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The Heart Pumps Clay
aaaaa completist run was not a good idea aaaaaaaaaaaa
So I'm at the final boss and Bud's at 95 HP. I have no idea what to do. I tried turtling until I amassed an armory's worth of healing items and I still lost. Is the battle even possible at this point? Eeek.
I think the problem is the limited equipment slots. You said that Bud's deterioration was intended to be counterbalanced by empowering the other characters, but after you get 6 pieces of equipment that plateaus while Bud keeps getting weaker and weaker. I mean I currently have 8 pieces of equipment burning a hole in my inventory (and 3 tomes); that's 55 HP lost for nothing. I guess the idea is that you're supposed to take what you need, but without knowing what you're going to get in advance, it's impossible to make an informed decision on that front. The fact that some equipment is simply a better version of earlier equipment is also a problem, since it feels like a slap in the face if you got the earlier one. (If there were more slots stacking them might be interesting, but...) Czarina Must Die had a similar problem I believe.
Edit: Nevermind, I looked at the hints page and the strategy worked. I never considered using Mara as the tank, but that's obvious in hindsight. If you get enough stuff, she and Bud can switch roles, very clever. The ending was sad and great, good job. I loved how easy it was for the standard RPG hero party to fall apart. (I didn't realize that stealing the items actually altered their behavior, I thought it was just a one-off attack. That does make things much easier since you don't need to disable the healer every three turns...)
So I'm at the final boss and Bud's at 95 HP. I have no idea what to do. I tried turtling until I amassed an armory's worth of healing items and I still lost. Is the battle even possible at this point? Eeek.
I think the problem is the limited equipment slots. You said that Bud's deterioration was intended to be counterbalanced by empowering the other characters, but after you get 6 pieces of equipment that plateaus while Bud keeps getting weaker and weaker. I mean I currently have 8 pieces of equipment burning a hole in my inventory (and 3 tomes); that's 55 HP lost for nothing. I guess the idea is that you're supposed to take what you need, but without knowing what you're going to get in advance, it's impossible to make an informed decision on that front. The fact that some equipment is simply a better version of earlier equipment is also a problem, since it feels like a slap in the face if you got the earlier one. (If there were more slots stacking them might be interesting, but...) Czarina Must Die had a similar problem I believe.
Edit: Nevermind, I looked at the hints page and the strategy worked. I never considered using Mara as the tank, but that's obvious in hindsight. If you get enough stuff, she and Bud can switch roles, very clever. The ending was sad and great, good job. I loved how easy it was for the standard RPG hero party to fall apart. (I didn't realize that stealing the items actually altered their behavior, I thought it was just a one-off attack. That does make things much easier since you don't need to disable the healer every three turns...)
The Heart Pumps Clay
Also, a minor graphical glitch: ability animations (most notably Phosphorescence) display underneath Scrum's sprite.
And... is the lich skull from that mimic permanently missable if you don't get it in that battle? Aaaaggh. I hate random steal chances.
And... is the lich skull from that mimic permanently missable if you don't get it in that battle? Aaaaggh. I hate random steal chances.
The Heart Pumps Clay
Just started this, and I'm liking it so far. I'm going for a completist run, so I'll see how that goes! Haven't had too much trouble so far, but this is only the beginning after all. I'm sure by the final battle Bud will go down in one hit. :p
Battles are a bit repetitive, but fairly short. I think it'd be nice if you could start battles with an elemental shift already in place, since Mara's first turn almost always involves that anyway. Having the shifts take an entire turn does make things drag a little, especially in battles where elemental magic is the only way to damage enemies.
But yeah, this is nice. I'm liking the art style, music, and everything. It seems really polished, and characters look distinct, unlike in A Very Long Rope.
(Also, when the "Magnifico" enemy revives his puppets, they no longer have the "string" object so Crow can't instakill them. Intentional?)
Battles are a bit repetitive, but fairly short. I think it'd be nice if you could start battles with an elemental shift already in place, since Mara's first turn almost always involves that anyway. Having the shifts take an entire turn does make things drag a little, especially in battles where elemental magic is the only way to damage enemies.
