MV - Wind Ryder (Available on Steam)

Plugins:

• Yanfly
• Moghunter
• RPG Maker Irina
• Hime
• Fallen Angel Olivia
• Galv
• Shaz
• Felski
• Twings
• SumRndmDde
• Hudell
• Wind Ryder (Alex)

Mapping:

• Puffer
• Miss Nile
• Plueschkatze
• Wind Ryder (Alex)

Battlers:

• Low (heroes, some enemies)
• ShadowHawkDragon (enemies)

Art:

• lion_space
• panpan_pratama (promo posters)
• aurancii (game over screen)
• Helen (UI component design)

Voices:

• Ryder: Symmotree
• Anabelle: Cleo T.
• Prim: Milli C.
• Arwen: Buni K.
• Ellie: Lunafreyava

Opening Theme:

• Wind Ryder (Alex)
• Jodie Poye (vocals)

Special Thanks:

• RpgLord69 (for Ellie and Forest of Lesbians lore)
• Avery (you're amazing!)
• Tridium (for playtesting)
• Flare (for inspiration)
• Nickr02 (for graduation waltz composition)
• Dalph (for encouragement)
• Lars Ulrika (for the laughs and Prim puns)
• RPG Maker Community
• YOU (for playing this game)

If you enjoyed the game, think about supporting it and our community by adding a banner of your favorite girl to your signature.
This game wouldn't be possible without the support and resources from many of the members of our community. Thank you so much!!! :kaoluv:

Thankfully, nothing game-breaking here I've found thus far! And just some minor notes. Nice. I like it when this section of my feedback is short.

• The text in your textboxes doesn’t take the whole space. You end up with
  lines looking
  like this that don’t
  use all the space
  And it looks funky. Check any wordwrap you may be using to fix this
• First cave, on the right-hand wall just underneath the box of rocks. You’re missing some corner tiles for the cave wall
• Watch your ally selection box in the battle HUD. Like when trying to use a potion on someone. The box extends far beyond the character HUD, but not quite tall enough, so part of their head pokes past the box
• The text for smelling salts uses the icon for MP, but says Max HP

-always like when people have opening themes with vocals
-like the way the cutscenes are made (wish there was more those kinds of dynamic and energetic cutscenes later on)
-when Anabelle was shooting arrows the arrows spawned on top of her sprite and when Ryder was falling the game jerked a couple of times (if those were map changes, could the whole thing be made on a single map?)
-Anabelle's mouth curls kind of sad when she blinks?
-it's cool that the enemies leave carcasses behind
-like the above person said the tile set change was kind of noticeable
-like the above person said some of the text lines are pretty messed (only 1-2 words per line)
-not a fan of those widescreen text boxes that fill the whole screen (though in this game there were some only (mostly) in the beginning
-I think it was too much when there were 3-4 different colors in one text box
-not sure what I think about the borderless black background text box for some of the text
-I like the character banter when finding items etc, I always wish that games have that
-but that one banter in the beginning of the king slime(?) fight was too long
-i'd personally have more NPCs in the first town talk about the game world (maybe that event where you have to take a date etc) and give those gameplay hints to a couple of them
-battles were nice and fast paced, but maybe rely too heavily on paralyzing the enemy with the ice magic
-unlike the above poster I didn't mind that only Ryder had QTEs...after all he was physical class whilst Arwen was magic class
-Ryder's skills didn't do that much more damage than his basic attack, unless I just remember wrong(?) - personally like skills that maybe cost more, but are clearly more powerful

"GLITCHES":
*When Arwen left the party she walked to her house in a glitchy way, like waiting between steps?
*Butler in mayor's house could walk inside the chest

TYPOS (there were a couple in addition to these):
*Tutorial: "...who it considers the most threat at the moment"
*Ranger in the forest: "Not many folks come this away."
*Elizar's wife: "...where my Elizard have gone."
*Arwen: "...concoctions for towns folks..."

And that's all I can remember. Like I said, nice colorful vibe, good luck with the project!

+ Nice title screen. This is the Moghunter effect, no? I like how the character faces show up with each prompt.

+ Awesome. You have the Skip Cutscene thing - you officially have a point over all of the other RPG Maker games that don't have this.

+ I do like the involved intro where you have to use skills and stuff. Is pretty funny too.

+ I do like the visual aids used in the tutorial.

+ I do like how the enemies are semi-animated.

+ I am in love with this normal battle theme. More RPGs need accordions and violins in their songs. The music in general gets props for not being the same old generic high fantasy soundtrack.

+ You get a bonus point for not using the same old Inn theme when you go to sleep.

+ Love how this level up screen looks.

+ Whoa. Item tooltip in dialogue? That's kinda sick actually.

+ OMG THE FULLY VOICED ANIME INTRO. I mean, it's not animated per se but this is my exact kinda goofy nonsense.

