MV - Wind Ryder (Available on Steam)

Haha @Sword_of_Dusk Yeah it's been a long time coming in hitting that ready for release stamp.

Well, I did my stream. Sad to say that I honestly expected more. I found tile issues, bugs and just overall random things that don't make any sense. (How did ryder lose his underwear in arwen's house despite only being there once to ask her to find the couples pass?)

Here's the vod with all the feedback I had:


That being said, it at least kept me interested enough to stream around 4 hours so it's definitely not the worst.

Isn't that a thing? You bring some spare undies with you and conveniently "lose them" so you have an excuse to go back to that person's house, right?

Awww well I missed your stream. Thanks for giving it ago. But harlekin, I hear you worked extra hard to bash the game.

Could have just asked for a refund if you didn’t like it.

@ATT_Turan you get it, playa.

Not harder than any other day I critique games tbh. You can skip to the end of it for somewhat of a summary. I'm also not saying I don't like it. Just some things that imho need to be better. (Ryder not facing the wrong direction when attacking for example. Or the quick time event during thunder strike not be barely visible due to the zoom.)

I'm not bashing games, just to be clear.

Yeah, after spending the night perhaps xD

Sorry. No offense but I think you were just nitpicking there most of the time.

You also had trouble with the boss in the forest (on the bridge), and tbh that boss is a joke? He is kind of easy. Both me and @Trihan totally crushed it without even grinding, not sure why you went there with Ryder alone, you're supposed to fight it with Arwen too. You didn't even stock up on Potions or bring Arwen to fight the boss, if that's how you play Rpgs then I'm afraid you don't have a long career in front of you.

Also not sure where you found bugs and especially tile issues, the game is for the most part OK and so are the maps, despite some being heavily parallaxed, every mapper knows that it's not so easy to add 100% perfect collision to parallax images.

Also complaining about the NPCs not having the sitting behavior sprite and that Arwen's ice spell animation looks bad to you? Wut? Do you realize this is a free game right? That's why I say, nitpicking.

You raised valid points regarding 3 things.

1) Ryder's QTE bar, it felt unnecessary to add it only to him and when Thunder Slash is casted you can't even see it.
2) Arwen crippled walk when she goes back to her house.
3) Some little sprite errors of the NPCs hair.

I told all these 3 things to @TESTOSTERONE and even if he didn't fix them yet, these are just puny little details that don't ruin the game experience at all.

I think you should take a look at how @Trihan played it. He was very professional about it and raised valid criticism. I also had the impression you purposedly tried to bash it, I could be wrong of course.

So sadly I’m going to have to delay my play through until tomorrow. Our laptop is a MacBook. I tried it through Crossover and the audio worked but no picture. For lol shigs, I tried my Steamdeck, and to my surprise I was able to control it fairly OK for having no native support, but then it frozen on the final frame of the cutscene before transitioning into the first battle.

None of those are really anyone’s fault since those things had no native support. It’s just…I’m going to have to play…at my desktop…sitting up. :kaocry:

Still really excited to give it a try. Sorry for being late!

Just to offer an opinion on this - I have neither played Wind Ryder yet nor watched @SGHarlekin's video.

But it's part of our job as game designers to control situations. If someone is "supposed to" have another team member in order for a boss to be doable...make me have the second team member.

Or at least make it very hard not to, so one is aware that they're deliberately circumventing the normal progression of the game (like pushing the cart in Shining Force to block the gate guards and get Gong before the first fight).

That's the thing. That boss doesn't stop any progression, he is completely optional and can be fought anytime, also the second party member leaves the party only temporarily (for a very short period). He went there to face the optional boss alone right when she left. It's so weird how he played the game tbh.

Haha, I mean, you're more than welcomed to... but just like why?

I haven't fought the boss yet or watched the stream, but why is that weird? It's perfectly normal for a player to do something of that sort when it's so easy. A lot of games would likely restrict the player to town until they get a second party member again, especially if any boss is specifically meant to be fought with more members backing you up.

That said, optional content is optional for a reason.

Not nitpicking is how mediocre games are made.

