Addenda [Demo!]

[Clord]

Any database changes that could crash the save file from the previous version?

 

[West Mains]

Probably a few.

EDIT:

Well, maybe. I dunno. I added the new maps, changed an event, there may be things added to the database that aren't used save for an item or two. I dont know if thatll crash it or not. 

 

[West Mains]

A new demo version is out! Couple more areas to explore, some enemies, some things have been fixed (finally figured out why the "mov'it pocket!" event was so damn buggy, among other things.)

Looooooooooooooooots of the database was altered since previous versions, so you may wish to check if an existing save file still works.

 

[West Mains]

New demo version, 5.2.0

Changes:

- Sky-battle with Kirk now explains in some detail the functions of battle for those who are unfamiliar with these games

- Kirk gifts a book which can be read at any time which explains States and how they effect you/enemies.

- Fixed some wall/interiors

- Changed Sky-battle [kirk tutorial] Monster's stats. He now has slightly higher health and does slightly lower damage.

- Sky-battle will now give a hint if the player's health drops below 20%. It will also give them some healing items incase they missed any previously. Mostly useful since the losing the fight does not result in a game over, merely allows a retry. [Only just now realising the potential for Broccoli Farming at this stage in the game...]

- Fixed a book in Kirk's upstairs that previously would not work

- Fixed items in Kirk's basement, dialogue boxes should now work correctly.

- Added a tile or two to help players figure out the Basement Puzzle

- Added an option to have a dialogue with Kirk after completing the tutorial, this can lead to some minor information about his daughter.

 

[West Mains]

New demo version 5.2.2:

Changes:
- It is now possible to sprint in all areas
- Blue Death's Petal mini-boss is now harder

- Corrected some text errors in dialogue boxes.

- Added an event to make players more aware of other areas of the mines, particularly those relating to a mini-boss.
- A passibiliy problem has been corrected
- An event that runs when you enter East Kiria should now run as normal
- Lowered the volume of the high-pitch tone heard during the East Kiria Cutscene
- Fixed a passability problem in the Watchtower
- Spruced up East Kirian house, now has more examinable items.
- Fixed inconsistent wall heights
- Changed the roof sizes of the houses in East Kiria
- When fighting the Graveyard Ghost, if Joseph reaches 30% health, Kirk will inform players about his Kateri spell
- Nerfed Bleed state, now does much less damage.
- Nerfed Mature Mountain Spiders. They will now only Triple-Attack if your party is level 10 and over
- Fixed a bug that allowed you to consume Spider's Eggs

 

[West Mains]

Demo Version 5.3.0 is now live.

Changes:

- Changed some tiles, notably in Kirk's house. Carpet tiles now look neater.
- Added a few more decorative items across most maps
- Added a handful of conversations to East Kiria which begin to explore Kirk and Joseph's differening personalities.
- Added a Bestiary. Enemies you fight will now appear in the Bestiary. Here you can examine their Weaknesses, their Resistances and various Stats to help you better prepare yourself against them.
- Added Beer bottles to East Kiria Tent. Can be picked up for usable items.
- Allowed players to venture a little further into the demo. Game no longer blocks access to the Kiria Bluffs, this will allow access to the point where Joseph learns his first Unique Skill.

 

[Omnimental]

Alright, played a bit of the demo, and I've got some thoughts.

1. Intro (The 'Presents' part) is too long.  I'm a quick reader, and waiting for that to go past just seemed to drag.

2. Interaction with the environment was nice.  Some of the text was a bit repetitive, but I definitely enjoyed looking for stuff.  The tombstones were a nice touch.  I actually read all of them.  The cultural mix of names threw me a bit though.  Not sure if subtle world building or random name generator.

3. Broccoli seems utterly useless.  You don't enter a real fight until after you've picked up a healer, and it heals for significantly less than a single attack does.

