A thousand apologies for being a month late with my latest blog (I'm two weeks overdue orz).

Progress?

Still 4 out of a possible 25 hours done. I haven't moved forward at all ( don't crack the whip, please >< ) since I've been testing and polishing the first four hours of the game after receiving very helpful feedback and advice; both on the writing and actual gameplay, from my private testers. I'd rather spend another few weeks polishing the first few hours, than have to rush the whole game and spend
another good six months fixing up problems from the earlier halves of the game, which would be disastrous for my planned December 2017 release date. In hindsight, it is probably a poor release date, because the FF7 Remake would probably be due...

But I will be thirty by then, so it is fitting that Tristian would be my swan song after 9 years of working with RPGMaker.

Gameplay?

On-map encounters will no longer spawn. This also prevents player-grinding, so the player will have to rely on AP ( Ability Points ) and those neat little Crysalii that can be found in most areas for stat ups. I'll probably have to increase the AP rate though ( it's currently 1 point per level gained, which is too low for a controlled encounter rate system ). I'll probably use Yanfly's Swap Random Monster script to diversify enemies even more ( and it will stop players from becoming too complacent ).

To be quite honest, I found the respawning too repetitive when traversing the same areas again and again ( in fact, some dungeons will have warp crystals that will warp the player back to the beginning of the dungeon if it dead-ends ). And to make up for less encounters, the battles themselves are a little bit harder than usual. It all boils down to player strategy in the end.

For example:

Tristian is weak against Thunder. You're facing a group of Thunder Elementals ( in worst case scenarios, there will be a Water Elemental thrown into the mix. If they Drench you, you take double damage from thunder spells ). You probably know from your previous playthroughs that they can easily 2RKO her. And you don't have a Thunder Bracer ( halves Thunder damage ) or a Donar Boost item ( which will give your character a Thunder-affinity weapon but will also make them immune to Thunder for 2 turns ). So what to do?

Simple.

Unequip Tristian's armour. Her armour makes her weak against Thunder enemies, not her actual chemical makeup. Unless she's a robot, lol ( she's immune to Light due to her heritage though ). Even the wrong equipment in battle could spell doom at times, so analysing your foes' weaknesses in battle is key to winning them. You'll also come across Back-Row enemies who are immune to all melee weapons ( swords, axes, spears and knives ) but can be targetted with Bows, Crossbows and Magic. Nearly all flying enemies and some defensive soldiers ( like the Bannermen ) are Back-Row enemies. And they are often the pests you'd need to eradicate quickly.

Or you know, just silence 'em with Ianna's little stick.


Even so-called useless weapons like staves will have status-inflicting effects on your foes. At the expense of having lower hit rates, that is.

Sometimes the best strategies are often the simplest.


Also, level-ups are better implemented. I was having a bit of a problem with an ATS script that was causing the level up messages to go wonky, but I fixed it in the end. A real simple fix. ><

Passives:

Still a thing, but I've refined it a bit more and made them more diverse/unique for every character, like Tristian's Iron Will ( reduces all damage taken by 10 ), Ianna's Double Heal ( healing items become 200% more effective ) or Striker's Aggressor ( allows him to strike twice in a row ). Passives will also be less about increases character's stats ( like HP/MP/SPD ) and more about trying to make all seven ( eight if you count Tristian/Ira separate ) playable characters useful in their own way. Nothing grinds my gears more than a useless/dead-weight unit that
is still useless after training.

I'm not too sure if I should add a passive that allows a character to use another type of weapon ( like Lance being able to use bows or axes ) when he promotes from a Conscript to a Paladin. Aka Class-Changing might be a thing. It adds all sorts of replayability and depth to a game, so its probably not a bad idea.


The whole playable cast. A 50/50 split between gals and guys.
Top row, left to right: Tristian the Ice Queen, Ianna the Adorable Princess, Ira the Hot Chick with a Sword, Darcy the Genki Girl.
Bottom row, left to right: Striker the Ryu/Ike wannabe, Lance the Knight-version of Patrick, Trabant the Bamf, Dante the unlucky in love mage.

Writing:

While I still feel writing is not my strongest suite ( at least, when comparing it to my level design ), I am still working extremely hard to get the scenes just right, without making them too long or devoid of that all important character development.


I rewrote this scene so that Ianna doesn't come across as a sobbing mess.


I just love writing Ianna's lines. She has so much potential. And adorable to boot. <3

Also. Happy (late) birthday, Ianna.