UPRC'S PROFILE

Yes, just advert, but I really want to have a demo ready later this month or sometime in August. DEFINITELY before September.

So why am I making this topic? Well, it is probably blindingly obvious that I started working on Reminisce quite a bit again two weeks ago. Since working on it, I have made over 100 new maps, introduced a new character, two new regions, and added at least an hour of play time, bringing Reminisce to (I hope) about 3 hours in total.

What I want to do is just show off some of the new things and what is going on story-wise.


First off is where the old demo left off, at the end of the Jomalle Cave, which leads into the Highvalley Region. The Highvalley Region is home to the Highvalley Monastery which up to where the demo ended, was the location the game basically revolved around due to Eleina's inevitable arrival at the monastery.
The demo ended with Duran and Eleina, again, fighting Omicron and Sigma. I received several questions and complaints about these two in the past. Who are they? Who do they work for? What are their objectives? Why the HELL do they talk so damn weird?! Most of those questions will be answered because, of course, they'll make another appearance when the player technically "beats" the Highvalley region. As I said, previous questions will be answered, but new questions will be asked thanks to.. the progression of the main story!

That's right. The storyline in the previous demo was barely even there - at all. All the player knew was that somehow Omicron and Sigma play a factor (due to Arden's flashback). In the new demo, players will learn of the main threat in the game (an evil empire, of course) which will be made up of a few different organizations as well as the necessary "every RPG must have them" military assholes who will stand in your way.

But enough about what's coming in the story.. I just wanted to stress that Reminisce will not revolve around "small town chores" carried out by Duran.

So what's coming up... First off, anyone who never found the town of Lakeside in the Jomalle Region will probably want to.

Lakeside is an abandoned town which you are able to build up by finding people willing to move in (hmmmmm Breath of Fire?). In the old demo, I think all I had for the player to find was a guard and an item vendor. In the new demo, there will be a priest (very minor guy) and... this guy.



Oalston the explorer, named after a character from my previous game, Blackmoon Prophecy. In fact, Reminisce now has a Hans in it as well, but I won't show him in this topic because he's spoilerific.

So, what does Oalston do? He moves into Lakeside and opens up an underground bestiary. In this bestiary, there will be numerous floors. Each floor contains monsters from specific regions and also has music from the corresponding regions. Example..
B1 (first floor) will have monsters from the first region, Vila. Vila's music will also play.
B2 will have monsters from the Jomalle region and will also have its music.

But no, you don't fight the monsters on the floors. Instead, when you talk to one, you will see...



A magnified image of the monster's battle image, as well as its name, classification, and where it can be found.

Press enter and you can either check its stats and weaknesses/strengths or battle rewards (exp, gold, item drop).



There will be a floor for every region in the game. Now, it will probably get pretty deep and after reaching your desired floor, you may dread the walk to get back outside.. so I will probably include red ooze-pahs which will warp you back to the first floor.
For people who are new to Reminisce, ooze-pahs are little smiling, jiggly slimes you will encounter throughout the game.
Blue Ooze-pah: These cheerful guys will offer to save your game. They are notably concerned about your safety, because if you opt not to save they will express their worry for your safety.
Red Ooze-pah: Insanely hyper blobs which will warp you around the world. Most red ooze-pahs will only warp you to one location, but there is one which you can send to Lakeside which will warp you to any major town you have been to.
Black Ooze-pah: These are stubborn ooze-pahs which live in the wild and will usually block your way unless you give them something or run an errand for them. They are very picky.

Now, new regions..

First off, there is the Highvalley Region which is made up of about.. 50 maps or so. I've received some criticism for the way I mapped it, and I have to say... sorry, but it's not changing.

So what have I been criticized for?



Look at the tree canopy along the sides of the map. Notice how I am not using the trees to accompany it. There are roughly fifty maps which feature this style of mapping, and I grew to appreciate it after a bit. To go back through the maps and resize them, add the trees, and still make sure the maps retained their original look while ALSO ensuring that monster spawn points wouldn't get messed up... it would take far too long. We're talking hours.

More of the Highvalley Region..





There is a picture of two ooze-pahs as well. Note their happiness. They are always a welcome sight! :)

The next region is the Daguero Hills region. It is a rainy pine forest full of shrubs, rocks, and other little things. It is probably the most diverse looking zone thus far.





The Daguero Hills will be nearly as large as the Highvalley Region, but will feature many more sidequests and an optional dungeon (a bog).

