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Chapter 1 released!

  • Daedron
  • 01/11/2016 09:29 AM
  • 7550 views
Yay, it's finally here! After a bunch of setbacks, the game is in a playable state without any major issues...I hope.
This release contains the entire first chapter of the game and should take about 3-4 hours to complete. You'll need WinRAR to extract the archive, though I assume most of you have that nifty program installed already.

The only real concern I have with the game in its current state is how it feels pretty easy, though that may be because I know everything there is to know. Then again, I don't want the game to be as hard as the original Blood Haze, at least not in the first chapter.
I also made some changes AFTER my playtest, hopefully none of them break the game in any way but if you run into anything major, make sure to let me know! I can still re-upload a new demo if needed, but once I start working on Chapter 2 that's going to be a lot harder.

==============================
PATCH 1.01 NOTES
==============================
-Increased player speed by ±15% (Please let me know if this breaks any events in the game)
-Removed a line of redundant dialog, changed some others and added a dialog box for when Marlene gives you some recovery items at the beginning of the game.
-A dialog box will now be triggered whenever a food effect expires.
-Replaced the Excavators Guild theme with the one from the original.
-Replaced the Nirram Mines theme, which is the theme for Gharos Ruins, with one from the original game.
==============================
PATCH 1.10 NOTES
==============================
-Replaced the lighting system with a newer version to get rid of lag. Includes dynamic shadows! *DUE TO THIS CHANGE, OLD SAVE FILES ARE NO LONGER COMPATIBLE*
-Removed Pathfinding script to reduce lag.
-Fixed some word wrap issues here and there.
-Fixed a softlock issue when completing Melanie's Sidequest.
-Fixed a softlock issue in Brynhildr's Realm.
-Fixed a softlock issue early on in the game if the player approaches the bed diagonally.
-Fixed an issue where pressing "No" when asked to proceed to the boss fight in Brynhildr's realm to cause the game to skip the fight and softlock.
-Fixed the issue with Harvest points not respawning properly if the player has any kind of Food Effect.
-Fixed an issue with the Confusion ailment causing the character to act on its own even after it was cured.
-Fixed an issue with a boulder north of Gharos Village.
-Fixed some spots where it was possible to go out-of-bounds or walk on impassable terrain
-Gharos Ruins is now slightly easier.
-Gharos Forest up to the hotel is now slightly harder.
-The fight against Chelsey is now easier.
-Enemies in the Nirram Mines are now slightly more resilient to damage.
-Increased the difficulty of the fight against Emissary.
-Replaced the reward of the Emissary fight from "Physical Booster" to "Fire Booster"
-Decreased the stats on the Messenger craftable item.
-Changed the behaviour of the Confusion ailment. If you are inflicted with it, you can no longer gain Extra turns with that character. For enemies, they can no longer gain the "Surge" state. (In the demo, confusion when used by the player still causes the old effect. Confusion used by the enemy uses the new effect)
-Reduced Escape success rate to 60% (down from 100%). Hard mode disables escaping entirely.
-Added two new "Gameplay Tip" statues to the game. These explain the different stats (ATK/SPI etc.) and Ailment effects.
-Enemies will no longer do a "walk up" animation when attacking with certain physical attacks.

Posts

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Awesome news bro! I'll get right into it. I'm really curious to see how the game's changed since I last played it. ^^
author=luiishu535
Awesome news bro! I'll get right into it. I'm really curious to see how the game's changed since I last played it. ^^


I'm interested to hear what you think of it compared to the original! Hopefully I did good. ;_;
Just outside Gharos Ruins, I found this weird sentence: "Come on now, me being late is par for the course isn't it? Shouldn't it be "part"?

EDIT:
Some other things to consider.
- Walking is extremely snow, even when dash is enabled.
- Why is there no message that lets the player know what items Marlene gave to Elioth and Kaleo?

Bonus question:
How did you make that fog effect that's inside the ruins? I've tried to find a fog script for Ace with no luck. Do you just add the fog as a picture through events?
author=luiishu535
Just outside Gharos Ruins, I found this weird sentence: "Come on now, me being late is par for the course isn't it? Shouldn't it be "part"?

It's definitely par for the course. :)


author=luiishu535
EDIT: Some other things to consider.
- Walking is extremely snow, even when dash is enabled.

I dunno if I want to make it faster or not though. I wish the engine gave me the ability to fine-tune movement speed more, because I find the setting above the one I'm using now to be way too fast. That setting was fine for the original but with the smaller maps in this one it feels...off.
I'll need more feedback on this in any case.

author=luiishu535
- Why is there no message that lets the player know what items Marlene gave to Elioth and Kaleo?

