Well, hello!
I've been playing Zendir for ~1.5h, and finished the game.
If you don't mind, I'll tell you my feedback.
I know, I know, I'm a bit late, but still...
1) Overall
First things first, this is Zendir 1.
Unlike films, games need development experience to be better.
Films usually get worse with new parts coming out, unlike most of the games on this site.
So, I can understand the game bugs.
But still, you can't just say : "Hey people, this is Zendir 1, and it's a bunch of junk, play Zendir 3 first!"
That's the reason of the feedback.
EDIT : Now I saw the Zendir 2 post, lol
Now, your game is not BAD, but there are couple of things that I'll mention below, that are the gap between
Zendir 1 and a GOOD game (for example, Final Fantasy or Zelda)
I didn't read your Zendir 2 and Zendir 3 posts, but I hope you already figured out the most of things that
I'm reporting. And also, everything in this post is just a PERSONAL OPINION.
You may not agree with me at every aspect.
So, let's begin!
2) Textual bugs
These are the bugs that I can't screenshot.
- Field for Exterior
In the first village you happen to be in, the Tileset is set to Field.
Why?
Exterior goes much more in details, and looks prettier than the very limited Field.
- No \!'s
Did you know that in textbox there is usually an option to stop the text until user inputs something?
I usually call it a NOD (from Cave Story's <NOD command)
Adding it may not result in a visual change, but in an feeling change.
For example, you have three text boxes :
1) I... am... so... tired...
2) I...\! am...\! so...\! tired...
3) I...\| am...\| so...\| tired...\|\^
And how do they feel to the player?
1) I am so tired.
2) I... am... so... tired...
3) I........... am........... so......... tired............
The first example is without NODs.
It just goes on, even if '...' should signify some stoppage
The second is with NODs and it feels perfectly.
The third is with time stops, and they actually do nothing good except to bore the player.
- Chests
I noticed that sometimes an item is picked up, and main character says :
"Obtained <thing>!"
Is that a bug?
Also, you have unlocked chests everywhere.
Oh, come on! Guards are in the city, but when you steal something,
everybody doesn't care about it.
- Anya's Father Movement
I saw Anya's father stopping into a wall.
He just crashed there, and stopped while being in a walk pose.
- Field dimensions
The first island is too small.
True, it has mountains and a town, but the rest of the Field are just some random things that do literally nothing.
But, the rest of the Field is HUGE!
I barely found towns before I got the Airship
- Spikes disappear and have walking animation.
In the part of the game (I think it's the crystal cave? Lol, I played that part yesterday, and already forgot!)
where there are spikes, when I pull the lever, spikes disappear.
Those spikes that you use have their "down" position, you don't need to delete them completely.
Also, when I touch one of the spikes, the spikes move down, because you forgot to turn Walking Animation off.
- Overpowered!
When I got Dorian, I could fight easily with him against enemies, because he was TOO strong for the rest of the party.
The same thing happened with Anya and Zane.
I managed to kill the Water Dragon in one turn with Zane!
(BTW I finished the game with following levels :
Zaphilia - 2
Dalnaycus - 2
Dorian - 3
Anya - 5
Zane - 10
And beat the final boss with nobody dead.
Can that be considered normal?)
- Random Story
I don't usually sleep in Inns. I'm not that kind of person.
I usually try to get the free bed.
That's why I went to Gerdon for sleep after I finished things in the nearby town.
And suddenly... BAM!
Zaphilia remembers how her parents left her, and it was so random, I couldn't even get affected by her words.
Is that ment to happen?
- Rothgar man (or woman?) with random movement
The guy that is running around has an important meeting.
But, if he has an important meeting, why doesn't he go to it, rather than running around like a maniac?
- Path to Rothgar Castle
I saw these many times.
You can enter Rothgar Castle from wherever in the north of Rothgar you want, but will come to only one place?
Where's the logic?
- Netherworld-related bugs.
When I enter the room that's named Portal to Netherworld, the music changes.
Then, after coming back to the Castle in the Sky (very creative name XD), the music stays the same, unless I get back to
the first floor (yes, I know why this is happening, it's a very common bug in my games, also)
Is that Hawaii music in the Netherworld? Really?
Also, the Netherworld is not very creative part of the game.
All you have to do is fight 5 bosses, and then the end.
