VXAce - Northwall v1.0.1

Of the 4 switches i've unlocked 3 while green 1 while black no combination, of 4, 3, 2 or 1 will open the wall just below the first pentragram switch.

1 - go through mirror (hit switch as black)
2 - come back hit switch in bottom right (as green) backthrough mirror again.

Step 3 you posted I don't remember happening but I must have done.

But I did step 4 and 5 as green (switch beside mirror, go bottom left room hit switch. as green come back go through mirror.

The problem is I can't get out of small hallway as black where I hit the first switch. The wall that should disappear to let me into bottom room as black doesn't so I can't get to step 6

The switch in the bottom room is def on as far as I know but I don't remember being there or hitting it. That said I've been trying this on an off all day. Here's a SS of where I am and how it looks. All switches in green are pressed. Well one beside mirror, one in bottom right room and the one in bottom left room.

I think I'm right near the end and I can see a twist coming that might never happen but it sure is interesting the way its building up.

Suven has went from a proper honorable type and slowly turned into a proper little and I hope he gets dead.
Tilana is kind of your typical grumpy anti-hero but written so well she really suits the story. I also really like how she comes across as like those real life loners who pick at everyone but really just want to be part of the group they fight with.
Varsena is hard to get my head around, seems well intentioned but manipulative at the same time. Again quite likable.
At first I thought Maestro was too comic relief to be the villain but he plays his role well and stops the game feeling too dark at times (which wouldn't be a problem).
Of all the characters Ben was the only really pure hero who always opted for the right thing which is great.

It does feel kind of weird waiting for the bad guy to show up and stop the game being so depressing though.

I totally get the game of thrones references and its really got a lot in common with the series from the dark depressing way the story is told, the deaths, the army of monsters to the north (which strangely enough in GoT are actually behind a wall.) I also think the name NorthWall may also be a part of the reason people like it.

From the minute Marion leaves your party, the game gets so depressing and West Silth is brilliant if a little predictable.

Maestro pulling the strings behind both Varsena and Tilana is also predictable but by the same token the game just wouldn't feel right without him being reponsible.

I wanted Suven to go from being a protagonist to an antagonist in a way that the player didn't feel was too unbelievable. I'm glad you seemed to really hate him by the end - how do you feel about his storyline and ultimate conclusion, with the main protagonist shifting at the end more towards Tilana?

Out of curiosity, did you choose to save Tilana or let Marion kill her? There are lots of small changes that happen for the rest of the game depending on your choice. She generally acts more sympathetically to Suven if you chose to save her. On the airship cutscene, Tilana talks to Suven if you saved her, while Varsena talks to him if you didn't. During the spirits fight, Maestro buffs Marion if you saved Tilana, whereas he makes Tilana go berserk and attack your party if you didn't.

It's funny you mention that you weren't sure if Maestro was the villain or not - that was certainly the atmosphere I wanted for him, but even as I was writing the game, there were times that I wasn't sure how much I wanted him to end up being a primary antagonist and how much I just wanted him to be a weird help you/hurt you jester-like sort of character. Even the decision to have him join the party was something I went back and forth on for quite some time.

Regarding your mention of it feeling weird that there's not a readily identifiable antagonist - do you think that detracts from the game? Any thoughts on what you might change or add to make it feel less weird if you don't think it works?

I'm not quite at the last boss but close I think/hope.
I loved Suven going like that because I hate whiter than white characters and from the start I was like I hope if someone bites it, its Suven, I kind of knew he wouldn't because he was my only healer but still. Its part of why I really like this game and GoT (sorry about the comparisons, its just one of those stories where no one is 100% good or 100% evil.)

I love that the game has so many people twisted by revenge and that there is no out and out antagonist for the same reason I disliked Suven at the start and even more when he became whiney.
I like Tilana becoming the hero because I like her character in general, always conflicted and wanting to fit in without really being able. I chose to save her because I found Marion way too bossy and I was like f**k you. I'll probably play through again and choose the other option.

I found the skills just fine and none of the bosses were boring per se as they didn't drag too long but I got through a few of them just attacking and healing. To be honest, maybe having played so many RM games I very rarely used any buffs, debuffs or status effects and mostly got through the game with elemental magic, Suvens healing and kind of pre-predicting the enemies and healing before the big shots came.

I nearly always used the werewolf form when available as I found not letting the enemies heal was a great plus (maybe even a little OP) especially in the fight in the volcano for the power source, it gave me a chance to not have to focus on the green crystal too much and time to take all the crystal our with holy barrage from Suven, while Tilana kept the magi from being healed and Varsena could just fire magic where she wanted.