Good question!
Uhmmm...*adds*

author=luiishu535
Bonus question: How did you make that fog effect that's inside the ruins? I've tried to find a fog script for Ace with no luck. Do you just add the fog as a picture through events?

It's the same script from VX by Woratana, but converted to VX ACE by Necromus.
Link: http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/514-woratana-multiple-fogs-for-ace/

author=Daedron
It's definitely par for the course. :)

Man, my English is the worst. :/

It definitely feels too slow atm. To be honest, the slow walking was the reason why I stopped playing the demo. Everything just feels so darn slow now. Exploring feels like a chore now, which is too bad, since the map designs are pretty interesting.

Thanks for showing me the script! I've tried to find something like that for a long time.

Some things I miss a little: the old music. I think the music that was used in the original was miles better and more fitting. The old battle theme was really awesome too. Compared to the new music, most tunes feel pretty "meh" IMO.
author=luiishu535
It definitely feels too slow atm. To be honest, the slow walking was the reason why I stopped playing the demo. Everything just feels so darn slow now. Exploring feels like a chore now, which is too bad, since the map designs are pretty interesting.

Alright, I'll bump up the speed and re-upload it in a bit, hopefully I can get it done before I have to head to sleep. (boo, work)
EDIT: Yeah, I ain't getting it done now. I'll do it tomorrow. ;_;

author=luiishu535
Some things I miss a little: the old music. I think the music that was used in the original was miles better and more fitting. The old battle theme was really awesome too. Compared to the new music, most tunes feel pretty "meh" IMO.

This is obviously going to be a preference thing, as I've come to appreciate more ambient/slower dungeon music over the themes used in the original. Though whether or not I replace music is also dependent on if I can actually find a replacement that I personally like. So far it has been a 50/50 split for dungeon themes, while none of the original game's battle themes are currently in the remake.
Though I was at some point contemplating on replacing the new themes used for the Excavators Guild and Mt.Tyris with the original music...maybe I'll go through with that. ;)


author=luiishu535
EDIT: Some other things to consider.
- Walking is extremely snow, even when dash is enabled.


I dunno if I want to make it faster or not though. I wish the engine gave me the ability to fine-tune movement speed more, because I find the setting above the one I'm using now to be way too fast. That setting was fine for the original but with the smaller maps in this one it feels...off.
I'll need more feedback on this in any case.
Hello.
I think this is very interesting with BH Reborn.
I´m going to play the whole demo but already now i want to say that the walking speed kind of damage the whole experience with exploring and so.
Otherwise it seems and plays very good so far i think.
Must come back later to give my final thoughts.

EDIT:Sorry,i was not fast enough to see that you already should speed it up.Justt wanna give my thoughts.
author=kenlan
EDIT:Sorry,i was not fast enough to see that you already should speed it up.Justt wanna give my thoughts.


Don't worry, considering how everyone's biggest issue so far seems to be the movement speed, then that definitely means it's wrong and should be changed. :)
I'm currently testing out the new speeds, I'll also change some minor other things, then re-upload the demo. Save files are saved in the APPDATA folder meaning they'll be preserved even when you delete the old game folder, so you can continue playing where you left off.
A new version of the demo is up. Patch notes are in the blog post.
Let me know how the new movement speed feels, I think this is as close as I can get it to the original speeds.
I had to get a new script just to fine-tune the speeds to my liking. Seems the default speed/dash speed settings in VX and VX ACE are different from each other as I used "speed: 3" in both
Ah, perfect. I'll continue playing later tonight.

EDIT: Much better. Now I can really sit back and enjoy this. I noticed that you've made the dungeons a lot smaller. Nothing bad with that, since they still feel pretty complete. The forest is mostly just a forest now, instead of "Lost Woods", which I think most players see as a good thing.

Concerning balance: I feel like the beginning (Gharos Ruins) is WAY too hard compared to Gharos Forest. Everything feels very smooth and just right from the forest; until I fought EvilGirl. I'm pretty sure I need to have the right skills learned for the fight. I have been grinding to get my party to lv. 9 and bought the best gear. Despite this, I don't think I'll be able to beat EvilGirl. She's simply destroying me.

