Merchant Quest (DEMO INSIDE!)

[Lurker77]

MERCHANT QUEST

Merchant Quest is my first, non-test game. The game will mostly use default scripts mainly because I really want to master what the default settings have to offer.

Spoiler: STORY

Sixty years have passed since the the fall of the tyrant queen Oria. Her wicked rule extended across all the known land. Her two century rule ended when the resistance forces known as Navar, Arackia, and Ymir combined their power to demolish her fortress, kill almost all her loyal followers, and banish the queen to another dimension. Peace returned to the land. The Navar took the southern plains and mountains. The Arackians took the eastern deserts and tropical islands. The Ymir, being the weakest of the groups, was given the frozen land in the north. As time passed, people began to forget about the tyrant, but hostilities started to spring up between the three kingdoms. With the Navar getting the fertile plains and the Arackia learning from the mystic ruins of the kingdoms destroyed by Oria, the Ymir became angry by the fact that the unexplored frozen north held no secrets. The Ymir say they have forgiven the Navar for getting talked into acquiring the northern lands, they are by no means friends. To try to fix this, the King of Navar holds a royal feast every 5 years...


Evan's father has been chosen to deliver a dish to the king, a set of rare hydra eggs. They quickly learn however that the eggs can't be transported over seas due to the mother's determination to reacquire her eggs. This is the story of the journey to deliver the eggs to the king in the royal Navar city of Emperia.

Spoiler: FEATURES

Advanced Steal System w/ Events - Each monster in the game can be stolen from, and they have their own set of items that can be stolen from them.
Scrolls - Characters learn skills using scrolls that are found in chests, dropped from monsters, and purchased from shops. There are over 100 skills to learn!
Standard RMXP Battle System

Spoiler: SCREENSHOTS

Spoiler: DEMO

Get the demo here! >>>>> http://www.box.net/shared/sa7elfjzte
Aprox. Playtime: 30 Min.

 

[Puffy]

Stream of consciousness as follows, with the note that I basically dived into the demo without reading the topic:

Oh, hey, it's not the default title theme! A title BG would make it even better, but I'm pumped. Gogogo-- Oh, I'm dumped on a beach and WTF am I doing? Map looks fine, but me wandering happens. Ignoring the crystal, looks dangerous.

Battle? Okay, rock on. Noticing that the stats seem to be rebalanced, that's cool. But the lizards take three hits to kill, and the last hit's a sliver in the single digits. I'd consider knocking 5-8 HP off of them to streamline the opening battles, honest.

Out of battle... I've got some weird stuff going on here in mah inventoryz. How did I get these eggs? Is that why the toads and lizards hate me? Is Dad some egg fetishist? Orb get, cave impassable. Boooo. It looked like a legitimate place to go. Ararararararrrr, getting bored, don't know what I'm doing or why, just keep going north.

...Suddenly town! (Retrospect: There's a bit of empty mapspace here, IMHO.) Suddenly drunk guy by fishes?! Must check out! ...Dude, you misspelled alcohol. NPCs tell me nothing of the quest at hand. Or where I am, for that matter... It's sort of depressing that the first story information I got was from a signpost telling me I'm in... No, still don't know where I am, so much as where I'm not. D:

Can't go north? "Give him these eggs?" Come now, if I didn't look in the inventory, I wouldn't have even known "him" is 'ol Sugar Daddy. Weapon Shop: The shop counter's on backwards. Gettin' bored, goin' south. DURRRRgan is a dick. D: "Residence of Clent Family?" Does that make me a Clent? ...Joan? Is that really a man's name? (You'd use a comma before most instances of "son" in this convo. You did it right at least once, then misspelled "arrive," "training," and made a weird stylistic choice of "our selves" in a single window.)

Upstairs, I go walking, because I assume Daddy was talking to me from the other room. Couldn't see him when I entered. No? Evan owns a teddybear? Where the hell is Dad?! Is he a freakin' ghost?! ARGGGH.

I don't really like the idea of backtracking, honest. Partially because I've been to that terribly misleading cave before. No dice at cave. *winds up going back, instead of north-- this was my bad, I didn't pay attention to Daddy's instructions* BACK ON TRACK... Oh, dear. More scorpions, not exactly any harder, but in new Grand Canyon-orange. Screw this, I'm running through the rest of the encounters-- OSHI GIANT SQUID WITH 200HP I WILL DIE MUST FIGHT THIS THING. *does so, gets useless lute* *used Ether and is now most likely screwed for assumed later boss*

Spoiler: Mapping Issue @ Beach

Ahahaha, another, slightly weaker Kraken? NO WAI SIR. Oh, dammit, this area loops. I guess it's better than a backtrack through Squid Hell. Oh, wait, so that's not the way, either? Blast. (That Water Stone is 15GEN? For all the trouble? YEESH.) Okay, back in town, there are, like, four-plus dudes with the same outfit, same Brooklyn accent. Not cool. D:

Noticed I explicitly can't use the port, and something's going down with the sewers, but dunno. At this point, I'm kind of getting unhappy and really regret not paying attention to Daddy, so I'll stop.

tl;dr: Spellcheck, more in-game story/directional cues, and take a look at enemy balance/encounter rates (they started annoying me, mileage may vary).

 

[Lurker77]

Stream of consciousness as follows, with the note that I basically dived into the demo without reading the topic:

Oh, hey, it's not the default title theme! A title BG would make it even better, but I'm pumped. Gogogo-- Oh, I'm dumped on a beach and WTF am I doing? Map looks fine, but me wandering happens. Ignoring the crystal, looks dangerous.

A title screen is at the bottom of my to-do list. It probobly won't be there until the full game. Oh, the crystals are save points.