I had troubles? Not at all, I was critiquing how I'm even able to solo this boss fight when I clearly shouldn't be here solo (until he started doing the bs double blasts). The game is poorly balanced. You generate enough tp to keep using ryders self heal indefinitely (also nicely shown on the stream)

And of course the boss was a joke once I went there with 2 people. Nicely stun locked him. Couldn't summon, couldn't move the entire fight.

Except I did.

Adventuring off the beaten path and exploring the areas the game let's me explore is not how you play rpgs? Got it.



Oh no, the player played in a way I did not intend them to play. I'm not sure man, I think you might wanna reassess who's not gonna have a long carreer lol.

Well the easiest example is that I wasn't able to walk down the stairs after leaving the lovebirds shrine. Had to go back inside and go outside again for the stairs to free up, more in the stream.


Price never determined quality in any way. I'm here to give feedback on how the game could potentially be better, not to be "ah well, good enough".

Whether or not something is a nitpick lies in the eye of the beholder. You might think it's okay because "the game is free" or "it's just one person making it" or "insert any other reason", someone else might not.

I also praised the game for it's character interactions and art (which was what got me interested in the first place.) I just think the game needs more depth in the gameplay department and perhaps another round of balancing.

Also, I'm just a guy on the internet like everyone else. My word is by no means law. Either look at the stream and take on board what I had to say, or don't. I don't think any less of Testosterone now than I did before playing the game. I think it's a good project, but I also think it needs more work.

Great job on your game, the story writing is very engaging! Nice voice acting as well. Lot's of fun. :LZSjoy:

Awww, thank you, @Tea++ You have excellent taste.

@SGHarlekin I mean you played for 4 hours.... That's like me complaining I didn't like my food after licking the plate clean. And maybe, you know... think about concentrating more on having fun while playing and not working so hard to find every flaw? Anyway, appreciate you giving it go. But go easy on her, she is still an infant.

Sure, and when you don't play a game for 60 hours before writing a review, you're gonna get complaints how you can dare to have an opinon without having seen every nook and cranny of the game.

Look, I'm not saying I don't like your game. I'm not saying I didn't have fun either. Me streaming 4 hours into midnight is a good thing. If I didn't like the game I would've stopped 30 minutes in.

I will also keep playing because I really like your characters. Giving feedback/reviews is what I do on streams. I don't need an audience when I'm just playing.

The argument of "Well, if you didn't like it, don't play it" is not something any developer should ever say to feedback.

Anyway. I gave my 2 cents. Do with it what you will. ( I appreciate you hotfixing the yanfly keyboard control in btw).

Nitpicking ≠ Constructive Criticism

You have been there for over 20 mins and the chat was mentioning the battle would've finished at late night. That's struggling, my dude. If you purposely go there just to make the fight annoying and then complain about it then the problem is not the fight.
It's like me facing Omega Weapon with Squall only and no Equipment or Junction in FFVIII and then complaining the fight is unbalanced.
The stats resist for bosses is something I mentioned as well but ultimately it's @TESTOSTERONE's design choice.

Purposely adventuring without even trying to play decently and then complaining the game is unbalanced is how you played it. Any game would be unbalanced if that's how you play it, lol please.

Good luck with your carreer then, if that's the attitude you have, you'll certainly need it.

Bro my complaint was about the boss NOT completely annhihilating me, when he should've. The fact that I was able to fight the guy for 20 minutes was the whole complaint. Maybe listen in a little closer next time.

The fact that I could indefinitely outheal the bosses' damage while being undergeared, understaffed and underprepared is not balanced.

The fact that all rewards (that I found) in the shrine were potions and antidotes in packs of 3 not only makes the shops useless but also kills any need for preparation and makes exploration not rewarding. an antidote costs 15 gold(with arwens bonus). Giving me an antidote as a reward for exploration is a big middlefinger, nothing else. (which ties into my point of gameplay needing more work)



Like come on, I'm not gonna use up these antidotes or potions the entire game.

Am I the only one surprised by the sort of man-cleavage on the first bust? :stickytongue:

The music playing while I type this is very soothing, though.

I mentioned the man-cleavage a couple of times. I believe at one point I said "Ryder literally has breasts." :p

@SGHarlekin Thank you for confirming that the keybind thing was hotfixed! I knew I'd seen you mention it not being there and then I went into the options and saw it and was like wait hang on did I just imagine that whole conversation