GodSword

[XPhater]

Abstract: Two girls fight over a magic sword, but must learn to cooperate in order to survive.


Genre: Fantasy


Average play time: 10-14 hours depending on how much derp you do.


Game Progression:  Acts 1 and 2 completed, Act 3 50%.  Have planned roughly 6 Acts, though nothing concrete.  As this is a solo project, can't give an ETA on total 100% completion.  Most of the groundwork is in place though, so moving forward shouldn't be as difficult.


Story:  The Divas Sword, an artifact of ancient Tessan Mythology, has been guarded by the Tessan Sect for hundreds of years.  It is said to have been given to Tessa by the Allfather, to defeat the evil Demon, Sabas.  The Sect believes that someday a worthy successor to Saint Tessa will arise to claim the Sword.  The story begins with a group of Initiates, who hope to finish their trials and become Handmaidens of Tessa.  But one of them has loftier ambitions.


Main Characters:


Shan: A young girl with an inherent command of White Magic, and no sense of responsibility.


Selene: Has spent her entire life preparing herself for the ultimate trail, that of retreiving the Divas Sword and becoming the Heir of Tessa.


Donna: A Handmaiden of the Sect who could have claimed the Divas Sword a decade ago, but gave up.


Thren: A smarmy ladies man who seems to possess a vast amount of knowledge.


Jedos: A freelance monster hunter who has a past history with the Tessan Sect.


Leigha: A powerful Pyromancer with mysterious motivations.


Credits:


This is probably going to be ridiculously long, I'm just following the instructions!


Yanfly Ace Core Engine


Yanfly Ace Battle Engine


Yanfly HP Bars


Yanfly Battle Command List


Yanfly Ace Equip Engine


Yanfly Enemy Levels


Yanfly Skill Animations


Yanfly Lunatic Damage


Yanfly Lunatic Damage Critical Package


Yanfly Lunatic States


Yanfly Lunatic States Punishment Package


Yanfly Lunatic Targets


Yanfly Lunatic Objects


Yanfly Lunatic Objects Give & Take Package


Yanfly Ace Target Manager


Yanfly Ace Status Menu with Hime Elemental Attributes by DisturbedInside fixed by The Black Swordsman


Yanfly State Animations


Yanfly Buff State Manager


Yanfly Ace Item Menu


Yanfly Party System


Yanfly Ace Party Menu


Yanfly System Options


Yanfly Victory Aftermath


Yanfly Ace Region ID Battlebacks


Yanfly Ace Target Info


Yanfly Channel: https://yanflychannel.wordpress.com/


Yami Battle Symphony


Yamiworld: https://yamiworld.wordpress.com/


Galv Battle Pets


Galv Party Jump


Galv Menu Themes


Galv Limited Visibility


Galv Move Routes


Galv Mini Duel


Galv Shops


Galv Shops PDR Addon by Hime fiddled with to show Hit and Crit instead


Galv Battle Favour


Galv Character Effects


Galv's Level Bonuses


Galv's Scripts: http://galvs-scripts.com/category/rmvxa-scripts/


DoubleX Unison Skills


DoubleX Confusion Edit


DoubleX Cover Edit


DoubleX RMVXA Tag Addon v1.00a to Yami Engine Symphony


LoneWolf Enemy Targeting Fix


TDS Battleback Stretch


Kread Patrol Update


Kread Fade In Fix


NeonBlack Star Tile Fix


KMS Anicursor


KMS Distribute Parameters


KMS Generic Gauge


Hime Item Rarity


DisturbedInside XP Bar Fix for Yanfly Ace Status Menu


Yami, Archeia_Nessiah Event Patrol


Zetu Mainhand Only Weapons


Modern Algebra Global Text Codes


Craze Smart Enemy Healing


TheoAllen's Yanfly Victory Aftermath Gold Icon


TheoAllen's Yanfly Victory Aftermath BGM Switcher


Dekita's Battle Weather Effects


Blackmorning84's Hit and Crit to Yanfly Equip Window


Soulpour555 Credits Scene


Zerbu Title Screen


Casper Game Info


Shaz Event Move Towards Variable Coordinates


All this stuff came from the Master Script List:


http://rmvxace.wikia.com/wiki/RPG_Maker_VX_Ace_Master_Script_List


or the Forums on this very site.  I'm not going to track down each and every thread.


Casper Game Info came from:


http://www.caspergaming.com/


Misc Icons by Kaduki, Whitecat, Avery, and Ying.


Faces made with Facemaker 3.0


Custom Frankensprites that I made myself or with Saphiro Character Maker XP


Both programs available at http://blog.rpgmakertimes.info as of March 2014


Misc sound effects from http://www.sounddogs.com and http://soundbible.com


Music from the RMN Music Pack at http://rpgmaker.net  (with additional submissions by Subaru, jasprelao, Snowy Fox, Cornflake, Nathangday),


the Rebel Rapture Music Pack by Murray Atkinson,


Bloodlust by Aaron Krogh,


also http://www.vgmusic.com, and some that I am composing myself.


Shopkeeper portraits by Archeia and Scinaya (not Wren though I made that one myself, pretty good huh?)


https://divisionheaven.wordpress.com


This game uses RPG Maker XP sprites and tilesets (and my bastardizations of them).  I bought XP several years ago as a digital download, then my hard drive crashed and I'm not buying it again.  I emailed Enterbrain asking if I could get my email address verified for a replacement key but they never replied to me and that was like over a year ago.


Long story short I have the right to use XP resources in a VX Ace project.


Screenshots:


Here's a battle scene!  Selene teleports around and drains life and stuff!  Exciting!

Selene tells Shan what's up!

