Shadow's Reach

Having field tested the synthesis system for the game through myself and six other test-players we've come to the decision to remove it entirely. The system didn't really add anything to the game, and whilst working perfectly it was decided that it made the more item-based and individually named weapons that are recieved and purchased throughout play somewhat redundent. Putting aside the build that included it for possible future projects (it does work very nicely indeed, but breaks the sense of 'world' that Shadow's Reach has, feeling too 'gamey') the game has now gone back to how it was prior to its inclusion.

So what remains? Well the musical themed dungeon and meeting with the Goddess of Travellers remains intact, and is a nicely plotted sequence. Instead of providing access to the synthesis system after meeting her, she will now dish out subquests for rare item-based rewards. This also makes the Goddess more of a character and less of a game device, which she had come close to becoming.

In other news the Final Fantasy 'victory theme' has been removed from the post-battle sequences to try and get away from the cliche that is too many FF tunes, though some will remain in the current build because they best sum-up what is happening in the game. As I find new music that I feel is better suited and more original, these will be slowly replaced. But I'm not going to rip them all out to replace them with sub-standard music for the sake of not having anything FF, atmosphere is the most important thing to preserve here. A second city even bigger and with more to do than Ravensburg (as seen in the demo) has now been built - and is the central point of the second worldmap! My god it is HUGE!!