Glacia: Completed Chapter One v2.2, Glacia is an old-school JRPG style game with an epic story. Options

[captainregal]

Hey there! Glacia is a project that has been in development for more than 3 years now. We have released the final version of Chapter One, and we are posting this here to draw more attention to it. If you have not previously installed the RPG Maker VX RTP (Or don't know what that is), download the Glacia: Chapter One v2.2 RTP Included version of the game below. If you download the regular version, you will also have to download and install the RPG Maker VX RTP from the RTP Standalone link below.

Glacia is a retro/old-school JRPG style game following an epic tale of kingdoms, magic, and betrayal. This is the first of five chapters.

Glacia was initially conceived and developed by CaptainRegal in September of 2008. Since then, several people have assisted with parts of Glacia's design, and the game is currently being developed by CaptainRegal and DarkBox.

We've estimated Chapter One to provide between 5 and 7 hours of game play, and we'll be keeping it around this same amount of game play for every chapter that we release hereafter.

Rain Garshon, the naive young prince of Glacia, awakens to find his wife strangely absent from their bed. Unbeknownst to him, this marks the beginning of nation-shaking treachery that will turn his once blessed life to utter ruin in a single night.

This perpetrator of this betrayal, none other than his very own wife Lailah Garshon, has made it impossible for Rain to return to his kingdom. Now, Rain must travel the world of Elesca searching for proof of his lineage.

However, what he finds is something sinister waiting in his family tree. Before Rain can take back Glacia's throne, he must first discover if it was ever his to begin with.

[Show/Hide] Glacia's Characters

Rain Garshon
Age:18
Origin:Glacia
"The Prince of Glacia. After being betrayed by his wife, he must
travel the world to find proof of his lineage and be accepted
back at the palace."


Captain Gaven Carter
Age:36
Origin:Flurry
"Gaven has been Rain's personal bodyguard for the last 10 years.
Because of this, they have grown very close as friends. Gaven has
invaluable battle experience."


Lailah Garshon
Age:20
Origin:??
"Lailah is (or was) Rain's wife. She has seized control of Glacia
through force, murdering the King and turning the nation against
Prince Rain. Her motivation is unknown."


Blaze Trofield
Age:24
Origin: The Hamlet
"A soldier of Firia, and Becca's husband. Blaze is dedicated to
helping Rain regain his throne."


Becca Trofield
Age:22
Origin:Big Flame City
"A soldier in the Firian military. She despises killing, but will
always do what is necessary."


Spider Wessin
Age:24
Origin:Flora City
"The most skilled archer in the Kingdom of Flora. Loyal to a
fault, Spider would rather die than break a promise."

- Completely customizable characters.
- Hundreds of build paths for every character.
- A massive game world, split into five unique chapters.
- A fun and easy to use alchemy system.
- No random forced encounters.
- A cool new skilling system, similar to LOTR: The Third Age.
- An entertaining mini-game in every major city.
- Puzzles in each area to provide fun and unique game play!

[Show/Hide] The User Interface

Title Screen


Stat Distribution


Equipping Skills

[Show/Hide] The Maps/Lighting

Poor Man's Cave


Firia Forest


Flora Forest Base Camp

[Show/Hide] Miscellaneous Images

Battle System


Forging System


Firia's King

Developers:
CaptainRegal
DarkBox

Game-Specific Scripts:
Great Red Spirit

Battle UI:
Kikojui Frary

Beta Testers:
Code512
Yutakaa
NEIN

Special Thanks:
Kentona
Mr. Neemo
Tardis
Littlebro

Super Special Thanks:
RPGMaker.net!


Glacia: Chapter One v2.2
http://rpgmaker.net/games/920/downloads/3202/

Glacia: Chapter One v2.2 (With RTP Included)
http://rpgmaker.net/games/920/downloads/3203/

RTP Stand Alone (For the version without RTP)
http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/download/run-time-package

PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST NAVIGATE TO WHERE THE GAME HAS BEEN EXTRACTED AND CREATE A NEW FOLDER CALLED 'Save' IN THAT DIRECTORY. OTHERWISE, THE GAME WILL ERROR OUT AND CRASH WHEN YOU FIRST ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE GAME. THIS WILL BE FIXED IN THE NEXT UPDATE, SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE YOU HAVE BEEN CAUSED!!

Enjoy! Be sure to leave any feedback you have on the game here or on the game's rpgmaker.net page!

This post has been edited by captainregal: Feb 20 2012, 01:00 AM

[Titanhex]

Well the description is a bit unimpressive. You give out some details that sound rather pivotal with no real explanation for them. It almost sounds like you've given away 1/3 of your games story and plot. I would have liked a little bit more mystery unless the part about the women and the kingdom is revealed rather early. If it is, then thats a pretty big chunk of information given to us, and it sounds like it could be a bit hard to top to create an epic saga.

The use of RTP isn't entirely impressive, nor is Kaduki (Which you should credit) but this isn't a game that you have to pay to play, so it's certainly understandable. The maps and menus aren't bad, they're good quality. And I like some of the systems you're using.

This is all at a glance though. I hope plenty of people take a look, and decide to give it a try. It isn't about the plot of the story but rather how well it's all written and how strong the gameplay is.

