Overall: Gameplay-wise, pretty fun. Story-wise, may not exactly be my thing. There's something for everyone at least.

Gameplay: Pretty much only battles, but I think this works for a jam. The FP system worked well enough and encounters were straightforward, although the clouds that absorbed Spark and the bats with counters shook things up a bit. I really wish CPR at least got you to half health. It's pretty pointless when you have 1 HP and have to blow two FP on Healing Water in addition. Lastly, I wasn't even aware that my party learned new skills until the final battle. At least I got to give Harold a pride flag to superpower his spark. Sorry, storyline; he is definitely gay.

Music: Worked well enough. Is it me or did I hear Gerudo Valley at one point?

Story: This strangely reminds me of my own game from Harold Jam 2021; MC ends up in a strange world and finds out there's a McGuffin up in the Local Dungeon that can get him out.

For a game that's half VN, I wish there was more story in between fights than just "Enemy approached!" That would have made introducing CPR feel a little more appropriate than David randomly dying out of nowhere, for one. I also get hella Set Character syndrome where every character has one trait and voice quirk they stick to throughout the entire game. In a longer jam entry like this, it starts to get noticeable. David's traumatic backstory is out of nowhere and has zero effect on the rest of the story or the player.

Graphics: Love the effort put into the hand-drawn art. Battlers look great too.

Comedy: This game falls into the pitfall of "I made this joke, I think it's funny, I will now make it fifteen thousand more times because surely it can't get less funny, right?" It should not have taken precedence over actual story IMO.

Quite an enjoyable boss rush entry! characters and skills are simple enough to grasp quickly, with a nice simple customisation with the trinkets. I went for full triple rainbow flag for maximum choking efficacy.

Great work with all those custom art too! 

While this isn't a major departure from other Starmage boss rush games in terms of structure or skill concepts, I don't think that was really the point here; it was more a showcase of your growing art skills, which I'm happy to see are improving! Keep it up!

Outside of the art, it's a totally respectable entry: battlers by Visustella's generator and custom tunes help the game stand out from average RTP fare, and well-paced gameplay introduces mechanics at natural narrative points so the tutorials never feel out of place. Stellar job, Starmage!

I like the muscular David.

A Sunkissed Fantasy is an extremely well-done jam game that stands out in this year's Harold Game Jam. The island beach setting perfectly aligns with the theme of the jam, creating an inviting and immersive environment for players. The developer's custom artwork adds a significant amount of charm and personality to the game, setting it apart from many other RPG Maker entries.

The game is well-balanced and well-paced, making it simple enough to pick up and play without feeling boring or derivative. The use of an action point system to handle the turn economy adds a layer of strategic depth to the battles, making each encounter engaging. The gameplay primarily consists of a series of battles interspersed with storyline segments, maintaining a steady rhythm that keeps players invested.

Difficulty-wise, A Sunkissed Fantasy is manageable as long as you keep your defense up. This makes it accessible to a wide range of players, from newcomers to more experienced RPG enthusiasts. The humor, story, and overall comedy are delightful, providing plenty of laughs and a lighthearted tone that complements the beach setting.

Overall, A Sunkissed Fantasy is one of the top entries in this year's Harold Game Jam. Its charming artwork, balanced gameplay, and engaging story make it a standout experience that is sure to leave a lasting impression on players. Whether you're looking for a fun, easy-to-play RPG or just a game that embodies the spirit of the jam, A Sunkissed Fantasy is a must-play.

Also ...    :D

That was a fun entry! Great job on the art. I love AP style battle systems, and while on the easy side it suits the jam difficult level that a lot of ppl expect. The VN style story progression between battles work well and the dialogue was clear and had a great flow. This is a great submission overall. Well done! 

Nothing brings bros together like an old fashioned beach pirate fight! What a super chill sound track and story line. I enjoyed the combat and the strategic choices in equipment choices. Carmina with a bunch of pills is pretty unstoppable, triple wielding pride flags and she's a goddess of slaughter! This combat system was super fun to use, though a flaw is that often characters are totally neglected as one spams their power attack (a lot of choking happening in my run). The good news is that you clearly thought of that in your combat design, and created cool scenarios in which a series of different skills are often necessary. It's somewhat rare that I enjoy a series of turn-based combat in games, but this game stayed fresh all the way throughout.

Okay, finally got to the ending! I was a bit in-and-out on playing, that's a me thing though. Game wasn't difficult, Harold and Carmina's multi-hit attacks made me breeze through the final boss with no problem. 

As always, I love the addition of custom art in an RM game. In particular, how this game uses the VN style for the cutscenes. I still encourage you to keep drawing.

Ending was a bit confusing that it was all a dream (I think?) and then the story cuts off there. Not sure if there's any previous entries where I can get further context on who the characters are and why the world is all post-apocalyptic.

