Northwall (v1.0.1)

I have not been keeping up on the game's profile over here on RMnet as much as I have over at the RM Web forums, so if you'd like a more detailed list of changes, you can check out the game's thread over at https://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?threads/northwall-now-playable-through-credits.18152/

However! There is one very big announcement that's coming along with an update to the downloads!

Northwall is officially playable from start to finish and is now considered to be in the final stages of project development!

Highlights of today's update:

General

- The final section of the last dungeon has been finished and the game can now be played to completion. Find out what Maestro's been up to the whole time, the truth about Galarand, and the fates of our three main characters.

- A balloon icon has been removed during the conversation in Aylan Woods.


Bug fixes

- The lights after the intro have been fixed. Yet again. They get fixed on every update and somehow break on every update.

- Ouro was not properly giving out partial rewards if you defeat him in combat after incorrectly guessing his password or smashing him if you immediately try either of those options without selecting "no" first. This has been fixed.

- If you save the soldier in Silth, he was still graphically displaying as dead, as well as changing graphics when you interacted with him. This has been fixed.

- There was a previous bug where one player was not able to save his game in any new slots. The cause of this bug was never determined, and I have been unable to recreate it during my playtesting. For now, it will be assumed as fixed.


This project thread's original post has been updated to include the full credits. I will be contacting a number of playtesters to double check that I'm crediting them the way they would like, but if you happen to see your name in the credits and you'd like it to be something other than what's written, please send me a PM and let me know!

Something I've been putting off until Northwall was finished, as well, was getting a new title screen. It's had a placeholder image from the RTP from the start, but I'd like to commission an artist for a new title splash. I'd also like to commission a splash screen for the ending, as currently the last fade to black then transitions back to the title screen. I'm not 100% for sure on what I'd like the artwork to be yet, but if that's something you would be interested in helping with, let me know!

I've just completed a speed run of my game to make sure one last time that things work properly and you can, in fact, play to completion. It took me about 2.5 hours, though I expect most people will take about 6-7 hours for their first time through. However, I'm going to leave the project in development for now until I get a few more people to give it a run and clean up any lingering bugs or issues I may not have discovered.

If you have recently played the project and your save file doesn't work due to updates to the scripts, and you'd like me to create a custom save file for you that will move you to a particular point in the game, please send me a message and let me know.

A big thank you to everyone who has helped with the development of this game! I've had long stretches (months at a time, even) of not working on it and it's something that's constantly been gnawing at the back of my thoughts for years. Sometimes I thought I'd never reach this point. It's been an interesting journey and a hell of a learning experience in game design. That said, I am extremely proud of what I've created in all that time and elated to finally be releasing a full game and not just a demo or a "project in progress."

From the 3/8/15 update:

General
- New tutorial elements have been added, including:
-- During Ben and Rick's fight with the bandit, the CTB gauge and how agility affects turn order is explained.
-- During Suven's fight with the orcs, the difference between MP and TP is explained.
-- During Suven, Ben, and Rick's fight with the two worms, status effect icons are explained.
-- The first time Tilana transforms, an explanation is given on how hybrid form works.

Bug fixes
- In Northwall, if you return to the hallway where the bandit fight occurred, the sprite reappears (though cannot be interacted with). This has been fixed.
- Impale could be selected from the menu, though it didn't do anything. This has been fixed.
- If the player hit enter to speed up the text and progressed too quickly when talking to Grim after returning the power source, the game could potentially freeze from move routes being activated too soon and an event not being able to walk where it should. This has been fixed.
- Fixed a mapping error in the Aylan forest that transferred you to the wrong tile.
- All the post-battle common events were also being called on the first turn of each battle. This has been fixed.
- The regrowth flask was not being added to the inventory when it was first received. This has been fixed.
- A couple shading errors have been fixed in the Aylan forest map.
- General Celandine can no longer taunt General Cosgrove during their battle if he's already been killed.


Ability tweaks and balances
- Zeal no longer uses up a turn, allowing a player to immediately act again after activating it. The enemy form of Zeal still uses a turn.
- Tilana's ability Hybrid Form now only costs 15 TP, down from 25.
- Tilana's Altered Form ability Slash now ignores 75% of the enemy's defense, up from 35%.



From the 5/26/15 update:

General
- Added additional tutorial elements, including:
-- During the fight with the bandit, the damage range for special abilities is explained
-- During the fight with the ogre, the difference between a turn and an action is explained
-- During the fight with the worms, special attention is called to the scan ability
- DoubleX's RMVXA Counterattack v1.05a script has been added. This addresses a handful of issues.


Bug fixes
- The various post-battle common events were not being called after the Aylan, Flarus, or spirit boss battles because they are technically aborted, not victories. This has been fixed.
- Guilt's ability Remorse was reviving dead party members when it healed them. This has been fixed.
- Despair's ability Dispel was removing Belzar's Crystal Guard. This has been fixed.
- Unburden could be used outside of battle. This has been fixed.
- Enemies that were using skills as a result of the Force Action command were not being properly bumped back on the CTB gauge. This is an issue with a script that is no longer supported, and so as a work-around, any time an enemy acts as the result of a Force Action, they are also briefly stunned to create the illusion that the forced action was their turn. In particular, this affects:
-- General Celandine attacking Cosgrove if his two soldiers are killed first.
-- Belzar's crystals after they've buffed him every 6 turns.
- Counterattacking previously wouldn't display an animation. Now it will.