The next demo will also introduce a new character by the name of Rasche.





Rasche hails from Hillsdale (a town in the Highvalley Region). He is a brute who excels at combat and carries a halberd. He has no real magic skills except stat boosting spells. His attacks, except for his starting one, are all elemental based which means Rasche will be valuable in many situations given the fact that he will have a fire attack, ice attack, and thunder attack. He will easily be able to exploit the weaknesses of many monsters.



Also.. The player will eventually reach the Highvalley Monastery where Duran and Eleina part ways. There is a goodbye sequence which I hope will feel sort of authentic. If not, tell me and I'll work on it.

After this, Duran returns home and gets to return to two old locations in Vila.. First, he will have to search for his mother on an unexplored area of Mt. Vila, complete with new monsters. Afterwards, Duran will have to venture to the previously meaningless location of Sorrow Hill, which fully opens up and reveals itself to be three or four times larger than before. From there, Duran will return to the Highvalley region where he will finish a bit of work in Hillsdale and the monastery, and then he departs for Daguero Hills where he will run into new foes, new monsters, new sidequests, and new optional places to visit.



Duran, Eleina, and Rasche will learn new skills (Duran will get all five of his LV1 attacks, one of which can be upgraded in the next demo) and plenty of new pieces of equipment will appear. In fact, the game will start to look more strategic as most pieces of equipment will raise one stat, but will also lower another at the same time. Need attack power? Equip an item which boosts attack but lowers agility. Having trouble with those speedy monsters which get two attacks in before you get one? Equip an item which increases agility but lowers intelligence and beat them into oblivion.

The difficulty will also increase substantially. My bosses will continue to be overly difficult unless you do some powerleveling. Bosses at the end of the demo will come close to pushing 200 hit points. The last bosses in the old demo only peaked at about.. 30 hit points or so, which indicates how steep the stats evolve in the new demo.

Characters
Duran Wolfbane
The main character from the village of Vila. His father, Arden Wolfbane is the most famous person from Vila due to his extraordinary blacksmithing skills. Duran is being trained by his father to replace him one day, but Duran does not really want to be a blacksmith, he would rather travel to a large city. He is romantically involved with Eleina Waeyn, a local girl.

Eleina Waeyn
From the village of Vila, she is romantically involved with Duran. Recently, the Church offered to train her as a priestess - something that nobody from the small town of Vila ever managed. Unfortunately, if she were to accept, she would have to leave Vila. Because of this, she does not know if she wants to truly leave Vila, where her family and boyfriend are.

Rasche Skygrave
Rasche, considerably older than Duran, is the son of Elder Mirn in Hillsdale. Rasche decides to assist Duran several times when trouble leads him to the Highvalley region. Duran is well aware that Rasche hides something, as he mentions "him" several times throughout their time together. Rasche is exceptionally strong and relies on only a halberd to do his work.

Arden Wolfbane
Arden Wolfbane, father of Duran, has always been an exceptional blacksmith. Ever since he was just a child, Arden has been able to forge weapons that rivaled the competition's. Even though he is a successful businessman, he has chosen to remain in the small village of Vila where he has enjoyed a peaceful life.

Rin the Hermit
An old man who raised Arden Wolfbane and taught him how to become the blacksmith he is today. After Arden surpassed Rin, he decided to retire to his old shack in the woods where he enjoys a quiet, peaceful life.

Omicromn & Sigma
Mysterious dark knights who show up at random times in Duran's adventure. Their motives are not clear, and their characters are very strange - they do not talk like ordinary people. In fact, their speech is so strange that they almost make no sense or repeat themselves.

Vice Grayson
Leader of the Imperial Army of Archaron. Vice is often seen as a tough, cold-hearted warrior, the "bad seed" of the Empire. In the past, he has been accused of torturing criminals of war. Vice fell into his current position when Emperor Edgar Belmont's brother, who was the previous man in charge of the military, vanished.

High Priestess Alynda
Alynda (last name coming eventually) is in charge of Highvalley Monastery and takes all new students directly under her wing. She is incredibly gifted and is one of the most skilled magic users in the land.

Hikash
A mysterious man who kills for incomprehensible reasons. His motives for doing so are impossible to understand.


Here are some other screenshots which serve no purpose other than to show off other stupid aspects of the game.















So.. demo later this month or at a random time in August. We'll see.