4. Meditate outside of battle should just fully restore MP.  Having to spam the okay button and listen to the confirm sound again and again to refill his mana isn't engaging, it's annoying.  And with the damage that the average random encounter puts out, having to do so after every fight is just aggravating.

5. I enjoy the dialog options that are presented, the storyline clues are there without being in your face.

6. I'd advise removing the text announcing the job class change after the tutorial fight.  I understood what it meant, but an new player is going to be confused and wonder what happened.  There's no real significance to the moment (ala Cecil), and job changing doesn't seem to be an interactive part of the game.  It makes you wonder what the point of it was.

7. Upstairs in Kirk's house there's a corner piece of the carpet trim that hasn't been removed.  It stands out.

8. Random encounters felt too frequent.

 

[West Mains]

1. Yep, we've always had a problem getting that part right, I haven't touched it because it's been so long since anyone mentioned it!

2. It's world building, definitely. If you recall a tombstone that had the name "Tai" on it, this becomes incredibly relevant later on, some of the names are relevant figures in history, a handful refer to parts in the games backstory and the rest are puns on existing people (my favourite is Diheo Jokima)

3. Yep. Broccoli was added early on to give people a chance to survive the 'tutorial fight' since originally it would wipe a person out if they weren't keeping on top of healing. It's really only there to give a small help. Example: you're your out of Pots and your healer doesn't have the TP to regen his Mana or something like that. Once you leave Kiria Broccoli will be forgotten about. I hope.

4. I was of the opinion that making it so frustratingly slow would make players want to find other means of restoring mana, especially at later levels of the game, but because of the differences between when the Meditation system was first made and the game now, I think I will do as you've suggested and make meditation the primary Mana restorer. 

5. I enjoy making them! Im taking a Dark Souls approach to the plot. The main story is being told with no subtlety and that'll work but if players feel they really want to get a deep understanding of why X faction, Y character and Z events are really happening and interacting the way they are, they can find lots of subtler hints and explanations are points to piece together the big story that sets everythign in motion.

6. That text will definitely be removed.

7. D'oh! Thanks for noticing! I'll get on it

8. In which areas? Or do you mean generally? 

Thank you for playing the demo. How far did you get in it? 

Also, I'm interested to know your thoughts on the game as a whole, especially in regards to the story so far. 

Any favourite characters? (my favourite is Carmach)

 

[Omnimental]

To be honest, I haven't gotten all that far yet.  I have a poor time remembering to save, and I went after that plant thing in the mines and lost about half an hour of game time after it wiped me.  After which I lost my willingness to go through spamming 1mana meditate after every battle to get back to where I was. 

Gonna give it another run tonight, probably.  I'll post another review once I've played more into it.

 

[West Mains]

Haha, I could have used giant floating crystals as save points but I think if I saw another RPM game doing that I might have to stab my eyes out with my house keys.

In a little bit I'll PM you with a link to download an updated demo that's got the Meditate Mind buff. It's not a complete demo version (since only bug fixes are added to it, alongside some database additions and preparation for the next section of the game) which is why I won't make it accessible through this thread.

 

[West Mains]

New Demo verison is alive.

Fixlist:

- Made Meditation outside of battle restore much more Mana.
- Fixed a tile in Kirk's upstairs room.
- Adjusted Random Encounter frequences.
- Removed class-change message following the combat tutorial.
- Fixed a bug where Kirk would still tell you his name even after he's told you in the basement.
- Fixed intro title cards to make them faster
- Added additional lines of dialogue in the intro
- Changed opacity of Main Menu's text box, now transparent.
- Fixed the butterflies
- Fixed an ambiguation in text
- Fixed Kirk Speech Choice glitch in basement
- Fixed some minor typos
- Fixed Inn bookshelf descriptions
- Fixed some minor dialogue box errors
- Removed a tile that blocked access to second mini-boss in Kiria Mines

 

[West Mains]

The demo has been updated. This is a big one! A lot of things, especially in relation to Kiria Mines, were raised and have been addressed as I feel is appropriate. Hopefully this is a step in the right direction!

