I've been thinking about how large daybreak really is, at first I thought of it as a town, however daybreak uptown is quite developed and dense, so I think it might be a small city of around 100000 inhabitants
Played this already through the other channels. I bet you can guess who I am! Just came to share my laughter at the facepalming Alicia in the cover image! So unexpected! Hehe!
One thing I would have changed in the game is the name of Lamar's Barrier skills:
Instead of Terror Barrier: Courage/Bravery Barrier
Instead of Rage Barrier: Peace/Tranquility/Calm/Serenity Barrier
Instead of Sorrow Barrier: Happyness/Joy/Delight Barrier
Even if this might seem a bit too positive for the game, it makes sense using the opposite positive emotion to protect from psychic attacks that channel negative emotion.
song choices are well done, gameplay was great, writing was shaky at times but the overarching story was pretty nice, and the art... uh... i can't hate it, but i can't love it. didn't waste my time, came back for nightmare mode (it was either extremely unfun or extremely fun), should have chosen bad dream
The Mortis Bat wouldn't happen to be a reference to OFF, would it? Considering it's the "Bat of Purification" and the developer is Mortis Ghost. As a fan of it as well as W&U, I have to respectfully nod to your good taste in RPGMaker games. It'd be funny if the battle music changed to "Pepper Steak" if Alicia equips it, though I'm sure it sadly wouldn't be possible.
Yeah, you're completely right, it's an OFF reference, I love OFF! :DDD
haha, it would have been great to have Pepper Steak in the game, that song rules, but yeah I'd have to ask the original composer and I wouldn't really feel right using it in a completely different game
There’s hints all throughout the City Hall that tell you the numbers you need for the safe code and in what order. Make sure to visit every room to search for numbers on walls and such.
I find the monsters on this game fascinating, I think for a sequel making a playable monster of every type would be awesome (maybe even a delegate that can shapeshift), any way I can take a look at the stats and skills of the monsters?
Oooh thanks, that's a very cool idea! As for the stats and skills, unfortunately I haven't got them on any sort of spreadsheet or anything, so I don't have an easy way to do that.
In City Hall past the room where you have to place objects to progress through a white room, take the path to the left where you can find a semi-hidden door. Pass through the door and through a dark hall and find the mayor's hidden room (you'll have to fight a miniboss). After visiting the hidden room, head back into the dark hall, the Fool will now be in that hall.
Hi, I'm sorry to nag, but wanted to let you know that the updates for this game don't play well with the Itch client. Since each folder is named differently, the client creates a new installation folder every time it updates the game. This means that it gets confused when launching the game since there are multiple executables installed. The user needs to delete the old version(s) manually; otherwise it's not clear which executable to choose when running from the app (see screenshots below). If you would prefer not to use Butler, I believe that keeping the compressed folder name the same between versions would prevent this.
I know this is pretty late notice for this game, but hopefully it will help going forward. I'm really enjoying the game and will post some thoughts once I finish it.
Thanks very much for bringing this to my attention! I had no idea this was happening, I'm sorry for the issues this has caused! If I'm understanding correctly, if I name new versions the same as the last update, it'll be fine for the Itch client?
Thanks very much, again, for bringing this to my attention!
I'm not positive, but I think that the name of the .zip file doesn't matter, and that this is happening because the .zip contains a folder at the top level. In each version, the folder is named differently, so when the client goes to install the contents of the .zip, it thinks that the folder is something brand-new and installs it alongside the existing ones. So, I think that if you either keep the folder names inside the .zip the same for each release (e.g. just "Weird and Unfortunate"), or if you just zip all the files directly instead of zipping a folder, then Itch will understand that the new version should go on top of the old one.
Close to the end of my playthrough, and all I'm missing is one of the fools in the final dungeon. I found the one in the Princess area, anyone wanna drop some knowledge on me and let me know which area the other one is in?
Decided to go back to this game, give it the ol' replay again. It's got a great way of sticking with you, between the mechanics, soundtrack, characters, art, and writing.
Thank you, unity, for making such a fun and engaging game!
I'm having an odd issue with my current run. Windows died on me, and I had to switch to Linux (I know). Odd thing is, this game spikes my cpu temp up to 95 degrees within half an hour of booting it up. But my cpu usage never goes above 20%.I play windows game through Lutris, and I've never had this happen before. Any Linux players out there who might be able to help?
*EDIT*
I might have found a workaround for now. By lowering the game's priority, I can limit the heat spike a bit. Its still getting up to 80-82 degrees, but at least its not 95+. Still far more than this game should be taking, but at least its more playable now.
