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Dead Content Blades of Fire - Part One (version 0.7)

Dead content awaiting restoration.
Hi everyone,

I'm new to this forum, but I have been using RPG maker Xp for quite some time. The result is Blades of Fire, my first completed project. Actually, the game will be released in two parts and this is part one.

Download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GQ1W81PK

Contents
- The first 60% of the story.
- Four dungeons, four towns and a lot of outdoor area's to explore.
- Five playable characters
- Four different minigames including fishing and a mine cart ride.
- Somewhere between 6 and 10 hours of gameplay.

Story
You play the role of Erina, an elite swordswoman in search of her long-lost sister. She has visited many places in the world, but has had no luck so far. When travelling at sea her ship crashed and now she finds herself in Tyee, a remote village in the soutern part of the Taraus kingdom.

A young man called Aaron took care of her while she was recovering, but it soon becomes clear that he has problems of his own. After a chase along the rocky coastline of southern Taraus by agents of an unkown organisation, Aaron finds himself at the edge of land with nowhere left to go. What will become of him?

In the meantime, conflict between the Kingdom of Taraus and the Almelian Empire is heating up. Almelia sends an army under leadership of one of the best generals it has ever known. Will Erina be able to find her sister and return to her homeland before war breaks out?

Characters
Erina
Erina is an elite swordswoman in search of her long-lost sister Ayra. She is a selfish young woman, who cares little about anything but her own personal agenda. Her origins lie in a nameless town deep within the Almelian Empire, but she has lived in Divilion for most of her life. Her skill with a blade brought her victory in the annual battle tournament of that city, although she admits the title would probably have gone to her sister if she had not disappeared.

Aaron
Aaron is a kind-hearted young man who lives in Tyee village. His birthplace is unknown, as he doesn't like to talk about his past, but his pointed ears and exotic look reveal that he was born in a distant land. He has been hunted down by agents of a mysterious organization, but is determined to escape them at all costs. Aaron can study enemy's in battle to learn their skills.

Cid
Cid is a fisherman who has led a quiet life in Tyee village. Although he is far from stupid, he has a tendency babble on which sometimes annoys other characters. He divorced his wife many years ago and doesn't have one good word to say about her, but he would like his daughter again if he has the chance. Cid can use spear techniques in battle.

Mirana
Miranda is an old sorceress who describes herself as neither good or evil, but as one who observes. She cares little about the other characters and keeps her thoughts and feelings private for the most time. Her reasons for joining the group are unknown. She can cast offensive spells in battle.

Deavinn
Deavinn is the captain of a trade vessel born in the mountainous kingdom of Firenze. The harch climate of her homeland has bred some of the most fearsome warriors in the world. Deavinn is no different, having been a warrior for most of her life, she throws herself into battle with a broad smile on her face. She is not reckless however, but she can be direct and blunt at times. She can transform herself in mythical creatures if the conditions in battle are right, as well as do massive damage with her axe.

Unknown Character
Part Two of the game will introduce yet another character with a past and battle skills of his own. You'll have to wait a little longer to find out who he is!

Battle System
While exploring outdoor areas or dungeons you may run into monsters. Blades of Fire uses random encounters, but the encounter rate is set high, so you won't run into monsters every few seconds. The game also uses the default battle system, but with a few twists to keep things interesting. Each character has unique skills. Some characters learn skills when they level up, while some learn skills by other means.

Erina
Erina uses sword techniques in battle, but she also has a few skills that upgrade her stats. These can't be used on party members however. She learns skills by levelling up.

Aaron
Aaron is Forest Magician, he can learn skills from monsters by studying them. In order to learn a skill, he must use the study skill in battle. If a monster has a skill that Aaron can learn, he will do so automatically. Some skills are basic attacks or spells with a twist, while others may heal or protect allies.

Cid
Cid is a Spear Warrior, he can use the Rain of Spear command to attack enemies. This skill starts out low, but it does more damage each time that you use it. It can become quite powerful in the latter half of the game. Cid also has some spells at his disposal, which learns at level up.

Mirana
Mirana is a sorceress, one of the few remaining ones in the world. She can cast offensive, elemental spells in battle. She learns new spells by finding and studying magical stones.

Deavinn
Deavinn does massive damage with her axe, but she is unique in the sense that she has only one skill and doesn't learn new ones. This skill lets her transform herself into a mystical creature for a short period of time. In this period she can cast powerful healing magic, as well as protective spells. If her VP is low, she loses control of herself, transforming her into another type of mythical creature.

