RMMZ Trials of Cascadia

[Ouro]

While the boss battles remain as hard as ever, some other battles seem easier because I have figured out "best" strategies and the battle system. Things like "Soak" (from an item) plus "Fire", and "Lightning" with Aila in the party. Also, thank you for lowering the price for the revenge ring and some other stuff. Still expensive, but worth the price. I'm thinking about buying the Angel Ring, but the characters only have so many fingers.

My personal strategy for the normal fights is that once you have three people, it becomes really easy to have the 5 TP AoE moves up nearly all the time. Basically every character just uses their basic attacks until their 5 TP thing can be used, at which point you let loose every time its possible. The exception being Aiya, with her I just shock enemies if she has 1+ TP and basic attack if she has 0.

Since the big ultimate moves have long turn cooldowns, it usually means that by the time a normal battle is over most of the characters are at max TP again but can't use it due to the cooldown. Which means that the next normal fight you get to start by alpha-striking them with your ultimates and then using whatever's left to gain TP (often all the way back to 5) on with basic attacks and so on and so on.


EDIT: Oh and when you get Aiya, she starts with the points to get 3 skill upgrades. So if you just choose one element and then immediately spend everything on the three upgrades for that specific element, Aiya can just use that one specific element over and over in normal battles to immense effect. I did it with the lightning spell but it should be really good with fire or ice as well.
If you generalize her upgrades and spread them out across all three of her elements she feels much weaker.

 

[Lady_JJ]

Playing for a second time and I just found both Mipos. Great hidden side quest and reward. Thanks for the comment from @Lady_JJ that had me scouring the countryside to find the first one. Did you ever find the elf family?

I actually found the family my first playthrough. The fact that they were elves escaped my attention. Second playthrough, I didn't remember to look for them until you mentioned it.

Working on a new build implementing the feedback from this thread currently and hoping to release soon. If you had to choose for monster respawning in dungeon maps, would you choose a crystal at the end that respawns all the monsters at once, or monsters that automatically respawn after a certain amount of time? I feel like while the crystal might break immersion a bit, the timed respawning monsters don't give the player a choice on whether they want a free path to backtrack or not.

I like being allowed a choice as to whether to physically travel through one of those connecting forests/caves/mines, etc. or just a quick transport to the other side. I believe there was one such place in the game where this was offered. What if the monsters were respawned if you decided to travel through rather than choosing the quick transport to the exit? That might not break the immersion as much as a crystal.

I haven't downloaded the newest build yet, but I will soon. I'm excited to see the newest changes regarding equipment found in treasure chests.

@Ouro - That's basically my strategy as well. And Aiya's Static state is pretty powerful with just one character, but when she's lucky enough to have it spread to all, it's 'Oh, you are SO done!' time.

 

[Lunesis]

I actually found the family my first playthrough. The fact that they were elves escaped my attention. Second playthrough, I didn't remember to look for them until you mentioned it.


I like being allowed a choice as to whether to physically travel through one of those connecting forests/caves/mines, etc. or just a quick transport to the other side. I believe there was one such place in the game where this was offered. What if the monsters were respawned if you decided to travel through rather than choosing the quick transport to the exit? That might not break the immersion as much as a crystal.

I haven't downloaded the newest build yet, but I will soon. I'm excited to see the newest changes regarding equipment found in treasure chests.

@Ouro - That's basically my strategy as well. And Aiya's Static state is pretty powerful with just one character, but when she's lucky enough to have it spread to all, it's 'Oh, you are SO done!' time.

Let me upload the newest build then, it won't work when you try to equip weapons and armor from previous saves however so be warned.

EDIT: It's up, I added patch notes on the Itch page:

-Added random affixes for all weapons and armor generated from shops and chests for more varied drops. THIS WILL NOT WORK WITH PREVIOUS SAVES!

-Characters still get experience when dead

-Added scene for Mondrus uncovering the Desert Temple entrance

-Made desert walking slightly faster during the sandstorm

-Added crystals at the end of the first three dungeons to reset monster spawns so that players can grind before the boss if needed without needing to backtrack to the start of the map

-Made Ancient Books 5x easier to acquire

-Reduced lighting events and overall map size in Heaven's Landing, and also reduced whirlwinds in desert area to improve FPS

-Reduced power of Attack very slightly, also reduced power of Static and Gust spells

-Adjusted balancing for several bosses to make them less punishing

-Fixed various skill descriptions, typos and passability issues

 

[kimo]

As for respawning, some people love it while some people hate respawning (me!). I've seen other people use a crystal approach for those players who just want to grind. I vote respawning at the player's request (crystal). I agree with @Lady_JJ about fast travel through a forest, etc. to avoid a respawning area and then entering if you want to grind.


