itch.io

This game was just really awkward the whole way through, in a good way that is. From the sound effects (my favorite being the "Whoosh Whoosh Whoosh" from the sand attack) to the pretty campy humor from the entire game. It's pretty straightforward and does not have much in terms of plot so it is easier for me to take it less seriously. With that being said, I do have a bit of issues to address.

The mapping is pretty uninspired. It functions, but there is nothing to them. Just a few treasure chests, random battles, and a boss. The inside of buildings are really odd as well (specifically the shops and the inn). I do appreciate the varied skills and skill types that each character has, but it may be a touch overwhelming to have all of that given to the player at the very beginning (I adjusted to it rather quickly, but it is something to keep in mind if you plan on making a bigger project from this). I would just start with one or two characters and then expand from there with the other two party members.  

The combat is a bit odd. I would like to say it is evenly balanced, but there are a few things that do not seem quite right. For one, it seems like the party are all weak in terms of defense except for Kiki. I would not mind this, if it wasn't for the fact that Gee-Gee does not have good defense against magic (since she's the magic user) and since Saranade is just overall not great at taking hits. Enemies may have a bit too much defense considering that getting rid of one, especially in the first dungeon, can take awhile. On my very first encounter I nearly was died because of the 3 Emps took a long time to kill, but had no problem taking out my team. Though, I was able to progress through the rest of the game just fine. I am not a huge fan of bosses that has a bunch of its lesser goons AND the boss itself in one fight, though it is not a huge problem for the second boss (despite being far more difficult), the first boss kinda overstayed its welcome with all the smaller units getting in the way not being any real threat. I'd rather have a boss with some hindering skills and fought alone, or just have a boss that's similar to the second. 

Also, I do love the cheesy sound effects, but they are a bit too loud and I had to turn the volume for the sound effects down because of it. Not a major issue in comparison to everything prior to this, but its something to keep in mind.

Overall, a pretty neat game. I had my bit of fun with it, mostly with the sound effects.

That is kinda odd to have side quests that aren't entirely optional in this case. Also, Frederick was good because he was a strong promoted unit. After a few chapters (especially in the second arc of the game) he starts to be less useful due to enemies simply getting better and him not being able to keep up, all the while I rarely fought mages from that point in the Awakening campaign.

I will just have to take a look at the Steam version to see if things change. I will take all of what you said in consideration and will have a final critique of your game from there. Plus, I am interested in how your game ends...

Edit: Welp... I see that the game is $9.99 to play. As much as I do want to see how it concludes from the IGMC version, I am not willing to spend money on it. It's a shame, but I will respect it. In short, I can only wish you the best of luck in finalizing Falnarion Tactics.

You have something that can be really great, no doubt.

The resolution issue was something I had no idea about, so I will at least give you leeway on that. Also, the default assets being limited in map decoration is something I can also give leeway too. My apologies.

The problem here is that Felm one shots more than just the bandits. He can kill a lot of enemies with one attack. Believe me, I am using Arestol often and is already seeing the effects of his growing strength. Selten is just ridiculous. I like caviler units, but he should not be able to take on an entire army alone without being promoted. Horseman knights are good, but not untouchable. 

Sadly I never played FF Tactics so I will not be able to make a case for it, but that does not mean you should neglect taking the time in refining your games' balancing when it clearly need some tweaks to be made.

Since this is more of a slight parody of FE plots then I can take it less seriously. I was conflicted on whether I should take it lightly or I should take is seriously, so I am glad that cleared things up a bit more for me. Also, we do not speak of FE fates. Unlike your game, their plot was horrendously flawed and tried to take itself too seriously which makes it increasingly painful to sit through (also, Felm is far superior to Corrin as a protagonist). I am unfamiliar of how any of your games work, in terms of plot, so I would not know.

I do not mind side quests, but I try to avoid doing all of them just so I can get the optimal challenge from the campaigns' battles.

I am so used to dealing with a very serious and relatively grounded plot in SRPG's that I forgot that parody plots can coexist as well, so it was a bit of an eye opener.

In short, this opened my eyes to a few new things about your game and I do appreciate your reply. This still does not change the fact that a few fixes should be made, not mandatory but something I highly urge.

Hopefully, I do not sound like an elitist pushing my opinions down your throat. I just really care for your game and want it to be refined and enjoyable as it can be.

Falnarion Tactics, oh boy. 

I went into this without any huge expectations, since this clearly made in a particularly new engine (SRPG maker). Since I am pretty familiar with SRPG's I had to see what this game has in store for me. 

I am a bit conflicted.