Here's a look at the AP screen where you get to spend your Advancement Points!  Just look at how OverPowered Luck is now!

And here is Shan in a Blindfold and a Halter Top, fighting a group of confused Harpies, while Donna attempts to smack one in the head with a half-empty wine bottle that she just took three massive gulps from!

Features:


You get an FP Skill Point system instead of MP that starts at 500 and gives you 25 Crosscuts or Fire Spells until you drink some 5 money potion that fills them all up again.


Different weapons display differently on character battlers.  A broadsword, claymore, and greatsword all have different battler models.  Fire swords are red, Thunder swords are yellow, etc etc.


AP Points that you can spend on character attributes every level.


Mags that can be equipped and fed to increase stats and abilities.


Gemstones that can be added for further customization.


No random battles or party micromanagement.  Most monsters walk on the map, and your party is automatically healed to full after a fight.


Download Link:


http://www.mediafire.com/download/xsai2b0djkl4wav/GodSword.exe


Known Issues and Updates:


7/15/2016 2:58PM


If you have NumLock enabled, Shift Sprinting can become stuck until you mash Shift and punch your keypad a dozen times.  Solution: Don't have NumLock enabled.  (Thank Liberty for this).


There's a new bug in Act 2 where enemies using Holder-Style battlersheets do not perform their collapse effect when they die to DoT damage.  I've fixed this half a dozen times in various places, but now it needs to be fixed yet again, for enemies who have the "Not Disappear" flag.  I'll look into it eventually, but it's not a high priority atm as it doesn't actually break anything.


No Popups appear over Party Members who get healed by Starcross, as those heals come from a Custom Damage Formula rather than an attribute in the Database, but to compensate I made little green plus symbols that will animate over their heads to indicate that heals did occur.


Now that I've been permabanned by EABioware, I'll have more time to work on Act 3.

 

[Kes]

I downloaded this to play the demo and give feedback, and I've had to give up.  I've not played The Way, though obviously I've heard of it, and I simply don't understand your tutorial.  I'm faced with a barrage of instructions which don't make total sense to someone who knows nothing of the system.  I've restarted it, hoping to get there, but nope.  Maybe this just isn't a game for me (shame, because it looks very interesting) or maybe you've not made sufficient allowance for people who actually need the tutorial.

Just a couple of things I noticed before giving up.

As a player I'm not too keen on having to read the credits before I can even start the game, especially when the screens change only slowly because the credits are so long.  You don't need to spell out every tiny detail.  You could just put

Scripts:     Name A

                 Name B

                 etc.

Tiles         Name A

                name B

                etc.

And so on for each category.  

Also you are not giving the names of people in the dialogue boxes when they speak.  I found this a bit odd.  It means that I'm reading all these conversations and i don't know who it is who's speaking.

 

[XPhater]

I downloaded this to play the demo and give feedback, and I've had to give up.  I've not played The Way, though obviously I've heard of it, and I simply don't understand your tutorial.  I'm faced with a barrage of instructions which don't make total sense to someone who knows nothing of the system.  I've restarted it, hoping to get there, but nope.  Maybe this just isn't a game for me (shame, because it looks very interesting) or maybe you've not made sufficient allowance for people who actually need the tutorial.

It's really not complicated.  Hop Chop costs 2 FP to use.  Each turn you gain +1 FP automatically.  That means you can Attack or Guard in the meantime, and use Hop Chop in 2 turns.  If you want to use it sooner, you can use Focus on your turn to boost your FP artificially.

In short, you're basically trading "Damage Now" for "More Damage Later", made more true by the fact that Hop Chop, while doing more damage than a normal Attack, also does bonus damage to incapacitated enemies, such as those Stunned by another character's Buffet.

As another example, Selene can spend 2 FP to cast either Heal, or Cross Cut.  By spending 3 FP on Ravage, she combines Healing and Damage into one attack, so she gets what she pays for there.  More expensive skill = more payoff.

When you Guard, you Regen some HP.

If you spend too much time Guarding and Focusing, your enemies will build their Party Favor Bar (we'll call it a Super Meter here) faster than you, thereby gaining various stat bonuses over you.  This is to prevent a simple "Guard forever then launch a massive full FP Assault" playstyle, as you'll be at a significant disadvantage if you attempt to do so.

I'll give you an additional tip here, one that isn't covered in any tutorial at this time:  When you visit the AP Trainer (Power Made Armored Flesh) you may notice that raising Willpower increases not only your MAT and MDF, but your Focus Points as well.  So even if a character knows a 3 FP cost skill, they won't be able to use it unless they have 3 Focus Points.  I've included a few pointers ingame, such as Selene, Donna, and Swicord starting with AP Points allocated into Willpower, and a couple'a NPCs walking around town talking in-character about staying focused in battle, perhaps that isn't clue enough.  I'll mull it over.

Do note that this game is intended to be challenging; atm I am resisting the urge to buff the Imps.  Party Favor was a real wild card here, battles can go south really quickly if you're not on your toes.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Barrage of instructions" when you get 4 chat boxes worth of tips.  I'd hardly consider 4 boxes a "barrage", yet then you say there aren't enough.  Should I increase the barrage?  Please help me understand what it is that you would like to see.  That all said, If there's any of this you still don't understand, please ask for further clarification and I'll try to help you through it.

As a player I'm not too keen on having to read the credits before I can even start the game, especially when the screens change only slowly because the credits are so long.  You don't need to spell out every tiny detail.  You could just put

Scripts:     Name A

                 Name B

                 etc.

Tiles         Name A

                name B

                etc.

And so on for each category.

The first page does exactly that.  The second page is for misc items that do not fit into any particular categories, and covers a variety of contributors.  There is no way to consolidate that page without omiting items or contributors.

