Thanks
It's a pretty generous demo that I don't think anyone has finished 100% so far
Well, I think I did! Six stars and demo over.
So, my mini review:
First of all, I had GREAT fun. (So, by the way, thank you for sharing!!!)
In brief, it works. It really does! Way to go!
About CLARITY:Yes, I had quite a few problems, at first, understanding what was going on with the combat system.
Then again, I'm not an expert of the genre ("Asian" RPGs), so maybe that's the reason.
In any case, part of the fun I had was figuring things out.
I didn't read the manual before finishing the demo. If I did, I think it would have been too much of a spoiler, especially the monsters part. Even more so, considering that there's a NPC whose role is exactly "leaking" info about monsters.
Among the things that I totally failed to understand, at first, about the COMBAT SYSTEM:
* I failed to understand what all the icons stood for, etc.
E.g. that the 'circle' icons means 'target'
* I failed to distinguish between HP, damage, armor, time, etc.
In facts, I was seeing a lot of numbers, really many, with no clear meaning,
and that was really confusing.
* Especially the numbers about time: it took some time before understanding they were about time.
But, slowly, all pieces came together and it was really great fun.
So I think it is more or less good as it is.
Suggestions for improvements:
Maybe some NPC could tell the player what each icon stands for. Like the ones for target, HP, DEF, etc.
For example, with a dialog. "I'm an icon expert. Are you curious about any in particular?"
and you get to choose any icon as a "reply", and you are told everything about it.
Maybe add a small hourglass icon, next to any number referred to "time". E.g. when confirming the move:
"Total: 14X", X being the hourglass icon, and so on. Also, in the timeline diagram on lower right.
About CONCEPT: Very interesting how RPG meets puzzle gaming. Super nice!
I liked that, but maybe I found it too tilted toward 'puzzle' and not 'RPG' enough.
I mean, I felt that maybe too much was lost of the original RPG concept (see below).
There's also a problem of clarity with that (again).
At first, it wasn't clear to me, for example, that:
* defeat in combat doesn't imply any penalty
* recover of lost HP / KO's after combat is istantatenus.
* there's no freedom in choice of next battle
* winning again the same battle doesn't award any additional gain (XP / loot / etc). At first, I was imagining I had to beef up winning previous battles multiple times in order to be ready for the next battle (when, instead, I just had to plan my moves better).
* ...not even improving the last outcome (i.e. winning with no KO a battle that was won with a KO before) awards anything.
* When you replay a battle so to improve the outcame, you start with the stats you used to have when you first fought.
*
in summary, there's
never need to go back at previous places (even after you've beefed up elsewhere).
When I found out about the last point, I think I was a bit taken aback.
Yes, I had been warned that "it's not a standard RPG", but still I expected that at least the most fundamental element of RPG to be there: that your characters "grow up" (by means of levels, skills, equipment, whatever) and by doing so they become able to face challenges which used to be beyond them.
Maybe that element, a distinctive one of RPG, could have been preserved more.
E.g., by allowing players to freely choose any one of a number of battles, but not all of them beatable immediately.
For example: you have battle A, B, C, but, say, battle B, as it turns out, cannot be won without the power-ups you get after winning battle C and A. It would be up to the player (and part of the 'puzzle') to find out which battle are already winnable and which are not yet winnable. This would make each 'puzzle' only more interesting, because you cannot be sure there's a solution.
In can go even further: for example, it could be that you can win battle A, but only with a KO. But, by doing so, you gain some bonus stats. With this, you can now win battle B, which gives you some extra stats/skills/etc with which you can go back to A and this time win for real, without KOs.
That would be nice because growing up and going back and being able to do stuff you couldn't before is one important part of the RPG experience.
About GAMEPLAY details:* Amazing how everything works with just two buttons, including a quite complex GUI and online info system.
And it works really smoothly! Well done. I especially liked the info about monsters.
* The opening sequence was a bit longer than I would have liked.
* Often, I messed up a combat, and just wanted to start over, but found no way to do so except to patiently wait to get killed, or quit the game and run it again. I wished I had some an easier/quicker option (maybe an action called "retreat" or "surrender" or "flee" or something).
* it is a bit disappointing that there's no way to go back at what NPC said to you before their current line. For example, this happens with the "monsters expert" NPC. Maybe, a reply option "Tell me again" or something, which goes back to the previous line, recursively.
* As noted by others, I think English is a bit sloppy at times, but always understandable.
About STORYLINE:Captivating!
Very good, to be something conveyed by such a small amount of text!
About GRAPHICS:Adorable! Also, great job with the palettes.
