GRAYBORDERS'S PROFILE

author=icovoc
Hey Grayborders, finished the demo and I like it quite a bit. Because this is a very early project I'm going to focus mostly on criticism, but I just want to say I think your goals are very relevant and important for rpgs as a genre--dropping cliches, remaking dumb systems, and (of course) the ambitious scale of the storytelling. Also the music and visuals were great (especially that tileset for the forest, and the battle sprites).

On the other hand, I think the maps were probably too big for their own good, and it might be better to try more intuitive layouts rather than big patches of blank space. Also, though I like what the combat system is attempting, it still feels really uneven (though not in the more obvious sense, since I like that the characters were actually at very different levels). The main thing is each character seemed to have multiple moves to do the same thing, but a lot of them weren't very useful, and I think it might be better to focus only on abilities that have a clear use. Also having so many copies of the same enemy in each dungeon makes the fights a little monotonous, and I'd say there should either be more variety or fewer fights. One other thing is the town at end glitches really bad--there's a missing chest image at the top, as well as a missing song in one of the houses, and each of them crashes the game.

"Realism" is always a very general principles in rpgs, but I think you do a good job moving in that direction and introducing new mechanics. There isn't a lot of story yet, but the glimpse of mana technology and the setting in general is fascinating.

Anyway though, I can't wait to see how this project shapes up. I'll definitely buy it whenever it's out; or if I have money I'll probably contribute to the Kickstarter. It's great to see a game that tries to do its own thing--even with the early mechanical problems at this stage, I think your general idea is interesting and fresh enough it makes the game really stand out.

Thanks for the feedback!

The scale of maps was intended, and I know it causes a bit of a problem, I wanted to keep it real and avoid the tunneling effect of natural environments. I`ll have to populate them a bit more that's for sure!

The Combat system is unbalanced atm, and I have to yet clean up some of the problems present, the main idea here was that every character have a very specific strength and weakness. Wile they share stuff like dots, or debuffs these wont be effective on all enemies. Basically plan is each enemy race will have a character who will take the front row and also makes another character really weak in that fight. Its still under a lot of balancing.

There will be more variation to fights, It just took a lot of time to make the battlers, especially the human ones, but there will be a tiny bit less fights with more variety basically.

The town was not bugged on any of my friends pc who tested... that's BAD.
I have to look into that now, thanks for noticing it!

Thank you very much for the kind words! There is a lot of work behind the story and setting, so those parts are not what worry me, the only challenge i see is balance, and to avoid exploiting :D

author=SiegfriedCalibur
Good day.
First of all, subscribed. The game looks good so far, I like challenging RPGs with dark fantasy genre. I also enjoyed the description, a lot of changes in the standard RPG system, plus (as I expect) a great lore and story would certainly drive me towards anxious anticipating.
A few questions, if you don't mind.

1) -No elementals! (no fire,earth,water, holy, dark etc)
Why? Your world centers around magic, surely the elemental system, if done correctly, would be a great asset for the game, giving it more versatility and variety.
2) -A dark realistic fantasy.
I assume the realistic part touches the story, right? Because, in my opinion, it would be difficult to make a realistic actual gameplay with Manapank universe system.
3) You mentioned, that characters will have relationships with each other. Does that mean this game will have a romance elements in it?
4) Regarding the last question, will the game have different endings, deviating from your choices?
Thanks.

Hi there, lot of good questions.

1 Now thats because of the Grey morality, I cant color magic "holy" or "dark" and maintain a moral middle ground if magic is inherently evil or good. Weakneses and different magic types that contrast with one-another are present but not the old-school way.

2 Mnay things, first the setting of the world, constantly reflecting decay, the irreversible nature of time, and the unavoidable end of the world. Ofc the story too, but small things help in the game play to, No healing in battle for example, its not just utilitarian, but helps the dark feeling too, ofc these are easyer to notice if the world and story is brimming with rather horrible things... I`m not joking when I say the game touches on some very very dark themes.

3 There is a Romance, one that I worked really hard to make it work the right way, and unlike other rpgs this romance will bring horrible conflict withing the group as well, for understandable reasons.

4 Yes and No, There is a mechanic I am sort of keeping secret which can end your game short of the proper ending, so I do have a dab ending, the main plot IS pretty strict because other important characters outside your effect will still do the same things no matter how you act. Now to compensate for this the characters personal storyline will be more open ended, and since these plot-lines will be easy to tell form the main story, it will feel more believable. I could go on for hours about this part. I personally believe that unless a game was designed to be ONLY about choice the story can suffer, or feel unnatural that the player makes all the choices in the world.

Also Thank you for your comment!

author=Rixel96
I've gotta say I'm really looking forward to this, the realistic features included I feel is going to break the RPG standard in so many ways. And more than that, the dark atmosphere, I'm gonna have to get this.

Two things I'd like to say: How about random encounters? This game will be my new favorite if there aren't any and you can see the enemies you're gonna fight on screen before getting into battle. I hate random encounters!
Second, what about armor? Does that give you a GP that will never go away-- but also cannot be used for attacks? I guess this is turning into more of a suggestion than a question, here's my thought; A person's defense, or, Guard is increased by equipping armor. Unless it breaks (not saying to incorporate breaking armor) it is always there to raise defense.
So here's how I'm thinking this would work in this game: Part of the bar at the end of it is Yellow to signify Armor, the Armor cannot be used to do attacks that cost GP, all it acts is as a defense against attacks. If an attack is higher than the Armor it will bleed through into the HP, if it is not then it acts as a perfect defense against it (or maybe one or two point can still bleed through, your call.) This is merely a suggestion, feel free to write me off as an excited new fan because that's just what I am and I look forward to this game with or without my suggestion-- and that's all it is, a suggestion.

WOW thank you!
First of all no random encounters i hate them with a passion.
Now for the second one, You wont be able to equip largely different armor in the game because that would be a contradiction, and i don't like invisible armor that only appears in menus. in this world magic is more common than most fantasy settings. What is here though is skill, and existing "armor" upgrades through the other characters. How this works is that each part member have something they can craft, or enhance, and this was you can upgrade your gear. Your idea is pretty good, but my leading idea was realism, in real life if a massive enemy hits you it would not make much difference if you had plate armor on, your bones would break the same :D This is all of course debatable but i was focusing on a sort of "you guard or evade an attack, or eat it whole". Again though I`m still changing a lot of finite details, to balance the system.

Thanks for the kind words!

author=Amaterasu
I'd comment on the pictures but nah, here;

This is probably the most original and, dare I say it, realistic RPG I've ever seen (with all that illogical crap that you've managed to exclude) (aka money on monsters or chests in the middle of nowhere).

Congrats!

That was one of my main goal, it can frustrate ppl who really want to sink into the lore and fantasy of things when overly gamey aspect occur. Aside from the fights being ATB based everything is made in the name of logical assumptions.