Do note that you only see the credits once (when starting a new game).  When loading a saved game you will not see them.  This does give me an idea though, maybe having a parallel process event run through credits during the first few moments of the game.  I don't know if that would be too distracting though.  It works on television because you're not reading two different things at once, not the case in a text-based computer game.  Still, it's an interesting thought.

Also you are not giving the names of people in the dialogue boxes when they speak.  I found this a bit odd.  It means that I'm reading all these conversations and i don't know who it is who's speaking.

You can tell who's talking by the face icon to the left.  If this becomes a common complaint I may add their names to every box, but then that would require you to read through 25% more boxes, as potentially 25% of dialogue will be cut to make room for names.

 

[Kes]

Things like "It figures that Selene(?) is an exception as she has a pet Mag" - or something very close to that.  As I have no idea what a pet mag is, I cannot begin to guess that "it figures" that she will be an exception.  I have this bar flashing blue above the party.  Why?  What does it do?  It tells me 2 turns, or 3 turns.  2 turns of what? 3 turns of what?  I can guess that this is the Party Favor Bar you are now referring to, but how do I know that in-game?  You say it gives stat bonuses; how do I know that in-game?  And which stat bonuses, and how much?  Your remark about how important it is, and how battles can go south really fast implies that I really need to know what it is it's trying to tell me.  But right now it could be giving me the outside temperature for all I know.

I've included a few pointers ingame, such as Selene, Donna, and Swicord starting with AP Points allocated into Willpower, and a couple'a NPCs walking around town talking in-character about staying focused in battle, perhaps that isn't clue enough.  I'll mull it over.

Having AP points allocated into willpower cannot serve as a clue to me, as I cannot see anywhere in the menu or in game (so far) a way of accessing that information.  You may well have NPCs walking around in town giving all sorts of useful information, but I'm not in the town.  We start off with the party jumping down a cliff towards a bridge and then we're in a cave, so any extra useful information that may be given by NPCs is no use to me now.

That's probably enough to be going on with for now.

 

[XPhater]

Things like "It figures that Selene(?) is an exception as she has a pet Mag" - or something very close to that.  As I have no idea what a pet mag is, I cannot begin to guess that "it figures" that she will be an exception.  I have this bar flashing blue above the party.  Why?  What does it do?  It tells me 2 turns, or 3 turns.  2 turns of what? 3 turns of what?  I can guess that this is the Party Favor Bar you are now referring to, but how do I know that in-game?  You say it gives stat bonuses; how do I know that in-game?  And which stat bonuses, and how much?  Your remark about how important it is, and how battles can go south really fast implies that I really need to know what it is it's trying to tell me.  But right now it could be giving me the outside temperature for all I know.

Having AP points allocated into willpower cannot serve as a clue to me, as I cannot see anywhere in the menu or in game (so far) a way of accessing that information.  You may well have NPCs walking around in town giving all sorts of useful information, but I'm not in the town.  We start off with the party jumping down a cliff towards a bridge and then we're in a cave, so any extra useful information that may be given by NPCs is no use to me now.

That's probably enough to be going on with for now.

"It figures" because she is speaking from an in-character perspective, that Selene is used to being better than everyone.  And when she mentions the pet Mag, it shows icon images both of Selene, and of the Mag in question, which is clearly also visible on Selene's character battler.  As for reference to the Party Favor Bar, what other party-oriented bars are on the screen?

When you look at the AP screen, everything that is affected by a point allocation gets highlighted in green, so that information is indeed within the game for you to see.  I really don't want to have to WoW-ify everything.  I've already made concessions with Balloons over a few key NPCs.

Was anyone else confused by any of this?  If so I will expand on the battle tutorial.

 

[Kes]

You missed my point about the mag.  Yes, I can see the mag, I know what object is being referred to, however, I don't yet know what a mag is.  No one has mentioned it in game before now, and the Mags tab on the Menu is greyed out, just giving me the buzzer if I try to access it.

You have also missed my point about the party bar.  Yes, I can see the party bar - but how the hell am I supposed to know what it's referring to, why it flashes blue at me with the info that something (god know what) is going to happen/is happening/has happened for 2 or 3 turns?

As for the AP screen - maybe I'm blind, maybe I'm stupid, but I have been through every tab in the menu and cannot find an AP screen.  I have double checked all screens in the Status tab, as that seemed to be the most obvious choice, and AP is not mentioned anywhere.  Is it possible that until I get points to allocate this screen does not appear?

 

[XPhater]

You missed my point about the mag.  Yes, I can see the mag, I know what object is being referred to, however, I don't yet know what a mag is.  No one has mentioned it in game before now, and the Mags tab on the Menu is greyed out, just giving me the buzzer if I try to access it.

It's the very first battle of the game, 30 seconds in.  Of course no one has mentioned it before.  You don't have access to the Mag Menu yet because, like all of Selene's other equipment, it is locked to her at this point of the game.  You find a Mag of your own in the 2nd room, and then you can access that menu option.

You have also missed my point about the party bar.  Yes, I can see the party bar - but how the hell am I supposed to know what it's referring to, why it flashes blue at me with the info that something (god know what) is going to happen/is happening/has happened for 2 or 3 turns?

I'll add a sentance to that box telling you that it does stuff.

As for the AP screen - maybe I'm blind, maybe I'm stupid, but I have been through every tab in the menu and cannot find an AP screen.  I have double checked all screens in the Status tab, as that seemed to be the most obvious choice, and AP is not mentioned anywhere.  Is it possible that until I get points to allocate this screen does not appear?

