NEOPHYTE'S PROFILE

Haha dude make a topic called "Double Your Dating" with women or something. You can put all of your protips there.

I would also like to add that I don't like the too much animation thing either, especially if it's a skill that is used often. I'd try to keep your animations under 3 seconds long if possible. I don't like it when battles have an inconsistent pace. The game that is most guilty of this is Final Fantasy 8.

author=Max McGee link=topic=2590.msg52417#msg52417 date=1230175273
It is my fervently held belief that this is by far the best LOOKING game I ever have or ever will make in my 8+ year career. To me it looks better than 95% of other RPG Maker games in existence, period. The graphics will not see any major changes. Literally, they are a thousandfold improvement on any of my other games, and so I am surprised to see you talking like I have not gotten better with visuals in the days since Iron Gaia 1. Also, I have spent dozens of hours compiling these tilesets, and I personally feel they will be a HUGE asset to any RMVX designer who wants to make a game in any genre other than medieval fantasy.

I am completely mystified by your derision, because Iron Gaia 2 used more or less the same graphical style (out of proportion rips from computer games combined with RTP stle base graphics, as a matter of fact its proportions were in fact much worse) and was widely recognized as one of the best looking RMXP games ever. Do LITEING FX really make that much of a difference?

I'm astonished you say this. Okay then, let's compare. I want to know what others think as well since this will possibly help Max out. Which do you think looks better?

Iron Gaia 2

Note I tried to pick the ones with the least lighting effects. Really though, take a look at those two screenshots. Everything seems to work pretty well here. A few things stick out, but it had a look that was easy on the eyes.

Everything Turns Gray


Let's take a look at the first screenshot. First off, I can't even tell what that black thing is in the middle. My guess is it's a destroyed road judging by the car. That's issue number one (unable to distinguish certain things, and just look at how out of place it is). Second, look at the trees. There are 5 different ones in the screenshot and their sizes are just...ridiculous. There is a tree that is 5 times as large as the other ones, has a completely different shading to it, and it just...just look at it! Certain objects look out of place from the default RTP, and it doesn't look good. Though the second screenshot is so much better than the first, it still suffers from another issue. The RMVX RTP has a very smooth, colorful finish to it while the other graphics (cars, barrels, roads, etc) have a gritty, jagged look to them. Just compare a tree from the RTP with the one you ripped side by side. There is a huge difference. It probably has to do with the difference in resolutions that make it look so out of place, but I'm no graphic artist and I'm just speaking out kind of randomly here. The RMVX RTP has a very unique style, and trying to combine it with something else (especially from a western post-apocalyptic game) is almost impossible to do.

Of course I know the main problem is with the setting you're trying to create. The two games have different settings, and it's much harder trying to make things look good in this game than in Iron Gaia 2.

As for the gameplay, I don't know. I think I'm pretty good at playing games. :(
The problem is the randomness, yes. I ran into those spiders and had 4 monsters gang up on me at once at level 2. How am I supposed to survive with 3 healing items when each monster takes off 1/4 of my health? I was not fatigued, had two weapons equipped (one of them being the nail gun), and some decent armor. So yeah, I would agree that maybe I was having bad luck, but this should be addressed.

My mini review.

Okay so this is pretty much the best replica of a post-apocalyptic game I've played in RM, but there are lots of things wrong with it. I'll start with the bad, then the good.

The game is too hard. I am a PROTECTOR and I'm dying by every single monster out there. I managed to get past one enemy group before dying against a horde of enemies, but that was only once. I can't count how many times I reloaded the game and went to find other areas that weren't as bad, but they were all the same. I kept thinking there HAD to be easier enemies somewhere, but there weren't! I couldn't use the escape command to run because it never worked, so I really couldn't do anything. I don't like the random encounter system at all, it either needs to be toned down or another system needs to take its place. If you save in the middle of an area where the encounter rate is every 10 steps; saving in the wrong spot could mean that you are guaranteed to get into a fight before leaving the area. So you basically have to reload the game every time you run into a tough encounter. It feels like there is too much luck involved in the game and not enough skill. It doesn't make it fun.

Next, the graphics. Oh my god these graphics. They aren't good, I don't like it at all. Combining Fallout 2 graphics with RTP just doesn't work, they are COMPLETELY different graphical styles. No amount of desaturating or recoloring can fix this. The proportions are off, the colors do not mesh well, and the chipsets are not that well made. You also littered the ground with tons of stuff, I couldn't tell what I could walk over and what I couldn't. The indoor areas were actually fairly well done even though they had the same issues, but the outdoor environments really looked bad.

The main issues boil down to how random the game can play out and the graphics. I realize you aren't the best person with graphics and you have to work with what you've got, so I can look past it I guess. Others won't though. And the gameplay needs tweaking, everything feels like a gamble...and not in a good way. I don't like the random encounter system at all. If you can get party members like you said, that will probably help things out.

As for the good things...well it does almost everything right in terms of pulling off the post-apocalyptic gameplay. I have no issues with the lockpicks, because there really isn't a way around reloading a previous save file. I can tell that each class will have different benefits in the long run, and the world map is awesome. Basically everything outside of battles and graphics is well made, so there are no complaints here.

This is one of those games where if you invest the time to play through, it will be a ton of fun. I don't think most people will do that though, because of how unforgiving it is. And the game doesn't look too pretty, either. Unfortunately there are more things that can turn the player off here than turn them on. It's a decent game though, despite the flaws.

author=harmonic link=topic=2479.msg52258#msg52258 date=1230103478
What I meant was that merely renaming items that do the exact same thing isn't something that should be considered "cool." Like phoenix down -> healing sandwich. It just adds another step to the player's learning curve. Of course, it is possible to rename something in a way that makes it universally and immediately known exactly what the item does, but I was using the FF names as an example of easy communication of an item's function.

No way dude, you can't be serious.

Do you really think the Mother series would have items like a phoenix down? Nobody does this to be "cool", they do it because it fits the atmosphere and style of the game. Really, can you even name one game that renames items just to be annoying? I can understand where you're coming from if somebody renames Fire to IGNIFIRAL or something, but nobody really does that.

I like Healing Sandwiches anyway. They heal good HP in real life. >:(

Not in game related, but it is annoying when people keep referring to their games in their posts and how they do things right. I just chuckle whenever I read things like that, but I know I'm just being cynical.

Though I have the RTP installed, Neok and GRS are correct. It's simply about making your game easy and accessible to play. It's easier to make a game standalone than it is to force somebody to download some rtp. I don't know how you could think otherwise. ???


You would be surprised at how many people won't actually take the time to download additional packages that are needed to play a game.

I played a bit of your game, Craze. The battle system is really top notch, so I might actually finish it. I'll try and give my input when I'm not lazy.