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About the game
FADE is a direct sequel to my first game, BETA. The story picks up shortly after the ending event from the first game, and continues to build on the established main characters from the first game, as well as introduce new characters later on in the game. It is not required to have played the first game, though.
FADE stands for Fun, Adventure, Danger and Excitement. These are the 4 key-words that are the basis of my game.
  • Fun - The most important aspect of my game. It's supposed to be fun, and funny as well.
  • Adventure - The game revolves around the player going on an adventure. To explore places, and to meet people within the game world.
  • Danger - There will be villains. There will be treacherous locations. There will be challenges for the player to overcome.
  • Excitement - The game must offer enough variety in action, fun, story, everything to keep the player interested.


Planned features: - (subject to change)
  • A fun story, with lighthearted dialogue
  • Several different characters to join your party over the course of the game
  • A simple, yet deep, turn-based combat system
  • Equipment changing the looks of your character sprites and facesets
  • Several dungeons to explore
  • A variety of out-of-combat minigames, challenges and puzzles
  • Signposts readable from any direction!


Even though FADE is a sequel, it is absolutely not required to have played BETA in order to enjoy, or to understand what's going on in the game.
For those who have played the first game, there'll be an option before the game starts to fill in the actions and choices you have made in the first game. Those choices will carry over to stuff that happens in the second game. Example: If you got to befriend Eldin in the first game, she will be your friend in this game.



Plot & Main characters
PLOT

After helping the people in Beta town, Roth was rewarded with a huge airship, made by the scientist. Together with his li'l bro, Thieme, and his best buddy, Rage, the three of them have set out on an adventure! Not long after departing, they pick up Eldin, a friendly girl from Beta Town. She has lived most of her life in her parent's house, and has always dreamed of going on an adventure.

Suddenly, the Prince of Darkness appears! He doesn't appreciate the group of adventurers flying around that close to his home, and launches an attack on the party and the airship. The chaos summoned by the Prince of Darkness causes heavy damage to the airship, forcing it into making a crash landing. It is there where the real adventure starts... (dun dun dun!)

ROTH - THE THUNDERGOD

Roth is the game's main character. He's the leader of the Battler trio, and a pretty relaxed guy with a witty attitude most of the time. In battle, Roth controls the powers of lightning and electricity to shock his foes.

THIEME - THE KINGPIN

Thieme is Roth's younger brother. He likes to sleep, a lot. Besides sleeping, Thieme is interested in exploring the unknown, learning new things, and meeting people from other parts of the world. In battle, Thieme uses the power of earth to do his bidding.

RAGE - THE DRAGOON

Best buddy of both Roth and Thieme. Rage is a cool guy, a hothead, and has a heart of gold. He likes to act all big and bad, but everyone knows he has a soft side too, specifically for women. In battle, Rage likes to turn up the heat, using fire and flames.

ELDIN - THE LADY

Having lived most of her life inside her parent's house, Eldin has always dreamed of going on an adventure. Her time has finally come to do so. Eldin is a friendly person, with a positive outlook on life. In battle, Eldin wields the powers of light to smite her foes and to protect her friends.

PRINCE OF DARKNESS

The Prince of Darkness lives in the Castle of Darkness, located in the Shadepeak Mountains. It is there where he plots his next evil plan. Some of the things he dislikes are RPG Adventurers, people who mispronounce his real name, and finding hairs in his soup.



The current demo for the game is around 3-4 hours long.

Credits
As the game is still in development, and subject to change, a complete list of credits will be added once the game is completely finished.

Plugins:
  • Cherry
  • Cerberus
  • Dragonheartman
  • PepsiOtaku

Latest Blog

Rage's Skillset


Aura of Fury: Grants targeted ally Attack+ for x full turns and cures Sleep. Restores 2 MP to Rage.
0MP
A powerful Aura that is especially effective on allies with the ability to attack more than once per turn. The question here is, do you spend a turn buffing up an ally's Attack for several turns, or forget about it and just bash in the enemy's face with your axe?

Burn: Deals moderate Fire damage to target foe and has a chance to inflict Burn.
12MP
Slightly less effective than the elemental versions of his friends' Skills, due to Rage's low Mystic stat, but the chance to inflict Burn still makes it a strong choice.

Magical Flame: Restores some of Rage's MP and cures Poison.
6MP
The same as Eldin's Mystical Light Skill, and essential if you plan on keeping Rage to continuously cast Spells.

