Hi there. Congratz on the release of your Demo. It seems well made, and I imagine you've put in a fair amount of time and work developing it so far.
I've played the game/demo, at least what I was able to (maybe I've encountered a game-breaking bug, as it seems I'm "stuck" and can progress no further, supposed to go "South to Vicia", but no way I can find to go there). I got around, I think about 30 to 40 minutes of game-play time in.
It's a really nice looking game, the story keeps my interest so far as I progress, the various maps/locations for the most part seem well designed and nice to explore.
I appreciate some of the bits of humor you've included in few parts (Like the little-girl who zips around zig-zagging like crazy for a moment after she tells you she had pancakes with extra syrup, or when Daryl first gets to class, and some of the characters like a fellow-student all bandaged up who probably experimented too much with magic, etc..).
Some things I mention below are some things that I thought could perhaps could be improved upon;
* At first, I wake up, I'm supposed to go to school (I guess I'm late), but, I had no idea which way to go (maybe make mention it's up/ North, or put it as a First "Quest" that you could refer to and get some details/instructions from), so I explored all over the map I was able to access until I finally found the school.
* Most items/objects in rooms and on various maps have no interactions, whereas I did find a couple that had some interactions. For example, in my bedroom where I start, I can access the Cabinet once, and find some, what I guess is Money? (Lucre or some odd sounding name that every-time I see that word it doesn't register as "Money" to me, rather it reminds me of
Licorice. "Hey, I found 10 pieces of Licorice. Yummy. And everyone buys/sells stuff for Licorice.". Why not have it "Gold" or "Coins" or "Dollars". But that's a minor gripe. No worries.
), anyways, after that, I can no longer interact with that cabinet. And in fact, is seems I can't interact with anything else in the house at all.. Lots of neat looking items, nothing I can interact with. So, if that becomes so common that most all object I can't interact with, I'll soon get to the point where I won't bother trying to interact with any objects/items I see, as I figure nothing will happen anyways. But, if this is the case, maybe later on there IS supposed to be some object/item of importance that I'm supposed to interact with, but as a Player, because I've been by this point to train to think that most every object I
can't interact with anyways, so why bother. So, what I'm saying is, even if it's an item of non-importance, you might consider adding something that happens when the Player tries to interact with various objects.. "There's nothing more of interest in that cabinet", or "A comfortable looking bed, but it's no time to rest, it's time to get to school." (In that regards, why, when the Inn door finally becomes unlocked later, I can choose to rent a bed to rest there, but, at my on bedroom I can't choose to rest? That I'm aware of).
* Some randomly wondering people/neighbors can block access to doors or my path or where I want to go sometimes.
* Trying to go certain directions or open some doors, I'm met with a message of "You can't go there now". Perhaps explain WHY I can't go there, like, "You can't go there yet. You need to get to school first", or some message explaining why I'm not allowed access to some places/directions.
* The main in-game menu, it seems odd I need to "scroll" up or down to be able to have access to all options on that menu. This seems a nuisance. I should be able to see all options on the main-menu at a glance. Just expand you main menu there to show all options there, as there's plenty of room still on that menu to be able to show all options.
* When talking to some people & neighbors around the town, perhaps have them say more than just one line (maybe make a few lines they cycle through speaking, which you could set-up with some variable). This is a minor point though.
* In class, there's one spelling error I noticed when someone comes in to give you the Charles quest,
"...I'm sure Charles' parents will greatly
appriciate your efforts." Should be
appreciate.
*When I get the find Charles quest, if I happen to go home first and talk to Darious (My father I guess that is), I'm still met with the message of;
"..Wait, shouldn't you be at school right now?". Maybe at that point have the message change to why he's no longer at school, like have Daryl say, "Ms. Gray asked me to go to Frina Forest to look for Charles."
* From the main Menu, where you have the "Save" option, maybe have it read "Save / Load", so the Player will visually know that's where they can also load save-files from there.
* I see you're using Yanfly's Save System script, as I'm also using it in my Blade-of-Rage game. However, I might suggest adding Galv's confirmation script extra to it, from here:
http://forums.rpgmakerweb.com/index.php?/topic/9248-confirm-save-message-yanfly-save-engine/?p=97494
This can help to prevent accidentally overwriting a save-file, or accidentally loading in a save-file (therefore losing progress), or help prevent accidentally deleting a file.
