arMaiageddon V 1.1

At almost four hours into replaying the game and adding battles, I have reached the boss of the ghost mission (4th mission). The combat is getting very enjoyable, which is saying a lot; because there is no fancy battle system (like a side battle system). Instead there are weather based abilities and abilities gained by what you have.

At four hours in, the strengths and weaknesses become more obvious. When a foe is weak to swords, you will notice that swords hit a whopping 350 more damage. Originally it was probably only 100 more damage when you first start the game.

THE NEXT VERSION WILL HAVE:

KING CREATURES

After passing a few ideas against the greatest test player there will ever be, he came up with king creatures. There is already a King Coyote in the game, but now there will be king creatures. The game keeps track of how many of each foe you have killed and once you have killed 100 of a creature, a king creature appears.

This leads to some quirky fun, because if you’ve been grinding to level up, seeing these king creatures will hasten your level grinding. Not that you ever really need to level grind. I have plodded through the game without side tracking and there is no need to grind.

The king creatures also leave behind unique treasures, some of which lead to quests and other treasures.

THE GREAT 108

Technically now it is 111, but there are 108 enemies in the game that now account for a percentage completed in the game. I personally have only defeated 58 of them I do believe. As mentioned before in the previous blog, these enemies are diverse from magic users, to combatants, to enemies that help their team with status effects or hinder your team with status effects. To top it off, each enemy has a strategy against it, whether that strategy is specific magic, being immune to weapons or being weak to a specific type of weapons like swords. It does keep battles thought provoking.

MIND BENDING BOSSES

Boss characters are certainly a stand out in this game. In fact there is a combat pit full of them. Battles against bosses are different and unique, but not because of their strengths and weaknesses, but because of what else they do. Some bosses litter the zone with their minions and call for new ones every chance they get, while others are monstrous enough to fight you alone. Before you know it, each time you fight the same boss, the battle is different.

Then on top of it is the weather related abilities. Each of the weather related abilities are meant to work as a team and each set of abilities has a different strategy. There is more than one strategy for each boss, but of course the trick is figuring out which strategy to use.

EXTRA EQUIPMENT

I have painstakingly gone through each “battle area” and littered it with unique items. Each area has a unique, sword, shield, knife, dagger, staff, rod / wand, club, claws, spear, boots, gauntlets / gloves and so on. This will have treasure hunters going for a while and it makes the equipment much more diverse than what you buy at the stores.

THE COLLECTOR

Like Dragon Quest games, there is a collector that wants to give you equipment for your achievements. He has always been in the game, but now he actually gives equipment. Once you have collected enough dwarf beards, he gives a net. Steal the king’s diamonds and the collector is the only one that will touch them. Not only is there a collector, but a hunter and a chef that do the same thing as the collector.

PURPLE CRYSTALS

These are simple, randomly placed in the “battle areas” and give you either positive status effects or negative ones. Poison, darkness, silence, confusion, HP up, MP up, blessing, Attack UP or Down, Defense UP or Down, Spirit UP or Down, Agility UP or Down and finally blessing. After each crystal is used it burns out for a minute, so before you know it, you can use them again. Of course if you still have a status effect, they will not turn back on until you have lost it. This prevents the player from waiting there for the good status effects.

DIVERSE TRAPS

For those who have played the game before, you know about the traps. Now the traps are more diverse, which lands you into some interesting combat situations. If you get silenced by a trap then fight a flock of shades which are immune to weapons, it does make the game more interesting. With the world of Caldonia, the status effects are only temporary, so you must endure their attacks or find a new strategy.

DOORS AND REWARDS

There have always been colored doors in the game, but now the colored doors are implemented into the houses, castle and other places. This restricts the new player from getting lost or treasure hunting each house only to be disappointed when there is nothing (although there is a clear warning in the game).

Now there are rewards behind the doors. There are treasures from the rare weapon and equipment to the more likely HP, MP, Attack, Defense, Spirit, and Agility raiser. The world is now littered with them to reward the treasure hunter instead of having a great big empty house.

MIMICS AND OTHER DEADLY CREATURES

Sure there are more rewards and treasure chests, but with enemies and treasures come mimics. Like all traps in the game, the mimics are visible to those that know how to see them. As for the other deadly creatures, there are gargoyles in the game that are designed for you to lose. Just like War Mechs of Final Fantasy, gargoyles are designed to win. Oh you can defeat the gargoyles and earn major experience, but chances are, your party will be killed off one by one. Also fighting against a monster made of rock is a very tedious experience.

FACES

The talkers now have full screen faces, but only at the expense of an extra 8 MB of file size. This was always intended, but I was trying to keep the file size as small as possible. When the original file was 54 MB, the game was not getting any smaller.