[VXA] the Door of Zosha [05-29-14]

They aren't something I'd want to mess with. They were easy enough to kill, I just had to skillz.

Hey, squeezed out some time to play your demo earlier today. Here are some comments.

Mechanics

• After seeing treasure icons over the storage cupboard, I figured everything that can be interacted with would have some icon pop over it but that wasn't the case.
• I'm not told what I received from the chest after battle. I think the chests have the opened sprite by default as well, but I'm not sure.
• Was really unsure why there was no Save option. Then I realised I had a Journal in my Key Items that could do that. Not sure if letting players discover how to save the game in this manner is good... seems like a standard feature that you have to actually explore to find.
• I was at 1HP but never ever died. The (very difficult) battles became easy because I was never going to die. I just kept spamming attacks and skills while leaving myself at 1HP; I gave up on healing.

Database

• Is it SP or MP? It states MP in the spell descriptions but it shows SP in the menu.
• Sigil : Wrath's description has a small grammatical error. It should be "Delivers minor damage _to_ all targets."

Maps

• Very nice visuals but most of the maps are too dark to see clearly.
• Not sure which doors are accessible either.
• No real distinction between which door can be entered and which can't. I guess you could say it rewards exploration...

Something that I really love about the game is the art direction. Really like the intro too.

Thank you for taking the time to play through everything thus far! Reading through the comments of other people really does help me out.

There are bound to be a large number of issues at the moment, as I am in the process of re-writing and adding portions of the game. The icon indicators are a left-over of when the area was used as the main menu. Over the course of time, I shifted most of the menu functions into an actual menu, and I am not sure if I will either add icon indicators to every interact-able spot on the map, or remove the indicators all together. I also rushed through the creation of Rakar, so there are really no rooms to explore. The level of polish will gradually go up as I work out all of the kinks.

I somehow completely glanced over the demo link, expecting it should be at the bottom of the first post somewhere. My bad.

Also, nice doggy. 

But enough of that.

I will download the demo and play through it. I absolutely love the screens. I hope to have some time tomorrow, if not this weekend. I'll give you some feedback after I've played through the demo.

Right then. I have played the demo to its extent (which, I believe, ends after fighting two square blobs in one room) (excuse the derogatory term 'blob'), and found it puzzling, intriguing, but mostly heavy on the mind. Allow me some musings
 
- The art and backgrounds look fantastic. I enjoyed the music and menu sound effects. I enjoyed the attack sounds less (though it's because of weariness from the RTP sounds).
- I love the detail given to the way in which people speak. There is a weight to everyone's voice, even the common guard.
- I love the lore; however, it's thrust heavily upon the player almost immediately, using archaic language (and, surprisingly, indirect speech when talking to most characters). It reminds me of The Silmarillion, which (despite being impressive) was not easy to get through.

I concur with the comments by AteOneZero. Did find a minor bug: when walking back to the room with the first enemy, they were still visible through the chest they left behind upon defeat.
 
The battles are a bit too hard to figure out (luckily one can't die, as of yet). Arcane powers aside, what each attack does is confusing; when to use them/how they affect targets is unclear too.

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I'm all for throwing the player into a creation myth with little guidance, but you risk losing engagement or immersion by making it overly convoluted. The archaic prose that makes up dialogue, though wonderful for fans of literature, adds to the confusion. I understand that without indirect speech you can't savour the small details; it fits better in a novel than a game. I was confused with the main character's motives, and thus did not really care about her or the world she inhabits (or, not inhabits, as it turns out).

We, the player, do not know what Lon is, or why Rakar is in shambles, what the protagonist's role is/was in it all, and why it matters.

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I decided to play through the intro a second time, this time ignoring the indirect speech. I found it much more pleasant to read, and things cleared up a little, including the interesting flare of character given to the protagonist. I still do not know about Lon or Rakar.

The problem with a difficult-to-understand world, and characters who understand it perfectly, is that we, the player, are left behind. I'm not suggesting you make things simple, merely that you should start off smaller. Players are drawn into a world over time.

 
_{Also, I am jealous of your attention to detail and story writing. Write a book and I'll buy it.}

Sorry for rambling on. Here, have that dog again. 

Thank you taking the time to offer some feedback!

Yeah, at the moment the story is, at best, a partially untangled mess. I have been ever so gradually smoothing everything out and weaving the story together into something coherent. Please keep in mind that there are cut scenes and NPC text which are still missing. I realize that I am combining visual novel and RPG aspects, but I believe the end result will work out ... I just need to reach the end result, first. I wanted the player to jump right into the story, gradually learning who is who and want is going on as they progress. I think once I get all of the text hammered out, the story will be more interesting. Right now everything is quite jumbled.

I am going to be redesigning the skills window to allow for a larger help text area, which will allow me to write and explain more about each skill. So, that should help out. I may add a battle area so the player can practice, too ... not sure quite yet.

Hi Exhydra, I played your demo and as pretty as it was, I just could not get through it.

First thing is the walk speed is ridiculously slow. Up to this point, I have no idea why it is that slow and then you have regions of floor that make you walk even slower... That was the main thing that made me quit. I found myself after beating the gels walking around, not knowing which door to go in but getting around was like constantly walking in some sort of quick sand. You'd think in a dangerous situation like she's in, she's try to move a little faster.

The Gel makes for a great battle, but I think you should explain how to battle because I still have no clue how I beat them. I don't know what the arcane marks do. The text goes by too fast for me to read it in battle (The gel was being protected by something, but I don't know what it was). Every time I attacked the gel, the soldier would take the hit instead so I kill the soldier, but then the gel recreates him.... That was just frustrating. Using all of my 2,500 potions in the first battle was annoying. And I have a bunch of skills, but I don't quite know what they all do. So yeah, I know people hate tutorials, but the option for one in a game that focuses so much on strategy would have been really helpful. Or at least ease us into that difficulty. Let us get a feel for the skills, etc.

I agree with Geokoer, the talking is a bit annoying to read with all of the in betweens in it. Just speaking would have worked wonders and so I began to ignore the text in between too.

Overall, you have a real good looking game, but to me the gameplay was just too slow and the story was kind of hard to follow.