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Chronicles: Fate of a Princess Review

author=Beregon
author=boos405
author=Beregon
Pretty much every boss (except the General and he was so easy it didn't matter) had minions that had nasty attacks and had to be dealt with before you could actually damage the real boss. Hence Stun/Mass Stun being so great here. Stun and Mass Stun also inflicted the Distract status, so even if the bosses were immune to stunning, they still got 1000+ Backstab crits per round. Double it by 2 if the princess is a Rogue. The Rogues also had that Multiattack skill that melted random encounters.

The Mage is also pretty boring, most of its spells were basically the same, exccept with a minor effect thrown on top. And no idea why that level 2 skill even exists. The Worst designed class is probably the Warlock, whose playstyle doesn't work due to weak (and maybe bugged?) skills and wouldn't fit into the game with that boss debuff even if it was. But Warlock is actually very capable of surviving Boss Encounters due to a very large amount of HPO, so I still put them above Mage. But seriously, an AoE skill that does little damage to the enemy, but nearly wipes your whole party is worse than useless and I think that was one of the Warlock's high level skills. Even Mage doesn't have a skill as terrible as that.

Yeah, once you find the dream team, there's actually little reason to switch. I agree about the story reasons behind keeping the main character in the party, but along with the gameplay encounraging you to switch characters and making over half the classes actually very situational, it seriously detracts from the gameplay. That plugin you speak of could've worked well here, though not sure if it was around when the game was released. Class change could work wonders for this game.

I agree about the Main Character's scenes with the Rogue. Along with the Paladin, they were the best parts of the whole story. It's just that the main character seemed too passive. Her scenes with the Paladin and Rogue felt like they would lead to some character development, but the rushed ending kinda prevented any satisfying payoff.

Oh, I do agree that the developer was definitely on the right track and made a lot of good things here. Hence my high rating.

No problem :)
Yes, I actually forgot that Backstab did criticals but remember it did huge damage and helped KO stuff super fast (but forgot that was because of Stun). I agree with everything you are saying, I don't remember anything about the Mage, I must've used it a bit but can't remember anything. Did the Warlock class have HP Drain? Yes, I think Warlock class was meant to feel it had sacrifice skills. That particular useless skill would've worked a lot better if it was HP Cost on Warlock alone VS everything, and less damage to the Warlock than the enemy. With more damage the lower the Warlock HP was as well.

I think my end team was Rouge, Rouge, Paladin, Warrior or Ranger. I remember I choice to take Bard out. I liked her action turn buff and other buffs but something made me take her out of the party. Think that was a mistake reading this and I remember she did have a super helpful skill that increase action turn. That was funny on a Rouge that hits twice.

Yes I thought it was a really fun game even though some stuff was OP, but overall I'd describe my ending and overall whole experience as slightly above average, and I think now it might be that passive main character issue you mention that made me think that and lower my overall experience a little.

I see what you mean about the main character now, she was passive a lot I think she did have some action and "took the lead" sometimes but it felt passive because any other character would do more action than her in most scenes, so at the end almost each character had there turn to take over the action (and that would rotate between those characters and be 2-3 of them in a single scene sometimes) and it was way more than her overall. She sort of followed around during the first half of the game as well.

But I still enjoyed her relationship with the Rouge and those scenes a lot, and I agree the Paladin ones I thought were good too.
Bard was indeed super op! 2 actions per turn of the whole party lasting 5 turns made so much more possible. Not to mention that "everyone also guards this turn" ability. Even better w+hen you got that special dagger for her from the bonus dungeon. It raised Agility so much that she always went first. Made her a great support. :) I don't remember if Warlock had a HPO drain spell now, but the skills it was using didn't really do much more damage no matter the Warlock's HP. And their AoE skill didn't belong in a game where enemies have much higher HP and defenses than your party.