Here's the patch notes:

Addenda Demo v 3.5.6
- Batats have been altered. Now weaker to thunder, chance to poison is lower, chance to blind is lower. Now has a chance to drop weak water brews, has slightly greater chance to drop Nettle Brews.
- Fixed Water Brew Splash Anim.
- Fixed many tiles that needed repaired/fixed or swapped.
- Adjusted Spider stats, now has slightly lower health and smaller chance to inflict Poison.
- Kateri now costs 25mp
- In the Kiria Mines the weight for Spider mobs has dropped and players will only face 2 at a time.
- Random encounter chances in Kiria Mines are now lower by a small amount.
- Fixed one of the events in the Mines that explains why Joseph wont walk along the tracks.
- Gold bars no longer appear in combat item menu.
- Kirian Mine key now has an icon.
- Weak Water Brew now heals for 120 HP.
- The Edditch tome inside the Kiria Mines now only raises DEF by 3.
- Added a new item to Kiria mines: can be found in room with blue crystal, item recovers Mana. Is not as effective as Meditations, but can be a good save if you have no TP.
- First encounter with Doro (mov'it pocket!) now includes sound effects.
- Added Flourish to Watchtower. This item removes Decay state.
- Chance to find Flourish on enemys that cast Decay.
- Added Journal to Watchtower.
- Wild Agaric can no longer be applied to others, it must be taken by the User.
- Corrected a typo in Akira's house.
- Carmach's unique skills TP costs have changed; Call to Arms now costs 53, Rally costs 25.
- When the Meditation tutorial appears after asking Kirk about it, the screen will now fade out to make the text easier to read. This also happens with the States Info Book he gives you.
- Burning is now removed at battle end.
- Bleeding can no longer be removed by damage.
- Title Card has been changed to make 'Addenda' clearer
- Game Over screen has been changed to a custom image.
- Game Over music has been changed.
- At Level 5, Fighter-Class characters (such as Joseph) will now learn Cover.
- Added a package of items to help with the status-inflicting attacks common in the Kiria Mines.
- Added sound effects to the puzzle in Kirk's basement.
- Fixed a bug where the puzzle in Kirk's basement would not give its reward despite telling players it had.
- Kirk's Basement puzzle now gives a few more items.
- Added something extra to the watchtower cutscene.
 

 

[Kes]

Just downloaded the demo and played through until after he collects Kirk, which I know technically might not be long, but as I've been clicking everything in sight it works out at 20 minutes gameplay.  Just a few points from this short section for you to add to your 'polishing' notepad.  

I had a nearly 50% miss rate in the tutorial battle.  This seems to me to be way too high.  It might be set lower in theory, but that was not my experience.

On the opening map (Inn) I can just for a moment see the tint screen transition happening.

The sound of rain is as loud inside the Major's house as it is outside.

This next one may be intentional, dunno, but the food, crockery and the table cloth in the left room of Kirk's house are on the floor, not on tables.

In the meditations tutorial, it reads "(this this case..)"

Your transfer events in Kirk's house appear to be set to 'Retain Direction'.  This means that the sprite is actually facing the wrong way when e.g. they go up the stairs from the basement and to the upper floor.

Not sure that a complete newcomer is going to find the states tutorial all that informative.

Any chance of adding autodash in?  Holding shift down permanently is going to be awkward, and many players find the default walking speed too slow by far.

Intriguing opening, a lot of potential.  I will try and find a bit of time to play a decent length of it and then (again if I have time) give more feedback of a more general nature.

 

[West Mains]

This next one may be intentional, dunno, but the food, crockery and the table cloth in the left room of Kirk's house are on the floor, not on tables.

Okay, I want to address this for the 900th time.

He was eating on the floor.

There. It's a cultural thing, you understand. 

Auto-dash is an idea, though. do you know of a specific script for that?

Everything else has been noted to be fixed. Thanks for taking the time to mention them.

