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Red_Nova
Sir Redd of Novus: He who made Prayer of the Faithless that one time, and that was pretty dang rad! :D
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Prayer of the Faithless
On the brink of the apocalypse, two friends struggle to find what is worth saving

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WANTED: Story Reviewer

The following is just my stream of consciousness:

- You don't need to compress it twice. The file size did not change.


Typos and grammar errors:

* Note: there are WAY too many of these that I had to stop after I got to the mansion.
I'm here to critique the story, but the grammar is just so bad. I can't take too much time pointing out all the grammar mistakes, so I just stopped that after I warped to the mansion. Just know that the grammar is so bad that it detracts from the overall experience.


Under the MustReadMe File:
- Use something other than WORSER at the end of the plot summary.

- These Days and Modern Days are redundant. Pick one or the other.
- Yuuki's checklist. Each item should be captialized.
- Mirror tutorial. Mirror should be plural.
- The select sound seems a little... too epic for just selecting.
- Selecting Yuuki's Dresser. Underwears does not need the s at the end.
- Looks like an Ice. Does not need an.
- Bookshelf is full of Novel. Novel needs an s.
- Set of bathing utensils. Set doesn't need to be capitalized.
- shelf contains a lot of traditional medicine. Medicine needs an S
- Stack of magazines on the floor. Stack doesn't need to be captialized.
- Fireplace is a singlular noun. Yuuki doesn't need to say I'm glad my parents bought THEM.
- Taiga says Did you see any white cat. Any should be A.
- Yuuki's response. White doesn't need to be capitalized.
- Taiga first line of dialogue is incorrect. Change slept to sleep.
- Phone on it's mouth should be in.
- Yuuki's intro for Nana. Play should be past tense.
- Yuuki when at neighbours front door. Take out the A.
- Yuuki when at the back alley, "Now were did that cat went to?" Don't use Went.
- Yuuki examaning the well. Well doesn't need to be capitalized.

After warping to the mansion:
- Mansion doesn't need to be capitalized.
- When trying to leave: That whole sentence needs to be rewritten.
- Is Yuurei a noun? If so, then it should be capitalized.


Story Critique:


- Yuuki should have some comment about not going into her older brother's room.
- Yuuki should give a little response when mother asks how she is doing in the kitchen.
- Why was there a choice to help Taiga search if there is only one option?
- Any particular reason why Yuuki didn't ask Nana to search for the cat as well?
I'm guessing it's because she wanted to be exclusively helping out Taiga.
- Why was the north road blocked off? If it's because you're not supposed to walk
into oncoming traffic, why could you do it on the horizontal road at the bottom?
- Mr. Yamamoto's intro was strange. He's Yakuza, but he's not a bad guy?
I'm gonna need more than that. Give an example as to why he's not a bad guy.
- You didn't need to take the cat along? Then Taiga should mention something like that.
- You introduce all these characters and then don't establish their personalities very well. Sure, Yuuki gives short descriptions of them, but it would be better presented if the characters themselves have dialogue instead of Yuuki. Let the player hear what they have to say, not Yuuki.

After warping to mansion:

- Yuuki seems to be taking the whole getting shifted to another dimension thing
pretty well. Shouldn't she be a little more panicked that she suddenly is cut off
from her family and friends?

- Yeah, she's taking this WAY too well. She just arrived in a mansion, possibly from another world, and her primary concern is being late for the party? Sorry, that's just not natural. Instead of the party, she should be worried more about trying to contact her friends or family. She has a phone. She should at least TRY to use it.

- If the previous owner of the mansion rebuilt it ALL BY HIMSELF, that seems like
a pretty noteworthy deed and should have some text somewhere acknowledging that.

- Mansion was completely destroyed by the foreigner. What foreigner? There were
a lot of foreigners during WW2. Please be more specific.

- If Yuuki reacts to skeletons, she should probably react to massive bloodstains
on the wall. Like in the dark room. Especially so since bloodstains become traps later.

- You should consider removing the instructions on avoiding traps. There was
already a book with this exact explanation in the previous room, and
there was already am instance where you would get hit by one and killed.
We get it, there's no need to force it down our throats.

