Comments I wrote while playing the game...
-Drop the two messages before the title screen. They are not needed, it can become redundant when you open the game more than one time (even if you can skip it). In particular, "A Game Made with RMXP". Normally, you may have something like your company's name, but not your own name (the producer). You should leave it to the beginning of the game, right after "New Game" OR show that and some credits on the corner of the screen while the cinematics play.
-The battles custscenes, while short, are quite interesting. However, it doesn't switch to the next cutscene smoothly, mostly because of the music. Try to find a single track that starts quickly and becomes slower and slower in a way that it meshes.
-I think there are a little too much unneccessary stuff on your maps, such as weeds. This is a town, it shouldn't be that messy. But if that's your style that it can be okay though.
-Your game has a heavy RTP feeling right from the start, and that can turn off a lot of people. I have nothing against RTP myself, but try making some recolors and maybe use some more screen tones so that it looks at least somewhat new.
-I haven't actually tried it, but what happens if the player forgets to equip his weapon? Does the general remind him to do so until he does?
-Rather than having Curtis "wanting to speak to you", I think it'd be best if you "had an appointement". It fits "training" better.
-Your town is pretty good, it feels alive. Some NPCs have more realistic move routes, and it is quite appreciated.
-However, neither the Priest nor the Hero feels alive. Both seems to take their lines from an "argument list" without even thinking what they are saying. We should be feeling the priest's faith, like "My friends, the is going wrong, that is going wrong. It's all because of..." (who cares if the hero should have missed the beginning). As for the hero, he just starts debating out of nowhere. Does he feel angry at what he's saying? While the priest is making the sermon, perhaps show some of the hero's inner thoughts brewing until he can't contain them no more. And doesn't the priest feel offended? Most people would, if they get interrupted in front of all the people.
-Now, I like the pacing. You don't wait hours before something happens. But as much as your main character is a great hero, it doesn't feel right AT ALL to have him just stand in front of the soldiers and act like he's gonna do all the job. Try, maybe, to give something to set off the spark before that (yes, I know they are supposed to be mortal enemies, but still). Maybe kill off one of the soldiers before the fight actually start. Or, just start the fight before you have the time to react.
-Even though it's quite convenient for the story, it doesn't feel right when in the rebel have capture no one but those two. If it was a prison cell, it wouldn't be so bad, but the church is screaming "we have space for more prisonners!".
-In the entrance of the castle. Your stairs don't seam with the carpet above it. Did you know you can double-click on an autotile in the map editor to get all the possible tiles created with it? Try that.
-I think it's fine for the "brother" to wear civilian clothes while sleeping. He can always change later on.
-I was kinda of dissapointed when I actually saw the rebels. It would have made a great plot twist if everything was normal and the heroes were blamed for spreading false rumors. Oh well. The "my magic is weird, I jump ahead of time" makes up for it a little.
-When you save the citizens, make them move. Like, jump or something.
-Seriously, just put an item shop in the village. Don't bother people with going all the way back to that other town.
-Don't you think Toxic Fumes is a little strong? It can one-shot a character.
-Buff skills like "shield" are not very interesting if it takes a whole 3-4 turns to buff your party.
-Read about Risk v.s. Reward. The risk of fighting the cerebus (3-headed dog) for outweights the rewards. It's not interesting for the player to find that they used 5 healing potions to get only 3.
-Also on Risk v.s. Reward. Fighting 2 enemies gives you twice as much xp and gold than fighting 1 enemy. That is false logic. It should give you more that that, like 2.5-3x. Don't forget that while you are killing off one of them, the other is still attacking you, so you get dealt 3x as much damage, but you only get 2x the rewards. Fighting 3 enemies is even worse : you get dealt 6x the damage. Do something about that please.
-Fighting a boss when you have nothing left because of the 50 underlings before it is kinda annoying for the player. RPG aren't supposed to be games of ressource management.
So after a few more tries I thought that, not knowing how much HP that bird boss has, I'll be doing something else cause it's starting to be a bit of a waste of time.
General impression : I can certainly feel a good amount of effort put in it. At certain points it feels quite professional : you give precise indicators to the players, so they won't get lost easily. Considering I played only like, 1/5th (if the game is as long as you say), the story has some potential. Sure, it's sort of cliche at the start, but it does a good job introducing the player to the game. I'd take a different approach, but there are many ways to start an RPG. Don't make it too cheesy, though, your hero is way too much "I'm the fearless shining knight". If you want to hook players all the way through though, you will have to work on your characters more than that. I didn't feel much personality in them. Finally, I think that you really wanted to create your story, but you didn't think about designing it as a game. The battles are especially an issue, the difficulty level is somewhat right, but they have flaw that I mentioned earlier that you can't even call "polishing". Advancing properly is a core aspect of all RPGs.
