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Vindication

While trying out some very old RPG Maker games, I found one that reminded me of something. There's a protagonist called James, he says something about the Martec Empire during the opening sequence, and another party member is called Danica. I was right: This game reminded me of Vindication. The game's name: Double Trouble 2: The Third. It's probably an old version of Vindication, but an interesting finding nevertheless.

Fable of Heroes I: Legendary Edition

I can offer you the following direct download link to the RPG Maker 2000 RTP 1.0:

http://dl.4players.de/pub/4players/hosted/rpg2000/rpgmaker/RTPE.EXE

You might also need to install this RTP add-on after you've installed RTP 1.0:

http://dl.4players.de/pub/4players/hosted/rpg2000/rpgmaker/RTP132e.exe

Both are from a German site, but you should be able to install them nonetheless. Let me know if this works. I have both installed and the game worked fine for me.

Dragon Warrior Classic 2

I completed the game today. While I enjoyed it, I think it involves too much grinding - even considering this is a Dragon Warrior tribute game (I even bought a Mink Coat and didn't reload, because I had enough money thanks to all the fighting). On the other hand, I like some of the dungeon designs and how cleverly some items are hidden. Without exhibiting mindfulness and patience, this game will probably prove to be too challenging and/or attritional for the average gamer.

Closing remarks regarding the game mechanics:

Is it intended that the Dragon's Bane protects against normal fire skills, but not against firebane skills? Of course, it's still the one must-have item in order to survive the final dungeon.

Is it intended that Cooper's "Open" spell doesn't cost any MP? Why does he even receive this skill if the player can't dispose of the Silver, Golden and Jailor's Key?

Once when casting "Chance", I received a message about my party members fainting, which didn't really happen.

I wasn't cursed even once, so I wonder which enemies are capable of inflicting a curse upon party members.

A few final questions:

Once again: Where can lottery tickets be found? And what's the Grand Prize I won't be able to get? Are lottery booths and curse healing just thrown in for the sake of Dragon Warrior feeling without any actual gameplay implementation?

Did I miss any rare items, (side) quests or bosses? Rare items I found include:
Divine Scepter
Dragon's Bane
Enchanted Armor
Enchanted Helmet (probably the rare item players are most likely to miss)
Enchanted Shield
Enchanted Sword (though I continued to use the Falcon Sword)
Water Flying Cloth
Other things that became outdated because of the items mentioned above (e.g. Armor of Gaia, Staff of Thunder, Thunder Sword)


Is there anything interesting that can be done during the ending before returning to Hollpatent?

Thanks again for entertaining us with another good Dragon Warrior tribute game! :)

Dragon Warrior Classic 2

That's all perfectly understandable. The "encounter land monsters on the sea" problem must be buried somewhere deep in the code since at least RPG Maker 2003.

I found a few minor issues (I hope this time for real) during the last days. In case you're interested:

Spelling errors are few and far between. So far I noticed just one: Hollpatent throne room, NPC guarding the stairs: "obtain" instead of "obatin"

The same applies to obstruction mapping problems. Actually, the following isn't really one: Cave northwest of Fairview, after the player has helped Celeste: When the player leaves and reenters the room, the tile on which Celeste stood is now solid. Furthermore: When trying to talk to this solid tile, the usual "No one is in that direction" message doesn't pop up.

The dialogue that grants the party Estara's Crest is triggered again by walking over the same tile again (at least the party doesn't receive another copy each time).

Using "Outside" in the swamp cave (where the Force of Strength is located) teleports the party someplace else on the world map first. The same happens when using "Outside" in the "Golden underground passage" (the one mentioned below).

It's possible that the Trees' (Evil and Titan) "Strange Jig" abilities don't work.

"Golden underground passage" (containing a NPC that says: "I'm afraid the other entrance to this cave collapsed long ago."): It seems when the party enters the cave, the game assumes that the "Repel" spell is active. That's why the "Repel has lost its effect" message pops up every time when traversing this cave, even when the player didn't cast "Repel" beforehand.

By the way: Did you create a handy world map image for this game just like you did for its predecessor? I really want to finish this game on my own, but this game, though being fun, really makes me "seasick". While I understand that you want to recreate the classic Dragon Warrior experience, I really miss some of the amenities that modern games offer, especially the ability to warp to previously visited towns ("Return" only returns the party to the town in which the player saved recently). I'm also wondering when I'll find my first lottery ticket. Do monsters drop them? I haven't played the original Dragon Warrior games, but lottery tickets are dropped by slimes in other Dragon Warrior tribute games (though I really don't want to fight these weak monsters just for that).

