DARK_METAMORPHOSIS'S PROFILE

-Welcome to my Hideout-

So you found your way here? That's great!
~Stay a while and listen!

Who am I?
(More than a miserable little pile of secrets?)

I go under the profile-name Dark_Metamorphosis here on the RMN forums
(But most people call me Dark).

My real name is Andreas, a friendly guy and geek for life that enjoys everything related to gaming. Games has always been one of my biggest passions, ever since I got my very first console back when I was 7 years old. I have tons, and tons of game-series that have made a really big impact on me and they are too many to be listed. I guess some of you have noticed that Castlevania is one of these series.

More than that I love to hang out with my wonderful friends, things would not be the same without them. Watching movies, or animes is also something that is very close to my heart, music in all Its glory, going to concerts, having a drink or two, and spending time with my best friend; a Golden Retriever with the name of Dogge. I'm pretty bad at introductions but always feel free to send me a PM,

It's always great to talk to new people!
Violent Whispers
A young man ventures on a journey which will discover the secret behind his unusual vital-defect. A secret that will change his life forever.

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What do you think about this idea of mine?

@Desertopa Yes, I was just using the world Terra to explain my point. I will of course name it something else, or perhaps not name it at all. After all It's supposed to be an urban legend about a world that exists in another dimension.

I was more thinking about bringing this up in parts when she is talking with my main character. For example in conversations where they talk about their beliefs etc,etc and Viola will then gradually bring this up to extend on her 'geeky' personality.

@Milennin I have thought about bringing it up in sequences. The first time I want it to be brought up is in a scene where Viola and Vincent are all alone on a hillside talking about their beliefs. Vincent will react in a special way about this because of his current state at that time, and I'm planning to have the other characters react to this in some way. Even though Viola will be who she is and dream away about it, and share her fascination out loud.

It's still in a early process though, and I was just sharing it to see if it sounded like a cool idea to use in the dialouges and enlarge some of Violas personality.

Mount_Firaea_South.png

Looks amazing man! I didn't know that the RM2K3 engine could look this good, wow. Nice mapping for sure :)

Fae Rebirth

I played the first version of your game, so I'm looking forward to try it out again! :)

I know it can be a bit of a huzzle to polish or improve upon different versions (I have done the same for my game a lot!) But in the end It's really worth it, and by then It's easier to keep the rest of the content in a better quality as well :)

Keep rocking with the game! Subscribed!

Tristian: Lady of the Lion

Subscribed! Looks promising Luchi :D

FADE

author=Milennin
Wow, long post. Let's see if I can reply to your points while keeping it organised, lol.

...

Hidden enemies
Haha, I had the same reaction sometimes. I was just walking around minding my own business and then whaa, something appears out of nowhere haha!
I wouldn't change it if you feel like you want them to be like this, in fact It's just my take on it. The sort of surprise feel to them could work in your favour though :)

Enemies on the map
Ah, that makes sense. I just faulty came to the conclusion that the enemies would always act like this (which could lead to a slight irritation).

Fairies

Ah, so that's how they work! I tried to figure out how they were designed but all I could come up with was that they would deal more damage, depending on how many attachments I had on me (doh?). I never really used auto-attacks though (mostly buffed myself if I was low on MP). Something that could have had a big impact on why Eldin got one shoted so much though, might have been that I used the (god can't remember the name of it again, the spell that replenish her mana) which would end my turn with Eldin having a lot of MP. And in that case would be the reason for the high amount of damage :)

Revival
That would sort out the problem really well :)

Escaping battles
Yes, I did use one or two smoke bombs (when I found them) but since I failed a bit on finding where to go I encountered a lot of fights that I couldn't escape from. But it wasn't really an issue any way :)

Boss battle
The reason why I found this fight hard, might have been because I thought it worked in a different way. And since I didn't understand that I was wrong about it until I leveled up as much as to get the spells that I was talking about, it might have been the reason why I mentioned them. For some reason I thought that you had to kill the enemies in a specific order (The most recent one that spawned has to go down first etc.) and the longer the fight goes on, they will spawn faster and faster. So I do believe that it was a failure on my part, and that the boss wasn't as hard as I made it out to be.

Game Over
Ah I see, I hope you will find a way to get rid of it. Even though it's not that much of a big deal, in a small sense it would sort of be reasonable to have it go 'game over' there.

Book of Combat
Ye, I'll see if I can find a way to get it to work. I do have books ready that I control with switches and variables so far, but I might work it out by using the cursor and location common event that I use for my traveling system (Might work I havn't tried yet.)

