The Epitome of Anima; Update

[Muraiko]

Thanks for the feed back! I'll definatly take what you said into consideration.

What made it hard was the too long cut scene with no and the long pauses between talking like there were so many pauses even though I read everything I lost interested I really got bored so much I would never start a new game ever.

Yes, I suppose the intro is kinda long. I'll try to cut some stuff out. As for the no music thing, sorry. Sometimes I just have a hard time picking out which songs to use that I just kinda of leave it silent. I'm usually too lazy to go looking for new ones, but I should probably hop to it soon.

Sorry about the pauses in between textboxes. I just really wanted the player "take in" the atmosphere of the scenes, and didn't want them to be space baring through the whole thing.

Some of the map work is good other is eh not so great. The the scene after the intro the map was meh
and it may just be me because little things like this bother me but The waterfall constantly pouring down but barely deeper than a puddle? where is all that water going?
I could buy it if the water was running off to somewhere but it wasn't it was all right there and it wasn't any deeper than that puddle all the npcs and animals kept walking through in the village.
That and the ledges how you kind of have them akwardly stacked with no edges like to the exact left of the waterfall where it literally looks like square blocks.
Also the chairs are too small and the book in his house way to big for the table I know again not a big deal but little details really bother me sorry.

Yeah, I have to admit that I don't really find mapping fun nor do I even want to spend more time with it. Those begining maps I made when I first started the project two years ago and didn't know head or tails of mapping. I'll have to decorate them more and have the water from the waterfall probably run off the map somewhere. As for the deepness, I suppose it would look strange for the characters just to simply walk in the water. I was just too lazy before to make a "floating" charaset. I'll have to do that sometime soon as well.

As for the small chairs and oversized books, they do look strange, I just never really noticed until now. I could probably look for better chairs no problem, but for the books, I already made poses of characters with them and I really don't feel like redoing them all.

For some reason the game seemed too dark and my monitor is bright it even hurts my eyes sometimes but your game was a bit too dark when it was suppose to be morning which made it dull.

Yeah, I have no idea why. For most of the day the screen is tinted at normal (100 on Red, Blue, and Green). The darkest it ever gets is 50 tint on all colors.

the battle was ok the monsters were way too strong in the first battle they dodged eveyrhting and took too long to kill.
The music wasn't annoying and was easy listening so good choices with it so far except when you felt the need to use none in long scene.

Did you attack the enemies with Manako's Black Magick spells? That's one of the flaws of having a mage character as a hero, You pretty much force the player into the tactical world of techniques and MP in thier first fights. Trying to win with physical attacks is really no good when you're playing as the main hero.

(I've alwaysed wondered why the main hero in most RPG games is some dude with a big sword, but I see why now. It's to help "ease" the player in on the first coulple of battles. When they're just starting to learn the battle system, they have to start small with physical attacks and the game gruadually teaches spells and gets more complex later.)

You didn't really save point I really didn't know it was the book until after I died because I tohught it was just decoration thats my fault
but I thought it was the random magic cirlce that didn't do anything.
So I died no save and I try it in a few days or a week when I feel like going through the intro again.

I never really did mention what was the save points. Sorry. I guess I just sorta expected the player to search for it on their own after the intro and would tumble on to it eventually.

The "magic circles" really don't have any importance to the game anymore. They used to be spots where you could set up party formations, but ever since I made it a simple push of a key, the cirlces don't do anything anymore, except for marking teleport location which is pretty much unnecissary as it is. I was going to delete them eventually, but was just too lazy and kept pushing it off until I forgot about it.





Thanks again for the input! I really appreciate it!  

When I first started creating the project, my main concern was mostly just the gameplay, faces and story. I'm not really too suprised to realize I overlooked many of the little things. Your comment was most helpful indeed.

[Drakiyth]

Yes, I suppose the intro is kinda long. I'll try to cut some stuff out. As for the no music thing, sorry. Sometimes I just have a hard time picking out which songs to use that I just kinda of leave it silent. I'm usually too lazy to go looking for new ones, but I should probably hop to it soon.

If people had to sit through Asiyla's introduction over and over I would be crucified.  Right at the beginning I give my players the choice to skip it completely.  Try that out.

