Durham Fantasy: Agartha

I'm currently playing your game, shadendehaan. After completing the game, I will post my game notes that contain some minor bugs, improvement suggestions etc. For now I have one question: Is there a way to reach the treasure chest in the upper right corner of the pirates' hideout where the pirate chick can be recruited?

Here are my game notes as promised. I know this is probably your first game, but it failed to satisfy me.

Let's start with the few good points. I like how well-hidden some pieces of equipment and some of the elemental stones are. And for a free game, that is a very good CGI scene that is shown when the player reaches a major story point. If only that much dedication went into the rest of the game...

Moving on to the aspects that can and should be improved:

Lots of spelling errors - too many if it even bothers someone like me who isn't a native English speaker.

The story build-up leaves a lot to be desired - everything seems rushed, the player doesn't learn enough about the characters to care for them.

The player should be able to save everywhere and anywhere. Disabled save function in (most) dungeons, an atrocious random encounter rate (making comparatively short dungeons last forever), bosses out of nowhere (that don't even have names) - this combination isn't fun. This is especially aggravating in the final dungeon with its unforeseeable points of no return (the player can easily miss the opportunity to buy the best armor in the game) and those monsters that don't yield any experience points.

Sleeping at the inn should completely heal all characters - not only the ones in the active party.

In towns where NPCs walk, walkways should always be at least two tiles wide so that NPCs don't block the player's path.

I don't think it's a good idea that (some) bosses can be paralyzed.

Magic is too powerful in relation to physical attacks, and Magic III spells are the only sensible option when it comes to damaging bosses.

Maybe it's an intentional design choice, but the player shouldn't be able to unequip Keira in the prologue. Then again, I don't want to complain about having one Pick of Destiny (accessory, halves MP costs for skills) right from the start.

Copy & paste of building interiors makes you look lazy.

It should be made clear that Cloud isn't an optional/temporary character, even though he behaves like one and the player has to pay 5.000 G in order to recruit him. I recruited him when I saw no other way to progress the story. Thus, he missed two dungeons full of experience where he really could have been of help to my party. In general, the level of new party members should be related to the party's current level (e.g. the average of all party members' levels combined).

Towards the end of the game, there should be something (more) to waste money on (other than the missable opportunity to buy the best armor in the final dungeon). On one hand, those black armors and helmets are seriously overpowered, on the other hand, they're useless because magic is the real (only) threat.

Now for your fatal sin because of which I didn't complete the game: Just before the final boss battle, there should be an opportunity to save, to grind and to switch out party members.

Finally, a few minor bugs and other mistakes:

After having fled from Norris' Castle and going back to the dead end in the cave, a scene is triggered in which Zach emerges and says "This way!", even though he has already left the party. This scene didn't trigger the first time when entering the cave from the castle through the narrow passage, but maybe it was supposed to do so (because this scene can only be triggered once).

Dialogue in Pickering after the boss fight should change when the player has found the Waterstone beforehand.

Reentering the volcano (the one Shaden and Cloud have to traverse subsequent to their short stay at the fairies' village) after having left it enables the player to roam the outer edges of the map, which clearly isn't intended.

There's no proper obstruction mapping on the airship. Thus, the player can walk "on the sky".

When entering the pirate ship after the party's reunion and before revisiting Norris' castle, Trevor addresses the pirate chick with her default name, not with the name given by the player. Similarly, as Tanner and the blonde healer chick are reunited with Zach, the latter one says "Not sure where Shaun is" and "Where Shaun and I grew up" (and later, when the airship has been repaired: "Let's head to Ajax, Shaun should be there"), even when the player renamed Shaun.

After the scenes that start the "fetch the missing party members quest" in the Ajax pub, all party members sit at the table (even the ones that have yet to be retrieved), and the player can't add other members to the party, even though the party consists only of Shaden. The same thing happens after having chosen a complete party. Fortunately, leaving the room and entering it again fixes this issue.

The skill "Crystal Droplets" always seems to miss, no matter who (Keira, final boss) uses it.

Shaden learns the skill "Wildfire" at level 60, but he can't use it.

The green-haired woman in the SE part of Bowman probably needs updated dialogue towards the end of the game. The same applies to the guy in the SE corner of Whitby in the final dungeon, still eager to tell the party about the mountain road while facing Armageddon.

I also encountered the "sleep bug", which is actually caused by the headgear "Magic Hat" (I stripped Lynn down and tested every piece of equipment taken by itself during battles until I found the one causing the problem). Don't let your female characters wear Magic Hats and you won't encounter this bug. No clue why the Magic Hat causes the problem at this stage of the game.

That's it. I hope you can and will improve, and I wish you luck concerning your future endeavors. Hopefully, my ramblings don't appear to be too harsh, but I'm always frustrated if I can't (or don't want to) complete a game.

Played the game quite awhile.
Was actually enjoyable,however, I am abandoning it for only one reason.
The incessantly inescapable battles every few steps.
No other negative aspects for me.
Much better than my first game.,although, I am certainly no measuring stick.
May go back to it again after awhile.

Nice effort, nevertheless.