-Made desert walking slightly faster during the sandstorm

I had a great vision when reading this. I have no idea exactly how to implement (event?) it, but what if the party could travel rather quickly and then occasional be pushed back several spaces to emulate a sandstorm pushing them backward.

I'll download and try to start tomorrow from the beginning.

EDIT:
Okay, I started a new game from ver. 1.4 and the strangest thing happened with weapons. I bought a plain bronze spear from the first town's shop, and it suddenly turned into a "Mystic Bronze Spear" when equipped. Also, the previously equipped plain bronze spear was unequipped and the item name changed to "Fortunate Copper Spear" when unequipped. Purposeful? If so, it's time to save and hold out for the "best" version.

EDIT#2:
Wow! I have a new hobby. Negotiating with the armor/weapons merchants until you get an item you really like. For example, I held out for a "Smart Iron Sword of FIre" and I get +10% EXP and 10% of inflicting Burn. There appear to now be loads of permutations for stuff, but you do have to equip the item to see its true name.

EDIT#3 (1/13/22):
I started this comment several days ago and just got "End of Demo" on ver 1.4 and I have some observations on the changes. Apparently RL has taken its toll on others.

The biggest change was the random weapon/armor augments that I mentioned above. It appears this random augmentation is possible when both buying and finding equipment in chests. It's like rolling dice and if you have no life then save before opening a chest, equip the item to find it's true description, and reload if you want to try again. It's the same strategy if you want to never accept an empty barrel as the outcome. I know there are people who will like this and others who won't. This takes a lot of extra work to set up and determine percentages, so it seems a bit harsh when I say I prefer a system where the designer strategically places items which may be useful in the game's near future (i.e. upcoming battles or equipment for future bosses). The advantage is I now have 4 iterations of a long sword only used by one character, but I cannot change equipment during a battle in case I find a weakness that could be exploited.

Speaking of bosses. Were changes made to that Sand Boss with attitude encountered as you leave the library? It seemed harder this time and I had to play 2x to get the ancient book and it did seem more difficult than before. Given the difficulty of winning this battle and the reward, I really think the book should be a very high drop rate (like 100%?). Or maybe even make it a 100% drop from an optional enemy, so players could miss out on it by not engaging every monster.

I liked your implementation of the crystals for 2 reasons. Grinders gotta grind. And it also signifies a boss-like enemy is right around the corner.

And yet another edit after seeing my notes. The torch lighting sequence times out too quickly. The only way I can see the puzzle being solved is to figure out the lighting sequence in advance and then afterward quickly light the torches in the correct order. I made a map of the torch sequence after figuring it out. To be honest, I would not time the puzzle and would also include some kind of reset feature.

 

[Lunesis]

As for respawning, some people love it while some people hate respawning (me!). I've seen other people use a crystal approach for those players who just want to grind. I vote respawning at the player's request (crystal). I agree with @Lady_JJ about fast travel through a forest, etc. to avoid a respawning area and then entering if you want to grind.


-Made desert walking slightly faster during the sandstorm

I had a great vision when reading this. I have no idea exactly how to implement (event?) it, but what if the party could travel rather quickly and then occasional be pushed back several spaces to emulate a sandstorm pushing them backward.

I'll download and try to start tomorrow from the beginning.

EDIT:
Okay, I started a new game from ver. 1.4 and the strangest thing happened with weapons. I bought a plain bronze spear from the first town's shop, and it suddenly turned into a "Mystic Bronze Spear" when equipped. Also, the previously equipped plain bronze spear was unequipped and the item name changed to "Fortunate Copper Spear" when unequipped. Purposeful? If so, it's time to save and hold out for the "best" version.

EDIT#2:
Wow! I have a new hobby. Negotiating with the armor/weapons merchants until you get an item you really like. For example, I held out for a "Smart Iron Sword of FIre" and I get +10% EXP and 10% of inflicting Burn. There appear to now be loads of permutations for stuff, but you do have to equip the item to see its true name.

I have finally figured out how to show the permutations when you open a chest with a piece of equipment in it, or buy it from a shop, which I have included in 1.6.