Wildfire: Deals more damage to all foes when there are more foes on the battlefield, up to a maximum of 5.
15MP
Arguably the strongest multi-target spell in the main party's skillset. Should obviously be used on a field full of enemies.

Heat to Health: Doubles Rage's HP for x turns.
8MP
Rage already has the highest base HP of the main party, but clearly that's not enough for him. Doubling his health is Rage's way to survive powerful attack striking his face. Note: When sacrificing HP, the amount gets taken off by counting from Rage's base HP value, not his doubled value from Heat to Health.

Dragon Grinder: Strikes the target foe with the power of Dragons.
18MP
Simple and to the point. Rage has no need for fancy effects on his ultimate attack. Just hit the enemy with all your might and hope they die from it. Great to use as a finishing move.

For The Greater Good: Healls all allies. Cuts Rage's HP by 20%.
12MP
Rage's way to contribute to the party in a meaningful way that doesn't involve bashing in the faces of enemies. His allies will be healed for a decent amount, but Rage himself will lose 20% HP, and can potentially down him if you aren't careful. But it's all for the greater good!

No Pain No Gain: Cuts Rage's HP in half. Boosts Attack and Mystic by a huge amount for x turns. Can be cast only once per battle.
12MP
A mighty power-up that does inflict serious damage onto Rage himself, this Skill shouldn't be used without some pre-planning. The effect only lasts for several turns, so make sure to get the most out of it!

Fists of Fury: Fists of fire and flames. Can be cast only once per battle.
12MP
Rage's second Elite Skill, making you choose between this or No Pain No Gain. Much like Thieme's Blackrock Cannon Skill, this replaces the equipped weapon with a more powerful option. In Rage's case this makes his fists burn with flames of fury, making his regular attacks stronger than ever.

Rage is built to dish out large amounts of damage, but that doesn't mean it's the only thing he can do. Applying Fury buffs might arguably be even better than attacking himself in some cases, and with For the Greater Good, he can even assist Eldin in keeping the party alive. While his Elite Skills are both geared towards offensive play, one is for a big short term bursts, the other is better for long, drawn out fights.
Rage's weakness is the ability to keep himself alive. His HP is high, but he'll burn through it quickly with his mediocre Defences and when sacrificing HP for the greater good.
  • Hiatus
  • Milennin
  • RPG Tsukuru 2003
  • Adventure RPG
  • 03/08/2013 03:21 PM
  • 03/22/2024 03:30 PM
  • 01/01/2025
  • 137626
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Posts

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author=Tau
Oh, why the hiatus?
Sorry, it's been on hiatus for a while now, I just forgot to put it as such earlier. I've been thinking on how I want to proceed with this project, as I don't know if I have the time to finish it if I stick to my original vision of it... With changes in life, I have less time to work on making games. On top of that, I'm also sick of the instability and limits of the RM2K3 combat system; I'd love to remake this in MV, but that would bring a lot of complications with it (most of them script related).
For now, I'd like to stick to making some smaller games that I know I can finish with the more limited time I have now. Recently, I finished my work on a short RPG, thinking of trying my hand at a visual novel project next.
Tau
RMN sex symbol
3293
Oh, why the hiatus?
It's alive (as long as people use it), but as I say, it may be awhile with the new RpgMaker.
It might be fixable with a plugin or something, but not sure if it'd be worth it. Also, PepsiOtaku hasn't replied to a PM I sent him days ago, so not even sure if DynRPG is still alive, lol.
I dunno. Fiddle around with it, and see if you can get it to do just

My game Tales From The Reaper has a similar block system, but I'm pretty sure it has a... holdon here it is.

Carbuncle has

If Carbuncle Can Act
If Rotfied is Target
(ImmuneToMagic)
...if each enemy is the target on up to Carbuncle.

It blocks magical attacks as longs carbuncle is active... Urgh, nvm, I tested mass spells and it definitely fails. Even with only one target like this.
But if you look in the M. Groups coding, in the 0086:Savancaya group, you'll see that I've set it to call Block Battle Moves under the conditional branch {If Savancaya is targeted} -> {If Savancaya has Myst Block}, which shouldn't be able to block non-targeted AoE then, right?

