FELDSCHLACHT IV'S PROFILE

So those of you who have been following my game may be somewhat familiar with what my menu looks like.



With the exception of the new facesets, the layout is...kind of messy (ignore the (Placeholder) and the text jumble at the bottom, that's just me putting the character's last name in the text box, so my mistake) and rough, especially when you factor that I'm using 640x480 resolution, which gives the menu extra space on the sides and such, which makes this UI look bloated.

Luckily, with the exception of the new facesets, all of it is open to replacement. What UI direction can I go with, whether it's changing up a script or making this one the best it can possibly be?

-I'm in the market for a new font. What looks good considering the game I want to make? I am not a fan of the 'smooth' look that a lot of RM games have, and thus am leaning towards an SNES pixel style.

-I'm also in the market for a new graphic. The gray gradient and style I have right now is really rough and definitely clashes with the facesets.

-How do I deal with the extra space, on the borders and within the menu? The blank box above the money textbox is supposed to signify the location you're in; I used a dummy map to make this screen, hence it's blankness.

-This carries over to the battle system UI to more or less the same degree.

Any suggestions? Even if you can answer one or any of these concerns that would be rad!

Some of you may have seen the status I made (which I'll delete now I guess lol) which celebrated Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song for PS2. Long story short, some friends were talking about grindy (J)RPGs and I noted that well, there really kind of aren't any. A lot of JRPGs are either easy or you're able to sort of push through once your numbers are up. I can't think of too many JRPGs that are actually grindy outside certain Dragon Quest games.

But Minstrel Song is different. Outside of very very high numbers in your stats (which would take an incredible, prohibitive amount of time), you're not grinding through that game. Unless you know how to play the game and you've been paying attention and prepped properly, you're not beating Saruin (the final boss), period. Point blank: Period.

While Minstrel Song has a ton of issues, that aspect of it is really refreshing: it's not even just because of scaling that SaGa is known for, it's just how the mechanics and the fight itself is structured; it requires knowledge of the game and the mechanics it taught you, you must know how to play the game, and you can't really grind through it.

It's not the only game to do so; Dark/Demon Souls/Bloodborne has made a name off it (even though yeah those games have flaws as well), older video games (like the NES/SNES Super Mario games) did it, and entire genres thrive from it, fighting games, RTS games, and others have built pillars of themselves of being locked up unless you put in the time and put in the work.

Does this lock some, or even many players out? Yes, it does. Should all games be this way? Absolutely not. But do I think it's a good thing to have in the community? Yes, it is. While it wouldn't be a good thing for all video games to follow this strategy, I do think as video games expand (and as its player base gets older and better at them) there should be enough room in the industry for video games or even genres that demand you actually learn the game to beat it.

In recent times video games have gotten easier and simpler for the sake accessibility and to relax, and that's fine! But as much as I like games to just relax and veg out, I do miss having more games available that were fun through intellectual and mental stimulation (which is part of the reason why I'm so big on fighting games). There's a ton of casual games, and that's fine, but I do think that there's also room in the industry for games that demand your skill and attention. I'd like to see more RPGs follow this pattern.

Thoughts? (before it inevitably comes up because of either poor reading comprehension on your part or a poor conveyance of ideas on my part, I'm not talking about games that are purposefully or mistakenly obtuse and frustrating or games are just hard for the sake of being hard like Kaizo Mario)

Most of you already know me, but recently I sort of vanished INTO THE DARKNESS so I figured that I should reintroduce myself.

I'm Feldschlacht IV, or Feld, or Mog, or M.O.G. if you're really part of the cool kids club. I'm part of the Staff here at RMN and have been a fixture on the site, and on the RM scene for a very, very long time.

I enjoy talking about gamedev, playing games, and making games (or more specifically, my own big project), but about a year ago I left the military after 6 years of honorable service to become a full time student again (and readjust into civvie life) This ate into my time big time, and my presence here took a hit.

However, to those of you who have been paying attention to me for some reason, have noted that at the same time, my project, Chronology of the Last Era (its in my profile if you want to check it out), is slated for a major upgrade from rips to original assets and possibly a Steam release, and that has been has been taking up a lot of time as well.

Now, with my life stabilizing, Chronology's reassertion figuring itself out, and among other things, this means that I have more time to hang around here with you guys, chat it up, participate, help the site, and hopefully this will trickle down to positive results for my project as well.

so whaddup doe

So some of you might know that I'm big on lore and worldbuilding in my games, from item descriptions, sidequests, NPCs, to the main narrative exposition itself. A lore whore, if you will. Making your world feel like a living, breathing entity goes a long way into making it enjoyable and memorable, and to that end, imagination is important.

That's why I thought it would be fun to have a writing exercise for everyone featuring one of the classic staples of RPG worldbuilding and lore; bestiaries! In addition to providing vital gameplay and statistic information about your foes (which my bestiary has, but not pictured), bestiaries can provide interesting information on some of the most consistent features of your game, your enemies!

So I'd like to make it an event, and possibly something you can use for your own project (or to take inspiration from others) to make some cool bestiary entries! You can either make an actual one in your game and post it up (like I did), make a mockup, or just draft something up and post up a picture of the enemy.

And of course, we can actually discuss bestiaries as well, so don't feel like you have to participate to post. I'll start.

So recently I was thinking about those old, classic debates on 'who's the better villain' all across the gamingsphere, and how they generally boil down to Kefka/Sephiroth, more or less. A ton of people put a ton of weight on games based on their antagonists. I chucked and then I thought...who gives a shit?

Don't get me wrong! We should absolutely judge characters based on their merits; bad antagonists, and bad characters in general is a mark against a story. There's also stellar stories with dramatic, show stopping villains. That's fine! But thinking on it a little...aren't we putting ourselves into a hole by constantly narrowing what an antagonist is supposed to be and what their role is in narratives?

Take for example, the Deus Ex series (GREAT series, by the way), a series that is more or less universally praised as having a stellar plotline/narrative. To those familiar, the character Bob Page is generally regarded as the ultimate and central character antagonist. But...the spotlight isn't on him too much, though, and that's fine.

While yes, he does have a fair bit of characterization in the original game (and he is indeed your final obstacle), and Mankind Divided did a great job expanding him, the main 'antagonist' throughout the bulk of all the games isn't Bob Page himself; it's the shadow figures that run things, the conspiracy, the fog in the search for the truth. Even Majestic 12, the mess Page made, is a composite of a lot of things going on. The player and protagonists both have plenty of conflict even when he isn't around.

Even though Deus Ex has many, many antagonists, there's not too many show stopping, one liner 'bad guy' characters that fill that role, it's the struggle itself.

I'm rambling. The point that I'm trying to make is that are we limiting ourselves with the expectation that games must have 'villains' in the form of dramatic characters such Sephiroth and the like? Yes, games must have conflict, absolutely. But I think it is purely an JRPG trope where that conflict has to be in the form of a central, dramatic, show stopping, scene stealing character. And yes, games generally should have bad guys (of some sort) to fight and antagonists to clash against, I'm not saying otherwise here.

While there's plenty of mainstream games that have figured it out already (Deus Ex, the Witcher, Mass Effect, etc), let's talk it ourselves!