Crap, I still need to play this.

No worries! Take as much time as you need.

I guess I could have picked a better time to release it, huh? Heh, well, whenever you get around to it is fine. Silly me decided to playtest literally all of Luxaren Allure all over again from the beginning despite doing so at least five different times because pfffft how long could it REALLY be? So it's not like I'm sitting here crying alone in a corner because I'm lonely. I'm sitting here crying alone in a corner because I've had to fight the same battles over and over again to test different conditions and variables.

I'm glad to hear your answers, though. After the silence following unrano's feedback, I was starting to make some scary assumptions!

author=Red_Nova
Silly me decided to playtest literally all of Luxaren Allure all over again from the beginning despite doing so at least five different times because pfffft how long could it REALLY be? So it's not like I'm sitting here crying alone in a corner because I'm lonely. I'm sitting here crying alone in a corner because I've had to fight the same battles over and over again to test different conditions and variables.

I'm so sorry, Red! I should have warned you not to do that! ;_;

author=Red_Nova
I guess I could have picked a better time to release it, huh?

This is kinda my thought-process in regards to the release of Konae's Investigations, actually. I wasn't exactly sure when this would be ready to go, but, I figured Luxaren Allure was close!

Though, in hindsight, maybe I should have held off on Konae? I dunno. This isn't the place to ruminate about that anyway.

Well, I guess I should share some thoughts of mine:

1. What did you think of the game overall?

It was pretty well-made in practically every area, although I do have to admit it took a while before I felt invested in it. Only around the end of the demo I finally felt like I wanted to know where this all is going.

2. Which character(s) did you find most/least interesting and why?

Despite some initial reservations, I grew to like Aeyr a lot - maybe a bit too much considering he's actually not that nice as a person. Amalie is also a great character, and I'm very curious to find out more about Luke and Vanessa, too, and how they became who they are now.

3. What are your impressions (or lack of) of the two protagonists (Aeyr and Mia)?

To be honest, if I had had to guess, I would have thought that the protagonists are actually Aeyr and Amalie. I think that says a lot already. It might be because Amalie gets a lot more screen time in the prologue than Mia, but I also felt like Mia's characterisation was not as strong. There were some memorable moments, but she tended to come across like the stereotypical "hero's girlfriend/love interest" character a bit too much.

4. Was the battle system interesting to you? Did it make you think beyond just "mash attack to win"? What equipment loadout did you use (not just what you got from the Quartermaster)?

Yes and yes, although I do think that with a battle system like this, you need to be extremely careful with each and every new enemy and piece of equipment you implement. Because the worst thing that could happen is accidentally making a skill, item or complete strategy objectively useless. That means a lot of planning and testing is going to be necessary.
I still tried to emphasise defense over offense and thus went with the Infantry set, which worked pretty well. But I was generally willing to take a hit in stats in exchange for useful skills or passive abilities, which is why I used the equipment that protects against injuries and gave Amalie the Lion Shield.

5. What DIDN'T you like about the story, gameplay, or whatever else? Anything I could fix?

As I said before, I thought the story didn't start out as very interesting to me. A lot of things just seemed to suggest this was another tale about a troubled but noble knight who was going on a quest to prove himself and save the kingdom. There are some aspects that contribute to a more ambiguous atmosphere, such as the pre-apocalyptic setting and the critical depiction of the knighthood and the king, but it still took me relatively long before I started to feel immersed.
On the gameplay side of things, I'd really like to see some more interesting dungeon design. Running through an area trying to avoid (or fight) monsters is fine for a while, but at some point I want to do something more than just follow the path to the next screen every time. The jumping mechanic is already a good start.

That's what came to my mind so far. I hope this is helpful at all.

author=unity
...everyone will (hopefully ^^;;) eventually get around to playing everything they want to play...

I recall saying something like that...


Anyway, a few thoughts thus far:

I recall finding myself using three (of my four) First Aid Kits on my first run. So, yeah, I was probably doing something wrong, somewhere!

Thanks, Malandy. The free inn and character descriptions were fixed in the latest version. As for buying weapons, yeah, characters that can't use certain weapons will be greyed out, so that's how you can tell who gets what.

About Mia not changing equipment, that's something I should have anticipated, but didn't. At the beginning of Aeyr's first chapter (after the prologue), I'll give his party all the equips that Mia and Amalie had and make sure to handle that issue immediately in the next release.

The title is supposed to encapsulate the overall theme of the story: people who desperately hope for a better future even though, deep down, they really don't believe it will come. And it's about the actions of those people once they come to this realization.