Plot and Character Feedback

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Started by Lunarea 1231 posts Page 61 of 62 View original ↗
  1. Milennin said:
    One thing I'd probably consider is some more cross-class support, because as of now, it's like every guy is on his own (apart from the Monk who heals). Like, give certain classes synergy with others so you can kind of build a party that feels like it's actually working together as a team, rather than putting individual units together that only do their own thing.

    The only Characters who I feel are selfish with their skills is Berserker and Dark Mage. They both just do a whole lot of damage. Gunner has a lot of skills that weaken enemies. Knight has Offensive Buffs and a Revive. Elementalist gets a Utility based around the Element they are, for example Water gives her the ability to heal as well, but she can't heal in the other 3 Elements. Monk has healing and defensive buffs. Berserker has self healing and buffing, and the Dark Mage is damage, and some negative status ailments. Everyone has 8 Skills, with the exception of the Elementalist as hers change depending on her Focus, but they do have Utility in their as well.

    gstv87 said:
    One thing I've just recently came to analyze, is the "storytelling through gameplay mechanic" factor.
    What I mean is, the game is not just combat, or flashy animations on screen at the time of combat.
    There should be a story behind it, and if you match that story with your characters' personality, the way they behave in combat will match their design and background.

    That's what I've been trying with the Berserker and Dark Mage, as one of them is a Berserker, and the other is just a super selfish, and snotty character. Instead of being OP or UP though, I just wanted to show that in how they fight. The Dark Mage offers no buffs or aid to her allies, instead just offering monster damage, and debilitating effects to torment her enemies cause I felt it just fit her personality, especially since she doesn't exactly like or get along with the group anyways.


    kranasAngel said:
    Regardless I'm really interested in how this will go, I have some ideas for other MP systems and characters you could add, but I don't want to send unsolicited advice.

    If you have any ideas let me know, cause as it is right now, my Knight just has powerful offensive buffs, taunts, and a strong revive that I find kind of unique, but his only restriction on skills is that they have cooldowns. So if you can think of a good idea, please let me know cause I can't really think of much. Same with the Dark Mage, I just have her using her HP for spells, and then draining HP from enemies to keep casting. I don't find the characters themselves boring when I play with them, they just seem less involved then the others, which I've been told is just fine.
  2. 'Game Mechanics Design' is not for feedback on individual, specific games. Also, this is really more about your characters.

    [mod]Merging this with Character and Plot Feedback.[/mod]
  3. AMGLime said:
    The only Characters who I feel are selfish with their skills is Berserker and Dark Mage. They both just do a whole lot of damage.
    Ok, so as far as that misconception went I just didn't know, and while that sounds cool, I think it's important to distinguish what sorts of high damage skills they use. Maybe with the Berzerker's skills having low accuracy, and the Dark Mage's skills harming her allies, such as maybe allow her to consume the HP of her allies to deal damage.
    As far as your gunner goes, you may want to consider doing it the other way. So, the Gunner has an Overdrive (or something) meter that builds up every time they attack, and a skill called Cooldown which lowers the Overdrive meter. However, if the Overdrive meter fills up to maximum, it resets to 0, but the Gunner is stunned for 2 turns. This makes deciding when to reload more of an interesting decision rather than merely waiting for the Gunner's Ammo to hit 0.

    AMGLime said:
    If you have any ideas let me know, cause as it is right now, my Knight just has powerful offensive buffs, taunts, and a strong revive that I find kind of unique, but his only restriction on skills is that they have cooldowns. So if you can think of a good idea, please let me know cause I can't really think of much. Same with the Dark Mage, I just have her using her HP for spells, and then draining HP from enemies to keep casting. I don't find the characters themselves boring when I play with them, they just seem less involved then the others, which I've been told is just fine.
    So, I while ago, I came up with an idea for an RPG with a core idea similar to yours, only set in a sort of urban fantasy environment. Each character was intended to represent and subvert a character archetype. Though since I was young and naive(er) then, it wasn't very well fleshed out.

