RMMZ Beyond the Veil (A One Map Challenge Game)

[Aesica]

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A highly-difficult series of 4 battles created for the 1 map challenge. The classic version was created as a test of what MZ's battle system can do without any extras, but the Deluxe Version proves that extras...really do help a lot.

Overview

Spoiler

Beyond the Veil is a basic wave-battle type game. Progress through the map by beating enemies, leading up to and including the big bad at the end. Be warned, the battles in this game are designed to be fairly difficult and will require you to use just about every skill a character has at their disposal.

Good luck!

Classic Version stats:

• Maps: 1
• Events: 9 map, 0 common
• Switches: 1
• Variables: 0
• Plugins: 1 (and just to fix a battler positioning bug that should've been fixed before release)
• All Assets: 100% RTP/stock (don't h8)

Deluxe Version stats:

• Maps: 1
• Events: 10 map, 0 common
• Switches: 1
• Variables: 0
• Plugins: 5 (Community Lighting + 4 of my own)

Screenshots

Spoiler: Deluxe Version Screenshots

Game Link - Browser - No Download Required!

• Deluxe Version
• Classic Version (messier, uglier)

Game Link - Downloadable
Coming soon! (tm)

Final Notes

A few known issues:

• Sometimes you might get a local file error when first loading the page. Just refresh the browser and it should work fine. Probably some weird MZ glitch.
• F4 to play in fullscreen can sometimes crash in Firefox. Again, probably some weird MZ glitch because it doesn't always happen.

Updated in the Deluxe version:

• Greatly improved the map, at least I think so. Note that it's still pretty walk-forward FF13-ish in that there's not a lot of complexity to it.
• Added a few plugins to polish up the battle system and overall presentation a bit.
• Completely redid damage formulas and combat balance because additive formulas suck and irritate the hell out of me. The battles are somewhat different, but mostly the same in terms of strategy and specific mechanics.
• Some enemies (most notably the Earth Crystal) act with set rotations instead of just randomly spamming their abilities.
• Replaced my mary sue insert character with Harold, and Lucius is now filling in Harold's old role as the primary healer.
• Limit break skills now use a special limit menu that appears at 100 TP.
• Gave skills clearer tooltips (cast times, skill damage/healing modifiers, etc because vague descriptions aren't helpful)
• Character skills have been adjusted, added, or removed although everyone's kits are still mostly the same overall.
• Using basic attack or duarding recovers 20% MP. Previously, only guard recovered MP.
• Therese: Bulk and offense buffed slightly and gains TP more often.
• Marsha: Now recovers MP when suffering magic damage.
• Added a tutorial NPC (myself) that'll offer hopefully-useful information, a practice battle, etc.
• Running from battles has been enabled, and losing a battle no longer causes the big game over.
• The four crystals in the final battle are now actual crystals instead of weird sci-fi probe things.
• Everybody grew taller! ^^

 

[Santana]

I wasn't able to pass the first battle after you summon the group, but I have to say I laughted hard with the FFXIII joke and the other dimension characters xD

 

[GMDev997]

Had a lot of fun with it! I've honestly never battled to this degree in an RPG Maker game before, but I found the battles to be a fair challenge. I only lost to the last boss in the third stage, but I felt like I could lose at any minute in the other battles as well. I think that despite how strong the opponents are, your abilities are as strong as well such that you can stage a comeback, which makes it feel like you're a badass when you do. Overall, well-balanced and a good example of how to make the battle system work. Might play again to get back at that final boss!

 

[Aesica]

A few tips for the third phase of the final boss: save your limit break skills to burst down the crystals. The wind crystal is a glass cannon and really needs to die. The water crystal also needs to go for obvious reasons. The earth crystal has a lot of HP, but is susceptible to its own attacks via reflect. Poison can eat away at it and silence will take it out of the fight for awhile. It's also probably worth pre-buffing the other three with Therese's darkness imbue ability to reduce the damage from Ravening and Ashes to Ashes.

 

[GMDev997]

Haha, I think I died right before I was able to use the Meteor ability and take out the crystals. I think I lost some time on the second phase; does the boss only revive the crystals after taking a certain amount of damage or when all the crystals are gone? Because I think I assumed the latter and didn't bother taking out the crystals the second phase if they were just gonna come back. Good to know about the darkness ability, was never sure of the elements of each enemy (besides the obvious ones).

 

[Aesica]

Yeah sorry, I tried to keep the elements as obvious as possible (if it looks fiery/dark/etc, it probably is) but it only goes so far without revealing the elements outright (something the extended version will be doing).