Ability tweaks and balances
- Added some MP to any enemies Varsena might encounter, so that her energy sap ability won't have zero effect, except on obviously physical enemies. Also added an anti fail tag to it so that trying to sap enemies with no MP should say "0" instead of "Failed" to make it more clear what's happening.
- Ben and Rick can no longer use the shield ability. Defense was low enough at the beginning of the game that a 25 (or even 50)% increase was hardly noticeable. Ben can now use shield wall, which reduces damage taken by 25% and regens 2% HP each turn. Rick can now use poison spear, which deals 125% ATK damage and applies poison to the enemy.
- Penance and Atonement no longer have an MP or TP cost, since they were already transferring health and MP, respectively. Adding an additional cost seemed unnecessary.
- The player ability Energy Sap now also increases AGI and MAT by 15%, in addition to its previous effect of draining 20% of the enemy's max MP.
- Poison now lasts for 4 turns, instead of indefinitely.
- A target now takes damage before counterattacking, and does not automatically avoid the attack.
- Tilana will now use a basic attack in human form to counterattack, Rapid Strikes in altered form, and Frenzy in hybrid form; using these abilities does not cost any TP or MP.


Enemy tweaks and balances
- During the West Silth boss battle, the shadow can no longer be directly targeted until the other three members are defeated.

Small content update today, along with a slew of ability balances, some bug fixes, new items, that sort of thing. A comprehensive list can be found below:

General
- Players can now access the events following Mount Flarus, including the return to Northwall. Will Maestro finally reveal why he's been following the party around and causing so much mischief? Or will he string them along, lie to them, and manipulate them even more?
- Added several small maps for cutscenes that used to occur on the world map. These include:
-- A new map for the brief cutscene following the events in the cave.
-- A new map for Ben and Rick asking the cleric if he wants to go to the ruins or not.
-- A new map for the cutscene following the forest.
-- A new map for the cutscene after the events in Aylan.

Bug fixes
- Belzar's scan indicated that he still empowers crystals, which is no longer the case. This has been fixed.
- Fixed a bug where remorse would still heal people with Deadly Wound on them.
- Remorse now gives 10 TP, up from 3. It was not intended to give such low TP.
- The Wizard's Hat has been fixed so that only the cleric and mage can use it.
- Fixed several issues in the Belzar fight where he would not properly cast crystal shield on himself despite all four crystals being active.
- Fixed an error where Elemental Shield's description listed the damage reduced being equal to 20% - it is actually 50%.

Ability tweaks and balances

- Meditation now also increases TP generation by 50%, in addition to its previous effects. Meditation now also only uses half an action, in addition to its previous effects.
- The player version of Contrition now restores HP based upon the amount of MP used up by the ability. E.g., if Contrition is used while at 80% MP, then 80% of the target's max health will be restored.
-- Contrition now only costs 50% of the caster's MP to use, but still revives a player with a percentage of health equal to the amount of MP the caster had when using it. For example, if the caster has 70% MP, then casting contrition will cost 35% MP, and restore her target with 70% HP. If the caster is at 26% MP, contrition will cost 13% MP and restore her target with 26% HP.
- Cost of Blaze increased from 10 MP to 45 MP. Damage decreased from 1.2 * a.mat to 0.9 * a.mat.
- Hybrid form now removes and makes the user immune to the accuracy-reducing effect of Distract.
- Lunar Strength now lasts for 5 actions, up from 3-4.
- Elemental Shield now lasts for 5 turns, up from 4.
- Lightning Strike damage reduced from 1.4 * a.mat to 1.25 * a.mat.
- Flame Pillar and Freezing Blast have had their variance reduced from 20 to 10.
- Purify now only uses half an action.
- Lupine Blur now lasts for 2 actions instead of 2 turns. Lunar Strength now lasts 5 turns instead of 5 actions. Lycanthropic regen now lasts 4 turns instead of 3-4 turns. Lupine Blur now lasts 4 turns.
- Lupine Blur renamed to Lunar Blur.
- Hybrid Form now also refreshes Lunar Blur.
- Frenzy, Maul, Deadly Wound, and Piercing Strike are now normal attack elements instead of physical.
- Lunar Wound is now a holy attack element instead of physical.
- Saint's Watch tooltip updated to show that any character who is transformed will still revert back to normal form if they are reduced to 0 HP. They will remain alive while Saint's Watch is on, however.
- Saint's Watch now prevents the use of transformation skills (Altered Form, Hybrid Form, Angelic Form, or Manifest). If an actor is transformed when Saint's Watch is applied, they will still remain transformed until it otherwise wears off.
- Rage, Despair, and Guilt transformation costs reduced from 10 to 5 TP.
- Divine Shield cost increased from 10 to 15 MP.
- Angelic form now prevents the use of items. Revert has been added to angelic form in case the player wants to drop it early, but the TP cost will not be refunded.
- Lunar Madness MP cost increased from 5 to 10. Still costs 15 TP in hybrid form.
- Divine Burst now deals 140% MAT holy damage, 210% MAT against targets with holy fire, down from 160% MAT holy damage, 240% MAT against targets with holy fire..

