DE'S PROFILE

OK, I agree with both Brandon AND you (i.e. Nightblade) :)

HARBINGER OF SOULS

- I click on New Game and get a black screen which doesn't want to go away; OK, I will just have to use one of the saves provided
- I load the first save and a few minutes later I get into a random battle; I get insta-killed by an error message: "something something PARTY something"
- that concludes my experience with Harbinger of Souls

EVERYTHING TURNS GRAY

- I am a girl going by the name of Alice; it's fun to play as a woman in a world where everyone and everything wants you dead :D
- I'll skip the tutorial part because it's pretty straightforward
- I choose to be a Protector; illiteracy hurts, but in the harsh world of post-apocalypse only the strongest will survive; brains is for pansies :]
- I stumble upon a Poisoned lake and find some synthesis stuff in a chest and inside the cottage
- I turn left and find a Plaza; inside the building 6 bottles of Water are found and scavenged; I also fight my first battle against a lone Scorpion; I nail the critter (literally, thanks to my Nail Gun)
- I unlock a nearby door with a key I found in the building; I hack a computer, and although my character doesn't know how to read, she knows how to distuingish a 1 from a 2, and so I get two codes; who knows what they're for; how can she hack a computer without reading what's on screen is beyond me, but it's hilarious if you think about it :P (please don't change it!)
- oh boy, there's a fucking ELECTRIC GUITAR in the chest! too bad in STILE there's no G for guitarism :(
- I find 6 lockpicks in a chest; lucky! from a cabinet I get a 10mm Handgun; now we're talking! a pistol in one hand, and a nail gun in the other - awesome
- in the next store I deactivate a turret by feeding a console one of the passwords I found earlier
- level up; I invest in literacy cross-skill; I CAN READ... sort of; a nearby bulletin board is too complicated for my poor Alice to decipher
- I open the door with the other code and find some Food in a chest; finally - I had enough water, but not enough food
- a old man in the Underbridge wants me to find a Bible; how is my character gonna recognize one, when she can barely read? :D
- not much goes around the Farm; a few chests with nothing interesting in them; I Rest for the first time in the game in the barn
- found a merchant in the Frozen Creek; I can't seem to be able to clear this area?
- I receive a Boomerang outside the Gas Station; and some less useful stuff inside; I don't know the password for the console, so I try to hack it; I get electrocuted at first, but succeed on the second try
- that's it, I can't seem to find any other locations; are there any other areas in the demo?

All I've gotta say is that I LOVE this game. Only thing I'd change is to get rid of random encounters and make them all scripted/event-based, but I reckon that'd be too much work for one person.

I don't think the game's too hard, you just have to save every ten seconds and ran from most encounters, unless you're a Protector like me, then you can take on solo/duo monsters. Three critters is too much.

I must admit I saved before opening any chest/door so that I'd lose only one lockpick for each locked object. There are too many of them, and too few lockpicks to do it any other way. I almost ran out of lockpicks by the end of the demo.

Also, this game needs more NPCs.

OK. Instead of giving comments on the game itself, which would be pointless since the game KICKS ASS and there's almost nothing I'd change, I'll give an evaluation of each character and their skills.

First, my percentages:
40/42 chests
34/36 events
86/189 skills
2/2 statues
3/3 souls
12 floors (duh)
60% completion
23/32 monsters (all normal enemies and 3 bosses)


DARREN
Overview: like it or not, he's you main protagonist. This guy eats demons for breakfast and is probably the heaviest hitter in the game, not to mention the best tank. It's not uncommon to see him receive 1 damage from enemy attacks!
Skills:
- Blazing Attack: main offensive skill. It devastates the boss on floor 12, and costs a miniscule amount of SP. *****
- Mageblade: just like the above, but works best on mages. Slightly less useful than Blazing Attack. ****
- Mysticism Buster: handy when fighting bosses/mid-bosses. Apart from that, not much use. ****
- Rage of the Bull/Wolverine: pretty much useless skills. You lose control over Darren, but he deals more damage. Could be used to quickly deal with large groups of enemies, but the problem is he attacks RANDOM enemies, which dillutes his effectiveness. *
Passive:
- he is immune to instant-death and confuse. Very cool. *****
- he draws enemy fire. You WANT this guy to get attacked as much as possible. *****
AP accumulated: 515