[Kunno]

Downloading now, I look forward to checking it out!

Edit- I had an issue with saving, it gave me an error something about not being able to find a temp save something, closed out, and didn't save. I will play again tomorrow and screenshot the error if nobody else posts. Otherwise, I enjoyed the little bit I managed to get into tonight.

This post has been edited by Kunno: Feb 18 2012, 12:02 AM

[captainregal]

Downloading now, I look forward to checking it out!

Edit- I had an issue with saving, it gave me an error something about not being able to find a temp save something, closed out, and didn't save. I will play again tomorrow and screenshot the error if nobody else posts. Otherwise, I enjoyed the little bit I managed to get into tonight.

Ohhhh boy. We knew there would be a massive error after we release. Great catch, thanks. We'll see if we can fix it. Figured it out unfortunately, we forgot to include the "Save" folder in the release. This is causing the error. Adding that folder in will fix the error, and it should be done for you as soon as it errors out.

PLEASE NOTE: YOU MUST NAVIGATE TO WHERE THE GAME HAS BEEN EXTRACTED AND CREATE A NEW FOLDER CALLED 'Save' IN THAT DIRECTORY. OTHERWISE, THE GAME WILL ERROR OUT AND CRASH WHEN YOU FIRST ATTEMPT TO SAVE THE GAME. THIS WILL BE FIXED IN THE NEXT UPDATE, SORRY FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE YOU HAVE BEEN CAUSED!!

This post has been edited by captainregal: Feb 18 2012, 01:12 AM

[Kaimi]

I played the game as far as Combustion and

[Show/Hide] Story spoilers are inside.

I have to go to Flora City and ask its chief about the city's alignment, and go to Ancient Temple as well.

The story itself is a bit of sudden, and we are taken straight into the centre of the action. The king and the queen of Firia (I might still get some names wrong) kinda shocked me that they acted so calmly and warmly regarding the Prince, but I actually liked them both which is not something common with me.

Outside of the story... The inn charges are quite wild. The Hamilton charges nothing, Ember charges 50, and the City along with Combustion charges 100 which are, at least for me, to high, so I would charge them the half price. Another thing, sidequests are fun to do, but having to report every single one just to unlock a new one is strange as I don't suppose the Adventurer's Guild would be great by doing "one thing at a time."

[DarkBox]

I played the game as far as Combustion and

[Show/Hide] Story spoilers are inside.

I have to go to Flora City and ask its chief about the city's alignment, and go to Ancient Temple as well.

The story itself is a bit of sudden, and we are taken straight into the centre of the action. The king and the queen of Firia (I might still get some names wrong) kinda shocked me that they acted so calmly and warmly regarding the Prince, but I actually liked them both which is not something common with me.

Outside of the story... The inn charges are quite wild. The Hamilton charges nothing, Ember charges 50, and the City along with Combustion charges 100 which are, at least for me, to high, so I would charge them the half price. Another thing, sidequests are fun to do, but having to report every single one just to unlock a new one is strange as I don't suppose the Adventurer's Guild would be great by doing "one thing at a time."

Well, if you haven't reported the quest back, how will the guild know it's been done? There are other adventurers in guilds across Elesca that are also doing quests for them, so I wouldn't call that one thing at a time!
As for the Inns, they are meant to be expensive to encourage you to use healing potions, alchemy, spells, etc instead of simply walking back to the nearest town and instantly being healed for a penny per night.
The King and Queen have a lot of people relaying them information, so it's not really a surprise to them when Rain shows up. Not only that, but Blaze is a loyal warrior in Firia, and as such the King and Queen trust what he says. Rain has also been to Firia before to meet them, considering how Firia and Glacia used to be allies, so they do remember who he is. Ha ha and finally, the King and Queen rule Firia, so they know very well that the imposter doesn't exist, and if Lailah is lying about the imposter it's very possible she was lying about everything else as well.
Thanks for your feedback!

[Kunno]

I played the game as far as Combustion and

[Show/Hide] Story spoilers are inside.

I have to go to Flora City and ask its chief about the city's alignment, and go to Ancient Temple as well.

The story itself is a bit of sudden, and we are taken straight into the centre of the action. The king and the queen of Firia (I might still get some names wrong) kinda shocked me that they acted so calmly and warmly regarding the Prince, but I actually liked them both which is not something common with me.

Outside of the story... The inn charges are quite wild. The Hamilton charges nothing, Ember charges 50, and the City along with Combustion charges 100 which are, at least for me, to high, so I would charge them the half price. Another thing, sidequests are fun to do, but having to report every single one just to unlock a new one is strange as I don't suppose the Adventurer's Guild would be great by doing "one thing at a time."

Well, if you haven't reported the quest back, how will the guild know it's been done? There are other adventurers in guilds across Elesca that are also doing quests for them, so I wouldn't call that one thing at a time!
As for the Inns, they are meant to be expensive to encourage you to use healing potions, alchemy, spells, etc instead of simply walking back to the nearest town and instantly being healed for a penny per night.
The King and Queen have a lot of people relaying them information, so it's not really a surprise to them when Rain shows up. Not only that, but Blaze is a loyal warrior in Firia, and as such the King and Queen trust what he says. Rain has also been to Firia before to meet them, considering how Firia and Glacia used to be allies, so they do remember who he is. Ha ha and finally, the King and Queen rule Firia, so they know very well that the imposter doesn't exist, and if Lailah is lying about the imposter it's very possible she was lying about everything else as well.
Thanks for your feedback!