Enemy tweaks and balances
- Mount Flarus enemies now give a little more XP per monster, making it easier for people who have done all the optional content to be level 9 when they fight Belzar.
- Belzar now gives 1500 1300 XP, up from 900.

New abilities and items
- New ability: Somatic Shield. Lowers MDF to 0, increases DEF by 400%. Elemental damage taken increased by 25%.
- New ability: Phrenic Shield. Lowers DEF to 0, increases MDF by 150%. Physical damage taken increased by 25%.
- New ability: Lunar Madness. Consumes all lunar buffs currently applied to apply Lunar Madness. Consuming Lunar Strength applies a 100% chance to crit. Consuming Lunar Blur applies a 100% chance to counterattack any physical attacks. Consuming Lycanthropic Regen applies an immediate 60% max HP heal. Lunar Madness prevents the reapplication of any lunar buffs while active.
- New ability: Meteor. Deals 125% MAT damage and has a 50% chance to slow and a 50% chance to burn enemies. Requires Rage form to cast.
- New ability: Atonement. Transfers 25% of caster's mana to a party member. Party member receives an additional 8% mana. Requires Guilt form to cast.
- New ability: Bless. Restores 10% of the target's max HP. If the target has infusion applied, then it consumes infusion and applies a buff for 2 actions. If the target has a higher ATK than MAT, the buff increases ATK by 35% and causes their attacks to do holy damage. If the target has a higher MAT than ATK, the buff increases MAT by 35% and reduces the cost of spells by 20%.
- New armor: Steel Aegis. Increases defense more than targe, reduces fire damage by 15%.
- New armor: Steel Visor. Increases defense more than iron helm.
- New armor: Enchanted Headband. Increases defense more than leather cap. Increases AGI by 1.
- New armor: Leather hauberk. Increases defense more than leather armor.
- New armor: Mage's Mask. Increases MDF more than Wizard's Hat. Increases MAT slightly. Regenerates 5% MP every turn.
- New weapon: Mage's Staff. Increases ATK and MAT more than Simple Staff. Reduces MP cost of spells by 10%.

Item and equipment tweaks

- Potions now restore 36-44% max HP plus 22-27 health, up from 20-30% max HP plus 20-30 health.
- Mana draughts now restore 45-55% max MP plus 9-11 MP, up from 24-36% max MP plus 8-12 MP.
- Revive item now restores actor with 30% health, down from 55%. This is to encourage the use of the revive and contrition skills before using items.
- Cloak of regen now protects against burns, poison, and deadly wound, instead of burns, poison, and disease.

Updated both links today with some more changes, mostly bug-fixes and tweaks to the early section of the game.

- Made several passability fixes to the Aylan forest maps.
- Fixed a bug where you could move outside the Aylan inn before the boss confronts you.
- Fixed a bug where Belzar's body magically turned into someone else. He's magical, but not that magical.
- Marion now starts with 10 TP when she joins your party. This should allow you to use sword dance if the first battle you happen to encounter is a carnivorous plant, which is otherwise a sort of rough start without either holy barrage or a small pool of TP for Marion.
- Added Yanfly's Buffs and States manager so you can see how many turns are remaining on any particular buff or debuff. Note that turns do not happen in a static order with the PCTB system, so it's more of a general idea of how long the state still has.
- Fixed a bug where Rick's face would display on some of Ben's lines.
- Gave Ben his own icon for the order gauge instead of using Rick's.
- Removed the child from the survivor's village. Most likely fate? Dead.
- Removed the non-gray tint from the survivor's village nighttime effect. This will make the area outside the lanterns' scope of light more visible.
- Ben and Rick now have a maximum level of 2 instead of 1.
- Guard's Mark has been moved from level 1 to level 2.
- Guard's Mark now also decreases enemy defense and magic defense by 25% in addition to causing flurry to do double damage.
- Guard's Mark no longer costs TP to use and generates 2 TP on use.
- Introduction has a new scene and reworked dialogue to help establish the setting a little more before throwing the player into the tutorial battles.
- Ben and Rick had small modifications made to their dialogues.
- The cave light now extends a little farther, allowing you to see about 3-4 squares around you instead of about 2.
- The cave boss now takes double holy damage when Guard's Mark is applied to it. Rick (or Ben if Rick is KOed) will make mention of this vulnerability when the mark is applied.
- The red and blue worms have had their HP reduced by 30 to compensate for Ben and Rick not starting with Guard's Mark.
- Lowered the encounter rate in the forest maps slightly. They're pretty small maps, so it still needs to remain relatively high or the party can go through the whole forest without ever getting into a battle (thus preventing proper XP gain). This will cause some players to encounter all 5 battles quite early, and some players to only encounter 1-3 battles through the whole dungeon.