I'm sorry that I can't be of much help, as I'm not a programmer and RPG Maker has never been designed to prioritize performance (it really should run smoother in a lot of areas -_-)
so i've only hit the second boss fight, but i'm really enjoying the game so far! the art style is fun and lively, setting is great, and all the characters so far feel refreshing and unique :)
funnily enough, this has actually became my new comfort game, due to mother 3 getting old after you've played it 150 times (this is not an exaggeration), and omori being depressing if you do the Hikikomori route, which i did last due to me knowing how fucked up it is, so this is really the only rpg that i havent done everything yet, that i can actively play without
A: fucking myself up mentally for 30 hours
B: wasting 30 hours for the 151st time.
so yeah, thanks for making this game and being wonderful in general!
Wow, that's a huge compliment, those games are all amazing! :DDD So glad you enjoy this one that much! ^_^ I hear you about the replaying, I love Mother 3 as well but you can only play it so many times, tho I haven't played it quite that many yet XD
trust me, about 70 of those times were me doing a randomizer or challenge run, there is no way i can play default mother 3 150 times without me losing my sanity, also, i found out that someone created a tvtropes page for this, so thats pretty cool
Haha Mother 3 randomizer sounds like fun, I should check that out! And yeah, I saw the TV Tropes page, I was really surprised!!! :DDD It's really amazing :D
i could give you the link to the mother 3 randomizer, since its very hard to find on your own and you'd have to go through the starmen.net forums, which is both depressing due to nostalgia and hard because the website is shittily designed
Excellent choice of soundtrack *chefs kiss*. I mixed a 45 minute mashup of all of the battle tracks and uploaded it to youtube! I then realized on replay that The Verge was actually slown 25% in-game oops gotta do the mix over again lmao. Yooo I'm about to release my own rpg project this month; got any advice for getting anyone to know about it? I figured I would just do a YT trailer. Thx!
Thanks so much! I'd love to hear that mashup when you get it uploaded! :D
Unfortunately marketing and getting seen is not my strong suit. I think a video trailer will really help, but all the success I've had is just putting things out for years and having people spread word of mouth, so I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of advice there XD;;;
Incredible game. Just finished the full thing, with my final save clocking in at about 23 and a half hours. I hadn't the remotest idea it would be any considerable length at all when I downloaded it for free, let alone as long as a triple A game.
In terms of review I have quite a bit to say. I selected normal difficulty at the start, then promptly forgot I was given a choice, and spent most of the game thinking it was too easy. However even on normal I found Hell to be quite a challenge, and an enjoyable one at that. I'll likely revisit this game eventually and replay it on a higher difficulty; it deserves that. I beat Cephiti but absolutely could not beat the other boss in the area, so the balancing there might be a bit off, as you said Cephiti wasn't even meant to be beaten at all.
I love the writing in this game. You have a definite voice and it permeates the entire thing. Initially I wasn't a fan of how prominent it was causing it to affect the tone (though I didn't hold it against you, that tends to happen with indie games) but by the end it had fully won me over and I think the game overall is better for it. I do think the lighthearted and parodical tone of the game led to some of the big emotional beats, climactic moments, and plot twists feeling a bit more hollow than was probably intended, but honestly just playing around with the sounds, music, and pacing of those moments could probably fix every problem in that area. I'm also not a big fan of mysteries where the answer is "whatever you think the answer was" like some of the stuff in the ending looks to be, but the game was very good regardless. I hope Ellicide (I think that's the daughter's name?) returns in something in the future, since as far as I can surmise all Makyo-related content is non-canon. I'm not sure if all the meta talk and timeline reset is diegetic (my brain is poisoned from Undertale) or just a fun framing device to work Makyo in, but if it is diegetic I find it very compelling. Especially whoever it was asking me if I was satisfied with the game.
Oh, and the translation machine can go pound sand! I figured out both the codes on my own to the point that I could pretty reliably read any weird message I found. To be fair it usually took me a while to translate it out in my head, but I got to the point with one of them that some sentences I was reading like plain text. I think you should put some one-off dialogue in somewhere that's a mix of both codes just to throw any others like me for a loop. (This might not be possible, or it might already exist and I missed it.)
Anyway, lot of rambling to say amazing game and I'm definitely going to play more of your catalogue eventually.
Thanks very much for the kind words and for all of the feedback! :DDDD
As for the writing in the game, I'm very much an amateur and still have a ton to learn, and I owe so much to my cowriter and editor Sooz, who took a lot of my dialog and made it 100% more readable and snappier. Tone is hard to nail down and this whole game was an experiment in contrasts, so I understand that it's pretty rough, but I'm very glad it gelled with you in the end!