* So, once the Captain so-and-so shows up to recruit me for some quest to go to Vincia, to the south apparently, that's it. I can't continue the game anymore. I can keep playing, but I am unable to go south (aside from the forest). So, I have no clue what to do now. If I try to go outside down, and towards the direction of that sign, I get "You can't go that way" type of message. There's no way that I can see to talk with the Captain (he's blocked off on the other side of a big table, and I can talk to Darius, who blocks the path to the other side of the table where the Captain is sitting, but, that's it, I can't continue the quest that I have found).
* Going North again to some Formula shop (I forget the name of it now, I think it's about mixing herbs and such to make potions, symbosis or some-such.. just personally, I'm not much of a fan of those types of having to collect lots of ingredients, recipes, mix it etc... Though I'm sure some Players may enjoy that sort of thing. Me, I'd just rather buy a potion as I need it than trying to find a bunch of ingredient, return to that shop to mix it, and only if I have the right recipe.. Unless it's part of a Quest, I'll probably never bother with it, but like I say, that's just my feelings on those kind of systems in game. Like when I played "The Witcher" game. Great game. But, I dreaded the unnecessary finding recipes, ingredients and mixing to make make some potions.. I never bothered with it, especially since I could usually buy the same potions anyways with Gold earned killing monsters and such). Anyways, when I said "No" to the tutorial.. After that, I was never given the option of a Symbiosys/sysntehsis tutorial again. You should keep the that "Tutorial" available to the Player, even when/if they first say no.
* Also odd I found in that shop... It's a shop where I'm to spend my Licorice to buy some things if I want, but... then.. in some chest, I find like 100 Licorice.. right in front of the shop-owners. And they let me steal it
It just seems odd to have it so the Player can take money from a chest in a Shop and right in front of the shop-owners being there.
* I'm not a fan of "Save Crystals" in games (though it can be okay if it's implemented well and frequent enough). But, going from a save-system where I can save anytime, then suddenly, once I'm in the forest, I'm no longer able to save when I want (I have to find a save crystal, which they seem a fair distance apart), and with random monsters every few steps (I felt the encounter rate was a bit too high, usually within every few steps I took *Bam! Slime in your face* *Bam! More Slime* *Bam! Guess what, another slime*. After about the 10th time or so of random Slime trying to gnaw my face, I was just trying to Escape the battles. I guess good for grinding for experience if wanting to level up, but maybe have random encounters a bit less frequent, give the Player a bit of a breather between battles. Having such a high random encounter rate can also make it quite frustrating just trying to explore the forest or get anywhere. And with so many random monsters, fighting so frequently, that's when I needed my Save to be working the most! But, because it's now switched over to the save-crystal, I'm finding I have to try and back-track every few fights, to try and save my progress again. Maybe have it, so, the "crystal" recovers HP and MP (like it does), but no need to make it as a "save crystal", I'd say, keep your save system consistent throughout the game, don't punish and frustrate the Player with this "save-crystal". If you're set on it, then, also have them more frequently (I felt they were way too far apart to feel comfortable about progressing and exploring further).
* In battles, the regular "Attack" almost seem useless when compared to the Magic attacks. I understand that the Magic is supposed to be more powerful than regular/weapon attacks, but for now it seems the Magic is too over-powered, and weapon-attack under-powered. You might consider pumping that up just a tad or more balancing these.
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Okay, so, there you have it. Some feedback and some suggestions (take as you like, and use as you like). It's all meant in a positive constructive way (so please don't think I was attacking your game or you as Developers), and if I didn't like your game or if I thought it was crap, I wouldn't have bothered playing it as much as I did, or taking notes as I did or to give the feedback as I have.
I do like the game, it has potential to become a great game I think with more polish and perhaps fixing up a few things and/or addressing some of the points I bring up as well.
Overall, I enjoyed playing it (as far as I was able to, for now, I have no idea how to continue the "Travel Southward to Vincia." quest, so, I'm at a loss and impasse with it for now).
Keep improving upon it, and keep up the good work! Cheers!