There is an NPC AP Trainer that you talk to in order to access AP management.  He is in the very first room with a big Balloon icon popping up over his head.  (That means you should talk to him).  You'll see him, and his Balloon, in every common area of every zone.  All you have to do is look.

No offense, but in nearly 600 views these past two weeks over two different forums, so far yours are the only complaints, and I am having a hard time taking most of them seriously.

 

[Kes]

Views do not automatically translate into plays, so the lack of comment may simply mean that no one has tried it - after all, I may be the only person "complaining" but there are no comments going the other way, so that doesn't prove anything.

However, as you appear to be happy with everything as it is, I shall bow out of giving feedback.

 

[XPhater]

Views do not automatically translate into plays, so the lack of comment may simply mean that no one has tried it - after all, I may be the only person "complaining" but there are no comments going the other way, so that doesn't prove anything.

However, as you appear to be happy with everything as it is, I shall bow out of giving feedback.

Well I mean you're complaining about not being able to find something that is in the first room with a balloon icon over it.  It is at that point I start to agree this is not a game for you.

 

[bgillisp]

Played about an hour of the game tonight, here are my thoughts on the game. I would have tried to go further, but I work early in the morning and needed time to write this up too:

General Comments:

First of all, it does seem like the story is well thought out so far, at least the part I have seen so far. Granted, I did not make it beyond room three of the Ice Caves at the moment, so I cannot say more beyond the intro and the basic party chatter, but the intro at least does a decent job of setting the stage without being a slog of text that no one remembers 30 minutes later.

The battle system is...different. I know what you are going for with the FP system, where it builds up over battle. I've had bad experiences with those systems before (Record of Agarast War for example, where every late game battle was just build up to 250 AP, pummel with that attack, rinse, lather repeat), so just mark me as leery about it at the moment. I'm curious how this is going to work late game. I see you are in Act I at the moment so that may be something to keep an eye on.

The favor system is an interesting idea, but what are those buffs the party will get at 20% on the bar? You never say. I would state those somewhere, at the minimum in a readme file in the help. As it is I have no idea what happens when I fill the bar, just that something awesome supposedly happens for three turns. Also I have no idea if the enemy bar works the same way. Do they get bonus every 20%? Also, how does the bar fill for both sides? I actually knew this answer as I've seen this script, but you cannot assume your average player will. I'd either add in more to the opening tutorial battle explaining the bar (maybe with an option to skip it if the player doesn't want to read it/has played it before/just doesn't care), or put that info in a readme file.

I do like the AP system, though have you considered putting the knight closer to the start? As far as I can see there is no path that lets the player get to him without encountering a slime, so if you wish players to spend their first set of points before a battle, you need to provide a way for that to happen. Also, why is the AP system not in the menu? Is that not possible with the script? If it is, I think it would better to put it in the menu, that way you don't have players who feel the need to retreat just to use their AP.

Speaking of encounters. I am one of those players who is neutral on visual vs random battles. However, if you are going to go with visual battlers, please make it possible to actually dodge the fights. I saw no way to get past all the slimes without at least one fight if I wanted to retreat to this room and save, and those slimes get old when you are level six (which I was when I had to stop and save). At least consider a retreat option, as it is I had to make sure to retreat to save with enough time to endure the battles, and that is going to wear on some of your players (especially ones with limited playing time).  Also, I once had a slime spawn right on top of me. While I thought it a little funny just trying to visualize how that would work, that may aggravate some of your players. Maybe a check if player.x and player.y = the coordinates of the event, don't spawn yet, wait a few more frames?

A few general comments that don't fit in any particular order:

-I thought the battle tutorial worked for me, though I've played games that used this kind of system. One thing you might want to consider (without WOWifying everything as you put it) is to put that info in a readme file or a help button on the menu a player can access a little later on. That way once the player has done a couple of battles they can read it again and maybe better understand it once they have done a couple of battles.

-I would consider a monster that does not do all those divide into little slimes trick for the first opponent. I know you want a hard game, but maybe consider a tutorial battle right by the save crystal with only one slime at least? That way the player has a chance to warm up to battles a little quicker before running into three slimes that could total party KO a party at level one.

-The Mag that you find in the caves can only be equipped on one actor. Is that intentional? If so maybe add something saying who is to equip it at least (and if you did, I did find the Mag close to time to quit, so I may have missed that note).

-You have a skill called Righteous Strike which says it lowers the target rate of all allies. By how much? Also if it is the same percent for all allies, you will learn that this skill does not actually work at all at some point. See, the targeting algorithm in the game adds up everyone's target rate, then picks a random number in that range and that is who it targets. So if you have everyone at 100, 100 * 4 = 400. However, if you half everyone's rate to 50, 50 * 4 = 200, but everyone still has the same chance to be selected (25%) as before (100/400 is the same as 50/200).

-I'm surprised you don't have Yanfly's System script, which allows auto-dash. I'd add it. Your players will love you later when they no longer need to plod through the dungeon at slow speeds or hold SHIFT down.

-I'd cut that scene where you rant about saves and items and MP and such at the first save point. It would work if you are going for a satire, but I get the impress you are not, so it runs the risk of being a little too negative to your players.

-Finally: Grandia II musics cannot be legally used in any game, non commercial or commercial. At some point you will have to pull those musics. I'd do it now rather than later, to save you the trouble. I can post for you two links to musicians who have free music available if you wish.

Hope that helps you out, and gives you another opinion on the game. How far along is Act 2?

 

[Kes]

A few things here.

First, be logical about this.  I, the player, cannot know that the AP screen will be revealed when I reach the character (and yes, I can see him, I know he's there, but until I get there, I cannot know his function.)  Therefore any information he may have is of no use to me until then.  As a player, I do not even know that the AP screen exists, let alone that it will be revealed.  

