Quintessence - The Blighted Venom

[Zammy]

Just finished the tech demo...well...finished all except for the boss. Got owned.  :thumb:
I loved everything about it. The transforming was really fun to play around with.
I got owned by those wolves, so I decided to turn on those cheats and spam healing :]

the transforming in battles is one of my favorite parts. It really got my heart beating when the menu for transforming comes up, and the battle is still going on! You really have to think quickly.

It took me a few minutes to find the portal, but after a while I found it...and when I did I felt really stupid.

Spoiler: That sexy boss

When I got to the portal, I yelled "OMG!" when I saw Vikon and that kitty!!
After I did all the battles, I went to fight Vikon, and omg.
That battle...is so filled with awesomeness I can't even express it!
My favorite attack of his is when the story page obstructs the view  :smile:
I lasted for about a minute.
Vikon is too awesome for me! I am not worthy!
Would be cool if that boss was in the game haha

Though I have a question.
Is he beatable at all? Or is he invincible because him and kitty are so awesome?

Can't wait to see this all in action in the new chapter!
Great job as always Reives.

 

[Reives]

Just bringing the update post to this page:


http://www.quintessence-tbv.com/images/65Demo.png[/img]


Download:
http://www.quintessence-tbv.com/Quintes ... Demo65.exe


Note: Read the HINT text file. Do not forget to use the transformation functions, as it is the main showcase of the demo - both in-battle and out of battle. Press Z to do so. (In battle, making Lunair the active character is required.)

Demo Includes:
-Winter title screen randomizer (3).
-A map preview.
-Out-of-Battle transformation system with utilities (press Z).
-In-Battle transformation system with utilities (press Z as Lunair).
-Practice battles.
-The best boss battle in Quintessence so far that is too awesome to be included in the actual game. (Not the 2 wolves - located inside the battle portal.)

Screenshots:
http://www.quintessence-tbv.com/images/Fight.jpg[/img]

http://www.quintessence-tbv.com/images/Fight2.jpg[/img]

Have fun. I am also interested in feedback regarding the systems included in the demo, by the way! Many thanks in advance.

Edit:
For those who cannot find the battle portal, read this spoiler:

Spoiler: Read only if you are stuck!