But yeah, this is nice. I'm liking the art style, music, and everything. It seems really polished, and characters look distinct, unlike in A Very Long Rope.
(Also, when the "Magnifico" enemy revives his puppets, they no longer have the "string" object so Crow can't instakill them. Intentional?)
Painted Heart
Yeah, I do have to second the comment that enemies have too much HP (I also played on Advanced, if that matters). Battles do tend to drag a lot. It sort of works because endurance is the most difficult thing about the battle system, but endurance battles aren't actually that engaging. (It's also really easy to screw yourself over if you use too many items since they're so limited, especially the revival paint.)
The story was a bit simple as well, but for a short game I think it worked. I do agree that Corbin didn't have as much of an arc as you may have wanted him to have, though. It's more of a...triangle or something.
Re: game overs, why should Zophie & Angiel dying matter? If Corbin still has green paint, he can still revive them, so he should be fine. I mean I know why it has to be that way in gameplay terms (since Corbin can't attack), but it's still a bit weird, logistically. I guess you could say the enemies instantly gang up on him before he can react.
The story was a bit simple as well, but for a short game I think it worked. I do agree that Corbin didn't have as much of an arc as you may have wanted him to have, though. It's more of a...triangle or something.
Re: game overs, why should Zophie & Angiel dying matter? If Corbin still has green paint, he can still revive them, so he should be fine. I mean I know why it has to be that way in gameplay terms (since Corbin can't attack), but it's still a bit weird, logistically. I guess you could say the enemies instantly gang up on him before he can react.
The Heart Pumps Clay
However, after every battle, Bud will lose some of his max health
Oh, that sounds fascinating. I've heard the concept of an RPG where you lose power instead of gaining it after every battle, but I've yet to see it actually made manifest. Color me intrigued.
Painted Heart
Just finished! Here's my stream-of-consciousness thoughts while playing:
"Why are they even having me doing this?" is awkward phrasing.
I'm a bit annoyed to see this is yet another dad and son relationship. It's not a big deal in isolation, it's just that the media is utterly saturated with guys guys guys. It'd be nice to see a mother for once.
...Can Corbin actually die from this, or is the "they may as well be sacrificing me" bit just him being melodramatic?
"It is a thing of beauty, yet a nice boost of yearly income" doesn't parse very well. Maybe that "yet" should be an "and"?
The shadows are very nice. Not hard, blocky things like VX shadows normally are.
Ooh, female god!
The contrast between the blocky 8-bit real world and the vibrant, detailed painting world is clever, especially with Corbin pointing it out.
Corbin tripping looks very awkward since there's no in-between animation of him falling, but I guess you were pressed for time.
The fairies look like combee.
In the tutorial battle, Corbin's line "Mind over Spirit over Body over Mind" lacks punctuation.
The default talk (about the elements) is pretty long and annoying if you accidentally click it or run out of other dialogues. Maybe shorten some of the pauses, or have some signifier of if there's a unique chat or not?
I chose not to interfere with the hero/villager conflict, though I'm curious as to if it affects anything. I didn't get a Bad End or anything so I presume my choice was okay.
Why don't the elevators in the Castle of Wiesse Blume actually move?
So wait, does Camiau make it impossible to lose, or do you still get a game over if Zophie and Angiel die and you have no green paint left?
I don't find the other painting techniques very useful. They're very rarely worth having to waste turns with Focus.
I like the element system, it's different without being too complicated. Astral seems pretty overpowered though, unless it takes way more damage from its weakness than the others. Likewise, Phantasm seems really underpowered. If it was weak on defense but strong on offense, that could be a nice balance, but as-is it's basically just weak all-around. (Maybe if you gave Phantasm enemies Astral attacks...?) Using Sacred Oath is far riskier than Cosmic Void, since if there are any other enemies in the party at all they'll murder Zophie good, whereas Cosmic Void makes Angiel resistant to everything, only endangering himself if the enemy whips out a Phantasm attack (which is rare).
