PUNK_KRICKET'S PROFILE

*subbed*
Gimme ALL of this

To say that I'm excited is a bit of understatement! Couldn't have come at a better time too ~

author=Giznads

author=Ashes of Emerald
OFFICIAL DEMO! WOOOOOOO!

author=Nightblade
Color me impressed; this looks pretty good. I'll play this.

author=Megollyen
Yesss! Downloading the demo RIGHT NOW!

Thanks fellas! I really appreciate the support and I hope the demo is enjoyable!

author=Punk_Kricket
Currently playing through the demo and made it past the second big baddie and some thoughts:

• Battle fields with pipe work in the mapping tend to obscure damage dealt to the party - while not a huge problem for mob encounters, the obstruction is noticeable.

• Maybe I missed how but is there a way to get my characters energy back up in longer fights? There likely is and I missed it, though it hasn't been an issue.

• The text box can be hard to read depending on what map you're on - the first few maps had me squinting because it was white text against lighter background outdoors, meanwhile in caves and buildings it wasn't an issue.

I'm going to outright praise this demo for it's art, detail in mapping, and the UI and sprite work. Seeing how upgrading and crafting are going to be a bigger part of the game moving forward, definitely excites me to know the power-creep for the characters is going to be more of a natural drip vs it being a grind-fest. Crazy good work, thoroughly impressed!

• Yeah, the piping overlays, that's something I kind of second guessed myself about before releasing the demo, but I wanted to get something out!

• Yes! In the first battle, (the tutorial fight) that... very long drawn out explanation of battle, it does refer to how to build each character's fortitude gauge. You can also refer back to every tutorial learned in-game in the logbook menu. (logbook>tutorial) One good way to build both Estes's and Nikolai's fortitude (especially in boss battles) is to use the "Provoke" skill with Nikolai as he has more defense and builds fort when being attacked and loses fort when acting, and have Estes hammer away at enemies as he builds fort performing commands and loses fort when being attacked. I think the real problem is asking players to go through such a drawn out tutorial for their first fight. This is something I should look into.

• Hmm, first time I've actually gotten this one. I could probably simply tweak the transparency a little to fix.

I've jotted all of this down and will implement fixes accordingly!
Thank you so much for your kind words valuable feedback, I very much appreciate you taking the time to point these things out!

It was definitely my pleasure! The text box is really more my eyesight being the problem and not so much the game being at fault, so I'd consider that one a subjective point at best.

And I thought I noticed Nikolai losing fortitude when he acted! I thought I was imagining it but now that I know, another playthrough is going to be easier.

After finishing the optional quest in the demo, I'm definitely appreciative of how you've built this so far! Tutorials are straight, to the point, and having the ability to go back is handy (despite me not realizing the fortitude building with Nikolai - that was an oversight on my behalf and I'll admit that lol)

Too, if other side quests are like the one in the demo, I'm excited to see the backstory and lore play out through them.

author=Kaempfer

author=Punk_Kricket
I have to say - after a full play-through of this, I want to say that this is a well paced game for repeat runs.

I'm very glad to hear this! I wanted to give lots of options to players, more than they could see in one playthrough, so I'm glad you find it worthwhile to play through again.

author=Punk_Kricket
There's a section in a cave sometime before or after the pirates where you can bypass the cliffs and walk on the sand, and the game begins to lag cuz of it

I'll try to track this down and fix it- if you discover exactly the spot, let me know. The lag could be a result of the caterpillar system freaking out but I'm not sure about that.

author=Punk_Kricket
Also during Khalid's opening, sometimes his name will change to that of the old soldier guys. No clue why.

I've run into this bug, too, but I can't figure out what's causing the name to change. I swear, I have all the names set correctly, but it still occurs sometimes near the start. It happened to me once (just once) in all my Leonov test runs. It'll remain a mystery, for now.

author=Punk_Kricket
Once I've run through it and see what each character has to offer, I'll be coming back for a full review

I'm looking forward to it!

author=Punk_Kricket
I'm stoked to see what the second verse and onward will be like.

That'll be awhile, but I do intend to come back to this at some point in the future! Just don't ask me when.

No worries <3 I'm just enjoying what you've made and am super patient for more ^_^

I decided to go against my weird habit of not downloading demos to check out what you have here and I'm glad I went against my stance.

For this to be 2k3, I'm impressed with what's been done so far - combat is snappy, quick, responsive, and as LordBlueRouge pointed out - you have to pay attention in harder fights. I respect the choice to make your experience gains limited to a handful of encounters and for abilities to provide stat bonuses. It's impressive how effectively the skills work in this, and how thoughtful you have to be with using your own abilities.

Another point I always go on about is mapping - it's simple, well done, but it effectively portrays a sense of measured hopelessness: ruins, small signs of life, lore tucked away in minute snippets between item pick ups and story telling. It's rather impressive.

I can't wait to see more of where this goes~