Thanks a lot for that, Regi. There's definitely a great deal of stuff I'll think about improving in that case.
Regi":2z0x2gec said:
Okay... I've just gotten a bit further into the game. Here are some of my notes.
-The fight in the castle place was really well done, with guards all over the place. Those were some nice touches.
-Okay, some of the puzzles here were nicely done (armor-pushing) while some of them were annoying. First, the windows in the cave. There were a LOT of them. I know you said you'd cut down on them but you still have to make it more obvious. I thought it was annoying that only the one in the very corner triggered the scene, but not the one right next to it. If I hadn't decided to check every single window out of curiosity, I probably would never have found the guy.
I'll probably put a guard or rebel telling you you can look out of the windows.
-All right, I go outside, and find the soldier. I defeat him. Suddenly there's this humongous scene where Evelyn is crying over some Prince Aldebert whom, up to this point (unless I missed something), I had no clue existed. This is bad. A player isn't going to feel sorry for someone they know nothing about. You could have at least hinted about their romance or mention him somewhere before so I wouldn't feel clueless when I saw him. Again, correct me if I'm wrong, because I might have missed something; but if I didn't, you really need to work on that scene.
I guess you're right, but I don't think I'd be able to introduce the romance into the story without it feeling forced. Evelyn agrees to team up with the hero so she can get into the castle and see if Aldebert is alright, but the affair is obviously taboo, so she's not going to go around broadcasting it. The romance with Aldebert isn't actually the central part of her character, it's the fact that she still searches for him even though she knows he's dead that makes her tragic.
-So, now Evelyn runs off. After about 5 trips running back and forth around the place (you should cut down some of the interior maps, like the cave/dungeon or the fort, they're big), I figured I needed to dab the Royal Sword into Aldebert's wound. No, I couldn't use like a stick or something, I HAD to find the King's sword locked in a chest in his room (that apparently uses a key that some civilian in a house was holding?).
You're right here, upon review, it doesn't make much sense, I guess I was just preoccupied with putting it together. I'll probably change the line to "To open the secret passage, twice must you prove your royal blood" or something. As for the servant, I might change her spirte to give her princessy look, explaining why she holds the key.
Anyway, I backtrack to the cave again and find the secret passage, then go out to confront the boss.
-This cutscene needs work, too. Zara, who seemed a good, friendly guy at first, turns out to be a mad power-hungry wizard. The King and his daughter are powerless. Well, that's all right, let's let the inexperienced amnesiac with special powers, the treasure hunter, and the mage girl deal with him.
I can seriously believe that a mysterious amnesiac with mysterious power, a mage and a world-experienced thief will fare better in a fight than an innocent princess and an old king. And yes, Zara is a mad-powered wizard. For once, the Empire are the good guys and the rebels are the bad one.
On my second try, I defeat him (hoping that battler is a placeholder, btw). Zara admits defeat, then teleports away, leaving the king and his palace in peace again.
Until I find something better, if that ever happens.
-Now is where I got confused. The heroes are asked to stay for the night. Hooray.
I might include a scene later on that makes the transition more smooth, for now, though, it didn't seem necessary.
Then, later that night, some random guy calls to Soleil. She says good-bye to her friends, walks all the way back to the swamp place, and somehow enters the cave on the island in an entirely different world.
I'm not sure what you mean there, you're just back on the Island to Anywhere, the cave and the Dark Era ruins connect.
It's VERY unclear to me how she got those random powers to teleport somewhere else.
Could you clarify what the hell just happened? Or will it be revealed in more detail later on in the game?
Well, to quote the random stranger you saw at the beginning "(She's) not totally human". But yes it's explained later down the road.
-Anyway, I'm in the cave. Now, I read somewhere in this thread that you could (and should) recruit Mathias and Evelyn back in the party. So what the hell was the point of walking all the way to this cave when I have to backtrack back to the city and find my two friends again?
That's the freedom I was referring about. The game gives you a clean slate there. You can do whatever you want, backtrack or keep on going.
-Back I go. Cool, there's an actual world map now. I like the choices and how you get to pick where to go, but a little pop-up showing the name of the place would be a lot more helpful.
I know, but I couldn't make it look good.
