BOOS405'S PROFILE

Hi seacliff! I'm still going to play this as I planned to.

Hope you are doing well.

I also just have one question, should I add the patch and overwrite any files related to it onto the game? If I don't get a response, I'll be doing that, so hope that's right.

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.

Nice to see you've got back to this! The video you released recently looks really good. :)

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.

You're welcome!

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.

If you enjoy using resources from ontama-m, and feel they're worth using in any of your future projects, then sure, it sounds a good idea to add them, since they're your games and you like them!

I know a lot of sites offer strong/heavy rock music, so I am following what you are saying.

If you wish to comment on anything else with this review in future, you can comment back here or send me a message. I'm happy to reply and consider any points you have.