I agree with the guild thing. But inn's should really be rethought out. Given the monsters tend to respawn when going to a location, I can't see the dependence on potions/spells/alchemy being broken if inns were a tad cheaper.

Overall I like the game thus far. But little things are bugging me, like the Captain just going, "BYE." to the prince and leaving him to fend for himself while he is likely target number one. I mean, he's an experienced military man. It just strikes me as lack of common sense.

Also, when you're playing as Captain paper work you can save in the forest, I don't know if it's intentional or not.

[DarkBox]

I agree with the guild thing. But inn's should really be rethought out. Given the monsters tend to respawn when going to a location, I can't see the dependence on potions/spells/alchemy being broken if inns were a tad cheaper.

Overall I like the game thus far. But little things are bugging me, like the Captain just going, "BYE." to the prince and leaving him to fend for himself while he is likely target number one. I mean, he's an experienced military man. It just strikes me as lack of common sense.

Also, when you're playing as Captain paper work you can save in the forest, I don't know if it's intentional or not.

If you take what the inns do, completely heal your hp, completely replenish your mp, cure all status effects, and do this for your entire party and compare it with the cost of buying an hp pot, mp pot, a status cure, for even one character.... You're getting a huge bargain. There's no reason that inns should just cost willy nilly gold. You can already stay at an inn with the gold from just two battles.
As for the Captain dropping you off, it's explained that he needs to go ahead to Firia to explain the situation and get it set up so that they can get back to Glacia right away. The Hamlet is the safest place in Elesca, pretty much. The weather there is always mild, everyone is friendly, there isn't a safer place to be. Not only that, but Blaze lives there, Rain's friend. If you talk to any NPC's or anything you'll be told that.

[Kunno]

I agree with the guild thing. But inn's should really be rethought out. Given the monsters tend to respawn when going to a location, I can't see the dependence on potions/spells/alchemy being broken if inns were a tad cheaper.

Overall I like the game thus far. But little things are bugging me, like the Captain just going, "BYE." to the prince and leaving him to fend for himself while he is likely target number one. I mean, he's an experienced military man. It just strikes me as lack of common sense.

Also, when you're playing as Captain paper work you can save in the forest, I don't know if it's intentional or not.

If you take what the inns do, completely heal your hp, completely replenish your mp, cure all status effects, and do this for your entire party and compare it with the cost of buying an hp pot, mp pot, a status cure, for even one character.... You're getting a huge bargain. There's no reason that inns should just cost willy nilly gold. You can already stay at an inn with the gold from just two battles.
As for the Captain dropping you off, it's explained that he needs to go ahead to Firia to explain the situation and get it set up so that they can get back to Glacia right away. The Hamlet is the safest place in Elesca, pretty much. The weather there is always mild, everyone is friendly, there isn't a safer place to be. Not only that, but Blaze lives there, Rain's friend. If you talk to any NPC's or anything you'll be told that.

I was well aware of that. However, it still makes little sense that a military man would abandon a VIP, till he was sure he was safe. I mean, wouldn't his wife be gunning for him. I would think she would have an assassin or two available to her to send to keep an eye on possible locations he could show, like where his friends live, people he would try to contact, ect. (I was kinda hoping for one.) It wasn't an "I am not paying attention." It was more of a the situation didn't make sense.

For the inns. I don't mind it exactly, but if they were lower it would make it easier early on. Learning new skills takes awhile, which at the start seems to leave our heroes mostly with just limit breaks and normal attacks, and that can just be tedious instead of fun. The cheaper inn services could result in folks going for better gear to help the battles move a bit quicker. Also, inn's aren't like potions, you can only use them in the cities where they are located. I always viewed the extra cost for the usefulness of portable healing.

Although, I am digging the combat system, and for what it's worth. I am still enjoying the game overall so thanks for the hard work guys.

This post has been edited by Kunno: Feb 19 2012, 12:37 AM

[DarkBox]

I was well aware of that. However, it still makes little sense that a military man would abandon a VIP, till he was sure he was safe. I mean, wouldn't his wife be gunning for him. I would think she would have an assassin or two available to her to send to keep an eye on possible locations he could show, like where his friends live, people he would try to contact, ect. (I was kinda hoping for one.) It wasn't an "I am not paying attention." It was more of a the situation didn't make sense.

For the inns. I don't mind it exactly, but if they were lower it would make it easier early on. Learning new skills takes awhile, which at the start seems to leave our heroes mostly with just limit breaks and normal attacks, and that can just be tedious instead of fun. The cheaper inn services could result in folks going for better gear to help the battles move a bit quicker. Also, inn's aren't like potions, you can only use them in the cities where they are located. I always viewed the extra cost for the usefulness of portable healing.