Yes, I felt two rouges were OP so if I kept the Bard that would have to been OP x2. I can't remember if I did the bonus dungeon or not, but I remember there was one. Making the AoE do double damage to enemy party only (not double damage to your party at all) if the enemy HP is below let's say 50% Max HP might've been fun to have. But it depends on the damage rate what amount would be fun to try. I get it still would needs to do less damage to the party too if nearly KO's the party as it is.

But yes agreed the Warlock AoE sounds really bad here. If I ever come back to this game I'll try and remember that and see what it's like.

Chronicles: Fate of a Princess Review

author=Beregon
Pretty much every boss (except the General and he was so easy it didn't matter) had minions that had nasty attacks and had to be dealt with before you could actually damage the real boss. Hence Stun/Mass Stun being so great here. Stun and Mass Stun also inflicted the Distract status, so even if the bosses were immune to stunning, they still got 1000+ Backstab crits per round. Double it by 2 if the princess is a Rogue. The Rogues also had that Multiattack skill that melted random encounters.

The Mage is also pretty boring, most of its spells were basically the same, exccept with a minor effect thrown on top. And no idea why that level 2 skill even exists. The Worst designed class is probably the Warlock, whose playstyle doesn't work due to weak (and maybe bugged?) skills and wouldn't fit into the game with that boss debuff even if it was. But Warlock is actually very capable of surviving Boss Encounters due to a very large amount of HPO, so I still put them above Mage. But seriously, an AoE skill that does little damage to the enemy, but nearly wipes your whole party is worse than useless and I think that was one of the Warlock's high level skills. Even Mage doesn't have a skill as terrible as that.

Yeah, once you find the dream team, there's actually little reason to switch. I agree about the story reasons behind keeping the main character in the party, but along with the gameplay encounraging you to switch characters and making over half the classes actually very situational, it seriously detracts from the gameplay. That plugin you speak of could've worked well here, though not sure if it was around when the game was released. Class change could work wonders for this game.

I agree about the Main Character's scenes with the Rogue. Along with the Paladin, they were the best parts of the whole story. It's just that the main character seemed too passive. Her scenes with the Paladin and Rogue felt like they would lead to some character development, but the rushed ending kinda prevented any satisfying payoff.

Oh, I do agree that the developer was definitely on the right track and made a lot of good things here. Hence my high rating.

No problem :)

Yes, I actually forgot that Backstab did criticals but remember it did huge damage and helped KO stuff super fast (but forgot that was because of Stun). I agree with everything you are saying, I don't remember anything about the Mage, I must've used it a bit but can't remember anything. Did the Warlock class have HP Drain? Yes, I think Warlock class was meant to feel it had sacrifice skills. That particular useless skill would've worked a lot better if it was HP Cost on Warlock alone VS everything, and less damage to the Warlock than the enemy. With more damage the lower the Warlock HP was as well.

I think my end team was Rouge, Rouge, Paladin, Warrior or Ranger. I remember I choice to take Bard out. I liked her action turn buff and other buffs but something made me take her out of the party. Think that was a mistake reading this and I remember she did have a super helpful skill that increase action turn. That was funny on a Rouge that hits twice.

Yes I thought it was a really fun game even though some stuff was OP, but overall I'd describe my ending and overall whole experience as slightly above average, and I think now it might be that passive main character issue you mention that made me think that and lower my overall experience a little.

I see what you mean about the main character now, she was passive a lot I think she did have some action and "took the lead" sometimes but it felt passive because any other character would do more action than her in most scenes, so at the end almost each character had there turn to take over the action (and that would rotate between those characters and be 2-3 of them in a single scene sometimes) and it was way more than her overall. She sort of followed around during the first half of the game as well.

But I still enjoyed her relationship with the Rouge and those scenes a lot, and I agree the Paladin ones I thought were good too.

Chronicles: Fate of a Princess Review

author=Beregon
author=boos405
Wow what a good analytical look and thorough summary of the whole game.

