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"Well now, how did these little morsels make it so far
under their own power? I think I'll keep my eye on them."




Ill Will is a dungeon crawler with carefully crafted, minimalist story elements and simplified overall design. The combat uses a turn-based structure with a heavy emphasis on elemental affinities, and a streamlined AI routine for enemies that helps curb outright stupid behavoir.

It is very firmly divided between gameplay and plot, with decently-sized sessions of both, rather than a more rapid alternation.

Licensing Information

Latest Blog

Update ( 7/31/2012) - Completion

I'm marking this as being the 31st instead of the 1st, since I've been uploading since "yesterday".

Ill Will is complete. You can finish the story, choose either a normal New Game Plus (basically starting over) or a Strong New Game Plus (keep Traces, learned skills, and level, and re-allocate stats). Either way, you'll have access to additional story scenes, additions to existing scenes, and a very special something.

I might have a prize for the first person to beat the optional NG+ content. Of course, I might not.

Posts

Okay, so whenever those Strength Zone zombies use Strength Zone, they'll get +Strength Zone, immediately followed by -Strength Zone in the same turn. I guess that's not suppose to happen, especially since they'll just keep re-casting it every turn as long as they have SP.

I beat one of the big bosses and got Will a level-up, but then it showed me the traces tutorial after battle, and didn't let me select a stat for Will to go up in. Is there some screen I can go to to distribute that stat point? I looked around the menu a bit, but admittedly not very long.

Chie/Frances = ass-kicking machine ~<3
The battles do have their persona feel to them. I really enjoy it!
Wonder when the bullshit difficulty will bite me in the ass? Probably very soon >.<
Made it to the second area and beat one of the bosses. Really liking the transition in difficulty. Haven't really used Motes at all. I'm guessing they'll be important for Hard/Bullshit difficulty.
YES THIS GAME IS AWESOME. My favourite character is France~
Hmm, I made it to the "Gate Keeper" battle (at the ice\crystal hell floor), I'm level 50+, all techs, yada yada.

Not 100% sure it is a bug, but the characters seem to go to sleep every turn in battle, instead of only at the start of the battle (as I think it should be, probably).
Not impossible to beat, but damn annoying, since I can barely land a hit.

Also, I will post my final impressions of the game after finishing, but right now it seems very pretty, but quite boring. I adore Loki, though ^_^

Edit: No, can't seem to beat it. Probably could if I over-grinded in tjhe pits, but I don't have the will for it now.
Edit 2: You should probably check again the zombie fellas from the start of the game too. I downloaded the last version of the game and they still have the problem with the strength zone attack (I hope I got the name right XD)/
sleep is overpowered
The SP Pain skill's description says you recover 3 MP upon getting hit. What is this MP??? :\/

I'm also kinda amused that no one ever gets any points in cunning upon lvl up, and am half-hoping that bullshit difficulty just has everyone getting nothing but cunning. Bonus points if their portraits get more villainous and twirly moustache-y as they level up.

Edit: On-map picture of the golem boss in the ice area stays on screen if you leave the area its in.
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
author=GoneWind
Hmm, I made it to the "Gate Keeper" battle (at the ice\crystal hell floor), I'm level 50+, all techs, yada yada.

Not 100% sure it is a bug, but the characters seem to go to sleep every turn in battle, instead of only at the start of the battle (as I think it should be, probably).
Not impossible to beat, but damn annoying, since I can barely land a hit.

Also, I will post my final impressions of the game after finishing, but right now it seems very pretty, but quite boring. I adore Loki, though ^_^

Edit: No, can't seem to beat it. Probably could if I over-grinded in tjhe pits, but I don't have the will for it now.
Edit 2: You should probably check again the zombie fellas from the start of the game too. I downloaded the last version of the game and they still have the problem with the strength zone attack (I hope I got the name right XD)/


The Gatekeeper's Sleep Aura causes characters above 50% HP to fall asleep at the end of each turn.

If something strange is going on, check the character's status in-battle and look at their states!
Cunning should be changed so it affects outbound healing, not inbound healing. As of now, if you increase your cunning you only increase the amount of healing you receive, not the amount you give.
author=LouisCyphre
author=GoneWind
Hmm, I made it to the "Gate Keeper" battle (at the ice\crystal hell floor), I'm level 50+, all techs, yada yada.