+ This dialogue is very goofy and I love it. It's nice to see characters that have some personality for once.

+ HOW DID YOU DO THE STATE TOOLTIP WITH MOGHUNTER'S BATTLE HUD.

+ These maps are pretty neato. They're pretty full of life, especially with all the lil owls and ducks moving around.

+ You have encounters on the map! Awesome. Will never get tired of fellow RPG Maker games that do this. Also whoa, the enemies respawn!? I was wondering why they suddenly stopped being dead.

+ I like the skits between your characters carried through Yanfly's Gab Window. That way they can talk to each other without slowing down the pace.

+ AYO ONE-TIME HEAL WHEN YOUR GUY GETS TO LOW HP? I've only ever seen that kinda attention to detail in Mother 3!

+ Combat is simple but effective. Normal enemies don't take too long to defeat, the animations are nice and quick. You'd be surprised at how many other people fail to even get THAT right!

Plus I like that Arwen's normal attack isn't useless.

(For reference I fought the Slime King in the cabin before going to the city and had a decent time)

+ I like the quest journal thingy that you can choose to activate or not. Helps players remember where to go for plot, and I might make my own version for my games.

+ Yo, what is this shop interface option? It's neato.

+ I do like it when you can do quests in advance, like how slaying the Slime King before you go into town can automatically complete the church quest(?).

+ Big fan of how objectives have markers or some label flying over their head.

+ Oh sweet when you kill the boss, the lil minions go down with them. Glad to see that.

+ YOU CAN PET THE ASTRAL DOG. That was adorable.

+ Awesome that you spawned a bridge after getting the orbs. You understand the concept of not forcing the player to walk back the entire way if they just finished a long trek in a dungeon.

+/- I was going to question how Arwen could see the orb through the walls but you explained it pretty well. That said: "It's eminating astral enery". OOPS.

= Ah. You have the default Moghunter menu. Not a knock, but you could deal with making it more unique.

= I always kind of roll my eyes at games that tell me about HP or MP in the tutorial. Like unless either has a unique mechanic, it's not worth bringing up. Not a con.

= Oh whoa, there ARE elemental weaknesses in this?

= Hat description: When you say "flare" do you mean "flair?"

= You should definitely make a "buffer" event on maps with enemies. I say this because the time you get to not run into them again is extremely short.

The way I do it in my games is that enemies have an extra page where they're able to be walked through while for like... 60 frames or so and then it turns itself off. This prevents softlocks and allows the player to escape from narrow corridors like in this picture. (Also the white flower beds are not able to be walked through.)

= I'd love to see an alternate version of the "Hi tired" scene if you took a nap in the bed beforehand.

= What is Gale's battle art? She looks like a Disgaea character.

- No rebindable keys (I used to not hold this against people until @TheAM-Dol brought it up, so every game that I reviewed that didn't have rebindable keys will have this con on them)

- I do think it's very odd how some characters have like, default MV-esque generated portraits while some others have full body busts with blinking and talking animations. Like ???.

That and how the battle portraits don't match what either character looks like.

The art style dissonance is pretty distracting even compared to other games I've played if I have to be honest.

- "Pretty isn't she when she's mad" is a very awkward sentence. "She sure is pretty when she's mad, huh?" might feel better.

- ... Ah. @Cythera wasn't kidding about the battle UI being cluttered. On top of it being a default moghunter thing, the big opaque menu cuts off the faces of the characters.

I've also never been a fan of the awkward Olivia turn order thing - it just confuses me more than anything else.

The skill description not being at the top is neat. But if you're going to do this, I think it might be in your best interest to put it directly above the skill menu.

The reason is because the empty space between the two is not helping guide your player's eyes. Also, so it doesn't have the Gab Window overlap the skill description!

- VERY LOUD VICTORY BGM.

- Oh. Are you aware that the battle camera can obscure Ryder's timed attack bar thingy?

- Why do all of the Smellingsalts say Max MP when you get them instead of Max HP?

+/- ... Ah. Green tag monsters give you half exp for beating them again while red tag monsters give you 1.5x exp. I dunno how to feel about the green one, but the red tag monster thing is a good incentive for going into areas where monsters are much stronger than you.

- "I'll be you date" oops?

- Not sure how I feel about the Elizar boss fight. The phantoms should have less HP since we've already fought them before and the double strike attack is kinda cheap.

- That's... not what the imp looked like before we fought them lmao.

- Uh oh, one-tile long hallways in a game with visual encounters. That's like rule number one, man! Not only that, the dungeon is nowhere near as cool as the outside if I have to be honest...

- O-oh. The vipers are not the same quality as the rest of the art.

- Are you aware the pink orb entrance is Action Button and not Player Touch?

