SPERMIDINE'S PROFILE

Yeah, the 4th wall breaks, too, but especially the mentions of other real life stuff. Off the top of my head, I remember the first NPC inside the Magitek Gardens talking about some game (?) I've never heard of. And I believe the "seer" in Aetheria also says some things that would only make sense in our universe. I also didn't like elements like ThiefMaster, since he really affects a player's grand protagonist illusion. Maybe all this isn't representative, but at least it means I didn't make it up. :D

I'm so sick and tired of it at this point. I finally decided to complete this stupid game - only to encounter another game-breaking bug after five minutes. During the cutscene that plays when approaching Babylon Tower (in Zenith's pocket dimension), the game can't load audio/bgm/Love%20in%20the%20Air.ogg and the cutscene ends with a black screen (Teleport doesn't help here). These are the exact same issues that already plagued the (nearly) same cutscene in Ozma Keep, so it's beyond me why you couldn't think of fixing the cutscene version that's actually needed to advance the plot.

Well, I'm not in the mood for another boring 100+ floors dungeon like Babylon Tower anyway, so I cut my losses at this point and abandon my playthrough.

By the way, I don't think this game contributes anything positive to LGBT themes, since the only openly homosexual party member (Jeht) isn't anything more than a travesty, reduced to his one trait: horniness. On the contrary, this portrayal cements the prejudice of homosexual men being sexually debaucherous.

Here are my bug notes and complaints to show you how unpolished the game still is in its current state. That's far from everything - only what I bothered to write down:

- There are many inconsistencies when it comes to terms/names/descriptions:
-- All location names in the menu (bottom left corner) are "unknown".
-- Skill-related target confusion: "Heal" is a single-target skill instead of a multi-target skill; "Valflame" is a single-target skill instead of a multi-target skill.
-- Cut off text in skill descriptions etc., e.g. "Restore II"
-- Wrongly used symbols in battle, e.g. "Faith" (raised magic attack) is displayed with the "Sleep" symbol, "Shell" (raised magic defense) with the "Paralyzed" symbol.
-- Information in the bestiary isn't always reliable, e.g. Death Wyrm is supposed to drop Kairos Tear at a 100% rate, which it doesn't (and yes, this happened without stealing Kairos Tear during battle).
-- The "Monk Asterisk" grants access not to the Monk class, but to the Brawler class.
-- When asking Flora about the monster locations (selection screen): "Mandicore" should be "Chimera", "Red Drake" should be "Fire Draken". Also, "Sky Raider" is called "Sky Diver" in the initial listing.
-- Evergreen Pass: In the dialogue panel during which ThiefMaster26 steals the Ars Solaris, he's mistakenly called ThiefMaster25.
-- In the Ferngulf Senate cutscene, has Mallory two completely different sprites and face graphics during the first and second part? Also, one dialogue panel of Senator Logi ("Humph. Suit yourself.") shows Mallory's face graphic.
-- Only the second party member's HP are displayed as xxxx/xxxx instead of xxxx.
-- The fourth party member's HP bar isn't red.

- Some status conditions might not work as intended:
-- "Blind" probably doesn't work (a blinded party member never missed an attack during my playthrough).
-- It seems paralyzed units are (sometimes) still able to act (might or might not be intentional).
-- Petite Ribbon (and I suppose the other Ribbons, too) doesn't seem to protect (completely) against Instant Death (at least not against the Death spell used by Mimics).

- Duplicated NPCs:
-- After completing Ari Cavern, during the cutscene in Koros' house: Koros' mum roams the house as usual, despite also staying in Koros' room during this cutscene (which means there are two of her).
-- After the beginning of chapter 2, when returning to Ari Village: There are two of officer Karl (the one saying "Don’t die on me, okay?" shouldn't be there anymore).

- Obstruction mapping: The player can walk through many objects in Ozma Keep and Castle Naughtmare.

- Spelling and grammar mistakes are too numerous to count.

- Certain items (Evidence #1, #2 and #3, Secret Evidence and Proof of the Duplicate) shouldn't be usable during battle (and yes, using them during battle means they're lost forever, which should be game-breaking before completing the first Aetheria visit).

- It seems "Warp" can't be used at all inside dungeons.

- It seems switched-in party members have the same HP bar (on the party member) shown (when selecting commands) as the switched-out party members. Also, when swapping party members, the general HP and MP bars disappear.

- There isn't any visual indication for floor tile damage (swamp/poison, lava).

- Some of the items sold by the rare items merchant in Banna are blank (haven't been implemented yet).

- Zerithia, wishing well: It probably shouldn't be possible to choose the options "Forbidden Magick" and "Great Prosperity" once again.

- Zerithia: No updated dialogue for Greeting Imp after Zenith has joined the party.

- After Zenith has joined the party (which makes three party members): The battle screen shows another bar below Zenith's (or the third party member's) HP and AP bars, colored like an AP bar and depicting the same value as Zenith's HP. This bar is still faulty after the fourth party member has joined.

- When defeating Bunnit, Stacy also automatically learns the Basan summon. Maybe she even knows the Basan summon from the start (I didn't pay enough attention to discern the exact trigger). Consequently, defeating Basan doesn't unlock a new summon to be learned.

