RMMV Celestial Legacy - A 15-20 hour JRPG style game

[Chazareth]

Celestial Legacy
​

SECTION A: SYNOPSIS

Spoiler

This game pays homage to the old Final Fantasy games from the early to mid 1990's. The story is original but follows very similar plot beats and game mechanics. If you've ever played Final Fantasy 4, 5, or perhaps even 6, you should feel right at home here. Overall, this is a low to medium difficulty game using an ATB system with about 15-20 hours of content, depending on how much or how quickly you get through it. The game makes extensive use of plugins, mostly Yanfly Engine, and the standard RTP, with a few extra sprites, animations, and tilesets gathered from around the interwebs (including here!). A huge thanks to everyone who provided these assets.

• Random battles which use an ATB system
• Earn JP to learn new skills and increase stats. Each character has a unique skillset and fulfills a certain role
• Energy is used to fuel special attacks, while some character spend MP to cast spells. Energy Modes allow you to change how a fighter gains Energy during battle
• A three row system is used to alter how characters battle, and they can change rows even during battle
• Build up the Limit gauge and use parts of it to unleash devastating Limit Breaks. The gauge is a party resource, so you must decide when and which Limit Breaks to use in a given situation
• All battle actions are fully animated with Yanfly's Action Sequences
• Linear story with a number of rewarding sidequests and powerful items to find
• Yanfly's Options Menu is included to tweak certain options, including window skins and fonts, as well as gamepad support

IMAGES/SCREENSHOTS

Spoiler

Also, check the Let's Play of Celestial Legacy by TheGameDawg! You can find his channel at https://www.youtube.com/user/TheGamedawg

DOWNLOAD LINK

Spoiler

From rpgmaker.net:
https://rpgmaker.net/games/11318/

SECTION B: CHARACTERS

Spoiler

• Garrett - Garrett is an expert in stealth and subterfuge, having honed his skills as a member of the underground syndicate known as the Crimson Hands. However, Garrett is destined for things for greater than the desires of the Crimson Hands and he is drawn into a struggle to save his world. Garrett is largely a fighter who specializes in speed, capable of multiple strikes, debilitating poisons, and the ability to turn invisible.
• Keiji - A loyal and honorable swordsman, Keiji is the retainer to the kingdom of Arondight and protector of the realm. His father was a distinguished soldier during the war between Acre and Arondight, and he wasted no time in training his son. Though he is quick to judge others, Keiji helps those in need with the speed and precision of his blade. Keiji's high Strength, Vitality, and HP and allow him to survive on the front lines while delivering high damage with powerful Bushido techniques. Shields and heavy armor also bolster his substantial defenses when protecting allies.
• Phoebe - Phoebe is a priest of the Arcaneum, an organization of mages and wizards dedicated to understanding the arcane. As a priest, Phoebe is trained in the ways of healing magic. Being bright and optimistic, her personality tends to rub off on others, particularly Garrett, whom she befriended at a young age. Phoebe is at her best when supporting her allies by healing and protecting them. Though she has little in the way of physical ability, her magic can keep the party fighting through the worst of battles.
• Barth - There are few sailors more skilled than the infamous pirate known as Barth. Though his profession paints the picture of a ruthless cutthroat, Barth's interests lie more in freedom and wealth; that drive for the latter is what motivates him to join Garrett in his quest. A life style of constant danger has given Barth a diverse set of skills and equipment options, including the use of guns. Though he is primarily a fighter, his Plunder skillset includes an ability for nearly every situation, making him almost always a solid choice for the party. If only his luck with women found the same success...
• Lena - Lena is a powerful witch and former member of the Arcaneum. Her thirst for knowledge combined with her distate for rules and regulations drove her to leaving the Arcaneum to study Celestial ruins independently. Though she can appear arrogant and aloof at times, her knowledge of the arcane grants her terrifying power which she never hesitates to flaunt. She joins Garrett in an attempt to understand his connection to the Celestials. Lena employs a mixed bag of magic, ranging from support to raw offensive power. She is quite nimble due to her high speed, but also frail and best protcted by other party members.
• Xelltath - Shrouded in mystery, Xelltath is a dark knight who hides a darker secret. A powerful curse placed on him long ago has disfigured his body and given him nigh immortality, forcing him to wrestle with his conscience for eternity. In exchange for protection, Lena agreed to research his ailment in an attempt to undo it, but she has had little success. Xelltath rarely speaks, preferring to keep his distance and face his plight alone. With extremely high Strength and HP coupled with the ability to equip greatswords, Xelltath can crush his enemis with brutal physical force. His Darkness skillset is powerful and provides the only way to reliably inflict shadow damage, but some of his skills require him to sacrifice his health.
• Malus - Malus hails from an order of mages in the Arcaneum who trained from a young age to be masters of magical warfare. His natural ability combined with this training made him one of the deadliest combatants during the war with Arondight, and his enemies learned to fear the mention of his name alone. As one of the few warriors alive for the entire duration of the war, Malus has since retired. Realizing that he and Garrett share a common goal, Malus agrees to accompany him for one final conflict. With high magic and the ability to equip swords, Malus can easily wipe the battlefield clean of monsters. His equipment and stat options allow him to fulfill the role of a fighter, a mage, or a hybrid of the two.
• Rei - Rei is a true enigma but she knows more about Garrett than anyone else. Her past is shrouded in mystery but she still has an ancient and dangerous task to carry out, no matter the odds. Rei is a balanced fighter with numerous equipment options and her Chi skills allow her to build energy and unleash powerful physical and magical hybrid attacks. However, her true potential is unlocked by ascending to higher forms; each ascension dramatically expands her abilities. Though it takes time to build up, her final form makes her an unstoppable force with truly awesome power.