I remember playing this a while back and enjoying it a lot. I think the writing was one of the stronger points and the gameplay felt good, above average but overall the experience for me still felt slightly above average.

Rouge was always the best class because it could hit twice and KO stuff quicker I think from memory. I felt some classes like that were waay better but had no idea how bad mages were. I also remember I really like the Paladin because it did good healing, but I really can't remember more then that.

Anyway nice clear explanation on what class is better in this game and why. : )
To add something I forgot to put into the review, Rogue was the best class for main character also because you could just use Distract/Stun/Mass Stun on the boss/minions with one and then instantly Backstab for massive damage with the other (since Distract/Stun status boosts the damage of that skill massively). Thus having more than one Rogue makes them even more powerful. Two Rangers wouldn't scale nearly as good.

Part of the reason why I wrote this review was the frustration of trying to beat the bonus boss with a Mage class on the main character. That was truly a testament to how I made the worst possible starting choice :D That No Healing/Mana Recovery debuff in boss fights was probably the second part. It really caused most of the problems in the game that could have been avoided. Also, in a game built entirely on switching your party on the fly, making the main character unable to be switched out feels like a pretty big design flaw.

Story was fine, very good at various points actually, but the main character was seriously the weakest part of it. Well, that and the final part of the game (after you return to the capital city onwards). I think the author just wanted to get this finished and thus rushed the ending a lot. Also, that final boss battle definitely came out of nowhere. Would've been better if there wasn't one at all.

Thanks for your comment :)

Oh yes, that's right stun was very helpful in this game. So many of the troops (or was it all of them? It was all of them?) were effective against stun including the bosses and when you had a few mutiple enemies like the game threw everywhere stun would help deal with them.

Yes, it sounds like that Mage class is the best area of the game that could be hugely improve on. Probably just increasing magic damage alone would resolve half the issues, then allowing them a way to be protected from the mana recovery debuff at least some of the time.... although it can also easily become too OP if went too far the opposite side, but sounds like that would still be better.

If I remember right, I actually didn't switch my party much, except losing and gaining character near the first half of the game, but it was very clear switching party often is something the developer wanted to happen.

I liked some of the scenes with the main character, like the early one where she sides with the rouge / rebel kitchen staff and her relationship scenes with that person. But I share the same opinions otherwise, I remember thinking the ending felt rushed. I was surprised by the final boss but I can't remember what it was, was it the possessed by a false angel one?

I think the main character was locked for the story reasons that you still see everything through her perspective, but able to change her class later on and able to switch out party members would've work better. I would've LOVE to change her in and out as well. There's a plugin for MV that lets you keep the main character as the first image even after switching parties with her in or out, and that could've worked for the story cutscenes from her perspective and rest of the game any other party.

No problem, I have to admit I didn't read it all but I did read a lot of what you posted and enjoyed it having played the game in the past! : ) I agree with all your class analyse and points there. : )

To be honest though, I thought the developer did a really good job trying to be creative and give passive skills to the set classes, I agree there are flaws but I liked the creativity the developer had in mind, I think they were on the right track and direction despite the flaws in the class system.

Thanks for interesting posts on this game!

Chronicles: Fate of a Princess Review

Wow what a good analytical look and thorough summary of the whole game.

I remember playing this a while back and enjoying it a lot. I think the writing was one of the stronger points and the gameplay felt good, above average but overall the experience for me still felt slightly above average.

Rouge was always the best class because it could hit twice and KO stuff quicker I think from memory. I felt some classes like that were waay better but had no idea how bad mages were. I also remember I really like the Paladin because it did good healing, but I really can't remember more then that.

Anyway nice clear explanation on what class is better in this game and why. : )

The RMW Chain Game Review

author=Deckiller
Thanks for the review! Still kinda sad the final chapter never got to pan out as it should have, mostly because of time constraints.


It's understandable, but it was still an enjoyable game!

