URANO23'S PROFILE

So far I'm loving it. I've said it before but I can see a lot of improvement in the aesthetics and presentation of the game. While nothing mind-blowing, your maps are much more filled and detailed than the first rather uninspiring maps I saw in Soul Sunder, and the character's portraits and busts are miles away from the first pixeled and unpolished drawings as well.

I was wondering about wether the characters would feel more unique and special like the ones from Soul Sunder. It's a common flawed trait that some good writers(like you, you are a good writer) that they make a character archetype that is excelent but then most of their characters are re-used versions of the same characters with different faces. Proved wrong, while some characters do have a Soul Sunder vibe, most of them felt rather "special" and endearing in their own way. I was expecting either Mia or Amalie to be similar to Myra to be honest, good to see I was wrong.
The only thing that bugs me a bit from your characters is that they almost all share this "troubled and dark past full of mystery" thing, although this is justifiable by the Crap Saccharine World they live in. The story was really cool so far, it got me constantly trapped about what was going to happen next.

Now, let me tell you about the gameplay. I think you have a trauma with tutorials or something but you always seem to be lacking in explaining the player how to play. You get control over the main character, wander around a bit and boom, here you go player, good luck with this zombie, you know what to do. For a game that features a rather unique battle system you really fail at explaining the player how to play it at first. I saw some statues giving hints about how to fight, but one thing is giving optional secondary hints that will help you understand the battle system better, and another is not giving a basic explanation about how it works. I'm not speaking for myself since I could figure out more or less how to play, although I had played that demo you uploaded a while ago of the battle system, but for someone one hundred percent new, I don't know how easy it could be. I'm not saying that it should take you by the hand, but at least give some basic instructions. How the stamina works, the focus command, the fact that you always get three actions, stuff like that.
Also, at first I had no idea you could jump over gaps by just walking towards them. That's another thing that should have either a small text box tutorial or at least an arrow or something to indicate that you can jump. I get that you probably want to keep a secret within the map in what places you can jump in order to have secret locations, but in the beginning you have to at least make the player aware of the fact that they can do it. When I played it I had no idea where to go to find the book in the dream and wandered around for like 10-15 minutes until I realised I could jump by walking towards the empty gap between the floors.

Aside from that, I love the battle system itself. It is unique and strategic and makes you take each and every decision carefully and small mistakes can be punished severely. Each character plays and feels different from each other, although I do have to say that I relied more in Aeyr than in anyone else most of the time. I don't have much to say about it since it was really good overall and I enjoyed it thoroughly so far.

Of course, I do have one major complaint about one particular combat, that is, the final boss of the prologue. I will just clear and explicitly explain how I lived it.
Due to the nature of the battle system, I naturally spent every turn trying to make the most and maximize the damage I could pull while mantaining a defensive stance. I tried to find a balance between how much damage I could deal, while keeping my stamina up and his stamina down(pretty hard since he keeps restoring his stamina). Sometimes he would use the Miasma charge thing and I would use Amalie to remove the state to avoid getting wrecked.
So far so good and after a while I managed to reduce a good chunk of his health. The problem? The guy kept healing so trying to deal more damage than what he was healing, while also trying to keep stamina levels reasonably good was a living hell. I think I spent around 30 minutes(perhaps even more) trying to take down the bastard and I just couldn't. I even reached a point where my First Aid kits where running dangerously low. After spending so long trying to keep all these things together, eventually I could commit a mistake or two, since it was getting seriously repetitive and my mind was dying, and it was then that he was healing more than I was damaging him!. At that point, I just said "f*** this" and took the approach I take when I think it's over. Give up and let the boss kill me and opt for a different strategy next time.
So, what did I do? Nothing but spam the Attack command so that the boss could kill me. Try to guess what happened. I lost?....no, I won. Literally, just spamming "attack" with Aeyr won the fight. Aeyr was knocked out at one point but I noticed that the boss had like 50 Hp left, so I just revived him and continued spamming attack and boom, congratulations. I just couldn't believe it, I had spent half hour spamming different command and abilities against a boss that could be beaten with just pressing the Z button endlessly(yes, I was frustrated). In case it matters, I chose the Mage Knight class.
I'm sorry but while the battle system is great, the boss battle itself was catastrophic failure if the player can win by just spamming 'attack' infinitely and win. It renders everything and all the potential the system posseses rather pointless if the player doesn't need to give any use to it. It also makes me fear about what other bosses will be like. In my opinion, the boss battle should be changed completely. It's also a shame because it almost killed the mood for me for what was a really good and well written scene(I actually left for a coffee after the fight and left the game waiting in the victory screen).

Anyhow, regardless of...that. The prologue was truly excelent and I'm really looking forward to see more. Also, I'm already in love with the main characters(mostly Aeyr and Mia).
I'm hoping for the best and wish you best luck with this project.