So, this little update will be a bit different from my usual 'progress blogs' but I'm nine hours in, so that's all fine. Today I will be talking about our two lovely leading ladies, Tristian and Ianna. I've composed a bit of an article about the two of them, so if you are interested in reading any further, feel free. =)

Tristian:
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Age: 26
Height: 177cm
Weight: 65 kg
Class: Master Knight ( a Paladin that has mastered 3 or more weapon types )
Weapon mastery: Bow, Sword, Spear
Promotes into: Templar


I just love those few lines over there.

Descended from the Light Crusader Argi. Has trained as a squire to the Royal Family since the age of eleven at Genoa's most prestigious military academy. Her quick wits and cold logic saw her rise quickly through the ranks of the Silver Order, becoming their first ever female knight-commander at the age of 22.

Feels remorse and guilt-stricken over her actions. Too proud to accept help from anyone. Unable to open up her heart and talk about her true feelings ( until Ianna gets through to her, like in that above screen ). Her character arc revolves around her coming to terms with her guilt, opening up to those who truly care about her, to re-establish the trust of her people and to strengthen the military arm of Genoa itself. And all the while, fights off a crippling disease which only gives her a year in which to live.

Currently, she is coming to terms with her pyhrric victory over at Bastillion Fort ( this part is available in the current demo ). As long as she knows that Genoa's military stronghold stands, will the Empire never have Tristian's homeland in their vice-like grip. But Tristian is disgusted with herself over the enormous loss of life she has caused during the process and demotes herself, removing her rank and taking on the guise of a swordswoman by the name of Ira Cross.

With this new identity, she hopes to infiltrate Valthorme's military and rally resistance amongst those who oppose the Empire's regime. And to maybe find some way of repenting for what she has done. She knows deep down inside that if she feels for every man or woman who perished, it will destroy her. All Tristian can do is bury her grief while still trying to hold onto some part of her humanity that wasn't destroyed when the Silver Order was lost.

So yes. Tristian is a rather tormented soul still coming to terms with her immense grief and guilt, fights off that disease known as the Ebony Strain but fights on, all in the name of her country... and Ianna. And she has strong ties to a major antagonist who is determined to see her fall. To sum up her personality: She's cold on the surface ( just look at her portrait ), determined, somewhat aloof and of course, proud. But you really can't blame her after what has happened. And of course, she is one hell of a badass.


I've since fixed that line, deleting the last sentence.

For me, she's fun to write, but only because I love seeing her suffer so >:D It makes her angsty romance with Ianna all the more sweeter. But I can say with certainty is that she's a lot more deep and complex than my teal-haired heroine, Laine.

Ianna:
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Age: 22
Height: 155cm
Weight: 45 kg
Class: Princess
Weapon Mastery: Light/Elder magic, Tomes, Light Swords

A Princess unused to the ways of war and filled with much humanity. Having lost nearly everyone she holds dear to the Empire, Ianna can only turn to her sole surviving retainer, Tristian, for some form of support. But her bodyguard's icy nature makes it difficult for them both to establish some common ground. Her developing relationship with her lady knight however, is key to strengthening them both over the course of the story.

As she becomes more and more exposed to the Empire's cruelty, she is forced to somehow tap into her bloodline that which gives her the power of elder magic but it also makes Ianna a target for the Ebony Hand, a cult that has sinister ties to Emperor Nestor. She vows to remain strong for her people and support Tristian regardless of the actions she takes in order to restore the crown to Genoa. Over the course of the game, she wrestles with strong romantic feelings for her protector ( aww yeah ).


She just makes me go 'squee'. I just want to protect her, just like Tristian. I think it's her eyes. Just look at them.

A traumatic event forces the young princess to tap into her ties with her ancestor; Dubhan the Dark Crusader, and at first, she is shocked by what she has done, but realises she has to sometimes take drastic measures to protect the ones she loves. As she becomes more and more exposed to the Empire's evil, she asks her lady knight to tutor her in the way of the sword, but Tristian, for reasons unknown to Ianna, refuses to do so ( this scene can be viewed in one of the videos I uploaded ). But the events of the game do strengthen her over time, and even though she knows Tristian has less than a year to live, Ianna has sworn to find a cure for her...

I don't think the poor girl can bear any more loss. ;_;

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So yes. That is TriAnna for now. Now to get back to work on the actual game. Just a last word.

Should I release a new demo?

Yeah, I'm still working on Tristy, even though its slow-going. Yes, I know I need to take a break after finishing up Enelysion, but I'll become lazy in the gam mak department if I don't do something RM-related. Thing is, I've hit a bit of writer's block because I'd have to re-write the next FIVE hours ( orz ) of the game and find new ways of introducing both Trabant and Darcy into the storyline. So I'm feeling a teensy bit overwhelmed by it all ( so much that even though I've got VX open in front of me, I just find myself staring blankly into the screen ).

For those of you who don't know who Darcy and Trabant are, the former is a street-savvy Genki girl whose cheery demenour hides her real intentions; she is at the head of a rebel movement against her very homeland, the Valthorme Empire ( yes, her personality is based off Mia from FE, but Darcy is a hundred times more developed as a character ) . She also makes an excellent foil to Tristian/Ira.


I really love this chick. XD Not as much as Tristy though. And I REALLY want to stick Tristy in a dress as well.

Trabant is a badass berserker in service to the above-mentioned Empire, but he does a heel-face turn after coming to realise Emperor Nestor's true intentions.


How can you not want to recruit a character that looks like a walking, talking badass?