*SPOILERS below for anyone who hasn't beaten the game yet, but...*
As for the post game ending stuff, perhaps I explained it badly in a previous post. Rather than "whatever you think the answer was," I feel like the mystery of what's going on is more compelling than a straight answer. The Outer Evocations now have a brand new dimension as their playground and that may or may not be such a good thing, cosmologically or otherwise. I feel like going into any details beyond that defeats the purpose. Not to mention that keeping it vague leaves open doors if I do sequels or spinoffs. Perhaps it's not satisfying to have the ultimate future of what the Outers will do absent in-game and perhaps that's a mistake on my part, but that's ultimately what I came up with for the ending.
As for the diegetic and meta talk, the person who asks you if you are satisfied is very much a character in the narrative, someone who finds the temptation of exploring more of the forbidden infernal regions too tempting to leave alone. Did the rewind actually happen in the narrative? I doubt any of the characters would make that choice, but they weren't the ones being asked. As you said, I don't consider anything from Makyo to be canon within the ending going forward (as it could conflict with possible sequel ideas) but I still agree that exploring more of the Firstborn Child in some other game could be a lot of fun, I'll definitely keep that in mind :D
Congrats on the pro translating! The organic translation machine exists because, when I released a version of the game with about half the content (up to the end of the school) I noticed no one had been attempting to translate the ciphers. On top of that, a few people had requested a way to do it automatically, so the organic machine was put in there for them. Since then, however, I've been delighted to see a small handful of people take up the ciphering quest and mastering it. That was super fulfilling! You have my respect for that as well! And yeah, it would have been fun to combine the languages to really throw people for a loop, but I didn't think of it XD;
Thanks again for all of your comments and I'm so happy you liked the game! :DDD
I see where you're coming from with the story, I like the mystery of it. It also did seem from that last cut off line of dialogue that there was a very real answer that was just being left off as a sequel hook. I'm not personally a fan of stuff where the meaning behind an action or a metaphor is entirely up to interpretation, because then it just seems like it was put in without any actual meaning. A mystery as the intended meaning, though, is far more preferable to me.
Very cool to know I wasn't just speculating wildly about the mystery character. And yeah, I figured Makyo wasn't canon because the way Zlonyth interacts with the party very heavily conveys it, as well as the decisions and power scaling of the firstborn being pretty inconsistent (one ending she rises and immediately destroys the matriarch and then the earth in seconds, the other ending she rises and fuses with the matriarch to gain a form that is able to be defeated by the party regularly?) so it's pretty clear that it only exists because the environment and extra battles are cool.
It was really fun translating, though like I said I never quite got to mastering the language, I usually had to re-decode it based on what was implied by the letters I already had memorized. One of the main reasons I started is because I didn't actually know there would be a translation machine later to help me out, so it not being originally intended makes sense.
Hi, I've been loving this game and am currently going through my second playthrough at a harder difficulty. I was wondering if there was a way to be deemed "worthy" by the npcs inside the hidden sewers?
Ah, sorry about that, there's no way to get in there, I just had them say that in an effort to imply there was more to the sewer than what you were able to explore. I'll make that clearer in the text.
I wanted to say that I absolutely loved how vast and unique this game is. I was surprised at how big this game is, there are so many layers from finding each of the party members, to the vastly different settings. IT's great!
(SPOILERS)
I do have a question on the "bonus fight" in NeoVinclum. I cannot for the life of me defeat these three, am I missing an item or something? Still looking for the invisible guy ;) Love the references too
I may have gone overboard on that bonus fight, it's extremely rough. I may tone it down a little. The only reward for it is an accessory, so you're not missing much.
As for the invisible guy, he's very well hidden XD
Wait a second! Are there 2 invisible guys? One where you first encounter NeoVinclum earlier in the game, and then is there another guy hidden in the Neo Vinclum in Makyo?
I saw the third ending, too. What is the meaning of the scene where you die at the bottom? And spiders are definitely that person, right?.... Thank you so much for making a fun game.
I'm going to avoid discussing the endings, as I feel like it's a lot more fun to let people discuss their own theories rather than spell everything out, so all I'll say is that the thing at the bottom of Makyo is very very bad XD
Hi. I think the game is awesome so far. I've collected the right and left pieces of the triangle, but I'm not sure where I need to take them. I'm at the point where I can proceed to Daybreak, but I don't know if going there will lock me out my chance to use them
First off, congrats on finding both pieces! They're probably the most hidden secret in the game :DDD
They aren't used until the post-game in the bonus hell dungeon, so feel free to go ahead and proceed to Daybreak. And don't worry, going there won't lock you out of anything ^_^
Thank you!! I've been playing these types of games since SNES, so I tend to trace all the walls looking for secrets so it wasn't too bad except for the trial and error in the mine.
