Playing the demo. Writing down comments as I go.
-The choice to create more worlds or not for the little girl in the intro is completely pointless.
-I think using just faces for the characters in the status menu would look better, since the pictures are pretty small and lose a lot of detail with the full body shots you use there.
-Few battles in now, and notice Ethel being really weak. Her normal attacks barely do any damage at all, and with her low HP, even a single monster attack can force her into self healing. I can even see her getting downed in a single turn from like 3/4HP if she's unlucky to be targeted by 2 monsters in the same turn. Maybe this changes later on, but just thought I'd mention it here.
-I like the secret passage near the sign that mentions them, that's pretty neat.
-A chest in the second map just gave me 1k gold, effectively almost doubling my wealth. Seems like a little overkill for such easy treasure?
-I like the option to return to the entrance after the cutscene at the end of tutorial forest.
-Deborah seems to have a lot... of scars. #______o -- little more into the scene: Well, that explains the scars, I guess. That's a pretty cool story.
-Got 8k gold after talking to Deborah, that seems like way overkill, considering I was able to upgrade all my gear to steel just earlier with the money I found during the tutorial. Well, unless you expect players to stock up on a bunch of consumables as well?
-The ambient sound effects in Stratas Cave are too loud, making them obnoxious.
-Gonna take a break here.
Major issues I have so far:
-Ethel is just way too weak in the tutorial area. Her attacks barely do any damage at all, and she's the most vulnerable defence-wise. Makes me wonder why they even bother bringing her into battle, because she's nothing more than a burden. I want her to be more than a healbot. I'd like to see her do more than to throw around the occasional heal.
I noticed her attacks being a lot more effective after I got her a new wand, and fought some of those sword bats in Stratas Cave. She did around 1/5 or 1/6 of the damage that Arran does, which is much more acceptable.
-Without having a real world to explore, I feel it's a bit lacking. It looks like the game is designed to bring the player from dungeon to dungeon, using the towns merely as a heal+save spot and to progress the story forward.
The level design is actually not bad, but I think it could offer more interaction with the environment to make the dungeons feel more like actual locations. Of course I'm just basing this on my initial impression with the game, so if you have this further on in the game, then ignore this. What I'm getting at is that if you want the dungeons to be the main focus of your game, I'd like to see more than a straight path from entrance to exit with a bunch of random battles in between. Give me environmental interaction, or some puzzles. Maybe some events within dungeons with NPC's that tell more of the story.
Things that I like:
-The overall presentation of the game. It looks unique, with custom made everything. The character art work is nice. The tilesets give a cool cell-shaded look to it. I like the monster designs, and the fact that I get to fight cool stuff right from the start instead of rats and slimes that most other RPGs have.
-The writing is nice. It tells the story pretty well. The dialogue between characters is fun to read.
-The pacing is handled well. I like how the tutorial forest introduces me to new things one step at a time. The intro scene was pretty interesting, a lot more engaging than what most other RPG Maker games have. Only dislike there is the pointless choice to help the girl or not. I like how the story is being told in parts at a time, instead of everything at once.
Overall the game felt like a good experience, but could do with a bit more depth in level design. Art-wise it's really awesome.