It should be more creative than that, it's the END.
- Ship?
You may have not noticed, but you can get an airship even if you don't have a ship.
Is that a bug, or?
3) Screenshot bugs
- A key for what?
She is trying to open the doors to who?
Or should that be a cage for Zane? Or Anya?
And what would happen if I had BOTH Zane and Anya?
- Beds cut off
Why are those beds cut off?
Maybe you can consider using Neon Black's passability (or something like that) script,
that allows passing behind walls, if you mark them as such with region id.
- Bookshelves usually don't look like this
At least I think so...
- Neither do doors
Well, maybe you like it like this, but I don't think so.
If you want to use big doors, consider using !$Gate1
- No face?
He should have a face, right?
- No followers
I'm suddenly left with nobody behind (note that I picked up both Dorian and Dalnaycus from cages)
- This is not a box.
This is a wall, come on!
- Passability...bugs?
I'm walking on... what?
Also, I can't go below this... whatever it is...
Maybe Neon Black's script can help here, too?
That crack is trolling the whole house.
- Looking like a passage...
But it's not.
This "bug" is happening a LOTS of times, on both Field, Exterior, Dungeon and Interior maps.
It's a bug, because it's my personal opinion when the player can reach the edge of the map, he can usually transfer
to somewhere from there. But it's not always the case in Zendir.
- Perspective what?
What... is... this... supposed... to... be?
perspective2.png
If you tried to make a bridge, it's not like this.
And if you tried to make the stairs, it's also not like this.
- Steppy stairs
I think stairs are not made to look like this...
I have a friend that thinks differently, but almost any good RPG that I saw doesn't have stairs like this, so...
They are randomly placed in the middle of the village... why?
- Strange water
I don't think this is how water is made.
Try looking at
WARNING : BIG IMAGE!!!
Waterfalls?
I think I know what you tried to accomplish, but it's still not enough good.
It's a bit more logical that the previous one, but something seems to be wrong...
Should this be a passable... waterfall?
- Wrong face
Nope, that boy can't be the shop seller and have the grown-up face!
4) Changes
Well, this may be both the good thing and a bug in some way.
That's why I put it in in it's own spoiler
Well, by "Changes" I mean the differences between the default RTP and scripts and your game.
In my opinion, if there are enough "good" changes, the player won't even notice: "Hey, this is made in RPG Maker!" (until credits)
And that is good. That is what I try to accomplish, at least.
First, scripts, because I saw you use them not very much, and because of all resources I'm most interested in scripts.
It would be nice if you customized the GUI a bit more than just changing the Title and Save screen...
I think you can NEVER do a mistake of adding a compatible and useful script in your project, so maybe you want to surf through the Master Script List a bit more?
Second, graphics.
I saw you changed the tileset at some points. The changed parts look A LOT better than other parts.
And also, generating new Character graphics was not a bad idea.
I said Character graphics, because I don't like the generated Face graphics, and you'll read below why.
Third, music.
You added lots of new music, and I love it.
Good job!
All in all, you can always add more Tilesets, scripts and everything, and that does not make the game worse.
Currently, it feels somewhere between Crysalis, that changed everything, and Hirion, that has lots of things changed,
but somewhat more on the Crysalis side.
Try fixing that.
5) Opinions
Warning : This part is FULLY OPINIONAL. You don't need, and you may not in most cases, to agree with me.
- Faces
Well, the generated faces are a bit strange...
They are all front-viewed, and I personally don't like it.
But, away from that, you are using the side-viewed (RTP) faces also.
Why?
Maybe to somebody generated faces don't look strange, but the mixture of generated and RTP faces surely can be strange...
Maybe you should remove all NPC faces?
- Random Encounters
I don't like random encounters :
1) They trolled me in Final Fantasy-like games and Pokemon
2) They are not logical
Just look, you have random encounters of Castle Guards, which is not logically correct.
Like some man jumps from below the floor and suddenly you have an option to fight him, or say : "Nah, who cares?" and go.
At least add some serious preemptive to enemies, because I escaped almost every battle in the game, and that's why I ended with levels mentioned above.
BTW, the screenshot spoiler is not working...
EDIT : And also, about Zendir 2, can you put that rpgmaker.net path to your game at the first post?
I downloaded it successfully, but somebody may be a bit confused
