itch.io

Huh. Very strange.. I'll keep looking into this. Sorry that happened.

Noted! Thanks for the suggestion!

Thanks for letting me know! I looked into this and it looks like it's still working as intended as far as I can see.

As a hint: The monsters don't need to jump out again; there's just something located near the spot to find.

I'll still keep an eye out for anything unusual though. Hope you enjoy this playthrough!

- Sgt M

Thank you for the high praise! Much appreciated.

The game was developed in RPG Maker MZ.

Hey! Glad to hear you're enjoying it!

Not being able to save the game is usually a Windows permissions problem. Try running the game as Administrator. (Right-click Game.exe in the game folder and click "Run as Administrator")

Yeah, the dialogue is a bug. The low level ending accounts for everyone's level but I think that NPC is just checking Hero Man's level. I'm gonna do a small update sometime soon, so I'll include that. Thanks so much!

Cool! Didn't realize there was a TVTropes pages up. Thank you! :)

I'll get the Flame Sword/Blade consistency fixed with a couple of other things. The sound effects thing is certainly strange. Could be an engine or plugin issue, but i'll look into it.

Thanks for the report! While I haven't been able to replicate this, I've updated the game to not softlock in case this happens.

That is strange! I'll have to investigate and see what's going on here, as I haven't been able to replicate the problem. Sorry that you've run into this :(

Thanks so much for playing! The battle system is quite experimental but I'm glad it sounds like it was a good time overall.

The game explores a lot of territory that we haven't tried before, like sideview battle perspective. So it means a lot to hear that it was positive change!

Thanks so much! Wario Land 4 was definitely something I had in mind as a tertiary inspiration. One of the big influences was The Great Cave Offensive from Kirby Superstar!

Thank you for playing. I hope you'll enjoy the rest of it when it's done :)

Right now the companion's AI is admittedly pretty basic: It will choose from any of its available attacks at random, including its normal attack.

This is definitely something I'm looking to improve and rework as development continues! I apologize that the companion AI currently in place is rather simple at the moment.

Happy to hear you enjoyed everything! Thanks for playing and sticking with it 'til the end :)

Hey! Thank you for letting me know. It seems some Steam version data was left in the most recent build that shouldn't be there. I'll get this fixed up ASAP.

For now, I've downgraded the active download to v1.1.1, which has very few differences compared to v1.1.2 and does not have this problem. I'll undo this change soon when the bug is fixed.

Huge apologies for the inconvenience! :(

Yes! I made all of the visuals for the game. :) Happy to hear that you're liking it! - Sgt M

Wow! Glad to hear you enjoyed it! Thank you! :)

Awesome! So glad to hear that you enjoyed the game. Thank you for playing :)

Yeah, there's a hint on the piece of paper in the cabin about that puzzle but I think I could have communicated it a little better. If I do another update I may add something else that could make it more clear!

Yikes! Thank you for letting me know. It should be resolved now. :)

Nice! Thanks so much for playing and I'm glad you enjoyed it! I'll also get that fixed up.

Awesome! Thanks so much for playing. Glad you enjoyed it! :)

Hello!

Thank you taking the time to write up your thoughts on the game and for completing the story all the way to the end. I apologize that the game was not a good experience for you, so I wanted to give my response to your feedback.

Soma Spirits is indeed an older game of mine, having been written in 2015 and released in 2016, and it was in no way intended to be a narrative, commentary, or form of political insight in regards to events and discussions that would be taking place in 2020. As, of course, I could not anticipate any of those discussions four to five years prior.

Soma Spirits is largely an allegory for both depression and bipolar disorder, both of which have affected me and my everyday life as an individual, and Soma Spirits was a way of conveying my personal experiences and hardships. Though the game does pertain to solving conflicts, these conflicts were primarily meant to be internal, solved by the heart and soul. The word Soma means Body. The game's title is literally "Body Spirits."

While I respect your unique interpretation of the game and your insight that the framing devices used in it might align with current discussions, those framing devices, such as redemption, grey-area problem solving, and others, are common to RPGs to achieve this message. I do believe that many of them can be commonly found in other RPGs as well. And I think you will find that these aspects are not exclusive to Soma Spirits.

Soma Spirits is a lot of things: It's a love letter to RPGs, a deeply personal story, and a story-driven experience. But an argument in favor of fascism is something that it is not nor was it ever intended to be, nor is it a stance I believe in or ever stand for.

I hope this will help assuage your concerns. And I hope the next game will be a better experience for you!

- Sgt M

Oof! Ya got me good with this one. I appreciate all the feedback and hopefully the next project will be a better experience. Thank you for playing it all the way to the end nonetheless!

Happy to hear you enjoyed it! Hopefully it won't be a super long wait! You can read past progress report updates here.

Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you so much! :D

I'd like to submit our two commercial projects for the bundle!

Both are story-driven RPGs that heavily emphasize making the world a better place for everyone.

https://torch60.itch.io/soma-spirits-rebalance

https://torch60.itch.io/brave-hero-yuusha-ex

Been waiting for this one! Can't wait to try!