DJC'S PROFILE

Hey there, SimonTheDigger,

Swank actually cannot be missed permanently. If the player fails to talk to him at any location in the story chain, he'll still appear in a different spot later in the game as a recruitable NPC.

The only thing that can be missed in a single play through is the Letters quest, but the reward is not unique, and can be completed on a new game+ if 100% finish is desired.

Let me know if you find any significant bugs or balance issues in the current version. Enjoy!

author=Dennis
How do you activate skills like Ensuna ? Thanks anyone !!

You activate skill scrolls the same as any other skills, but you cannot do so until you have obtained the item itself. You will only find skill scrolls in specific chests, as listed in a post above. Once in your inventory, if the selected hero can activate the skill, it will now be possible when chosen on their skill shard page if you have the requisite number of shards. Each hero has access to different skill scrolls, just as their regular skills are unique, though there is sharing. Not all heroes can use Esuna, but several may. The skill must activated for each hero you want to use it.

Did you get a chance to compare Vixen's STR and level to the other heroes in your party? If those are not the factors contributing to her damage output discrepency, there might be a bug or incorrect database entry I'm unaware of.

The high critical multiplier is mostly for monsters, particularly end game bosses so their physical attacks deal significant damage if the player does not wear equipment that blocks critical hits. Hero critical strikes are rarer, except for specific weapons, and I could reduce those if you think that would improve balance.

In earlier versions, the Invincible Four where not the enslaved souls of the four legendary heroes. They were just servants of Expirius. I couldn't change the location of the bosses without balancing the battles again. Nergal (Mandros Tyranus) should have been at West Tower in Tyr-Anon. Marowit (Val Veritas) at Occultus Gaza, and more of a fighter than pure mage. Laverna (Phoebe Seraphim) is in the correct location, but Valkyrie (Welana Eridwell) belongs at East Tower as a caster only.

The voice that speaks and attempts to control Azrael is Expirius. Azrael was chosen to host the Abyssal Lords as his soul was already stained and corrupted as a Blackguard. The infestation allows Expirius to communicate with Azrael from his prison. I don't entirely recall the justification for waiting a millennia, it's lost in my story notes, but I believe Altair was dispatched by the four heroes and it took time for him to reconstitute a physical form and engineer his master's plans, such as finding a suitable vessel for the Abyssal Lords, who were still free in the world of men but incorporeal and powerless. There have been so many character and plot changes over the course of more than a decade it's difficult to keep plot strands cohesive.

If I had completed the story rewrite, the motives of Expirius would have been entirely different than invoking the eclipse and destroying the seals to return and obtain power from Entropy. Expirius was going to be a tragic villain betrayed by the supposed four legendary heroes, stuck in a time loop by the fallen god Entropy until he managed to fulfill their bargain, which he made to save his kingdom rather than selfish gain. Azrael would be a conduit across time who would eventually absorb the knowledge of Expirius as they traded thoughts. Expirius was trying to break the cycle by guiding the game's heroes along the only path that could break the loop, after countless iterations and failures.

That's a good point about how cruel and tasteless you can choose to make Glen's responses. Suffice to say, those choices have an enormous impact on the affection rating, but I don't like them and I planned to remove the entire romance mechanic. Glen and Meredith would have had a chance to bond, with additional scenes during their scenario and afterward. Vixen would have become an initially unrequited romance for Justin, the reveal of her true character changing this dynamic.

The game used to be much more lighthearted. Introducing character complexity took the tone in a different direction, and some players have voiced their disappointment and displeasure with the changes. I feel the story and characters are the weakest aspect of the game because of the rewrites and massive cuts to backstory and personal development.

Ask as many questions as you like! I'll do my best to answer from what I remember is in the game and was intended.

author=Ekoh
Just read your reply, DJC. So critical hits amount to triple damage? Wow, that puts things in perspective. As I said, knowing that balance in battle is a really difficult objective, I understand you deciding not to overhaul the system and instead going for careful tinkering here and there.
Your reasoning about not displaying the total number of treasures and preserving fun for all players is very interesting, besides the fact that the amount of chests varies each time as you stated. Thank you for explaining.