The first battle in a tactical RPG should be pretty straightforward. Easing the player in and getting a feel for the game itself. I immediately see some issues. For one, there are maybe a few too many enemies on the field which drags out the battle rather than make it challenging (which is a trend that continues through the course of the game) and the mapping is much to be desired. Having a protagonist that can one shot enemies isn't the best way of fixing this, especially when I want to utilize my other units and give them time to shine. He can be really strong, but he can not be untouchable. The tutorial feels kinda thrown in there with not too much thought behind it. It just happens and Felm has some playful banter with his 2 other units. Instead of having more enemies, I would slightly lower the stats of the protagonist (just very slightly),  lower the amount of health each enemy unit has but increase their defense,  and just get rid of a few enemies on the map. That way there is still some challenge, but it will not feel as tedious. Since there will be less enemies, I will decrease the size of the map accordingly. I prefer a more closed map rather than a open one for the first battle.

The game has a sense of balance, but it's off in quite a few ways which is unacceptable in an tactical RPG. You got to have most of it balanced to a tee, otherwise the tactics of the game will be thrown out the window due to me abusing a blatant exploit or me losing a unit due to me getting hit to an enemy that has a high ranked weapon that can one shot everyone including Felm (and that would be a mere average unit not a boss unit). 

As the game progresses, I get more enemies thrown at me and even bigger maps for them to be placed in. Every battle I faced thus far has been in really open maps. Which makes battles feel exactly the same except with sightly more powerful units to slaughter and slightly more powerful boss along with it. The battle in Chapter 3 (or Chapter 4) with the large skirmish is reasonable in terms of the map itself and the story going along with it, however, I feel that it is a big battle that should be saved later in the game when there is more build up to it instead of thrown in there relatively fresh into the campaign.  Also, promoted enemy units start popping up at chapter 4. Have higher level basic units, but save the promoted ones for way later in the story (and try to avoid giving them really rare weapons upon introducing them).

Speaking of story, it is totally Fire Emblem inspired. Except it is terribly cheesy in so many regards. From the units, to the story itself. Evil kingdom wants to revive a greater evil to plunge the world into darkness. Why? Because Why not, I guess? It is a guilty pleasure to be honest. I do not hate it, but the writing is painfully cliché and needs work. After all, a strong SRPG needs a strong story to keep me going through the tough battles ahead. 

Also, there's this wonderful gem that made me die from laughter by how cheesy the writing is.

Overall, I have not finished the game and may continue onwards (I know in the comments that you mentioned a patch version on steam that I may check out as well). This is not a bad game,  despite my bashing and criticisms that may say otherwise. An SRPG is not easy to make since there is so much that needs to fall into place so the game play is satisfying and has the story to fortify it. Both of those things, as of now, I faintly feel from your game.

I will keep my eye out on your game and see how it develops. I want this to become an amazing SRPG as a fan of this sub-genre of RPG'S, but also as a fellow game developer that wants to make an SRPG of my own in the future. I wish you luck on your game!

By the way, Luna is best girl in this game next to Ashelo. No question.

Just in general, the default menu just does not mesh well with the information being displayed. Sadly, I do not recall how the menu itself looked now since I barely even looked at it and got to study it.

I believe one of the Alternate Menu plug-ins would be more effective for this game.

This game has a slight learning curve, seeing as you have to pay close attention to many of the parameters for each of your party members as well as their equipment and weapon of choice. At first, I was not really into it and I felt that there is too much information thrown at the player to start. After a bit of playing (and dying by a group of rats on my first go), I truly began to get a feel for combat and, thankfully, got a really comfortable setup with a yellow rouge (Axe wielder), red warrior (Sword wielder), and blue mage (Spear wielder). In short, it will take a little bit of adjusting but once you do it becomes more enjoyable.

I am impressed with the detail it must have took to balance the combat and set all these skills in place for each equipment. The custom enemies are also a nice touch. That is all I can say that is positive.

The presentation is passable at best. The game has some decent mapping and dialogue is functioning, but I would like a cleaner battle HUD where the icons not get in the way so much. In addition, a better menu or window would be appreciated here. The cave where the goblin mage dwells is fine, but not much to it to make it stand out in anyway from any other cave. Just 

This was a smooth experience all the way around. It is not something I am personally interested in (a bit too D&D-like for my taste), but there is no denying the potential and effort that went into this project.

I wish you luck for your game.

This game was a chore to sit through.

Plot seems little to nonexistent. Stuff is happening and a conflict is established here, but I can not bring myself to care about any of it. 

Everything feels rushed. 

Combat has poor balance with little variation in terms of skills and enemies. There are questionable choices that were made in this game, for instance, why should I need a mage like Marsha when the protagonist can learn more magic skills in a shorter amount of time AND has more magical might than Marsha?

Mapping is rough all around. Most locations do not standout in the slightest.

This games biggest sin, however, is the last area of the game where I was supposed to fight the mimic but the staircase that leads to him does not work. I tried to exit the dungeon all together, but that staircase also does not work. So now I am stuck in the sewer.

If you decide to work on this game beyond the IGMC entry, just know that you have a lot of work to do. 

