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(1 edit) (+1)

Very cool idea of a visual novel /RPG hybrid.  Here's my review: 

First the good: The use of clickable arrows to move is pretty unique. The character busts/graphics are very cool, I've seen them floating around the internet but never used. The battle sprites are very well done but really small.  Battles were fairly balanced and smooth.  They were really fun to play. Background images are very pretty. The premise of monsters heading out into the world to take it back from the humans who have oppressed them is a great take on the game jam's theme. Mini games were very fun and presented well into the overall story.

Now for the bad, and please take this as constructive criticism because overall this game is really fun. The art styles of your background images and character art clash and look out of perspective. This may be due to in most visual novels you don't see there feet. They're usually right up on the screen so any perspective issues go unnoticed. I have no idea where I'm going. The "first person" view is really disorienting. I could go left and then back right and not be on the same screen as before.  So I was never sure if I was going in circles. I have no idea what's up with the town scene other than the shop.  Battle sprites are really small and hard to see. Timed attack sequences are a bit overdone. Also I am so used to giving a command and sitting back and relaxing that I would forget and botch the skill. I would love more troop variety, but limited time game jam I know. Action sequences could use some more work. The font is all over the place. Small then big, odd spaces on first lines. It can also be a little difficult to read. The window skin doesn't go well with your aesthetics. Way to much dialogue at times especially at the beginning. I skipped through some of it just so I could start playing. Also what time period is this? I would get the feel of a medieval fantasy but the dialogue is more modern teenagers i.e. "WTF".

Wrap up: very very cool game, unique premise and game play. Beautiful art, albeit clashing at times, it grew on me. Dialogue needs to be chopped down. The battles are really fun, during the long banter between party members, I was hoping to just get into another battle. I love seeing RPG maker used to make games other than the standard JRPG! The point and click aspect is very original. It was fun, really fun and well done, especially for a game jam with limited time. Keep up the great work! 

Thanks alot for the feedback, I really appreciate it!

It's true that at some points it lacks variation which indeed is due to the limited time (in fact when I submitted it was on the last day 3am in my country), so I can just agree on that. 

Also there was sadly no time left to let anyone else playtest it, which leads to the next issue you mentioned, the player feels "aimless". In fact 3 people have given me a similar feedback on that point and it's something that will be changed, to make progression noticeable to the player. In fact progression is there, but in hidden variables. How that negatively affects the player, I didnt notice by myself testing it, but now that I know it, I can work on it and hopefully release an improved version in future (after the votings of the game jam have ended). In fact I plan to make the progression directly visible on the screen, so let's say (tho the system right now works different) - it shows 2/10 maps explored. The number would increase on each map change and the player would know, he needs to explore 8 more before he unlocks the next NPC.

The town scene actually progresses with the player. It would become populated as the player proceeds exploring and "brings back" various NPCs, which would sell different items or unlock small features (as improving the own equipment). Each new NPC would come with its own dialogue scene, too. Well, but the issue here is connected with the mentioned before, as the player can't notice the progression, so I see, how it can end up in frustration. The town self plays a central role in the story as it advances and later leads to another event/scene, which again leads to the boss (in fact there's a boss fight in the end) and finally to the end of the story.

I've seen your Action Sequences in one of your videos, so I'm not surprised about your comment. Myself I haven't yet worked with them before and was trying a few simple effects on the last day, as before I had only used them to show the weapon image on skill attacks. However, I find the possibilities fascinating so I already planned on taking a closer look and learn more :)

I agree on the background images. Tbh I found it incredible hard to find some I could use. I haven't noticed that VN would hide the feet (Myself I hardly played VN). It could be something to try out, so I guess changing the overall perspective. I will keep it in mind.

I am not sure about the Battle Sprites, as I think their size is pretty much standard for MV? Or am I misunderstanding something at this point?

The arrows (while exploration) have some randomness but are partly planned out. So for example after a battle you'd never encounter directly another battle; Minigames are abit more rare than for example finding an item; some "1. time scenes" are "forced" after a certain value on a var has reached - like the human encounters which do perma changes. Or when a way leads to a treasure chest it could be randomly be the one with the gold or the other one. Guess that's something that needs testing and testing and testing again to optimize.. 

About the time period.. yes, it was intented, a medieval surrounding but with some modern aspects in the dialogues. However, you're not the fist one who mentioned it, so I'll try to take a closer look on them after I fixed the main problem (the feel of being aimless).

I really appreciate that you tried my game and I also appreciate your feedback. Thanks alot! It will def. help to further improve it. :) 

I'm still playing it actually, I'm at about an hour of play, I don't get a lot of time to actually play games and I'm going through the game jam games and trying them all out and rating them. Once again, just constructive criticism, because this game is a lot of fun, I actually love the battle system and would just love to see this game get some more polish, and I can't say this enough, but very well done job on such tight constraints.

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And again thanks alot, it makes me really happy to see the game is being enjoyed.
You've also done an amazing job, I just didn't want to write too much, to avoid spoilers. But when u decide to keep working on it, I'll gladly playtest if you need someone :)