Final Fantasy Essence 2k3

Ah, the Final Fantasy fangame. Such a staple of RM,, you gotta love it.

Are the graphics original (or a mix)? Some of it looks like I may have seen it before, but some looks like it was handmade. If they're original then kudos to you or whoever made them, I know myself how complicated emulating the FF SNES look is.

Id Love to play this game. Can I ask is there a release date?

author=Celes_Cole
Uploaded a boss battle video!

I watched this just now, I like how the battle and the cutscenes move very quickly.
I like how everything moves at a very brisk pace - this is very hard to do in rpgmaker2003 - looking forward to more with this.


EDIT: I also like how the boss is something relatively easy, something Whelk-ish to start off with and not, what we usually get with rpgmaker bosses.

Regarding balance, it's always best to ere on the side of Too Easy. The reason being; if it's something you, the developer, have trouble with then it'll almost definitely be nigh impossible for the casual player. Most people are just looking for something to while away time with. Leave the hard stuff for sidequests and endgame dungeons.

Playing through this, loving it so far. I'm only at the beginning where Wedge Biggs and Xavier have to make it through the factory.

The only suggestion I have so far is that, during the scene when, (I think) Wedge is gives a briefing and a layout on the mission, before the mission actually starts, give Wedge like a small line, that says he's a Medic, and if things get hairy, he can provide back up with his <Medic> ability.

I probably wasn't paying attention, so i might have to replay it to make sure, but yeah, just give him a line that sounds natural but alerts people of this medic skill he has; cause I was playing it and just mashing attack, and it was only after losing that I realized Wedge gives out free healing XD.

The biggest problem I've found with rpgmaker games is that, there's a lot of them and people play through a lot of them, but unless you tell the player, your particular rpgmaker game plays differently, they're naturally going to assume they all play the same.

So yeah, just give like, a small line that alerts the player that Wedge is a medic and he has an ability the player can use. But other than that, this is pretty great. I love the crossbow animation you gave Wedge, it's a really neat sprite edit, I love it! XDD

But yeah, I'll post more of my thoughts as I get through the game, great work so far.
Very good work here. It just feels so cool to play something that's so brisk in it's pacing.
Great Stuff!

I'm in the same boat as BlueRouge. I loved it as well. Not too easy, not too hard. The encounter rate was a bit high in the rafter area though.

You should probably rotate Xavier's sword around so that when he swings it, he's not hitting enemies with the back of the blade, Rurouni Kenshin-style x)
And may I recommend adding a boss death animation? It would be a cherry on top of the SNES Final Fantasy flavor.

I'm writing this down before I forget: I just finished the demo.

I love the custom title screen, it adds a lot to this. I love the hallway before you fight the first boss. I love how the guards come in droves, but then after you knock them out, you can check their bodies afterwards for more items - I love that, that's so cool, that's so final fantasy! It's a very small detail, but it adds so much to this. I've been waiting for years to see that in a final fantasy fan game, but it hasn't really happened till now XD.

The one minor suggestion I have is, throughout the demo, Xavier states how much he wants to get to the crystal and how much he wants to find and reunite with his brother. (I'm not quite sure what happened in the stasis room, but he tells biggs and wedge to go forward with the mission anyways) - But when the three of them finally get to the crystal, before Xavier attacks the crystal, I feel like you should revise or add a line that explores Xavier's character a bit more?

Like, before the mission, Xavier wanted to find two things:
-to reunite with his brother
-and find the crystal.

We don't know, whether or not Xavier found his brother, but now that Xavier has the crystal in front of him, you want to use that time to have him say a line that explores Xavier's character a bit more and reaffirm his motivation and show us how his character has changed, now that he's accomplished one of these goals -- Like Xavier says he wants to end this. You want to add a bit more to that, a small hint of character revelation, that explores the real reason why Xavier wants to destroy the crystal. etc

...Like, something more about his brother, or maybe the village Xavier came from, just something. Like Xavier just hopped a train, pilfered some guys clothes, just to get to this Crystal. This was all carefully planned, no one does all this stuff unless they're really desperate. There's a bigger story about Xavier here, what was it that drove Xavier to this moment? reveal a tiny bit more to us, before he strikes the crystal, give us something! XD

Other than that, this is a great little demo. I usually have a lot of trouble picking final fantasy fan games, because either the story isn't very good or the battles and character animations aren't very good. So I have trouble picking it up, if it doesn't hook me after the first 15 minutes -- But Final Fantasy Essence, this has a good story, it has good characters and some great battle animations. This has all three, so I had a lot of fun playing through it. It's very simple but there's a lot of attention to detail here. But it's that attention to detail that makes me want to play more and I'm very interested to see where you go with this - this is really great stuff here.

As for the death animation... I just don't want it to be cheap. Like, I know you can do it if the enemy's HP is between a certain percentage (Between X(0) and Y(25)), but if you hit over that percentage, he's going to die normally anyway. Also, not using all of it's HP feels weird to me. I would love to be able to add a boss death animation, but I don't think I can do it effectively.

If you're interested I might be able to help with this; I've recreated, the ff6 boss death animation more than once in rpgmaker2003 -- I could create a template for you, so all you have to do is copy and paste the death battle animation, into the animation database of 2k3.
And then all you have to do is add "Guardian" to a battle animation sheet.

The flashing, the shaking and the sound effects are already all there. it just needs to be repurposed for a different monster/boss etc -- but only if you're interested. I know maniac patch is doing some great stuff now these days, so you might be able to do it another way already.