Inspiration
Ah, that's cool to know! I'm glad it inspired you since it ended up as the battle system that you use now (Which is so kick ass, not just the sprites).

Haha! Your trent fight inspired me to make a boss fight where you have to kill the enemies in the order they spawn (the most recent one that spawned must be killed first, and so on) and then during the fight they will swap places, and if the player hit the wrong one they will be punished in some way. (It might be hard to set up without being frustrating, but It's certainly something that I will try).
It came to my mind when I accidentally thought that your fight was designed this way haha.

Final
It was a real blast to play, and I'm glad that my input helped you out in some ways! I'll ceratinly give feedback again when you release new content!

FADE

So played the new content of your demo, and I have to say that you have done an amazing job! Kudos to you!

First off, I think your mapping is really nice! It's noticable that you have taken some time with the maps, and they are presented really well. The function of the map is also really nice, but I would lie if I didn't say that it was a bit confusing at times (I had a hard time finding where to go, especially to reach the 'tree' boss), and I'm not sure if the enemies keep spawning, but I had a lot of fighting before I found the place. It's not really that much of an issue anyway, since exploring is really rewarding (Thinking about the Feather, and the cloak which was a nice reward for a bit of exploring, and the treasure with the bunny boss and the puzzle of course).

I'm also a bit unsure about the enemies hiding in the trees, since there is no way to avoid them. It's just my opinion though, but I happen to get a bit frustrated when I'm forced to go into battle. Same could be said for the actual speed of all the enemies, since It's really hard to avoid them. It might have been because
I got a bit lost for a while though, and the addition of having enemies attacking me all the time could be a factor in that.

The battles however are totally amazing! (Actually up to the point where I got a bit jealous haha, I'm sorry but I couldn't help it! xD) Having enemies that are priorities in battles are really fun (the faeries), even though I think they are a bit overpowered, and I happened to die from them several times at the start.
The sort of 'debuff' that they keep attaching to you, pretty much 1 or 2 shoted Eldin once they released it. The lack of animation for the damage was a bit confusing too at first, I was more like 'Uhm ok how did she die?'
before I realized that it didn't just heal the fearies, but also dealt damage to my party. However I don't think you should do any changes to them (more than add a clearer animation for the damage recieved when they release
the attachments). After some trial and error I managed to build up a more reasonable strategy with the skills, and using the berries way more efficiently. After that it was way easier to come out alive, which I like!

I also enjoyed how you implemented the berries, mainly the stack limit of 5. By doing that I felt like it encouraged even more exploration, and led me to find the more 'hidden' items if you can call them that (The ressurection feather, and the cloak etc).

The slimes.. oh the slimes! Absolutely brilliant. First of all it took me a while (maybe 3 to 4 turns) to understand that they changed which type of action it would block. Maybe I'm just slow but that's really what happened. I also found it very satisfying to be able to change the type of action it would block, by damaging it.
That way you could sort of regen the correct amount of mana needed for a skill, to make a sort of 'combo' to take it down in a single turn. That way It felt like you could build up a small strategy to take them down as efficient as possible. Same goes for the birds with the berries, and I really enjoyed to set up my priorites on what to kill first etc. Very nice!

Something that I didn't like however is that you only had 1 single feather at the start (2 if you found the treasure) since if I managed to die (especially from the faeries) I had no way to revive my other party member. And since I really needed that member for the boss fights, and didn't have the possibility to escape from the battle, I just let the other character die as well. Then I found out that if you reload from the checkpoint, the other character is still dead. Which ended up with having to quit to the main menu and reload the saved game again. However I do like the 'reload from checkpoint' choice, but I found it kind of weird that the
checkpoint saved after the sort of 'game over'.

The reason why I was a bit frustrated with not being able to escape once or twice from the battles as well (before I found the cloak item) might have been cause I constantly run into enemies, and they were pretty much impossible to avoid. Even though, it wasn't that much of a deal since I really enjoyed the fights, but I
couldn't help but to feel a bit frustrated during some of the fights.

So once I finally found out how to get to the 'trent boss' I more or less hit a wall. I died several times from that boss haha, even though I did fight a lot and got some levels. However, I think it was my lack of understanding the fight at the get-go and also my instant failure of selecting the wrong target. A funny thing about that though is that I didn't realize that I was targeting the trent (which had the skill type block absorbed from the slimes) and somehow it let me to believe that the fight was designed in a specific way. I then realized that
this was not the case (and it actually inspired me to design a boss around this lol).

