[DEMO] Forever's End

[NicoB]

Forever's End

In the world of Linguardia, the nations of Rikalia and Dorent are the reigning powers. Although both leaders have been at peace for centuries, a dark cloud is on the horizon. King Richard, leader of the Rikalian Empire, has recently lost his wife and daughter to a pack of demons. Now, his mind twisted from grief, Richard is on a quest for domination. His plan: to harness the power of the six legendary crystals, which, according to scriptures, will bestow the wielder with unimaginable powers if brought together. With Richard on a path of destruction to collect the crystals, war seems inevitable.

Players take control of Epoch Lander, Captain of Richard's Dragon Knights, an elite force within the Rikalian Empire. However, when Epoch begins questioning the morals behind Richard's actions, he is arrested for treason and sentenced to death. With his head full of unanswered questions, Epoch must decide whether to accept his fate or fight for what he believes to be the greater good: even if it means fighting alone.

..:: FEATURES ::..

- A vast number of different playable characters, each with their own unique battle skills.
- Consistent graphical style, borrowing mainly from the Treasure of the Rudras.
- Capture monsters and use their skills against your opponents in battle.
- A well-crafted story with strong character development.
- Approximately 6-8 hours of gameplay for this demo depending on how many of the sidequests you do.
- A magnificent soundtrack, featuring a large repertoire of songs by Yoshitaka Hirota and Yasunori Mitsuda.

..:: SCREENS ::..



..:: DOWNLOAD ::..

Forever's End Christmas Demo

..:: NOTES ::..

Forever's End has been my first and only RPG Maker 2003 game. While it started it off as more of an "experiment" to try out the system, I've transformed it into something I think people will really enjoy. It's gotten a pretty good reception on RMN, so I thought I might as well try a new site and see how it goes. If you encounter any fatal bugs or glitches, or just want to critique or suggest something, don't hesitate to inform me. If you want a more indepth look at game progress, you can check out the game profile at RMN: http://rpgmaker.net/games/650/

Enjoy!

[Muraiko]

I personally think Rudra chipsets and charsets are highly overused now-a-days, as well those faces. But I'll try not to be so bias. Downloading now.

[Linkforce]

The story sounds a bit cliche, I will admit, but your screenshots look beautiful!  So I will definitely give this a try and let you know what I think after I play it a little! 

[NicoB]

Great, I hope you all enjoy it.

[Linkforce]

I'm playing your demo and I just woke up with Epoche again.  Am I close to the end of the demo yet?  So far its pretty long and its really good.  If it keeps up, expect a full review from me once I finish....as a note.....I never give full reviews for games xD

[NicoB]

If you mean when Epoch wakes up on the farm, then I'd say you're just under half way there. You've still got a bit more left.

I'm glad to hear you're enjoying it and I look forward to your review! Let me know if you run into any trouble.

[Linkforce]

~Forever's End~
A Review by Linkforce

Before I get into the review, I have a bone to pick with this game!  ........but it's not a bad bone.....it's a good one.  Without a shadow of a doubt, this game SCREAMS cliche.  From the good turned evil king, to the evil right hand man, to the main character who realizes his ways early and succeeds from his position, to the 6 crystals that drive the story forward.  I just want to point that out first.  Personally, I have no problem with things being cliche.  It's incredibly hard to be original these days because everything has been done at least once.  It's just how much something has been used that determines how bearable it is.  For your game, there are a lot of elements that are almost directly from a final fantasy and whatnot, but once again, I am not complaining.  I suppose I'll get into the review and save what I think about it as a whole until the end.

STORY: 7.5/10
As I said above, your story borrows a lot from other games.  But it's done in a way that seems fresh and innovative.  Like you take familiar elements and you put your own special twist on it.  It creates moments like "Oh, I've seen that in Final Fantasy #......but not in this context".  The best example of this I can think of is when you introduce Slade.  At first it's like yeah, he's the typical goon, lackey, hired by the king to hunt you down.  But then you realize that he actually has more to him and he's not there exactly to kill you more then he is to do something else that doesn't involve you.  It's twists like this that keep your story fresh and stops you from being overly cliche.

