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"Would you stake your life on a world that cannot be saved?"

Version 1.07 - Released May 4th, 2012

-Strategic turn-based battles reward careful positioning and smart actions over brute force.
-No typical HP/MP drudgery - Instead, battlers have Body, Mind, and Soul ratings that serve as both health and fuel for special abilities. Knocking any of them to zero means defeat, so heroes beware!
-No level grinding or money hoarding!
-Diverse elemental and weapon-versus-armor system for all sorts of exploitative goodness.
-Structured mission-based gameplay means you'll never have to wander around figuring out where to go next.
-Oh, and no random encounters either, because, seriously.
-Over a dozen colorful characters to recruit and train.
-20+ hours of adventure - multiple secrets, sidequests, and endings!

TV Tropes Page available here! Here be spoilers!

Unofficial Official Wiki available here! Here be spoilers too!

Fanfiction here! Spoilers?! You better believe it!

A play-by-play commentary at Dragon Quill! - Spoilers, slowly but surely!

Text of the entire in-game glossary! Note: Link is working again as of 4/11/14.

Latest Blog

Featured in the RPG Maker Bundle #1!

~RISE FROM YOUR GRAVE~

The Reconstruction was featured alongside a few really great games on the RPG Maker Web main site! Here is the link: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/23772-rpg-maker-free-game-bundle/

If you're reading this, you probably already played it ages ago, but I want to express my gratitude regardless! So, thanks for the positive buzz and whatnot that made this possible!
  • Completed
  • Deltree
  • RPG Maker XP
  • Tactics Strategy RPG
  • 09/02/2009 05:06 PM
  • 06/07/2015 01:39 PM
  • 09/03/2009
  • 409714
  • 70
  • 10605

Posts

Deltree
doesn't live here anymore
4556
author=argh
I very much agree with this. If I ever get the time I'll probably give it a more positive (and much shorter) review on Dragon Quill to counterbalance all the crankiness of my Reconstruction series. I think it's probably just a consequence of you having more writing experience under your belt. Do you think it could be that you enjoy/are better at writing sci-fi than fantasy, also? (Maybe the reversed scope theme of big to small helped too. So many moving parts.)


Combination of things. It probably helped that I started with a high concept and worked my way outward, as opposed to having parallel story threads that kind-of sort-of came together eventually.
Inspired by the Let's Play (just finished chapter 1) I am thinking of making some kind of a strategy guide. I am going to be replaying the game to get some ideas anyway, and with the pre-recruited save (thank you Great Lizard) I can gather all the enemy data. It is going to be a pain to grind for skill/mana points to get Procure Status to rank V (not to mention rank IV Side of Caution, to get the enemy skill list) before the end of the first chapter. Can Procure Status be used on chapter one boss? It has a short range, so even with the maximum rush, it still might be out of range. Why does it have so short range? It is not something you can really abuse in any way, and it costs 8B, if I remember correctly.

I have been working on Blessed Corps's abilities, making some adjustment.

Judgment stays as it is, Divine Soul damage. I will need to change the high rank effect.
Holy Favor also stays the same, Soul healing and extra initiative at higher ranks.
Divine Mending will be changed to something Mind healing. Blessed Corps have Soul as their major focus and Mind as their minor focus. Body is their weakness, so it doesn't make sense for them to heal body. At least not very effectively.
Fervent Cry will be exchanged for Ease Suffering. Removing ailments and slightly healing Body sound appropriate.
Sanctify will be exchanged for something else, since it is way to powerful for a starting ability. Some kind of single target Mind attack with a negative effect at a higher level would fit well.
Pure Cleric will stay, with each rank having a different effect. One that boosts the effect of Holy Favor, one that boosts the effect of whatever replaces Divine Mending, one that makes Ease Suffering remove additional ailment, one that allows each healing ability to remove Seal(Disable) and one that somehow affects Judgment.
Blessed Are We is probably going to have different name. It will provide passive bonuses. The only rank that is probably going to stay the same is Piety, giving a bonus damage.