I think the battle system is a bit limited since you never get any new offense skills or combinations; I felt a few elements were far more difficult to deal with simply because there weren't good combinations for them. (Spirit enemies are really easy, for instance, since Deluge + Cosmic Void lets you hit two weaknesses and gives both fighters resistance to the next attack. There's nothing like that for Mind or Body enemies, and there's no double-Phantasm combo so you're at a disadvantage against Arcane enemies no matter what.) In addition, battles can feel a bit too random. The warriors tell Corbin to watch out for red casting circles, but those only appear when an enemy is already executing an attack. There's no way to tell in advance what an enemy is going to do, so the defense phase is pretty much a total crapshoot. (Angiel starting with magic nullification also seemed kind of weird to me, since magic attacks are the most powerful and thus the magic barrier is the most useful.)
I felt the message of "art is the bestest most important thing ever" was a tad bit self-congratulatory, but since it doesn't involve deriding everything else (like, say, Farenheit 451 does) I didn't mind.
I would have liked to see more female characters. Right now you just have the generic Strong Female Character who has practically no other traits. Why couldn't Corbin be a girl? Why couldn't the sane, intelligent character who has more than one personality trait be the woman? Why couldn't it be the mother, not the father, who features in the prologue? Why not a priestess instead of a priest, especially since they have a female goddess?
Overall this was nice, though. I liked the painterly style and the platforming format reminded me of Alter A.I.L.A. Genesis. The music was also good. Excellent job on the vocals, they gave the game a really choral, epic feel!
"Why are they even having me doing this?" is awkward phrasing.
I'm a bit annoyed to see this is yet another dad and son relationship. It's not a big deal in isolation, it's just that the media is utterly saturated with guys guys guys. It'd be nice to see a mother for once.
...Can Corbin actually die from this, or is the "they may as well be sacrificing me" bit just him being melodramatic?
"It is a thing of beauty, yet a nice boost of yearly income" doesn't parse very well. Maybe that "yet" should be an "and"?
The shadows are very nice. Not hard, blocky things like VX shadows normally are.
Ooh, female god!
The contrast between the blocky 8-bit real world and the vibrant, detailed painting world is clever, especially with Corbin pointing it out.
Corbin tripping looks very awkward since there's no in-between animation of him falling, but I guess you were pressed for time.
The fairies look like combee.
In the tutorial battle, Corbin's line "Mind over Spirit over Body over Mind" lacks punctuation.
The default talk (about the elements) is pretty long and annoying if you accidentally click it or run out of other dialogues. Maybe shorten some of the pauses, or have some signifier of if there's a unique chat or not?
I chose not to interfere with the hero/villager conflict, though I'm curious as to if it affects anything. I didn't get a Bad End or anything so I presume my choice was okay.
Why don't the elevators in the Castle of Wiesse Blume actually move?
So wait, does Camiau make it impossible to lose, or do you still get a game over if Zophie and Angiel die and you have no green paint left?
I don't find the other painting techniques very useful. They're very rarely worth having to waste turns with Focus.
I like the element system, it's different without being too complicated. Astral seems pretty overpowered though, unless it takes way more damage from its weakness than the others. Likewise, Phantasm seems really underpowered. If it was weak on defense but strong on offense, that could be a nice balance, but as-is it's basically just weak all-around. (Maybe if you gave Phantasm enemies Astral attacks...?) Using Sacred Oath is far riskier than Cosmic Void, since if there are any other enemies in the party at all they'll murder Zophie good, whereas Cosmic Void makes Angiel resistant to everything, only endangering himself if the enemy whips out a Phantasm attack (which is rare).
I think the battle system is a bit limited since you never get any new offense skills or combinations; I felt a few elements were far more difficult to deal with simply because there weren't good combinations for them. (Spirit enemies are really easy, for instance, since Deluge + Cosmic Void lets you hit two weaknesses and gives both fighters resistance to the next attack. There's nothing like that for Mind or Body enemies, and there's no double-Phantasm combo so you're at a disadvantage against Arcane enemies no matter what.) In addition, battles can feel a bit too random. The warriors tell Corbin to watch out for red casting circles, but those only appear when an enemy is already executing an attack. There's no way to tell in advance what an enemy is going to do, so the defense phase is pretty much a total crapshoot. (Angiel starting with magic nullification also seemed kind of weird to me, since magic attacks are the most powerful and thus the magic barrier is the most useful.)