Not 100% sure it is a bug, but the characters seem to go to sleep every turn in battle, instead of only at the start of the battle (as I think it should be, probably).
Not impossible to beat, but damn annoying, since I can barely land a hit.

Also, I will post my final impressions of the game after finishing, but right now it seems very pretty, but quite boring. I adore Loki, though ^_^

Edit: No, can't seem to beat it. Probably could if I over-grinded in tjhe pits, but I don't have the will for it now.
Edit 2: You should probably check again the zombie fellas from the start of the game too. I downloaded the last version of the game and they still have the problem with the strength zone attack (I hope I got the name right XD)/
The Gatekeeper's Sleep Aura causes characters above 50% HP to fall asleep at the end of each turn.

If something strange is going on, check the character's status in-battle and look at their states!
Thanks, I won.
Although it's still one nasty boss, the fact that you have to keep your hp low all the time and he is also immune to physical attacks, not to mention that annoying one hit poison spell (that kills everyone who is poisoned) and a killer shockwave.

I congratulate you. I rarely have any problems with bosses in games... not in the "normal" level at least.

Edit: I'm tired, swampy maze thingy- postponed!
The graphic for the impenetrable door in the ice area disappears when you search it. Also, minor nitpick, but it's spelled wrong :)

Also, kind of a dick move to let you go back from the first and second area's big bosses, but not the third! I was fully expecting to be able to back out and save after the cutscene, but nope. Fortunately ChieFrances saved the day with her Dragon KickClaw.

I also managed to completely miss the boss that gave you the 2nd earth and fighter trance. I only realized it after I nabbed the 3rd earth and realized there should be something in-between. Whoops.
Alright, I made it all the way to the point where you

storm the castle to save Flamberge from Loki, and all his demons decide the party's the intruders and start attacking them in waves. I swear, if at the end of this, Loki comes out and says "thanks for taking care of all his guards lol", I'm going to be sooooo pissed.


Anyways, I'm kinda stuck now as that last wave is a massive cock block. Suggestions:

1. Allow the party to be able to leave the castle during the waves of monsters thing. I'm guessing you cut it off for plot reasons, but really, I doubt anyone would throw a fit, as it's a pretty arbitrarily-placed "point of no return".
2. That last monster (the skeletony-looking beast thing) really should not be put right at the end of a 3 battle wave. Every time I want to revise my strategy and try with different skills/characters, I have to slog through the two battles before it. Would instead be more ideal to be able to save before fighting the last monster.
3. And honestly, that last monster is a tool and regains way too much HP per turn for having no weaknesses and being immune to all status ailments. I pretty much have to bank on Chie scoring criticals and hoping she doesn't get killed. It's definitely possible to kill him, but right now it's such a slog of a fight that you need pretty specific setups for, at the end of two other mandatory battles that I've fought 4 times over now that I'm all bleh about wanting to try it anymore. Suggestion: Nerf his HP regain because 180 per turn is waaaaaaay too much.

Also, should probably get rid of that thunder immunity of his because it really serves no purpose other than to give the middle finger to anyone who decided to use Aaron. Well, not that he lives long enough to be of any use in that fight.


So in summary, I'm pretty much stuck now, so I think I'm going to stop there.

I'm about lvl 75 or so at this point. Tossed most of my points into Technique and Cunning, and before that Endurance, until I decided it was a useless stat now that he had a skillset rendering him immune to everything. Maybe a bit under-leveled since I started avoiding random battles whenever I could and only gunning for bosses.

My general strategy was to have Chie Dragon Claw/ Shout down enemies, then having MC Sleep/Slumber Wave everyone. I usually gave the MC enough agility that he'll go last out of the three party members, while still moving ahead of the enemies. This carried me for most of the game.

I also kinda stopped paying much attention to what skills each character's learnt/haven't learnt because there's soooooooooo many and you couldn't easily tell if a character had it or not (at least I couldn't. Don't know if I missed something.)

Overall impressions in no particular order:
- Pits are a cool idea in theory, but really aren't implemented very ideally. Most of the time, I'll accidentally walk into one thanks to most of the paths being one tile wide. When I do, sometimes I end up having to fight something ridiculous like 8 goblins when a regular encounter in that area would only consist of 3 goblins. Oh, and you can't run from those fights.

