Finsterling

First, I want to thank everyone for all the positive comments, they are very much appreciated.
My goal, however, is to not only make this game look pretty, but to also make it fun to play! With that said, let's look at some of the gameplay mechanics of Finsterling.

Touch Encounters:
- Hey, listen!

The above is a touch encounter fairy, and they work fairily (tehe) simple: random movement (restricted within a region), no respawn and they don't chase the player.
To make players still want to kill every last one of these cute little buggers, they will leave a treasure chest behind (with a unique weapon/accessory no less!), if it's the last one of an area. Also, they do so by exploding: -Watch ou-

It's probably going to be possible to skip all normal encounters, and only do the boss battles to progress the story.

Combat:
Combat is pretty standard turn based fare: you select your attacks, the enemies select theirs, and battle happens!
Now, I've done a few things differently, let's start with the Guard command.
Since monsters obviously don't use healing spells, they need another method of recovering HP besides potions, and the Guard command is that other method! Upon using Guard, the character restores 30% HP, 30 AP and also recieves a character specific bonus: the Black Knight counters physical hits while Guard is active, Golbin's next attack is an automatic critical hit, and the third, unannounced, character's AP cost is reduced by 25% for 3 turns.
There's a 3 turn cooldown, so it doesn't turn you invincible.

The Attack command opens up the skill list, instead of being an actual attack. Here are the first 3 skills of the MC and Golbin:
Sinister Strike: Increases the duration of debuffs on the target by 1 turn. 40 PWR
Ruin: Curses the target, increasing the damage it takes, and reducing the healing it recieves by 50%. 70 PWR - Cost: 50 AP
Execute: Hits always critically if the target is at 35% or less HP. 40 PWR

Poison Blade: Coats the weapon with a deadly poison and attacks. The blade remains poisoned for 3 turns. 30 PWR
Swift Strike: An attack so fast that it's possible to immediately act again. 50 PWR - Cost: 50 AP
Backstab: Catch the opponent offguard, bypassing its defenses. 30 PWR

I try to add some kind of synergy between the skillsets, so for example Golbin only needs to poison an enemy once, and Sinister Strike is going to keep it going. It's also fun to guard to get the guaranteed critical hit with Golbin (and enough AP), and use Swift Strike on a cursed target to get some burst damage in.

Oh right, AP: You start every battle with 0 AP, and build it up with your attacks, and when taking damage. There is also equipment that may generate AP or increase the amount you recieve. It's similar to limit breaks or rage from World of Warcraft.

Equipment:
There are 3 equipment slots: Weapon, Accessory and....Accessory! Yeah, there's a second Accessory slot, because Accessories are fun! ^_^
Actually, weapons in this game are more akin to talents, than simple stat upgrades.
Here are two examples:
Bastard's Sword: Counter attacks now also stun the target. (recieved for defeating all fairies in the very first area!)
Wyvern's Sting: The weapon is coated with poison at the start of battle. Poison damage is also increased by 50%. (poison damage is btw based on the ATK stat)
There are going to be 4 weapons per character.

So that's a quick look at some gameplay things to expect when the game is finished some time next month, or so!


Ugh, that was longer than expected. I'll let an exploding fairy handle the short version:
- So, liste-