I felt the message of "art is the bestest most important thing ever" was a tad bit self-congratulatory, but since it doesn't involve deriding everything else (like, say, Farenheit 451 does) I didn't mind.
I would have liked to see more female characters. Right now you just have the generic Strong Female Character who has practically no other traits. Why couldn't Corbin be a girl? Why couldn't the sane, intelligent character who has more than one personality trait be the woman? Why couldn't it be the mother, not the father, who features in the prologue? Why not a priestess instead of a priest, especially since they have a female goddess?
Overall this was nice, though. I liked the painterly style and the platforming format reminded me of Alter A.I.L.A. Genesis. The music was also good. Excellent job on the vocals, they gave the game a really choral, epic feel!
Finished by the skin of our teeth!
Oh wow, looks like I picked the exact right moment to subscribe! This looks very nice, glad to know it's almost done.
HOME (OFF fangame)
Hm, okay. And thanks for the library card hint, I had forgotten about that.
If nothing else though, you should really, really remove the ones during the card puzzle in the library. They are absolutely infuriating.
Zacharie's mask is NOT Valerie. Very huge misconception and Zacharie would never use his friends brother's face as a mask.Ah, okay. It was a fan-theory I heard, is all.
I can't remove random encounters. I'm uncertain why that's brought up.Well, you say that one of your motives/design philosophies is to focus more on the gameplay since OFF's was so wonky, yes? The random encounters were one of the biggest complaints I've seen from OFF players since random encounters are a universally terrible mechanic. The only saving grace was that they were so easy that you could just auto through all of them, but you seem to be changing that so now they're going to be even more time-consuming. If I were to "fix" some of the problems in OFF, that would probably be the first thing I'd change - but it would be a lot of work, yes. (Theoretically, you could make only a few, abstract sprites like in The Way or The Logomancer instead of making sprites for every monster, but it might not work with the way the areas are set up, regardless.)
If nothing else though, you should really, really remove the ones during the card puzzle in the library. They are absolutely infuriating.
As with elsen dialogue and such, It's not going to feel the same because it's not written by the same person.Well yes, but that's the occupational hazard of writing fanfiction. It's difficult because your work will inevitably be compared to the original, and you may have to write in a different style from your own to maintain consistency, otherwise the audience may be jarred out of the experience. I mean it's not that divergent from the original elsen dialogue, and I am notoriously nitpicky, but it's something I noticed, is all.
HOME (OFF fangame)
Hm, alright. Also, there's another (minor) bug: In Damien, interacting with the left arrow on the train doesn't do anything.
Here are my stream-of-consciousness thoughts while playing so far. Apologies if they sound cranky or jumbled, they are stream-of-consciousness after all.
Not liking the music. Doesn't sound anything like OFF's. Why did you feel the need to change them in the first place, when the game seems to cover mostly the same areas?
"If it is of a reasonable request"? What?
"omnipotential"? Is the Judge just making up big words to sound smart or something?
Why doesn't the Batter help the Judge against the spectres? You draw attention to it but he doesn't explain. Seems out of character for him to not get in on the murderings. Maybe this is a plot point later on, I dunno.
Aw, equipment is actual armor? That's kind of disappointing, I was looking forward to see how you visualize the auras and colors.
I see you have not solved the problem of greyed-out text being unreadable in the menu. Intentional?
Elsens are too lively. Too many exclamation points and complete sentences.
Actual battle animations, hooray!
The smoke coming out of the rocks is a nice touch.
oh god random encounters why
Judge says there's no meat on his bones, so Alain says he'll eat him "instead"? What? I feel like that should be "anyway" or some insistence that he's lying. It doesn't make linguistic sense as-is.
Boss battle already? Hm. I kind of liked how sparse they were in OFF, to be honest. At least you actually let us see their weaknesses. (Stats would be nice too, though.)
So the Judge is casually mowing down burnts as well? I guess he's no better than the Batter then.