Use hawk form and fly north-east, then drop down at the small field deep inside the canopy, and head north.

~~~
@Zammy:
Yes, the "final boss" is beatable. And there is a little more to the demo after it if you do beat him. I will link a youtube video of beating him in a bit, although it's a bit outdated and didn't have some small new flashy things in the demo. Took me almost 3 minutes, I think.

 

[Erichermit]

Dear god, Reives, I actually laughed out loud at the final boss. (Not the 2 wolves by the way people )

 

[lucid realm games]

is this Vista compatible? i just got a new laptop so I'm not sure...

 

[Zammy]

After my 3rd try, I did beat the boss :]
The ending right after you beat him did make me laugh. It was hard to stop laughing after that :D
I was able to beat this awesome boss with Lunair only. Reives went down pretty quick. Had to spam dash a lot though.
I enjoyed the in-battle wolf form the most out of the all the forms

 

[Reives]

I am not sure, Lucid - I'm guessing it would though, worst case being needing to tweak the system a bit as some thread around here instructs. D:

I updated the 2nd post on this page with some strategy and a video of its beta from a few days ago. Please only read if you are done the demo or are stuck.

Glad ya enjoyed it guys. And oh by the way Zammy, the 2 wolf forms do have different attacks, I think you know though. o:

Edit:
Massive spoilers:

Spoiler: Seriously don't look at this if you haven't finished the demo yourself. Or you are stuck at the final boss.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2G2VF6cq7mk

Spoiler: Strategy - Also don't read unless you are stuck

The mechanics of the fight:
Start: About 5 or 6 Salory ghosts will wander toward you at extremely slow speed from every direction to start. Touching one would result in some energy drain (about 60 energy per).

Vikon's special abilities:
-Periodic spike traps that rise from the ground around you. Minor damage.
-Periodic chain explosions that damages one member, then the other, repeat, and whole party.
-Flying-newspaper-to-the-face (No comment).
-Teleportation

If you kill Mimi (low hp), then about 4 Mimi ghosts will appear, and function similarly as Salory ghosts. The best thing to do would be simply trap Mimi with Reivier's crippl' trap, as it won't be able to break free forever - it does hit relatively hard if it hits you, though.

Another wise thing to do is to use the charcoal wolf's form and pass fleas to him. Due to his constant teleportation and fast movement, occasional slack would help greatly to catch a breath. Hawk dive is probably not too helpful in this fight, as he moves too fast and teleports.

 

[pathbinder]

is this Vista compatible? i just got a new laptop so I'm not sure...

It is. Well it worked for me.

 

[Jstreet]

I came across the words "final boss" a few times scrolling down. Is the game completed?

 

[Reives]

Nope, it's just the final joke boss of the demo. :>

 

[Xephyr]

@_@ ...the...final boss.....having...nightmares.



>_> How could he possibly be that strong and not be with Reivier?  That's a crime, he would be all "GUARDS?  PSSH, I KNOw 1337 MOVES!!!!!"



meh.

 

[Reives]

It doesn't have any relevance to the actual story, as it is just a joke fight for the demo.

 

[Luminier]

Simply superb, Reives. Transforming back, and forth between them animal forms sure was a barrel o' fun!  :grin:

I did find it a little awkward to have to hold down Z(or shift, as preferences would have it), and have to use X to move the cursor. But, I suppose that is to preserve the ability to move, so it's okay, I suppose. It did feel a little more natural once I figured out how to use my other shift key(duh.  :tongue, though.

As always, great job.  :thumb:

Spoiler: Oh, and by the way

That boss was hilarious! I loved all of the Salory phantasms running around! Ooooh, spooky!  :boo:
I'm glad that you got another use out of those story book pictures. It was a tad hectic, but the battle was a satisfying experience overall.

 

[Akura]

Very nice demo, cant wait for chapter 7 now!  :smile:

Spoiler

Also, the last battle was very fun. I started laughing really hard at the 300 reference. :D Also the ending video was really cool. Good Job.

 

[Reives]

Glad ya enjoyed it. :>

I made the keys for it Z and X as they are next to each other, and also because they were the few keys that the rest of the functions spared, heheh. At first I was going to use "C" for 2-ways selection, but then remembered that it was the same as Space/Enter and clashed with sprint.

Speaking of which, was the hawk implementation in battle viable? I did not make it controllable since it would be too messy, as Reivier would not be able to fly himself. It is pretty hard to aim sometimes, and would probably work best with trapped mobs. But this one time I somehow one-shotted 3 snakes at once with it as they all aligned to its boomerang path, and it felt sweet. D: I guess it's just a chance + heal attack combined in one.

 

[Dalton]

Well since I am from germany X and Z are not next to each other. Rather on different ends of the keyboard xD

But I was able to use the system and fight the boss nontheless  :grin:

By the way, the map we fought the final boss on was really cool. Will we see it in the actual game? Or was it just for this one fight?

 

[Luminier]

Actually, Reives, I thought that the Hawk dive was a valuable maneuver during the boss battle. I'm sure I would have found it even more so, if I hadn't kept on forgetting about it.  :tongue2: If was very useful for getting him off my ass. Oh, and the black wolf's Spread fleas attack was extremely useful, as well. Which is why the black wolf was my favorite.

 

[Reives]

@Dalton:
It is a similar setting to where the intro took place. So I'd imagine that you would see it in-game again.  :wink:

@Lum:
Hahah, you are probably more skilled with it than me then.
For the wolves in battle - the subtle difference between their two main attacks (snap vs. swipe) is that swipe is fast but not as much damage, where as snap is half as fast but twice the damage.

~~~

Here's a WIP of Lunair's new original head sprite.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v385/ ... nairsp.png[/img]
It might take a bit to get used to it, since the old harpy one's been stuck around for so long. When I did get used to it though, I really like it. :> It is also a lot more matching with the face pic. Courtesy of Lunarea.

Now, while Chapter VII is making good progress, I am also revamping some of the earlier chapters' things. E.g. this new scene from the intro music video; replacing the current version's badly mapped snow one.

http://www.quintessence-tbv.com/images/Intro_Snow.jpg[/img]


Edit:
Omg walking around with the new Lunair sprite horizontally and watching the hair go "swoosh swoosh" is so strangely fun.