Well, I'm glad that you liked it. :D
(The problem was that in the early part, it basically broke the flow of battle. I was set to nuke three slimes and got screwed)

Basically, there's two types of block effects. You can do "if X monster is targetted" which skips multi-targeting. Or you can do what you have an just have a switch check (like you did, which ignores it). Yea, adding that condition is all you need. But it also won't block very effectively vs mass.

That dialogue near the ending is interesting enough to keep (sans the sudden ending). I cracked up when I saw it.

Yeah, despite kinda spotty boss battle, the game is kinda charming. When I redid that battle so it didn't feel so cheap, I generally liked even the dragon battle.
I know, I wish Mystic Block wouldn't prevent the use of AoE spells, since they aren't targeted, but at the same time, I never found his phase 1 to be threatening enough to consider it enough of a problem to find a way around it. Also, the reasoning behind his shields is based on the regular lava slimes, which do have Mystic Block in rock form, and change to Attack Block in lava form.

Yeah, Eldin is the fragile one. I do want more/better defensive options for the other party members later on, so they don't become too reliable on Eldin's healing (though, she shouldn't be losing her role completely either). I was thinking of making the Restoration skills (those that cost 8 mana now) cheaper to cast after the first upgrade, so they're a bit more accessible. This should help Roth and Thieme keep themselves healed easier. The MP version that Rage and Eldin have, will have their mana gain slightly reduced to account for the cheaper cost.

I found the bug that caused it, thanks. It'll be fixed in the next version. I was hoping to release the next version once I got the next part of the game done, which will include a few new areas, the first village, another dungeon, a new party member and another encounter with the main villain. So it will be a while until that comes out. :D
So, aside from the serpent battle you liked the game so far?
Same with the mystic shield. That was a bigger issue, because I was trying to party clear using Stalagmite and it blocked the whole spell.

The issue with persistent KO is that the party is interconnected. Eldin usually dies, and if she does, no healing aura.

Yeah, I noticed she gave me a free turn.

That area was buggy. I said "we'll have to think about it" and talked to the party, then suddenly something weird went wrong, and I was above the boss and couldn't start the battle.

What does Quince do?

When is the next version?
author=bulmabriefs144
It does not matter that I went home or not. At no point during this battle, despite healing, have I been able to keep MP from running out, despite regens and everything. The three trial battles, I tried with the normal stats a party would have. Because the average player is unlikely to notice the lower stones and fully rest. That said, if this does not work either, then yes, you may need to rethink some things.

If anything, I found Firea easy. Perhaps an extra attack that 1/1 a party member with HP/MP. Having to act fast to avoid dying would be good. In any case, she's a chapter ending boss. The only thing I'd say is a full heal between battles, as this is probably the issue.

Also, if you have KO persist, you will need more rest spots.

Oh yea. After the Firea battle, rage's sprite does not show up. He's talking but I don't see him.

I'll keep the suggestion about changing Meteor cast conditions in mind.

Yeah, the stones aren't noticeable, but they do get mentioned in the Game Over scenario if you fail the boss (at least if it doesn't get bugged, lol).

Game Over scenarios should also allow you to warp back to the start of the dungeon, making it easy to return to rest spots. But in general, regular, small encounters shouldn't be able to KO any party members if you play carefully. In the rare case that they should, you should have a few spare revive items that you can find in chests.

Firaea's difficulty comes from her harshly punishing classic beatdown strategies as she nukes the party at set points (when she reaches 3/4, 1/2 and 1/4 of her HP). Attempting to rush her down early on will very quickly overwhelm your party. Even so, once she enters phase 2, she should have decent damage output outside of her Meteor Barrage, making it not that easy to fully recover after the nuke. The next demo version will fix her AI, though, so she doesn't cast Fiery Rage when she's already under its effects, which would effectively give your party a free turn.

You do get a full heal between the two boss battles, that's what the Ambrosia item is for that you find for beating the serpent boss. You have to manually use it, but it'll get mentioned in the Game Over scenario against her if you did not use it. It'll also be made usable in combat in the next version, as the current demo only allows use on field.

Very confused about that glitch with Rage not showing up. I've never seen that happen before, not in my own playthroughs nor in others', but I'll look into it.
I'm not saying that that is what you are doing, but what you would be able to if I disabled his Meteor for killing the slimes as you've suggested previously, and that I don't want that to be a valid tactic for this boss. Once he goes into phase 2 you're meant to rush him down while keeping the amount of slimes on the field low at the same time; without the Meteors he'd be failing at that.