I had a few questions about plot points, if that´s okay. First, about the Invincible Four aka the 4 heroes of old. From what we´re told at different points, it´s clear that Laverna (the one with the wings)=Seraph=founder of Seraphia=we fight her at Vanguard, it all checks. Idem with Marowit (the enchantress)=Welana Eridwell=founder of Eridwell=we fight her at the East Tower.
But I´m a bit confused about the other two, Valkyrie and Nergal, because we´re told that Val Veritas (the hero with a beard) founded the North Kingdom near Occultus Gaza, and yet at that location, we fight Nergal, who is entirely clad in armor, which looks more like the one we´re told founded Tyr-Anon? So is Valkyrie meant to be Val Veritas, or is it Nergal?

Also, now that I´m replaying the game, it´s not quite clear to me what´s the deal with the voice that helps Azrael break out of his cell at the beginning of the story. We know that Altair engineers his escape from the Tyr-Anox, so does that mean the voice is Entropy´s? Is it Expirius´s? Given that they´re both sealed in the Void at first, how are they intervening if it´s them, and for that matter, how did they make Azrael a conduit for the Abyss lords, why him, and why wait 1000 years later if Altair´s been around all that time (since we know he was a fool at Expirius´s court)?

Sorry if that seems like a lot of questions, but I´m always interested in understanding the intricacies of a plot! You wrote in other comments that due to time constraints, you had had to cut a lot of moments linked to that and also character development, so I thought I´d ask you here.

When it comes to character development, precisely, I wanted to tell you that I have to say that some of Glen´s interactions with Meredith and Vixen bothered me, because some of his answers are really awful (at one point he derogatorily goes on about Vixen "spreading her legs", quote), and between that, her frequently being insulted as a "harlot", and also the several mentions of rape, it´s relatively offputting.

Thanks for the great feedback, and I apologize again for the skill swap crash bug. I'm planning to update the full package download soon, so no more players should inadvertently experience this error by not having the latest version.

The Dispel skill shard is in the Tomb of Khaer Magnus, but the others are in dungeons already accessible to you. I agree there's too many random treasure chests, and it's easy to miss some. I wanted to drastically reduce the number of chests, and replace them with more world appropriate objects, such as plants that harvest for medicine, or skeletal remains of dead adventurers bearing weapons or armor. Those changes were cut due to time constraints. Here's an updated list of skill shard locations:

• Esuna - Aditus Grotto
  
• Regen - Viridis Mons
  
• Enfeeble - Nemus Aevum
  
• Zealous Blades - Meridion Caverns
  
• Surge - Cerulean Silex
  
• Freeze - Ship Graveyard
  
• Detonator - Silentium Tumulus
  
• Entrust - Triangle Mountain
  
• Blink - Triangle Mountain exit after completion
  
• Verve - Phoenix Cave
  
• Singularity - Atlantis
  
• Debilitate - Atlantis
  
• Viper Strike - West Tower
  
• Dispel Slash - East Tower
  
• Reflect - Progidium Nidus after completion
  
• Dispel - Tomb of Khaer Magnus
  

The rebirth system was a later addition to the game. No encounters are balanced for it. Unless players activate the automatic monster balance mode, there won't be much challenge after gaining additional levels or switching to dual wield. In the latest version, ultimate weapon critical hit rates are significantly lowered and spells received a boost in the form of spell penetration for the final tier, which ignores enemy magic reducing damage. Vetu also has the Nucleus accessory for double casting. I also introduced a dual wield penalty, where STR is lowered by a percentage when dual wielding. A shield+ mechanic also exists that boosts DEF when single wield, an important stat later in the game against bosses that spam Overpower. I could further lower critical hit rates, or increase the dual wield penalty if physical attacks still seem unbalanced.

The Might spell is one of the biggest balance issues that I've grappled with. This spell previously cost percentage based AP. Players complained skills like this made increasing maximum AP useless, but I'm considering reverting this change for a select few skills. That doesn't address the many equipment pieces that inflict Might automatically, though. As you've noticed, later bosses employ skills that dispel positive enchantments, or penalize for them. There was significant player backlash against giving enemies too many direct counters that discouraged or prevented exploiting weaknesses and these mechanics, however, so I did not pursue this approach as aggressively as planned. This is why Might Makes Wrong and Hubris are less seldom seen than simple dispel skills, or don't deal more damage.

