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One Point Three

It has not been a good month for To Arms!. Besides the obvious, I just got some really terrible news from my (lol not rlly) composer confirming something I've known more or less since the delays started three or more months ago: the OST is not happening, leaving me with one (two?) finished custom tracks and a lot of public domain/stolen music. Which is alright, I actually REALLY liked the placeholder tracks I chose, an OST would just have been icing on the cake.

The silver lining in all of this is that the next build of the game, To Arms! Episode One: Deceive, Despise, and Murder Men Vanguard Edition v1.3 will be in all likelihood the final version (of Episode One). Besides some changes to the credits I have to make now that I am no longer waiting on an O.S.T., 1.3 will differ from 1.2 in the following ways:

*Enemy evasion decreased (slightly).
*Power of healing items and spells moderately increased across the board--it will definitely be noticeable.
*Large amount of healing and resurrection items given to player at game start.
*Limitedly repeatable random battles will be integrated into the world map travel system for players who would feel more comfortable with the ability to grind and wipe out their foes.

All of this should have the effect of rounding out the difficulty curve nicely and smoothing out the rough edges that may have made things difficult for unlucky players. As of the time of this writing, the first three changes have been made. That leaves only the fourth change (integration of random battles) and internal testing to be done. I anticipate that the next build will be released within the month. I hope when the time comes my reviewers will take the time to play the new version and adjust their scores accordingly and that everyone who has or has not played To Arms! before will give it a shot.

Posts

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WIP
I'm not comfortable with any idea that can't be expressed in the form of men's jewelry
11363
Bummer. :/
*/me sharpens his pitchfork.*

I kid. I will try to check out the changes you made, but it's already been a very busy month.

I know it's not on your list of revisions, and you've already made changes to the evasion rates which may play a part, but I do hope that the battles that have you with only Janos and Horace are more manageable, to the point where I know I can spend a round healing up and then be able to attack the following round.

Edit: Adding the random encounters will also contribute to that, but I hope it shouldn't come to that.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
Depends (like I've said many times) on how you've spec'd your Horace and your Janos but the increased efficacy of healing items should make taking a round to 'heal up' a more effective strategy. We will of course test before releasing. I thought it was pretty easy to begin with but the stated aim is to make it even easier.
Ah yeah, forgot about the healing buff too. I should be good on that, then. I never wanted to suggest making the game too easy (I noted in my post that I didn't run into hit/evasion problems that posed a serious problem), that particular part just happened to be the killer for me.

Will old saves be compatible? I'll see about giving it another go when you get the new version out.
comment=39417
I found the Janos/Horace section incredibly easy, but I happened to have the right set-up. Stray out of the right set-up and you get the stuffing kicked out of you.


Yeah, I'm not sure what the best way to go would have been. I'd think that the only build choice that makes a difference is Janos's attack or defense buff. I used the defense buff right outta the gate, but I still couldn't manage an offensive in between rounds of healing.
Max McGee
with sorrow down past the fence
9159
There's a few build choices that make a big difference. Janos's Attack or Defense Buff is important but so is Horace having either Lightning Bolt or Enfeeble, and a few other things.

Anyway, I certainly HOPE old saves will be compatible, but I can't be sure that all of the changes will 'take'. I don't know exactly how VX handles changes to the database in regards to saves.
In Rm2k3 it was all pointer or ID based.
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