I'm not telling you to disable meteor.

Meteor Crash - Monsters Present (4-6) - 75
at Unplated.

Meteor Crash - Monsters Present (6) - 50 at Plated.

Trust me, this is not so. You have to at the later part keep slimes under 3 at all times or he meteors you. Assuming you are doing it correctly, this works. Without this however, the dragon bombs you regardless.

It does not matter that I went home or not. At no point during this battle, despite healing, have I been able to keep MP from running out, despite regens and everything. The three trial battles, I tried with the normal stats a party would have. Because the average player is unlikely to notice the lower stones and fully rest. That said, if this does not work either, then yes, you may need to rethink some things.

The amount of slimes wasn't as big a problem as the fact that Thieme couldn't mass hit them. I had to figure out how to attack the dragon and the slimes while the MP restored enough that I could hit with a spell.

Firea did about the same amount on all as the meteor did on one. But the difference being that her spells were mixed together giving you time to breathe. The dragon, I found that whether I was fighting.

If you changed one thing, and it wasn't the meteor, across the board, I would say 5 slimes or over does physical shield, not magical. I attack the slimes, and it's not fast enough. So when I try to mass attack them with Rage's spells, it gets blocked.

I won with slimes summoned. A few key differences:

  • Full heal from rest. Honestly, it didn't do that much.
  • Magic block was swapped with physical. This allowed me to use rage and thieme effectively
  • I had thieme attack physically, roth attack when he wasn't healing, and rage either used the mass burn attack or axe.
  • Meteor casting after 3+ slimes. Meteor still works the way I had it above. But it was usually after a summoning, rather than "worst possible timing". I could heal right after, and keep the rhythm going, versus breaking things up.

When it was made the other way, you would have had to swap the boss order in my opinion. This way, it felt like your other boss battles in challenge.

If anything, I found Firea easy. Perhaps an extra attack that 1/1 a party member with HP/MP. Having to act fast to avoid dying would be good. In any case, she's a chapter ending boss. The only thing I'd say is a full heal between battles, as this is probably the issue.

Also, if you have KO persist, you will need more rest spots.

Oh yea. After the Firea battle, rage's sprite does not show up. He's talking but I don't see him.
author=bulmabriefs144
You keep talking about "turtling him" and it pisses me off, because it means you're STILL not listening. I'm not doing anything but trying to keep up with killing the slimes so I can start focus attacking.


I'm not saying that that is what you are doing, but what you would be able to if I disabled his Meteor for killing the slimes as you've suggested previously, and that I don't want that to be a valid tactic for this boss. Once he goes into phase 2 you're meant to rush him down while keeping the amount of slimes on the field low at the same time; without the Meteors he'd be failing at that.

author=bulmabriefs144
Turn 1: I have little or no MP on any party members, and little health.


Then why didn't you take the shortcut back to the farmer's house to rest the party? I've already told you how to get there, I don't understand why you are insisting on beginning this fight at low HP and MP when you don't have to.

author=bulmabriefs144
Reording the dragon effectively killed the slime summon (urgh, not what I wanted). Between that and disabling meteors except with all slimes there, it pretty much never attacked (Attack is too low priority in comparison to meteor, this is what I mean by getting it all the time), so I was able to win without challenge and without damage.

Urgh. Look, the slimes could get cut down to three, and have a reasonable challenge. You could swap myst block with phys block and have a reasonable challenge. You could make meteor part of the monsters present and have a reasonable challenge, raising attack priority to cover the gaps. All of this, and the battle would be manageable. As it is, nothing less than a complete overhaul of this battle would make the challenge level normal.


The amount of slimes spawned pre turn is random, but it's lower in the first phase of the fight. He's also got a lower chance of spawning additional slimes if there are already some on the field.
The Meteor is fairly high priority in his phase 2 (as it should to put pressure onto the party), but he still needs the MP to cast it too. At best he can cast Meteor every other turn, to prevent him from mindlessly spamming it over again.

But like I've said before, I'll consider changing the encounter if I get more complaints about him.

author=bulmabriefs144
As a matter of comparison, at level 8, I was able to kill firea without one party member dying just by keeping everyone healthy.