Also, thanks for removing those nasty jump scares at the hotel. This time I managed to play the game freely with headphones on. Good job!
More stuff:
- Boulder north of Gharos Village turns grey after using it. After blowing it up, I found out that I wasn't able to move on. This is probably just a DEMO imit, but I wanted to bring it up just in case.
- There's a mapping error with canopy auto-tile on the road between Gharos Forest and the Excavator's Guild.
- Game freezes after receiving Death's Necklace (after defeating Chernoborg). Can't move at all.
author=luiishu535
Ah, perfect. I'll continue playing later tonight.

EDIT: Much better. Now I can really sit back and enjoy this. I noticed that you've made the dungeons a lot smaller. Nothing bad with that, since they still feel pretty complete. The forest is mostly just a forest now, instead of "Lost Woods", which I think most players see as a good thing.

Concerning balance: I feel like the beginning (Gharos Ruins) is WAY too hard compared to Gharos Forest. Everything feels very smooth and just right from the forest; until I fought EvilGirl. I'm pretty sure I need to have the right skills learned for the fight. I have been grinding to get my party to lv. 9 and bought the best gear. Despite this, I don't think I'll be able to beat EvilGirl. She's simply destroying me.

Also, thanks for removing those nasty jump scares at the hotel. This time I managed to play the game freely with headphones on. Good job!


Thanks for the input, Gharos Ruins is definitely harder than Gharos Forest so I'll look into making it slightly easier.

As for EVILGIRL, I did actually buff her right before I released the demo, though not stats-wise. She was originally weak to Slashing/Wind but I thought the slashing weakness made it way too easy so I replaced it with Electricity weakness. Though perhaps the change of initial battle stamina being 50 instead of 75 made a difference too.

And yes, I assume most people will be happy knowing the hotel isn't a giant jump scare fest anymore. It's actually sort of a nice place now! Kinda.

author=luiishu535
More stuff:- Boulder north of Gharos Village turns grey after using it. After blowing it up, I found out that I wasn't able to move on. This is probably just a DEMO imit, but I wanted to bring it up just in case.
- There's a mapping error with canopy auto-tile on the road between Gharos Forest and the Excavator's Guild.
- Game freezes after receiving Death's Necklace (after defeating Chernoborg). Can't move at all.


Thanks for the reports, all fixed now. Two of those being some dumb oversights, especially that last one (whhhyyyyy did I do that).
I'll not replace the demo with a new one right now, as I'd rather wait a bit longer and do another thorough playthrough myself to make sure I catch everything, as well as allow others to do the same of course!

To sate your curiosity, Death's Necklace gives +15HP as well as make you immune to Mudo-skills.
No problem. There was something else I forgot to add:

It happened during the EvilGirl fight when Kaleo used Rakukaja on Elioth. Perhaps there's an incompatibility issue with the Yanfly Skill Equip and some other script(s).

I eventually beat EvilGirl at lv. 10 though, so it's all good now. :)

EDIT: Music is pretty good after all. The soundtrack has a more cinematic feel now. I just think that the original tunes were better (thankfully I've noticed a return for some of them).
The Evilgirl was a fight i really liked.:) ,died and died,:) .Level 8 at first but she just.....
Back to the woods and get some more levels and things and as luiishu said on level 10 i was able to survive.
Hard but fair as it should be.
This remake feels very good,really fun to play now when the speed is fine.
author=luiishu535
No problem. There was something else I forgot to add:

It happened during the EvilGirl fight when Kaleo used Rakukaja on Elioth. Perhaps there's an incompatibility issue with the Yanfly Skill Equip and some other script(s).


Hrmmm, this is the first time I've seen it. I just tried doing some casts of Rakukaja on Elioth using Kaleo and it worked fine...
I'll see if I can somehow replicate it in the playthrough I'm doing now, I'll mess around with unequipping/equipping skills in different slots and see if something breaks. At first I thought maybe it was related to The Guardian's Vow weapon but that one isn't obtainable at that point in the game.

author=kenlan
The Evilgirl was a fight i really liked.:) ,died and died,:) .Level 8 at first but she just.....
Back to the woods and get some more levels and things and as luiishu said on level 10 i was able to survive.
Hard but fair as it should be.
This remake feels very good,really fun to play now when the speed is fine.


Hrmmmm, I have no intention of forcing a grind on players in chapter 1. I wonder if the two changes I made actually had a huge impact on that fight. Time to test!

