RMMV Need feedback on creatures

[Zreine]

So I had no idea where to post this so I don't know if it's the right place.

My game will include summoning of creatures called Shadow Beasts. That's the name people call them in the game, but in reality nobody knows what they really are or where they come from. They started appearing out of nowhere during a war and everybody freaked out. That is until some inhabitants of this world realized they could communicate with them and control them to an extent. The Shadow Beasts still have freewill, but for some reason chose to obey the humans they can talk with. The human that can talk with them are called Guardians and each Gardian can only summon and control one Shadow Beast.

Now I could go in depth about what those creatures truly are, but since it would be massive spoiler...I won't, lol. Anyway, I need at least 4 of them. 3 for 3 of my main characters, and one for an antagonist. The way they look is related to the characters backstory. I wanted some feedback on their design and abilities... and names....I'm really bad at names. I only have one Shadow Beast completed so far, but I'll add the other ones to this thread once they are completed.

How Shadow Beasts work: They can only be summoned once per battle, they can only stay summoned for a limited amount of turn (still need to be determined), multiple Shadow Beasts can be summoned at the same time if there is more than one Gardian in the party, all Shadow Beast are weak to Iron weapons.

Spoiler: Sahdzyn

This is the Shadow Beats of the main character. Since the main character's back story involve some tragic event regarding deer hunting I choose that look for him. I wanted Sahdzyn to look intimidating, so I went the Wendigo route for the design. Without to color it's hard to tell, but his body is made of a mixte of gooey black substance and black fog. For his name I mixed the names Sadhbh and Oisin (from Irish mythology) together and change the typo a little bit.
Passive ability: Grant an attack and speed bonus to all party members but lower their defense for as long as he remain summoned.
Skills: Mostly a damage dealer, with abilities that cause Bleed and/or Fear (I still have to make the skills). Is Immune to Fear and Confusion.
Personality: Cunning, sweet talker despite his agressive look, is obsessed with making his gardian stronger.

Spoiler: Haylu

It's name comes from Ailuros which is the greek name for the Goddess Bastet. For story purpose this one needed to be cute, look like a pet kids would like, but style fit with the style of the other Shadow Beasts. Haylu is the Shadow Beast of one of the main character, a swordsman. (I still need to find a good name for that character...)
Passive ability: Heal all bad status effect of the whole party when summoned. The whole party get immune to debuffs as long as Haylu is in battle. Haylu always attacks first each turn.
Skills: Mostly a healer and a buffer, as only one attack special skill. ( Not too sure about it's skills to be honest. Haylu may have too much skills similar with the third shadow beast I haven't posted yet. I'll need to think about it more.)
Personality: Naive, childlike, mischievous, is obsessed with making it's Gardian Happy.

That's it for now, like I said I'll add the others when they are done. Don't be afraid to be honest I can take it. If you have questions just ask.

 

[Black Pagan]

Since they are called "Shadow Beasts", Why not make their Sprites black and partially visible like a Shadow ? Make them stand out among other Creatures. Also, I think you could similarly base their Attacks around a "Darkness" Theme, Like their Skills, Which would appear in "Dark Shades" to contrast with abilities of you and your Enemies.

Here is another idea : Since you say they are "Special Summons", Why not make them appear on the battlefield while damaging the Enemy. What I mean is, Before they appear, Lets say each of these Shadow Beasts have a "Special AOE Ability" or "Instant Kill" Ability which targets Random Enemies and then they appear ! This would seem more Awesome and makes sense to summon them only when things go hard.

 

[Finnuval]

Love the name and design of sahdzyn. His pose however reads more stalking then intimidating to me though xD

Abilities sound alright, might want to include a howl or something.

@Black Pagan ''s idea of an aoe attack when summoned is a good one too.

 

[Zreine]

Since they are called "Shadow Beasts", Why not make their Sprites black and partially visible like a Shadow ?

I called them Shadow Beasts because they materialize from their gardian's shadow. The idea behind this was they are "solid" shadows. But giving them an ethereal look would definitely fit the theme of what they are. That's a neat idea. Maybe I could mixe both, like having the body solid looking, but the mane be more transparent and shadow like.

Since you say they are "Special Summons", Why not make them appear on the battlefield while damaging the Enemy. What I mean is, Before they appear, Lets say each of these Shadow Beasts have a "Special AOE Ability" or "Instant Kill" Ability which targets Random Enemies and then they appear ! This would seem more Awesome and makes sense to summon them only when things go hard.

It's a good idea and I've thought about it, but I was afraid it would make them too OP since summoning them doesn't cost anything. Maybe I could have them cost HP to summon, so the player would have to think twice before summoning them? Like they are powerful but the come at a price. When they are summon they basically replace the character that summoned them on the battlefield. It's a little like FFX when Yuna summon an Aeon, except in my case the rest of the party would remain in battle. I did this to avoid the battle screen being overcrowded. All this to say, I think it wouldn't be too unfair for the player, since the character cannot get hit while the creature is summoned, but would force the player to think about what to do once the summon is over and the character is brought back with less health. Since I want me game based on strategy more than spamming powerful attacks, I think it could work. Hummm... but It's just an idea, I think I'll see if it's fair and works when I'll be testing it in game.

Love the name and design of sahdzyn. His pose however reads more stalking then intimidating to me though xD

Yeah...maybe I'll have him stand up on his back legs instead. Depends of how things goes with Dragonbones...lol.