- I have no idea what was said on the diary before the chase. There was no need for text to auto run.

- I think I found Yuuki's name on one of the shoe boxes. Shouldn't she have some kind of reaction to that?




Other major issues I found:

- The trash can dissapears when you inspect it from the sides.
- The sound effects and choices are too epic. Try something smaller.
- Taiga's phone has a 1 on it in the name.
- That first chase. It was too much. I know it's supposed to be intense
and scary, but it was frustrating instead. Especially that first room.
You move ONE TILE too far and you're caught. I had to stop for now because
I've got to go to work. I'll come back tonight and keep going.


Overall (From what I've played so far):

Okay, I'm not gonna mince words here: While the story is interesting, the presentation is bad. The biggest offender is Yuuki herself. You have some really good ideas but you need to work on how you show them to the player. Hopefully, my suggestions will give you a good start.

The biggest offender here is the grammar. If English is not your first language, then this comment will make me look like an ass, but it has to be said: I understand that typos are a common thing. Hell, my own game has typos that I still catch frequently. But a wrong word in the wrong place will give the player a REALLY wrong message. For example, when I read a book about the mansion being burned down by THE foreigner, I thought a specific foreigner was mentioned earlier. So I looked, but couldn't find anything.

Now, keep in mind that, while I sound harsh here, all I was doing was talking about the story, as you asked. I really enjoyed what you have so far. I'm subbed, and will keep watching this project.

WANTED: Story Reviewer

I remember looking at this before and not downloading it. This issue has been fixed.

I'll critique the story here, if you'd like.

DEMO'S BETA VERSION CAN NOW BE DOWNLOADED!

Yay! I can't wait. I'll post my thoughts here when I'm done.
EDIT: Wow. A 260 MB Download. Did you include RTP when you compressed game files? You don't have to do that, you know. It's much easier to not include all RTP so we can download it faster. For those without the RTP, it's rather easy to download that separately.

Immunity.png

New mechanic, new dungeon, more length. Fun fun fun!

Thanks. I'll make sure the wait is worth it!

Redone Demo Progressing Smoothly

It's the little things about this map that I just love. It would've been so simple to just make those red tiles on the ground the same design, or the same tree tiles in different places. But no, you put a lot of extra details that really make this stand out.

New mechanic, new dungeon, more length. Fun fun fun!

That's what I'm aiming for. To me, the Childhood Arc was more of a test run in terms of gameplay. Now that I got the kinks worked out, I'm gonna to come in gun blazing for the Adult Arc!

My mind is whirling

author=Marrend
First off, I don't like the speed at which these skills evolve. It seems a bit too fast for the game's own good. This is fairly easily alterable, so I'll wait to see what kind of feedback (if any) I get on that when I make a new demo release. I'm also REALLY unsure about Okiku having Leak (an MP attack that drains MP over time), and it's evolutions. It doesn't seem terribly useful for anything outside boss fights. I suppose I could replace it with Ray, but it seems to me that players would only use Ray, First Aid, and Concentration, maybe the debuff (Apprehension) for bosses, and not mess with the techniques because, well, Okiku's STR is crap.



How long was this game planning to be? If it's a short game, like 3-4 hours, then I think the evolution progress is just fine.
And I think Leak is pointless as long as you still have Concentration. However, if enemies have skills that use MP, then Leak becomes VERY useful.


author=Marrend
I dunno. I've been surprised by reading posts about people using status abilities in other games I've made. Games where they exist, but I never used them in my own playtestings (duh-urrrrrrp?).



It's the Pokemon syndrome. Why would you ever use status-inflicting moves when you can just do damage and kill enemies sooner? Whether or not you want them here is up to you, though.

Can a turn-based RPG be scary?

Good tips. Thanks.

I'd say more, but I am completely hypnotized by your avatar.

Can a turn-based RPG be scary?

Ooh, I haven't heard of those games. Stupid me decided to go for a Gamecube instead of a Playstation when I was a kid. Well, now I know what I'm going to get as soon as a little extra money comes my way! Thanks for making me aware of those!