Journey to the East Review

Hello! As another fan of the game, it's a bit odd for me to comment here, but I'd like to say I enjoyed reading your review. I felt the game gave me a similar experience as it did for you! : )

Temple of Memories Review

author=OzzyTheOne
Thanks for the review boos45! I'll try to give my next RPG game more length while still focusing on the quality of it all. I will also try to keep all the other points you brought up in mind and try to improve on them, specially on the puzzles, as I am quite the noob with designing puzzles!

Again, thanks for the review and have a nice day!

Hey OzzyTheOne! I think with your ideas and the time you spend into this project, you are more than capable of making a more longer RPG game and that game turning out as good as this one, and still have the same type of quality as this one nicely has.

Regarding puzzles. To be honest, as I said in the review, I think all the puzzles were good ideas including that puzzle, just that it was too much/a little more complex then I wanted, for me at least, with how much it had to it.

Anyway, best of luck with your future games!

The RMW Chain Game Review

I remember playing this a long time ago, I actually liked the fact that the first mystery the story gives you about the female protagonist being able to be a he made sense. Maybe because I thought out of the box on how it could be possible.

I also liked how different developers took the game in different directions and had complete freedom and creativity on what to do. Sure it did make the game a little messy, but that was part of the fun when playing it.

Sadly I don't remember much else or enough of this game to comment further, nor the ending. So that's my compliment for now.

Once Upon the Woods Review

I haven't played this short game, but I enjoyed reading your review. I was curious about this game and wanted to know what someone else's thoughts on the game were, and the review helped a lot with that.

World of Ruin Review

author=seacliff217
author=boos405
I'm sorry about that, I didn't mean to imply it was ripped, but with the accusation out there I could've worded myself better. I've edited and updated the Audio/Music section of the review, hopefully it's now clear you didn't rip it from another video game.
You're fine. Could have worded that better myself.

Anyways, I've read the majority of the review now. And I'll comment on the points that have been on my mind myself.

Characters-
I asked RMW that if I were to do a sequel, should I take the teambuilding aspect in the DQ3/Etrian Odyssey direction where you can recruit as many characters as you want, or have a defined individual character for each class. This segment definitely answered my question.

I personally like classic Western RPGs like Wizardry or Ultima where you create tons of custom characters with no writing behind them, as the imagination part is fun, but developing a game like this wasn't so much fun for me to write.

Gameplay-
I personally don't care too much for tanks in turn based games, and maybe Knight being underpowered simply reflects that I don't understand the best way to utilize them in that environment. I feel like if I were to tackle Knight again, I would redo a large part of her skillset.

I still like the concept of having a quirky stat on each boss, but the Earth Guardian probably had the least creative stat, and as you said completely makes the Sorcerer class useless in that fight.

I see your point with more enemy types. I only recently remember Yanfly's guide of having seven enemy types per a dungeon. Probably shouldn't be that many for this type of game, but there could have been more.

Mapping-
I actually really don't care for making world maps, but I think I can improve here. I think my current issue with the game, in retrospect, is that it was hard to guide the players between locations without them checking each of the dungeons recommended levels.

The game only used one event and two common events. The event used variables to keep track of the player's location and execute an action based on the player's coordinates. It's a pain to navigate the event page, but it feels good to say I was resourceful there.

If I didn't have that limitation, I would use a plugin that displays text above an event to show the dungeon's name and recommended level automatically, I'm sure that would have cut down a bit of tedium.


However, I'm not the kind of person to obsessed with making a game perfect. Throughout releases of Flip Dimension's demo I was obsessed with rewriting earlier scenes, unfortunately, I don't think they always turned out better and I wished I kept copies of the original script for scenes I want to change back to how they were.

I rather leave the game in the state that it is and improve on the concept in a sequel or something. But from that perspective, this review is equally, if not more, helpful in figuring out how to fix the game's current flaws.