 

[Marquise*]

Visually speaking, it is very efficient.

 

[MechScapeZH]

Phenomenal! (...I wish I could draw half as well as you. )

You know what this concept reminds me of? Blue Dragon. The whole creature-from-someone's-shadow thing and the art style both. Was that an influence?

 

[Finnuval]

Yeah...maybe I'll have him stand up on his back legs instead. Depends of how things goes with Dragonbones...lol

Haha yeah there is that to consider lol

Alternativly you could lower his backside and inflatie his torso a little so the angle goes in the other direction. That might do the trick (or it might not, you never know till you try it out lol).

Basically this. :


Less stalking more intimidating (well i think anyway but that is totally subjective lol)

 

[Zreine]

Phenomenal! (...I wish I could draw half as well as you. )

You know what this concept reminds me of? Blue Dragon. The whole creature-from-someone's-shadow thing and the art style both. Was that an influence?

Nope, I had to google it to know what Blue Dragon was, lol. I took inspiration from Kaonashi from Spirited Away for the look. They all have black bodies and the only part that have colors is the skull/mask they have as a face. For the shadow thing, I was looking for a way to visually show that they are connected to their Gardians and their past and I thought having the Shadow Beasts come out of the Gardians shadow was a cool way to convey that.

 

[MechScapeZH]

Nope, I had to google it to know what Blue Dragon was, lol. I took inspiration from Kaonashi from Spirited Away for the look. They all have black bodies and the only part that have colors is the skull/mask they have as a face. For the shadow thing, I was looking for a way to visually show that they are connected to their Gardians and their past and I thought having the Shadow Beasts come out of the Gardians shadow was a cool way to convey that.

Ah, I see. It's very cool and thematic. Look forward to seeing more of your concepts!

 

[Zreine]

Next one:

Spoiler: Haylu

It's name comes from Ailuros which is the greek name for the Goddess Bastet. For story purpose this one needed to be cute, look like a pet kids would like, but style fit with the style of the other Shadow Beasts. Haylu is the Shadow Beast of one of the main character, a swordsman. (I still need to find a good name for that character...)
Passive ability: Heal all bad status effect of the whole party when summoned. The whole party get immune to debuffs as long as Haylu is in battle. Haylu always attacks first each turn.
Skills: Mostly a healer and a buffer, as only one attack special skill. ( Not too sure about it's skills to be honest. Haylu may have too much skills similar with the third shadow beast I haven't posted yet. I'll need to think about it more.)
Personality: Naive, childlike, mischievous, is obsessed with making it's Gardian Happy.

 

[empresskiova]

Nice idea! I didnt play Blue Dragon, but the idea does remind me a bit of its premise. One suggestion I’d like to make is to be sure that the Shadow Beasts fight distinctly from the Humans. Otherwise, min-maxers won’t have much reason to use your SB’s.

Sahdzyn: He’s a brute. Nothing wrong with that. Without looking at his skillset, I’d encourage his passive to be focused on straight debuffing the enemy. For example, he looks like he’s stalking, maybe the enemies all have a chance of gaining the fear state each turn? His skills could be stronger vs scared foes too.

Haylu: A small fast cat. He plays the classic white mage, but with priority moves. I suspect he’ll mostly be used at the start of mook fights to drop pre-battle buffs. It’s hard to say how it will interact with boss fights, especially if this is your only healer class.

 

[eluukkanen]

I am not a designer, but I like the look of both. Could imagine them being summoned in game you are describing

 

[Zreine]

Sahdzyn: He’s a brute. Nothing wrong with that. Without looking at his skillset, I’d encourage his passive to be focused on straight debuffing the enemy. For example, he looks like he’s stalking, maybe the enemies all have a chance of gaining the fear state each turn? His skills could be stronger vs scared foes too.

Haylu: A small fast cat. He plays the classic white mage, but with priority moves. I suspect he’ll mostly be used at the start of mook fights to drop pre-battle buffs. It’s hard to say how it will interact with boss fights, especially if this is your only healer class.

I really like the idea for Sahdzyn, especially since in my game all bosses will be immune to Fear (seemed logic to me) but you just gave me the idea that maybe Sahdzyn could be the only one to be able to induce fear to bosses and I like that idea a lot.

For Haylu, it's probably the shadow beast I struggle the most with regarding it's skills. In my game there is very little healing outside of items. The way I was seeing it: Healing magic heals the whole party but only a little, healing items heal only one party members but by a lot. Healing magic can heal shadow beasts, while items have no effect on them. There is only Meredith that can do healing magic. She is not a Guardian, so once she join the party she'll always be on the field, but her magic skills depends on which weapon she has equipped.

I wanted the Shadow Beast to have skills related to their personality, Sahdzyn is obsessed with getting powerful so he is the damage dealer, Haylu is obsessed with making people feel good, so I thought healer. The last one I haven't drawn yet is obsessed with keeping people safe, so I though of it being a tank that would take damage for allies, reflect enemy damage and cast shields and stuff. The thing is, I am afraid that last one will be too similar to Haylu, making it useless.

So if any of you have an ideas about making Haylu stand out without contradicting its nature... I'd take them, lol.

 

[Finnuval]

I think the differences you can make between Haylu and the last one is to make Haylo have offensive buffs ( who doesnt feel good when they get stronger?) and the other one exclusively defensieve boosts to protect.
This Also gives the player the need to use both and not have a favorite go to one