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Two scouts stumble into the throne room of the King of Prem. They carry grave news: the southern kingdom of Terita has become politically unstable and is planning to attack the northern kingdoms of Dyros and Prem!

The King decided to summon his best soldier and assign to him the task of traveling east to the other threatened kingdom, Dyros. There he would warn their king and ask for their help.

Meanwhile, the Teritan army grows strong and dangerously restless...


Update as of recently:
I've been writing updates in the changelog for the installer. Check it out there.

Update as of January 2019:

Lots of updates!

To account for Windows 7 and on loss of native MIDI support, you should download a MIDI synthesizer. The one I've been using is VirtualMIDISynth:
https://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth

The new version requires you to manually install an updated font file, TibsRPG2. The file is included in the install directory, but can be downloaded separately:
https://rpgmaker.net/games/1639/downloads/10407/

To see the January 2019 updates, check out my blog entry on it:
https://rpgmaker.net/games/1639/blog/21096/

Hit me up on my discord:
https://discord.gg/ysKmmqe


Features:
-Combo attack/magic battle system: when your characters' HP gets too low, they have a chance of attacking or casting a spell multiple times in succession
-50 hidden "stars" that are applied to characters to increase their stats
-For every 7 stars you locate, your characters get a "star level up." They each learn two new spells.
-The "Abacus" item allows you to alter the spells each character learns at a Star Level Up. It also changes the characters' classes, stat growth, and equipment pool!
-A Sketchbook item: the lead character can sketch enemies during battle, recording their elemental and status weaknesses for review
-A "Game Journal" item that reminds you where you are if you get lost
-A super-secret hidden dungeon that pays homage to one of my favorite game franchises of all time. No, it's not Final Fantasy. ;)


Background:
Way back in 1999, I was introduced to RPG Maker 95. I made a couple crappy, but important, preliminary games (important in that they were the foundation for learning the ropes, as it were). Then I met James Kish and collaborated with him to produce a game, "Tsukiden." It was significantly better than my previous solo projects, but it didn't get to enjoy an official release: RM2k was released when we finished. We pooled our time and effort into a follow-up game on RM2k which was to become the sequel.

Soon after the completion of the sequel (renamed Shukumei Star 2 and its prequel to Shukumei Star, naturally) The RM2k3 engine was released, and I began work on porting both games into it. SS2 was completed first, and SS1 was recently finished.

Latest Blog

2019 Update

Hoo boy! Some things have happened in the five and a half years since the last update.

Windows dropped MIDI support

Windows 7 was released, and as it turns out, all versions of Windows going forward have dropped native MIDI support. MIDIs will still partially play in-game now, but in order to hear these game MIDIs in their full glory, you need to install a third-party MIDI synthesizer.

I've been using VirtualMIDISynth:
https://coolsoft.altervista.org/en/virtualmidisynth
with the following setup for soundfont load order:

(i.e. SGM loads last and takes priority.)


New Font

Additionally, the process to automatically install a font has changed, so I'm leaving it to you to download and manually install the new font, TibsRPG2. This font is new as of Jan 2019, so you should still install it, even if you have the previous TibsRPG font:
https://rpgmaker.net/games/1639/downloads/10407/


Why the update?

Aside from the technical stuff above, I wanted to adjust the game again because I was never really satisfied with the difficulty balance of random enemies and bosses. As I began to tweak and re-balance all the enemy stats, I got along to tweaking other things like spells. And then I found a few stupid mistakes and oversights in the previous versions that I have now corrected.


Save file compatibility

Please note that the new install directory is now different from previous versions. I have no idea if save files are forward-compatible, so copy over your old save files with caution.


Changelog as of 03 Jan, 2019:
This log is not exhaustive, because I might have changed very minor things like spelling mistakes and a couple tile/entity positions.