SECTION C: STORYLINE/PLOT

Spoiler

Two nations, Acre and Arondight, war with each other for decades before a truce is finally realized. Magic and technology exist together as people excavate from ruins left behind by the Celestials, an ancient and mythical race once thought to have ruled the planet from the heavens. Their powers are harnessed and re-fashioned by the people of these nations, but those who would abuse them for their own ends begin to appear. The underground criminal organization in Acre known as the Crimson Hands promotes its newest agent, Garrett, a man with great physical and mental aptitude. As events unfold, Garrett embarks on a quest to uncover his mysterious past and save the planet from impending doom.

SECTION D: SETTING AND/OR WORLD DEVELOPMENT

Spoiler

There is some light steampunk element to the setting but it is in general a medieval fantasy. Expect your usual assortment of quiet villages, clashing swords, monsters, and magic mixed with some technological aspects like working sewers, alarm systems, and elevators. In particular, Celestial ruins hold the keys to wondrous, and dangerous powers.

 

[ShadowDragon]

Seems interest, going to play it, so I can gives bugs if there are any (outside spelling mistakes)
I give feedback when I play it for a bit.

 

[alice_gristle]

Cool, I'll try it!

 

[ShadowDragon]

story seems intresting, some mapping issue, specially the secret passage, where the actor is visible, 1x underneath (in the start),
and than over the wall., some cliffs at the water seems to be cut off as well.

battle boss hp doesn't show up or the bar to see which enemy/actor turn it is (can be a bit annoying.
Double strike (30) behind is 3 job points, not 30? as for flee saying 5, and cost 4?

Idk if this is correct, but it is confusing though.

 

[alice_gristle]

Shoot, I couldn't get the .rar file unpacked. Gotta try again later...

 

[Chazareth]

story seems intresting, some mapping issue, specially the secret passage, where the actor is visible, 1x underneath (in the start),
and than over the wall., some cliffs at the water seems to be cut off as well.

Yeah, that's an issue I've had that I can't seem to fix. When moving through a secret passage, I use a region to determine which tiles the player is able to pass through. Sometimes, the player will appear over the tile instead of underneath, and I can't really seem to figure out why. It's not game-breaking at least. I just hope mapping doesn't lead to the player being confused.

battle boss hp doesn't show up or the bar to see which enemy/actor turn it is (can be a bit annoying.

Not showing the HP gauge for a boss is intended, as I think adds a bit to the challenge. You can also tell which actor's turn it is by looking at their ATB gauge, it should be full and yellow. However, I think you're right in that I could make some slight changes to make it more obvious whose turn it is.

Double strike (30) behind is 3 job points, not 30? as for flee saying 5, and cost 4?

Idk if this is correct, but it is confusing though.

When learning skills, the window on the right shows how many JP it costs to learn a skill, while the number next to the skill itself shows how much Energy/MP it costs to use the skill. So Double Strike costs 3 JP to learn, but 30 Energy to use in battle. But, I can also see how that's confusing because both numbers are green. I'll look into that, though, and I appreciate the feedback.

Shoot, I couldn't get the .rar file unpacked. Gotta try again later...

Are you trying to unpack it with WinRAR? The download link says that Winzip will work, but I don't know if it actually will. If it didn't work with Winzip, try WinRAR instead.

 

[ShadowDragon]

than it makes clear on the JP, but some is a bit on the low cost.