GOLDURN
Overview: great tank with worthless skills. His main use is a meatshield, but he can't deal as much damage as Darren. Think of him as a less evolved version of Darren. He's still good.
Skills:
- Warlord of the East: I'm not a fan of low accuracy, high damage skills, because they always balance out with "normal" skills, once you account for how often they miss. *
- Stop That: Stops an enemy. Can't say much about this one, because it didn't work when I used it. I reckon it doesn't work on bosses, and in normal encounters you're better off kicking the opposition into oblivion than paralyzing them. *
- Griffon's Wrath: deals some damage and reduces Armor. Pretty useful on bosses, I guess. ***
- Come and Get It: taunts enemies so that they attack Goldurn more willingly. Never used it and can't think of any situation where I'd want to do so. *
- Staunch Wound: if you're under an HP-degen effect, then use this. I rarely was, so I never once had to cast it. **
- Overdrive: healing's not a problem in this game, so... *
Passive:
- all DEF-boosts are improved. Makes him even tougher. *****
- he draws enemy fire just like Darren, but to a lesser extent. ****
AP accumulated: 350


MARTIN IV
Overview: I really like the SOB. I mean, DOCTOR PAIN. Most colorful character in the party, and a healer who is almost a tank. He's just so resilient! And deals good damage.
Skills:
- Mystical Toss: lowers target's MYS (Magic). Good to use on bosses. ***
- Take-back Attack: lowers target's ATK. Even better, because no one else can reduce ATK. ****
- Speed Bump: lowers target's SPD. Slighly less useful than the last two. **
- Class Change V: restores a bit of HP and inflicts Regen on one ally. Useful at first, but loses to instant healing later. ***
- Class Mimic V: as above, but works on party (not in the current version). ****
- Special Medicine: removes all anomalies (except EXP down) from one ally. Does this skill need any explanation? *****
AP accumulated: 320


APNIS
Overview: next to Darren and Illinois, most useful character in the game. Never leave home without her. She can heal the whole party for 300-400 points, and do it before, or AFTER everyone, even enemies, has acted. Tactics, stupid!
Skills:
- Tingling Strike: if you have more than one ally under a "movement-impending status effect" then use this skill. I never had. Nevertheless might be useful in certain situations. ***
- Purification Aura: removes degens from party. Nice. ***
- Faith and Healing Stars: cures party at the end of the turn, or at the beginning of the turn (before anyone has acted). Two most useful spells in the game, period. Only problem is she has so little SP, so you need to Charge often. *****
- Anis: revives one ally with 1 HP. Not that good, you have items for this. **
- Cloak of Peace: never casted it. If the enemy's faster than your guys, then this might help a little, but as it is she has too little SP to waste on a skill such as this one. **
Passive:
- she is less likely to be targetted by enemies. Gotta love it! *****
- she receives less damage from dark spells. *****
AP accumulated: 308


KRISTOPH
Overview: hard to judge the paladin. It seems he has great potential, but most of the time he doesn't achieve much in fights. I like his personality, though. Heck, I like all to-be paladins!
Skills:
- Thrust: basic damage skill. Use it instead of attacking normally. ***
- Godlance: same as above but with added Holiness. I used it mostly on bosses (demons are weak against Holy right?), but it didn't do much damage. ***
- Divinity: healing spell which works on one target. Rather useless, because when you want to heal it's during a boss fight, and then you need to heal the whole party, and not just one person. **
- Medieval Solvent: protects party against Dark. I don't think any boss except floor 6 boss used Dark spells on me. Might be more useful on higher levels. ****
Passive:
- draws enemy fire just like Goldurn. Problem is, he's not as good a tank as him. **
AP accumulated: 287


ILLINOIS
Overview: my favorite character who is infinitely useful in normal encounters. The only character in the game with mass offensive spells, and they all add status effects! Very often had a place in my party.
Skills:
- Icy Attack: if you want to target just one enemy, then you may want to cast this. **
- Icile in the Demon: THE spell. I used it more than any other skill in the game. Not only does this deal good damage to EVERY enemy, it has a high chance of silencing them. *****
- Rapid Feeezing: same as above, but better damage and no silence. But it just costs too much. ***
Passive:
- better criticals. ***
- more resistant to status effects. ***
- resistant to ice spells, but receives more damage from fire spells. ***
AP accumulated: 239


COLLIN
Overview: pretty uneven character. On one hand he can steal and deal huge damage with his Lucky Seven skill, on the other all his skills are unbelievably random, which sometimes results in him sitting doing nothing save for wasting SP.
Skills:
- Snake Eyes: deals random damage. Lucky Seven is better. **
- Lucky Seven: deals huge damage. If it hits. Fun to use on bosses. ****]
- Play the Slots: random effect, from doubling max HP of your party to healing enemy party. Not worth your time for the most part. **
- Call Scalper: steals an item from an enemy. If there's an item you want to steal, then use this. ***
- Fancy That: knocks Darren out of berserk status. Never put Darren into berserk, so this one was useless. *
Passive:
- immune to EXP/GP decrease. Wow. *
AP accumulated: 235