It was probably my strongest tactic in the game on tougher battles once I had a trio. Holy Barrage, Tilanas attack that prevents heal in hybrid form and attack magic with Varsena.

I actually enjoyed all the puzzles and the increasing difficulty as the game went on which really added to it.

I found the Cursed Sickle but couldn't equip it, I though maybe thats for another character so I kind of forgot about it after that.

Honestly I'm struggling to find any faults in the game in general. Maybe more realistic graphics that don't look RPG Maker like would add to the darker story but the current ones don't take away from it at all.

Also your choice of music is perfect too.

Victor

For me the hardest fight was the 1 vs 1 vs Victor where it feels like you are constantly on the back foot and scrambling to get on top of him. It was also my favourite so far but I imagine the players who struggle with overcoming Belzar will find him a nightmare. Might be something to look at. I actually did get game overed by him a couple of times.

Since you had to try him a couple times - how do you feel about the length of time between retries? It's kind of a long cutscene leading up to the battle, but I couldn't find a spot that felt good to give the player control again to save. Being able to run around and open the menu and whatnot feels like it would spoil the flow of the scene. I thought about maybe having a little "Save your game?" choice show up while the screen is completely pink after Tilana shatters the power source. What do you think?

Anything you didn't feel was fair for Victor's fight? I'm glad it was your favorite fight, I think it's probably the hardest or second-hardest fight in the game. It was very difficult getting just the right balance for a 1v1 fight without making it boring. I feel like the best strategy typically involves keeping lycanthropic regen up, keeping deadly wound applied, and anticipating the best moments to shift out of hybrid form to restore MP.

Were you able to pick up on his "rotation" after doing him a couple times? He basically goes through 5 stacks of enrage that makes him act steadily faster and hit harder, before shifting into parry stance for 4-5 turns. You can interrupt his enrage stacking with a stun, though - but if you stun him too often, he breaks out and immediately maxes out his rage stacks. His Smite Evil ability also looks super brutal, but it locks him from using damaging abilities for 3 or 4 turns to give you time to recover.

Do you feel you were given enough chance to learn Maestro's abilities before the last fight? His "mini stealth" section wasn't designed to be a stealth section so much as it was a chance to have 3 easy battles to play around with his skills and figure out what he does.

especially as the first one is just pretty much a cut scene. I would also recommend maybe a save screen before Suven/Galarand as that cutscene is pretty long as well and I've only had 2 goes at it but pretty tough to.

My strategy for Victor was somewhat similar, I kind of went with the following when he wasn't in parry mode. These were the priorities.

1. When he had 2 turns upcoming to my 1, I always went with the stun move.
2. Next priority was regen.
3. I tried to keep him bleeding with the attack that does that because
4. If I could keep him bleeding the absorb health from bloodthirst or whatever its called helped keep hp healthy.
5. When HP was healthy I'd use the skill that sets his defence to 0 and follow it with frenzy to keep a bit of tp.
6. When I thought he was heading for parry mode, he usually heals casts regen (least thats how it felt) so I tried to get deadly wound in.

When he switched to parry stance, I usually switched back to human form, than I just kept my health up and built tp and mp using lunar rage.
Onoce I had loads I simply tried to buff up just as Victor was coming out of it and went back to plan A.

Another reason it was a great battle was the variety of moves I had to use and could never resort to spamming one or two which was great.
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The maestro bit was grand really, his moves were straight forward enough and the 3 battles was plenty to flick through the menu and try out various things.

My sister says I always lie = truth, my sister says I always tell the truth = lie.

There is no way around this.

• If "my sister says I always tell the truth" is the truth (sister 1) I can't remember the side
• (Sister 1) has to be telling the truth, It means person 1 is telling the
• So my sister says I always lie has to be the lie (only 1 can tell the truth)
• "my sister says I always lie" can't be a lie as this has to be true given the other quote is true. ).
• One person can't be lying if both are quoting true quotes.

From there its just a matter of working out who died in what order. Remember we have no clue what happened to Ben, Rick, Marion or Corvais. All we have seen for definite is 2 dying soldiers in the cave. A dream of Corvais and Marion lying on a bed wounded. We never actually saw anyone die

The left one was telling the truth. 'Ben died last.' 'Marion died before Corvais.' So it was Rick, Marion, Corvais and Ben.