Battle? Okay, rock on. Noticing that the stats seem to be rebalanced, that's cool. But the lizards take three hits to kill, and the last hit's a sliver in the single digits. I'd consider knocking 5-8 HP off of them to streamline the opening battles, honest.

Once you hit Level 2, or get the next spear, you should be able to kill them in 2 hits.

Out of battle... I've got some weird stuff going on here in mah inventoryz. How did I get these eggs? Is that why the toads and lizards hate me? Is Dad some egg fetishist? Orb get, cave impassable. Boooo. It looked like a legitimate place to go. Ararararararrrr, getting bored, don't know what I'm doing or why, just keep going north.

I'm not done with the intro yet, sorry for the confusion. You are supposed to head north to town and give the eggs to your father. Then you head to a hunting camp to help kill some monsters as you wait for the boat to arrive.

...Suddenly town! (Retrospect: There's a bit of empty mapspace here, IMHO.) Suddenly drunk guy by fishes?! Must check out! ...Dude, you misspelled alcohol. NPCs tell me nothing of the quest at hand. Or where I am, for that matter... It's sort of depressing that the first story information I got was from a signpost telling me I'm in... No, still don't know where I am, so much as where I'm not. D:

There was a message when you get to town telling you where to go. Did it appear?

Can't go north? "Give him these eggs?" Come now, if I didn't look in the inventory, I wouldn't have even known "him" is 'ol Sugar Daddy. Weapon Shop: The shop counter's on backwards. Gettin' bored, goin' south. DURRRRgan is a dick. D: "Residence of Clent Family?" Does that make me a Clent? ...Joan? Is that really a man's name? (You'd use a comma before most instances of "son" in this convo. You did it right at least once, then misspelled "arrive," "training," and made a weird stylistic choice of "our selves" in a single window.)

Upstairs, I go walking, because I assume Daddy was talking to me from the other room. Couldn't see him when I entered. No? Evan owns a teddybear? Where the hell is Dad?! Is he a freakin' ghost?! ARGGGH.

There is a wierd glitch I was having with the cut scene, so I had to disable the graphic until I figure out how to fix it.

I don't really like the idea of backtracking, honest. Partially because I've been to that terribly misleading cave before. No dice at cave. *winds up going back, instead of north-- this was my bad, I didn't pay attention to Daddy's instructions* BACK ON TRACK... Oh, dear. More scorpions, not exactly any harder, but in new Grand Canyon-orange. Screw this, I'm running through the rest of the encounters-- OSHI GIANT SQUID WITH 200HP I WILL DIE MUST FIGHT THIS THING. *does so, gets useless lute* *used Ether and is now most likely screwed for assumed later boss*

That giant squid is supposed to be a rare enemy. You just got unlucky, I think.

Spoiler: Mapping Issue @ Beach

Ahahaha, another, slightly weaker Kraken? NO WAI SIR. Oh, dammit, this area loops. I guess it's better than a backtrack through Squid Hell. Oh, wait, so that's not the way, either? Blast. (That Water Stone is 15GEN? For all the trouble? YEESH.) Okay, back in town, there are, like, four-plus dudes with the same outfit, same Brooklyn accent. Not cool. D:

At that point, your supposed to head East until you arrive at the camp. I'll edit the map to make it clearer where to go.

Noticed I explicitly can't use the port, and something's going down with the sewers, but dunno. At this point, I'm kind of getting unhappy and really regret not paying attention to Daddy, so I'll stop.

tl;dr: Spellcheck, more in-game story/directional cues, and take a look at enemy balance/encounter rates (they started annoying me, mileage may vary).

Thanks for the feedback, your the first person to play this game other than me.

 

[Puffy]

Level 2 happens, sure, but it's only after several fights with the enemies that take a bit of time to kill. About half a screen before I got to town. (And since the strategy is to spam Attack, it's no good!) And you won't get the better spear until you get out of the area entirely. It's not really relevant that the first enemies of the game eventually become reasonable to kill. Speaking of being reasonable, even the weaker, apparently common Kraken isn't worth fighting on a regular basis, at level 2/3.

I don't think I got any cues when I first entered town. I wound up figuring it out based on the message preventing you from going to the north beach.

Anyway, I'd reconsider the title, if only because it's the first thing you see when you open the game. Even a placeholder, within reason.

 

[seven]

I'm not exactly a fan of those 10 minute long intros that explains the entire plot before you even start playing but it's better than randomly being dropped on a beach swarming with monsters. :l

 

[ultimaodin]

Lets begin.

I can tell you right now If I hadn't read you're thread I wouldn't have had a clue what was going on.
First clue I got was when I tried to go north at the port town and I get a message telling me I need to give the Eggs (really first ever mention of them) to some dude (who?) in the residential area. (where the heck is that)
(um no boat plus person could fit under that bridge.)
Square house, square House, Square house.
Alright a bit of story... where is my father?
Really and two rooms?
I laughed when I got to the tents and went inside.

Ok you're mapping ain't too bad really, you're story design and playout sucks. (that long bridge in the cave wouldn't hold the weight of an infant I'm afraid, remember the laws of nature do exist)
The gameplay ain't too bad either but the storyline is just so Blagh I didn't really want to keep playing
and eventually the maps do get a wee tad repetative.

Also please change the title screen as the default is really off-putting before you even begin.

Sorry if this post sounds rude. Also a side note, try encrypting the file so i don't get to open the editor.

 

[Lurker77]

Okay, I uploaded a slightly better version of the demo. Storyline will get a huge revamp after I'm done making the main game. I'm really focusing on trying to get it done right now gameplay wise.

NEW DEMO - http://www.box.net/shared/sa7elfjzte