Although, I am digging the combat system, and for what it's worth. I am still enjoying the game overall so thanks for the hard work guys.

Okay, I understand where you're coming from. The only thing I have to say about that is that Lailah didn't anticipate Rain's escape, so she wasn't able to send her assassins out like that. I get how it doesn't make sense to you, though.
As for the inns, we might look at curving the prices a bit more earlier. I also see where you're coming from here.
I'm really glad that you're enjoying the game, and I really appreciate your feedback. Be sure to let us know if you have any more comments!

This post has been edited by DarkBox: Feb 19 2012, 05:48 AM

[rewells]

Hello. I played through part of the demo last night. I died during the boss battle at the base in the forest, and I had forgotten to save before completing Rain's section...so that set me back a lot. Save anywhere is a great feature, but I always forget to save if there are no save points or reminders (am I the only person to have this problem?). I have a few other thoughts:

- The GUI, HUD and text boxes look AWESOME.
- Your alchemy system seems potentially very fun. Unique concept (at least I haven't seen it elsewhere)
- I don't understand how to use skills...which made battle very boring for me. I'm not sure if I missed something, but how do you assign and use them? I thought I assigned Water Kick to Rain, but it's always gray so I can never use it
-The World Map looks good but lags - are you using an anti-lag script?
- The story and characters overall are interesting, but I think Rain's attitude toward his wife changes way too quickly. Finding out your wife is trying to murder you is pretty hard-to-deal with. Some additional monologues might improve his character development.
- I noticed several typos (mostly involving punctuation) in the text. Let me know if you need a grammar editor :-)

Overall good work - I'm looking forward to seeing more!

I was well aware of that. However, it still makes little sense that a military man would abandon a VIP, till he was sure he was safe. I mean, wouldn't his wife be gunning for him. I would think she would have an assassin or two available to her to send to keep an eye on possible locations he could show, like where his friends live, people he would try to contact, ect. (I was kinda hoping for one.) It wasn't an "I am not paying attention." It was more of a the situation didn't make sense.

For the inns. I don't mind it exactly, but if they were lower it would make it easier early on. Learning new skills takes awhile, which at the start seems to leave our heroes mostly with just limit breaks and normal attacks, and that can just be tedious instead of fun. The cheaper inn services could result in folks going for better gear to help the battles move a bit quicker. Also, inn's aren't like potions, you can only use them in the cities where they are located. I always viewed the extra cost for the usefulness of portable healing.

Although, I am digging the combat system, and for what it's worth. I am still enjoying the game overall so thanks for the hard work guys.

Okay, I understand where you're coming from. The only thing I have to say about that is that Lailah didn't anticipate Rain's escape, so she wasn't able to send her assassins out like that. I get how it doesn't make sense to you, though.
As for the inns, we might look at curving the prices a bit more earlier. I also see where you're coming from here.
I'm really glad that you're enjoying the game, and I really appreciate your feedback. Be sure to let us know if you have any more comments!

[Alex898]

Hey I remember this game. Except last time I played it Spider was a man lmfao

[Kunno]

rewells- I'm thinking they're like limit breaks or something, it might be more useful to spell out if they're breaks or not in the descriptions of them.

Admittedly, I am kinda drunk and it's four am, but I was thinking. Would it be possible to let us use the skills while we have the item equipped? If it's possible, we get to try before we buy! among other bonuses that really aren't coming to me right this moment.

I had SOMETHING else to say, but i'll do it in the morning.

/me looks at the half empty bottle of JD.

[captainregal]

Hello. I played through part of the demo last night. I died during the boss battle at the base in the forest, and I had forgotten to save before completing Rain's section...so that set me back a lot. Save anywhere is a great feature, but I always forget to save if there are no save points or reminders (am I the only person to have this problem?). I have a few other thoughts:

- The GUI, HUD and text boxes look AWESOME.
- Your alchemy system seems potentially very fun. Unique concept (at least I haven't seen it elsewhere)
- I don't understand how to use skills...which made battle very boring for me. I'm not sure if I missed something, but how do you assign and use them? I thought I assigned Water Kick to Rain, but it's always gray so I can never use it
-The World Map looks good but lags - are you using an anti-lag script?
- The story and characters overall are interesting, but I think Rain's attitude toward his wife changes way too quickly. Finding out your wife is trying to murder you is pretty hard-to-deal with. Some additional monologues might improve his character development.
- I noticed several typos (mostly involving punctuation) in the text. Let me know if you need a grammar editor :-)

Overall good work - I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Awesome! We're glad that you enjoyed the game. The save thing is kind of your fault, really. XD Saving is something you should just remember to do. For one of the big boss battles in this chapter there is a save room in the dungeon beforehand. Also, skills are explained in detail when Gaven drops you off at The Hamlet for the first time. Did you not read it? Here is a copy and paste:

Skill Tutorial:
In order to learn skills in Glacia, you will need to equip a
ring that teaches you the skill. To learn the skill, 'Endure',
equip your ring under the 'Equipment' sub-menu.
Skill Tutorial:
When you defeat an enemy while wearing a skill ring, you
will earn 'Technique Points' that help you to learn the skill.
Skill Tutorial:
Once you have enough Technique Points to learn an ability,
enter the 'Equip Skill' sub-menu and equip the skill to use
it in battle.