Secondly, in order to reach him, I have to fight several encounters.  The exact number will vary, depending on how long I spend doing things like looking in the menus etc, so that the enemy respawns - at least that is what seems to be happening.  I was suggesting that in order to accomplish this initial section, a small amount of additional information was required which he does not provide anyway.

Thirdly, as a developer, one skill you need to learn is never to be condescending towards your players.  Bad marketing, even for a free game.  You just come over as a prima donna.  

 

[bgillisp]

Secondly, in order to reach him, I have to fight several encounters.  The exact number will vary, depending on how long I spend doing things like looking in the menus etc, so that the enemy respawns - at least that is what seems to be happening.  I was suggesting that in order to accomplish this initial section, a small amount of additional information was required which he does not provide anyway.

It was 2 fights when I played, as I didn't know the layout. Once I did I could do it in one. However, zero seems to be impossible. Hope that data helps you see how it worked for another player, XPHater.

 

[XPhater]

Played about an hour of the game tonight, here are my thoughts on the game. I would have tried to go further, but I work early in the morning and needed time to write this up too:

General Comments:

First of all, it does seem like the story is well thought out so far, at least the part I have seen so far. Granted, I did not make it beyond room three of the Ice Caves at the moment, so I cannot say more beyond the intro and the basic party chatter, but the intro at least does a decent job of setting the stage without being a slog of text that no one remembers 30 minutes later.

The battle system is...different. I know what you are going for with the FP system, where it builds up over battle. I've had bad experiences with those systems before (Record of Agarast War for example, where every late game battle was just build up to 250 AP, pummel with that attack, rinse, lather repeat), so just mark me as leery about it at the moment. I'm curious how this is going to work late game. I see you are in Act I at the moment so that may be something to keep an eye on.

The favor system is an interesting idea, but what are those buffs the party will get at 20% on the bar? You never say. I would state those somewhere, at the minimum in a readme file in the help. As it is I have no idea what happens when I fill the bar, just that something awesome supposedly happens for three turns. Also I have no idea if the enemy bar works the same way. Do they get bonus every 20%? Also, how does the bar fill for both sides? I actually knew this answer as I've seen this script, but you cannot assume your average player will. I'd either add in more to the opening tutorial battle explaining the bar (maybe with an option to skip it if the player doesn't want to read it/has played it before/just doesn't care), or put that info in a readme file.

Parts of my story can get a little dialogue-heavy, so I wanted the first portion to jump right into some action.  As for the FP system, later game balance will be a priority of mine; I absolutely intend the game to have challenging battles start to finish.  I know exactly what it is you are leery of, too, which is why I decided to include Galv's Party Favor as a deterrent to that.  If you simply Guard for a few Turns in a row you'll be at a disadvantage when the enemy Party Bar fills up.

Incidentally, this is exactly why I implemented an FP system in the first place; because filling up all your skill points, then unloading neverending chain of Crosscuts until you run out of skill points, then drink a cheap consumable to fill them all up again, seems really boring to me.  I've played plenty of RPGs where every turn of every battle played out exactly the same way because Guy A did Crosscut every turn, Guy B did Body Check every turn, etc.  That is exactly what I'm hoping to avoid with this system.

I am considering expanding on the Battle Tutorial, giving a little more info there.  I'll make that a high priority on my list.

I do like the AP system, though have you considered putting the knight closer to the start? As far as I can see there is no path that lets the player get to him without encountering a slime, so if you wish players to spend their first set of points before a battle, you need to provide a way for that to happen. Also, why is the AP system not in the menu? Is that not possible with the script? If it is, I think it would better to put it in the menu, that way you don't have players who feel the need to retreat just to use their AP.

I actually put him towards the end of the first room so that you wouldn't have to backtrack much to get to him later.  Since you're naturally moving towards him in the beginning, it seems like a good place to put him.  As for fighting 1 Slime before reaching him, I felt that was acceptable so that you would have a good amount of AP to spend the first time around.  Battle Tutorial I felt was the important thing to do first, with AP following soon afterwards, it just seems like a natural progression there.

As for the Menu, I really dislike clutter, and the Menu is getting pretty cluttered already.  I'm seriously considering dropping the Formation command, since it's just fluff and has no direct bearing on anything (which is why it's currently disabled anyway).  The decision to put AP on an NPC was both to prevent Menu clutter, and to add a bit of flavor to the game as well.  Seeing a familiar NPC in every new section of the game makes you feel more familiar with the section itself, even if you've never been there before, as it contains a familiar element.  I could replace Formation Command with AP Command if this seems like a good idea, I'd just hate to cut that guy out of everything cause it's fun seeing him around.

There is also the possibility of having him be a sort of guide, guru, "Tutor"(ial) if you will, maybe he will be a guy to give you some hints and tips and general information?  Maybe he'll even do something cool to help you later?  Overall I just feel that having him around opens up certain possibilities that I may not even be considering at the moment.  Additional feedback on him is something I'll be paying close attention to.

Speaking of encounters. I am one of those players who is neutral on visual vs random battles. However, if you are going to go with visual battlers, please make it possible to actually dodge the fights. I saw no way to get past all the slimes without at least one fight if I wanted to retreat to this room and save, and those slimes get old when you are level six (which I was when I had to stop and save). At least consider a retreat option, as it is I had to make sure to retreat to save with enough time to endure the battles, and that is going to wear on some of your players (especially ones with limited playing time).  Also, I once had a slime spawn right on top of me. While I thought it a little funny just trying to visualize how that would work, that may aggravate some of your players. Maybe a check if player.x and player.y = the coordinates of the event, don't spawn yet, wait a few more frames?