    The Main Character was a Cool Guy
    Well not really, but he wore Sunglasses all the time, and a leather jacket, and his unique resource was cool points which rose every time he took damage. Here, it was represented by how "cool" people are supposed to take damage for their allies and to act as a protector. This was critiqued by the fact that he didn't actually make a great tank having only moderate defenses, thus his character arc of having to learn that trying to act cool doesn't make you cool was represented in his mechanics.

    A Secondary Character was the Popular Person
    While they were in the party, all other party members gained the command adore. The Popular Person recovered CP or cute points whenever a party member used adore, but the amount gained would vary based on who the character was. The cool guy would restore almost all of her CP, but the Punk Girl who was less enamored with them would restore very little CP. The point was how their constant desire to be the center of attention would prevent other people from doing things, but without the other party members spending time to pay attention to the Popular Person, the popular person was useless.

    Another Character was the Fisherman
    The fisherman specialized in patience. Normally she would spend what were called Patience Points to deal massive damage, but the points were quickly depleted. Once they were, she had to use a skill called wait, which would stun her for 1-5 turns, raise both of her defenses severely, and restore 20 Patience points a turn. (The max was 100). The problem was that while waiting, nothing could wake her up, not even skills which removed all status ailments. She also had several charge skills which left her unable to act while waiting for the attack to go off. Her desire to wait for the right opportunity was represented and could harm the player if she ended up waiting too long when the player needed access to her abilities to heal

    The Final Character I can remember right now was the Phantom Thief
    She gained MP by dodging attacks, but lost MP for taking attacks. She also had a command called Calling Card, which would give her a taunt causing all enemies to target her, which was a great way to build up MP if she dodged most of the attacks, but could also backfire if she was "caught" and attacked instead. Being attacked while Calling Card was active would also stun her as she had been "caught"

    Hope that helped.
  4. Hey all, I don't have a demo yet, but I did start a Kickstarter showing what I got so far: [--snip--]
  5. @Omnilore This is not the place to advertise your Kickstarter campaign. We have a forum for that - Crowdfunding Projects. I have removed your link.
  6. I'm not quite sure where to post this other than RPG MVXA specific. I'm relatively new to the whole RPG Maker scene as my hubs bought me VX Ace about a week ago on Humble Bundle. I was going big and trying to design a game with too much in it outside my current skill level (read: Noob). So I scaled my ambitions back and started a smaller project.

    Home
    The game of failures and house flipping.
    It sort of a simulation, semi RPG like.
    The premise is a young entrepreneur trying and failing at building an Ice Hotel. This is merely a plot device to get from point A to B, and has littl consequence except to set up how the Player Character gets into house flipping. I intend for this to be a small game. You start with 450000G, and I want to tie in either a Cost VS Sweat Equity routes, so there's options on how to get to the finished house/property. Granted some things will be outside the PC's skill set and they have to hire outside contractors.

    I'm trying to add a day and night cycle, where days and daylight/nighttime are tied to the clock and maybe sleeping to advance the day forward, I don't know. I haven't gotten to that yet. I'm a bit intimidated by time and tint screens, so I may forego the concept of time for now.

    Right now my stumbling stone is after the opening scenes. Should I (A. Have Cut scenes and sound effects and transfer the PC to the map based off the choice they made or (B. have a bunch of events where they go around "picking the weeds" "Clearing out the rocks" etc., or (C. Have like a post board to choose the task to complete from then cut scenes rather than walking up and clicking say a weed to start the event? Any constructive input will be appreciated. Thank you!
  7. This appears to be more a request for feedback about your story line development, rather than a "How do I... (fix this event/show this effect/give my skill this attribute)...?" sort of question.

    [mod]I am merging this with Plot and Character Feedback.[/mod]
  8. Kes said:
    This appears to be more a request for feedback about your story line development, rather than a "How do I... (fix this event/show this effect/give my skill this attribute)...?" sort of question.

