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I don't have much to add that hasn't been said already. I was drawn in by the custom art and was pleasantly surprised that the game had a sense of humor and fun battles. I was also surprised there is a demo out at all with all the features this game offers. The one thing that was kind of a bother was saving actually. I didn't see any save option in the menu so I found myself having to track down save orbs in town. It wasn't a major detraction but I just thought it was slightly odd that the save option is missing completely. Sorry if that seems like a petty complaint but I wanted to give you some criticism. This is definitely one of the better projects on this forum and I hope to see more of it soon.
Hey guys, I haven't played this since you first released a demo but I played 2.0 last night and... wow. It's improved so much to me. If this introduction was around before you'd definately be getting another misao right there in my eyes!
My favourite part was:
The prison... letting the player choose who to let out is a great way to encourage player interactivity. Of course I like most likely did... let everyone free, but I hope they do have repercussions later in the game... like Hok suggested.
The art is as impressive as ever and still looks as unique today as it always has.
If I am trying to pull apart the negative things it would be petty but here are some things that occurred to me. I'm not usually a fan of getting to the end of a dungeon area then having to play back through to the entrance, I tend to just keep slamming ESC whenever that happens and I think that happened in all the areas it could have.
The tree sprites could do with updating if you hadn't planned to, they look pretty flat compared to everything else.
This one will sound odd... but for some reason I felt the font in the message boxes came across as untidy. Perhaps a font that isn't so bold and big may look better... I can just imagine them looking a bit tidier!
Of course though, they are merely gripes. I played the whole thing from beginning to end so that must be a good sign.
Just downloaded and played the demo. I loved it. It was really well done. A couple of comments:
In general, I love your custom graphics it really sets you apart. And all of them are amazing. There were a couple things though. Such as a couple of the tree sprites which like Calibre said, looked a bit flat, good, but a bit flat. Also the floor of the prison is done in a way where the grid of the map is incredibly obvious, perhaps edit it a bit so they blend together better? Oh! Some of the tileset is missing like a single layer of pixels so they don't connect fully allowing for parts of the character to be seen. For example, the water statues in the prison and the walls in the Captain's room. And final 'gripe' is the way the nose is shaded on the dark elf with the teal hair makes it look really wonky, might have just been me, but it's dark on both sides and it comes off as a bit weird.
I also really like the characters, they all have nice designs and have unique personalities with a lot of potentital growth.
All in all, awesome job! Good luck with everything.
I apologize in advance for a lack of flow to these replies to the replies. I'm actually quite sick at the moment, but I wanted to attempt to reply because I've been meaning to.
@ArtBane: We're trying to be more then that "Game with the custom graphics", and I'm glad that is showing. I'd like to think that this demo is proof of our commitment to the project, and that we can and will get this done. (Eventually)
As far as the saving thing, maybe it's because I grew up a console gamer, but I've never been a fan of save anywhere systems. However, upon reading your comment initially, I started brewing over the idea of a Quick Save system. I think it will be implemented for the next demo, so the player can take a break at any time, but they can't abuse it for a quick retry.
@Vicener: The art style isn't for everyone, but I'm glad you think it is awesome.
@Calibre: Thank you ^^ The old demo was really pretty rushed (once we finished all the plotting and character planning, the actual development only took about 2 months), and we really spent the time to make this demo represent what we want for this project. We fought with what to do for the intro for quite some time, and I'm glad what we finally came up with is liked.
We haven't completely plotted what the repercussions will be yet, but there defiantly will be some. Some might be as simple as an extra scene or two, some might be a large side quest =D
Yeah, a large number of areas required returning to the entrance, but I don't out right want to warp the player back. Thus, we tried to include a large number of Coward's Winds to make for quick exits.
I do see what you mean about the trees. It might not be anytime soon, but I'm sure they're eventually be updated. They're still more attractive then the original trees.
Quite a while back, maybe even before the first demo, we looked into trying to find a font for the game, and we didn't find anything we liked. Maybe it's time to hunt for one again.
Glad you played the entire thing, and I hope you play future releases as well (Keep your save file, as we're going to work hard to ensure they can be carried over)
@LightAndMagic: It's always nice to hear people say they loved it.