Have you considered releasing on Steam? I think people would pay for this game.
Start a new game. You will see the camera pan up to Dottie's house. During this time, press or hold Q. This will open the secret password menu. From here, input the password you get from beating the game.
I'm playing this now, only about 5 hours in, but I absolutely love it and I can't wait to see where the rest of the story goes and how I meet the new party members! Confession: I have a big crush on Elothu. Need more well-spoken creepy god gentlemen in video games. 11/10 highly recommend everyone acquires a companion like Elothu. Also bug report: You can stand on a table upstairs in Dottie's house.
I'm enjoying it a lot! I'm using a notepad to write down notes and the code for the alien language. The combat is fun and exploration feels very rewarding! I just got to the creepy diary section last night and it really felt like a descent into insanity.
After I finished Luxaren Allure, I started playing this and I'm so glad I did! It ended up being one of my favorite games ever and I'm really happy that it exists. <3 Thank you for making it! The characters, art, music, etc. are all amazing!
So, uh, I am a fucking idiot so i cant find the Key of Regret and the Princess Zone Triangle, so, im sorry for asking this, but can i atleast have a pointer to where those 2 are at? I am sorry for the trouble, so uh, Here's a Sprite Group of Jeff, i guess.
Don't feel bad, these are about the most hidden and hard to find items in the game.
The princess zone's triangle is in a secret area. In the top left corner of the zone (the hall that connects to the princess' cell), you'll see a pillar at the left portion of the hall. Behind that pillar leads to the secret area, though you'll need the Blue Face item to enter.
To get the Key of Regret, you need the Princess Heart, which is hidden in the Mind Mines. Bring the heart and offer it to the Princess and you'll get the Key of Regret.
If you need help getting the Princess Heart or Blue Face, let me know.
When you start the mine mini-game, choose the grey door on the upper left. Continue north thru a door. Then take the door on the right. Then take the door on the left. If you continue on this path, you'll get to an area with a glowing red outline.
The red-outline-area connects to a bunch of dead-end rooms, and one of them has the heart. You'll know you've found the right room if you find a chamber with grey mine floor and an item in the center in something that resembles a mine-cart.
Blue Face:
In the Forest (Flower) Zone, in the tree stump just south of the statue room, is a coffin that requires 2 bones to open. The first bone is located on the very second screen from Uratheul's original entrance. The second bone is in a safe in the Snake Zone.
Random Bug: sometimes a safe's last number will start as 1, this just happens randomly and is very rare, but doesnt effect gameplay, its just very funny for no reason. Also would be funny and extremely unbalanced if the Randomnomicon randomized everyone's skillset, so we can finally see Alicia have Pale Luna and Miriam have Batting Stance
Hey all! My hardrive died and I lost my saves. Would someone be willing to share the language code and how to activate it at the beginning? Not super keen on the idea of doing another playthrough, so I can do another playthrough.
Thanks so much! I have it written down again ( I will NOT lose it this time), so if you want to delete your comment to keep it a surprise for new players, I have it.
First off, really had fun, great game and even finished the special final dungeon.
Having major combat options rely on pickups dispersed throughout the game is not comfortable as a player. With Miriam, I underused the items early, then overused them late. The concept that you were aiming for was probably a feeling of scarcity, but as players we won't know how you as a developer are going to distribute them. Something like having a maximum clip size, but more common bullet drops from enemies might given a more smooth experience. I'm griping, butI really enjoyed the combat, this was just something that bugged me enough to want to bring it up with the dev.
Again, wonderful game and thanks to you and all who helped. Hope you and the team find lots of success (and can get a steam release someday!)
That's a very good point. I was really aiming for things to feel scarce, but I can completely understand your frustrations here. In the future, I'll be sure to avoid design decisions like this, as battles are more fun when you don't have to guess how many drops you're going to get in the future. It also can cause the "elixirs are too rare, never use them" problem with some players where they just don't engage with consumables at all because they feel compelled to horde them, which is just reinforced when you don't know when they are going to drop.
Thanks for playing the game (and the bonus dungeon, super cool :DDD) and for the feedback, and glad you enjoyed it overall ^_^
Not just 'enjoyed it overall', I loved the game. Best RPG I've played in a long time and I finished it in marathon sessions over a few days. The feedback was only because I thought I knew what you were attempting, and I felt like it was really close to achieving that so I wanted to weigh in. Don't reply to this!
First, play this game if you haven’t already. It’s great!