The more monologues thing has been suggested before as well. We'll look at this. As for the typos, please point out where you found them. The game has already had every single word of text re-written by a competent writer, so no, there is no need for a grammar editor. You are the only person to ever have mentioned typos.

rewells- I'm thinking they're like limit breaks or something, it might be more useful to spell out if they're breaks or not in the descriptions of them.

Admittedly, I am kinda drunk and it's four am, but I was thinking. Would it be possible to let us use the skills while we have the item equipped? If it's possible, we get to try before we buy! among other bonuses that really aren't coming to me right this moment.

I had SOMETHING else to say, but i'll do it in the morning.

/me looks at the half empty bottle of JD.

The skills themselves, under the equip skill menu, are described as being "Burst" skills. There is also a "Burst Mode" bar that fills up as you attack during the battle. Once it starts blinking, you can use your Burst abilities such as Rain's Tidal Kick. I can't imagine that rewells has battled more than 4 or 5 slimes with Rain, because that is generally how long it takes to fill the bar by just mashing attack (Rest builds it the fastest). Once it's full, it blinks pretty madly so that you know you can use your burst ability.
As for using the skills while the ring is equipped, that would kind of defeat the purpose. You equip the ring to learn the skill, and then you never need the ring again and can actually no longer equip it once you've learned the skill.

[rewells]

Thanks for the response. I'll give it another whirl and pick out specific grammar issues I see (I didn't mean to sound overly critical -the things I noticed were minor and I find little things like them in my projects all the time). I do think it'd be more exciting to be able to use skills while having items equipped and earn TP to learn them permanently, especially since you don't start off with any readily usable skills. The Esper system in FF6 is a good model.

Hello. I played through part of the demo last night. I died during the boss battle at the base in the forest, and I had forgotten to save before completing Rain's section...so that set me back a lot. Sae anywhere is a great feature, but I always forget to save if there are no save points or reminders (am I the only person to have this problem?). I have a few other thoughts:

- The GUI, HUD and text boxes look AWESOME.
- Your alchemy system seems potentially very fun. Unique concept (at least I haven't seen it elsewhere)
- I don't understand how to use skills...which made battle very boring for me. I'm not sure if I missed something, but how do you assign and use them? I thought I assigned Water Kick to Rain, but it's always gray so I can never use it
-The World Map looks good but lags - are you using an anti-lag script?
- The story and characters overall are interesting, but I think Rain's attitude toward his wife changes way too quickly. Finding out your wife is trying to murder you is pretty hard-to-deal with. Some additional monologues might improve his character development.
- I noticed several typos (mostly involving punctuation) in the text. Let me know if you need a grammar editor :-)

Overall good work - I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Awesome! We're glad that you enjoyed the game. The save thing is kind of your fault, really. XD Saving is something you should just remember to do. For one of the big boss battles in this chapter there is a save room in the dungeon beforehand. Also, skills are explained in detail when Gaven drops you off at The Hamlet for the first time. Did you not read it? Here is a copy and paste:

Skill Tutorial:
In order to learn skills in Glacia, you will need to equip a
ring that teaches you the skill. To learn the skill, 'Endure',
equip your ring under the 'Equipment' sub-menu.
Skill Tutorial:
When you defeat an enemy while wearing a skill ring, you
will earn 'Technique Points' that help you to learn the skill.
Skill Tutorial:
Once you have enough Technique Points to learn an ability,
enter the 'Equip Skill' sub-menu and equip the skill to use
it in battle.

The more monologues thing has been suggested before as well. We'll look at this. As for the typos, please point out where you found them. The game has already had every single word of text re-written by a competent writer, so no, there is no need for a grammar editor. You are the only person to ever have mentioned typos.

rewells- I'm thinking they're like limit breaks or something, it might be more useful to spell out if they're breaks or not in the descriptions of them.

Admittedly, I am kinda drunk and it's four am, but I was thinking. Would it be possible to let us use the skills while we have the item equipped? If it's possible, we get to try before we buy! among other bonuses that really aren't coming to me right this moment.

I had SOMETHING else to say, but i'll do it in the morning.

/me looks at the half empty bottle of JD.

The skills themselves, under the equip skill menu, are described as being "Burst" skills. There is also a "Burst Mode" bar that fills up as you attack during the battle. Once it starts blinking, you can use your Burst abilities such as Rain's Tidal Kick. I can't imagine that rewells has battled more than 4 or 5 slimes with Rain, because that is generally how long it takes to fill the bar by just mashing attack (Rest builds it the fastest). Once it's full, it blinks pretty madly so that you know you can use your burst ability.
As for using the skills while the ring is equipped, that would kind of defeat the purpose. You equip the ring to learn the skill, and then you never need the ring again and can actually no longer equip it once you've learned the skill.