Out of all the RTP games I've played, this is one of the more pleasant ones. The writing is consistently adorable and the combat being simple actually helps me get through it. I kinda wish more mechanics were pushed forward, like attacks that have better synergy between your guys (eg. Arwen freezes a guy and Ryder's Ki Strike does double damage to them with it on) or even between enemies.

As far as I know, the "threat" thing never helped influence my actions, since in fights like Elizar they seemed to take the same amount of damage from his double strike so I didn't see much purpose in using taunt or whatever.

But that's a bit beyond the scope of this review. I love the vibe of this game, it kinda reminds me of a Tales game more than anything else. Just, you know, without the line motion battle system. That said, the inconsistent art is... very distracting, so I hope you polish that up in future releases of the game.

I'm rooting for ya, my guy.

+ Nice title screen. This is the Moghunter effect, no? I like how the character faces show up with each prompt.
Yup, it is :D I do too.

+ Awesome. You have the Skip Cutscene thing - you officially have a point over all of the other RPG Maker games that don't have this.
When playtesting, watching the same thing over and over got tedious, so this feature is a plus for gamers and devs.

+ I do like the involved intro where you have to use skills and stuff. Is pretty funny too.
Coming up with how to start the game was the hardest thing. I scrapped the start a few times. Was totally going for funny, hooray, glad it landed.

+ I am in love with this normal battle theme. More RPGs need accordions and violins in their songs. The music in general gets props for not being the same old generic high fantasy soundtrack.
Right? Accordions and violins! Who knew?

+ Love how this level up screen looks.
Couldn't get Olivia's to work, had to make my own ;_;

+ Whoa. Item tooltip in dialogue? That's kinda sick actually.
I can't believe this wasn't done before. Had to make my own.

+ OMG THE FULLY VOICED ANIME INTRO. I mean, it's not animated per se but this is my exact kinda goofy nonsense.
MY EXACT KINDA GOOFY NONSENSE too! Lol.

+ This dialogue is very goofy and I love it. It's nice to see characters that have some personality for once.
Writing goofy dialogue is hard by the way. Reading mindless text just for the sake of story progression is not my thing.

+ HOW DID YOU DO THE STATE TOOLTIP WITH MOGHUNTER'S BATTLE HUD.
Because I am amazing. No, really, it was actually harder to get the remaining turns number to display than to do the tool tip. It lives here now.

+ These maps are pretty neato. They're pretty full of life, especially with all the lil owls and ducks moving around.
Awwww, mapping is NOT my thing, so your saying you thought the maps were neato makes me very happy.

+ You have encounters on the map! Awesome. Will never get tired of fellow RPG Maker games that do this. Also whoa, the enemies respawn!? I was wondering why they suddenly stopped being dead.
They sure do.

+ I like the skits between your characters carried through Yanfly's Gab Window. That way they can talk to each other without slowing down the pace.
I wish more games would make characters banter and talk while adventuring/walking.

+ AYO ONE-TIME HEAL WHEN YOUR GUY GETS TO LOW HP? I've only ever seen that kinda attention to detail in Mother 3!
Yup, I got your back when you stubbornly refuse to heal.

+ Combat is simple but effective. Normal enemies don't take too long to defeat, the animations are nice and quick. You'd be surprised at how many other people fail to even get THAT right!
THAAANK YOU! My peeve too, waiting for forever for characters to "charge" and "attack"....

Plus I like that Arwen's normal attack isn't useless.
Aerith with her staff, remember, lol?

(For reference I fought the Slime King in the cabin before going to the city and had a decent time)

+ I like the quest journal thingy that you can choose to activate or not. Helps players remember where to go for plot, and I might make my own version for my games.
Yes please.

+ Yo, what is this shop interface option? It's neato.
Err, it's one of the plugins I found here, a pain to set up, but looks pretty neato.

+ I do like it when you can do quests in advance, like how slaying the Slime King before you go into town can automatically complete the church quest(?).
I built this side-quest before I built the town.... soooo...

+ Big fan of how objectives have markers or some label flying over their head.
Yeah, I appreciate when games do that.

+ Oh sweet when you kill the boss, the lil minions go down with them. Glad to see that.
Spider queen I take it?

+ YOU CAN PET THE ASTRAL DOG. That was adorable.
:D On related note, if you fought the wolves, you'll see that it says (OUT) when you defeat them.

+ Awesome that you spawned a bridge after getting the orbs. You understand the concept of not forcing the player to walk back the entire way if they just finished a long trek in a dungeon.
Elder Scrolls did this, and I loved it.

+/- I was going to question how Arwen could see the orb through the walls but you explained it pretty well. That said: "It's eminating astral enery". OOPS.
Lol, oops, I am impressed you caught spelling errors. I swear I read and re-read these lines a hunder times.