When I found out that the boss wasn't designed as I thought it was, I killed it pretty easy (even though I still died once before that). I do think that the boss could be nerfed just a tiny bit, since it would be pretty
difficult to beat it without the skills that 'hit more depending on how many enemies that are preset' (I'm sorry I forgot the name of them). To add on that, I think those skills are really cool as well! But without them, I think the enemies would spawn in a faster rate than you can kill them (especially if you don't find the weapon for Roth, and the longer the fight progresses).

Oh! Before I forget, I think I found a potential bug as well. I'm not sure if this is intended, but if one of your characters die and the other one is inflicted by the 'paralyze' effect, it will count as a game over.

Onto the cutscenes, I think they were well done (especially when the party decides to camp around that fireplace) Like I have said before, the humour is spot on and it really feels like a sequel to BETA. Rage is still my favourite!

Another thing that I thought was really cool is the Manual book, I'm not sure if that's what it was called but still. I have been trying to add a similar book into my game, but I have no idea how you managed to do that! I think I
have a way to make it possible for my game, but I'm not sure how to add all those tabs for it. So if you feel like sharing, I would be really grateful! I also think that the design on it was really, really nice! Especially the different pictures when hovering over a new tab, like the skill picture and what not.

As a conclusion I think that the new content is very polished, and the strongest part about it is the battle system for sure (and the awesome design on the bosses and enemies). In my own opinion though, there are some points that could be improved, as I listed above, but more than that I think you have everything spot-on!

I'm looking forward to the new content, and will follow you with extreme excitement!

As a final note I want to apologize for any confusing sentences, and all the (...) that I keep doing for some darn reason (It's a habit that I have developed recently... omg really? did it again!)

I think FADE is a game that deserves a lot more attention, especially if you have played BETA. But even as a standalone game, I think It's totally spot on!

Sincerely
~Dark.

Violent Whispers

@Milennin

Zetya
Well, the defect is presented (while not really that clear). The defect is still presented as Vincent having strange visions (like the one when he meets the angelic individual), and hearing voices inside his head (like the one warning him at the start of the game). I'll make sure to take this into consideration though, and maybe add another vision that will explain the defect a bit more. I have also decided to make it more clear about some backstory to Vincent (Like It's the first time that he's leaving the region of Asper, and making sure that the guards are confused as to why Zephyr assign Vincent to this mission etc).

Demo end

Ye, the goal I have at the moment is to add a completely polished demo that players can start off with, while still working on the content beyond the demo. Then make sure that they can use the old save file for the rest of the content.

About Hunk, I thought he was pretty kind and caring, but in his own unique way.

Hehe, true that.

Violent Whispers

Thanks for the long and informative post!

It saddens me a bit that you preffered the original line-up a bit more, since I believe that I have done a better job with the new demo. Not just the change of Vincent's condition but also to present the rest of the lore and the plot that I have planned so far. I'll add some comments on your inputs.

I've had a look at the fast travel system, and while it looks pretty presentation-wise, I can't think of much of a reason to use it (after having finished the demo).

They are pretty much useless in the demo (It's just to showcase the feature really) since you can only travel between two places. There will be backtracking for several reasons, new quests opening up, open up areas that you couldn't reach before etc.

-You're probably already aware of this, but Zetya is talking to the old version of Vincent when he suffered from amnesia (not relevant in the new demo).

This baffled me a bit, since I have changed the dialogue there to fit the current setting. Instead of punching Vincent with harsh words about not having any memories, or a past he instead talks about Vincent's unusual condition. 'Have it ever occured to you why you are the only one with that defect in your vital system?' '..and so you will seek answers to your unusual condition, I'm afraid that your search will bring you nothing but misery and sadness'. He tries to bring Vincent down with words that tells him that he's useless, and that his soul doesn't have any meaning. (The reason for this will be explained later on in Town Of Duke). So I do have changed the setting there.

Then there's the death of Luke.

This is something that I have thought about a lot myself (One of the reason why I wanted you to select no at the choise). I have thought about maybe adding a short flashback of Vincent's and Luke's relationship while Vincent talks about how Luke was the only person he could rely on, and that he was always there for him (To make it have a greater impact). I do think that it might be a bit too early though, so I will see about that.

-I didn't expect the demo to end in the same place.

I'm sorry about that, but since I'm supposed to release the game in chapters I thought it would be weird to add more content to the demo, and then release less content for Chapter 1 because of it. My plan is to make a complete demo, that will allow people to use their old save files to continue with chapter 1, while still working on the content beyond the demo.