8/10 times that I fell into a pit, I resetted, and I never intentionally walked into one if I could help it. Easiest fix to this would be to make pit fights runaway-able.

- Map designs were definitely pretty. I like that each area was pretty distinct, and had its own hub area/ set of monsters. I also liked that you didn't have to fight every boss; just the main ones in the way.

Often it was difficult to figure out what was or wasn't a path. Sometimes it was so dark that I'll just walk right into a pit. Other times, I needed to walk into walls to figure out where there were/weren't paths. The entrance to

Paradiso

in particular was remotely obscure and took me a bit of searching to find. I seriously thought that was just a random useless alleyway. A good fix would be to mark exits with some kind of indicator, like an animated arrow.

Oh, that reminds me of a bug:

After beating Red King/Black Baron and they open the path to Paradiso, if you go back inside, they'll still be standing there, and all your dudes will be facing them. You can't talk to any of them.


And a lesser bug:

The cobweb in the house in Black Baron/Red King's area is walk-on-able. I noticed this in the first part of the south-most dungeon.


One more:

When you're approaching Flamberge's castle just before the point of no return, the lighting there doesn't fix itself until after the screen appears, making it a bit jarring.


And:

In the church where you find Flamberge and Loki, the picture of the door stays on screen when you leave.


I also noticed save statues became less common in later areas, and wasn't pleased about that.

- Battle system was very cool and had that sweet SMT feel. I LOVE being able to completely shut-down bosses and enemies if you're clever with your set-up. At some point, endurance started feeling like a wasted stat because at some point, it just means the difference between getting killed in one versus two hits, which sometimes didn't even matter because you had Endure and Regen or immunity to everything or you just get revived by the MC who's immune to everything.

Like I said, it was really tough trying to remember what skills I still had to learn. Some kind of indication when you pressed Alt on a trace would be nice.

I liked that everyone levelled up regardless of battle participation or alive status. But since that's the case, it might've been better to just have a general "party level" stat instead of showing everyone's individual level which was always the same. I also didn't really care what stat they threw their one point into, so it might've saved time with not having to show it.

Kinda didn't like that even if you had the levels to learn skills from a trace, you still had to level up to actually get them. Feels too grindy compared to just fighting a battle and getting it. I'd also worry about levelling too much and suddenly finding out that I missed learning a skill and having to grind to get it. Bleh.

- Story and characters are kinda blah to be honest. I liked the initial setup with the whole tossed into a strange place with no recollection of how you got there. But after that, I stopped paying that much attention and only really got the general gist. I suppose it works, but it just didn't feel very clever.

Also, the character's snarky remarks get old really really quickly and a lot of times, ruin any tension that might've built up from the environment/atmosphere. I would just axe out their comments prior to non-main boss battles.

Choosing what the MC gets to say seems kinda like window dressing. Still, I like having that better than having the MC say stuff outside what you tell him to say. I suppose it's a good way to make him not mute, while still being a "blank MC", which I think I actually prefer in RPG's.

- Not counting the MC, I'd say Chie/Frances was the most useful character thanks to her hard-hitting snuff, with Jo a distant second for her magicksy tricks.

Ethan was cool for a while, but when I started giving MC and Chie the traces that nullify physicals and healing, as well as giving the MC immunity to everything and heal capabilities, he kinda lost his utility. Plus the whole endurance only really meaning the difference between dying in 1 vs 2 hits.

Aaron is useful in some situations just for being able to go first, but he dies way too quickly in boss fights. Plus I made the MC the main ailments disher, so he also lost his utility pretty quickly, especially considering he never puts any points into Cunning.

Oh, bug:
In the change party window, three of them have the MC's sprite.

Also, game-breaking bug:
Around the time I got to Paradiso, the skill Predator started to crash the game whenever it got used (Boots you out with a window popping up saying something about a Yanfly error). Since the spiders use it, they can sometimes crash the game and throw all your hard work into the garbage.

Not as game-breaking bug:
At some point, stat buff skills started to whiff when targetting the MC. Once in a blue moon it would work, but it was like he was dodging them or something. Because he's so cunning?

Possibly bug?:
Ethan can use a lot of the same Brute traces that Chie can, but he's suppose to only be able to use the Healing traces?

TERRIBLE BUG!!!:

I found the Infernal Temptress with girls in my party and she ran away. Then I switched to all guys and found her again. I chose to have her guess what I wanted. She didn't like that and spawned reapers. I resetted and tried to find her again but she never showed herself to me after that.

