[NC-17] Wine & Roses

[Crazetex]

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Download Wine & Roses (85mb)​

Requires RPGM VX Ace RTP

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What a man does for pay is of little significance.

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What he is, as a sensitive instrument responsive to the world's beauty,

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is everything! -H. P. Lovecraft

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An entry for the RMN All Hallows' Event.

Three exorcists are led by the skeletal Lord Francisco into his usurped home, the magnificent Fort Adder. Only by seeking out ancient spirits that offer unique gifts to the heroines can they hope to purge Francisco's fortress of the evil within.

Features

• A sprawling fortress to explore and unearth the secrets of
  
• Powerful demons that will destroy you unless you outsmart them
  
• Over thirty unique battles narrated by a witty and noble skeleton
  
• Flexible, deep and non-permanent customization of your exorcist trio
  
• A dark and intense soundtrack by D3vilsheep and Clearside
  

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Thanks to...

• Yanfly, for the base scripts (one snippet by Victor Sant)
  
• Evening Prayer, for the artwork
  
• Sakura, for the enemy graphics
  
• Clearside for battle music, D3vilsheep for dungeon themes, and XayberOptix for the final battle track
  
• Solitayre, for being attracted to Carmanth and her monocle
  

A note on scripts: I leave all my games open-source so that people can look at and learn from my scripting. Please understand that everything is interconnected and WILL NOT WORK if you just try to rip it out. I have heavily, heavily edited Yanfly's base scripts and they will not work stand-alone anymore. Learn, don't steal.

 

[Indinera]

Love the style of your artworks, good job.

 

[Crazetex]

I did not actually draw them! They're from Evening Prayer, as it says in the credits.

 

[Maebius]

Amazing!

(If Yanfy is what lets you use Energy and multiple turns, I'm looking deeper into that!)

I am not quite done with a playthrough yet, but the overall theme and concept and story is just awesome.

Perfect background, muisic, and visuals balance so far. Combat is tricky, but seems very well balanced, with the Afflicted States and skills remioving them.

Nice work!!

 

[RavenTDA]

Man this game is pure awesome. I really am enjoying myself so far and played it non-stop. The battle system is done so well. Did you come up with the idea of everything yourself? It's really addicting and I love the different challenges. There was a portion where it seemed a bit easy the more you killed off but it doesn't seem like it can be helped as it you can do everything in random order. The music also works extremely well and adds so much to the atmosphere. Not quite sure why it's rated NC-17. I mean some of the images are "mildly disturbing"; I feel the rating is FAR too harsh.

What I am wondering though is I'm kinda stuck. Does the game actually end or are you left wandering around? I pretty much took out everything in the castle area, ice area, fire area, lab area, and that weird creep dinner table sky area. Not quite sure if I took a wrong turn or what. Do new areas open up after you kill so many off? I'm probably missing something and just overlooking it. Maybe you can give me some direction?

EDIT:

Never mind I realized there's some stairs that I didn't notice that lead to the final fight. I liked it and thought the whole thing was pretty well balanced. I didn't feel frustrated but challenged which is really hard to achieve. Only real other thing to critique is that there was a lack of story and while that's not a bad thing and doesn't really hurt the game it could have used maybe a bit more of an intro. To be honest I almost didn't play it because it was so rushed. I severely dislike games that when you press start you just are standing in the middle of somewhere. Other than that there's no complaints. I wouldn't mind seeing what happens to the roses and maybe you could do another game where they are on another mission. If you're curious what fight was the hardest for me it was the one with the three girls that Francisco says are similar to the roses.

 

[Mr.Bukashi]

Nominated for Bukashi Game Of The Year

Vote Now: http://bukashistudios.wordpress.com/game-of-the-year-voting/

 

[Crazetex]

Amazing!

(If Yanfy is what lets you use Energy and multiple turns, I'm looking deeper into that!)

I am not quite done with a playthrough yet, but the overall theme and concept and story is just awesome.

Perfect background, muisic, and visuals balance so far. Combat is tricky, but seems very well balanced, with the Afflicted States and skills remioving them.

Nice work!!

Thanks! Yanfly Free Turn Battle is something that I nagged YF to make for weeks what lets the roses have extra turns, and Energy is just harsh max MP + inherent MP Regen. You could do it in the default system! Enemies using multiple turns is done by making every enemy skill an instant skill (using the Instant Cast YF script) and cost 1 MP -- so the enemy's max MP is how many actions they get each turn. (They also have 100% MP Regen.)

Man this game is pure awesome. I really am enjoying myself so far and played it non-stop. The battle system is done so well. Did you come up with the idea of everything yourself?

Yup. =3 I mean, it's inspired by a lot of other games, but it's not like I dropped in a script and went "this is what I'm doing," haha. I spent a few days coming up with just enemy gimmicks and ways to overcome them. Thankfully I'm a tutor whose "office" is a coffee shop, so it was pleasant enough to write up ideas while at work.

