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Purpose:
This is an RPG for those who want high levels of customization and difficulty. Be warned that the challenge level of this game is much higher than just about any commercial RPG.

Features:
-About 25 hours of gameplay
-The Soul System, kill enemies and steal their soul, equip it to gain that enemy's strength and learn their abilities.
-Finite grind, the effectiveness of JUST gaining XP is severely limited (though there are many other ways to improve your characters), as a result strategy and wits are required to topple challenging enemies, not just grinding away levels.
-Unique script additions coded by me that you won't see anywhere else. Along with completely altered battle mechanics and formulas.
-Totally revamped graphical interface, compared to the standard RMXP build, the text is a lot easier to read, graphical meters are used for various stats, and multiple windowskins are offered, as well as much better status, shop, and equip interfaces.
-The Impulse System, fill your IP meter to unleash special attacks on enemies.
-The Shard System, shatter enemy souls into shards, equip these shards to gain special effects.
-General Complexity, many more than the stock character stats have been added to this game in order to create more room for strategy and customization.

Latest Blog

ANNOUNCING SOUL SHEPHERD 2.00

This update has been a long time coming, but here it is. I've itemized what can be expected from the new version below:
-New Content! Gameplay hours increased from ~12 to ~25. New maps to explore, enemies to fight, treasure to find, and bosses to defeat!
-Introducing: The Labyrinth of Naraka, a side dungeon that can be accessed throughout the game. Enemies here are harder versions of the ones you can find outside it, along with some new faces, and lots of rewards. Warp Crystals won't let you escape from this area, and its layout and enemies will be certain to bring the pain.
-Introducing: Hyper. After defeating the game's first full boss, enemies will be able to show up in a Hyper state. Enemies in this state are much more powerful than normal, proceed against them with caution.
-Introducing: Formations. Later on in the game you will gain access to Formations, these allow you more control over distributing Threat and AoE damage to your party members. Use this strategically to your advantage to help achieve victory.
-Introducing: Soul Synthing. Accessed later in the game, use souls you find from fallen enemies to forge powerful equipment.
-Introducing: Soul beastiary. You can now see stats and skills on any soul you've had previously. Though you must have learned the skills before for them to show up here.
-Visual upgrade. The early game maps have been brought up from their modest roots to be a bit more aesthetic.
-Increased equipment variety. Generally 3-6 options per slot per upgrade.
-Massive improvements to Impulses. Don't underestimate the power of these skills in tough spots!
-Improvements to Shards. They now have a greater impact on combat and more diverse effects.
-Improvements to Rallies. Their potency and scope have both been increased, making them more valuable tools for survival.
-Lots of rebalancing, so don't be surprised to see some different numbers.
-Randomized random encounters (you heard me!) Enemy formations are now generated according to secret formula magix. The end result is that instead of a dozen or so combinations of enemies per map, you get dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of possible combinations. Between this and hyper, random battles are much more dynamic, and you may run into an encounter as tough as a boss fight when you least expect it! Keep those wits about you.

This version has been through alpha and beta testing... but you can never have too many bugs, right? If you find any, let me know! And I'll get on 'em as quickly as I can. Good luck.

IMPORTANT: If you have a save from the old version, you will have to start the game over. Much of the game has been changed from its previous incarnation, so hopefully it doesn't feel like repeating the same content. Future versions will be compatible with saves created in this version.

v2.05 update (Critical Bug Fix):
-Fixed a bug where Panic-ing non-Vespas would now bug the game. <_<

v2.04 update (Bug Fix):
-Fixed a bug where Panic-ing Vespa could crash the game.

v2.03 update (Balance):
-Starting skill limit on player characters increased by 1.
-Defeating Kerberos no longer increases skill limit by 1.

v2.02 update (Balance):
-Added Rags as starting armor for the homonculi. These give 1 PDef/MDef, but more importantly give them a healing Impulse at the start of the game.
-Confuse ailment re-worked. Confuse now wears off from any form of damage AND any form of healing. Players have a 100% base chance of wearoff from damage/healing, enemies have a 50% base chance. AoE damage/healing have 1/2 the normal wearoff chance.
-Help file updated and made more fancy. Both the one included with the game and the one on this site.