MAJOR update: Now using Cherry's amazing DynRPG plugin system, which I've customized to do the following:
  • Makes message windows translucent
  • Adjusts battle timing
  • Displays battle icons when characters gain MP
  • Fixes Reflect crash, so now a couple enemies can cast Reflect

MAJOR update: New font (TibsRPG2) that is a modification of the RM2000 font
MAJOR update: Battle background have been updated: specifically re-worked to take up the entire screen rather than having the awkward black bar at the bottom. (See below)
MAJOR update: Many heroes are renamed. Some of their original names were taken randomly and sporadically in a spark of inspiration—for example: named after a friend's pets, which happened to be named after historical or mythical figures. Many of the old names today have contemporary pop culture associations (e.g. Pandora, Loki)
MAJOR update: As alluded to above, monster stats have been completely re-worked. The EXP they grant and their appearing locations have not been adjusted (mostly), but now the game should be easier overall, with fewer difficulty spikes.
MAJOR bugfix: Monsters never used to cast spells that only gave a buff (e.g. Fast, Wall, Regenerate). Now they do.
MAJOR bugfix: Status effects that claimed to halve/double Defense incorrectly affected Mind instead, and vice-versa!
Bugfix: Status conditions in general had numerical priority ratings. A spell that was supposed to grant multiple conditions with equal priority (e.g. Mutate) instead applied their effects based on these priorities. Now they should correctly apply multiple conditions.
Bugfix: Using a teleport item/spell in an improper place does not consume the item/MP.
Bugfix: I can't prevent you using buffing battle items outside of battle, but I CAN remove the buffs they give you! Don't use them outside of battle and you won't waste them.
Bugfix: Airship entering/exiting has been fixed, I HOPE.
Update: The shortcuts added by the installer are now flagged to open the game in windowed mode by default, which loads MUCH faster.
Update: Quetzalcoatl now randomly grants Reflect rather than Dodge/Regen
Update: Reflect status lasts longer in battle.
Update: Crusade's success rate has been lowered from 100%.
Update: Mutate can now cause Reflect.
Update: Gravity and X-Gravity have slightly lower success rate, but now can also inflict ½ ATK, ½ SPD, Stun
Update: Black Hole is now an advanced, multi-target gravity spell.
Update: Overhauled non-weapon equipment so that stat bonuses make more sense and are fairer.
Update: Elemental/Status resistances are now included in item descriptions.
Update: Black Hole and Reflect have swapped positions in the Abacus.
Update: Enemy spell usage has been updated. Enemies now cast spells more/less frequently if they own many/few spells, and enemies near the beginning of the game (mostly around Shide/Corax) have different spell sets.
Update: Overhauled class stat growth. Now the extremes in a given stat will vary by a factor of 2, and not 8. This ought to prevent e.g. characters with obscenely low agility from being agonizingly slower than other characters. Similarly, the attack and magic combo algorithm has been re-written, and now maxes out at 4 instead of 8 hits.
Update: Overhauled monster stats to likewise reduce individual "swinginess"
Update: Summon animations now fade in. Originally they did not, due to archaic reasons.
Update: Removed Herobrine.
Update: Abacus graphics have been updated for clarity. (See below)
Update: Abacus now has a Free-Roam mode where you can read about what each spell does, rather than having to guess based on its name.
Update: Hidden stars are no longer items to be used on characters to boost their stats. Instead, upon locating them, they instantly boost the stats of EVERY character, including those not in the party or not found yet, and remain in your inventory as trophies.
Update: Enemy distribution/EXP in the super-secret dungeon has been changed, and you get much less of the completion reward.
Update: Enemies in super-secret dungeon now play alert sound effects at the start of battle.
Update: Removed MANY traps and ambush tiles from Corax Temple, to make it less horrible.
Update: Removed Traps Radar: now Secrets Radar reveals both traps and secrets.
Update: Secrets Radar now stays on for four seconds, and makes a tick every second.
Update: Prem soldiers in the Dokutsu cave showdown now have different sprites than the Dyros soldiers.

Known bugs:
-If a character gets petrified while selecting a battle command, the game will hang because the player can't choose a command and the battle can't proceed until the character chooses a command.
-If an enemy simultaneously selects a spell at the same time that it is disallowed from casting spells (Mute, Berserk, etc) then the game will crash. This happens especially against the Lion enemy.


Graphics update samples
As mentioned in the changelog, some graphics have been updated: in particular, battle background have been extended, and the Abacus stat graphics have been updated to look more like an abacus:





Changelog from 13 Aug, 2013:
-New Game + has been "fixed," in that your characters' stats won't be wildly unpredictable.

Changelog from 30 Sept, 2012:
-Thanks to Seeric, I spotted a couple bugs. The enter/exit airship bug has been fixed (I think). Just to be safe, don't spam the "cancel" button as you enter or exit the airship.
-Leviathan should vanish when beaten, not leave behind a symbol.
-Sprite bugs have been fixed, including one on the sketchbook: it's supposed to show left/right arrows for -1/+1 page (top-left controls).

