WHAT HAPPENED TO THE LINK FOR THE FIRE SAGA QUEST?

Does anyone have a walkthrough for this game? I got stuck at the fortress and can't ever get in. I did go all the way back to Lucifer's Club and Crost's home and talked to everyone but nothing. I'd give up on this game but I'm DYING to see what's going to happen next as it was recommended by a good pal of mine whose recs in games I tend to trust.

Kentona: guess we have different tolerances and aversions to different things. I, for one, gave up on TTHW after encountering some issues and got tired of replaying hours of gameplay. Was too tedious and boring and having to redo a truckload of puzzles, combat and so on? Forget it.

At least TTHW eliminated the endless battles.

I also gave up on Ara Fell 'cos of game-stopping bugs.

some_person:

Then I hope you learned to keep your cool, in the future. I'm sorry you feel hurt but criticism can be quite damaging. Yet, it's necessary.

Hmmm, I do have certain thoughts about your game.

Well, there's the customisation issue and then, the size of the gameworld. Well, I don't mind "epic" but why don't you try starting with a smaller gameworld next time, so that you can concentrate more on customisation and plot writing? A long-ass development cycle is killer.

Look, just remember you're creating the game not just for yourself but also for others. Ooh you signed up for a class?! Best of luck! :)

Try also Gamasutra for articles and stuff.

If you want to take a good look at customisation, try comparing Last Scenario and Exit Fate. There're many other games that did heavy customisation, for sure. There's also Three the hard way where I really liked the idea of your stats levelling up with almost every battle.

As for Fire Sage:
Well, the plot doesn't have to be like Asian dramas where everyone ends up emotionally blackmailing or killing one another. ^^;; However, you could've used a bit of drama to create excitement and so on. I mean like "so and so discovers a letter to a certain someone", "so and so uncovers a hidden cellar which contains secrets that cast dubious light on their family's past(doesn't have to be murder but other things)", and not "let's just murder everyone in the name of justice or insanity".

There were a ton of battles and so much fighting, I kinda forgot what the plot was.
The game could've put in a lot more plot encounters and events to keep the audience connected, to the writing.

Also, the thing is that many of the characters had insufficient development and so on. Apart from a bit of basic things, the writing didn't really cement them as humans.

I wished more games included things(I think they're called "plot/writing devices") like literary symbolism and used 1 to 2 characters to represent an ongoing event/plot, but ah well.

And I liked the "no random encounters" thing and you can do tactical retreat most of the time to buff yourself up, instead of enduring some painful battle where it's obvious the outcome is death for the entire party. However, I wish the amount of battles was much more reduced and there was a lot more tactical challenges that're fun but not tedious.

It was also quite easy to escape most of the battles and to exit into the worldmap or to reach the save spots. I wished I could save anywhere as PCs are much buggier than consoles and even RPGmaker games can crash 'cos of factors the developer can't control.

Oh dear, that's what happened, huh? How long did it take to create this game?

Well, my problem with "epic" is that it often sets up the development to run into problems 'cos of the sheer size and it's only 1 to 2 people working on most of the game. Surely, the devs have no intention of spending 10 to 20 years on the next few sequels!

Or if not, "epic" ends up in a lot of duplicity and "wasted moments". As in: many of the areas or quests aren't really connected to one another or to the plot. Or if not, they add little to the game or gameplay and often, give you little payoff(poor xp, few awesome items, not fun). And instead of revealing critical plot info or cementing solid characterisation in a few scenes, the game has to send you on some long-winded journey to meet a ton of people whose characters are mostly similar. :( I'm excluding side characters you collect for the fun of it.

Yeah RPGs are infamous for grinding. I only like it when it's really fun and/or if it isn't forced on you. After all, I don't mind farming for XP/goodies once in a while. However, the battles have to be programmed such that fighting is still possible, even if the player hasn't farmed or power levelled. Maybe adjust levels of monsters and so on.

Btw, I liked that you only kept the maze puzzles for only certain areas and that the paths in your world were quite simple to follow. ^^;; I'm very directionally challenged and didn't run around in circles, in your game. Though oh gods, the mazes. Please, can you keep them into optional areas next time? I didn't mind that "cursed house" but that one where you slipped and fell off the bridge was ... well, very "confusing".

Heh, hope your next game works out for you then. I hope that you took everyone's advice into consideration then! :) And oh yeah, do take a look at the awesome battle demo for Arian Wild for heavy duty ultra customisation. It was created by both Karsuman and Craze.