Second, I am stupidly attracted to Elothu and I am not ashamed to admit it. He’s hot. It had to said and it was said.
Third, Farudon is so adorable!
Now, that that’s been said, I have to admit I was feeling neither Alicia nor Miriam, to be honest. So, I was super excited when Lamar joined the team. And Dottie is adorable, too. I’m glad to see a child character written as an actual child—not obnoxiously precocious, just an adorable little girl.
By the time I got to the memory sparks, I liked them all well enough—don’t feel the “I’d die for you” feel like with Luxaren Allure, though, except for the Outer Evocations (yes, they’re using me; no, I don’t care, haha), Lamar, and Dottie.
Lamar is also hot, by the way. Not sorry, either. Had to be said.
(spoilers below!)
I wasn’t expecting Vi and Erick to die. I’m glad this game doesn’t play around. Nobody is safe. It’s weird because it made me sad when they were revived as zombies more than when they were actually killed—likely because they were there-but-not-really-there.
Fighting Amethyst pulled on my heartstrings HARD. And now that I think about it… I didn’t check if there was an escape option that could’ve triggered a different resolution. OH GOD I COULD’VE NOT KILLED AMETHYST?!
I knew something was off with Sadie, but I thought she was going to be a surprise party member eventually, not the big bad. Colour me shocked.
If I had to nitpick I’d say the Snake Zone got a bit tedious after I defeated the Inner Evocations and was trying to just uncover the secrets and the little things that I’d missed the first time around. Maybe a third level of “don’t bother me” after the bar turns yellow would be a nice addition. A blue bar of really, really infrequent encounters after one has defeated a certain number of enemies or has a certain number of successful fights, at least on that level? I didn’t run away from any fight, by the way, and I feel stupidly proud of that fact, haha.
This is a first time, actually, but I’d love it if this game had an official guide. Not that I didn’t like the game—I love it—but I’d rather not have to play it all over again for the different endings or the things I’ve missed and I must absolutely, definitely see because I love this game’s lore and will not stop till I know everything.
I don’t even know which ending I got, to be honest, haha. The first time I got the “Daybreak gone, but you survived” ending, which I thought was cute and is probably the normal/standard ending. I was satisfied with that ending, honestly, but because I knew there were things that I hadn’t done the completionist bug bit me and I had to go again.
Makyo feels like a bit of a drag, though. I don’t know if it’s because I’d already “finished” the game and was happy with the ending I got or because the enemy-encounter bar isn’t my favourite, but finishing it felt like a chore. And the ending is a bit underwhelming, considering the nice boss fight before it and the lore with the primordial child.
But, again, I’m just nitpicking. This was a joy to play and I cannot believe it was free.
If I have to ask a question it'd be: what happened to the cultist the team leaves alive and is seen still alive in the endings where some people survive? She was shady as fuck, but I'm kind of curious about her.
FYI: I didn’t find the second Primordial Bone or the Makyo Triangles. I am most likely missing at least two endings and so much lore. I failed OTL
To answer some things, I did a lot of experimental stuff in this game, not all of it were the best ideas in hindsight, though most of them have gone over alright regardless.
For example, Makyo was made in response to a small but loud group of players who complain that my games are too easy, even on the hardest difficulty. I tried to make it very clear that it was for challenge only, with an NPC saying there's nothing good down there and a lot of "hey, this is a bad idea" warnings, but I suppose that's really not going to deter people who want answers and/or more lore.
I also put a lot of secrets in the game, mainly to see if anyone would be able to find them, but have been pretty open to just telling people how to get them if they ask, you can find the location of the bones and the triangles in responses to other players pretty easily on this page.
As for endings, I've never been huge on offering multiple ones. The first ending you get is *the* ending as far as I'm concerned. The "ending" for Makyo is more of a joke game-over, and there's technically a second ending if you go back and beat the game after completing Makyo, but it's a tiny tiny addition that I consider more of a "fun" bonus and don't consider canon.
In future games, I think I'll make any post-game content more meaningful to all players, rather than just a big challenge. Making these games is always a learning experience.
Regarding one characters' death, you cannot change that. It will happen even if you try to stall it.
Thanks again for playing and sharing your thoughts :DDDDD My next big project will probably be something more like Luxaren Allure was.
Pssha! The game was awesome. As I said, those were nitpicks. I am exceedingly pleased to see how well you take constructive criticism, though. My respect for you as a developer is shattering the fucking roof, haha.
WRT the game's difficulty: I just finished the third ending, with the primordial daughter possessing the mother’s body, and it was the toughest boss battle in the whole game. So, I was not disappointed. The game definitely offers a challenge to those looking to unveil lore secrets or find the hardest fights. Will try to find the triangles and the bones and all those little deets I might've missed at some point. This is one of those games I can see myself revisiting.