Currently you can slip around the Slime at the north bridge, but I will look into widening the paths a bit more.  I've been considering some sort of "Fly" spell that perhaps teleports you to the last Save crystal you visited, or maybe to the nearest one depending on the area.  I'll tinker aorund with this, atm I don't know how I'd implement it but I'm sure it can't be too complicated.  I'll look into respawns on top of your character too, though I am unsure if such a fix would care about party followers walking behind the lead character.  We'll find out soon enough.

UPDATE:  When they respawn under your party followers, the entire everything freezes and you must Alt F4.  Not going to be implementing this, at least not in any sensical way.

-I thought the battle tutorial worked for me, though I've played games that used this kind of system. One thing you might want to consider (without WOWifying everything as you put it) is to put that info in a readme file or a help button on the menu a player can access a little later on. That way once the player has done a couple of battles they can read it again and maybe better understand it once they have done a couple of battles.

"Whine" in the Menu is just a curteousy to let people know ingame about various issues.  Once I'm satisfied that everything is in order, that Command could be used perhaps as a repository for general information?  This seems to be a recurring theme, more info needs to be available somewhere.  I've got a few ideas now on how I might go about doing it.

-I would consider a monster that does not do all those divide into little slimes trick for the first opponent. I know you want a hard game, but maybe consider a tutorial battle right by the save crystal with only one slime at least? That way the player has a chance to warm up to battles a little quicker before running into three slimes that could total party KO a party at level one.

Maybe I'll have a few little ones attack near the entrance.  Level 1 is dangerous though, 2 Crystal Sprays will down a level 1 character unlucky to get hit by both.

-The Mag that you find in the caves can only be equipped on one actor. Is that intentional? If so maybe add something saying who is to equip it at least (and if you did, I did find the Mag close to time to quit, so I may have missed that note).

That is intentional.  Certain characters can only equip certain Mags, though they can all access a majority.  In this particular case, you picked up a Magic-oriented Mag, and of your 3 characters with open equip, only 1 of them is a Magic user.  I'll have one of the other ones maybe mention this, similar to the Flame Gauntlet dialogue in that same room.

-You have a skill called Righteous Strike which says it lowers the target rate of all allies. By how much? Also if it is the same percent for all allies, you will learn that this skill does not actually work at all at some point. See, the targeting algorithm in the game adds up everyone's target rate, then picks a random number in that range and that is who it targets. So if you have everyone at 100, 100 * 4 = 400. However, if you half everyone's rate to 50, 50 * 4 = 200, but everyone still has the same chance to be selected (25%) as before (100/400 is the same as 50/200).

How Tanking works is that everyone has their own base 100 Target Rate, unless they boost it with AP.  Whenever a "smart" monster or humanoid enemy attacks a player character, they place an invisible debuff on that character that gives them 300 Target Rate.  When Dana uses Righteous Strike, what she is actually doing is clearing that debuff from all party members, and then relying on whatever her own inherent Target Rate ends up being in order to maintain Threat once she has cleared it from everyone else.  So investing AP into Dana's Target Rate makes her a better Tank.

-I'm surprised you don't have Yanfly's System script, which allows auto-dash. I'd add it. Your players will love you later when they no longer need to plod through the dungeon at slow speeds or hold SHIFT down.

Just what I need.  Another script.  LOL I'll look for that one, thanks.

-I'd cut that scene where you rant about saves and items and MP and such at the first save point. It would work if you are going for a satire, but I get the impress you are not, so it runs the risk of being a little too negative to your players.

Yeah it is a little out of place.  I was considering a shorter dialogue with a Demon Trapped in a Save Crystal, but while the game does have its share of dark humor, it's not a sattire.  You'll understand once you get past the Ice Cave.

I do have ideas for a sattire game within this game's universe, but those ideas are for another time.  I'll have a talk with the Save Crystal and tell him to stick to business.

-Finally: Grandia II musics cannot be legally used in any game, non commercial or commercial. At some point you will have to pull those musics. I'd do it now rather than later, to save you the trouble. I can post for you two links to musicians who have free music available if you wish.

Hope that helps you out, and gives you another opinion on the game. How far along is Act 2?

That's unfortunate, as I do own the soundtrack CD, and state the source in the ingame credits.  Oh well, links here would be most helpful and appreciated.

Thank you for some constructive feedback.    Act 2 is starting to shape up, I've got the opening social area into a cutscene, and about to go into some combat scenes but I need to make a bunch of new holder battlers.  While I don't intended an official release of Act 1+2 until 2 is completed, if this is something that interests you I can PM you a link to a secret sneak peak version later.

UPDATED 1/30/2015 12:54 AM

Based on feedback from bgillisp, have implemented a few quick Quality of Life improvements to early areas of the game:

-Miri now tells you what happens when you gain Party Favor.

-In addition to AP Management, Power Made Armored Flesh will now also give you some general combat information to help you to understand the systems better.

-Widened the paths so you should be able to slip around Slimes.  Variable X/Y coordinate checks into wait commands ended up freezing the game when a Slime respawns on top of a party follower, so this cannot be implemented at present time.

-Dana clarifies that Shan is intentionally the only one capable of equipping the Mag you find.

-The Save Crystal keeps his opinions to himself.

-Fly is implemented in my local version, but I want to playtest it first to ensure it isn't causing any issues with cutscenes/puzzles/etc.

 

[XPhater]

CITYWIDE BLACKOUTS!

QUEEN SHULA DECLARES A STATE OF EMERGENCY!

-Recent Anti-Lag Counter-Measure Devices installed in the City of Calhanna proved to be too much of a power drain upon the city's power supply generators.  Those generators have now been upgraded in the current version of GodSword!  Queen Shula recommends all citizens download the latest version immediately!