Well, that's surprising, since most people I've seen playing my game had far more problems beating Firaea than the serpent. But playing it slow and safe is indeed the way to beat her. Still, the next version will have her damage output slightly lowered, even if only to increase the pace of the battle if you're playing it correctly. So, congrats on beating her.
You keep talking about "turtling him" and it pisses me off, because it means you're STILL not listening. I'm not doing anything but trying to keep up with killing the slimes so I can start focus attacking.

The salamander by phase 2 ROUTINELY uses meteor to kill it. There is nothing I can do to stop it, because you stubbornly decide that having a way to block his big attack is turtling. I am not "turtling" I am not waiting it out at all, I am rushing him. Except my party members are routinely low health or dead by phase 2. I try to attack the slimes, they respawn faster than I can beat them. I try to heal, and the slimes respawn. I try to attack him, and he respawns the slimes.

This is what my battle order looks like, and this is exactly why I'm insisting this.

Turn 1: I have little or no MP on any party members, and little health. I attack the monster with Rage. I attack the slimes with Thieme, with the squirrel attack it should hit multiple slimes, instead because you put the it at position 1 instead of 6 & 7, the next three attacks hit the dragon. I cast aura with Eldin and Roth.
Turn 2: Pretty much the same. Attack the monster with the big guy, until I can whip out a mass attack with either Thieme or Rage. Trying and failing to multi-attack the enemies because the Salamander is set to 1 & 2 (6 & 7 would help the squirrel attack).
Turn 3: Rage might get his attack by then. I'm not hopeful. I try to nuke it unless I forget because I've gotten locked into the rhythm of the last two turns.
Turn 4: By this point, the salamander dragon thing spawns three slimes at once. I kid you not. If I hadn't wasted three turns trying to do EXACTLY what you are talking about, I wouldn't be this annoyed. Turtling? What turtling? The turn system screwed me over and wasted entire moves. I either focus Rage on the dragon or I focus on slimes, but neither one seems to matter if it respawns as fast as I kill.

I KNOW about magic block. I was trying to clear the field with Rage and he put it up. Make shield physical. The magic shield blocks my mass attacks, physical shield just blocks the dragon. As it was, by the time I got enough mp to mass kill slimes, since single killing was impossibly slow, I had a shield in my face, which canceled the mass effect. That is, I could not do what I had spent turns preparing! This is precisely what happened battle three.

I'm gonna change it on my copy of the game. Because it sucks and you aren't listening. Stick to your guns, that's fine. But the mystic shield is infuriating, the turn system is spitting out summons, and I routinely get hit by meteor because I'm trying to juggle.

Reording the dragon effectively killed the slime summon (urgh, not what I wanted). Between that and disabling meteors except with all slimes there, it pretty much never attacked (Attack is too low priority in comparison to meteor, this is what I mean by getting it all the time), so I was able to win without challenge and without damage.

Urgh. Look, the slimes could get cut down to three, and have a reasonable challenge. You could swap myst block with phys block and have a reasonable challenge. You could make meteor part of the monsters present and have a reasonable challenge, raising attack priority to cover the gaps. All of this, and the battle would be manageable. As it is, nothing less than a complete overhaul of this battle would make the challenge level normal.

I am "way too focused" on meteors, because with everything else, they are like the dragon taking a large dump on me. Same for the myst shield.

As a matter of comparison, at level 8, I was able to kill firea without one party member dying just by keeping everyone healthy. I want to like this game, but the battle balance here is very broken.

  • Slimes at 3. It takes about three turns to single hit slimes, and about 3-4 turns for them to get resummoned.
  • Myst shield replaced with phys shield (canceling rage or thieme's attack is counterproductive)
  • Plated should be 55 Attack, 100 Summon, 100 burning wave, 50 Meteor (Monsters Present full at 4)
  • Unplated should be 70 Attack, 100 Summon, 100 burning wave, 75 Meteor (Monsters Present at 3-4)
By healing I'm not talking about a burst heal, it's the secondary effect of Burning Wave. This is what it does:
-It lasts 5 turns, then he'll prioritise recasting it.
-Phase 1: Deal 1 damage to the party for each slime alive.
-Phase 2: Deal 1 damage to the party and heal the serpent 2HP for each slime alive.
This is why keeping the slimes alive doesn't seem threatening at first, and why it allows you to finish him off with a damage burst if you get him low enough. It is also why you got him down to 1/4th before Burning Wave in addition to the Meteors started to overwhelm you.