It's funny because I don't know if I can honestly tell you I'm a fan of multiple endings. I've played games that have them and have enjoyed them—the Silent Hill series comes to mind—but I think it depends on whether the game is intriguing/fun enough to play, because that's what would make me want to go back and try for the other endings in the first place.
When you say "more like Luxaren Allure" you mean the genre? I'd be kind of disappointed if that's the case, haha, though I'd still play it, of course. I am actually not a fan of the fantasy genre and only played LA due to the sapphic/gay/LGBT content. The whole existential horror/reclaiming Lovecraftian from Lovecraft's grimy racist homophobic hands genre is more my thing, and you excelled at it.
Anyway, thanks for TWO amazing games, and for the lovely replies. Wishing you the best in your career as a game developer!
Hello, it's been a while since I checked and finished an rpg maker game. I enjoyed every second of this (maybe except on some parts I got stuck for a while).
The thing is the art style and music choice for battles and maps caught my interest and after checking the comments you were actually inspired by earthbound (I only know the meme audio used for exe. videos lmao).
Amazing experience overall, I might've missed some content (before I was stuck searching the key of regret, left and right triangle pieces, and the area to use the blue face) if I missed the thread here.
I wish the lore itself and for extra characters were more complete and specific with no open endings unless you are planning to make a sequel. To be exact there are three endings I encountered and while having questions left unanswered is also interesting, I prefer my curiosity satiated.
Special mention for Cephiti. Goosebumps all over, that woman was DANGER itself even the door before her room has a warning. Poor girl though, still alone.
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#SPOILERS #MAKYO #NEOVINCLUM #QUESTIONSFORUNITY
I got goosebumps after finishing the third ending. Okay to start things off, after unlocking makyo and burning the agares seal pots with infernal horns to ashes except the last seal, Progress Nautilius, Daybreak is saved.
Though unlike the first ending, the Observer Zlonyth's purpose for Vi and Erick as personal "assistants" and goal after casting a mysterious spell coated in blue made me ponder as to why he seems on cloud nine at the time.
After that, the interaction between four outer evocations (Elothu, Farudon, Ginyagu, Isanir) made me wonder why Farudon was the only one who didn't genuinely know what to rejoice about after asking Elothu as they float on space. Elothu's answer to Farudon's confusion is such a well done cliffhanger and will be the one to decide whether these three are benevolent.
As for first ending readers(assuming some of you got intrigued) this comes along with a surprise in this ending, they are accompanied by the firstborn child of Xelanyel(name not mentioned) after breaking the last seal on her own and possessing Xelanyel on her final form.
Though her line in this ending might be somehow relaxed, in the second ending where the main characters broke the last seal, the firstborn child of Xelanyel was shown to be as someone who seeks destruction, vengeance, and she even obliterated earth while laughing maniacally on her own out in space.
Now it left me these questions,
The firstborn child could possibly be the next evocation villain? or will there be more twists?
The firstborn child seems acquainted with the outer evocations?
Why did the outer evocations not use all of their reasoning and control over the main characters to absolutely stop them from breaking all the seals of Makyo?
What is the true agenda of the outer evocations and the observer?
Is the Anima Eater(The one that consumed amethyst) some kind of natural parasitic evocation or an artificial one made by the inner evocations?
I didn't encounter the invisible guy in any area yet. Is he an important piece to the story?
If sequel comes, will Cephiti get a redemption arc and possibly be a key connector to some mysteries still unsolved?
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Unity, thank you for creating this game. This might've been too long, but I hope this shows how much I got invested in your work. Props to you! I would love for a sequel to come.
P.S. I was hoping I could save the assumed second child of Xelanyel(Princess) but she wanted to be left to her fate just like her mother. Yes, I do simp for reasonable fine angelic alien women.
Thanks so much for the detailed comment, and I'm so glad you loved the game! :DDD
I'm not going to answer too many questions, as I feel like it's a lot more fun to let people discuss their own theories rather than spell everything out, and I do have loose ideas for a possible sequel and/or maybe a side-game, but those are very much in a "if they happen, they happen, but it probably won't be really soon" state, as I have other games I want to make, too!
Again, I'm going to pass on answering most of the questions, but I'll answer a few:
"I didn't encounter the invisible guy in any area yet. Is he an important piece to the story?"
He is completely an easter egg. He has no importance to the story and is more of a "wonder if anyone will find him" secret.