I would start by the improving the database for your items and enemies, then I would focus on fixing the events on each map. Also, do not forget the battle-backs. 

Hopefully, you continue to work on this.

This game is really dope. 

It is very unfortunate that the many of the maps are sub par. Many pieces of the map have odd placement and kinda take me out of the games immersion (especially when I see the two different trees with different art styles on the same map, it is a bit jarring). Minor gripe, but I would like the tint screen for the time cycles to be altered a bit. Not a fan of the sunset and sunrise colors. In addition, there are quite a few missing battle-backs that makes some battles look odd. Overall, the presentation is very rough.

The combat, on the other hand, is pretty solid. Since this game requires more interaction from the player, it is important that the combat is balanced perfectly, which it is.  The timed actions and the circular dial are all neat additions to combat and make it stand out greatly to other games. Again, the thing that holds it back is the presentation. The battle HUD is passable, but really basic.

The Harvest Moon/Rune Factory aesthetic in terms of the farming and mining stats are also great additions that emphasizes the whole "running your own dojo" feel to it. It is a shame that when I want to build my students skills in those departments it causes a game breaking bug that happens over time. I think it has something to do with a variable of sorts. One thing I would like to add to this is some stat allocation points when you level up, so you can build your character however way the player chooses (so I can make my schoolgirl Master Annie the speed demon goddess she can truly be). Or a simple class system would work too; either way, there should be an option on building the protagonists' combat stats excluding the typical grinding (since this game is widely open ended, of course).

I am not a fan of the SRD character generator due to the color pallet being a bit off (Annie's hair is dark brown instead of being black), but its another minor gripe from me that is not entirely in your control. Just some more modding of the plug-in that's all. Believe me, I tried working with it before and it was not great. So I'm glad to see someone trying to work with it.

Then, there is the permadeath... 

I appreciate the legacy system that you implemented for your game, but a casual mode is something that must be put in place (I am sure this was said prior to my review, but it is something I wanted to really emphasize here). Needless to say, Annie got hit by... She got struck by... A smooth criminal (or guild enforcer in that case).

In short, it is an admirable feat to get all these systems running together and be able to add neat little easter eggs. Especially, this one picture attached to this review (you are amazing for making that ridiculous reference to the song "Call on me" by the way). I will try to keep an eye out for your game and see what new stuff you'll add to it.

Well done.

Then, after the first dungeon is completed, the shop should have second grade potion that can heal a little more than the normal one. At that point, going in to the second dungeon, I had 99 potions that only helped but so much. Especially, when the second boss rolled around.

The equipment have descriptions, which is why I specifically said that most items have none.

Well, I have nothing else that can be said in terms of feedback since you seemed to worked most of that out. So I suppose I'll leave off with this...

Astrid is best girl. No question. Again, best of luck for your game.

Oh dear...

This game has a decent concept with the language parameter and the vigor parameter. Both are very neat additions that stand out in the game as stated by the previous comments. I enjoyed some of the music with this game (the battle theme against the 4 assassins is pretty awesome).  Sadly, that is where the positives end.

Mapping is very lackluster in terms of both the over-world and the dungeons. The dungeons have a high encounter rate which is made increasingly aggravating when I do not have the option to run from battles. This game has a slight difficulty curve when you enter the first dungeon due to the enemies being able to thrash you rather easily (especially the wandering souls).  Thankfully, with a bit of luck, I managed to be able to grind a bit (due to the frequent inescapable encounters) and make to the end of said dungeon. At that point, the game became a breeze since most encounters were pretty basic and I had the better stats (with 2 new party members to aid me). Then, the 4 assassins nearly ended me. I feel as though that they all have a bit too much health since the fight drags on for seemingly a long time and that they have a healer that could potentially prolong the fight even more (I managed to kill the healer off quickly, thank goodness). Outside of the battles and mapping, the dialogue is odd. There is odd indents in the text and the name of the character could be displayed through the means of the Message Core plug-in from Yanfly (though if that is your style then so be it, just a minor gripe I must mention). Do not forget item descriptions! Some are there, but many are missing. A revival item would be great to have at the shop since I have no other way to revive a fallen ally. 

I do not mind the story too much, but when the mage was suddenly slaughtered after JUST joining the party, I could not bring myself to care. She barely had time to make a decent impression on me (this is definitely subjective, however).

Overall, the concept and effort is there but the battles need tweaking and mapping needs work. There is little to no polish in this game.

I wish you the best of luck for this game. You have something good to build on, no doubt. Keep at it!

I appreciate your feedback. After this game jam is done, I do plan on uploading an extended demo that has all bugs, that you may have come across, fixed with a bit of added content that I could not put in due to the deadline.

The pauses are a bit much and I will make sure to remove most of them.

I will not make any promises on when the full game will be released, however, I will continue it.

Quick question, have you managed to engage the secret ending? If so, what do you think of it?