Minigames
There are various minigames scattered throughout the game. Some mut be played at specific points in the story to advance, while other are (mostly) optional.

Fishing
In this minigame you have three attemps to catch various type of fish. What you catch depends on the weather, your location and some luck. The game can be played in a pond near one of the villages in the game. Don't forget to bring along a fishing rod and some bait!

Boat race
In this minigame you must navigate a tight canyon course as quickly as possible, while avoiding various obstacles and sea monsters that are moving around. Cid will be very upset if you damage the boat that he just repaired for you!

Strategic battle
In this minigame you take control of an army and must defeat the opposing army in a rock, paper, scissors type of game. While this may sound easy, your chances of success are low if you don't recruit various characters beforehand. Their skills will prove unmissable once battle starts!

Screenshots

Things that still need work
Balance of the battle system
The newest version has improvements in this area, but it's not perfect yet. I will thoroughly test it in the coming weeks.

I hope you will all play my game and enjoy it :)
 
You're gonna have to put the screenshots in this actual thread instead of linking them to another site. Give us some idea of the game's plot as well, what the game is about. You're going to get more downloads if people know what they're downloading.
 
I didn't want to overflow this topic with information, but the spoiler system works rather nicely so I guess it's not a problem :) I hope you have some constructive feedback on the game itself as well though.
 
I've released a new version. There are three main improvements.

- The balance of the battle system is better and some characters learn skills in unique ways (other than levelling up)
- There's a little more depth to the story and the dialogue has been improved.
- I've also done a bit of work on the mapping, as I've had comments that the maps are too empty. The screenshots are outdated now. I'll post new ones soon.
 
Hi, I just started playing this game. It's been quite interesting so far. But now I'm kinda stuck because of a minor bug.

Well, I returned to Tyee after Aaron jumped off a cliff, and now need to get a hammer, nails and wood for a boat. I know how to get the stuff but the thing is the item shop which sold a doll earlier doesn't have it now. I know I need it to get the hammer. I already got the nails.

Also if you return to Aarons house and go upstairs, the first cutscene plays out again when you go downstairs. It's like you're starting the game all over again.
 
I've released version 0.7. Changes include:

- An Introduction
- Better Mapping (as shown in screenshots)
- Better use of color tones (as shown in screenshots)
- Less enemy encounters
- Sound Effects
- More unique skills for each character and other twists to the battle system
- Better balance in battles (not quite perfect though; this is what I'll be working on next)
- Better presentation of cutscenes
- More story
- Titlescreen
- Bug Fixes (including the one mentioned by transculence above)

The next version will have:
- Fine Tuning of battle difficulty and character abilities
- Fine tuning of dialogue and story
- Solution for the fog problem
- Unique strategy's for boss battles
- Subquests
- Various small changes & bug Fixes
 
Hey there.

I thought your game was pretty ok..
The dialogue i would say is the strongest thing, the weakest being the personalisation,
I personally thought you could do with adding more scripts, maybe adding icons for your items and AT LEAST GET RID OF THAT WINDOWSKIN! :haha:

I'm sure 0.7 will be awesome though. ;)

Just to say there is no Aaron icon/sprite/picture thing in the game menu next to his name.
Aaaand a very minor point, the hairy monsters you got labelled goblins, they ain't goblins.. :shades:
 
Nice game... aljthought the maps are a little... hollow. Not to mean they are not good-looking. Just, there is nothing to do inmost of them except going from the entrance to the exit while fighting random monsters.
As for the dialogs.... not to say they are blunt by themselves... just their introduction is blunt.

Oh... by the way.. I was here to report a significant bug in Sola's Inn. There is a guy here (EV006 near the counter) that systematicaly changes Variable 34 (Capter 9) value to 10 -- it took me a certain amount of time figuring why I couldn't speak to the Innkeeper about Aaron's illness...

Another thing to mention (but I don't think you can do anything about it). It is the first RMXP game that crashes at certain events triggering while my video magnifier software is running... very very strange.
 
Me again...

Err... is your game designed to go beynd chapter 9, or... Because to conditionnal branching in the Event transporting to the Fishing doesn't define the Fishing Rod as the item that must be in the inventory. I didn't even find the Fishing Rod...

Unless the guy who sets the Variable 34 to 10 is there to skip the whole fishing thing ??? In this case, it should have been fair to drop a wort somewhere...
 

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