As for the crystals, she only revives dead ones after each phase transition. It's worth trying to leave them alive during P2 so they can still be debuffed going into P3.

 

[BrentBAM]

I tried it! Died on the first battle will have to give it another try. It was also cool that I could play it in browser on my phone.

 

[atoms]

@Aesica Hey I played through it, it was really fun. I think you did a good job on the skillsets for the actors. I beat nearly everything, but I used the limit breaks on the second form of the final boss and couldn't beat it's final form (or third form?) in time. Still really fun. : )

 

[Jef299]

I also died on the first battle! It's like I got ran over by an ice cream truck!

 

[Aesica]

You can cheese the first battle rather easily by playing defensively (aura for the damage debuff and healing + defend) until you can fire off the limit break spell to take one out. Then the other is easier to deal with.

It's actually meant to teach you about those things in a hard-knocks sort of way.

 

[Raggon]

error ... failed to initialize graphics?

 

[Aesica]

Could be browser related. Works fine on firefox, chrome, and edge

 

[atoms]

As I said just now, I finally beat the game. I enjoyed it overall for me the strategy was easy enough to work out, though I still had to work it out.

Had a lot of fun with this game.

I just recommend people use Aura at the start of all battles or near the start followed by other buffs and debuffs, but of course if any character is low on HP they may need healing or raised in place of buffs and debuffs, still get those buffs and debuffs on asap otherwise.

 

[D.L. Yomegami]

If you're getting the "Failed to initialize graphics" error on Chrome, make sure you have hardware acceleration turned on. I had it turned off since it messed with Youtube and forgot I did until I tried running this game.

Anyway, I've beaten the game after three attempts (the first was a couple weeks back where I lost to the final boss's third phase, and the second attempt ended at the second battle). For the most part, it was pretty fun and I enjoyed it.

Pros:
*I feel like you struck a good balance with the difficulty. It can feel overwhelming at first, but it didn't take me more than a couple attempts to figure out something that works.
*More importantly, the battles are interesting and involve things other than "Spam attack/strongest attack and win." The third and last battles especially stand out here, with how the player has to take out a specific foe first in the former and prioritize targets in the latter.
*The element system doesn't feel like it's entirely tacked on. Between all the battles there's a use for every one of the elemental attacks, or at least most of them.
*Most of the skills feel useful in some way. Admittedly I didn't get a whole lot of use out of Harold's elemental buffs (most of the time it feels like enemies attack with too many elements to make using them worth it), and Marsha's skillset is mostly "Attack with <element>," but even those have their niches.

Cons:
*The Earth Crystal in the last battle. To be more specific, Silence from the Earth Crystal. The other status effects aren't too bad since they don't stop the player from curing them, but the only way of getting rid of Silence if the wrong characters get afflicted is waiting it out. So if the wrong characters get afflicted at the wrong time, it's Game Over since everything else about that fight's brutal. Granted, both Therese and Marsha have skills to either avoid the roll entirely or turn it back on the Earth Crystal, and Therese can cure silence after the fact, but it still feels like the last battle's a little too luck-based because of it.
*To a lesser extent, the fact that the enemies are fast and hit hard in general can make things feel a little luck based, namely in the fact they'll move before the player does and there's often a lot of them (most notable in the second and final battles). Most of the time it's nothing that can't be bounced back from, but it's fully possible to lose a character before the player can move.

 

[Raggon]

eh... im running on an Amd A-10 something. no hardware acceleration i can figure out. im this far in the rabbit hole.... soooo.... can you add a .exe download?

 

[Aesica]

eh... im running on an Amd A-10 something. no hardware acceleration i can figure out. im this far in the rabbit hole.... soooo.... can you add a .exe download?

I've got an updated version that cleans up a lot of the messiness coming. While I hadn't intended to since web deploys are much smaller and should work on a wider variety of machines, if people really are having issues, I suppose I can add an exe version when the next update goes live.

 

[Aesica]

The Deluxe Version of the game is up and ready for all 2 people who might be interested in it! See the top most post for details.

 

[meribiaa]

Just started playing the Deluxe Version, and wow!! I'm learning so much about the battle system. I'm still fairly new to RPG Maker games, so it feels like a masterclass in battle optimization.

I like the introduction and explanation you gave, and the practice battle was really helpful in figuring out the best way to utilize Harold's abilities.

Time to go back to my school work with something to look forward to...

 

[Jef299]

I really like the game's art style.

 

[lewis1992]

A fun start, I really like how the game drops you straight into the action with a decent challenge, but there's still a bit of story/context of why you're there.

I admit I also died in the first battle! Nice to see it wasn't just an instant "Game Over" though. Good job!