[DEMO] Pokemon Hunter 4

[halibabica]

Pokemon Hunter 4

DEMO!

A demo of the series' 4th episode.  The full version won't be out for a while, so this will have to do for now!

This demo obviously doesn't contain everything you can expect from PH4, but here are some of the highlights:

Elements:

The elements have always been a part of this series, but they never played that big of a role in the past.  Well, that all changes in this episode.  Now, elements that strike a weakness do 2 times as much damage, as opposed to 1.5 in the previous games.  Resistances cut damage in half, instead of .75.  Finally, monsters now have weaknesses and resistances that make sense (and sometimes more than one of each!).  Throwing elemental attacks into your enemies randomly won't work nearly as well anymore.  You'll especially want to think twice about how you fight bosses, as they only take one quarter of the damage from an attack they're resistant to!  Depending on how you strategize, things could be very easy...or much, much harder.

Beast Whistle:

Tom, being a trainer of beasts, explores with them to protect himself.  But, in a game where the elements are so important, who you choose to bring along can make or break your quest!  That's where the Beast Whistle helps.  You can use the item almost anywhere to visit the character select screen and change your party around.  This gives you access to all of Tom's beasts anywhere in the game.  You can't use it in battle, though, so be careful when entering a boss fight.

Mass Level Up:

This game features a ton more heroes than those before it.  Even this demo has 16 playable characters!  That's an awful lot of grinding...or so you might think.  Through the mass level up system, all the playable characters share the same experience (even the ones you aren't using).  At the end of each day and night (see below), the amount of experience you gained as each hero is tallied, divided, and distributed to all the characters available for that time period (the heroes are divided between day and night).  This way, the levels of the heroes stay similar to each other with no extra effort from the player.  But you'll still have to fight stuff some of the time.

Day & Night System:

Some folks might remember the day system I used in PH3, but it works a little differently this time.  Each day is still two hours long, and the midday warning is still there between hours.  But now, the night aspect of the game is more significant.  During the day, you play as Tom on his adventure.  During the night, you play as Splinter, the Rattata that belongs to Tom's close friend.  Splinter and the other beasts have their own separate quest that takes place only at night.  Night works exactly the same as day; two hours to explore with a midnight warning after one hour passes.  You alternate between the two storylines as each day and night ends.  The events in one story can affect the other to a certain extent, but they both work toward the same goal (though the methods used to reach it are completely different).

Axe Swap:

Exploiting weaknesses and avoiding resistances can make fighting much easier, but you never have full access to all of the game's 7 elements at once.  This is where the Axe Swap system helps.  Through a sidetrip, you can acquire Swap Books that teach Tom how to add an element to his axe.  The skill costs nothing to use, and the axe will remain the element it is given throughout the battle (and returns to normal when the battle ends).  If you accidentally give it the wrong element, you can change it with a different swap skill.  Eventually, Tom can wield any element with his axe at will.  You don't get quite that far in this demo, but I hope you can see what this means.

Plot Stuff:

Fire, Earth, Thunder, Air, Water, Mind, and Normal...the seven elements that govern the world.  All living things fall under these attributes, human and beast alike.  It was the desire to understand these elements that fueled the efforts of the humans known as the Setu...they discovered much in their research, and the location of their studies became a hotbed of elemental activity.  But, with the passing of time, much of what they learned has been lost.  All that remains of their work can be found in the temples they built, although some secrets are better left buried.  Long after the Setu have disappeared, there is a disturbance in the balance of the elements.  It could spell disaster for everything if something isn't done...

But Tom couldn't care less about any of that.  Being a trainer of wild beasts in a small town is already enough to keep his hands full.  He only gets dragged into the mess when one of his creatures escapes.  Through a simple event, Tom finds himself in a situation of far greater magnitude than he can even fathom...

Screenshots!


1: Title screen
2: Character select
3: Ruins in the sky?
4: Night exploration
5: Oh noes

And, finally, the link to the link to the download:

download

Since I'm releasing in multiple places, it's just easier to route you through the crappy official site.

I hope you enjoy the demo, and please tell me what you think of it!

Released as part of Release Something! Day at RMN.

[Superguy12345]

 Looks nice. I'll try it out sometime tomorrow.