Never mind I realized there's some stairs that I didn't notice that lead to the final fight. I liked it and thought the whole thing was pretty well balanced. I didn't feel frustrated but challenged which is really hard to achieve. Only real other thing to critique is that there was a lack of story and while that's not a bad thing and doesn't really hurt the game it could have used maybe a bit more of an intro. To be honest I almost didn't play it because it was so rushed. I severely dislike games that when you press start you just are standing in the middle of somewhere. Other than that there's no complaints. I wouldn't mind seeing what happens to the roses and maybe you could do another game where they are on another mission. If you're curious what fight was the hardest for me it was the one with the three girls that Francisco says are similar to the roses.

Thanks for both the praise and criticism! Yeah, the intro is pretty horrible. I only had a month, and I spent the first week waffling on whether or not I was going to participate, so... yeah. Heh heh.

And yeah, that fight gave a lot of people a run for their money! The key is simply hardcore crowd control (sleep and madness, most notably).

 

[Mon Dez]

I love the gameplay and the changes that you did to yanfly's scripts plus that skeleton is an interesting addition to the game because it reminds me of the persona 3 and 4 of the side characters narrating the fight (I'm doing the same except with pictures instead of scripting.) Anyways this is one of my top 5 favorite complete rpg games next to Feral Dreams 2. I hope you make more games in this style in the future.

 

[mayhem4masses]

This looks very good, I'm downloading it right now. I like the idea of the skeletal Lord. The artwork by Evening Prayer is very nice.

 

[Ocedic]

Pros: This game is great. I love the art, the music, the battle system and literary ambitions. Everything feels very polished and well-tuned. Fantastic work.

Cons: My criticism is that it lacks a clear narrative. Not every game needs a story to be hand-fed to the player, but there doesn't seem to be any story at all here, and thus it's hard to become invested in this game beyond its aesthetics and fun gameplay. Even some kind of simple goal for the player would make it much better; otherwise it just felt like I was playing a tech demo in many ways. The references seem random and even at times like you were putting on airs. I haven't gotten that far, but the quotes didn't seem very related to the abilities I was getting. Either that or the connection is woefully esoteric.

The dungeon itself also seemed kind of forgettable. The mapping works, but at the same time the environments and dungeon were pretty forgettable. I was never wowed by the mapping or even thought much of it beyond its utility.

Overall: Awesome game, I wish there were more like it.

 

[NecroNeko]

I've been playing this game for an hour and I will play the game to the end for sure. But I'm already so amazed that I have to thank you for this masterpiece 

I really enjoy the fighting, it's like a boss fight every time. The equipment and skill gaining is pretty cool imo. It feels really simple and yet challenging which is an amazing combination. I'm thrilled to continue playing. Really well done, thank you for this game 

 

[Stoic]

What a fantastic game! It took me about 5 hours to finish. I ended up playing it all in one night. I didn't plan on doing that but the combat really sucked me in. Each battle felt unique and offered a different challenge. It became a lot easier once I learned crowd control abilities but even then the enemies weren't push overs. Some fights I'm not sure how I would have gotten through without them. Particularly the final battle where I kept the last boss in cryostatis the whole time.

I don't think I played a RM game with a combat system I enjoyed more than this one. Well done!

 

[Mayonakagakuro]

WOW! This game was simply amazing.  I got hooked on it immediately, loved the combat system as well.  I created an account on this website PURELY for this game.  I've actually played quite a few rpgmaker games.  Anyway, there were a couple of things that I found that could be better.  First, although the story was great, it was extremely confusing.  Also...

Spoiler

Battles become very easy. All you really need is "Sleep" and "Ghastly Rend(Lunar Starter)" or "Visions."  I can't really remember at the moment, but there was an item for Lunar girl that gives Sanity for each hit, exponentially increasing the damage of this combo.  Honestly, I used that for nearly every battle.  The "Luck Up" and "Resistance Down" make this combo even easier to do, in case it's hard to put them to sleep.  When you kill the final boss before she even brings out her weapon avatar, you don't see much of the dialogue.  (Correct me if I'm wrong about any of this)

Anyway, I look forward to more games like this.  I simply can't wait.  Keep up the good work!  

 

[SVGK]

i got this and it is great so far, but with each new encounter the game crashes and i have to find the enemy again, does the fact that i installed rtp after your game?.

 

[_Shadow_]

TL;DR;

It is really really good!   

This game should be more popular!

Spoiler

Wine and Roses.

Review after an Unarchive request.

I listen to the title screen music as I write these words.

This is promising.

Let's dive into the game then!

Default Selection SFX... meh!

Custom menu!

Okay this is really pretty.

