Odyssey in Suri Islands

I'm so confused as to how to handle the part 2 to this game. first off, it's not part 2, it's going to be parts 2, 3, and 4 smushed together in the same release, now that I think about it breaking it off was a bad idea in the first place.

Secondly, the first chapter WILL NOT be programmed into the big lump of three chapters. So while the intro tells you the jist of what's going on, you might be at a level disadvantage. Well, except Zauber, he starts at level 25 with over 10 spells in his arsenal. I suggest sending your favorite save file to the game folder of part 2 and uploading it so Lucia doesn't start at level 3. No, I'm serious. I might need to up that though.

I want to revamp everything. I'm keeping the menu because I like it the way it is. But I want a new battle system, preferably SNES FF style. This means
I need character graphics to go with it. I know why they reverted to the combat style of RM2K, and that's because finding battle chara sets are very hard. It's easier to program (or leave the original way) due to there being less graphics. Well, I'm tired of taking the lazy way out for battle.

I've expanded the story immensely. You get an intro (sort of, I need to work on it big time), and before you are thrust into the world like in part 1, you talk to people in Zauber's castle and get a feel for what's going on. Your party members meet up very soon, the plot of part 1 is quickly summed up by conversation, and the plot moves forward much quicker than originally planned. I was given hints that part 1's storytelling was choppy and some made little sense. That's why I'm working to make this a much smoother, much more playable game. Part 1 was rushed and sloppy, and I see that now.

Zauber's presence makes the party feel much more natural. I love his character, I really do. Pyra isn't so much of a bitch because she has what she wants. I'm making sidequests to expand gameplay and customization options, hopefully. While Zauber is something like a Magus of Chrono Trigger fame, I would like him to be able to do something ELSE at some point other than blast shit with his famed "Star Spring" spell. Dunno what I'm going to do with that, though.

My next beef is with monsters. Holy hell, I hate making monsters and what's worse is that I suck at it completely. If I want a side battle, I probably need ALL NEW MONSTER GRAPHICS. >.< How aggravating.

The world map is expanded, and towns like Mysterica, Gailardia, Solasia, and Casios remain the same - except NPCs are updated and there are new story bits to be found. A town got smushed during transition from part 1 to part 2, and our young Swain will tell you all about it quickly. There's a whole HUGE ASS CONTINENT over past where the Shrine Islands are, and it has plenty of secrets to be uncovered. Your first mission, as a party, is to get over there!

I would love to make the battle system like a Tales game, but I don't see that kind of coding out for VX. *sad sad*

My biggest question and probably the most important part of all, does Part 2 NEED a seperate game profile? Part 1 has this dinky thing here, and I consider it all to be the same game, really. Do I put it in the download section here? GAHH.

While it is completed, I still have a few changes I'd like to make before submitting. All the programming is done as far as story and database goes, but I get the feeling there are some kinks in the system.

I have a slight suspicion that this game is unbalanced somehow, really.

This game was created for a private contest between makers here in our family, so it had some challenges chosen by other competetors. You should look for things like:

The quote: "it's got electrolytes"
a character: "a man that smells other people's armpits"
Among other nonsensical things.

This game will be released for the world to play by the first week of November.