ORIAS_OBDERHODE'S PROFILE

author=Housekeeping
All this is to say, I don't want to write a walkthrough to cover up bad game design, but I want to help completionists. The game also has a character later that will tell you how many chests are left in each dungeon, so this might cause players to rethink the puzzle, but, still, I could see people pulling their hair out trying to find this one, especially if they don't know that beating the game rewards them with an item that nullifies random encounters. These are the kinds of things that walkthroughs will point out to allow maximizing your time.

Anyway, while I still think that fans should write their own walkthroughs, I'm not sure if that opinion is coming from the right perspective or if I'm just lazy (it IS a lot of writing). If a player gets stuck on a puzzle I made that's difficult but fair, I might lose them without a walkthrough. It's really easy to throw away a free game since you don't have any money invested in it.

That's what's been milling around in my skull, anyway.

This sums up exactly what I would have said. :)

Only a developer knows the 100% ins and outs of the game, and posting the walkthrough gives the completionists out there a chance get everything. It's even kind of fun to make the walkthrough at times.

Because the walkthrough for my game isn't complete, I too feel that sometimes some players get to the point where the walkthrough stops, and then if they get stuck they just are more likely to quit.

I've seen so many good ideas in this thread! I can tell there are some really creative people on this forum with their suggestions.

My project was pretty old school and I took that approach for towns to a degree. I've always considered the town you can explore is just a portion of the city. Unless your game is focused heavily in towns, I don't think the town should reflect the entire town.

Personally, when I designed a town for my project, I thought of a theme first. "What is this city about?". Once I knew, then I went ahead and starting mapping it. I pretty much did the following when I started mapping:

• Based on the place, decided what scenery was important and designed a general layout with roads.etc.

• Decided the special locations of the town. Where the inn/weapon&armor/item/monster accessory/pubs.etc were

• Placed a few more houses without a special purpose.

• Tried to give NPCs a personality in the town. Backstory about the area from informational NPCs is important too.

I think one of the best examples of incorporating NPCs was in my Cardial Region. Essentially when you get there, there is nothing wrong. Half an hour in, the region floods and the people are transported to a nearby tower by a mystic dancer. Without going into detail of all the villagers, I'll explain one of my favorites.

When you arrive: The couple is having dinner in their home. Guy mentions he is tired of fish and the wife yells at him, essentially saying "you'll eat and like it!".
Bar Scene: Couple is watching the dancer perform. Man can't take his eyes off her. Woman nags him because she hasn't seem him get this excited for anything in a long time.
Flood: Couple is hiding in the tower. Man is talking about how his wife nags too much and the dancer is a good person. Wife tells him to shut up.
After Flood: Couple is back in their home. After starving in the tower so long, the man says fish sounds really good. Wife is glad to feel needed again.

All of the NPCs in the town have a story like that to them. Granted, are you going to have a flood/bar scene/tower/after flood... probably not. But you should have a story / mini-story for the town and after doing stuff in the town, events happen. Very few towns should be "Enter, find the shops and inn, leave".

Ultimately, I think it comes down to what type of game you want to make. Towns can be as big as you want to make them. I am of the belief that the smaller, the better, as long as the town as some personality. I don't think a town is supposed to be representative of the whole town.

Updated the "Official Walkthrough" to the conclusion of the Quevi Region. The remaining regions of the walkthrough will be completed when the final patch version comes out which is expected to be 1/31/14.

I've also fully completed the "Unknowns and Extras" FAQ. This guide covers all the missables in the game and even provides a relatively spoiler-free guide through the final content that is coming with the last patch. In the hero's section, final stats for level 60 have been added and skill changes are denoted in red.

Actually, even though I have 3 testers, more are welcome! PM me and I can send you the update. :)

1. A really long time! Somewhere in the 2-3 year range, but I really only worked on it when I wanted to. If I wasn't having fun making it, I didn't do it.

2. Dragon Warrior Monsters 2 the most and obviously 7 had some influence. :)

3. Not really. I used scripts from websites and I had a few custom made. I thought I was going to have a scripter who helped with making any scripts I needed, but he stopped helping after awhile (without really saying anything). My brother helped a small amount with graphics along with another user here, but most everything was me when I had spare time.