This post has been edited by rewells: Feb 26 2012, 03:47 PM

[Kunno]

Hello. I played through part of the demo last night. I died during the boss battle at the base in the forest, and I had forgotten to save before completing Rain's section...so that set me back a lot. Save anywhere is a great feature, but I always forget to save if there are no save points or reminders (am I the only person to have this problem?). I have a few other thoughts:

- The GUI, HUD and text boxes look AWESOME.
- Your alchemy system seems potentially very fun. Unique concept (at least I haven't seen it elsewhere)
- I don't understand how to use skills...which made battle very boring for me. I'm not sure if I missed something, but how do you assign and use them? I thought I assigned Water Kick to Rain, but it's always gray so I can never use it
-The World Map looks good but lags - are you using an anti-lag script?
- The story and characters overall are interesting, but I think Rain's attitude toward his wife changes way too quickly. Finding out your wife is trying to murder you is pretty hard-to-deal with. Some additional monologues might improve his character development.
- I noticed several typos (mostly involving punctuation) in the text. Let me know if you need a grammar editor :-)

Overall good work - I'm looking forward to seeing more!

Awesome! We're glad that you enjoyed the game. The save thing is kind of your fault, really. XD Saving is something you should just remember to do. For one of the big boss battles in this chapter there is a save room in the dungeon beforehand. Also, skills are explained in detail when Gaven drops you off at The Hamlet for the first time. Did you not read it? Here is a copy and paste:

Skill Tutorial:
In order to learn skills in Glacia, you will need to equip a
ring that teaches you the skill. To learn the skill, 'Endure',
equip your ring under the 'Equipment' sub-menu.
Skill Tutorial:
When you defeat an enemy while wearing a skill ring, you
will earn 'Technique Points' that help you to learn the skill.
Skill Tutorial:
Once you have enough Technique Points to learn an ability,
enter the 'Equip Skill' sub-menu and equip the skill to use
it in battle.

The more monologues thing has been suggested before as well. We'll look at this. As for the typos, please point out where you found them. The game has already had every single word of text re-written by a competent writer, so no, there is no need for a grammar editor. You are the only person to ever have mentioned typos.

rewells- I'm thinking they're like limit breaks or something, it might be more useful to spell out if they're breaks or not in the descriptions of them.

Admittedly, I am kinda drunk and it's four am, but I was thinking. Would it be possible to let us use the skills while we have the item equipped? If it's possible, we get to try before we buy! among other bonuses that really aren't coming to me right this moment.

I had SOMETHING else to say, but i'll do it in the morning.

/me looks at the half empty bottle of JD.

The skills themselves, under the equip skill menu, are described as being "Burst" skills. There is also a "Burst Mode" bar that fills up as you attack during the battle. Once it starts blinking, you can use your Burst abilities such as Rain's Tidal Kick. I can't imagine that rewells has battled more than 4 or 5 slimes with Rain, because that is generally how long it takes to fill the bar by just mashing attack (Rest builds it the fastest). Once it's full, it blinks pretty madly so that you know you can use your burst ability.
As for using the skills while the ring is equipped, that would kind of defeat the purpose. You equip the ring to learn the skill, and then you never need the ring again and can actually no longer equip it once you've learned the skill.

Whoa, I don't even remember writing that. But any who, that's kind of the point. It let's us try before we buy which helps us build our party and it helps us come to terms as players as to what we find useful or not.

[lethitax]

(Hmm, last post was near the end of February, so hopefully this isn't considered a necro, since it still is 3-ish months old...)

Demo Impressions -

(Just finished the game with 10 hours and 38 minutes clocked in, although 2-3 hours of that was me afking).

What I liked:

- Yay, good voice acting in-battle!

- Grammar and Spelling are top-notch and the text is very fluid; as if each character were alive and talking right in-front of me. I did notice 1 irregularity, but amongst the tons of text I went through; it's negligible.

- The way you learn skills is something I don't see implemented often; the last time I've seen a ring system was on an actual hand-held game, and I believe it's a good alternative to the generic method of acquiring skills as it allows for a lot more variety, rather than being forced to learn based on class restrictions. (although some rings are class/character exclusive; overall the majority of skills can be learned by anyone).

- The Kaduki Battle System is something I'm quite unfamiliar with, but it has a nice/modern feel to it.

- Great mapping and lighting effects.

- An RPG that emphasizes on items being hidden in random objects, HUZZAH!

- I was surprised at how meticulous you were in giving almost every object a dialogue to accompany it.

- The Rune-Crafting system is simple, but gives the player a lot of options, especially with weapons.

- Alchemy also allows me to save gold and make use of all those monster materials.

- My first 7+ hour demo!

- The BGM's are very nice as well, especially for the Ancient Temple; which conveyed a deep sense of sorrow. The revamped version for the tree boss fight was also very excellent 8D!

- The Guild side-quests reminded me of Sora No Kiseki's Bracer Guild: an organization that exists in every town, where you could go and take up odd-jobs for people in need of assistance and gain rewards + grade rank points in exchange.

- Game-shops are fun and the designs are simple, yet engaging. (Loved the second one; where you had to go through a gauntlet of enemies to reach the exit).

- Movement system is implemented properly, and being able to toggle between dashing and walking without having to hold down the shift key is a god-send.

- Dynamic scenes for certain moments in the game: like the storm that occurs when sailing in the air-ship for the first time.

- Nothing is too expensive, but there's always something to spend gold on, so it still retains its value throughout the game.