-Fly is now available for use in most areas of the game.

-Both of these issues are hotfixed simply by downloading the current version, and importing your save file, so there is no need to restart.  Several Save Crystals and Transport Events check to ensure that Shan has the skill in her list, and set the new Area Variable accordingly.  If you don't have it right away, try hitting your local Save Crystal or simply progressing through the game as normal; you'll pick it up somewhere.

 

[bgillisp]

I actually put him towards the end of the first room so that you wouldn't have to backtrack much to get to him later.  Since you're naturally moving towards him in the beginning, it seems like a good place to put him.  As for fighting 1 Slime before reaching him, I felt that was acceptable so that you would have a good amount of AP to spend the first time around.  Battle Tutorial I felt was the important thing to do first, with AP following soon afterwards, it just seems like a natural progression there.

There is also the possibility of having him be a sort of guide, guru, "Tutor"(ial) if you will, maybe he will be a guy to give you some hints and tips and general information?  Maybe he'll even do something cool to help you later?  Overall I just feel that having him around opens up certain possibilities that I may not even be considering at the moment.  Additional feedback on him is something I'll be paying close attention to.

That would work well, and probably be funny too. "Oh, no, what does he want THIS time?"

For soundtracks here are two that are totally free, per the composers:

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/26508-all-music-at-soundimageorg-is-now-free-for-commercial-use/

http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/926-rpg-music-pack-free-commercial-use/?hl=%2Baaron+%2Bkrogh

I used both in my game until I could get around to hiring a composer.

Those links should give you about 300+ music files to play with, though you will have to convert them from .mp3 to .ogg for RPGMaker to play them right (Audacity can do that for you). I'd listen first, find the files you want, then convert those.

 

[XPhater]

1/31/12:05AM

-Based on feedback from bgillisp, I've moved Power Made Armored Flesh to the start of each area that he appears in, typically within view of where the new Fly spell will land you.  Moreso, his Ice Cave appearance will give you the option to engage in an in-depth tutorial, giving you some examples of stuff you can do and look out for.  This tutorial is not mandatory, and can be skipped if you do not wish to engage in it.

Hopefully this clears up any confusion people may have about this type of combat system.

ALSO (3:28AM):  The Mountain Trail was blocked by the new positioning of Power's snowman and a blue flower.  Mediafire statistics show that one person downloaded in the interim, so apologies to whoever you are.

ALSO ALSO (3:48PM): Fixed an issue where the Tutorial would only be available once.  I've also increased the amount of Guard Effectiveness you get from AP.

ALSO ALSO ALSO: (9:37PM): Implemented Yanfly's System Options.  "Hide Battle Animations" did not work with Yami Battle Symphony, so I removed that option from the menu.  Additionally, I noticed on Yanfly's blog that people were confused about how to exit System Options, as the only available choices were Return to Title, and Exit Game.  People didn't realize they were supposed to return to the Main Menu by hitting Escape, so I added an option that you can select specifically to take you back there.

(The addition of this script does not appear to require a restart).

Power Made Armored Flesh was running rampant through the party on subsequent Tutorial runthroughs, so I reined him in.  He will no longer slaughter you upon your return.  (This one's weird, the switch is off, but for some reason he needs to be specifically reminded of this).

 

[XPhater]

One final small update to add to the above, I've reduced the FP Cost of Swicord's Heroic Sweep from 3 to 2, lowered the Stun from a Heavy Stun to a Normal Stun, Stun chance from 35% to 25%, and reduced overall damage by around 30 points.  He now has a 4 point single target attack, Crusader Strike, that has 100% chance to inflict Heavy Stun.  He learns this at Level 10 in a New Game, but as a hotfix for existing savegames, simply have him talk to Power in the Caverns to learn it directly.

Overall Act 1 is probably much improved thanks to the above feedback, thank you

2/4/2015 9:21PM:

Ran a playtest to sweep for bugs, issues, stuff I broke over the weekend.  Here is the fix list for today:

-AP Points gained at Level Up will now gradually scale upwards.  This change is retroactive with existing savegames.

-Converted .MP3 music and sound effects to .OGG format.

-Added frames to a handful of faces that didn't have them.

-Fixed blue bars at bottom of Duelist faces.

-Fixed issue in the Nest where Shan would switch to a Blindfold Duelist when she did not have the Blindfold.

-Fixed broken mirror in Shan's Room after the poop river cutscene.

-Bat mobs will now drop Vampire Blood loot item.

-Mushroom mobs will now drop rare stat-boosting mushrooms.

-Increased Swicord's auto-allocated AP to give him 4 Max FP automatically.

-Shan will now attempt to re-equip her body armor after Donna takes the Halter Top.

-Fixed a potential issue that would result in becoming stuck in the first Caverns room when using Fly.

 

[XPhater]

2/13/2015 6:19PM EST

Big upgrade today, here is the list of revisions for Godsword Act 1.2:

New Scripts:

-Yanfly Lunatic Targets

-Craze Smart Enemy Healing

-DoubleX Cover Edit

(These scripts were added for the upcoming Act 2, which introduces humanoid enemies who behave much differently than the wild monsters our heros have faced so far!)

-Yanfly Victory Aftermath

(This makes a nifty Victory screen where you get to see Win Quotes, Level Up stat increases, Skills learned, and Loot Drops with Icons!)

-SoulPour777 Credits Scene

(I consolidated all the Credits into one page full of teeny tiny text, and added a selection into Yanfly System Options that lets you view the Soulpour777 Credits Scene at any time from within the Yanfly System Menu.)