- Magitec Gardens, mimic room: Two mimics are actually werewolves (bottom right corner; right edge, four tiles away from the northern edge).

- Magitec Gardens: The guards don't react to changes in their environments (disabling the laser barrier; opening the treasure chest containing evidence and/or killing all Mimics).

- Magitec Gardens: If the player triggers the golden trap chest by talking to Gary, after the following the events, the golden trap chest can be opened again (this time directly), which shouldn't be possible.

- Mt. Gaea: Is there any use for the Pumice Stones?

- West Graape: That one NPC outside talks about West Graape, but means East Graape instead.

- West Graape, after delivering the Fire Shard to Amon: During the cutscene outside, the camera isn't centered, but shows the left side instead, with the party members barely visible on the right edge.

- West Graape: The cutscene after delivering the Fire Shard to Amon can be repeated by talking to Amon again.

- West Graape: Defeating Gigazos didn't net me a Nightmare Bat, even though this issue should have been fixed already.

- After having obtained the Ars Solaris: If the player doesn't walk south from West Graape to trigger the cutscene, but instead uses Teleport to skip the cutscene and visit the Ferngulf Senate, Koros still states he doesn't possess the Ars Solaris when talking with the guards blocking the passage to the east. Generally speaking, there are lot of situations during which Teleport should be disabled.

- After the battle at the Ferngulf Senate, I had to readjust Koros completely (class, equipment, skills). He even lost a level (I was already at level 99, so down to level 98), and his "current EXP" was adjusted (i.e. significantly reduced in my case). Also, Koros alone can now use the Archsage class (but can't learn/use any skills).

- When playing the Diner's Roulette at Ozma Keep, the player can't interact with the cake (one of the wrong choices) at the bottom.

- Ozma Keep, Garden of Tranquility during Koros' scenario: There's a second sprite of Koros lying on the bed.

- Ozma Keep, Garden of Tranquility: After completing a scenario, the sprite of the one whose scenario was chosen can still be seen lying on the bed.

- Ozma Keep, Garden of Tranquility: In Stacy's scenario, Sensayu has a different face graphic during battle (I think the one of Senator Nagi).

- Ozma Keep, Garden of Azure and Vermillion: An incorrect "You've chosen neither side" dialogue panel appears even when choosing one of the switches if the player takes too much time to click through the dialogue.

- Ozma Keep, prison: The prisoner in cell 1 doesn't disappear upon defeat, and the stone tablet's text doesn't change.

- Ozma Keep, prison: Cell 4 is mistakenly labeled as cell 3. Also, the prisoner's sprite here turns invisible if the player defeats the other prisoners first.

- Ozma Keep: After giving the old man his cane and receiving the White Necklace, when talking to the old man again, he still thinks his cane is missing.

- Ozma Keep: While only 6 Small Keys are required to reach the boss, 7 Small Keys can actually be earned in this dungeon (might or might not be intentional).

- Ozma Keep: Before confronting the boss, the "This is our final battle" scene can be triggered three times in total (the triggers on the other two tiles don't disappear after triggering the scene once).

- Banna (and probably elsewhere, too): When Koros has temporarily left the party, NPC dialogue still contains lines for Koros.

- Paar: The accessory shop contains two Dubious Incenses.

- Paar: Teleport shouldn't be usable after entering Jeht's house, but before completing the task here.

- Castle Naughtmare, southeastern (file 2) and northwestern (file 4) rooms, second floor: Walking into the invisible barrier spawns the player not at the beginning, but at the end of the floor.

- Castle Naughtmare: The contents of file 5 are also included in file 4 (at the end).

- Uran: The accessory shop contains two Grand Ribbons.

- Aetheria: After completing the "transformation scenario", the castle's back room can't be entered anymore (door stuck in "scenario mode").

- Frozen Crypt: The Death skill (no. 521) from the Lich can't be acquired (doesn't appear in the skill list despite learning it).

- Frozen Crypt: Is it intended that Blind Dragons only use normal attacks?

- Frozen Crypt/Skull Cavern: Most of the stairs can only be taken by pressing Enter while standing on them (might be intentional to avoid an unintentional/premature descent, since the previous floor can't be revisited immediately and the floors are semi-randomly generated anyway upon each visit).

- Skull Cavern, hot spring: The player can get stuck in the upper water fountains by trying to circumvent the "trap pool" (which doesn't even seem to be a trap).

- Mapple, the closing appearance/dialogue of the (female) relic vendor is the same as the one of the (male) weapon/armor vendors.

- It's extremely annoying that the player gets tossed out of the menu every time he uses a consumable item or a restorative skill (especially when trying to max stats). Equally annoying is that status news during battle is obscured by the turn order.

- The Mystery Rooms in Banna Woods and Magitec Gardens aren't explained properly. I had no clue in Banna Woods that there was a (hidden) time limit and that - once time ran out - there was a powerful foe to fight.

That's it. It's a shame, really. This game could have been (and could still be) decent if more care had gone (and would go) into its creation.

That treasure chest contains a Small Key. You'll need 6 Small Keys in order to reach the end of the dungeon, but there are altogether 7 Small Keys to find inside the dungeon. Meaning: If you find all other Small Keys inside the dungeon, you can ignore the one that you can't reach at the moment.