Characters-
Definitely with this game I would've recommended having 1 of each class and being able to swap between them.

Games where you can choose between any classes of your choice I'm sure can be fun as there are a lot out that there certain audiences do love.

If you are planning to make another game almost identical to this one here, I would still advice having options to change classes, as with all the events you have going on I really think it would work best.

Otherwise, with the setup of those games you still like, perhaps the option to rebuild any/most of the characters without losing the levels and exp would work instead?

Ultimately it's up to you, you do have strengths with writing interaction between characters, but if you prefer the style you have here and you think you'd enjoy developing a game like that a lot more, go for what you enjoy most doing as that will keep you more motivated and game you enjoyed making is more likely to turn out better then one you don't enjoy at all.

Not everything in game making is enjoyable always anyway, but that advice above is still true.

There is also the third option of making the gameplay one way or the other without the writing aspect. So, just try to consider everything carefully and see what makes most sense to you from there.

A game that's very similar to this one, again, I'd still advice what I said in the top sentence, but there's nothing wrong with experimenting with a different approach if you strongly feel you should.

Gameplay-

Tanks can work well when they are done right. A tank class with high HP or higher defence that can take a few more hits for the other party members can be fun to play with. That's the main rule with them, making sure they can cover other party members for a few turns.

With the second setup I choice, having the sorcerer being useless in a single fight was ok to me since they are a lot more useful in other fights. A system where different classes are needed against different bosses may turn out fun for some players. Personally I'm unsure on it. However, in World of Ruins, when you can't change between the classes and you have the option to pick 3 Sorcerer, I can see players not liking it.

The bosses are otherwise fine imo, just could still be improved further. i.e. With a couple more skills that create ways to change the strategy a little more in battles for the player.

I'm sure Yanfly's comic guides are good, I forgot what Yanfly has covered now, but yes 7 enemies can definitely work well. I'd say here just 5 in this game could too. But you don't have to make the same patterns with each of those 5-7 enemies in each dungeon. I.e. They don't have to all end up being “Fighter, Mage, Warrior, Tank, Healer” for example. Dungeon 1 could be “Fighter, Mage, Mage, Warrior, Warrior” and dungeon 2 could have “Warrior, Healer, Healer, Mage, Tank” as quick examples.

Mapping-
To be honest visually I don't see a problem with the world map. But yes clearer labels for the dungeons would've been handy, and it's understandable under your restrictions you couldn't do that. Under the restrictions I would've advice seeing where the player is likely to walk next and make most dungeons near the other.

When you want a dungeon that's there to return to in future, I'd still keep the next level dungeons on the same area/continent/island and give them the boat after clearing those. That would've reduce the confusion. For me who checks every location it was a little confusing at first but I got over it pretty quickly.

I think it's incredible you only used one event and two common events, I wouldn't get the X and Y positions right easily if I tried that!

Writing it understandable, I think a lot of writers can experience what you have said here. Sometimes the first draft is better, but it is right to check and see if anything needs polishing. It probably takes some practice to know when something is and isn't better.

If you have to redo the entire balance of game to implement new mechanic improvements that's also fair enough too. I just leave it as a list of improvements, developers can take that advice with where it fits in a new game, or redo the old ones, or if they really don't like anything and think they have other ideas that could work do neither with it. While I write every review so far the way I do, I always feel it's clear I'm leaving it fully up to each developer with what makes sense for them, so yes if it helps you, just take the advice into consideration with a new game.

Hope that answers everything, if any new questions arise with this review, let me know in future.

Best of luck with any further games you plan to make.

All your battles were more fun than a lot of RPG Maker demos and first games that I have played. Ones from many years in the past and now more recently, but I think this advice is still mostly solid and everyone should take some of it into consideration when making battle in RPG Maker engines.

Even with everything default and no additional scripts/plugins, people can do a lot more to make them fun just by getting the balance right and variation with skills, and people don't normally realize it.
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