DRAKIYTH'S PROFILE

author=Crystalgate
For whatever it's worth, here's my suggestions:

What you did right was making it easier to survive alone. It used to be very luck based.

The rat boss was perfectly beatable at level 4, but some players wanted to fight it at level 5. I think the best way to handle that boss is to balance the exp rewards so that you're expected to have 40 Max HP when you first meet it, but can level up and get 50 Max HP without taking to much time. Personally, I think that not only finding the boss, but also exploring the whole area should still not land you at level 5. Ideally, I also want to be able to go back to the trader for some preparations without hitting level 5. I admit this can take some tight balancing though.

I think it's a good thing that the random encounters give more exp. However, I suggest compensating by lowering the encounter rate and making each encounter on the lower floor harder. Basically, you fight half as many battles as you did in version 0.3, but get twice the exp and twice the beating for each.

How about making it so that you do start with 20 Max HP, but only get 7,5 (alternate between 7 and 8) per level up? This lands you at 42 Max HP at level 4 and 50 at level 5 while still making the very start a bit softer.

Some of your suggestions are very nice. I'm not going to rush 0.5 I have some tweaking I want to do with it and play testing so I can make sure it's going to be challenging. What I plan on doing is nerfing the exp gains a bit and the lucky 7 but nothing drastic.. I enjoy the fact you level a bit faster but not as fast as it is now. After that I am going to make the monsters on the lower level pound your ass in if you're not prepared. The game needs it's edge back and difficulty keeps a player wanting more.

The water bottle system may be changed as well.. I even find it annoying to keep going back and forth with them.. Maybe I can make them more auto-usable as suggested by Selarious. I'm also thinking about making item finding less of a hassle and more straight forward.. you click it.. you found this many items.. go on with your life.. as much as I thought it would be interesting for your character to say something about every little thing it didn't work out like I wanted it. Sometimes simple is indeed better.

I think I'm going to go over the mutations too and their base damage and healing.. Possibly do some tweaking with my current system. It will take some work to get everything solid. Once I can get the demo to a solid level than I will feel better about continuing on with 1.0 and higher..

author=amerkevicius
He's uploaded a new version, so I'm guessing the feedback served it's purpose.

Indeed.

author=chana
I downloaded your game (got a better computer!), am really enjoying it so far!

Awesome. :) The game should be much easier to play now.

author=Max McGee
Doing nothing for several turns in a row is not fun. I never died, they didn't even remotely threaten me (as a Superhuman, Rock takes 0 damage from a lot of things even before I bought armor), they just caused me to be bored and frustrated and waiting until I could go again! Causing the player to not have fun is bad game design. If they'd killed me, that might have been better! It was more that they forced me to sit through several turns of yawning and mashing space. That's bad game design; if you intentionally inflicted something that could cause a player to just sit there and be bored, that's even worse.

You asked for a review, sonny jim, and by gum, you're gonna get one.

Anyway, encounter rates in RPG Maker do not work as advertised; they're really finnicky and counterintuitive. VX is no exception. "40 Steps" in particular is a HUGELY frequent random encounter rate. There should be a tutorial around here somewhere explaining how it actually works.

They can be a threat if you get caught in their trap and have other monster allies around. But yeah, they can be annoying so I can see your point. I'll probably end up nerfing their stunlock since they have caused some mixed opinions. *shrug*. Poor Starved Leapers. They are the most hated monster in Aftermath VX 0.3. Silly little guys are just hungry for a nice leg or two.

author=NewBlack
Hey I just downloaded this and had a couple of things to mention/ask.

First of all I was maybe going to review this gamme in its current state. But not if you're against that ideas as I know you release new versions and fixes often. So I wanted to know what you reckoned to that.

Also. When I started playing this I was actually wiped out by the first encounter in the game (and then ragequit, at least for now). Now usually I'd not complain because this is my usual stance on these sort of issues. However I was playing pretty thoroughly and had examined everything before this. Got myself a shit-tonne of rocks/bricks, three weapons (two equipped) and a lot of edible plants, coins, even some painkillers etc etc. The problem was that the enemy party that attacked me could render me unable to execute any commands (because I was "bitten") and at that point in the game I obviously only had one party member. As soon as "bitten" abated I was bitten again and this happened 3 times in a row whilst I sat there taking damage - unable to fight back.

So in this case I definitely think that's a balance issue because there was no element of my skill level even involved in my getting a game over because it was a random encounter and there was nothing I could do to prevent being killed. Good job I followed your advice and saved often.

Edit: Nitpick, one of the skeletons on the first map (toward the top of the map) seems to be incorrectly referred to as an animal skeleton but the graphic matches a skeleton which is referred to as a person's skeleton lower on the map.

I noticed that human skeleton instead of animal skeleton. My bad on that mistake.

The starved leapers were introduced to give players a hard time. They only bite 3 rounds before they lose their energy to use it anymore, but it's enough to get your ass kicked by their allies. I know sometimes it can be frustrating because you can't kill them first but fast and very fast attack mutations should do the trick. I made their attack damage and health pathetic. They just love to bite your leg. Once you get your party members those little guys won't be much trouble if any at all. I apologize if they gave you trouble. They are easily dealt with if you have fast attacks.

At least I mention before you begin to save a lot. That warrants the fact monsters can sometimes kill you. He's my little stunlocker and I don't want to nerf him because you can already kill the little guy like nothing.


I like your idea of a review. I've been waiting for one. Get your party and it gets much easier.