- Characters with multiple weapon paths and ways to customize them utilizing the skill/rune system to suit their needs.

- Proper difficulty scaling that requires players to adapt to enemies as they progress, which compliments the crafting system; for example, ghosts are weak to fire, but immune to ice!

- The item selling npc on the world map is also an interesting concept, but I can see it being very useful in certain situations where maybe it's the only help you'll be getting for a while if there are no towns nearby or you're in an event of some kind that limits where you can go.

- <3 Sadie. D= Rain should get her as a love interest!

- A nice/basic variety of monsters that fit in with the environment.


What I'd like to address:

- Raine's sudden change of heart in one night about the love of his life is flaky. You don't just come to terms so soon that your wife is the enemy and seek to off her head. The way Raine handled it tells me one of two things: that he never loved her to begin with, or he's a really fickle person who has no trust when it comes to personal relationships. Flesh this out as much as you can, as it's basically the whole reason why Raine is going through this entire ordeal.

- The way the guild system is setup is a tad odd: you have a bunch of bill-boards, but they all stem from the same quest-line, and there aren't a lot of guild buildings either: only one in Flora and another in Big Flame City. It takes a while to run back and forth.

- A teleport skill of some sort or you know; anairshipcough, would be a nice addition as I can see it getting a tad trouble-some to go through so many forests just to get from place to place as the world expands. I mean the boat is nice, but there's still quite a bit of back-tracking with quests and all.

- There weren't a lot of elemental skills. Yes, with the rune-craft system you can acquire elemental weapons, but normal attacks tend to miss....a lot. I'm assuming you guys will have a plethora of elemental skills later on to learn, though, seeing as this is only a demo of chapter 1, I suppose I shouldn't expect too much.

- The balm and toxic hats are quite expensive, but don't offer any stats. I mean they do protect from status ailments, but I don't get afflicted with those often enough to even consider using them, they seem a tad useless for now; a vanity items that costs 1200 gold each.

- When you get Spider: she doesn't start out with anything but a bow and some lack-luster equips, and the time you obtain her is really late in the demo. I had already gotten the new equipment from Flora on Blaze/Becca, so I didn't see much incentive to use her. Maybe start her out with better gear and some innate skills?

- Graven is the same.

- I had a bit of a hard time discerning stats: how often would I crit with a critical rating of 4? Why does SPI gain 3-4 points per upgrade? Is it really necessary to spend points on health/mp, when it can easily be increased just by leveling up? I mean other stats already cost 2 per and the crit rating requires a whooping 5! Yet I can't even tell if it's worth-while or not.

- Speaking of SPI: even at 220+ on Becca; I didn't see that much of a change, yes, her flicker did more damage, but I expected much higher values with that much SPI. I basically did the same amount of damage on a ghost as I did with a normal attack from a Steamy Sword: 230-280. I'm assuming that's why SPI gets more per 2 stat points, but I was expecting atleast 330+ with that much SPI.

- The class exclusive skills include elemental attacks; I had issues with this as I had a main mage-type; Becca, but she couldn't learn anything but fire attacks, while Rain has all the ice/water skills, which is fitting considering his title, but he isn't going to have the SPI needed to fully utilize those skills, as I have him more as a jack of all trades; but primarily focused on attack/agility.

(So, Becca inflicts normal damage on mobs with neutral affinities, super effective on encounters weak to fire, but sorta falls short if we're facing something that resists fire. She also has a lot of wasted SPI potential, since she's stuck with fire rings.)

- Mana required by skills are steep. 38 per to heal? 30 for a blind strike? Not everyone is going to have the mana that Becca has or the SPI to get 100 MP from minor mana drain, and 5 ability points per level is better invested else-where for some characters who are better suited to physical attacks than magic. By the time I faced the temple boss: Rain and Blaze were relegated to just focus on normal attacks with strengthen to back them up, as they could not afford to use their other skills due to the high mana costs.

- The over-drives are limited in the sense that Rain's Ice version isn't very effective, and his Tidal Kick caps at around 400 (un-buffed) and 570 (with strengthen), while his normal attacks do 380-530 when boosted by strengthen. Everyone else only has 1 drive to choose from as well, but the point I'd like to make is: some drives are under-whelming, while others like Blaze/Becca's are fantastic for their utility.

- Overdrive:

A. You gain way too much meter when resting; almost half a bar! Dumb it down and increase the amount of mp/hp you heal instead, as resting does not mean you take less damage from a hit and you've basically just skipped a turn. I've also noticed that the OD meter does not rebuild immediately after use: it only goes up after you take 2 actions for that character; I'm assuming it's a cool-down feature, but I just wanted to mention it.

B. It costs 2 SP to equip a OD skill, when there's already a limited max. My SP was around 9 to 11 on average by the end of the demo, which isn't as much as it sounds when you factor in those 3 SP passives, skills, and heals. Now that's how I feel right now from playing Chapter 1, future chapters may make that 2 SP look like a steal for its utility, but for what it's worth in this demo: I'd of rather had it as a skill you already have ready, without having to use SP.