= Ah. You have the default Moghunter menu. Not a knock, but you could deal with making it more unique.
Added to the to-do list.

= Hat description: When you say "flare" do you mean "flair?"
Fixed, thank you.

= You should definitely make a "buffer" event on maps with enemies. I say this because the time you get to not run into them again is extremely short.

The way I do it in my games is that enemies have an extra page where they're able to be walked through while for like... 60 frames or so and then it turns itself off. This prevents softlocks and allows the player to escape from narrow corridors like in this picture. (Also the white flower beds are not able to be walked through.)
That is actually an awesome idea! Thanks for that. I saw it also in Cythera's game a few days ago and loved the idea. Flower beds not walking was on purpose.

= I'd love to see an alternate version of the "Hi tired" scene if you took a nap in the bed beforehand.
Hi hungry???

= What is Gale's battle art? She looks like a Disgaea character.
Not sure, but the battler kinda looked like the character set, so I went with it.

- No rebindable keys (I used to not hold this against people until @TheAM-Dol brought it up, so every game that I reviewed that didn't have rebindable keys will have this con on them)
This'll probably remain a con :D I mostly just played with the mouse.

- I do think it's very odd how some characters have like, default MV-esque generated portraits while some others have full body busts with blinking and talking animations. Like ???.
Yeah, I may do a bust for Sylvie. Ryder though will not have a bust. When I tried the bust, it broke the role-playing illusion.

That and how the battle portraits don't match what either character looks like.
Allriiiightttt, I will let those battle portraits go (I thought they looked cute).

The art style dissonance is pretty distracting even compared to other games I've played if I have to be honest.
Adding to the to-do list to make art more consistent.

- "Pretty isn't she when she's mad" is a very awkward sentence. "She sure is pretty when she's mad, huh?" might feel better.
Hmmmm. Perhaps.

- ... Ah. @Cythera wasn't kidding about the battle UI being cluttered. On top of it being a default moghunter thing, the big opaque menu cuts off the faces of the characters.
I will really have to think on how to make it better and still keep the mog UI.

I've also never been a fan of the awkward Olivia turn order thing - it just confuses me more than anything else.
Olivia, why you confuse Dan?

The skill description not being at the top is neat. But if you're going to do this, I think it might be in your best interest to put it directly above the skill menu.
^ I like the idea.

- VERY LOUD VICTORY BGM.
Really? Ok, will reduce volume by 35%.

- Oh. Are you aware that the battle camera can obscure Ryder's timed attack bar thingy?
Yup, was on purpose... I think.

- Why do all of the Smellingsalts say Max MP when you get them instead of Max HP?
Because I made a mistake with the first one, didn't notice, and copy/pasted to all the others.
Thank you for catching that!


+/- ... Ah. Green tag monsters give you half exp for beating them again while red tag monsters give you 1.5x exp. I dunno how to feel about the green one, but the red tag monster thing is a good incentive for going into areas where monsters are much stronger than you.
That was a good way to keep players from over-leveling.

- "I'll be you date" oops?
Eyes of a hawk you. Thanks!

- Not sure how I feel about the Elizar boss fight. The phantoms should have less HP since we've already fought them before and the double strike attack is kinda cheap.
Haha, they actually do and are nerfed. I guess it didn't feel that way, huh?

- That's... not what the imp looked like before we fought them lmao.
Lol, I know I know, gotta fix.

- Uh oh, one-tile long hallways in a game with visual encounters. That's like rule number one, man! Not only that, the dungeon is nowhere near as cool as the outside if I have to be honest...
Designing dungeons is hard.

- O-oh. The vipers are not the same quality as the rest of the art.
Aaalright, I'll fix.

- Are you aware the pink orb entrance is Action Button and not Player Touch?
Nope, thanks for catching that.

Out of all the RTP games I've played, this is one of the more pleasant ones. The writing is consistently adorable and the combat being simple actually helps me get through it. I kinda wish more mechanics were pushed forward, like attacks that have better synergy between your guys (eg. Arwen freezes a guy and Ryder's Ki Strike does double damage to them with it on) or even between enemies.
I hope the writing made you chuckle a few times. I had a blast writing it. And that is a neat idea to do more synergy.

As far as I know, the "threat" thing never helped influence my actions, since in fights like Elizar they seemed to take the same amount of damage from his double strike so I didn't see much purpose in using taunt or whatever.
Arwen's better with magic defense, Ryder's better with physical def, and this dude attacks with both, what a jerk, right?

But that's a bit beyond the scope of this review. I love the vibe of this game, it kinda reminds me of a Tales game more than anything else. Just, you know, without the line motion battle system. That said, the inconsistent art is... very distracting, so I hope you polish that up in future releases of the game.
Tales vibe eh? That some high praise. Thank you.

I'm rooting for ya, my guy.
Right back at ya! Thank you!!!!!!