Overall: I really liked the vibe, yo! (I am racing the heat, so I didn't get very far.  When it is cooler in the year I would like to come back and play the full game.)
Gameplay: I like the battle orbs, it was a neat way to express HP/ MP.
Music: I wanted to hang ten all the way!
Story: I didn't get very far but I did like the premise.
Graphics: I liked that there was no RTP, however I think the buts were too tall and I could either read the text or see the expressions, so the size was an issue. Also the anatomy could have been a little neater.
Comedy: I didn't get super far, but it was chuckle worthy what I saw.

I loved the vibe. Looking forward to what you make next!

Literally as big as watermelons.

I had a good time with it!  An easy to pick up and  play game, with interesting dialogue and scenario.  For a quick game jam game, it hits the interesting enough spot for me. 

This game is - to me - the definition of a 3/5 entry. Each individual piece is fine, but together it has some issues holding it back from greatness that I think it's worth talking about here in a review.

First off, I appreciate the amount of effort that's gone into the game. There's a script, the scope is clearly defined, and it accomplishes what it sets out to do. I really respect that about this entry, and I think that should receive some kind of special Production Prize for "well-managed scope".

The presentation is good - especially the music, which has great Flamenco vibes. I really appreciated the basically-gerudo-valley track especially. I liked how consistent it was within its own rules, and the use of RTP backdrops to tell the VN-style story I thought was especially well-considered.

I do wish that the backgrounds and battle sprites had been custom - there's a distinct artstyle on display here and while I appreciate that bust art (haha, geddit) is one of the more appealing things for an artist to work on, there's a bevy of other assets here which would have really benefited from a similar treatment.

As a broader critique, some of the art here made me frankly a little uncomfortable; I'd recommend that the artist do some anatomy practice and studies - there are a bevy of references which will help improve this skill in a matter of days-weeks. I personally am a huge fan of http://reference.sketchdaily.net/ - which has the added benefit of being customisable so you can spend as much or as little time learning as you like.

Not to "go in", but some of the art here ranges from 'that man's obliques are multiple seperate muscles and his spine is too long' to 'this feels weirdly oversexed for a jam entry, her back must hurt a lot'. The art is charming, in its way, but I think that some time spent practicing anatomy will go a long way!

Now, as far as the gameplay goes - the game has a charming structure which straddles the line between RPG and Visual Novel really well. I appreciated getting and spending currency in the form of shrooms, and the stock of items/use of accessory slots is really cleverly implemented.

On top of that, the battle system was really creative! It did seem like another RPG-Maker-Game-That-Could-Use-A-Balancing-Pass, as it was so easy that it became quite easy to disengage. Not to say that games which are easy are necessarily bad, but here the challenge ranged from "do what I say or you die immediately" to "this is so trivial you can win by holding space", so it felt like the delta was too wide to be meaningfully satisfying.

I did enjoy my time with the battle system, please don't mistake this critique for dislike, but I was left feeling somewhat disatsified. Especially given that the enemy variety and customisation/skill point system were so strong.

Finally I'd like to address the story and writing. The story is fine - it's standard fare, but also shamelessly basically lifted directly from the Besaid portion of FFX. I don't know if that was intentional or not, but it served as a fine framing for "do some fights, get a lamp". The issue I took with the story was that tonally it is all over the place.

The game struggles from having jokes and not really following through with them. You go to a weird sexpervert forest but it ends in a catfight between an ogre and a dominatrix - and the sexual content isn't presented in a particularly funny way. It sort of detracts from the game, rather than enhancing it, because I don't know what the vibe is. One of the characters is like "I don't fight people because I crippled my brother" and it's like "wait what, wasn't this game about titty jokes 3 minutes ago" - then the whole game ends with Harold demanding that no-one think he's gay for watching Ru Paul's Drag Race.

In the post apocalypse. Because it's all a dream. Out of nowhere :P 

I dunno, none of it comes together to create a cohesive whole and instead you're left with a game that does several things fine, but nothing well enough that you can point to it and say "that makes this a stand-out entry".

Certainly not a bad game, and a game with a bunch of cute ideas, but a game with flawed execution marred by tonal issues and content issues. The epitome of a 3/5.

Edit: Mostly, I'm disappointed that in a fantasy post-apocalypse feat. Drag Race you didn't call it the world of Ru-in.

Was super excited to play this. Love the character interactions and the twist at the end. 

This was a cute entry!

The gameplay was fun for the most part, although the presentation of the encounters felt a little stale. I think the idea of static encounters interrupted by cutscenes and shopping works just fine, although the leadup into them was a little jarring.

The story was a bit odd, it didn't go anywhere too crazy but it was often weirdly horny, and it dragged just a bit for me near the midpoint. I also felt the art does have a lot of room for improvement: shaky lines, strange proportions, and soft shading all lend to looking a little off, but I understand that you're growing and improving as an artist and this is a perfect environment to do so! Keep up the good work on your artistic journey!

There's a bit of depth to equipment and some cool strategies to employ in battle! I think this is a great use of FTB, especially with how basic attacks cost more than support abilities. The combat was definitely my favourite aspect.

Great progression and cute humor. Hard pivot ending XD

I got stuck in the second battle, after reviving David with CPR, it's Harold's turn again and all of his options are still greyed out except for CPR.