If you keep the slimes down, Burning Wave will have little to no effect and all you need to worry about are the Meteors. In phase 1 the Meteors are not cast frequently enough to be a threat to your party if you keep your party members healthy.
Once the serpent goes into phase 2, the Meteors will be cast frequently enough to be a threat to your party. However, if you entered phase 2 with your party in good condition and stick to the strategy of killing slimes while dealing damage to the boss as well, you should be fine. Reasons why you would fail at phase 2:
-Ignoring the slimes, as mentioned above.
-Spending too many turns and resources on killing the slimes. As the boss ramps up his damage output, you'll have to start prioritising doing more damage to the boss as well. Don't play slow and certainly don't attempt to turtle him. Your party has access to multiple ways to regain MP and two field cleaners. If you play well, you should be able to keep damaging the boss while keeping the slimes down.
-Getting unlucky with meteors. Yeah, it does happen, but rarely. That's the thing with random targets in RPG battles. Eldin won't survive 2 Meteors in a row. Rage and Thieme probably would if they were at high HP on the first hit and you give them HP Regen right away.

Reading your post I realised I forgot to mention one more thing that makes the fight more difficult if you don't kill the slimes. In phase 1, the boss will occasionally be granted Magic Block. The rate at which this buff triggers depends on how well you're dealing with the slimes. If you keep the field clean nicely, he'll rarely get the buff. If you ignore the slimes, he'll have the buff on him (near) permanently.
Phase 2 works the same, but instead he's granted Attack Block and he'll be able to activate it more often. The Attack Block is less dangerous, though, as attacks are less effective than spells are in general.
If in phase 1 the boss happens to be Magic Blocking, but you need to clear his field, just attack the slimes manually - because if you ignore the slimes in this situation he'll get Magic Block back on again much faster (or instantly if the field was full). Attacking still grants 2MP to a character.

You're way too focused on the Meteors when those are only half of what the boss does. In phase 2, this boss is meant to be able to kill your party, even if all you do is kill slimes. The best thing I can tell you is to kill him before he kills you. I've provided two videos that show how to beat him with a regular party, as well as with a low level party in bad condition. That's all the help I can give.
By leading in the opposite direction, I mean that without your strategy (which, lets face it, I couldn't pull of naturally) the characters are on the defensive. They will be led to remove the source of their damage as quickly as possible. Lowering damage doesn't stop them from direct attacking. Neither does the healing. If a big monster is going to slam you regardless of what happens to the slimes, you attack the big monster. Especially if healing isn't nearly as often as the coder seems to think (as I said, I got it to 1/4 or less before it killed my party). If a big monster is not as strong without the slimes, ppl will arrive on this conclusion regardless of text.

Currently you have text that tells you a strategy that is completely counterintuitive, given that the monster doesn't ease off with meteor just because you're cooling it off by killing slimes.

You need to code so that when you do the right thing, the player isn't left with uncertainty.

My three battles against this monster:

Battle 1 I saw none of the text because I was half asleep. I focused physical attacks on the snake and a few magical attacks. Unlike the tree battle however there isn't the incentive to attack the slimes, and didn't see the text. I ignore the slimes and focus. Whatever healing you say happens never did. Maybe because of dumb luck that some attacks were mass. I dunno. I got it to low hp because hraling never went off.


Second battle, I notice the text. I focus on killing the slimes. However, I'm not sure which party members should do what things and I lose. Badly. My party healed before battle instead of using the grapes the first turn and I am a level higher. But I cannot seem to charge my mp as fast as I'd like despite the mp regen, and mostly single attack (which the claws second onward hit the dragon instead of more slimes). Ultimately, because I am working on the slimes manually while mana SLOWLY charges despite aura buffs I wind up dealing barely the armor break amount of damage. And while I'm distracted with slimes, I get cheap hit with meteors. I've told you the problem like four times, the big hit is not disrupted by killing slimes. You're not listening.

Third battle. I try to buff Rage with auras so mana will charge and I get to the point where Rage can nuke the slimes as you say. I try to give some characters aura. Then the snake throws a freaking magic barrier, and it stays up most of the battle. Wtf?!? If you want players to use a strategy don't thwart that strategy. The aura didn't heal fast enough, eldin died, then everone else got killed off between the sand thing and meteor.
The battle flow doesn't lead in the opposite direction for wiping the slimes. If you watched the videos in my previous two posts you can see how many times I killed the slimes, and I'll tell you that I wouldn't have been able to beat the boss had I chosen to ignore them. I don't know what else to say about this.