CHARACTERS: 8/10
Your characters are pretty solid and they definitely show some growth as the game progresses.  That's good to see and you definitely start to care for some of them.  My only complaint is that Elise and Epoch get along waaaaaaay too early for them hating each other not long ago.  I think if you paced that out a lot more it would help develop the characters.  I also noticed that Epoch thought she was cute so I can only assume that there will be some feelings between them later on in the game.  In that sense, if you made their relationship develop more slowly, as in Elise begins to like him more slowly, it would make her final leap towards liking him that much more great of a moment.  Aside from that, your characters seem pretty solid, except for some of the cliche ones I mentioned above.  But as I've been saying, it's not a problem.

GAMEPLAY: 9.5/10
I gave this a 9.5 out of 10 because I don't think that anything is ever perfect, BUT...the system you've implemented into your game are vast and plentiful.  Even though most of them have been used before, it is refreshing to see them coded very nicely and used with ease.  They all work great and are introduced at a consistent pace.  Whether it be the traveling merchant, the "1" key that reminds you what you're doing, or the "Draw" skill that Lee uses, they all are refreshing and welcomed.  The only beef I have is that there are many things you can do in the game, capturing monsters and what not, that it tends to be a bit much.  Not a bit much in the sense that its too much but in the sense that  you forget you can do certain things.  Like throughout the demo, I completely forgot I could capture monsters.  Maybe having a special menu that let's you go over all the cool things you can do and how to do them would be helpful.  Just a friendly suggestion.

GRAPHICS: 8.5/10
Your game looks very good and it was a joy to play through.  Your maps were laid out nicely and apart from some bland interiors, they were appealing to the eye.  Your animations were incredible too.  There were a lot of them and I can only imagine how long is must have taken you to perfect them all.  But they were very nice to look at and I got excited when I got special attacks cause they looked cool!  My only main complaint with the graphics is that your font is absolutely atrocious!!  I suggest you find a better one because I had a lot of trouble reading in your game.

MUSIC: 9/10
It's hard to go wrong when most of your soundtrack is from Final Fantasy and other PS1 classics.  They bring back fond memories, and there's something about that Chrono Trigger song that plays when your skill menu pops up, I think it's called "Reprieve", that just mesmerizes you.  But aside from the fact that they're mostly FF and PS1 songs, they fit very nicely and you don't overuse any of them which makes them accepted regardless of their "cliche" quality.  All in all, great job on the music selection.  (Don't be afraid to branch out though!)

FINAL WORD:
All in all, this is a very solid game.  I didn't get to play it to the end though because your game said it was missing some file right before I had to fight the two soldiers who were going to arrest Elise.  But even from what I did play, it was very well thought out and very very clear you put a lot of heart into this game.  And as a fellow game maker I appreciate when somebody puts a lot of work into their game and doesn't give up on it.  So with that said, I hope you don't give up on it because I want to see what happens next!  You've succeeded in making a good game because I want to find out the answers to my questions, and that, is the ultimate goal of any game, to keep the player playing.  Keep up the great job and don't stop for a second!  You  have received Linkforce's seal of approval!

[NicoB]

Wow, thanks for the solid review. I totally agree with what you said about the relationship between Epoch and Elise. I corrected some of the issues people had between them in the last demo, but only up to a point (because I got sick of working on this demo), so there is a really awkward transition in their interaction, which I apologize for. I promise this will be completely rectified in the future.

You make a really good point in the gameplay area. I probably should have given the play a battle manual that explained all of the battle possibilities. I gave the player a hunting guide to explaining monster capture, but maybe I'll just include that into a bigger book that encompasses everything you can do. This is important simply because monster capture really helps in many of the later boss battles.

Thank you for mentioning the battle animations, because those took forever to get right. I'm glad liked them. I've never really had a problem with the font, though I suppose I could give the player a choice between regular East's font I used. But I'll worry about that after I complete the game.