And at the crossroads, it looks like you've made a few more areas and a nice-looking town. Great job.
-In that port town, there's a little glitch with Captain Gray. I accidentally clicked "Yes" when he says his offer, and I was teleported to the haunted caves. But since I still wanted to buy some equipment first, I decided to leave.
Seriously, fuck. I was certain I had tested that old bastard to hell and back.
Back in the inn, I found him both in my party/menu and in his seat. When I talked to him to try and go to the cave again, he told me I was a wimp and didn't do anything. I talked to an innkeeper, and used "Leave Party Member- Gray" in an attempt to fix it. I watched him walk out the door, then talked to the second Gray in his seat. He offered me to return to the cave again, except when I pressed "Yes", he turned and the game froze. You might want to look into this glitch.
-So, I decide to do the haunted cave later. With Evelyn and Mathias recruited (not to mention the glitched Gray still in my party), I head to the caves again and watch two separate scenes where Soleil and Mathias, then Soleil and Evelyn talk. (Shouldn't you have all 3 have a conversation at the same time?)
No, you don't have to go back with both Evelyn and Mathias in your party, it would be simply be too much trouble if I had to make the possibility of you returning with Mathias alone, Evelyn alone, Ianto alone, Gray alone, Mathias and Evelyn, Mathias and Ianto, etc.
After that, I walk around the caves, solve a statue puzzle (where my party members do it for me), and go into a dark room. There's this creepy eye monster that I suddenly fight. After awhile, I'm wiped out. I decide to go explore some other places first.
I know, he's very difficult and can only be harmed by magic. Try and either make him bleed, set him on fire or poison him.
-I go to that house on the beach and find the tunnel to the pyramid. After talking with the two explorers, I follow them out of the pyramid, expecting that I'd be able to return and finish exploring the place later. However, there's a scene and I'm in their town. I talk to a winged sage, and then I'm suddenly in this next dungeon in the sky.
I do feel that it's a little abrupt too, but the way I see it, things happen in life that are abrupt. You never know when that car is going to go off the road and hit you, or when that giant sky garden is going to come and attack your tiny nomad village.
-I have to admit, the puzzles here stumped me, and that's where I quit. It was annoying how some of those orb pillars could be triggered by arrows, while the others had to be sliced by the blade (maybe use color to indicate what tool to use?).
Really? I was fairly certain arrows and sword could trigger both... Back to bug testing.
I found a couple of the desert people stuck in a cage, and changed the color of some black orb pillars. I also spotted a chest with 3 or 4 floaty things leading toward it. However, I only managed to trigger all but one of the pillars to move the floaties. The last one wouldn't move, and I couldn't get to the chest. Is this a glitch, or is it supposed to happen?
There are identical pilars scattered around the garden, you must activate them to activate the others close to the chest. If you're stuck now, it's because you haven't talked to the trapped villagers. If the cage isn't opened, you need to head (from the center) south and east.
-A couple of other bugs. Fix your passabilities (pots and things in houses, trees, etc). The panorama around the palace area is cut off when you go to the very right. Two soldiers are still fighting in the fort after the battle's over, and you can still see soldiers fighting (plus the battle BGM plays again) when you look outside windows in the cave. I might've forgotten a few, but just look at those for now.
Thanks for that.
-A final note, the battles. I found them hard mainly because I didn't have enough money to buy weapons, armors, or potions. They RARELY dropped gold, seemed like 1 out of every 5 battles to me. The battles also were a bit slow, mainly because I was healing almost every other turn and attacking/using a skill the other.
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Only human enemies drop gold, monsters drop materials, which you can sell or use to create new weapons and armors. But since there's no blacksmith in the game just yet, just sell the materials for cash. I know the battles are a bit hard, but that's true of any game that doesn't resort to button mashing. Eventually, you'll gain enough HP to comfortably bashing monsters head in.
Otherwise, apart from the things I mentioned, you have a good game here. You've definitely put a lot of time into your game, and I love the small details, most of which Despain mentioned already. Keep going, and remember to fix up the passabilities,
That's the ultimate tileset for you. It's so large, you always forget one tile. But I'll get it all, eventually.
bugs, and whatnot. Once I figure out the rest of the floating dungeon, I'll continue the "review."
