RED_NOVA'S PROFILE

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!

I'd love to play this. But my anti-virus software is calling this download bad.
Can we get a mirror download posted on this site?

author=Marrend

That error message... which map did you get that on?

In the Mountain pass near the entrances to the mines.

author=Marrend

Yeah, ABOUT that...

Igonring resistances and strengths for a moment, would that not nessessatate that those spells would also evolve?

I must admit, I'm not too keen on coding that.

If you don't want to use Elemental Spells, try spells with a more diverse effects, like stopping enemies from attacking, or inflicting status ailments. You have 6 Spells, Star Burst, Concentrate, and 4 other spells that aren't Star Burst and Concentrate. Okiku would feel a lot more diverse if she had more spells with different effects.

author=Marrend

Er, I mean, either I'm bad at designing items, or, my initial theory about the game not needing them was correct.

I'm gonna go with the latter.

Such detailed feedback. Thanks so much!

author=urano23
- I think there's no need to say it but I will say it eitherway. The mapping is plain and boring. It lacks details, it's very simple, it feels empty, some parts are repetitive and, since it's RTP, we have seen this many times. I have nothing against RTP if it's well implemented but this game simply doesn't.
However you at least use diferent lighting effects, many games that fail in the visual aspect don't play too much with that. It's something.

I knew this was coming. I have all the aesthetic sense of a monkey, and for a game that could benefit with good map design, that is bad. But I've been working hard on that for the Adult Arc, so hopefully there will be better maps.

author=urano23
- Hidden items are cool when you can guess there might be something or at least you are curious to see what's in a certain place. But when items are hidden and there's nothing that shows you that there's something there it's bad. I'm not talking about the special weapons or armours I'm talking about the items. The rocks and most of the candy is impossible to find unless you interact with every single tile in the screen. Candy is easier to find I guess but rocks are a pain in the ass. They could be anywhere. There should be at least a tiny little light to show that there's something there. I can't guess otherwise. Infact, if I hadn't read in one of your advices about the existance of the rock item I wouldn't even had realised that there was an item called rock. Maybe I don't pay attention I don't know.

Items were supposed to be hard to find. I tried to make certain tiles stand out. That was sorta the purpose of barebones maps, so you would be drawn to irregularities and find items. I wanted to avoid lights because I wanted the player to feel proud that they found something, rather than paint a big sign that said, "LOOK HERE!" Though I guess I overdid it, huh?

author=urano23
- The combat, oh boy. I get that the point was to make us feel weak and useless like children. That's okay. I think this will improve a lot in the adulthood arc. Otherwise the game will fail hard on this.

Yes. It most certainly will get easier in the Adult Arc. Not less challenging, but the characters will all be able to do more than just guard.

author=urano23
-- While rats are okay bats are completely overpowered. Rats hit by 5-10 points and bats from 15-25. And they heal for that amount too! And they have more hp than the rats. If you fight a bat without items you either die or you are lucky and almost die.

If Alex used his Drive that he acquired from his extra weapons, that should have prevented the bats from draining HP. But I probably should lessen the health on the bats.

author=urano23
-- Rocks and Candy are extremely useful and make Arya a great fighter, even better than the brother. The little problem is that you forgot to mention that we can equip those. I had no idea. It was a luck that I found out that. You should give us a tutorial or something.

On Casual mode, there was an explanation of equipping and how that worked. For Survivor mode, I wanted to have as little hand-holding as possible to the player, so that they don't feel like babies. But I guess there is a difference between hand-holding and not explaining how to actually play the game. Alright, that's something I'll fix.

author=urano23
-- Why does the basic attack consume mp? I know it's supposed to be stamina and the kids get tired but at least give more stamina. The fact that I kill 2 rats and I'm almost out of stamina it's ridiculous. Besides, the idea of limiting the amount of basic attacks(something that is known in RPGs because it's illimited) it's just plain bad. In my opinion at least. Attacking a few turns and forcing me to guard to recover stamina is boring and unnecessary.

Oh boy, I knew this was going to be a topic of (heated)discussion later, and I was dumb to not warn players ahead of time. I guess now's a good time to explain myself as any:

I wanted stamina to deplete because I wanted the player to learn to pace himself (Or herself). I wanted the player to learn that blowing all the kid's stamina to fight every battle was wasteful. I wanted to challenge conventional means of RPG playing and forcing the player to pick their battles, and run away more often than one would in other RPGs. I also wanted the SP cost to encourage the player to use more items, as that doesn't cost any stamina at all. Also, many enemies in the Adult Arc have special skills that require a turn to charge, so the player could use that charge time to put up their guard, to regain some stamina as well as reduce incoming damage. To emphasize my point, I should probably have some of those skills in the Childhood Arc.

Guarding was meant to be more of a strategical choice than a chore. I have some ideas on how to fix this, though.

author=urano23
-- I found a place where you could recover HP but lose stamina. That made me rage because I was almost full HP and cost me a lot of stamina. You could have warned me at least what was going to happen. I know Arya said "this water doesn't look tasty" or something like that but that doesn't warn me about the effects it will have in the gameplay.

I hope you didn't rage too hard. There was a spring after Arya got separated that fully heals her Stamina on Survivor, and all HP and SP on Casual.

author=urano23
I think I said everything I wanted to. Even though I complained a lot I really enjoyed the demo. The strong points of the game are the interesting and well developed story, the great dialogue and the music. The mapping and the combat needs to improve a lot. Especially the battle. The only reason I put up with it is because I wanted to know what was going to happen. You managed to make me care about what would happen to the kids.

I think the game will get even better in the adult arc. I will be supporting you. Good luck man ^^

Alright. I've got a good handle on what didn't work for the battle system. Considering how relatively old this demo is in internet terms, perhaps a patch for the Childhood Arc would do very little to help out those that have tried and gave up on the game. But I do want to fix these issues soon, so I'll probably patch it anyways. I'm glad you enjoyed it, man! And you're right, it will be so much better in the Adult Arc.

What would you think about a walkthrough. For those that are really troubled by this game, I would be glad to make a walkthrough for you all to highlight all the items and stuff that could be missed. Is that something you (and anyone else reading this) would like to have?
Thanks for playing!

author=urano23
I'm stuck after I beat the first boss. I don't know where to go. There's a room to the right that takes me to a room that has a save point and nothing else. There's a passage but when I enter Alex says: "That's where I came from. When we're done here, we can go back that way". So what do I do?

Go up. There's a big gap that you can walk through. It'll warn you that there's no turning back and ask if you're ready.

author=Marrend
I'd simply like to see Arya not die in her first fight. I was able to do this with Throw Stone Rocks, but it seemed oddly wrong to do that. Though, buying Candy from the merchant before getting to that dungeon was probably a lot more important than I thought!

I... probably should have saved that comment for when I was ready to post the rest of my feedback, huh?

No, it's not wrong to throw rocks. That's exactly what you are supposed to do with her.
Ayra wasn't meant to be an attacker. Keep defending with her to save up stamina to use her Superguard Drive. Don't have that? That means you didn't find the Plank equipment for her. There's one right after you fall down the cliff with Alex, and another right before you fall down alone in the Forbidden Ruins.