So, how many tries have you given this boss fight? Have you gone back to fully heal the party? Because if you quit after the first try (don't blame you if you did since the Game Over was bugged) then I don't know how serious I should take this. If you did try multiple times even after reading my posts here, I'd very much like to see you make a video of the boss fight and post it so I can see what problem you're having.
Also, I don't mind if a player goes Game Over once or twice on a boss fight before being able to beat him. The difficulty of the bosses is intended to be high enough to be able to wipe a player party if they were poorly prepared or if they don't play well enough. I'll consider nerfing a boss if the majority of people I've seen playing through are having serious problems beating it.
I don't want it easier, the challenge was good. I just want it clear from the battle that you need to wipe the slimes. You can say that, but if the battle flow leads you in the opposite direction, it's pretty much frustration. Stopping the slimes should stop the meteors. Stopping the slimes should also stop the healing (which I actually didn't notice).

I had it set on that, and still lost because I wasn't managing the characters right.

Like I said, I don't want the player to be able to turtle him down. Using the strategy posted above, he'd never get the chance to even use his Meteor and he'd be a total cakewalk. Taking out the slimes is the key to victory in this fight, but it doesn't guarantee you the victory. The boss on his own is powerful enough to be a serious threat to your party, the slimes supporting him just make him even more dangerous; that's how you need to see it.
But I'll consider toning him down if I get more comments about the difficulty of this fight (need more testers honestly), it's just that the several other people I've seen play through my game all took him down on first try.
But if enough people have problems on a boss on multiple retries I'll definitely make it easier. I've already done so with the first Shade Gazer mini-boss in the past, and the next demo version will bring a slight nerf to Firaea's damage output (so, congrats to anyone beating her before that time).

I've just re-challenged the serpent in a level 6 party, starting at low HP and MP and no consumables and was still able to beat it. Eldin did die somewhere mid-battle, but I still managed to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7c1SzKm7Fg
Have I mentioned my timing is completely horrible? I jump wrong and it hits behind Rage.

You should still switch the Meteor thing from No Procondition to Monsters Present 5-6. The fact that the monster uses it regardless of whether you have slimes there or not means you have to rush him. I got wiped out trying to do exactly the right thing because the dragon double hit me with meteor while I was busy killing the slimes. It should only be doing that if you are doing the wrong thing.
The freezing should be fixed in the next version, putting your party back in front of the boss with slightly higher HP and MP than it was before the previous try.

By the puzzle you mean the punching fireballs? All you need to do is bodyblock incoming fireballs by standing in front of them to avoid any, or at least most damage (as is said in the text before it starts). Then hit SPACE when the Fireball is right in Rage's face while he's glowing (admittedly, timing can be tricky).

You don't have to challenge the boss right away after finishing the fireball punching part. If you stand on the big platform you should see a rock in the lava to your right which you can jump on. Follow the path of platforms to find the shortcut back to the start of the dungeon. Walk back to the farmer's house and rest the party at the dining table (and take the grapes). Then you can take the shortcut back to the boss to fight him at full health with 5 Fire Grapes in inventory.
This is hinted at if you go Game Over against the boss, but unfortunately it's bugged in the current version. :(

There is a legitimate purpose behind killing slimes. You won't be able to brute-force him by trying to rush him down and ignoring the slimes once he enters phase 2, as the AoE from Burning Wave and the heal from the slimes will quickly become too much for your party to handle. The Meteors are there to prevent you to slowly turtle him down.
The easy strategy to beating him is to get into this rotation:
-Roth spends most turns casting Aura of Magic on Thieme and Rage as they need all the MP they can get. Between that he can use Restorative Recharge to keep himself alive or Spark for a bit of damage.
-Eldin spends most turns casting Aura of Health or Mystical Light + Glimmering Ray (after field wipe). Glimmering Ray hits like a nuke with only 1 enemy alive.
-Thieme and Rage take turns wiping the field clean with Stalagmite and Wild Fire. Powered by Aura of Magic they should not be running out of MP if they stick to this plan.
I have a video of the boss fight uploaded on my Youtube, if I remember correctly it was done using a level 8 party:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzjXOLKiqRc&hd=1

Anyway, good luck if you try it again, and let me know if you make it with that strategy. Also, if you do continue, I'll wish you even more good luck on the part that comes after beating the serpent. :)
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