Healing Soul and Mind, dealing Mind and Soul damage and removing ailments. Sounds reasonable?
Deltree
doesn't live here anymore
4556
I wouldn't try Procure Status on bosses or one-time unique enemies before her recruitment point. I didn't include any text (since it would be inaccessible) and it'll probably make the game crash. As for the trickery and cost when using it, I think it was just sadism on my part.

(Edit) Also I can just give you a text dump of everyone's thoughts if you want them; it's no problem!
author=Deltree
I wouldn't try Procure Status on bosses or one-time unique enemies before her recruitment point. I didn't include any text (since it would be inaccessible) and it'll probably make the game crash. As for the trickery and cost when using it, I think it was just sadism on my part.

(Edit) Also I can just give you a text dump of everyone's thoughts if you want them; it's no problem!


She really never had a chance...

That would be great, but I am actually more interested in stats and skills.
Deltree
doesn't live here anymore
4556
My carpool's almost here, but I'll see if I can get that for you this evening. I should still have the design doc somewhere.
author=Deltree
My carpool's almost here, but I'll see if I can get that for you this evening. I should still have the design doc somewhere.


That would be awesome, I could just do a regular run for the guide. Take your time, I'm in no hurry.
I believe there's also a compilation on the wiki.
author=argh
I believe there's also a compilation on the wiki.


There is Enemy Encyclopedia, but it is mostly empty.
Ah, I thought you meant ally skills. Yes, if you're going for 100% enemy info you'll need a text dump from Deltree.

I don't think the game really needs a strategy guide, though? Nothing's permanently missable, optional secrets are telegraphed with blazing neon signs, there are no sadistic tricks or moon logic puzzles, and the battles are generally pretty easy and straightforward. It's no Last Scenario.
author=argh
Ah, I thought you meant ally skills. Yes, if you're going for 100% enemy info you'll need a text dump from Deltree.


Taken care of.;-)

author=argh
I don't think the game really needs a strategy guide, though? Nothing's permanently missable, optional secrets are telegraphed with blazing neon signs, there are no sadistic tricks or moon logic puzzles, and the battles are generally pretty easy and straightforward. It's no Last Scenario.


It's going to end up as enemy encyclopedia/boss guide/character analysis.

I had a very weird dream last night, I was dreaming I was playing a card game based on The Reconstruction. It was awesome...
Deltree
doesn't live here anymore
4556
Haha, maybe it's time for a break!

It's unfortunate that CCGs have been commercialized to the point of "game balance? what's that?" for sake of keeping consistent interest from the playerbase. I could see the B/M/S system serving as a kind of simplified parallel to the Mana system, though. Maybe with the characters themselves adding certain amounts to each pool, and their abilities requiring certain total amounts to enact.

Hmm! Hmm. Maybe if/when I get into mobile development!
author=Deltree
Haha, maybe it's time for a break!

It's unfortunate that CCGs have been commercialized to the point of "game balance? what's that?" for sake of keeping consistent interest from the playerbase. I could see the B/M/S system serving as a kind of simplified parallel to the Mana system, though. Maybe with the characters themselves adding certain amounts to each pool, and their abilities requiring certain total amounts to enact.

Hmm! Hmm. Maybe if/when I get into mobile development!

Life is short, too much homebrewing to be done, no time to rest...

This one used B/M/S for health and support characters as mana source. Something like land cards in Magic. They also allowed the use of their abilities, instead of generating mana. It was a very interesting concept.

I think I used Falitza and Kulkumatz, but for some reason Santes is easier to sample:

Santes D'Rath

Blessed Corps

Rank I

Keywords-Caster, Divine

Health

Body-6
Mind-8
Soul-9

Abilities

Judgment-Deals 3 Divine Soul damage
Energy-1 Soul or 1 Divine
Divine Mending-Heals 3 Body damage
Energy-1 Body or 1 Divine