Crazy butcher burnt was kind of... underwhelming, honestly? He just sounds like an ordinary psychopath. That's not really the impression I got from the burnts; they seem more sympathetic in OFF or at least more... bizarre. Some of them don't even seem to realize they're hurting you, and most know there's something wrong with them and beg for help. I personally find that creepier because it's just so alien and dissonant, plus I feel more conflicted about killing them. This is, ironically, easier to deal with. It's just, okay, crazy evil murderer, I know how this goes. He's a stereotype of evil/craziness, and the familiarity of that caricature blunts some of the impact, I think. (A big part of psychological horror is the unexpected/unknowable, after all.) Also, he still has an identifiable face, which clashes with the established style of that being the first thing to go. Maybe I'm supposed to notice something fishy here and this is a plot point, I don't know.
Batter battle is interesting, if incredibly easy. I wonder if choosing whether or not to spar with him will have effects later on. Interactive story?
"Zacharie, you are not making within any reasonable region of sense." Neither is the Judge I'm afraid. "Not saying anything within a reasonable region of sense" maybe? It's still really awkward-sounding though, I'd reword it.
I thought Zacharie's cat mask was Valerie's face? How does he have it prior to Zone 2?
No post office puzzle, you just straight-up give the password? I am disappointed.
The burnt elsen in the post office says the exact same things as the one that attacks the Batter? That's bizarre. Guess this is some kind of alternate reality where the Judge does stuff before the Batter.
...Apparently not because the Batter's with Dedan even though the password guy was still alive! How is that supposed to work? Am I supposed to be utterly baffled right now???
The new flesh maze puzzle was nice, if a bit simple.
Hm, so you're foreshadowing The Room properly. Okay.
So beating Dedan to a bloody pulp fixed him? Hooray, violence solves everything, as always. That seems, uh, kinda contrary to the themes of OFF.
I'm afraid the game isn't really grabbing me. So far it's just rehashing the beats of OFF, right down to flashes of Not-Hugo. The gameplay isn't even significantly better; I'm still auto-ing through random encounters and boss battles are still just damage races. You've only changed it from a super-easy jRPG into a standard jRPG, at best. Maybe this is just early-game lack of options talking, I dunno.
The Zone 2 pan is kind of weird. There's a period where the pan stops but nothing happens, so there's this awkward delay before the "Zone 2" animation finally starts, and by the time it does, the pan has stopped so it loses some of the effect. Intentional?
There's no "read" prompt for the title-less cat book, so the yes/no choice is odd. Maybe change it to "read/don't read"?
Why are there monsters in the library if Batter already cleared it out? What is the Judge fighting, come to think of it? I guess you're running on the logic that not all the things the Batter fights are spectres?
There are few things more frustrating than random encounters during a puzzle.
I still don't have any clue how to do that card puzzle.
Here are my stream-of-consciousness thoughts while playing so far. Apologies if they sound cranky or jumbled, they are stream-of-consciousness after all.
Not liking the music. Doesn't sound anything like OFF's. Why did you feel the need to change them in the first place, when the game seems to cover mostly the same areas?
"If it is of a reasonable request"? What?
"omnipotential"? Is the Judge just making up big words to sound smart or something?
Why doesn't the Batter help the Judge against the spectres? You draw attention to it but he doesn't explain. Seems out of character for him to not get in on the murderings. Maybe this is a plot point later on, I dunno.
Aw, equipment is actual armor? That's kind of disappointing, I was looking forward to see how you visualize the auras and colors.
I see you have not solved the problem of greyed-out text being unreadable in the menu. Intentional?
Elsens are too lively. Too many exclamation points and complete sentences.
Actual battle animations, hooray!
The smoke coming out of the rocks is a nice touch.
oh god random encounters why
Judge says there's no meat on his bones, so Alain says he'll eat him "instead"? What? I feel like that should be "anyway" or some insistence that he's lying. It doesn't make linguistic sense as-is.
Boss battle already? Hm. I kind of liked how sparse they were in OFF, to be honest. At least you actually let us see their weaknesses. (Stats would be nice too, though.)
So the Judge is casually mowing down burnts as well? I guess he's no better than the Batter then.