You're right I did use a few final fantasy songs and two or three CT songs, but actually the majority comes from the Shadow Hearts games (main battle theme and some boss themes). But I'm glad you liked them! Also, I love that "Reprieve" song too, I listen to it all the time when I make my game.

Crap, I didn't know there was a file missing (I wonder if everyone else was having the same problem). There is actually quite a bit more after that part. If you could let me know what file the game said it was missing, I'll stick it in my locker and update the download. Sorry about that!

Thank you so much for your feedback. You have no idea how helpful it is nor how much it encourages me to continue working on this game. Anyway, let me know about the missing file, and it shall be corrected!

PS. I'm totally playing Carpe Diem when it comes out.

[NicoB]

Eliminator just recently posted an extremely well written review for Forever's End, so I thought I'd share it to anyone who is deciding whether to download the game. It's a great review that covers near every facet of the game. Note that there are a few minor plot spoilers (nothing too major though).

[spoiler]Impressive, enjoyable RPG experience with a few flaws.

Eliminator

01/15/2010 04:54 PM
This review follows the newly uploaded version of Forever's End (as of New Year's 2010 I believe), not the old, nigh unplayable one. The purpose of this review is to:

1) Give information to those interesting in downloading and playing the game.
2) Provide feedback to NicoB in hopes of him improving the game.

This is my first review of an RM game. It's a bit long. Hope I don’t sound like I’m rambling the whole way through, and I hope you like it!


STORY, CHARACTERS, WRITING
7/10

The story starts off as one giant cliché storm and does not let up until a few hours pass. If you’ve ever played a JRPG, then expect to see plenty of reused plot devices and character archetypes. It gets better. After a certain point the characters start to show a bit more (and deeper) personality, and the plot really picks up one its own.

Most of the story concentrates on Epoch Lander and his struggle between morals and following orders. Joining him is Elise Alkenridge, who is probably the main heroine of the game and a girl with mysterious powers. An interesting note is that the story does not follow Epoch all the way to the end of the demo. At a certain point you will play as a character in a flashback(?) sequence. At another point you play as a young boy named Lee on the run from Evil Empire, with the help of a talking goblin named Goldo. Of particular note is a sequence where you briefly play as another character.

On the antagonist side, we’ve got King Richard, an evil king bent on gathering MacGuffins (and they HAVE to be crystals!) to conquer the world. There’s also a mysterious shadow monster race called the Lost (probably the most interesting villain so far), a hooded man (…yes), a demon hunter named Slade (is it a requirement that every RM game have a character named Slade?) and an evil advisor named Marcellus, who seems like the main adversary to Epoch and crew. I am guessing his demise involves him getting raped in some basement by a leather-covered manchild. Or not.

No, but seriously, the story does get better in the second half of the game. Characters start to get much more interesting, new plot threads appear, and there are quite a few twists that appear out of nowhere. Twists! Hell yeah! Sometimes the pacing felt a bit off: there were no towns until about a few hours in, and a cutscene bombardment occurs at one point. Still, this is no big problem as it goes with the flow of the game.

Maybe some reworking of the first few hours of the game could work. Especially try to make the characters appear more interesting and less cliché (I was already sick of Epoch whining about what is right and wrong in his head before leaving Rikalia Castle). Flesh out some characters, add depth and personality and stir away from the same old archetypes we see in Final Fantasy and other big-name commercial RPGs. You seem to be able to figure it out and do this later on in the game, so why not give the first few sections similar treatment?

+Interesting setting.
+Some grammar mistakes, but effective writing overall.
+Protagonists and antagonists have huge potential.
-Cliché storm story so far, which only gets good halfway through.
-Characters without much personality, could use a bit more development.


GAME AND MAP DESIGN
9/10

Aesthetically superb is all I can say. There are two mapmakers, and you’ll be able to tell when you see the maps later on despite the fact that the same chipsets were used. Rudra looks great, and NicoB’s maps still look terrific. I suggest not worrying too much about mapping at all, whatever’s in there does the job perfectly. There are a couple areas which use standard Mack and Blue / RTP chipsets, but they seem to fit in well. I can’t see a game of this scope using only Rudra in the completed version, so it’s only fair.