To make it a underneath, either make a star on a black tile or a different color that match the map.
other than that, before the 1st bandit fight of 3, it can be usefull for a save (so the save in that in, is replaced)
Just a suggestion.

I play later further for what I can find for more feedback.

Also on the equip, you have a glove, which is a relic? kinda weird though.

 

[Chazareth]

To make it a underneath, either make a star on a black tile or a different color that match the map.

I have tried many methods to allow the player to walk through certain walls. Using the star in the tile settings wouldn't work because it allow the player to walk through that tile every time it appeared, and I believe all of the walls you can walk through are autotiles, meaning you can't designate them as "pass underneath." Ultimately, I achieved this effect through the use of a plugin that lets me use regions to walk through tiles but there is the weird side effect where sometimes, the player moves over the passable tile instead of under it.

other than that, before the 1st bandit fight of 3, it can be usefull for a save (so the save in that in, is replaced)
Just a suggestion.

I went ahead and put a save point before that boss. It makes sense considering that I think this is literally the only boss in the game where I DON'T have a save point right before the fight.

Also on the equip, you have a glove, which is a relic? kinda weird though.

It's the same Relic system from Final Fantasy 6, so pretty much anything can be a relic.

 

[ShadowDragon]

I dont know FF6 unfortunately, what plugin do you use for the passage way?

the was part that draw the wall "UP" with a region = correct, the part walkable after the wall (teh black part)
on B-E tilesheet with a star, maybe 1 X for below, this way, only the correct path is above player.

there are some other ways, but if you game is halve way or finished, than its kinda later for a neat plugin
because this can bring incompabilities issues.


EDIT:
There is a minor mistake in the temple or dungeon, with the red and blue orbs.
the last part of the room you activate the blue orb, but the room above ALSO
need a blue orb (unless this count for that room and not all?

Also the ship on the lower right on the dock are incorrect, Now i dont know if
this is intentional or not.

Another is the Save point, using tent or save, when selecting "Tent" it say
you dont have one, better way if this is a common event to make it "hidden"

similair like this:
if action button is pressed
if party has tent
Show choices: save, tent, cancel

else
show choices: save, cancel
end
end

or similair like this.

you can use aloe guvner condition show choices for this, so its bound to a switch
directly and make show choice easier, but you MUST back up your project
before doing this though.

I cant be much more critical, but I leave those parts away.
in case you really want to know it, than I can send you a PM for all the things.
but those are simple things and a suggestion.

 

[Chazareth]

what plugin do you use for the passage way?

I use mykrme's Secret Passages

There is a minor mistake in the temple or dungeon, with the red and blue orbs.
the last part of the room you activate the blue orb, but the room above ALSO
need a blue orb (unless this count for that room and not all?

I'm not sure if there's issue with the orbs. Are you talking about the maze-like room with multiple orbs or a different room? The orbs should affect all of the colored barriers, there shouldn't be any that affect only the ones in the room.

Regarding save points: You're right, it would be better if the "Tent" option weren't even there if the player doesn't have any. Yanfly's Event Copier plugin would make this change simple but I set up all of these save points before that plugin out. So I guess I'll change them on a future update.

If you have any more feedback to PM, by all means, please do.

 

[ShadowDragon]

from the look of the plugin you mentions, region 3 make the player INVISIBLE which isn't in your case, so i think you used
"1" for always passable. but that is only a very simple plugin.

I use Ocram Passages plugin which adds alot of features, hidden, blocked, above head, under the bridge, above teh bridge with lower
and higher level check, and for taller character, you can hide it as well, but still walkable, nice for cliffs, roofs part etc.

The orb part is indeed in the maze, you notice the red teleportation that port you above the BLUE ORB, when you go up in the
room, on the little altar so to speak is another BLUE ORB, so why 2, you can simple skip that one. or make it green color?

but idk how yanfly event copier work though. so I cant tell much on that, I do have all yanfly plugins, just in case.
If you make the game commercial, ocram is exspensive to buy a license for, unless its a very good game you can make profit for.

but for public, its probably 1 of the best passages plugin

 

[Chazareth]

The orb part is indeed in the maze, you notice the red teleportation that port you above the BLUE ORB, when you go up in the
room, on the little altar so to speak is another BLUE ORB, so why 2, you can simple skip that one. or make it green color?

Wow... you're right, there actually isn't any need for that blue orb there. I think I might just remove it and put the hole leading down below in its place.