EDIT#3 (1/13/22):
I started this comment several days ago and just got "End of Demo" on ver 1.4 and I have some observations on the changes. Apparently RL has taken its toll on others.

The biggest change was the random weapon/armor augments that I mentioned above. It appears this random augmentation is possible when both buying and finding equipment in chests. It's like rolling dice and if you have no life then save before opening a chest, equip the item to find it's true description, and reload if you want to try again. It's the same strategy if you want to never accept an empty barrel as the outcome. I know there are people who will like this and others who won't. This takes a lot of extra work to set up and determine percentages, so it seems a bit harsh when I say I prefer a system where the designer strategically places items which may be useful in the game's near future (i.e. upcoming battles or equipment for future bosses). The advantage is I now have 4 iterations of a long sword only used by one character, but I cannot change equipment during a battle in case I find a weakness that could be exploited.

I am not sure if I can prevent save scumming, but I can certainly try and find a way to allow you to change equipment during battle.

Speaking of bosses. Were changes made to that Sand Boss with attitude encountered as you leave the library? It seemed harder this time and I had to play 2x to get the ancient book and it did seem more difficult than before. Given the difficulty of winning this battle and the reward, I really think the book should be a very high drop rate (like 100%?). Or maybe even make it a 100% drop from an optional enemy, so players could miss out on it by not engaging every monster.

These now have a 1/20 chance to drop from book enemies in the Library, however I have heard there is an alt currencies plugin coming out soon, so I can eventually make the collector into a shop where you can trade books for special trinkets, instead of just trading for that one item. As for the boss I have updated wind magic so that it causes a loss of accuracy, rather than confusion, which should make things a little easier. I did try to make him a wee bit harder as he is currently the toughest enemy in the game.

I liked your implementation of the crystals for 2 reasons. Grinders gotta grind. And it also signifies a boss-like enemy is right around the corner.

And yet another edit after seeing my notes. The torch lighting sequence times out too quickly. The only way I can see the puzzle being solved is to figure out the lighting sequence in advance and then afterward quickly light the torches in the correct order. I made a map of the torch sequence after figuring it out. To be honest, I would not time the puzzle and would also include some kind of reset feature.

I added some chimes for this if you get it in the right order, but I remember you said you play without sound. I may increase the duration of the flames and then add a crystal to reset them as well, although it might take me some time to rejigger the events.

So without further adieu, v1.5 and 1.6

v1.5

-Updated animations for elemental shields and barriers

-Increased size of data text for icons

-Added text colors for good and bad states to assist with readability

v1.6

-New Title Screen!

-New music for world map and War Room scene

-New lighting

-Chests and shops now show equipment affixes after you obtain the piece

-Gave Isaac and Orman their own unique passive buffs, check their bio for more details

-Removed prompt from New Game option

-Reworked the Shocking and Disoriented states to make them less exploitable:

Shocking used to stun the target for one turn, now lasts for three turns and has a 25% chance to cancel an action

Disoriented used to confuse the target for one turn, now lasts for three turns and reduces accuracy by 20%

-Added chimes for the second puzzle in the underground temple

-Fixed a bug where Scratch and Venemous Bite were not triggering

-Reduced all boss HP by 15%

 

[Makeratore]

Wow, this game looks awesome and fun to play!

I was wondering which plugin did you use to animate the command window in menus. Seems like a parallax image scrolling from left to right.

 

[Lunesis]

It's here:

 

[Makeratore]

It's here:
View attachment 214000

Thanks for the reply!

 

[Lunesis]

I encountered an elf family and gave them 10,000 gold. After all, my main character is a Paladin. Now I have only about 5,000 gold left which buys a solid piecce of armor at best. Did I do the right thing at the wrong time? Or will I get 10,000 back in good kharma soon?

Perhaps not soon, but maybe near the end of the full game?

Uploading a new version now with a an updated nw.js file, hopefully this improves performance.