[Nandez]

If people had to sit through Asiyla's introduction over and over I would be crucified.  Right at the beginning I give my players the choice to skip it completely.  Try that out.

That's the best suggestion made I wish so many games had that option especially rpgmakers games.

[Muraiko]

Thanks for the idea! Options to skip is probably most convientent.

Besides, I just realized now that I accidentally put the starting position on the wrong map, so it was more longer than it was even supposed to be... (I knew I should of deleted it a long time ago!) I'm also changing the intro a bit so there will actually be some gameplay in there, and not all just watching the text boxes come and go.

[Drakiyth]

Not a problem. Good luck with your project.

[Muraiko]

Some new things that I have done since then...

*********************************************

-Changed Chakira's name to Cailithia. It just sounds better in my oppinion.

-Changed Zaikoat's name to Grellberg because it seems to match him better.

-Added a new *damage* animation for all physical attacks. This was quite hard to create at first because I couldn't use a battle animation for it (since I already use it for your character's attack) so I just had to use a picture for this. It wasn't as easy as I had first intended because pictures go by "pixles" and events on maps go by "tiles". But it works now, regardless of the amount of work it took.

-Following the damage animation picture, I also decided that the game would look more fancy if I had an *elemental damage* animation. I pretty much just used a picture for that just as I did for physical attacks, but I changed the graphic, depending on what spell is cast (If you cast Wood elemental spells on enemies, then leaves will burst on them with each strike. Casting fire will cause flames to display and so on.)

-Coded an HP gauge for enemies. When you attack an oppenet, a red gauge will appear on the upper right hand corner, allowing you to see how much HP the foe has before it falls. Attack a different opponet (or if a different opponet attacks you for that matter) Will switch it so that gauge will measure that foe's HP instead.

-With the HP gauge is the simple targeting system I implemented. Pretty much, when ever you attack a foe and it's HP gauge is displayed, the enemy will flash white every two or three seconds, indicating which enemy in particular you are targetting as well as which enemy's HP gauge is displayed. This will make battles less confusing, and let you see right away who you're attack and who's close to death.

-Useless Magic Circles have now been removed

-Changed some musics in the intro to set the atmosphere.

-Intro is now skippable

-Added some gameplay to the intro

*********************************************

As of now, I am still meandering around the 75% point. I have made more of the story, but I have been really busy as of late, thanks to college applications as well as school and other stresses. I will post up a new and very updated download later if I get the time.

[Muraiko]

Update!

Haven't had an update in quite a long time. This project isn't dead and is slowly nearing completion. (I'd say about 80% done as of now)
I've added some new yet kinda outdated screenshots on the first post. Check them out if you're interested
No new download as of yet, but I suppose I might as well name the progress I've done so far...

********************New Stuff********************

***New Epitomes***
I just added in six new epitomes as well as rename the older ones. You now have a total of twelve epitomes that are all levelable and alter your character's stats as such. The new eptiomes are mixes of two or more stats, such as the speed and intellegence of the Prodigy or the attack and defense of the Heavyweight.

***Stoyline***
Small changes to scenes to give the game more of a professional feeling, as to keep the consistancy of the mood later in the game.
Epitome have been integrated into the storyline. You will obtain epitomes as you advance the game (You'll obtain all twelve epitomes by the time you complete the first quarter of the game)
Epitomes can no longer be sold and will permanatly stay in your inventory.


***Equipment prices***
Lowered the prices on equipment and weapons.


***New Ship CMS***
A simple custom menu system after you obtain a ship and crew. It looks pretty nice. I'm quite proud of it.


***The Seer Costume Remake***

Redid The Seer's outfit to a traditional japanese robe. He seems to stick out more like this.


Edited Kichi's character design. Changed her outfit and colors. I also dyed a tuft of her bangs to a brunette color.


***Story Additon***
The majority of my time was spent adding onto the story. The final quarter of the game is incredibly long in comparisan to the last three quarters.
Still working eagerly on this project but I doubt I'll be able to finish before I move to college.

[Muraiko]

Finally got around to doing more work... despite my laziness...