The menu works nice, it is different from the default one and it contains a change color feature. Incredible way to welcome a player. Games made using VX Ace usually have default menus with alternativre coloring or worse, no menu at all. What I see here is a custom menu that supports perfectly the custom battle system the game has.

Custom artwork!

Characters with background info in the menu, with custom pictures, busts, and a great presentation full of quotes. This game is like a jigsaw of great art assets. Music is also great! Everything fits like a glove. Tilesets are nice, it seems I can see a slight editing, always welcome. Mapping is not something VERY special but the whole game manages to have its own unique feeling, thanks to the custom content.

Nobody taught me to press Z to start the game or interact. Nobody taught me how to move.

Tutorials must exist for the basic controls. Here, we have no controls tutorial.

BUT!

We got an EXCELLENT tutorial for the battle system.

We got an EXCELLENT tutorial for on going on stuff, like getting spells and doing an assign to every user. Fantastic tutorials, both in game and in fight.

The custom battle system transofrms a boring turn based fight into a very addictive battle. Loved it.

You have energy points for every player. You can rest for a round or do an action.

Actions cost energy.

You can do multi actions, as long as you got enough energy.

The enemies are nice stand still pictures, some are custom artwork I assume. What makes the battle prettier, is that “slime-like” transformation of the still enemy pictures. That was a fantastic add on.

Transition into battle was a nice piece of art.

This is one of the games that will actually absorb you easily into their universe. The gaming experience is absolutely great. There is a plot of course, but I will not play it to be honest for more than 45 minutes.

Something that is also great is that the player is introduced into action very early in the game. It is a game, it is supposed to be fun and it does that really nice.

So let's rate this baby!

Graphics: 80/100

If you make maps using parallax mapping technique, that will substitute the existing ones, to make the game pretty, it will get an 100/100.

Sound FX: 50/100

Default sound fx do not fit well with the rest of the atmosphere. Even using other RTP sounds would be better than that. Really.

Music: 80/100

Fantastic music, very nice and fitting well. Good battle background music, good enviromental sound music and effects.

Gameplay: 90/100

Gameplay is fantastic. It lacks a basics tutorial, but even not having that you instantly get used to it. Just incredible and a very strong point for the game. From the custom menu to the custom battle system, this is a game that can teach everyone why good gameplay is really important.

Scenario: 90/100

Till the moment I was playing, it was promising, since it is based on quotes and it was introduced very well.

Directed: 80/100

Well directed, the player gets into the atmosphere of the game instantly. Well done.

Atmosphere: 90/100

It delivers exactly what it is meant to deliver.

Polished: 65/100

There are some things to be done to consider the game a gem.

BUT DON'T GET THIS WRONG! The game is still FANTASTIC!

Overall: 78/100 meaning that it is awesome as it is anyway.

Well done!

 

[Plainview]

I love how the game is entirely skill based! Is that a script, because I was looking for a similar battle system. 

 

[Crazetex]

It was some pretty simple scripting, Plainview. I keep all my games open, all you need to do is plug in a Game.rmproj and then you can view all of the scripts. =) I believe i separated my Battle_Status and other Scene_Battle edits for WaR into its own script section so it should be easy to spot.

Dreadview: Thanks for the review! I don't visit this site much, so sorry for not responding sooner.  I totally agree with a 78%; it was a contest game,  so polish was really the least of my concerns. You can see a list of all the artists in the first post, I thanked them at the very end. I did very little graphical stuff myself, it's really not my strong suit. 

I'm against teaching the player how to advance a text box or move around though, so sorry if you disliked that. I'm glad you appreciated the other tutorials at least. Especially for a game that was made for a one-month contest on rpgmaker.net, I expected my audience to what buttons to press!

http://rpgmaker.net/users/Craze/ <-- feel free to check out my other, more recent games. =)

 

[Vox Novus]

So I can't believe it but I haven't written a review for this game at all! This was actually the first rpg maker game I ever played (and finished).

Positives:

-The artwork is extremly unique and does a lot for the game especially because it seems to just fit with the setting and over all feel you are going for.

-Each character feels unique and has there own sort of personality. Good use of Dialogue to.

-Love the attention to battles in this game, you have to tackle each encounter a little bit differently and without any pre-concieved notions of what is actually the best strategy to use.

-This game was obviously made for some sort of contest or something based on how you designed it but I still think it serves as a good example of what rpg maker games can be when they are made to fufill specific qualities rather than trying to do too much.

negatives:

-Whatever story was going on was confusing as it unravels in bits in dialogues as you progress through encounters. I sort of got that they were some charlie's angels-esque group of demon hunters working for the one skeleton in exorcising some place he was associated with in life but it was still very confusing.

That's about it really I don't have too much bad to say about this game it definitely accomplishes what you were going for and succeeds at being a really enjoyable game. Didn't comment on the music selection because I couldn't remember what it was like since its been so long since I've played it.