That's a great point about Miracles and other powerful medicines you can create at the forge allowing players to spam and forget. I think I will change the formula to require rare items the player cannot farm, perhaps a type of monster drop. There's still plenty of opportunities to obtain these medicines through other means, but not in large quantities quickly. Some players desperately need these items to have any chance at certain bonus bosses, however, so I don't want to make them too scarce.

I definitely want to keep battles interesting and challenging in all situations, and for as many players of differing ability as possible. That's why there are so many monster balance options. I do have to be careful, however, as some players can become quite frustrated with battles that others breeze through without difficulty. For example, the Scarab Amulet accessory was introduced by player request for the singular purpose of nerfing special enemy attacks that some players vehemently insisted were unfairly punishing. It's a fine line, but I like your ideas, and would love to hear any other suggestions.

Archangel should not be immune to physical attacks. He begins with 50% resistance, which you can lower to normal. His Squall spells inflicts Blink, however, which evades all physical attacks and you must Dispel. Some enemies will also remove Fragile once inflicted, returning to their regular resistance. Others increase their resistances, and you must continue counteracting their actions. In the Tomb of Khaer Magnus, you'll also encounter the Adamant Golem, who is immune to physical attacks until reducing defense to increase offense.

The Vanir weapon sound effects are using some of the default rm2k3 RTP sounds, and I agree an ultimate weapon should instead be a pleasure to hear every time it strikes. I will update the animation in the next patch.

Tyr-Anon Castle is one of the earliest game areas, some of my first mapping attempts in the old rm2k engine almost two decades ago. I agree it is a ridiculous labyrinth of poor design, which is why there are guide arrows when completing plot events. On the player's first visit, the areas are restricted since I would consider such a large area far too overwhelming that early in the game. Upon returning to the castle, there's really only the chests in the secret room mentioned in a library book that matter. The only reasonable solution would be to redo all the maps and simplify the castle, but I admit nostalgia and historical reasons as well as time required discourage me from doing so.

The Tyr-Anon Invasion event with three outpost choices does feature different dungeons and monsters, but the treasures are the same so don't worry about missing anything! The music is starting to become rather dated as modern systems don't support MIDI well. I had another player recently request a higher quality soundtrack. The biggest obstacle is hosting, as this would drastically boost the file size. It would also take significant time remastering each track with the most appropriate sound font. The Battle Arena penalty system is modeled after Final Fantasy 7, so I can't take too much credit for that. That's awesome to hear the lead up to the Pandemonium battle evoked the emotions I was trying for. That sequence was inspired by the Death Marshes in Turok 2 and the appearance of the Balrog in LotR. One of my favorite scenes is when you first acquire the Aetherius and Cid pilots it to the surface, but that's also heavily influenced by Final Fantasy 6 and 10. Hard to be entirely original, especially considering this project was initially begun as a Final Fantasy fan game.

Let me know if you have any other feedback or questions. It's great to hear from an enthusiastic player with good ideas that can help improve the game, though I'm not willing or able to commit significantly more time to this project.

author=Ekoh
Update since my last post: I downloaded the 3.31e patch, and that allowed me to get that pesky chest in the Cascade caverns. The airship docking function is now straightforward and wonderful, I have to say. However, the characters still have the jumbled skillset, but the real problem is that now I can´t use the healing spells outside of battle. Is that an unintended side-effect, or was it planned, DJC? Anyway, thanks for working so hard on patches and fixes all the time.

The healing skills not working outside of battle is an oversight on my part. The final tier of healing spells now inflict a condition to allow percentage based healing, thus restoring more than the 9,999 limit. I removed the old fixed amount of healing, but this prevents using these skills outside of battle. The Reprieve condition inflicting by final tier healing skills only works in battle, so I will restore the static healing functionality so these skills aren't useless in the field, even though it looks and operates in a clunky manner.