    [mod]I am merging this with Plot and Character Feedback.[/mod]
    Thank you for moving it to the right place. The forum is a bit intimidating to navigate as a newcomer. I am also having issues with making it work. I started out simple and then decided to link maps with the matching alterations to the event/action and transfer the PC between them. My other half thinks I should try making it a common event to remove things. And I am still learning about switches, which save as much headache as they cause.
  9. @Builds_a_lot Ah, switches. I strongly recommend that you spend a bit of time going through Andar's info for new users. One of the many excellent things there is a link to a playable tutorial on switches and variables. Spending a bit of time now on the things he covers in that post will save you vast amounts of time and frustration in the future.
  10. Kes said:
    @Builds_a_lot Ah, switches. I strongly recommend that you spend a bit of time going through Andar's info for new users. One of the many excellent things there is a link to a playable tutorial on switches and variables. Spending a bit of time now on the things he covers in that post will save you vast amounts of time and frustration in the future.
    Thank you! I genuinely appreciate that. I was ready to break down in frustration the other day. Too many maps and transfer events and I broke what was working lol. So Thank you!
  11. I've been sitting with a story for quite a long time, and I'm curious to find out what kind of feedback you could offer me. I think I'll start with writing a basic premise of the set-up:


    The game starts by telling the story of the Celestials: Godlike beings who once inhabited the cosmos (referred to as the Infinite Void) and persisted by consuming the aether of the stars. Yet at the aeons passed, the amount of stars remaining within the Infinite Void began to dwindle, causing the Celestials to turn on eachother to for aether. The conflict destroyed most of the Infinite Void, and raged on until only two Celestials remained: Oda and Chao. Oda had laid claim to and consumed many star systems, while Chao had slain many Celestials to consume their aether. The two battled for centuries, yet they found themselves to be equally matched, and eventually realised that killing either of them would doom the other to solitude and extinction. Setting aside their differences, they travelled to the center of the Infinite Void and used their aether to create a new star: the Core.
    As time passed, the Core began to grow and prosper through Oda and Chao's blessings, and eventually begun to bear life. Yet while the Celestials were content to watch over their mortal creations through the ages, one act of great heresy caused Chao to declare their creation as a failure, and he created a race of Demons to descend upon the Core and extinguish all mortal life. Yet Oda believed that the mortals deserved another chance, and created his own race of Angels to combat the Demons and stand together with the mortals. Thus began the War of Chao. In a climactic final battle, the combined armies of the Angels and the mortal races pushed the Demons back to a massive volcano known as the Navel, and successfully sealed the Demons underneath the crust of the Core. Enraged by this development, Chao himself descended upon the Core, decimating the mortal and Angel armies and challenging Oda to face him in person. Oda accepted the challenge, and their battle caused the entire continent to sink beneath the waves. Yet this time, Oda found himself outmatched by Chao, and chose to sacrifice his physical form to seal Chao inside an indestructible barrier and banish him to the farthest reaches of the Infinite Void. The mortals and the Angels were victorious, and the Angels rose to the clouds and created the realm of Heaven to safeguard Oda's remains and watch over the mortals from above, while the mortal races returned to their homelands to rebuild their lives. Yet, mad prophets speak of a legend that after one thouzand years, Oda's barrier will weaken and Chao will return to cleanse the Core of all life.

    The game then begins five hundred years after the War of Chao with two humans called Atticus and Nerissa, who live in a secluded Human kingdom that has been sealed off from the rest of the world. Both are Hunters employed by the Hunter's Guild, a group of voluntary mercenaries who protect the kingdom from feral beasts and monsters and accepts criminal bounties from the kingdom and its villages. One day after a routine mission of population control, they are called in to investigate a report about a so-called Slither, a ferocious and dangerous monster that is usually reserved only for the most elite and experienced of Hunters, that has been attacking the supply caravans heading to their guild. They eventually find the Slither's nest, but are ambushed by the Slither before they can escape and report back. Upon successfully beating the Slither, they inspect its nest and discover a strange metallic orb laying inside. They decide to take it with them to show their guildmaster, but when Atticus picks up the orb he is sucked into a dark vortex, and he wakes up into an unfamiliar land. Now Atticus must find his way back home, through unknown lands and with no knowledge of the outside world, with only his sword and shield to guide him in the right direction.


