DECKY'S PROFILE

Thanks for the in-depth replies - definitely looking forward to what you're gonna cook up next!

edit: Been on a 2k3 nostalgia binge the last couple days to try and spark my motivation again. I played this, Balmung, and Villnoire. I think it's my favorite of the three, on the whole, but all three are enjoyable in their own ways.

Glad you liked it :)

A few years ago I deleted most of my old game downloads, but it's reviews like this that make me happy that I re-posted everything :) Even if my download counts went from 2-3k to a few hundred XD

I'd ask you to check out some of my other stuff, but most of it is either unfinished or half-baked teenage stuff XD

Thanks again!

This was the best part of the game IMO. I really liked the execution of the skill trees. It felt like I was being rewarded for doing my homework and prioritizing the most optimal skills early in the game. I loved the freedom of choice. For instance, Elle was handling most of the healing duties just fine with her song, so I was able to prioritize learning AoE abilities on my other characters to clear trash faster (instead of healing skills). Once I grabbed Elle's AoE magic, I took her off song duty (except on the final boss), leveled Sieg's single-target heal, and just had him heal people up between fights. Rally is shockingly good for being so low on the skill tree btw. I popped that on Elle during the quizzer fight and just kept her in near-perpetual Aria mode. I chose my secondary jobs specifically because their AoE options seemed juicy while I was previewing the trees. Despite a few bugs here and there (Aria IV not working, Wind III costing 0 MP, occasional skill cancellations) I'd say this is one of the deepest skill systems in a traditional 2k3 game because it felt like I was having a major impact on my gameplay experience; most skill systems feel like they are on rails and offer only the illusion of choice. Nicely done.

I'm about 3ish hours in (just finished the mines area). Here are my thoughts so far:

Story has some nice intrigue, though it hasn't quite gripped me yet (I have a feeling it's about to). Same with the characters. The dialogue is well written and there are some nice NPC quips, though it hasn't fully immersed me yet.

Mapping is very solid, though some of the areas (mostly the caves and towns) do get kinda samey in their look and feel. The beach area is the MVP so far. Great mix of grays and browns. Nice use of staggered elevations as well. The towns are sprawling and certainly evoke some of that FF6 feel.

The opening areas feel like an MMO starting zone, complete with NPC errands and all that jazz. Thankfully it only lasted like 30-40 minutes before I got to sink my teeth into the systems.

The gameplay, while extremely easy, is interesting enough to keep me playing.

Equipment is pretty well balanced and the game throws the right amount of stuff at you. There are lots of options and plenty of opportunity costs. A few things become obsolete rather quickly. I wasn't a big fan of having to hunt down specific NPCs to sell items, especially since money is rather tight.

The skill trees are fun and the main reason why I'm still playing. There are a ton of toys to play with here. AP becomes abundant after the first couple of areas, especially once enemies start granting 2 per kill.

It might just be my progression through the skill trees or the synergy between my 3 characters, but this game is extremely easy so far. It has become particularly easy since the mansion underground/warehouses, where my skill levels skyrocketed due to the abundance of AP I accumulated while just exploring the areas as normal. Bosses are dying in 2 rounds, and I'm able to cleave down most trash within two actions. I haven't really grinded much - I did grind about a half level from 6 to 7 to get my advanced classes, but that's it. Maybe all the exploration has kinda put me ahead of the balance curve. I've been exploring every nook and cranny because you've done a great job hiding goodies throughout the landscape (I loved the chest behind the waterfall, as well as the treasure half-buried in the sand!)

I might just have an OP party as well. Seigfreid's dark spells are potent and the summon added quite a bit of DPS to the group during the earlier areas, before I had the attack buff and high-tier DPS spells. Elle offheals with her song when the party's getting low on HP, which is usually every 3 fights or so; I have her specc'd into the magic tree for single-target magic DPS and cleave. Leonov, the physical attacker, is another great offhealer and buffer. When SP was a problem in the early game, I used his Rally ability to replenish Elle's SP for her healing song. I also use Rally if I start running low on SP while cleaving trash as I progress through the dungeons. My party is self sufficient. I haven't had to use a recovery item since before I met with the Baron; the bard's heal song is amazing, and all of my SP needs are met by a combination of Rally and the passive regen between battles. Each character has a level 3+ aoe spell at this point (I picked the trees with these aoe spells in mind). I still use the dirk on my necromancer; the dual attack is really nasty since Leonov's attack buff is additive. Easy 45-50 damage per hit, though that's probably going to get replaced by the mastered Deathcall IV spell once I can afford it. The last boss fight in the mine was over in 5 or 6 actions (Elle's fire spell was particularly effective!). The crab boss and his minions got cleaved to death in 5ish actions as well (3 cleaves and two single-target spells, iirc).

There seems to be a particularly strong AP grinding spot that I was tempted to use: the jellyfishes. You almost always encounter 5 of them on the beach cave map, and they can be one-shotted with Death Wave III. I haven't really capitalized on this, but it would be an easy 10 AP per fight. I could see someone maxing out the skill trees in less than an hour.

Once I mastered the heal song, I had to go into the editor and fix the Aria IV state. It was only regenerating 1 HP per turn, so I set it to +17 HP. (It probably should've been set to +16 HP, since the skill gains +3 HP per level, but I wanted the extra point for mastering the skill :P)

Really nice use of symbols in the menus to communicate the intricacies of the equipment system. Love the system graphics as well. Music choices were enjoyable; I heard some Ogre Battle in there, which made me quite the happy panda.

The level design is very basic, and it's clear that you're mostly trying to get by on the high quality of the mapping. I just like more engaging dungeons, tbh, so I get a little nitpicky about 'em these days. Maybe it's the Zelda fan in me. I did like the barrel/crate pushing in the warehouses though.

So far, I feel this is a very solid 4/5 game that is carried by the in-depth DBS, deep skill trees, and fun map exploration. Please keep making games; we need more stuff like this and Exile's Journey in the community. I'm not really a story guy nowadays, but I'll try to pay more attention since it looks like you're setting up some fun intrigue.

Nah, I think that's a solid point tbh. I definitely forgot some names in Suikodens II and III. I think most of the facesets/sprites for the playable characters are pretty distinct, with Durane/Eva being the most similar, so it might not become a major problem if we go with this format.