Not much to say about characters and animations. There’s lots of cool effects, especially in cutscenes later on. Skills look great when used in battle (though spells seem a little simple). I didn’t understand why some guards were charsets pasted into monster designs (Hyuga), some guards were FFVI guards which looked like giants compared to Hyuga and his buddies, and some were cartoony-looking Rudra guard rips.

As for design, it’s pretty and pretty top-notch. There’s lots to do here—a stealth mini-game that’s actually pretty fun, useful items in treasure chests, being able to camp out and interact with characters on the world map, and other neat little features. There are only two towns (more like one since the other is just a preview) but they feel complete and lively. I also liked how there were no towns in the first half of the game, it seemed like a break from the regularity of most traditional RPGs, which is a plus in my book.

Dungeons, while neat, are pretty simple overall, with nothing mind-bending about them. I hope in the future you add some more puzzle, or clever design segments. Something like that stealth section.

Also, points for monsters on the screen that chase you when they see you and go back if you run far enough.

+Exceptional map design with little flaws.
+No random encounters.
-Dungeons are mostly simple and straightforward.
-Some mismatching/clashing problems.


GAMEPLAY
9.5/10

Those who played the first demo of Forever’s End will most likely be glad to hear that the difficulty has been toned down quite a bit. The first demo was extremely hard, but not challenging, just tedious. In this demo, random encounters are quick and painless (no longer am I spamming Epoch’s Atom Slice as it’s the only thing that does damage), boss fights are much easier to handle, and the flashback dungeon is actually possible now (okay, I’m exaggerating, but I could not get past that without cheating). You also have easier access to items, and a new gameplay addition simplifies things even more while keeping the game unique.

The latter addition is the monster capture system. In the game, each dungeon consists of several enemy encounters and you have the ability to trap them in crystals, which can then be used as battle items, or can be traded in to a monster collector for valuable items. Capturing a monster is simple, but requires a couple different items: a Scan Crystal (which can be used on any enemy to identify their HP totals, weakness, etc) to gather information, a food item, and a capture stone. When you scan the monster, you will be informed of the type of food they prefer. Now, use that particular on the enemy and they will begin eating it, after which you can use the capture stone to acquire that monster’s ability stone. You’ll want to use and abuse this system, because not only are the monster abilities immensely powerful, but trading monsters in nets you some rather awesome items or equipment. Also of note is that every time you scan a new monster, you gain scouting points. Get enough of these to raise your scouting level and be able to fight new fiends on the map. In one instance I was able to fight an optional boss which I believe only appeared when your scouting level was high enough. Very cool.

Unfortunately, this system has some problems, again relating to the game’s difficulty. For one, you can use the monster abilities more than once – I’m not sure how many times as it doesn’t say (let the player know in the future version). This makes them a bit cheap, especially the powerful damage dealers such as Kaasht and Tundra. Two, and more importantly, is that capturing a monster is 100% guaranteed once you feed them their food, provided you are at a high enough level, which you will almost always seem to be. There is no chance of failure. This means that you can simply throw a food item at a certain monster giving you trouble and then capture them, erasing them from the battlefield completely. While I did not run into any enemies that gave me a hard time, in future versions this could be a cheap tactic to winning a battle. A suggestion would be either to make the % rate higher depending on how hurt the enemy is, or higher depending on your level.

Have I talked about the battle system at all other than capturing enemies? No? Oh yeah, well the battles are fun and fluid. Epoch, Lee, and Goldo are unique in that they have different fighting styles. Epoch has to learn new skills through magazines which he can then upgrade, Lee draws skills from enemies which he then keeps permanently (again with 100%), and Goldo can steal tools from enemies that he can use to make new items, which only he can use but cost MP to be used. I’m not sure what Elise’s unique role is, but she seemed like a genuine spellcaster to me.

