Vacant Sky Complete Edition: Act I+ Released!

[Sailerius]

Edit: okay. I got stuck at the first part when I'm supposed to look for the haunted house or something, all I can say right now is that it's very nice. But I don't really like the comments when you observe things when being a Virad. I stopped playing at the part when (ugh, what's her name...) the main character didn't do her homework, and then I did my homework. The mapping is nice but there are still some mapping issues here and there, If you used an event on the map it might work out (on the map with the main characters house is located on at the top left corner of fences are). At the beginning it bothered me that they the Virad couldn't just move the barrels of explosives or transport behind, and also blast through walls and stuff.

The part with Auria in the hometown is still part of the prologue, so I do hope you choose to play further.

Regarding the Virad, what didn't you like about their dialog? They're also not all-powerful; they can't just randomly teleport. For the most part, they're just people endowed with some special powers.

Well it didn't work for me. It just didn't load. There's really no point to though. But I'm just saying I hope it works for episode 2 to 3.

When you say "it just didn't load", did it give you an error message? The only reason I can think of why save importing wouldn't work is if you didn't save after the credits in Act I. Once the credits finish (in both Act I and II), you get an option to save your game again. You have to do this in order to import.

 

[Speedpaws]

The credits never stopped. After all the credits went up, it was just a blank screen that never changed. I wasn't given an option to save after the credits, so that's probably why. Oh well.

 

[action]

I'm not sure if this is a bug, but when I go into the mansion in Viahdon, I have only one party member - tarranon said I should have at least Rein, or more.
Here's the save file:
http://bb.xieke.com/files/Save1.rxdata

 

[Sailerius]

I'm not sure if this is a bug, but when I go into the mansion in Viahdon, I have only one party member - tarranon said I should have at least Rein, or more.
Here's the save file:
http://bb.xieke.com/files/Save1.rxdata

You haven't added anyone to your party. Go to the menu and select Swap.

 

[action]

Oh. Well that makes sense ^^;
Sorry to bother you with that!

 

[zchin]

I haven't really gotten far in this game, because I've lost interest in this, and I guess it's just insanely hard, I've died about 5 times on each battle I've done so far which is like, 4 probably, otherwise from that, there are very nice concepts and ideas being thrown here and there. I don't really have any questions about this, I'll try and continue with the game and give you some more feedback.

Thank you and have a nice day!

 

[darkcieran]

hi. i get an error in the game. there are parts in the earlier parts (where you play as auria) that you get a msg that says you recieve XP but when I try to imrpove my skills it says i have 0 points. what happened? did i just get an earlier version of this then?

 

[Tarranon]

To Darkcieran: There may be several reasons for this: firstly, you say that you try to level up your skills whenever you get XP, but you only get new skill points when you level. If the XP you acquire isn't enough to grant you a new level, then of course you wouldn't be able to allocate points to raise your skills.
If after you level you are still unable to spend your skill points, then I suppose it's possible that it could be a bug. However, I've never heard of this problem, nor have I encountered it, myself. For the sake of narrowing down the issue, are you currently playing Act I or Act II?

To Zchin131: I will assume, based off of your comment, that you are currently playing Act I, as that's the one that people usually have the most difficult time with- mostly because the battle system is slightly unbalanced and has little room for player management. While the producer took great pains to improve upon this in Act II, the fact remains that Act I essentially boils down to routine and a bit of luck. In the first town, there are several sidequests to complete that give you a slight level advantage for the rest of the game, so be sure to do them. Personally, I set all of my character's reactions to "Guard", as I had little luck with dodge and counter. With what little money you have, spend them all on healing potions. In battle, Zaqris should only use his regular attack and heal; his other abilities simply waste too much mana.
As for Auria, in order to make things a bit easier for yourself, don't put too many points into Agility, and instead focus on defense and hp, as well as a bit of attack. When you have the ability to purchase new skills, be sure and learn First Aid, as that one is incredibly useful for backup-healing.
Hopefully this helps for the most part. If you get stuck in a particular place, do let me know and I'll do my best to help.

 

[darkcieran]

i'm playing as auria. there are two scenarios where you 5 XP a piece. one where help a lady with her cell service. and i forget what else. but when i try to use said points, i can't.

 

[Crystalgate]

i'm playing as auria. there are two scenarios where you 5 XP a piece. one where help a lady with her cell service. and i forget what else. but when i try to use said points, i can't.

You can't "use" XP. XP is only there to level up, just like in almost every other RPG. Once you get a level, you will gain skill points to spend. Prior to that, the XP you get will do nothing.

 

[darkcieran]

so it just regular old experience then?

 

[Crystalgate]

Yes.

 

[Sailerius]

Sorry for the delay on Act III. I'm using the time to add in a lot of new content, including a lot of unlockables and replay value. No estimate on when it'll be out, but I'm trying my best to finish it soon.

Here's a new track from the soundtrack, called "In Contention."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ah0DWk9864A

 

[Sailerius]

Just an update: Act III is about to enter the final stages of beta. 4 out of the 6 endings have already been implemented.

On another note, I'm starting to think about touching up Act I after Act III's release and putting them together into a combo pack for new players. One of my concerns is that Act I's painful linearity combined with poor balance will put off new players from continuing with the series. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix it up to make it more engaging?

 

[danyo34]

If you're redoing Act I, you might want to spread out the sidequests instead of having most of them at the beginning, when the player has less of an idea of how important they are. You might want to make the difficulty a little lower too, since it actually gets easier for the second act (in my experience, which might be because of grinding). I'm guessing you're also going to use the new facesets?

Spoiler: Spoiler

When I played Act II, I did Banivia first, then Boris Island, then Orka last. Orka was awesome, maybe because it was created for this act, and isn't a reused one. The idea was creative, and it was pulled off excellently. I actually got up to level 14 in the mansion looking around for what I was supposed to do, but found out soon enough. It was frustrating though, to have to go to the mirror and just wait around for it turn dark, but maybe I'm just impatient. The other areas just seemed like less effort was put into them, like doing Orka wore out the developing team. The one in Boris Island consisted mostly of talking with townspeople, and Banivia was okay.

As for the new characters, Vanquish is nearly identical to Rayonne in battle , except Vanquish has more HP, skills, and the SP doesn't matter because Rayonne doesn't have any skills. And they use different weapons. I thought Rayonne would get a skill sooner or later, like Blaise did, but he didn't. Rien kept on dying. She doesn't have enough defence to defend, speed to dodge, or HP to survive anything, and she has auto-poison. I ended up sticking her in the reserve party and switched her in to revive people. She gets an ascension, though. Maybe she just isn't my type of character. Despite being an attack/accuracy build, she kind of fell out of attacking usefulness with Seri when they failed to learn (Double) Slash 3. In the midst of the Maladorr mansion, I went back to the hub city and did some sidequests, and talked to Rien. Then she and Auria start talking about how Vel disguised herself and fooled the enchantment. She wasn't there for that.

Characterisation was something done particularly well in this game, and the only main character I felt was kind of flat would be Vanquish, partly because he rarely talks, and is all mysterious. I hope that gets expanded on in Act III.
The ending was great, although I wandered around for a while at the part where you go to the northeast for the conversation with Mia. I think that someone might have found the bloody mess at the gate. Wouldn't Auria know that someone was bound to find out what she did? Anyways, the ending was rather epic. I particularly liked the fight with Rien. Oh, and Mia took some of my equipment with her when she died. At least it wasn't the cat ears. If Seri joins the Virad, does that mean she's stronger in Act III, and can do all of those Virad enchantments, or did she not stick around long enough to learn?

And by the way, Mia's Slash 4 has a 3 icon.

Sorry if this post isn't organised as well as some others, but I didn't originally intend to type out this much.

Read on if you'd like to know my various nitpickings with the game, since I really don't have much broader critique that hasn't already been said.
Mapping had a few weird issues like how in Act I, you could walk up the wall in the room next to Auria's in the town where Zaqris and Seri join. In East Naven, a few fence corners were missing, and I could walk over the table at the place where Auria went to talk to Fiora. I've noticed in Act II that whoever your mapper is has been leaving the interior roof tiles with nothing under or over them (most of the time). Pillars are not continued under the roof, so you can walk where you shouldn't be able to. I noticed it with the bookshelves in the Maladorr Mansion as well. You might want to fix any of that in the third act, if it isn't too late.

 

[rpgmakerxp08]

looks pretty good, downloadin now to try it out

 

[Sailerius]

If you're redoing Act I, you might want to spread out the sidequests instead of having most of them at the beginning, when the player has less of an idea of how important they are. You might want to make the difficulty a little lower too, since it actually gets easier for the second act (in my experience, which might be because of grinding). I'm guessing you're also going to use the new facesets?

Spoiler: Spoiler

When I played Act II, I did Banivia first, then Boris Island, then Orka last. Orka was awesome, maybe because it was created for this act, and isn't a reused one. The idea was creative, and it was pulled off excellently. I actually got up to level 14 in the mansion looking around for what I was supposed to do, but found out soon enough. It was frustrating though, to have to go to the mirror and just wait around for it turn dark, but maybe I'm just impatient. The other areas just seemed like less effort was put into them, like doing Orka wore out the developing team. The one in Boris Island consisted mostly of talking with townspeople, and Banivia was okay.

As for the new characters, Vanquish is nearly identical to Rayonne in battle , except Vanquish has more HP, skills, and the SP doesn't matter because Rayonne doesn't have any skills. And they use different weapons. I thought Rayonne would get a skill sooner or later, like Blaise did, but he didn't. Rien kept on dying. She doesn't have enough defence to defend, speed to dodge, or HP to survive anything, and she has auto-poison. I ended up sticking her in the reserve party and switched her in to revive people. She gets an ascension, though. Maybe she just isn't my type of character. Despite being an attack/accuracy build, she kind of fell out of attacking usefulness with Seri when they failed to learn (Double) Slash 3. In the midst of the Maladorr mansion, I went back to the hub city and did some sidequests, and talked to Rien. Then she and Auria start talking about how Vel disguised herself and fooled the enchantment. She wasn't there for that.

Characterisation was something done particularly well in this game, and the only main character I felt was kind of flat would be Vanquish, partly because he rarely talks, and is all mysterious. I hope that gets expanded on in Act III.
The ending was great, although I wandered around for a while at the part where you go to the northeast for the conversation with Mia. I think that someone might have found the bloody mess at the gate. Wouldn't Auria know that someone was bound to find out what she did? Anyways, the ending was rather epic. I particularly liked the fight with Rien. Oh, and Mia took some of my equipment with her when she died. At least it wasn't the cat ears. If Seri joins the Virad, does that mean she's stronger in Act III, and can do all of those Virad enchantments, or did she not stick around long enough to learn?

And by the way, Mia's Slash 4 has a 3 icon.

Sorry if this post isn't organised as well as some others, but I didn't originally intend to type out this much.

Read on if you'd like to know my various nitpickings with the game, since I really don't have much broader critique that hasn't already been said.
Mapping had a few weird issues like how in Act I, you could walk up the wall in the room next to Auria's in the town where Zaqris and Seri join. In East Naven, a few fence corners were missing, and I could walk over the table at the place where Auria went to talk to Fiora. I've noticed in Act II that whoever your mapper is has been leaving the interior roof tiles with nothing under or over them (most of the time). Pillars are not continued under the roof, so you can walk where you shouldn't be able to. I noticed it with the bookshelves in the Maladorr Mansion as well. You might want to fix any of that in the third act, if it isn't too late.

Thanks a ton for the extended comments! Much appreciated. I'm planning to release a combo pack once all three acts are released, so I'll definitely go back and fix that in Acts I & II. I really wish I would get more feedback like yours. XD

To respond to your questions:
*You'll get back all of the equipment you had equipped to party members who are no longer in your party.
*And yes, Seri will be much, MUCH more useful in Act III. She and Vel both got substantial upgrades in versatility and usefulness.

Also, thanks to whoever nominated Vacant Sky for the .ORGY awards! I really appreciate it and am honored.

 

[danyo34]

I remembered some things. When you go into the technique menu, the description at the top doesn't change. It's fine for the battles, though. Oh, and why in the world does Rayonne learn parry? He has no use for it because he can't use his SP. The description for parry was also ambiguous. I think you should put SP instead of stamina. I thought SP stood for special points. Oh well. Leather armour doesn't display the correct information before equipping. It says it has a defence of 15, then boosts it by 20. I don't know how you'd go around fixing that, though. In battle, you can select a skill or attack that targets (doesn't hit everyone automatically), then go back without selecting a target, and the left-most menu's cursor will move, but doesn't do anything else. When the target is an ally, then it just won't show up until you press the button to go back to that menu. Rien's and Auria's "ascension" and "awakening" aren't in the same order. The guy in Svaneholm at the dock also stares at Seri when she isn't even there (at the beginning).

Spoiler

Wait, so I get to keep Mia's bandages? Yes! I'll stick them on someone. There's nothing like looting the (soon to be) dead.

 

[Sailerius]

I remembered some things. When you go into the technique menu, the description at the top doesn't change. It's fine for the battles, though. Oh, and why in the world does Rayonne learn parry? He has no use for it because he can't use his SP. The description for parry was also ambiguous. I think you should put SP instead of stamina. I thought SP stood for special points. Oh well. Leather armour doesn't display the correct information before equipping. It says it has a defence of 15, then boosts it by 20. I don't know how you'd go around fixing that, though. In battle, you can select a skill or attack that targets (doesn't hit everyone automatically), then go back without selecting a target, and the left-most menu's cursor will move, but doesn't do anything else. When the target is an ally, then it just won't show up until you press the button to go back to that menu. Rien's and Auria's "ascension" and "awakening" aren't in the same order. The guy in Svaneholm at the dock also stares at Seri when she isn't even there (at the beginning).

Spoiler

Wait, so I get to keep Mia's bandages? Yes! I'll stick them on someone. There's nothing like looting the (soon to be) dead.

I actually just fixed the description and stat previews not updating bug. It's been an annoying one I've been trying to fix since Act I. Good call on Parry, though. I'll look into that.

Also, thanks to everyone who voted for Vacant Sky in the .ORGy awards!!

 

[moxie]

On another note, I'm starting to think about touching up Act I after Act III's release and putting them together into a combo pack for new players. One of my concerns is that Act I's painful linearity combined with poor balance will put off new players from continuing with the series. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to fix it up to make it more engaging?

I'm not sure how in-depth you wanted to go, but speaking as someone who's never made it past the intro, I would suggest spicing it up a bit. Maybe I'm remembering it incorrectly, but the beginning sequence really seemed to drag on with the unskippable battles, followed by a really boring segment where you run around town doing errands. It's really vague on where to go, so it's basically just hopping from building to building trying to trigger something.

When I have more time I'm going to play it through anyway, because from the looks of it I'm letting a bad first impression keep me from playing a good game, but I thought I'd give you my perspective.