-Hime Item Rarity

(This script works in conjunction with Modern Algebra's Global Text Codes, which are versatile, but not optimal for all applications.  For example, Using Modern Algebra's Text Codes to color a Sword name, that is in the Shop but you cannot afford, it would still display the lightened text as though it was affordable.  Or if the equip was locked to a character, it was lit up as though it were removable.  Hime's Item Rarity, used for such applications, returns a darkened item/skill name whenever the item/skill in question is not affordable/removable/castable.  Modern Algebra's Text Codes are still used for such applications as Yellow "Continue" on the title screen, and Icons/Skill colors in the battle log.  Also, user Skills have been color coded as such:  Red for Attacks, Green for Heals, Yellow for Support.  This was done to help keep the lists organized and to more quickly find what Skill you are looking for.  Feedback on whether this helps or distracts would be good to hear about.  Something I've noticed from playtesting is that colored skills really help to draw your attention to them in the Victory Aftermath screen when a character learns one, which is nice.)

-Uncredited addon to Yanfly HP Bars that adds enemy MP/TP bars also

(This script cannot be credited as part of its ToU.  You can now target an enemy to see how much FP that enemy has, and use that information to better strategize your battles, as you now have a strong indicator of when a powerful enemy attack is likely to occur!  Enemy FP Bars also display any time an enemy gains FP, such as start of turn or using Focus.  In Power Made Armored Flesh's Battle Tutorial, he will now mention to you that you should pay attention to his new FP Bar, and be ready for something bad when he gets it full.)

-Yanfly Party Manager

(This was added to allow you the option of swapping out extra characters in later Acts, if you end up with more playable characters than the active party has room for.  Note that the Formation Command itself is still disabled at this point, as there is not currently any need for it.  But better to add the Script sooner than later.  One effect this has on the existing game is that XP earned will now be shared among all surviving party members, meaning that if one or more members ends the fight with K.O. status, their share of the XP is not "lost", but rather distributed among the other members.  XP Rates for enemies has been dramatically increased to accomodate the new sharing mechanic.)

Other changes/revisions/additions:

-Fixed an issue that could cause you to become stuck on the Sliding Ice if you'd used the Fly spell in Scorp Mama's room.

-Lightned the Calhanna Midnight tintscreen so it's not an eyestrain.  Though maybe it's just me cause I've been staring at Calhanna Midnight Act 2 for 12 hours a day for the past week and a half.  I always wondered why Orgrimmar night cycle was almost indistinguishable from daytime, guess they had that in mind.

-Handmaidens hanging around the Fortress common area before you go into the Caverns now talk when you click on them.

-Slimes now have tongues to Slurp you with.  The accompanying sound effect plays a little slow, but it's passable.

-Tinkered with some Gold drops in the Mountains and Caverns.  Arshes Arsenal will sell you a selection of Bronze equipment at the start of Act 2, so Gold drops may be further revised to ensure you have an appropriate amount.

-Tank characters now have the Cover mechanic added to their attributes in the Database.  This should give you a second chance in some tough battles, as Dana will attempt to intercept attacks meant to K.O. another party member.

-Dinked around with the Shops a bit to figure out how to better implement them and clean up some of the clutter.

-Replaced two of the Grandia tracks with other music.  There's still one to go.

None of the above changes require a restart, as they simply alter the way existing stuff already works.

-MAG MAKEOVER!  I found some more Holder's Mags that I didn't have, so some of the Mags ingame have received new appearances.  This one will require a restart in order to fully implement, but restarting is not required.  All of the original Mag files are still installed, so you may continue with your existing Mags without incident.  You may notice some mismatched icons in the Mag Menu, though.

Given the sheer amount of changes, restart would probably be a not bad idea.  But you can proceed without one.  I don't think I missed any updates, but I'll revise the list if I remember something later.

 

[XPhater]

2/16/2015 6:22PM:

-Important Update:  It was still possible to get stuck on the Sliding Ice if you used Fly in Scorp Mama's room, as the Switch controlling this could be enabled even after Fly disabled it.  This should be resolved now.

Other stuff I've been tinkering with that gets included with this fix:

-Duelist Face Icons now with expressions

-Added subtle gradient bevel type effect to buff and state icons to make them look fancy

-New Power Made Armored Flesh Sprites that are suitable to the locations you find him in

-Slimes now have S.Slurp attack.

-Implemented a new trick I learn from playing Legionwood, that is adding tileset elements to battle backgrounds in order to make them better resemble the maps they go with.  I did this with the second room of the caverns, it does look kinda nifty.

 

[XPhater]

2/18/2015 11:57PM

-PRIORITY UPDATE:  Based on feedback from Chareu, I looked over the AP script and figured out how to make it store changes made to actors when you cycle through to another actor.  You no longer need to confirm each member individually, and can now do them all at once!

-Based on feedback from Chareu, added an option to the Yanfly System Options screen to Show/Hide descriptive S.Skills in Actor's Skill Lists.  Hiding these does not remove the Skills from the actor, and serves merely to reduce clutter during battles.

-Added a Special Thanks section for Constructive Feedback to the Credits Screen.

-Gems that provide % stat increases will now also provide a direct bonus to ensure that they have some sort of effect on characters with a low base stat.

-Fly has been changed from Magic type to Special type.  This prevents it from ever showing in your Skill List during battles, since it cannot be used there anyway.

-Mag abilities have received a cast speed increase to match them with the speed of other buffs.

-Plate, Mail, and Glove armor items have received new icons.

-A Mag not yet present in the game, Rudra, has received significant changes to how he behaves.  These changes will only be applied on a fresh start. (Though fresh start is not required, especially since it affects nothing ingame atm).