 

[lolshtar]

-cant use mouse to walk while the rest of the game is usable with mouse *make me go back and forth and l really disliked that the entire time **if you dont use mouse you cant see the state description by mouse overing the actor/enemy
-l learned at the second boss after dying a few times that interrupting at the red bar is a must to survive and way better than healing, maybe l shouldnt have skipped the combat tutorial
-need a way to press a button for slower pass time while its your turn so you can interrupt the enemy properly otherwise you just waste your turn
-the main problem l have is the attack rng, youre in a super good position if youre lucky with multiple hits from a normal attack because you get 1 tp every attack or full tp when guarding randomly so its like 1 extra turn from recharging it, instead l would do a instant skill with a cd that you can use when you want the extra tp
-tech ring is so ****ing broken, you even get tp while walking in the map its a joke compared to the other rings
-l feel like youre in a huge advantage if you start the fight full tp and you can only spam attack if 0 tp, maybe just start every fight with 2 or 3 tp
-corrupted sand guardian fight is so boring, half my party cant do **** because using multiple element does a 800 dmg counter per element on the same attack
-theres no surprise in the game besides being attacked in the town its always the same thing town-side area + area - boss looped over and over
-all the ultimates do the same thing
-l feel like gear upgrades your character way too much, everything was way too easy once l had proper gear and completely broken with the tp ring
-lack of characterization, I didn't cared much about the characters compared to the last game l played for example

 

[Lunesis]

-cant use mouse to walk while the rest of the game is usable with mouse *make me go back and forth and l really disliked that the entire time **if you dont use mouse you cant see the state description by mouse overing the actor/enemy

I disabled touch move because there are a few spots where pathfinding causes the engine to chug. Once I can fix it I will definitely re-enable this.

-l learned at the second boss after dying a few times that interrupting at the red bar is a must to survive and way better than healing, maybe l shouldnt have skipped the combat tutorial
-need a way to press a button for slower pass time while its your turn so you can interrupt the enemy properly otherwise you just waste your turn

I can try giving spells a longer cast time for more opportunities to interrupt. For the big ones I try to provide a large enough window to gain a point and then use Shield Toss.

-the main problem l have is the attack rng, youre in a super good position if youre lucky with multiple hits from a normal attack because you get 1 tp every attack or full tp when guarding randomly so its like 1 extra turn from recharging it, instead l would do a instant skill with a cd that you can use when you want the extra tp

That's a good idea, I can add a special attack for each character that gives some TP and has a CD.

-tech ring is so ****ing broken, you even get tp while walking in the map its a joke compared to the other rings

You are right about this, need to save this item for later in the game, or figure out how to control the gain while walking.

-l feel like youre in a huge advantage if you start the fight full tp and you can only spam attack if 0 tp, maybe just start every fight with 2 or 3 tp

This is what tech tonics and keeping TP between battles is for, I wanted to make attacks weaker than skills but still give you an incentive to use them for building points.

-corrupted sand guardian fight is so boring, half my party cant do **** because using multiple element does a 800 dmg counter per element on the same attack

I might agree with you here, I could revamp this fight to have a different mechanic more akin to it's theme.

-theres no surprise in the game besides being attacked in the town its always the same thing town-side area + area - boss looped over and over

The next dungeon will have a few branching paths with different outcomes.

-all the ultimates do the same thing

I will probably make another utility ultimate for each character so they aren't necessarily all damage

-l feel like gear upgrades your character way too much, everything was way too easy once l had proper gear and completely broken with the tp ring

I will look at balancing gear down a little bit

-lack of characterization, I didn't cared much about the characters compared to the last game l played for example

It might be a bit of a slow burn but working on it!

I appreciate your feedback and your playthrough, gave me a good bit of insight for the next build!

 

[Lady_JJ]

Popping in to say I've downloaded the latest build and started fresh. I've only just entered Heaven's Landing but wanted to thank you for (1) monster resetting crystal and (2) option to pass through completed dungeons. I'm also enjoying the augmented weapons and armor. So thanks for all this.

I'm hoping the walking across the desert is going to be less frustrating. BTW, I like the characters.

 

[Lunesis]

Popping in to say I've downloaded the latest build and started fresh. I've only just entered Heaven's Landing but wanted to thank you for (1) monster resetting crystal and (2) option to pass through completed dungeons. I'm also enjoying the augmented weapons and armor. So thanks for all this.

I'm hoping the walking across the desert is going to be less frustrating. BTW, I like the characters.

Sorry I never got back to you on this, I have made a lot of changes since based on feedback I have gotten from various sources:

1.7

-Added a Quest Journal! You'll need to start a new game to get it

-Re-enabled click to move! However, pathfinding is limited

-Updated Orman to gain aggro when guarding, rather than to gain a defense buff at 25% health

-Made Zvarus playable in the intro scene

-Nerfed boss HP amount by an additional 15%, and made it so that the Corrupted Sand Guardian only has a 25% chance to cast counter spells

-Added a new cutscene after defeating the second boss and leaving the cave, to clue you in on what's about to happen next

-Made all cabinets, item chests and barrels drop a wider variety of items, including a rare chance at stat boost items

-Added random items on the world map, shown as sparkles

-Added random dark rifts on the world map, where you can battle three waves of enemies for a ton of gold and experience

-New battle music!