Thanks for the feedback guys, keep it coming. I wanna have a solid base to continue working from and this is going great so far!
Game has frozen again right after Cyrielle says "Did you say something!?" in the Demon Realm.
Hi Daedron. I dont think you should make it easier,the Evilgirl was as a boss should be if you not grind.I really dont think you need to make it easier,its ok and fair.
I much just wanna say that you fixed the speed good.
EDIT:
Where can i get the Bomb ash? Or must i level up some more in crafting?I was thinking i should know about it now.
author=luiishu535
Game has frozen again right after Cyrielle says "Did you say something!?" in the Demon Realm.

What the...*tests*
Ah, this is a result of me messing with player speeds earlier on. If you enter the event from the left side Kaleo (SOMEHOW) gets a speed boost and cuts in front of Elioth, which blocks his way to move into position. This doesn't happen if you trigger it from the right side (I forgot to copy/paste the event to both spots...)
So for now, triggering it from the right side allows you to proceed, woops...



author=kenlan
Hi Daedron. I dont think you should make it easier,the Evilgirl was as a boss should be if you not grind.I really dont think you need to make it easier,its ok and fair.
I much just wanna say that you fixed the speed good.
EDIT:
Where can i get the Bomb ash? Or must i level up some more in crafting?I was thinking i should know about it now.

I won't make it too much easier no, I'm almost at the fight again myself and I'll see how hard it is for me and maybe slightly adjust it.
As for Bomb Ash, you can get it from Harvest Points in the Nirram Mines to the east of the Excavators Guild as well as from enemies in the Tomb of Chernobog which you can get to by doing a sidequest in Gharos Village.
Delos actually tells you about the Bomb Ash from the Nirram Mines in the cutscene at the guild, but since it's easy to forget, I'll add some dialog to the NPC's telling you about its location as well.

EDIT: Jesus christ, ms.EVILGIRL actually packs quite a punch. Was it always like this? I don't think I've ever had trouble getting through anything in this game but damn that was tough. I was only lvl 7 (5% away from 8) too but that is pretty much the recommended level I want people to be at.
The stamina change and slashing weakness being gone actually makes it a lot harder, before I could easily whittle down her HP in 3-4 turns and get a full 6-turns every time. On top of that, because you can hit slashing weakness with a Normal Attack, you had pretty much full stamina/SP to heal to full when needed.
I feel like at least toning down her damage somewhat to more bearable levels is needed here, I can not expect people to grind or get specific skills (like Tarunda actually makes it way easier) this early on.
After tuning some stats, she still packs quite a punch but it's more manageable. Less instant-KO's, healing being easier. Valid tactics like stalling her first form as much as possible while buffing/gaining stamina are pretty legit here too now.
I am so sorry.

This happened in the Demon Realm, after pressing F12 and then loading my save. Problems/bugs surrounding F12 have become quite a common thing in RM games. Pressing F12 in my latest game will result in a "stack level too deep" error.

Anyway, I finished the demo and must say that I overall enjoyed it. It seems like you've replaced some old stuff with new things instead (like the exclusion of the Mt. Tyris Dragon and addition of the early Demon Realm).

The game started to lag a bit every now and then (probably just my PC). I'm very interested in seeing what else this remake will bring to the table.

Let me know if you ever need a tester!
author=luiishu535
I am so sorry.

This happened in the Demon Realm, after pressing F12 and then loading my save. Problems/bugs surrounding F12 have become quite a common thing in RM games. Pressing F12 in my latest game will result in a "stack level too deep" error.


Yeah, a lot of scripts don't take a liking to F12. In the original I made F12 simply quit the game entirely to avoid that from happening, maybe I'll do it here too. Though I think restarting through the systems menu gives the same error too, will test later.

author=luiishu535
Anyway, I finished the demo and must say that I overall enjoyed it. It seems like you've replaced some old stuff with new things instead (like the exclusion of the Mt. Tyris Dragon and addition of the early Demon Realm).


Yup, this is going to be a thing in the other chapters too. Chapter2/3/4 in the original actually didn't have that much content at all, just 1 huge main dungeon and a bunch of side quests. Since I want dungeons to be smaller I'll add in more areas to keep the length roughly the same. This will alleviate the tedium from being in the same place for too long too.

author=luiishu535
The game started to lag a bit every now and then (probably just my PC). I'm very interested in seeing what else this remake will bring to the table.


Happens on mine too and it's pretty beastly, from what I can tell it's the path finding script as the most lag occurs in Gharos Village when walking NPC's are on-screen.
I think I'll just get rid of this and create manual walking paths (as tedious as it is lol).

author=luiishu535
Let me know if you ever need a tester!


I have an internal tester already, but a 2nd wouldn't hurt! Once chapter 2 is playable I'll contact you.
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