The reason why the 'defect' is not explained that well at first, is because Vincent is having a hard time trusting people (especially when it comes to reveal his secret). His entire life and 'destiny' is suffering from this defect, and it has a huge impact on what people thinks of him (for several reasons).

I'm not sure, but maybe it could be a bit confusing to you because you have played the game before the change of the plot? I'll see if I can skim through all the cut scenes etc to add more believable scenarios though.

Well the thing about the world is that It's not really in medieval times (The ancient world Serena existed before the First Crisis and it inhabitated the first civilization to walk the surface of the world. Also the thing about the world being a place where the strong rule over the weak, is not really true either. I'm not saying that you are incorrect with this statement (cause it appears like that when playing the demo). But the truth is, that it hasn't been any differences among the people that would resolve into violence in the past. That's why Vincent is concerned about his king's recent actions, and when Wiola asks 'I have never seen Asperian soldiers attacking people like that before, is that something that your king would do to get more information about the artifact?' he replies 'No that's something my king would never do'.

There are things that will be explained over time, and even the fact that Vincent's not really set out to be a soldier (something that I intended to show early on), has a lot to do with his past and his condition. Something that will be explained pretty early on as well.

There will of course be different and neutral personalities later on. And of course, Vincent is not just kind and caring. For one he has a deep hate for Serena and Seranivictus. You forgot to mention 'Oddbolls' as well (refering to Hunk lol).

I will keep all your suggestions in mind, and I'm really glad to get criticism!

I'm happy that you like the first scene with Wiola and Vincent (It's my favourite scene so far as well), I hope that I will be able to add more of those as the games progresses.

I'm very happy for your input, and I'll think about ways to implement better solutions for the new plot change, even early on in the game.

Thanks!

Skill_in_progress.png

I have now fixed the portrait so It's aligning more with the rest of the portraits, and also pointed out Wiolas pronunciation as 'Wee-ola'. Thank you all for the comments :) They help out a lot!

Violent Whispers

Thanks a lot for your input! This will help me out tons (Like always)

Most of the issues are things that I'm aware off, and will of course be changed for the final release. But there are also some things that I have totally missed, and you are giving me some very nice suggestions. I'll comment on some of them:

-Hm, the intro in the forest is completely different now.
- Yes, there have been a slight change in the overall starting point of the plot, and the intro is remade. I did this to break the 'I'm talking to myself' a bit, and 'let's search the forest without a specific reason to do so'. Vincent is now aware of his unusal condition as well, since it fits a lot better with my overall plot.

-More as a general suggestion I'd like to see the Shift key function as a ON/OFF
- If you go to the SYSTEM tab in the menu screen you can toggle the dash to be ON all the time (without having to hold Shift). I tried to hint about it in the start, but I'm a bit unsure if this will come across to the player. You can also change other system functions in there.

-Now thinking about the diving scene
- That makes a lot of sense to be honest, will make sure to keep that in mind.

-I chose no at the part of the branches, like you asked me to.
- Also a very good point, will make sure to add a logical reason why Vincent is hesitating.

-There's a lot less Potions now?
- Hmm, that's weird. I'm pretty sure that you will get around 15-20 potions before the encounter with the first boss (including achievement rewards). You can also farm some from the Slith creatures since they drop them frequently (If you run out of them). In the full demo, the oracles will be able to heal up your party if you have the correct item though, so hopefully it will get rid of that issue.

-After using the Bomb on the wall the cutscene froze when Vincent's path was blocked by a monster sprite
-Will make sure to fix that right away, thanks a lot!

-Hm, whole new part that wasn't there in the previous version.
- Yep, Hunk and his hideout is a completely new area.

-The "Damn, where did he go?" doesn't make sense from Vincent's perspective, as the man could be right around that corner for all he knows.
- Also a good point!

-The dog lets me access a music playlist?o__O
- That's another fault from my part, It's the wrong graphic! It should be a music box, not a dog haha! I will also take a look at the cutscene with Hunk.

-Gargoyles inflict Silence, even though that has no effect on Vincent whatsoever.
- Hmm, that's weird. It should block his abilities completely (even though they have low chance of inflicting it, since they use it so often). Will have to take a look at that though.

Thanks a lot for playing, and I'm looking forward to hear about the rest! What did you think about the new travel system by the way, is it useful or just a waste of a feature? xD

I'll make sure to post about FADE tommorow (I have played it already, but havn't had the time to write yet) :)

As always, thanks!