    Here are a few facts and spoilers that the player will get to learn throughout the game:
    Spoiler
    Atticus comes from a Human kingdom called Turios. He will eventually find his way home to Turios, but he will find it in ruins due to the actions of the main villain.
    Spoiler
    Despite sacrificing its physical form, Oda is not dead. Instead, it now exists as a being of pure aether. Atticus will at some point visit Heaven to learn this, but he will not get to meet Oda directly.
    Spoiler
    The Demons are still very much alive, and Atticus will get to meet them too.
    Spoiler
    There will be chosen knights of Oda to champion all of the civilized races on the Core. But Atticus will not be one of them.
    Spoiler
    There will be character death.
  12. Does anyone have good suggestions for a catgirl type character? I feel like she might like a Monk class, but i am at loss for what to make her different. Helppppp?:kaoeh:
  13. BottleCapGames said:
    Does anyone have good suggestions for a catgirl type character? I feel like she might like a Monk class, but i am at loss for what to make her different. Helppppp?:kaoeh:

    There's not really enough information to help here, to be honest. You've basically just told us her race, nothing about who she actually is as a character or her role in the plot.

    @Ebontope Don't know how much use this is gonna be, but the name Chao immediately made me think of the adorable little blobs from Sonic Adventure, so it might not be the best name for an almighty god of evil.
  14. onipunk said:
    There's not really enough information to help here, to be honest. You've basically just told us her race, nothing about who she actually is as a character or her role in the plot.

    Whoops. She is a student of a very formal and famous academy (She hates it.). Soon, when the academy has a bunch of scandals, you help her take it down from the inside in exchange for her joining your party. She's not very important for the beginning, but during Act 3, after a character's death, she opens up all her secrets and becomes much more involved in the plot.
  15. onipunk said:
    @Ebontope Don't know how much use this is gonna be, but the name Chao immediately made me think of the adorable little blobs from Sonic Adventure, so it might not be the best name for an almighty god of evil.

    I did have the same feelings for a while, but ultimately I just didn't know what else I could change the name to. Chao's name is involved in the title that I'm planning to use, ChaoSaga.

    A name like Khao or Kao might be suitable for a name instead of Chao, but I don't know if KhaoSaga or KaoSaga just have the same ring to it. What do you think?
  16. When I hear KhaoSaga, I think... 'hmmm... ohhh I'm hungry'. I think my brain broke...:kaoeh:
    But, sounds like a good name, not the title though.
  17. BottleCapGames said:
    When I hear KhaoSaga, I think... 'hmmm... ohhh I'm hungry'. I think my brain broke...:kaoeh:

    Is that a reference to something? I don't get it.
  18. @Ebontope Nope, I was hungry. :kaopride:

    Why did you put your main antagonist in the title of your game? Is there a reason?
  19. BottleCapGames Well, way back when I first thought of the rough draft of the story, there were a few key differences. Instead of being called Oda and Chao, the Celestials were simply called Order and Chaos. Additionally, the title I was thinking of was "The Legend of Chaos", in reference to the legend about Chaos breaking out and returning to the Core in a thouzand years. But after a while, I started to think that just calling them "Order" and "Chaos" was a bit too blunt, and "The Legend of Chaos" just sounded too generic.

    So I decided to the Celestials' names a bit, while still staying somewhat recognisable. As for the title, I thought of ChaoSaga because it seemed less generic, it still references the legend, and it works in the word "chaos" as a bonus.
  20. Ohh... OK. You're right @Ebontope, ChaoSaga sounds less generic.

    ----------------------------------------------------------------------

    What is everyone's thoughts on splitting your game into four parts, Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, and Act 4?