-Added a new mechanic! Grow your Pwr bar with attacks and healing to gain a dynamic bonus to damage and healing, up to 100% extra. Enemy attacks will drain your Pwr bar so try to keep up your momentum as best you can.

1.8

-Increased boss levels slightly

-Fixed a few typos and stray tiles

-Fixed bug with first dark rift not vanishing

1.9

-Updated scene with Renault in the Heaven's Landing bar too add more context

-Updated Prisma Blade and Flurry look and function

-Added Chain Lightning for Aiya

-Added Bulwark for Orman. Increase your defense and then use a shield based attack

-Added Thorns and Geostasis for Mondrus

-Prisma Blade, Flurry, Chromaton Rift, Natural Disaster, Meteor and Chain Lightning now require Pwr to cast, but the cooldown for Meteor has been removed

-Updated some attack animations

-Buffed Holy Heal slightly

-Increased overall difficulty of later enemies slightly

-The Collector is now a shop you can trade Ancient Books to for powerful items

-Added an animated mouse cursor

-Added a traveling merchant that will sell you random goods in the shrouded grove and the canyon before the bosses

-Now you can buy Barley Brew from the bar!

2.0

-The world map has been given a makeover

-Added Ricochet for Orman. Use Bulwark and then Ricochet for maximum damage

-Some other stuff that probably isn't important

 

[kimo]

Wow! Sounds like you've been busy. I'll definitely give it a 3rd try in the near future, but I don't want to overextend myself and promise you something I cannot deliver upon.

Has the game's story content been expanded past the previous demo ending?

 

[Lunesis]

No rush! Just didn't want it to look like I had stopped development so made this update post. I don't expect to extend the story any further in the demo, as it's already four to five hours as is, and it's even been suggested to cut it off one boss earlier, but I did want to give the chance to play with four characters. I will however be working very hard on finishing the game in 2022.

 

[RCDunn]

Hey I played a little of the demo and overall your game feels clean and has nice visuals. UI and battle felt smooth.

I see from earlier posts that you nerfed the first boss somewhat, and you may want to consider doing a bit more. After he 1-2 shotted my characters I didn't know if I was supposed to lose the battle. I would suggest saving the more difficult battles until after players get a better feel for your combat system

 

[Lunesis]

I went ahead dropped his level from 7 to 6, it's a tricky balancing act getting it so that it's not too hard for some and not too easy for others. Hopefully that will provide some breathing room.

 

[RCDunn]

Thanks for updating the first boss. I gave it another shot and found it much more manageable (also I actually did some exploring this time which helped)

FYI if you're standing to the right of the guard in the Kolrappa cave the game freezes. I'm guessing he's supposed to move to the right after giving him the letter.

Speaking of Kolrappa, it's a minor inconvenience to run all the way back to the entrance after exploring it and getting to the elf house at the end. Maybe consider connecting the town in an O-shape instead of a U-shape (if that makes sense), or allowing the player to exit at the end.

 

[Lunesis]

Good call! I added a little bridge to connect the lower areas:

I will fix the cave guard in the next build, and I am also going to be incorporating something to make combat more interesting.

 

[RCDunn]

Hello again, just finished the demo and gotta say well done. I enjoy playing well made ones to motivate me to get back to work on my game

Just a few notes:
-Make sure you change your main character model for cutscenes. There were several where I had 2 Ormans on screen since he was my leading character. I noticed it while camping and in the desert temple, but maybe there are more.

-I'm glad you clarified Renault used his brother's fame/power for his own status. For some reason I had it in my head he was the #2 strongest Paladin which made it a little weird considering Isaac had become one literally in the last day lol

-Balance wise, I like what you did with the TP system. It makes for a manageable and consistent resource throughout the game. However, once I started unlocking everyone's 5 TP moves the game started to get really easy (especially with Isaac's ultimate). The only boss that put up a fight besides the first two bosses was the Earth spirit, and still I was able to zerg him and mostly ignore his magic counter. For your final release, you might want to consider learning the 5 TP moves later in the game, and/or make your 5 TP tech tonics/full elixirs a little more scarce.

-Speaking of the Earth spirit, I thought my computer was going to die during that fight. I don't have a high end gaming rig, but it's no potato either