I was very sad. :(


All in all, definitely a cool game. I'm probably pretty critical in my analysis since it's easier to complain about bad things than praise good things. But overall, this game's definitely got GREAT things going for it. So congrats for getting it done.
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
I can fix all that and, provided you give me your save, put you back in the main part of the hub, if you like.

What isn't a bug:
- Ethan should state in his window that he can learn . That means the first three Phys traces.
- Aaron's main mid-to-late usage is being a fast ailment inducer. Most enemies are susceptible enough without putting points in Cunning. An Ailment-build MC will obsolete him really quickly. Ethan is at his best in the middle tiers: late-game he can have SP issues, and early-game he doesn't have his clutch skills. But in those in-between tiers, he's easily the best ally. He doesn't ever become totally useless, and once he starts pushing ~30 EN he's a total wall for most random foes. Give him another shot, maybe!
- The Temptress is just... rare. She has a special roll when she's chosen as an encounter to see if she's actually the encounter or if it changes its mind.

Really, this game is really rough and duct-tape-ridden. I will not miss script hell when I start building my own everything from scratch.

Get a hold of me on IRC or something, man. Anyone who shows that they gave this game some deep thought warrants a brain-picking.
I can officially say, I'm hooked into this. Even more so than I Miss the Sunrise...

May most likely finish this first before I Miss the Sunrise. This game isn't really at the world-class level, but is still an excellent game! I'll talk more about what I like about this game when I finish it (Currently at the ice level)

I sure hope this game gets featured next month o_o Or rather, this game deserves to be featured next month.

@Neok: Regarding falling into pits, that's why you're supposed to walk so that you'll be more careful and have less chance of accidentally falling into pits. You do so by holding Shift while moving.
author=LouisCyphre
I can fix all that and, provided you give me your save, put you back in the main part of the hub, if you like.

What isn't a bug:
- Ethan should state in his window that he can learn . That means the first three Phys traces.
- Aaron's main mid-to-late usage is being a fast ailment inducer. Most enemies are susceptible enough without putting points in Cunning. An Ailment-build MC will obsolete him really quickly. Ethan is at his best in the middle tiers: late-game he can have SP issues, and early-game he doesn't have his clutch skills. But in those in-between tiers, he's easily the best ally. He doesn't ever become totally useless, and once he starts pushing ~30 EN he's a total wall for most random foes. Give him another shot, maybe!
- The Temptress is just... rare. She has a special roll when she's chosen as an encounter to see if she's actually the encounter or if it changes its mind.

Really, this game is really rough and duct-tape-ridden. I will not miss script hell when I start building my own everything from scratch.

Get a hold of me on IRC or something, man. Anyone who shows that they gave this game some deep thought warrants a brain-picking.


author=Cornflake
Cunning should be changed so it affects outbound healing, not inbound healing. As of now, if you increase your cunning you only increase the amount of healing you receive, not the amount you give.


Cough.
LouisCyphre
can't make a bad game if you don't finish any games
4523
Nothing mitigates healing. Late-game heals are equal to maximum HP anyway.
author=LouisCyphre
Nothing mitigates healing. Late-game heals are equal to maximum HP anyway.

I meant that Cunning should increase the healing you give out, not that which you receive. I tried making my main character a healer and I found that cunning doesn't increase the potency of my heals, it increases the potency of heals I RECEIVE. Is this intentional? It seems weird to me.
Oh okay, I just thought it was weird how only Ethan gets to use traces outside his mains.

IRC's too distracting for me. Do you want to chat via PM's instead?

author=eplipswich
@Neok: Regarding falling into pits, that's why you're supposed to walk so that you'll be more careful and have less chance of accidentally falling into pits. You do so by holding Shift while moving.


Oh hey, I'd completely forgotten about that mechanic.


author=LouisCyphre
Nothing mitigates healing. Late-game heals are equal to maximum HP anyway.


I actually ended up never using the higher level heals. The one time I did with Ethan, he ran out of SP really quickly.
This is great do more work please and make big rpgs like the company did with Quintessence the blighted venom but use voices on the storyline please that will draw me in. because I'm one of those people who hate to read.
I obviously suck at games because I have had to watch the zombie cutscene (before the very first combat of the game) 4 times now :/