Crazy butcher burnt was kind of... underwhelming, honestly? He just sounds like an ordinary psychopath. That's not really the impression I got from the burnts; they seem more sympathetic in OFF or at least more... bizarre. Some of them don't even seem to realize they're hurting you, and most know there's something wrong with them and beg for help. I personally find that creepier because it's just so alien and dissonant, plus I feel more conflicted about killing them. This is, ironically, easier to deal with. It's just, okay, crazy evil murderer, I know how this goes. He's a stereotype of evil/craziness, and the familiarity of that caricature blunts some of the impact, I think. (A big part of psychological horror is the unexpected/unknowable, after all.) Also, he still has an identifiable face, which clashes with the established style of that being the first thing to go. Maybe I'm supposed to notice something fishy here and this is a plot point, I don't know.
Batter battle is interesting, if incredibly easy. I wonder if choosing whether or not to spar with him will have effects later on. Interactive story?
"Zacharie, you are not making within any reasonable region of sense." Neither is the Judge I'm afraid. "Not saying anything within a reasonable region of sense" maybe? It's still really awkward-sounding though, I'd reword it.
I thought Zacharie's cat mask was Valerie's face? How does he have it prior to Zone 2?
No post office puzzle, you just straight-up give the password? I am disappointed.
The burnt elsen in the post office says the exact same things as the one that attacks the Batter? That's bizarre. Guess this is some kind of alternate reality where the Judge does stuff before the Batter.
...Apparently not because the Batter's with Dedan even though the password guy was still alive! How is that supposed to work? Am I supposed to be utterly baffled right now???
The new flesh maze puzzle was nice, if a bit simple.
Hm, so you're foreshadowing The Room properly. Okay.
So beating Dedan to a bloody pulp fixed him? Hooray, violence solves everything, as always. That seems, uh, kinda contrary to the themes of OFF.
I'm afraid the game isn't really grabbing me. So far it's just rehashing the beats of OFF, right down to flashes of Not-Hugo. The gameplay isn't even significantly better; I'm still auto-ing through random encounters and boss battles are still just damage races. You've only changed it from a super-easy jRPG into a standard jRPG, at best. Maybe this is just early-game lack of options talking, I dunno.
The Zone 2 pan is kind of weird. There's a period where the pan stops but nothing happens, so there's this awkward delay before the "Zone 2" animation finally starts, and by the time it does, the pan has stopped so it loses some of the effect. Intentional?
There's no "read" prompt for the title-less cat book, so the yes/no choice is odd. Maybe change it to "read/don't read"?
Why are there monsters in the library if Batter already cleared it out? What is the Judge fighting, come to think of it? I guess you're running on the logic that not all the things the Batter fights are spectres?
There are few things more frustrating than random encounters during a puzzle.
I still don't have any clue how to do that card puzzle.
HOME (OFF fangame)
I have no idea how to do the playing card puzzle in the library. Maybe I'm just bad at cards, I dunno.
And it seems like you really need an editor. There are typos and grammar errors all over the place. Lack of direct address and sentence fragmentation are the biggest offenders, but there are a few others. The Judge's syntax is often incomprehensible, as well.
I'm curious as to why you chose to make sprites colored. What's the motive behind that artistic decision?
Edit: Also the stats shown in enemy scans seem pretty inaccurate. Occuli clearly have more than 30 HP for instance. And this is really minor and may have been brought to your attention already, but if you get to the Alma gatekeeper's last question, fail, and then talk to him again, he lists his final question as #6 even though it's #4. He lists it correctly if you lead to it normally, it's only if you talk to him again that he mislabels it.
And it seems like you really need an editor. There are typos and grammar errors all over the place. Lack of direct address and sentence fragmentation are the biggest offenders, but there are a few others. The Judge's syntax is often incomprehensible, as well.
I'm curious as to why you chose to make sprites colored. What's the motive behind that artistic decision?
Edit: Also the stats shown in enemy scans seem pretty inaccurate. Occuli clearly have more than 30 HP for instance. And this is really minor and may have been brought to your attention already, but if you get to the Alma gatekeeper's last question, fail, and then talk to him again, he lists his final question as #6 even though it's #4. He lists it correctly if you lead to it normally, it's only if you talk to him again that he mislabels it.
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