PRINCESS
Overview: single target glass cannon; pretty useful against certain enemies, but she has so low SP she can't cast more than two spells in a row.
Skills:
- Last Ditch: uh, if you couldn't change party during battle then this would carry a degree of usefulness, but is otherwise worthless. *
- Soul Burn: see above. Takes too much HP in exchange for too little SP. *
- Etna Flowing: basically the only spell you will ever use with Princess. Deals huge damage, especially against floor 12 boss. *****
- Etna Shrapnel: I got this during the aforementioned boos fight, so I can't say much about it. It seems it's a supped up version of Etna Flowing, but costs 50% more. With 32 SP I could only cast it once. ****
AP accumulated: 233


EON FEATHER
Overview: the badass mage with random target spells. He sucks in normal encounter, but rocks in boss fights.
Skills:
- Brightflare: deals huge holy damage and BLINDS a random enemy. Bosses can be blinded. Need I say more? Oh, and its SP cost is very low, so you can blast away every turn. *****
- Darkwhorl: deals huge dark damage and lowers critical chance of a random enemy. Nice, but Brightflare is better. See above for SP comment. ****
- Lend Power: no idea what this does, but costs low HP instead of SP. *
- Determine Completion: no use in battles. *
AP accumulated: 134


FELIX
Overview: another character who never found his place in my battle party. I don't know why, but all those Fighters are so much weaker than Tanks. And their skills suck.
Skills:
- Mystic Blows: an offensive skill based on ATK, MYS, and enemy DEF. At least I think so, because the description is so vague about how it works. *
- Ignorant Fists: ignores DEF. Wow. *
- They're Mystical: deals damage based on target's DEF. More DEF results in more damage (I think). Pretty cool. ***
Passive:
- can equip two weapons. Any boost in attack is good. *****
AP accumulated: 117


HA'NAAN
Overview: she sucks. Literally. A comic relief character, mostly, she never did much in battles except dying. I don't like the bitch. Literally :)
Skills:
- Little Golden Fan: absorbs HPs from an enemy. I guess, never used it. Even if it's true, it sounds pathetically weak. *
- Little Black Fan: same as above but drains SP. *
- Candy Apple: makes an enemy drop more EXP. Use on boss once, then switch her out. *****
- Cherry Pie: lowering an enemy's evasion sounds ridiculously underpowered. *
Passive:
- immune to degens and gains EXP faster. *****
AP accumulated: 98


TITANIA
Overview: she might've been useful if her healing dance wasn't random. Randomness is the last thing you need when fighting bosses.
Skills:
- Recovering Step: heals party greatly, but whether each character is cured is determined randomly. Which sometimes result in this skill doing nothing. Forget this and use real healers. **
- Gypsy Swipe: steals an item. See Collin's Call Scalper. ***
- Bardic Ruse: the only worthwile skill, too bad buffs are pretty awful in this game. **
Passive:
- if she hits an enemy, his stats might go down. You shouldn't be attacking with this gal, and if you are, something went horribly wrong. *
AP accumulated: 94


STEFAN
Overview: I sincerely hate pirates and used this guy very sparringly. In any case, his skills are bad. VERY bad.
Skills:
- Limited Line: no idea what this does except for missing. *
- Puffin's Battlecry: boosts one ally. Might've been useful in boss fights, but when you swap characters so much the boost doesn't play a huge role. **
Passive:
- his normal attacks target all enemies at once. Would be good if he din't miss, like, 99% of the time. *
AP accumulated: 70


NEVER-AGE
Overview: had high hopes for this little lady, but she suffers from the "fighters are underpowered" syndrome. Not high enough damage output coupled with low defense and HP result in a so-so at best character.
Skills:
- Blink: increases own evasion. Wow. *
- Expedite Hell: if under HP-degen effect, inflict anomalies on an enemy. Problem is you have to catch HP-degen first, which is not THAT easy. **
- Ghostphase: deal damage, but Never-age must be blind. Same as above. **
AP accumulated: 68

Ow, you make it sound like I'm headshooting your game, but it's not the case.

I love everything EXCEPT the battle system, which, although visually excellent, is.. BORING. The same complaint I had on the original.

I dunno, I just don't enjoy mashing enter to win. You say you want the battles to be longer. They are already too long. It's not like there is NO strategy, it's that it's very, very basic, and once you implement it, the enemies... don't seem to die quick enough. They are too resilient. I'd actually love 1-2 rounds-long battles. Once again, the game's visually appealing. But fast, detailed animations juxtaposed with dragging battles create a clunky system / bad experience.

The system worked with Alter AILA Something (the one about Leon stopping a train). One character, one enemy; the pace was great. ATB starts to crawl when there are more than 4, 5 characters in battle (including enemies). With one on one it's the fastest, and makes for quick, intense fights. On the other hand, 3 heroes and 4 very HP heavy enemies... ugh.

Take a look at Craze's Demon Tower, now THAT's a good BS (battle system :) ). An it doesn't really push the envelope, it's simply basic DBS with a few twists and good design.

That's it for now, I'll post more comments when I get to playing your game (patched) again (probably tomorrow).