"Is the Anima Eater(The one that consumed amethyst) some kind of natural parasitic evocation or an artificial one made by the inner evocations? If sequel comes, will Cephiti get a redemption arc and possibly be a key connector to some mysteries still unsolved? "
I have ideas about possibly working Cephiti and maybe even Anima Eater into future games, so maybe there'll be a chance to learn more in the future :D
And yes, unfortunately you have to leave "the princess" to her fate.
Thanks again for getting so into this game and the detailed post! :DDDD
Hi, I wanted to report a possible bug and post three spoilery questions:
First, my compliments to the game. Everything, I think, was extremely well done (I especially had a lot of fun with the cipher). If there's any flaw, I think it is that the enemies get a bit too bulky HP-wise toward the end.
Now, the possible bug I found by digging around to see if there was something I missed:
There's a certain invisible being in a certain area. They give you a choice of rewards. If you say no to them, they do not add 4 to the Magic Number like taking a reward does. I mean, you DID find them, so I presume it should add to the number, no?
Finally, the three questions, all spoilery:
Is the invisible person somewhere else, like in Neo Vinclum?
There's a bit of dialogue... somewhere I can't remember referring to the Goddess Lumera or Lunera, saying they are not all-powerful. Nowhere else is this goddess mentioned if I remember. I am wondering if this was maybe some early name of Xelanyel that didn't get changed in the dialogue.
I seem to have found everything except one thing and it is driving me mad: is the enemy named Cephiti fightable? I would like to beat it up because it looks cool and for the life of me I cannot find them.
Wonderful game, again. Thank you for the experience! The secret final boss was an extremely dirty trick you pulled and I appreciated it very much. And I don't mean the snail.
Thanks very much! That IS in fact a bug, good catch! :DDD I'll get that fixed!
The invisible being is in fact in Neo Vinclum. He's not easy to find. I don't know if anyone's ever found him.
As for Goddess Lumera, that was a reference to another game I was working on at the time (I like cross-promotional hidden stuff like that XD) but given that that game's production never got far before getting put on hiatus, I may change that dialog. It's not very fitting right now.
Cephiti is fightable but not made to be beaten, more as an easter egg (tho some dedicated people have beaten her). As a blatant homage to a game about dreams, there is a lightbulb you can turn on and off in Neo Vinclum. If you turn the lights off and on repeatedly, there is a chance _something_ will happen (you don't have to leave the room to reset either, but the chance is still very low).
Thanks again for getting so involved in finding all these secrets, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the game! :DDD
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I've been thinking about how large daybreak really is, at first I thought of it as a town, however daybreak uptown is quite developed and dense, so I think it might be a small city of around 100000 inhabitants
Played this already through the other channels. I bet you can guess who I am! Just came to share my laughter at the facepalming Alicia in the cover image! So unexpected! Hehe!
Oh gosh, I absolutely loved this! A perfect mix of spookiness and quirkiness. Loved the characters, story, mechanics, everything. c:
Thank you so much for not only making this but also releasing it for free! Like I honestly still kinda can't believe this game is free, wow.
One thing I would have changed in the game is the name of Lamar's Barrier skills:
Instead of Terror Barrier: Courage/Bravery Barrier
Instead of Rage Barrier: Peace/Tranquility/Calm/Serenity Barrier
Instead of Sorrow Barrier: Happyness/Joy/Delight Barrier
Even if this might seem a bit too positive for the game, it makes sense using the opposite positive emotion to protect from psychic attacks that channel negative emotion.
song choices are well done, gameplay was great, writing was shaky at times but the overarching story was pretty nice, and the art... uh... i can't hate it, but i can't love it. didn't waste my time, came back for nightmare mode (it was either extremely unfun or extremely fun), should have chosen bad dream
PS: nerf nightmare mode clayton
The Mortis Bat wouldn't happen to be a reference to OFF, would it? Considering it's the "Bat of Purification" and the developer is Mortis Ghost. As a fan of it as well as W&U, I have to respectfully nod to your good taste in RPGMaker games. It'd be funny if the battle music changed to "Pepper Steak" if Alicia equips it, though I'm sure it sadly wouldn't be possible.
Yeah, you're completely right, it's an OFF reference, I love OFF! :DDD
haha, it would have been great to have Pepper Steak in the game, that song rules, but yeah I'd have to ask the original composer and I wouldn't really feel right using it in a completely different game
Does anyone know how to find the four digit safe code inside City Hall? North of the lounge and kitchen?
There’s hints all throughout the City Hall that tell you the numbers you need for the safe code and in what order. Make sure to visit every room to search for numbers on walls and such.
Thank you so much!
I find the monsters on this game fascinating, I think for a sequel making a playable monster of every type would be awesome (maybe even a delegate that can shapeshift), any way I can take a look at the stats and skills of the monsters?