The prison floor has always been a trouble spot, though believe it or not, it's a lot better then it used to be. We might have to take another look at it now that we're better at avoiding the tileing problem. I'm not quite sure what you mean about a missing layer of pixels in some of the tiles. There is an intentional hole in between where the water flows and the actual statue, that's about all I see? And yeah, I know that the way I've been shading noses is quite a bit off and can look odd at times, but I think it will be a while before I shake that particular quirk.
People normally comment on the custom graphics first, but what we're truly most proud of is our characters. We've put a lot of time developing them, and I'm glad it shows. Thanks for the comment
@AuraofWind: We actually haven't spent too much money-wise as of yet; mostly just hosting for the website and two copies of rmxp, if you'd even count that. Hard work and time however? Plenty
And we always welcome and appreciate reviews, so feel free.
---------------------------------- To All:
While an old example map of the progress on a new tileset was posted in the screenshot thread a while back, nothing was ever posted here. So here's a quick map I made earlier tonight.
and just a heads up for those interested in the development side of things, we're going to be keeping most of the updates and progress reports to our forums, so check there if you want to see what we're up to.
Love the crystals. The best thing about those tilesets is that it feels like it has a great sense of depth and dimension, such as the walls, the entrance and the concave crystal area.
And I heard there's a section of the forum where you can talk to the characters! D: Zomg, go gather all the tips about apple eating from Phylip while he still hasn't converted to oranges now!
I really like the new tileset, it looks awesome. Very 'mystical.' Oh I also wanted to say, what i forgot before, I really like the title screen the whole "dragonfly studios" and then the scrolling title. It's very atmospheric.
I think the new tileset really shows how much Makio has been improving lately :> I look forward to the tilesets by the time we get to the end of the game XD
And I'm officially going to label this bug as weird @.@ Here's the exact same screenshots as they look on both the master copy and the same encrypted copy that I uploaded: http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/9631/weridws8.png[/img]
The only thing I notice, is that Darin stands a couple pixels higher on my copy, which doesn't make any sense since it's the same thing. Not to mention, there is no hole in the tileset.
As anyone else encountered this problem or is it a one time fluke?
Man, my new template I just broke it XD Well the sites will be ugly for a while XD
Anyway, when is the full game going to be released. I'll just link the review to you download page.
Full game? *nervous laughter* Not for a while I'm afraid. *doesn't like to think of estimates because they give her nightmares* It's safe to say a long time.
Ah, it's been months since I've been around these forums and this is one of the projects that I wanted to check up on first. I haven't had a chance to play the new demo yet, so I will do so and post after playing it. It's good to see you all keeping up on this! Good luck!
The bat is especially awesome. Great stuff. :>
P.S. Nice new avatars - looks like you two are charging an ultimate spell or something, heh. Everytime I see you now I think "okay, something's going to happen any time from now!"
I think I popped in here to look at that screenshot recently, but I never said anything about it. Those new monsters are awesome, even though the spider's just a pallete swap.
And I'm curious: Do those new avatars of yours have anything to do with ED, or are they just things you made for fun? Both are absolutely fabulous (though I must admit, Makio's catches my eye more for some reason).
@Xathia: I have a tutorial on my DA account, though I don't know how helpful it is. I'll send you a link later.
@Reives: Yeah, the bat is my favourite of the bunch too. And a way, you could say the avatars would charing something up
@Arcanum: Sorry, I wasn't purposely ignoring you. I just wanted to have the update ready before I replied. The avatars do have something to do with ED in away. They reflect the new direction we're taking it. See the update (And I do agree, I like Mak's icon alot)
---------------------------- MAJOR UPDATE TIME!
With the recent release of RPGMaker VX, Maks and I talked a lot about the future of Ethereal Dreams. After weighing the pros and cons, we've officially decided to switch development to VX!
Since this meant redoing a lot of resources, we’ve come to the conclusion to take Ethereal Dreams to a new direction.
To showcase this new development, we’ve prepared a short [20mins] demo for everyone to play. We hope you enjoy this exciting new turn!
For more information, see the updated first post.
But, for quick access: Download Demo [Here] (11.8 MB)
I recommend checking out the Controls image included before you begin.
I believe this is a good step forward. Combining the authentic PW style with VX's advanced functioning, it is no doubt that this is what this community needed to fill in that missing genre gap.
I strongly recommend everyone to try out the demo, as it brings a new dawn through the foot steps of dragon-riders and drunks everywhere.
(Keep your save file, as we're going to work hard to ensure they can be carried over)