These two were originally supposed to join the undercover Tristian as she sought to investigate the whereabouts of the missing Princess Ianna, but now that Ianna no longer goes missing/gets kidnapped etc. the whole premise of that part of the story has changed. >< Tristy is still doing the whole undercover agent thing though.

So, I need ideas/inspiration.

Btw, how did you guys find the demo so far? Anything that needs to be changed/tweaked? And I really need to make Dante more interesting. He's such a boring drag. Pity, all the others are so awesome already.

And with it, I'll be introducing a whole new slew of custom artwork into the game ( excluding the actual portraits, because my 'rough- art' style isn't suited for the clean lines of a character portrait ), and going over the lines in a digital program destroys my original vision, but is perfectly suited for the grim scenes that will occur during the game. There are a lot of emotional moments throughtout the main storyline of Tristian, and indeed some are too hectic to portray through chibi-sprites and a pretty map. The drawing will be done in a sepia tone much like the above image.

I only recently obtained my new smartphone ( a Sony Xperia M2 ) and since my scanner died ages ago, I'm using the phone's camera to take the screens of the artwork. Not perfect, but it will have to do. Besides, players like custom art in games, don't they? ^^

The new demo will include some of the custom artwork as well. It runs at just over an hour long and should be better than the one that is currently available.

Updates are a bit on the slow side, as I've been running through the first 8 or so hours of Tristian and really analysing it ( story/plot wise, maybe even battle balancing ). And I realised something.

I can do so much better.

If you wondering how on earth I managed to make an 8 hour + game in less than a year, well. Most of the stuff I wrote now seems a mite rushed, if a tad forced. While I'm happy with the characters themselves, I realise I can do a far better job in relation to the villians and the plot itself.

This game should be plot-driven ( it is currently, but can be better ).

I was seriously thinking of everhauling the plot and rewriting it to paint a better picture of Eridanus' world. I feel the world-building and lore is somewhat lacking compared to Enelysion, where it was almost-ever present. On the other hand, the pacing of the latter is extremely slow ( things only start kicking into high-gear around the 2 hour mark >< ). I was thinking of combining the pacing of Tristian with Enelysion's rich world-building ( hint: the continents of Tairngire and Eridanus are part of the same world, with Tristian taking place two years after the events of Enelysion ). Then I'd at least have a solid base to work from, not to mention I can insert dozens of easter eggs for those who have played through Vol I of EHD. Easter Eggs are neat. And tasty.

I also need to give Tristian an iron-clad reason for hating General Camus and Disma, though I suppose Dante could complicate and hinder things due to his past relationship with one of the two...

And I really don't want Ianna to leave the party after only 1.5 hours of playtime. ;_;


Isn't she just lovely? Seriously, I just wanna hug her. She's my favourite edit so far.

I really love her personality at the moment ( vulnerable and emotional with a huge tendency towards forgiveness, even towards her enemies. Typical Pisces. I freakin' love writing Pisceans; Patrick is one as well. The make such ADORABLE Woobies ), but also sets a base for some strong character development. Tristian doesn't take too well to that particular characteristic of Ianna ( Stoic, emotionless Capricorn. I wrote a really great scene between them with regards to that. Hell, any scene with TriAnna gives me a TON of feels ).


Regarding portraits. x1000 times better now. Tristian really needs to smile more... Though I don't blame her, given what happened.

So yeah, to quit my rambling ( and end off my 131st blog post 0_o ), I want to do a rewrite of Tristian. The final product probably will be even better than what you've played before. =)

Alright, so I hit my 10-hour goal for Enelysion, so I can resume progress on this other baby of mine, Tristian of the Lightly Salted Crackers.. Er..
*damnit Addit ><*

Now, where was I the last time? Oh, right. Finalising skill sets. I ended off the last blog post with Tristian's skill set, so I'll now move onto Ianna's.


Guinevere, eh? Yes, there is some Arthurian mythos going on here that may/may not tie in with Enelysion. Hmm...

She is the typical princess/healer chick ( and love interest for those yuri fans. My female-female version of Cecil/Rosa; I'm playing FF4, 'kay? ) but instead of "Saaaaave me, Cecil!", it's "Saaaaave me, Tristian!"
So she has access to every white magic spell in the game, but can also equip black magic tomes and learns some nifty Light-based spells too.

Because the original game and current tech demo offered so little in terms of character customisation, I'm bringing in the same AP system that is present in Enelysion. And increase the number of Crysalis' the player can find throughout the game, but with one catch. They will no longer boost stats, since it becomes redundant with the AP system in place ( not to mention a mite game-borking ).

And give a lot more equipment options, skill orbs that you can get by exchanging those Crysalis' ( yes, they're multi-functional. Either use them to boost your chars elemental resistance by 10% ( not 5% anymore ) and lower status infliction, or trade 'em for those awesome Ardor Orbs, Lifeforce Orbs etc. ).
Tristian really, really likes the Ardor Orb. XD Players do love character customisation, after all. One of the big perks of RPGs.


A magic user I shall be! Well, she does have Healing magic in her arsenal as well now, so why not? Or make Ianna a Tank that keeps casting magic. Or Darcy into a physical powerhouse.

On the balancing side of things, I seriously, as in seriously, nerfed Trabant. He makes the tech demo far too easy. I also made the more powerful skills use more PTB turns and increased the power of the more common skills by a bit. Making new maps as usual, and Darcy's plot to disguise Tristian as a noble and stick her in a dress is still in full flow. All for the sake of getting an airship, of course.



Arcus Valley.

Useless bit of trivia and on an end note. Both Enelysion and Tristian have a combined playtime of 17 hours... ><