Another cool addition is being able to equip books to learn new skills from winning battles, similar to Starless Umbra’s magic learning system. I liked how the books were real classics like Dante’s Inferno, which teaches fire, and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for water. I look forward to equipping Stephen Colbert’s I am America! in order to learn the ultimate magic.

Other than that, everything about the gameplay is right on, without any big issues. The big problem again is the difficulty, as the game is absolutely too easy. I did not get a single game over, and every single boss fight was a joke. I did fight every single enemy in the dungeon beforehand though. This is encouraged of course, since you not only get something special for clearing out an area, but so you are able to capture every monster and get even more neat things. Since regular battles are so simple it is easy to clear out an area, which then means you’d be ready to wipe the floor with the boss of the area. Then again, I’m pretty much a completionist and not everybody is the same way, but I just breezed through the game with only the desert ruins being a little harder than anything else. Also, Lee is an absolute GOD in battle, and when you get Goldo you are unstoppable.

One last thing, even though the game needs some balancing, it is still miles better than the original version. In the original I could not get past the desert ruins because I was out of items and the enemies were brutal. I had heard the bosses get even more frustrating after that point. If anything, you could make the bosses in the new version offer quite a big challenge, but keep regular enemy encounters the same difficulty.

+Excellent, polished battle system.
+Different characters with unique battle skills and abilities.
+Cool monster capturing mechanic.
-Too easy.
-Monster capturing can be abused.


MUSIC
4.5/5

This is commercial game music, so expect to recognize many tunes. Again, a lot of it fits well into the game, and some tracks that I barely heard in their own games were used to good extent here, which made me like them even more. Much of the music is from Shadow Hearts (Covenant I believe). All of the battle themes including the boss themes are, I believe, and so are the world map and title screen themes. It's almost as if you were making a Shadow Hearts fangame, so I dunno, maybe get some variety in there? Other than that, there's also some Final Fantasy, Chrono, and ARMs in there, and some original pieces. I despise popular game music in midi form in video games, and fortunately Forever’s End uses all .mp3 quality themes.

I liked that there were different battle themes, and a handful of different boss themes. Really cool when you don't have to hear the same boss themes over and over - the theme played during the sewer boss deserves mention because it is absolutely AWESOME. I know it's from Shadow Hearts but which one? Whatever, it's AMAZING and should be used for the best, most epic fights in the full version. Okay, maybe not, but you really did a good job picking out some of the songs.

+Good choices for music.
+All high quality; no midis.
-Overdosed on the Shadow Hearts music – actually this is not really a bad thing, just an observation…


BUGS / COMPLETION / OTHER ISSUES
4.5/5

I took off some points because some sections felt a bit incomplete, besides the last town which was fine since you warned us about it anyway. I believe there was an inaccessible treasure chest in Namu Pass. There was also a skill I learned from a monster with Lee that popped up as something else.

Let’s see what else:

-Goldo should have a Scan Crystal ability at some point.
-There should be a merchant in the desert ruins. I ran out of scans and couldn’t get all the monsters there.
-There is a music glitch in the Royal Hunting Grounds, or maybe not as I’m not sure you intended for it to be this way. When you enter, there is no music, and after a battle you hear the world map music the rest of the way. It changes to the dungeon music when you get to the save point and stays like that for the rest of the dungeon.
-Is there a monster encyclopedia anywhere, or have you not added it in yet? I thought I saw a screenshot.


Nitpicking aside, it’s a great game and I look forward to the completed version. In terms of overall game design, what you’ve crafted is impressive, and I believe you have the potential to finish this. The story, while starting off rather lame, also seems to be gradually getting stronger.

It is a lot of work, and it seems like quite the ambitious project, but I have faith in you. This is currently one of the best traditional RM games out there, and it has potential to be one of the greatest projects in 2K3 if it is completed.


Final Score: 35/40 = 4.375/5, rounded to 4.5 [/spoiler]

[Lethor]

When you go to the original post? the links do not work: S    lucky

[NicoB]

When you go to the original post? the links do not work: S    lucky

Do you mean the original download links? They seem to work fine for me. Maybe try again using a different web browser? Let me know if you continue to have trouble with it.