***Grellberg's Battle Addition***
From now on when playing as Grellberg, it is no longer manditory to be his fox form during battle. He shall initially be a human for both the field and on battle. He now has a new skill called "Polar Metamorphosis". When he uses this art, he shall burst forward in a circle of flames and alternate his form between human and beast. Enemies around who are touched by the flames during his transformation are hit with increased physical attack damage, similar to Rellius' Focal Strike Skill. Players are encouraged to use this skill as more of an attack rather than to shape shift. Grellberg's Human shape can cast both his black and white magick spells, just like his fox form can, and he also can attack physically with sumo-like strikes, such as palm thrusts and foot stomps (He's a sumo... so what?) Now Grellberg is more of an all-around balanced character, efficient in spell casting, healing and physical attacks.

***Item Obtain Messages***
When obtaining an item from defeating a monster, a message will now display, stating what item you got. This makes things easier to know what type of items each obake drops as well keeping track of your sellable loot.

***Zyral Sprite Revision***

Changed Zyral original sprite for multiple reasons. He looked intimidating before, but his appearance just didn't seem to match his narcisistic personality. Another thing that bugged me was his eyes. Some people thought that he was cross-eyed. The original idea was that the white section around his iris was supposed to be red while his iris was colored white. Regardless, he now has his hair redone, recolored and now has blue eyes. Blonde hair and blue eyes to me symbolize justice, holy, and heroism (At least that's the message I get from playing many, MANY jrpgs that use these characteristics for their main protagonist.) I thought it would be interesting to apply these traits to an antagonist instead and see what would happen.
He also seem to look VERY feminine now. Even I am finding it akward to call him a "he", but that's alright I guess, since he's supposed to be a psychopath anyway.  Infact, he may even be more creepier now.

***Phaeth's Outfit***
No, this isn't another sprite revision. I finished spriting Phaeth's new outfit that she will change into later in the game due to story situtations and will keep her new costume for the rest of the game. All her poses and attacks have changed accordingly to her new outift once that story progresses that far.





Small progress has been done on the actual storyline. I've been very busy with life as of late and will actually have to move into my college next week. Not sure how much time I will have left to work on this project since I'll have to juggle both school and a part-time job at the same time. This game WILL get done eventually, but I'm just uncertain how long it might take now...

[A Forgotten Legend]

Blonde hair and blue eyes to me symbolize justice, holy, and heroism (At least that's the message I get from playing many, MANY jrpgs that use these characteristics for their main protagonist.)

All I thought of while reading this was "Nazis...?"

This looks cool though. ^^

[Muraiko]

Thanks!

As for the Nazi thing, it's the media's fault, I tell you. Influencing innocents to appeal to those traits. (-_-;)

[Muraiko]

Shhh! You'll blow my cover...

I've always wondered why the heros of jrpgs are always some skinny blonde kid when the creators are japanese. Kind of like how males usually make stories with a male as the main character, I thought that race would also apply. Guess not, at least according to the japanese anyway.

[benosalankelley]

Someone properly already said this, but change the color of your dialogue.

[Muraiko]

I know. I probably should have had it so only the character's name is colored, and not the dialogue altogether. One of the many bad life decisions I made when I first started making the project...

I can't change it now, as that would be far too much work. That's the way it's gonna be. Thanks for the input though.




I was thinking about posting an update anyway, but there wasn't much work done this time around.

***Boss Event Skipping***
The scene before a boss fight is skippable. This is so the player would not be discouraged from trying again if they lose in a boss battle.




With college now and me actually starting to have a social life for once, I really can't find much time to get around to this project. I'll still keep at it though, and hopefully see completion sometime soon.

[Muraiko]

***Character Portrait revision*** (For the third time now...)

My art skills have improved alot since back then. I've been drawing and designing random characters, but I realize I haven't attempted to redraw my own cast from this game yet. Here's a work in progress of my character's new facial portraits, this time I wanted to have a more "cartoony" feel rather than "profile" or "anime".



(I don't mean to stereotype, but I tried to make character's ethnicity be apparent in their portrait. Phaeth and Buijoh in particular...)

I still have to finish shading faces and hair, but it'll be done in time. Though RM2K3's crappy resolution will really kill the art, I hope it'll still be decent.