Older updates:
-The second boss battle (in the cave) has been made easier. The Knights will no longer cast any spells.
  • Completed
  • crthibodeau
  • RPG Tsukuru 2003
  • RPG
  • 12/08/2009 07:39 AM
  • 05/01/2020 05:42 AM
  • 06/18/2011
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Put a couple hours in since my last comment. Few comments/questions

1. The new difficulty changes are noticeable to me right away. I know you say it should be easier overall, but man the beginning feels really rough to me. Not bad at all, just tougher than I remember. Had to do a bit of grinding.
2. Once the thief guy joins, is it no longer possible to fight thieves in the cave? All I was finding were the other two enemies, which were much rarer than thieves before he joined
3. Are the four characters that I have now the only four I'll get?

Most important:

There is a script or plugin or something (I am...not well versed in RPGMaker terms haha) that fixes the ATB speed issues in RMN2K3 that I super suggest you look into. Most of the games that used RMN2K3 that still get updated (Everlong, Blackmoon Prophecy, etc) use it so you could maybe talk to the creators for more information. It really makes gameplay much less of a slog.
I'll answer these slightly out of order.

1. Interesting observation. You kind of always needed to do a bit of grinding at least once you get to Dyros, but the difficulty reduction is much more noticeable after that point.

3. No. You will have those four characters for a while, but eventually you'll get the opportunity to mix up your team.

2. That is correct. As long as he's on your team, you won't battle the Thief enemy. That cave is the only place they appear. If you're worried about your sketchbook, then you can come back sometime in the future without the thief character on your team, as per answer (3) above.

4. DynRPG is helping a little bit with the ATB but if there are other ways to improve it, then I'm definitely listening. I'll download one of those games you mentioned and see how they handled it, thanks!
Ah, more than those four. All right. I was considering restarting and holding off on getting stars so I could fully customize their paths haha. I'll keep on going then! Good to know about the Thief Cave, too.

As for the ATB, I distinctly remember Everlong used to have the slow bar issue, because the patch that fixed that is what got me to finally redownload and follow along with it so definitely that one may help. I can't remember if Blackmoon Prophecy ever had the problem, but it does also use DynRPG so it will probably help too!
Well due to the way I programmed the Abacus, every character simultaneously has the same advancement on the Abacus, even if you didn't obtain them yet. So if you got 49 stars (learned level 8 spells) before getting any new characters, their paths will be set permanently up to their level 8 spells.

By design, each playable character's path moves straight up from a different starting point, in such a way that if you don't ever adjust anybody's paths, then every playable character collectively will have access to all the abacus spells.

I'm playing around with the ATB plugin right now and I think I understand how it works, though it did take me a little bit to understand that the bars simultaneously auto-fill when nobody is taking an action.

I'm not sure when I'll fold that into SS1, as exhaustive experimentation will require probably another full playthrough, but I will see what I can do.
That makes sense. I could test it if you like, since I'm still early enough that a restart wouldn't bother me.

Regardless, hopefully I got the suggestion in under the wire for the sequel update. ;)
I'm not 100% satisfied with the functionality of the version I've found, so I'll try out different plugins and see what they accomplish.
author=rebel1223
Hopefully I got the suggestion in under the wire for the sequel update. ;)
Absolutely. I haven't begun the full playtest for SS2, so the faster battle mode will be implemented from the start. Thanks again.
Also,

is there way to unjam that one cart in the last level of the mines?
So far a nice game. Only the high encounter rate is (even for me who played most of the old console games)troubling.

Now, I am stuck...My journal says that I should go to Teriar.....but not how.
I talked with every NPC....nothing. In a former post the dev wrote that you must
talk with the Ninja in Prem.....nothing.....
I guess again a game breaking bug......
Sorry guys. Wow it's been a while.

@lysine
Kraken is a rare random encounter in the ocean. So long as you're not hugging the coast—that is, you're on a ship and not the skiff, you can find it.
You can reset carts by going back up the stairs and coming back.

@Schnuff
If you're supposed to go to Terita you need flight. Talking to Katsuo in the throne room will reveal that you need to find an airship captain in Prem. Then you should go to the pub to find out where he's gone off to.
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