Edit2:
~Final version of the new original Lunair head sprite:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v385/ ... ir_New.png[/img]

 

[Despain]

I played this for about five minutes. It was better than I expected, but I really couldn't bring myself to go any further (I stopped before the game even really started, I saved in the farm town).

I have two major gripes from the part that I've played.

1. Dialogue is horrible.
  Okay, it wasn't THAT bad, but it was incredibly basic and generic. It didn't feel real by any stretch, and largely felt like it didn't exist to be speech, but existed to tell something to the players. Remember, when you're trying to write realistic dialogue, often the "less is more" approach works pretty nicely. Generally, the writing was at the average RPG Maker user level. That's not really a bad thing, but I want to hold you higher standards because I know you're capable of better than this.
  Of course remember that this is only from the beginning of part one, but it is the beginning that determines whether or not a player will keep going.

2. Mapping is horrible.
  I'm looking at this from a game design standpoint rather than from an artistic standpoint, and it's very clear that you have done the opposite. This is one of those problems that plague this entire community- maps by RMXP.org members tend to be cluttered as fuck, and your game is no exception. Sure, it makes for gorgeous screenshots, but when you're actually playing the game it detracts from the experience of playing. Consider the navigation experience first when mapping, and aesthetic extras second.
    In addition, you need borders on your maps. This is a suggestion I gave to Volrath and Artbane a looong time ago on Arc I of MotW, and little things like this do a long way towards a game's maps. Having the "playable area" of a map go all the way to the edge of a screen is a MASSIVE RPGMaker no-no, and a sure sign of one of two things: noob mapping or maps that put "prettiness" over playability. And I don't think that you're new to this. Even with your little arrows indicating where to go, it detracts from the immersion experience if you're suddenly blocked by an invisible wall.

Good luck, hopefully in the future I'l pick this up again and can give you some more feedback.

 

[Chalupa]

"I didn't like it."
Sorry, but I really feel like quoting the preceding post in its entirety is a bit of a waste of space.
-Volrath

Im going to have to dissagree with you.  This game is jesus.

 

[Reives]

@hi1:
People have different opinions. :smile: It's good to hear from the other side of the fence.

@Despain:

Spoiler

Ah, good points. I very much agree with the dialogue part, as a fluent flow in English communication is definitely something I still need to get some good grasp on.

As for the mapping, I partially agree. The best tip there is about the clutterness cutting into playability. I certainly did not consider that in mind back when I made such maps, and it has been bugging me as well now days (I remember posting something about it in this thread a few pages back, heheh).

Something I've realized recently is that the best thing to do seems to be to add variance in the mapping with passable tiles, often ones that cover a notable area, such as ground/(passable)flower tiles. This way, dullness can be avoided while no physical bumping around every corner occurs. I've been trying to improve my mapping now days and revamping a couple of old maps, as demonstrated in the tech demo some posts up on this page.

But however, some of the points made, such as "playable area" of a map go all the way around the edge of a screen, I will have to reject. Putting "prettiness" on top in that aspect is exactly what I am doing in this case, since it does not directly cut into playability (physically, at least) here. The invisible wall thing is quite annoy, but bordering every map gives it a pokemon effect in my personal opinion; and I simply do not see that as fit in this scenario.

Thanks for your time. When I saw your name on the new posts panel, I knew I was in for some interesting feedback. Our tastes are somewhat on the opposite ends, and this is probably the farthest from an old-school RPG, if you call it a game at all.

~~~

Here's a preview of Salory's new original head sprite. :>
http://www.quintessence-tbv.com/images/ ... iteNew.png[/img]
It's a lot more fitting to the face pic, and best of all it's original this time. More to come: Reivier, Serai, and Vikon.

I am thinking that I should release a sprite-demo just so you can walk around with the new sprites before the actual release of Chapter 7, just so that one can get used to it as opposed to feeling awkward when the real chapter gets released.

Oh and also, someone made a good point about the transformation system, so I'm going to ask for some opinions on it:

1. Would it be better if the transformation window paused all actions?
2. Would it be better if the transformation system's "Z" initiating button worked as if you press it once to make it pop up, and press a second time to confirm? As opposed to the current hold-and-let-go way.

Thanks for your time!  :smile: