[VX] Righteous (Chapter 1 Beta Demo Now Released!)

[tofurkey]

R I G H T E O U S
vigilate state in fide virilter agite et confortamani omnia vestra in caritate fiant

Thanks for the feature .Org!
The Moment You've Been Waiting For!
That's probably not true, actually. Most of you have probably either forgotten about this project or never heard of it in the first place. Anyway, after some tough times and busy days, I've finally managed to churn out what I think is acceptable as a demo. Ladies, gentlemen, and Wyatts, I present to you the "beta version" of Righteous.

Creator Information
I've always wanted to make a game of some sort, particularly an RPG. I remember playing through games being cynical and critical, thinking of ways such and such could be better. RPG Maker finally gave me the opportunity to make something to my own likings and standards.

Even though I've had every single version of PC RPG Maker to date, I still consider myself highly new to the software. As a result, my mapping and scripting aren't really up to snuff (don't even get me started on my graphical skills), and so you'll probably see a lot of novice errors (probably all over the place). But I learn quickly, and if you tell me where I messed up, you'll see me improve.

Anyway, without further ado, the nitty-gritty.

Background and Story
The world was once a flourishing place, filled with the bright promise of tomorrow. One particular land was very blessed, as magic flowed through the veins of its inhabitants. But such great power could only be met with great conflict, as it was only a matter of time before war broke out in the land. As countless people died over the scuffles of man, some began to search for some alternative to save their world from perishing. Finally a man emerged, preaching of a greater life and salvation should the people of the world forsake magic and trust only in the Divine. His word spread throughout the land, and his followers became many, yet there were still some who refused to give up their gifts. One by one, however, they were silenced. Now, only a few remain indignant, forming the land of Rukima. Those who gave up magic formed the nation of Fennix.

Kurt Westland is a rookie soldier in the vast army of Fennix, the Righteous. He's never considered anything else besides joining the military; after all, his father was a high ranking officer. He was also Kurt's idol through his life. Being an only child, his mother could hardly agree with his career choice, but knowing that being like his father meant that much to him, she bent to his will.

However, things soon changed. Kurt's father leaves on a tour of duty in the far western lands bordering Rukima, and several months later, the fateful letter arrives at their door. Stricken with grief, Kurt begins to question everything he believed in; his once invincible father was pronounced dead. Matters only become more grave when his mother dies soon after, her sorrow too great for her body to handle.

One year later, Kurt has finally finished his military training. Still determined to be like his father, he prepares to set off on his first mission. But his thoughts still linger elsewhere. Something just doesn't sit with him in regards to his father's death. The church revealed to him no other details than his father died in an ambush. Something is going on, and Kurt knows it. What he doesn't know is that discovering this secret will put him directly in the middle of the clash of religion. Not only will his life be on the line, but also his sanity. When all sides are against you, what do you turn to?

Major Characters
Righteous features a very diverse cast of characters, stemming from different backgrounds as well as different personalities. As their paths cross and the war rages on, the line between good and evil becomes more and more blurry. In a war this bloody, can there be such a thing as heroes and villains?

Kurt Westland
Better known throughout the city of Hastings as the son of the late Kenelm Westland, Kurt has spent his whole life trying to live up to the grandeur of his father. As a rookie in the Righteous, he's more than anxious to avenge his father, yet his zealousness may prove to be his downfall.

Rufus Bentley
The youngest Commander of the Righteous, Rufus had only assumed the position shortly after the death of Kenelm Westland, the frontrunner for the empty commandership. As a good friend of Kenelm's, he has taken it upon himself to be Kurt's new guardian. But in the time of war, is there room for this sort of compassion?

Xia Chen
As a tactician fighting a losing battle, Xia has much more than just her own fate resting on her shoulders. With her entire nation on the line, she will do whatever it takes to make sure she emerges victorious--even if it means defying what she believes in.

Russell Silas
Silas is the epitome of a lost cause, wasting his life away in seedy taverns and bars. He'd much rather drink the night away than have anything to do with this war of ideologies. Yet behind every alcoholic is a story, and soon he will find that he is more involved than he can begin to imagine.

Spoiler: Minor Characters of Chapter I

Gareth York
A Righteous rookie whose size is only matched by his ego, Gareth is the definition of a meathead. Though he has brief bouts of civility, in the end, it's his boisterous persona that directs his life.

Nathaniel Hathaway
The youngest son in a long lineage of Righteous soldiers, Nathaniel often feels overwhelmed by the pressure of his expectations. Despite being generally passive, he is highly motivated by winning the acceptance of his older brothers and father.

Carrie Boudreau
Fast-talking, gregarious, and bubbly, Carrie is a bright personality that many seem to take a liking to. As a childhood friend of Kurt's, she and her family have taken over as Kurt's surrogate relatives with the passing of his parents.

The High Priest and the Righteous Commanders
The be-all, end-all authorities within the culture of Fennix. While the High Priest and his advising corps officially have the power, the Righteous Commanders have a significant amount of clout given their status at the helm of the military.

Spoiler: Minor Characters of Chapter II

Martin Artorius Linus, III
A slick-tongued street performer with a mind for money and all the charm in the world to get it. He travels the continent looking for fame and fortune, but there seems to be a bit more to him than that.

Lorna McMahon
The "Belle" of Althea: a kind, intelligent, homely woman who works as a clerk for the local inn. Yet despite all her quaintness, she still draws gossiping murmurs when she walks by, never smiling and living alone in a house away from the main village.

Gameplay and Features
RIGHTEOUS is a turn-based tactical RPG based on GubiD's Tactical Battle System, an RPG Maker variant of Final Fantasy Tactic's battle system. Rather than challenging players with inane puzzles or button-mashing frenzies, RIGHTEOUS makes the player think more strategically: for those who don't know what the system is like, imagine chess meets a typical RPG.

Characters generally have a defined role, but there is room for flexibility with the Animus, an ability grid/license board available for most major characters. Skills as well as extra stats are gained via the Animus, so you can shape the characters into whichever direction you feel is most suitable for your needs.

Throughout the story there will be "mercenaries," or generic optional characters that can be recruited for a brief period of time to help fill in gaps where certain story parties are lacking. Though most of them are not fantastic in battle by any means, they provide an extra body and can sometimes make or break a fight.

Spoiler: Screenshots

The title screen. Tried to go for a "simple yet effective" look here.

The "Animus" in action. Credit goes to Guardian1239 for this system.

Carrie's worried. With good reason, of course.

Plan your attacks carefully, keeping everything from distance to damage in mind.

Spoiler: Credits

Taken from the .txt file I have included in the demo download:

=====================================================
R I G H T E O U S: CHAPTER I and DEMO CREDITS
=====================================================
All story, characters, databasing and mapping were done
exclusively by myself, Dan Mui (tofurkey). As such, all
story, characters, and plot-related elements are reserved
for my use only.

Special Thanks goes out to the following people:

Graphics:
D*M - XP to VX Charsets
Yangxie - Misc. Downsets
Famitsu Character Generator

I also have an extended IconSet.png that came from an
unknown source. If you are one of the makers of one of
these icons, please let me know and I will either remove
this icon or give credit where due.


Scripts:
GubiD (GubiD's Tactical Battle System)
Serpent of Shadow (Skill Criticals)
Guardian1239 (Ability Grid related scripts)
Poccil (Critical Strike edit)
Dargor (Countless scripts)
woratana (Neo Message System)

Music:
X-Ray Dog (numerous tracks)
Metal Gear Solid OST (Enclosure)
Pearl Jam (Even Flow)
Tomoyasu Hotei (Frozen Memories)
Unlimited SaGa (Battle Theme I)
Final Fantasy Tactics OST (Anxiety)
Necrile (for introducing me to X-Ray Dog)

Other:
Sophist, Vadon, and Regi from .org (Thanks for great critiquing!)
Everyone who played my mini-demo or helped critique my
early storyboards


If you feel that you've contributed significantly to this
project but I failed to mention you in this file, please
let me know as soon as possible! I'd hate to miss giving
credit where credit is due.

Thank you all for playing, and please leave me feedback
or critiques of anything you feel necessary. You can
reach me via the Righteous thread on RMXP.org or elsely
by emailing me at dan.mui@gmail.com

--Dan/tofurkey

Spoiler: Concept Art (a little dated/shitty) Big Images Inside

Kurt's Faceset

Gareth's Faceset

Rufus's Faceset

Nathaniel's Faceset

Old Silas Concept Art

Old Xia Concept Art

Demo
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=AW1LYAHP
New Demo as of March 2, 2009 11:18 AM CST!

The file is in .rar format, so you'll need WinRAR or a similar program to be able to extract it.

Also, I know some people have trouble with Megaupload, so if this does become a problem, let me know and I'll upload it to a different file server.

Other Matters of Importance
Cool, cool, but why'd you make a new thread?
I feel like I've progressed substantially further from my concept thread to what I have now. Plus, the male half of the twin-headed Sophetia LenGyver currently has my concept thread listed as an example for CD topics, so I figure I'll go ahead and leave it as is. Plus, I think there's some valuable though superfluous information there. If you want to read a lot of text about the characters, the story, etc., then you can check out the old thread here.

Things I Need Feedback On
Well, this is my first real release of anything remotely substantial, so I appreciate critiques and comments on everything and anything you like or don't like. I'll do my best to respond to all questions and criticisms.

However, I would like to ask that you pay special attention to balance, difficulty, and story progression, as these are the matters I'm most concerned about at the moment. Is this battle too easy? Is the game itself too easy? Is this section too difficult? Did this section feel too choppy? Even the smallest comment helps me improve in some regard, but I'd like you to be as in-depth and descriptive in your reviews and critiques as possible.

I need a bit of hand with...
Concept art, which includes facesets. As you can see from what I've posted/what's in the game, I'm not a fantastic artist by any means. Though I'd like to try to do everything myself, I'm getting invariably frustrated with my lack of talent in this area. With that being said, if any artists would like to contribute to this cause (either by commission or pro bono), I'm looking for some artwork that'll mesh well with the RTP and the story itself. The art by the guys at UDON are a pretty good representation of what I'm trying to accomplish here. I'm willing to pay for quality work, so send me a sample of your art if you're interested and we'll see what we can work out.

 

[Luminier]

This looks pretty interesting, tofurkey. :
I think I'll give it a whirl and tell you what I think tomorrow!!

 

[tofurkey]

This looks pretty interesting, tofurkey. :
I think I'll give it a whirl and tell you what I think tomorrow!!

Hi lumi ilu
I'm prepared for the worst though, I think my mind's become numb just trying to get everything in working order so I'm ready for the "wow you missed this and this" or "this doesn't seem right." Anyway <3 u

As an addendum, while testing I did get a strange error that I wasn't able to consistently recreate. I think I fixed what was going on, but if you do run across any kind of scripting error or other error, please take a screenshot of it or let me know the text in the error box. Thanks!

 

[Luminier]

i took notes down as i played. im not prettying them up so you have to deal with irc-quality postings~

Spoiler

the music for the opening scene really helps set the tone

the 'epic' music in the background for the barracks is a little much imo. plus it doesnt loop very well

i can't say kurt's faceset really suits his sprite very well. then again it's hard to convey the way a face actually looks with vx sprites so idk!

for some reason there is a downward arrow icon partially covering up the 'buy' option when buying from tommaseo

is there a reason why you cant talk to the librarian?

idk why but it seems like certain item names have spaces between characters where they shouldnt. e.g. 'M edicine', 'Fresh W ater'. its no big deal but it does look weird

it would have been nice if there were a few more interesting things you could do before proceeding to the training hall. im being picky though, it's not like most strategy rpg's allow you to roam around AT ALL, so i shouldnt complain

it would be nice if wainright gave you a list of topics to talk about when you ask him about battle basics, instead of having to go through them all to make sure theres nothing unexpected

the battle with unit 17 was just a taaad bit harder than it should have been. it took me two tries to get them. maybe i just suck tho

i took carlo along with me but for some reason he was 40/47 HP?? @_@

i guess this is a gripe with the battle system script, but there's no way to tell if someone has a status effect and thats sortof important so :s

gareth is totally useless due to how mollases slow he is. even if he does nothing but MOVE he still wont have the chance to go before the enemy has two turns.

the scene where the troops are heading to rausche or however it's spelled is weird. you have the text boxes set to close after a certain amount of time, which would be good for a moving scene, but this wasn't really, so idk. i guess what im saying is that scene would be better if the characters were actually moving instead of walking in place.

i think modifying the menu to show all five characters at once would be a good idea.

like i was telling you on irc the slime battle is BRUTAL AS FUCK. i had to be really, really careful with every single action. now, i like having to plan ahead and be careful, but this was just a tad ridiculous. if i hadnt had nathaniel learn mind wrack im sure i wouldnt have made it. theres a definite balancing issue right there

also as i told you on irc the next battle with the rumikan soldiers is hard. all opposing units have skills that deal ~40 damage which is over half the hp of what any character has. either ditch the skills for most or all of them.

i like it but it's way too unbalanced

 

[tofurkey]

Hi Lumi, thanks for the crits

All the buggy sorta things I'm working on trying to figure out right now, though I have noticed them before. I just didn't feel like they were consequential enough to really delay putting out a demo.

I put in a request for a menu edit to fit more people on the screen, but if that doesn't go through then I'll probably try to figure out how to do one on my own.

What kinds of things would you like to do in between battles? I had tossed around a few ideas in my head in the past to try to come up with something else, but everything just didn't seem necessary.

As for Gareth's usefulness, I tried to compensate in a number of ways already, but I too still feel like he has some shortcomings. It's frustrating mostly in that I know a few ways that I could make him better, but they'd require some pretty complex scripting for the battle system. With GubiD AWOL, I really don't know how to implement these ideas.

I've been playing around a little more with balance and have already toned down enemy damage as a whole. Once I get a few more of these minor fixes done with, I'll upload a new demo. I'd like to see if other people are having similar difficulty problems first though, 'cause maybe you just suck :3

 

[Guest]

This looks pretty interesting, tofurkey. :
I think I'll give it a whirl and tell you what I think tomorrow!!

this game looks fantastic very interesting indeed

 

[Vadon]

Hello, I've been lurking the forums for a while without registration, but since I tried your game out and actually have something that could be of use, I figured it was time I register.

I'll put my analysis in spoiler tags even though it's rather short because I also include my battle strategy.

Spoiler

I tried your game (I haven't tried the slime battle yet because I got busy, but I may edit this post afterwards with my input on it), and I wasn't having the same balancing problems as Luminer. In fact, Gareth was my most useful character against Unit 17 because I got him the Charge ability. Unit 17 would line up along the bridge, I used Charge, and I killed two and got the last in critical. Then a single shot from Nathan and I won. I don't know how tough the slime battle will be for me right now because I battled Unit 17 twice more and once with Unit 3, so I got some level ups.

I agree with Luminer's points on the game outside of battle. The lack of Librarian conversation, the strange walking in place with timed messages, and face-set doesn't really match. (But props to you for doing the art.)

A couple more things I'd like to add, I like that you have people interrupting each others messages, but I think you need to work on the timing a little bit more. Usually I'd have read maybe one word or two before the new one came up. It could be that I'm just slow on starting the reading, but it's a thought.

I second that you'll need to find a way to show status ailments. I had to just guess when Nathan was affected by poison. (The sound effect and the draining health were good clues, but it wasn't you know... clear.)

Anyway, I really have enjoyed what I've played so far. You have great dialogue, which I think is often overlooked in RM games. (By that I mean it flows smoothly and reflects the personalities of the characters. And it's not riddled with grammatical errors.)

Another thing you might consider is giving the tutorial for battle with that first fight. If no one's played a tactical RPG before, they might just be looking at the screen in horror. (As I did when I first tried FFT.)

It's awesome stuff you've got going, and I tip my hat at your efforts. Keep up the good work.

 

[tofurkey]

Hey Vadon, thanks for the crits. I'll go ahead and reply to a few of your points:

I've since corrected the librarian and the walking in place. I hadn't even realized that the librarian didn't say anything (he does have dialogue later, but I left it out of the first map for whatever reason), so thanks to both of you for pointing that out. Also, what other kinds of "features" would you like to see outside of battle?

I'll look into the interruption timing and see if I can adjust it a little. I read pretty quickly, so I think I had it configured largely around my own reading speed, but I'll see if I can slow it down a bit.

I'm currently working on the status ailment issue. It's there in the script, so why it's not showing up is a mystery to me. If I can't figure it out, I might just resort to trying to do it through events, but I feel like that might lag a bit. Hopefully I can figure it out so I don't have to do that.

I've tossed the tutorial at the beginning around in my head a little bit, and actually was thinking of FFT when I decided not to put one in. What FFT did was stockpile you with Guest characters so you can sorta learn by observation, so I was trying to accomplish something similar here.

Spoiler: Second Reason with inconsequential spoilers, I guess

Also, I don't think it would make much sense for there to be a tutorial there, as the five units in that very first battle are all supposed to be seasoned soldiers. I may put in some small tutorial text at the beginning of the fight, but I don't know if I want to have a step by step kinda progression there.

Anyway, thanks for playing, and let me know anything else you deem comment-worthy once you get further along.

EDIT: In regards to the sprite/faceset conflict with Kurt, do you think it's just the hair?

 

[Vadon]

With the face-set I only really have two problems with Kurt's. One is that the character sprite has a headband, while the sprite doesn't. The second is that the hair seems like it'd be longer on the sprite than what you have on the faceset. For example, the sprite's hair wafts in the breeze, I don't see the face-set's being able to do that as easily.

And on the tutorial point, that's a good reason. Though I do recall when I played FFT my first time, I wasn't aware that I had other people I could fight with in that first battle at the academy. So I kept trying to do it with Delita and Ramza. So many gameovers... so much frustration. Thankfully, you don't have this problem.

But I had some more time to play, and this time I kept notepad open for my observations as I played. Again, there's some strategy and spoilers in my analysis so I'll put it in spoiler tags despite it being rather short.

Spoiler

After getting Stevens, I went to the munitions salesman because he was all, "Just don't tell any of the officers, okay?" And he still said that despite me having an officer in the party. Just something you might want to play with.

Slime battle - I had no problems with this one whatsoever. I just let the slimes come to me and I killed them. After they were all dead, I went across the bridge and won.

I thought Steven's diplomatic approach to the Rumikan (sp?) was hilarious. That said, the battle was substantially more difficult than the previous ones. I actually lost Kurt and Nathan in the fight. It's not that bad though, I won, and that's what's important. But during the battle, a bug I noticed was that the names of the characters I was battling overlapped their titles.

Here's a bug. After I fought the Rumikans I was low on supplies so I decided to try to go back to camp. I went back, got some more medicine, and tried to go forward. Unfortunately, when I tried to go from the slime-map to the ambush map, it asked "Do you want to proceed?" so I answered yes. Then I was taken to a blacked out map. Luckily I had saved before I went to the town, so it wasn't a game killer for me, though it would have been had I not saved.

I don't know if you wanted us to look out for spelling errors, but I figured I'd point one out since this is a beta. Stevens says "The Rumikans were 'her' for something" when you arrive at the second camp and find everyone is more or less, not so alive anymore. It was fun just running around screaming trying to keep away from Drunky.

... Whaddya mean I can't take the gold? Who cares about having the moral high ground over the thief. I needs money for meds, bro! (You should of course keep it so you can't take the gold, this was just my reaction to it. But on that note, I am always VERY strapped for cash, even if it's just for more medicine. You might consider upping how much cash you get at the end of the battles.)

When I got back to the barracks(?) I checked the library and can walk on the papers of one of the tables. Oh and that traveling salesman guy? He's awesome and utterly charming. Reminds me a bit of O'aka from FFX.

Got my troops just fine. And the story and dialogue are all excellent in this segment.

Did my battle into Dhajma...whatever. Wasn't bad at all. Couple attacks from Rufus and the Lieutenant was down for the count. I don't know what Rufus and Nathan were talking about with it being so 'difficult.' Oh, and the snipe ability? Awesome, and perhaps a little too powerful? Maybe make it take more SP or something.

That's all I had time for in this round.

I'll keep playing and tell you what else I find.

 

[tofurkey]

Again, Vadon, thanks for being so thorough. It always makes me happy when I notice someone's taking a lot of time to look at something I've done

Spoiler: Responses

The first fight with the Rukimans is indeed supposed to be difficult, though I've reduced the damage dealt by their attacks since I released the demo. I'll look into shortening the enemy names and classes so they don't overlap though.

Hm, I'll have to check my switches on that bug. It shouldn't have done that, and I don't know why it would take you to a blank map if anything. Thanks for catching that.

Yes, I'm looking for any errors you find, spelling included. I'm a little embarrassed that there's so many little bugs in the library. It's not really an essential area at all so I think I sorta disregarded it.

Gold and prices in general I am very bad at. It's tough for me to gauge what's expensive and what's not while I'm databasing, but I did notice that I never really had a dramatic surplus. I'll probably buff gold rewards.

Snipe has been rebalanced since this release. I increased the SP cost as well as the casting delay. I was thinking about lowering Hank's movement as well, but I figure that would've been overkill. In designing that fight I never thought about sending Rufus straight in, actually. In most of my tests I just used him as a sponge for the other units. I might adjust his level a little so it's somewhat more challenging.

I'm glad you like Tommaseo, as he's an incarnation of one of my best friends (name included). Money-minded, ridiculous, over-the-top, etc. I was aiming for an O'aka kind of feel, so the fact that you made that comparison unprompted makes me feel accomplished :D

Like I said in my first post, my laptop is incapacitated and I think I'm going to have to buy a new one, 'cause the problem lies in either my motherboard or graphics card, both of which are expensive as hell to replace. As a result my actual updates are going to be delayed for some time, but keep on playing and posting because I know my game like the back of my hand now. I backed up my game on an external hard drive (I didn't do it in the best of fashions, but it's manageable, I think), so I'll try to get it going on a different computer. All suggestions and fixes are being queued up until I resolve my problems, but I promise that I'll get to each and every one of them.

 

[MukanshinBlack]

I remember this project from Concept Development, and I got a question: why does all of the characters facesets look fat?

 

[tofurkey]

I remember this project from Concept Development, and I got a question: why does all of the characters facesets look fat?

Well the simple answer is that I can't draw well.

The more complicated answer is that they're not really supposed to be fat so much as bulky, as the facesets that I have done and showing are soldiers in a highly male-dominated society. Their style of fighting is primarily might makes right, so naturally their soldiers are going to be big and brawny.

If this didn't come out exactly like that (and I know it doesn't, and it frustrates me--thus my need for a concept/faceset artist), then one of my reasonings is that I haven't taken an art class with the exception of a little comic book drawing seminar when I was in summer camp in grade school. Most of my exposure to "this" kind of art nowadays is also to comic books, and so my mind doesn't really get much reference aside from superhero-type characters.

UPDATE ON MY STATUS: I've revived my old computer, so now I should be able to do stuff regarding my game. I should be back up in full speed within the next two weeks or so.

 

[Vadon]

I have finished playing through what you have. (Sorry for the delay, I had other priorities yesterday.)

As always, I keep my review and spoiler-y stuff in the spoiler tags. (An amazing coincidence, no?)

Spoiler

When you're in the house and are about to do the search, Gareth says, "Yout take the top ones." (Typo focus on 'yout'.)

After playing with the burning coals/rocks/(bombs?) on the desk, you can walk on top of them.

Money! Hallelujah! Though I do question the moral justification in taking someone's money they have stashed in their house as opposed to a pile of coin that belonged to dead men. Then again, I bet I'm one of the very few who would think of that.

Fun duel, reminds me of the Legion Saga duels. No complaints or problems.

When Kurt talks with Xia, he says, "Who are you to know anything?" (A little awkward, nothing WRONG with it, per se, but it did break the cohesiveness of the conversation for me. Perhaps "How could you possibly know anything about that?" or even simply "How would you know anything?" Or split it up, "Who are you, and how do you know anything about my father?")

The shove battle was unique and interesting. Though the bottle didn't work so well, in that I used it... and it did nothing. I was kind of hoping for a satisfying bottle-breakage sound and body crumpling. Also, it might be helpful if you scroll the map and flash the tile you need to get to. Otherwise it may be difficult to know where 3, 17 is. (The North-east was explanation enough, but if I accidentally skipped over the reading, the flashed tile would help)

Tommaseo in the barracks FTW.

Typo: "This isn't something you need to concern yourself 'wth' Carrie." -- Kurt

I'm having trouble buying Kurt's absolute certainty that there is something suspicious in how his father died. Specifically, just because HE can't think of a single reason for the tactician to lie, doesn't mean there ISN'T one. Also, I think he jumped to the conspiracy accusation a bit too quickly. Afterall, even IF the Rumikans didn't ambush his father, couldn't it have been a band of thieves? Animals? Drunky the Bottle-Bashing-Bum(Russell Silas)? There would be reason to doubt the circumstances of his father's death, absolutely, but to jump to the conclusion that Righteous did it to their own man and then accuse Righteous in their face, takes more than pure audacity. It takes a helluva lot of stupidity for the illogical sequence of actions. I could understand you needing the plot to progress quickly, but at the same time, it just doesn't make sense to me on a logical level. *Shrug* Unless of course there's previous evidence of Kurt thinking irrationally, and we've seen that more from Gareth than Kurt. Kurt just gets emotional and perturbed.

I think what would work better is Kurt being granted leave until things have calmed down for him some more. During the course of this leave, he vows to find out the truth. You can have the fun accusation later.

All that said, props to you for having every character that finds out about his rampage call him an idiot. (Rufus, High Priest, Carrie, etc.)

Agh! Loopy text at the end! Might want a title-screen call or something.

Anyway, I've greatly enjoyed what you've put together. So much so that I blew the dust off my old PSX and popped FFT in again. I think you surpassed it in quite a few ways. (Specifically, showing the various ranges of your attacks BEFORE you move.)

On the face set question. It's true they look a bit chubby. I actually think the only one who looks bad is Kurt, and maybe a little bit on Nathan. For Kurt, I think the problem lies in the double chin and well-rounded cheek. With Nathan I think it's mostly a shading issue.

I took the liberty to edit your picture a bit and did a rough example of what I think would help Kurt's look better.

A link to the picture.

Mind you, it's a very rough example, but I think you can see how you can still retain a gruff, soldierish, patriarchal societal appearance while letting Kurt slim down a bit.

Glad to see you have your computer up and running again!

 

[tofurkey]

Vadon you are a godsend, lol.

Spoiler: Response to Spoilers with more Spoilers

I've corrected the typos and the passability issues that you've mentioned. As for the gold thing, I'll rethink this a little bit, though my immediate rationale is that it's taking from a house that's been occupied by the enemy, so it's more of a "plunder" than a "theft," if you get what I'm saying there.

The dueling system is based on Suikoden's (I tried to copy it the best I could with events). I haven't played Legion Saga, though, so I might give that a looking over.

I'll play around with that little dialogue segment. It did feel a little awkward writing it, but it was one of those feelings that sorta slipped my mind as I got distracted by other things.

I'll see if I can create a little red graphic or something to mark "go-to" tiles. In my very first demo that my friends tested, they did have that problem with the slime battle, so I had to move the get-to location to right next to the bridge.

The "exile" scene is something I've toiled over for so long. Countless hours of trying to think how best to show this happening while getting the right amount of emotion and power into the scene. And suddenly, here you come with an idea that has never crossed my mind in all my time working on this game. And it works perfectly.

I hadn't originally intended for Kurt to come to this conclusion immediately, but not doing so required so much buildup that the scene became a ridiculously long string of dialogue. Though this would've been fine for a story/novel/book, I didn't want there to be such a long period of inactivity in a game. At the same time, however, this is supposed to be a big turning point in the story, so I couldn't just leave it out.

As for the shove-only fight, it's a little strange that it didn't do anything, but that's probably just as a result of it missing. I have the hit chance set to 100%, but it's probably just natural enemy evasion that did me in there. I'll see what I can do about that.

But you are right, though. Although this is a matter that's troubled him for some time, it's not quite in Kurt's character to come to such irrationality so soon. Having him go on leave rather than exile does make the transition much smoother in game as well as in the mind. As I currently have things planned, it would also make much more sense for it to happen later. I've already started working on a revamping of this section. Thank you so much.

Sorry about the loop at the end. I'll correct that for next release.

Thanks for the suggestions on Kurt's drawing. I'll try to have some revised facesets out with Chapter 2.

I have some stuff I need to do today, but I should have a corrected demo out some time tonight. Chapter 2 is underway, so stay tuned. Again, thanks to those who've played through the demo. If you've played or read and haven't posted any comments yet, do it! I'd like to know what you think, as I take every opinion into consideration.

EDIT: I've finished with the minor updates to the demo and am uploading the new demo as we speak. Once it's available, I will update the main post.

 

[tofurkey]

Yup, I haven't given up on this project, but I took a big chunk of time to focus on schoolwork. That being said, Chapter 2 is currently underway and should be out some time around the beginning of next month. Everything's all laid out and ready to go, but there were some gameplay aspects that were majorly bothering me that I've been working on rebalancing.

One of the major things that I'd like to ask for some feedback on is my current system of stat growth. Currently, characters gain stats as they level as well as through their Animus Grids, which allow for bonus stats upon level up. This, I feel, makes people either really overpowered or really weak relative to the enemies they'll be fighting. What I was considering doing was almost completely stagnating people's stat growths to maybe +1 in some stats after a couple levels. I feel this somewhat discourages powerleveling and also makes for more balanced, strategic combat since characters won't be able to plow past current enemy levels. Is this a good or a bad idea?

Also, there were some new sprites in my latest demo that I had added but forgot to correct their downsets (namely Kurt's). This has been fixed since then, but if you catch any other errors like that, let me know.

 

[So fist]

Tofurkey here are some of my thoughts.

Spoiler

So I only played a little so far but here are my notes.

Your mapping has minor spacial issues. They are bigger than they need to be and as a result they seem bland for lack of detail. Also some of the details seem very haphazard and feel like they don't belong e.g. a brown bar piano in a dungeon like room. Also you're outdoor settings have too many straight lines and unintentional symmetry. The outdoor maps also have open edges. Even though in real life the outdoors always has open edges, ect. In the purposes of making a game map seem more aesthetically appealing and useful you want to close those edges off into proper path ways.

Timed text goes away too fast.

Music choices are very good. And your dialogue gives all of your npc's distinguishable personalities. You also reward exploration and paying attention to dialogue which is a plus.

I got myself to level two on the little fights with the army buddies and barely beat the slimes. Rukimans beat me afterwards. I wonder if i could have beaten the slimes at lv. 1. I think the answer is no. Should a person really have to grind on an optional fight to be able to tackle a first level?

Healing items are worthless and overpriced considering the efficacy. Medicine heals ten hit points which is basically between 1/3 to 2/3 the amount of damage dealt by any enemy i've encountered. Its not even worth wasting a turn to use.

Enemy AI seems to do some goofy things. Like randomly just walk away. However enemies do do smart things long range hit and run attacks.

Haven't played enough to really have any comment on the story, but this looks very promising. VX sprites have a very shining force feel to them.

 

[tofurkey]

Thanks for the comments so far, Sophist. I'll tackle them on a point-by-point basis in the spoiler.

Tofurkey here are some of my thoughts.

Spoiler

So I only played a little so far but here are my notes.

Your mapping has minor spacial issues. They are bigger than they need to be and as a result they seem bland for lack of detail. Also some of the details seem very haphazard and feel like they don't belong e.g. a brown bar piano in a dungeon like room. Also you're outdoor settings have too many straight lines and unintentional symmetry. The outdoor maps also have open edges. Even though in real life the outdoors always has open edges, ect. In the purposes of making a game map seem more aesthetically appealing and useful you want to close those edges off into proper path ways.


Mapping's not a strong point of mine, I'll have to say. In regards to symmetry, I felt like I was being pretty random in my designs, so if you could point out places in particular that you felt were awkward it would be much appreciated. As for the edges, thanks for pointing that out. I hadn't given it much thought nor paid much attention to it, but that shouldn't be difficult to remedy.

Timed text goes away too fast.

Was this as a whole or were there just specific instances where it was too fast?

Music choices are very good. And your dialogue gives all of your npc's distinguishable personalities. You also reward exploration and paying attention to dialogue which is a plus.

Thanks. I feel like dialogue is one of the most important aspects of any work of fiction. You can do so much with it on so many different levels.


I got myself to level two on the little fights with the army buddies and barely beat the slimes. Rukimans beat me afterwards. I wonder if i could have beaten the slimes at lv. 1. I think the answer is no. Should a person really have to grind on an optional fight to be able to tackle a first level?

You're very right here, and that's one of the things that's been bugging me and bogging me down from making substantial "progress." I did a lot of tinkering with stats to see if I could find a happy medium in difficulty but I've come to the realization that I can't keep doing this for every battle and essentially have to reboot my stat systems and such. I think I've got a solution worked out, but I'll still have to do some testing.


Healing items are worthless and overpriced considering the efficacy. Medicine heals ten hit points which is basically between 1/3 to 2/3 the amount of damage dealt by any enemy i've encountered. Its not even worth wasting a turn to use.

Again, this is one of the balance issues that I've been encountering. The items are meant to heal percentages, but at early levels, 25% feels like nothing. I'd like to assign specific values to the items, but one of the things I hate is usable items becoming obsolete--items as a whole becoming obsolete, actually. At the same time, I'm also trying to maintain a level of difficulty. While I don't want healing items to be useless, I also don't want them to be easy buttons either. I'm slightly satisfied with what they do now: 25% of 40 is still 10, which, currently, would mitigate a good 1/2-2/3 of an attack at level 1. Let's say an attack does 20 damage to a 40 HP target, reducing HP to 20. On the next turn, a 25% healing item is used, increasing HP to 30. That character can now sustain two more 20 damage hits instead of dying to the next attack.

I'm not saying that what's there is perfect right now, as I still plan on adding item ranges, AOEs, etc., but the basic functionality I am generally satisfied with. I think most of the current issues should be remedied with the stat redux. Pricing is another one of the things on my list right now as well, but it's probably one of the least of my worries.

Enemy AI seems to do some goofy things. Like randomly just walk away. However enemies do do smart things long range hit and run attacks.

I haven't encountered any random runners that I remember. Enemy AI, from what I can understand, is pretty simply coded: find nearest (then weakest) target within x panels and begin approach. Attack if in rage, otherwise Wait. I currently have the notch on Gubid's difficulty at 2, but I'll see what happens if I kick it up to 3.


Haven't played enough to really have any comment on the story, but this looks very promising. VX sprites have a very shining force feel to them.

You helped me a lot during my conceptual phase, so I'm glad to see that it's manifesting properly. I haven't played Shining Force for comparison, but I think that's a good thing.

Again, thanks for playing and commenting so far, and let me know if you run into anything else worth mentioning.