can use on you. This immobilizes Mezz for a few turns and lets them get his submission up easily. This ability exists for a reason: without it, it's actually fairly easy to steamroll the early enemies if you're careful, even without using the charm. I felt the gameplay needed a little more unpredictability, because TOO much power or agency in combat in these games makes them boring; there has to be some risk, something keeping you on your toes. That said, I've done my best to make sure the enemies don't spam this ability, via a bunch of manual checks, both to make sure it DOES show up every so often, but also that it doesn't get overused. That said, RPGMaker's RNG is...odd sometimes, so you will get some weird lineups every once in a while.
2. If you lose 3 times to the mobs, you then go into a different stealth gameplay mode in that section. The daze attack is no longer a factor, because you don't enter combat. In this mode, the enemies are on set paths to facilitate sneaking past them, rather than their random movements in the normal mode.
With all that said, it is still somewhat possible to avoid SOME of the enemies in the normal mode, and you certainly don't need to fight all of them to progress. But yes, in normal mode you do end up fighting most of them. The stealth aspect is more in that particular mode.
And yes, the main purpose of the special attack is crowd control, and you'll mostly need it for that last gauntlet. It IS possible to get through without using special there, but pretty hard as you'd imagine. But yes, overall I'd definitely recommend avoiding fights if you can. Cruel Serenade is far from a survival horror, but it is a bit stingy with items, and those that are given are provisioned in order to get you to your goal, not to defeat every mob on the map. So in that sense even the normal gameplay is a little "stealth": you're trying to avoid conflict if you can, because you're always just a little (sometimes a lot) behind the 8-ball.
Glad you like it! To be clear, I'm Bitshift, not Mezz, but I appreciate the enthusiasm all the same.
So a few things to clarify. 1. The Datacrystal won't carry over items, level, moves etc. It's JUST there to carry over story data, so the game can remember some of the things you did. 2. For story reasons that will become obvious after you've played a bit, on first starting the game your STORY stats (viewable in the menu under stats) will still all be zero. The DataCrystal info won't load in until you return to Haven for the second time. If you're still not seeing those numbers change after that, let me know.
Nope. In theory you MAY be able to get SOME of it to work: it's just javascript running in a nodejs browser, so index.html kinda sorta works in normal browsers with some adjustments. But it's never going to be perfect, because I do some wacky stuff with plugins that normal browsers aren't going to be happy with.
Yeah, scene guide will be going up in the next couple of days thanks to the tireless work of OpenFireplace, but in the meantime: There are now 4 endings for the game, two of which are new. You seem to have gotten to both of them: losing to Khazeem in the slutmode battle (different bad end than the normal loss), and winning, but under certain circumstances. The epilogue should be...a bit different for that one. There's also the stuff at the host club of course, so be sure to check that out if you haven't.
Aw, appreciate it man. As fast as I get stuff done, I always wish it was faster, but I am glad I've been able to finish a decent amount of stuff so far that people are enjoying. And yeah, another pack in the works. Wanted to have a roadmap post up already, but I'm a little under the weather at the moment. Soon though!