Double edit: I'm really a n00b for not noticing earlier that the Jailor's Key (and even the Gold Key) can open those giant doors. :(

Dragon Warrior Classic 2

I'm currently playing and enjoying the game. Now that I've gained access to the ship, this might be a good time to post some of the (potential) issues I encountered so far. Forgive me in case I can't differentiate between actual bugs and mere annoyances you implemented on purpose to contribute to this particular kind of Dragon Warrior old-school charm.

I don't know if it's intended, but if the player can't open a treasure chest because the party members can't carry more items, he/she won't even be able to open a treasure chest that only contains Gold. Isn't this odd, since money doesn't occupy an item slot?

The priest's detoxification fee (25 Gold) seems pretty high, considering that antidotes only cost 8 Gold. On the other hand, the priest offers an alternative in case all party members can't carry any more items and none of them carries an antidote.

The ship's handling is a bit glitched. When docking the ship, the tile on which the ship resides can be walked over. If the party reenters the ship, the ship can be steered into the previous docking tile or into the tile from which the party entered the ship. Doing this two times towards the hinterlands means that the ship gets stuck on the continent. Fortunately, it's possible to unstuck the ship using the same method.

Hollpatent: When talking to the innkeeper and choosing "No", he replies: "Farewell, stranger.", which is weird, since the protagonist lived at least for ten years in this village. The same applies to the innkeeper in Chatiemac, who obviously doesn't recognize Celeste (the king's daughter), and to the innkeeper in Boreen with regard to Cooper (the mayor's son).

Is it intended that the party can fight land-bound monsters (e.g. Red Soldiers) on sea if a fight is triggered the moment the party enters the ship?

That's it for the time being. By the way: I really hope the game features an airship later on.

Astoria: The Holders of Power Saga

It's a general rule, but it also applies to this game: Always having the best equipment and grinding out two or three extra levels from time to time make a noticeable difference. You should also check how the enemies attack. Some only use physical skills, while others only use magic - or they use both, but only one of that is a threat. Most fights are a lot easier if the party's (de)buffers concentrate on the enemy's most dangerous weapon. There's also some good in-game advice (though rater late), e.g. it's sometimes better to kill an an enemy as quickly as possible, while other fights require a more patient approach.

Ara Fell

I agree with you, Darken. To my mind, if there are toxic gamers out there, you will find them on Steam. "This game doesn't feature exclusively custom graphics, so it's garbage" and "WTF: x.xx $ for a RPG Maker game?" are two of the most commonly seen statements these people make. You can't win (against) these people. Instead, a developer has to focus on people like me who play (and gladly pay for) every decent RPG Maker (2003) game they can get their hands on. Having played so many JRPGs that have been published here on rpgmaker.net, I still don't take it for granted that a quality classic JRPG can be played for free.

With regards to marketing, Ara Fell was in a unique (albeit well-earned) position compared to other indie RPG Maker games. If users of this community had to name one game on this site they would like to see completed, they usually said "Ara Fell". BadLuck and his team have made the most out of this situation and thus deserve their success. I will undoubtedly rise for a third time and do everything in my power to buy their next game. :)

Ara Fell

To put BadLuck's concerns into perspective: I don't recall any other RPG Maker JRPGs comparable to Ara Fell that received nearly as much (positive) reviews on Steam as Ara Fell did - apart from Skyborn maybe.

Umbral Soul

Is there any in-game indication that it's a music puzzle? A player could be deaf or suffer from sound-related PC issues, and then there are players like me who mute the sound and listen to other music while playing. Thus, I'm not fond of acoustic puzzles in JRPGs, but I can solve them effortlessly as long as I know they exist in the first place, so an in-game "warning" would be a good idea if it wasn't already implemented.

It's Been Decided! Chronicles of Tsufanubra II is the works!

author=Ephiam
To keep the look and feel of this new project consistent with the prequel, we'll likely be utilizing the same graphical style and continue to use RM2K/2K3.


Great choice. I love the RPG Maker 2000 and 2003 assets as much as I dislike the RPG Maker VX (Ace) and MV assets. Furthermore: In contrast to MV's default battle system, I really like 2000's default battle system. 2000 reasons for looking forward to the sequel. :)