C. Normal attacks give a good chunk of meter, but you gain no meter from taking hits. I'd prefer to gain more meter when I'm taking damage; and a slightly higher increase if I'm below a certain threshold of health, like 30% or less. Rather than focus solely on full frontal aggression.

- Enemies evade or I miss normal attacks way too often sometimes. I'd get a mob near death, but miss 2-3 times in a row, then they attack and I take unnecessary damage.

- The cost of supplies like status cures or mana re-gainers are a tad higher than they should be. I mean I've had 7,000+ gold on several occasions, but 30 per eye drop or 75 per mana vial means I can't stock up. Yes, we have food alternatives, but if something goes wrong in battle...I don't have much to go on in terms of items. At the end of the demo: I only had about 8 items that recovered mana; that was usable in a fight.

- The Alchemy system can be a bit tedious when I want to create in bulk, unless there was an option for that and I missed it?

- Selling an item immediately resets the page, so I always had to scroll to the bottom in order to sell my out-dated equipment. Was there a filter in-shop that I missed? If not, it could use one!

- Please add in extra text on the second game-shop that tells you that each retry requires an additional 100 gold. (I'm just glad I saved before-hand, else I would of lost 1200 gold!)

- Sometimes the battle animations take a tad longer than they should: Rain's normal attack animation sort of lingers for a second or so, before his sprite goes back to his side of the field. Also the encounters in the burning forest (after the air-ship crash) lag a bit after you obtain a victory; you don't get the results screen until 3-4 seconds after the skirmish ended.

- The dungeons later on look potentially problematic: you can't save inside, so if you end up getting far and meet some unexpected loss; like against a boss, then you have to start from scratch, unless you want to finish the puzzles and go all the way back to the entrance to save, then go all the way back to where the boss is.

(I did like how you circumvented that problem with the Ancient Temple, as you had beds there to rest/save, even though it was after that triple mini-boss fight. I hope we can get more of those types of rest/save areas later, if a dungeon takes a while to get through.)

- I've encountered a potentially game-breaking bug, that I will explain in the next section.

Bugs and Glitches:

Flora City - The north and eastern exits can randomly send you to an enclosed area, causing you to be stuck indefinitely.

Triggers that lead to this area;

a. Entering and then leaving or vice versa via the northern exit too fast.

b. Entering the docks via the upper part of the bridge.

c. Utilizing the boat from Ember or The Hamlet to enter Flora, then trying to leave via the north/east exits.

d. Going back to Flora City after acquiring Graven.

In one case: I had to reload a save file prior to the Ancient Temple boss fight, because the game would not allow me to exit Flora City. The Western exit is fine though, but isn't an alternative if I need to head to Big Flame City or anywhere else for that matter. Screenies below!

Where I was taken -

http://s426.photobucket.com/albums/pp341/X...ent=Glacia5.jpg

http://s426.photobucket.com/albums/pp341/X...ent=Glacia7.jpg

Exits that lead to this -

http://s426.photobucket.com/albums/pp341/X...ent=Glacia6.jpg

http://s426.photobucket.com/albums/pp341/X...ent=Glacia8.jpg

Big Flame City/Castle - Raine confuses a pillar with a set of armor; 4 sets to be exact (2 on either side).

http://s426.photobucket.com/albums/pp341/X...ent=Glacia3.jpg

- When trying to move diagonal, the animations tend to look wonky.

Suggestions:

- Not sure if you'll want to consider this, since it could be a lot of extra work, but it'd be nice to have exclusive guild quests for each town, rather than drawing from a singular quest-line. More Guild Hall locations would also be a plus!

- A better explanation of stats; how much points they give for every 2 stat points, and how many upgrades are required to make an impact: you could imply that 3 upgrades to attack will increase the damage bracket from 1-2 to 3-4, as an example.

- Change "posses" in alchemy to "possession".

- Add some preliminary skills to new party members, or one's that you don't get much time with, but join later. Having to start from scratch is not something to look forward too.

- Built-in options menu (atleast for basic features) where you can toggle some settings, yes I know you have F1, but an integrated system within the game would make it more seamless, or just a personal preference for me.

- Juke-box's are pretty popular I hear....nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

- Some of the towns seemed rather small/compact, like Flora City, which looked more like a small village to me, than an actual city. Maybe expand them to give a more spacious feel; fitting of the locale and name.

Miscellaneous:

- What are the mini-medals for? I've collected a good amount of them, but I'm assuming the npc who buys it isn't implemented yet, or I missed him/her entirely....

- Raine's surprised face looks a tad...awkward XD.

http://s426.photobucket.com/albums/pp341/X...ent=Glacia4.jpg

- It took Graven a long time to get that air-ship fixed....only to have it crash and burn. I wonder how he feels =x.

- For people complaining about the inn being expensive, Trofields house gives free boarding on floor 2!

- I didn't expect to see a post-office, maybe you can expand on that?

- I knocked on a lot of houses, you'd think atleast a few would have people inside. Room for a lot of humor dialogues right there...

- There were 2 black chests I could not reach, are they for chapter 2?

Overall - I loved every second of it and wish you good luck with the game!

This post has been edited by lethitax: Jun 13 2012, 02:04 PM

[amerk]

Re-opened at the OP's request.