I use Ocram Passages plugin which adds alot of features, hidden, blocked, above head, under the bridge, above teh bridge with lower
and higher level check, and for taller character, you can hide it as well, but still walkable, nice for cliffs, roofs part etc.

Never knew about this plugin, so I'll check it out. Thanks!

 

[ShadowDragon]

your plugin does the job corectly, if you used 3, and the actor is shown, than its a bug.

the blue orb in the 2nd room can also be a different color or a chest witha weapon or armor at random?
something rewardable to get that far or a monster from that chest as mimic

EDIT:
This is in the sewer which is also incorrect

red line make the actor visible when going through, wrong region used.

 

[Chazareth]

your plugin does the job corectly, if you used 3, and the actor is shown, than its a bug.

It could very well be. The original thread had a few people saying they had the same problem. I'll play around with OcRam's plugin and see if that works any better: I believe his plugin specifically says it works with autotiles, which are the tiles I'm having this issue on.

 

[ShadowDragon]

it works on auto tiles, and on B-E tiles, some draw all, some only B-E, if you whatch his tutorial video, you can see it works on all kind
of things, I love that one though.

 

[alice_gristle]

WinRAR got it, thanks! I played a bit, but my beat-up old computer crashed the game a few times. Did manage an hour or so of play, though! So far, it looks like a cute game, although it kinda shows your inexperience. (Don't take that as a complaint, we're all there at some point in our lives!) Soo... I guess my main question is, now that you're this far, what are your plans? Are you going to keep developing this game, or move on to the next one? For the record, I think it's amazing that you managed to pull this whole thing off, inexperience or no.

 

[ShadowDragon]

this is kinda weird if he just go on it while the bridge is basicly higher than the ground.

so you need to use stairs to go up.
How else would he go up by just walking? it also make more sense if the bridge is lower or between cliffs with water.


EDIT:
Also use Waterfall things on the edges so its not straight line that looks good.

 

[Chazareth]

WinRAR got it, thanks! I played a bit, but my beat-up old computer crashed the game a few times. Did manage an hour or so of play, though! So far, it looks like a cute game, although it kinda shows your inexperience. (Don't take that as a complaint, we're all there at some point in our lives!) Soo... I guess my main question is, now that you're this far, what are your plans? Are you going to keep developing this game, or move on to the next one? For the record, I think it's amazing that you managed to pull this whole thing off, inexperience or no.

You're right, this is indeed the first project of this scope that I've undertaken. I've played around with RPG Maker since RM2k, but never really did anything significant until now, and this took well over a year to make. As for the future, I do have two ideas for another game but I would like to focus on this one first to get it as polished as possible.

this is kinda weird if he just go on it while the bridge is basicly higher than the ground.

so you need to use stairs to go up.
How else would he go up by just walking? it also make more sense if the bridge is lower or between cliffs with water.
View attachment 121612

EDIT:
Also use Waterfall things on the edges so its not straight line that looks good.

I fixed the bridges using a different tile so that it does't look like they're up in the air. Good eye on that.

 

[alice_gristle]

You're right, this is indeed the first project of this scope that I've undertaken. I've played around with RPG Maker since RM2k, but never really did anything significant until now, and this took well over a year to make. As for the future, I do have two ideas for another game but I would like to focus on this one first to get it as polished as possible.

Alright, cool! Do you want pointers on stuff like dialogue or story? Like, not sure how willing you are to tamper with those, since particularly big changes to storyline can mean a lot of work. Then again, some things may be accomplished with smaller tweaks to text, too.

 

[ShadowDragon]

I aslo see a type in the mansion Tazewell, and later it was from Lord "Tazell" and than later Lord "Tazewell"
Make sure you type it correct though.

EDIT:
Mansion Mistakes
1) the stairs is 3 width, when going up, its 5 width! this should match
2) the statua pushed from the side instead of the front,
3) when upstairs, you see a black spot, same in the room left of it.
best is to use a mapshot a bit blurry out of the room below it to get some
depth in it. (this 3rd is only a suggestion, but wisefull though)
4) fireplaces that is HOT, with no fire in it? and no dmg? if walking into it
or say something like: "This spot is still hot, seems the fire is put out recently".
or similair else the red flash come out of noware as an invisible fire.

Now I dont know what the shield emblem is for and the locked door
encraved with an armor and sword (not yet accesable and evented) or later
to get back too.

You need also put some tilesheet passability correct, specially on the stairs when
going up or edit is a tiny bit (this probably need to redo the stairs, but corners
is not something you wanna do, but more rounding (which need to edit the tilesheet
with the stairs on it (if you have the place for it to look better).