v2.01 update (CRITICAL!!!):
-Fixed a bug related to the new soul beastiary.
  • Production
  • zombero
  • LockeZ (Co-Map Maker)
  • RPG Maker XP
  • RPG
  • 11/01/2010 03:09 PM
  • 04/10/2023 01:40 PM
  • N/A
  • 239661
  • 47
  • 1251

Posts

This is my current route for all foes in part 1

Serk/Bat/Sah/Fungus
Serk/Hare/Sah/Blob
Kobold/Hare/Serk/Blob
Goblin/Preta/Kobold/Garm
Lindorm/Goblin/Kobold/Garm
Lindorm/Goblin/Bee/Narc
Lindorm/Goblin/Bee/Neko
Kappa/Abaia/Basan/Cancer
Kappa/Abaia/Isonade/Cancer

Well when I started the farming, I had no idea it would take that long. And by the time it was like ~30 minutes, that time was already wasted and I expected to get it soon, so I still went on. I did skip that soul and got it by accident later when farming. The reason I cared so much about Neko though is because I was still using the really weak grass guy who dies in 1 hit to Freeze and is awful in the cave because of that.

I have tomorrow off because America, so I might stream some speedrun (with extra patriotism)
You should definitely speedrun, then. Don't let the terrorist win. Yes we can. Freedom isn't free. Tear down this wall!

Well, I'll definitely check it out if I'm around. Which I should be.
Absolutely brilliant battle system, even the SMT games can't beat this difficulty and gameplay. Although they do beat you on graphics, but that's not what this game is about. Actually if you want art done for this game I would be honored to draw some art for it.
author=Ethano
Absolutely brilliant battle system, even the SMT games can't beat this difficulty and gameplay. Although they do beat you on graphics, but that's not what this game is about.

Thanks for the compliments! I'm actually working on a hardtype mod for Persona 4 right now, and while it's a great game in a lot of ways, it certainly has some formulas and mechanics that make me want to gouge my eyes out. :(

author=Ethano
Actually if you want art done for this game I would be honored to draw some art for it.

If you have a portfolio I can look at, I would certainly consider it!
Yeah I can make one, what kind of style do you prefer? Like pixel art or hand drawn stuffs.

And oh my god P4 is a mess of variables. XD
author=Ethano
And oh my god P4 is a mess of variables. XD

The biggest thorn in my side right now is the level-based penalty/bonus. Being ~10 levels above an enemy grants +50% damage dealt and -50% damage received, while being ~10 levels below grants the opposite. I don't seem to have much of an option besides just assuming (after the first dungeon or two) that the player will be 8-10 levels above and letting it be a grindfest. Altering enemy levels has too many undesirable side effects.

author=Ethano
Yeah I can make one, what kind of style do you prefer? Like pixel art or hand drawn stuffs.

Well, digital art would be my biggest preference for in-battle sprites. Out-of-battle sprites would be pixel art, and I'd need considerably fewer of those. That might be the area where there's more potential for contribution. There is a pretty large free-to-use selection of battlers that I had planned on tapping into at some point to get all the RTP battlers out of the game.
Oh for sure, I'm pretty good with pixel art. I will send some photos of my game right now.
this game looks really good but i cant download it because BT has blocked it :(
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Never heard of BT. Turn it off? Or just tell it to allow the program.

If it's "protecting" you from anything it doesn't recognize, then that's going to include almost every game on this website.
author=LockeZ
Never heard of BT. Turn it off? Or just tell it to allow the program.

If it's "protecting" you from anything it doesn't recognize, then that's going to include almost every game on this website.
BT is a broadband service but its ok now i managed too download it now :) its looking good so far
It's been 3 years since the last major update. But anything is possible, I guess.

But on the bright side, it's functional and fun right now too!
Think of it more as a stasis. I'm in the final stages of a couple other projects right now, and once those are completed I'll be coming back to Soul Shepherd. Whether the game will continue as an RPG Maker project or on a different platform remains to be seen, but I'll certainly post here to let people know either way.

ETA on working on this project again: 6-12 months
Two years later...

RIP soul shepherd?