 

[Kes]

For autodash I use Yanfly's System Options script; it gives the player some other choices as well.  It probably needs Yanfly's Ace Core Engine, though, and if you're using something else, then I don't know if it will work.

 

[West Mains]

That's lucky since I already use a handful of Yanfly scripts (namely his party and battle engines.)

 

[Kes]

I am using quite a number of Yanfly's scripts.  Very useful, and because they are all made by the same person I don't get anxious about compatability.

Played a bit more, and a couple more things.

Went back to Kirk's basement to see if I could find how to open the red chest and one of the jars.  (I'd got one jar open).  I noticed top left corner there are a couple of tiles with what look like footprints leading up to the wall.  Interesting - but unfortunately not passable, so if there is something about that wall I can't reach it.

Your battlebacks need resizing as they are smaller than the screen resolution you've chosen and so have black borders.

 

[West Mains]

 Interesting - but unfortunately not passable, so if there is something about that wall I can't reach it.

Your battlebacks need resizing as they are smaller than the screen resolution you've chosen and so have black borders.

Crraaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap! You're the first person to even notice them, but I'm still a bit ticked I forgot about passability.

The black borders thing I never even noticed until you mentioned it just now. I'm using that Yanfly script that widens the window to a nicer resolution, so I'll need to look into how far I'll need to scale the battlebacks. Will look into this for a future update. 

EDIT:

Uploading a quick-fix update in about 20 minutes or so to correct something I've just noticed. 

 

[West Mains]

Demo has been updated to 3.5.8. to fix a passability issue with tiles in the Kirian mines.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hd42t18y72zpkrh/ADDENDA358.rar

 

[Kes]

For re-sizing battlebacks, I just used GIMP and scaled mine to my new minimum.  I'd actually done custom ones before I noticed the need to re-size, so that's possibly why I noticed yours - shared pain, my friend, shared pain!  As it's only a small re-size it didn't distort them, and only takes moments per battleback.

While I'm here, I have a few more things from a bit of further playing:

·         Difference in volume between the rain in town and the rain in the cemetery.

·         The red orb opens one sealed jar.  How do I open the other sealed objects?

·         I exited and re-entered the mine, and the rain followed me in.  It therefore stayed with me permanently.  I also noticed that the grille/door graphic to the mine was reversed i.e. it appeared open until I interacted with it and then the grille closed.

·         I never did find the orc that is referred to in a note I could before the mine.  I wandered around for a very long time.  There was one room over on the right, near the beginning.  When I entered it I thought I saw a figure round in a dead end.  However, on the way I fought a zombie at a crate and after that the figure I thought I had seen certainly wasn’t there.  Was that the orc?

·         The chest to the right when you enter the watch tower can be opened from the far side of the table.

·         ‘Meditate Mind’ doesn’t always work first time.

·         The description for ‘Weak Water Brew’ says it heals 120HP.  I consistently only got 100HP in battle.

·         It may be that the mimic chest in the Forest is meant to be like this, but just in case it’s not: it is open before you interact with it, closes on interaction and opens again after the battle.

EDIT

You might want to look at the enemy 'Decay' that is a (mere!) random encounter in the Forest.  For a random encounter I think it's well over-powered.  I found 4 'Flourish' - no good, because I got hit with 'Decay' 6 times.  That spell is so devastating that even with an instant cure the character can be knocked out with the next physical attack.  Given that healing items for battle are not very good, and there are so few Water Brews (and that's still only 200, substantially below the damage inflicted) meeting one of those has given me game over 5 times in a row.  It also seems to have a very high HP, so even though I succeeded in inflicting quite a lot of damage, it was nothing like enough.  Kirk's Kateri spell only ever inflicted blind, never sleep and as Decay is a magic attack being blind was no hindrance.  As the other 3 have zero skills at the beginning of battle because they only have TP skills (though I notice that they also have MP in the main menu) all I've got is their basic attack, which frankly is nothing like enough.