Support

Divine energy
Soul energy
Battlepriest's Shell-Tap to reduce Slashing damage by 2
Divine Mending-Tap to allow an ally to use Divine Mending (Must have Divine and Caster keywords)
Finished the basis for Blessed Corps, you can find it here.
Any suggestion/opinion will be greatly appreciated.
Deltree
doesn't live here anymore
4556
Oh neat! So initiative damage is essentially the same as subtracting from the Wait counter?
Pretty much. You get x initiative points every round, and it takes 40 to perform an action. Every class has different initiative, ranging from the slow but powerful Trudge Knight (did I get that right?) who will probably have 18 initiative to speedsters like WhiteWind (did I get that one right?) that will probably have 23. On one hand it is small difference, but on the other it is still important enough.
And Sun Priest is done. At least for now. You might think that it is very different than the Sun Priest you get in the game, and you would be right. I love Yfus, he is my favorite character, but he sucks. I made Sun Priest more defensive and buffing, with Blessed Corps being a lot more squishy, with more offensive capabilities.
Positioning and engagement
This is something I was thinking about this for some time. The battlefield is divided in 25 fields, using a 5x5 grid. Each field represents a small area. Moving to an adjacent field costs the amount of initiative points equal to 36-initiative value. Classes with high initiative move faster.
Engaging an enemy costs 15 initiative points, and it can be a side effect of some attacks. You can only engage an enemy in the same field. Engaging an enemy is basically focusing on that enemy allowing you to intercept any attack that the enemy performs. This interception costs 10 initiative points.
This is very different from the original, but I think it still keeps the same "feel". The main reason for this is because in a tabletop you only control one character, so the original system wouldn't work well without some serious strategical planing, and if your individuality is severely limited that kills the fun.
Thoughts?
Deltree
doesn't live here anymore
4556
The single-character vantage is a very good point, and I'm glad you're tackling it. I assume movement is on a 2-dimensional plane as opposed to 1D like it is in TR; what happens if two characters or enemies are on the same space? Is that even possible? If not, it sounds like it could get crowded or easy to get boxed in accidentally. Six PCs and 6 enemies in one battle is almost half of the entire board.

This will also do interesting things to the Enchant mechanic, should you choose to maintain that!

Also, I hope the math isn't too overwhelming. Personally, I would have divorced it from Initiative entirely and just had a static "move" stat for each character (2 for most; faster/frailer characters get 3) and one action per turn. But, if that level of simplification isn't necessary, then go for it!
author=Deltree
The single-character vantage is a very good point, and I'm glad you're tackling it. I assume movement is on a 2-dimensional plane as opposed to 1D like it is in TR; what happens if two characters or enemies are on the same space? Is that even possible? If not, it sounds like it could get crowded or easy to get boxed in accidentally. Six PCs and 6 enemies in one battle is almost half of the entire board.


2D, you can move in all four directions. It should look similar to chess.
There can be multiple people on the same space, but I will probably limit it to 3 or 4 to prevent cluttering.

author=Deltree
This will also do interesting things to the Enchant mechanic, should you choose to maintain that!


I still don't know what to do with rush/chain/enchantments, but I will probably implement all three.
Rush will be similar to morale in The Last Remnant, it will shift as you exploit weaknesses and other similar things.
Chain is tricky, I will probably make it individual if I implement it.
I think I'm gonna let every character enchant their own or adjacent square with their elemental. There will also be abilities that let you enchant an area or use enchantment of another elemental.

author=Deltree
Also, I hope the math isn't too overwhelming. Personally, I would have divorced it from Initiative entirely and just had a static "move" stat for each character (2 for most; faster/frailer characters get 3) and one action per turn. But, if that level of simplification isn't necessary, then go for it!


Well, since initiative is pretty fixed you just need to calculate the movement cost when you are making your character, it is pretty much just another number on your sheet. I like the idea that faster characters move more quickly.
The math shouldn't be too much, since most of it will be DM's obligation.
so do the bonus objectives do anything...like have actual benefit, (money/character progression) or do they exist for bragging rights only. im having a fuckton of trouble with the very first boss fight, because i avoided fighting anything grabbed the powder and telescope, and made it there in less than a minute. so im wondering if i should have just killed everything?