Oooh thanks, that's a very cool idea! As for the stats and skills, unfortunately I haven't got them on any sort of spreadsheet or anything, so I don't have an easy way to do that.
Thanks!
Where is the fool that leads to sprite pond?
In City Hall past the room where you have to place objects to progress through a white room, take the path to the left where you can find a semi-hidden door. Pass through the door and through a dark hall and find the mayor's hidden room (you'll have to fight a miniboss). After visiting the hidden room, head back into the dark hall, the Fool will now be in that hall.
Works great on steam deck! Seasonal reminder that you are awesome.
;_; Thanks so much! Great to know that it works on Steam Deck, that's awesome! ^_^
this game and its writing absolutely fucked me up. really enjoyed it! 1000/10
Thanks so much!!! :DDD I owe a lot of it to Sooz, my cowriter, who really made the characters come to life!
man i love this game! i'm on my 4th playthrough and it makes me just as happy as the first time!
Wow, that's awesome! :DDD Thanks so much for putting so much time into it!
Hi, I'm sorry to nag, but wanted to let you know that the updates for this game don't play well with the Itch client. Since each folder is named differently, the client creates a new installation folder every time it updates the game. This means that it gets confused when launching the game since there are multiple executables installed. The user needs to delete the old version(s) manually; otherwise it's not clear which executable to choose when running from the app (see screenshots below). If you would prefer not to use Butler, I believe that keeping the compressed folder name the same between versions would prevent this.
I know this is pretty late notice for this game, but hopefully it will help going forward. I'm really enjoying the game and will post some thoughts once I finish it.
Thanks very much for bringing this to my attention! I had no idea this was happening, I'm sorry for the issues this has caused! If I'm understanding correctly, if I name new versions the same as the last update, it'll be fine for the Itch client?
Thanks very much, again, for bringing this to my attention!
I'm not positive, but I think that the name of the .zip file doesn't matter, and that this is happening because the .zip contains a folder at the top level. In each version, the folder is named differently, so when the client goes to install the contents of the .zip, it thinks that the folder is something brand-new and installs it alongside the existing ones. So, I think that if you either keep the folder names inside the .zip the same for each release (e.g. just "Weird and Unfortunate"), or if you just zip all the files directly instead of zipping a folder, then Itch will understand that the new version should go on top of the old one.
Ah, I see! I'll try that next time, thanks very much :D
Close to the end of my playthrough, and all I'm missing is one of the fools in the final dungeon. I found the one in the Princess area, anyone wanna drop some knowledge on me and let me know which area the other one is in?
It's in the Forest area :D
Ouch, really? That was the one place I was confident in crossing off :D
Thanks
Decided to go back to this game, give it the ol' replay again. It's got a great way of sticking with you, between the mechanics, soundtrack, characters, art, and writing.
Thank you, unity, for making such a fun and engaging game!
You're welcome, and thanks! I'm really happy it's good enough to come back to! :DDD
I'm having an odd issue with my current run. Windows died on me, and I had to switch to Linux (I know). Odd thing is, this game spikes my cpu temp up to 95 degrees within half an hour of booting it up. But my cpu usage never goes above 20%.I play windows game through Lutris, and I've never had this happen before. Any Linux players out there who might be able to help?
*EDIT*
I might have found a workaround for now. By lowering the game's priority, I can limit the heat spike a bit. Its still getting up to 80-82 degrees, but at least its not 95+. Still far more than this game should be taking, but at least its more playable now.
I'm sorry that I can't be of much help, as I'm not a programmer and RPG Maker has never been designed to prioritize performance (it really should run smoother in a lot of areas -_-)
With my luck, its some bizzare software/hardware combo that hates this specific rpgmaker version or something.
just replace your pc's fan with an industrial grade air conditioner, that should fix it
Just finished this after a very intense week. Excellent work! A very well-polished and well-realized game.
Thanks very much! :D Glad it was enjoyable!
so i've only hit the second boss fight, but i'm really enjoying the game so far! the art style is fun and lively, setting is great, and all the characters so far feel refreshing and unique :)
Thanks very much! :DDD Hope you continue to enjoy it ^_^
funnily enough, this has actually became my new comfort game, due to mother 3 getting old after you've played it 150 times (this is not an exaggeration), and omori being depressing if you do the Hikikomori route, which i did last due to me knowing how fucked up it is, so this is really the only rpg that i havent done everything yet, that i can actively play without
A: fucking myself up mentally for 30 hours
B: wasting 30 hours for the 151st time.
so yeah, thanks for making this game and being wonderful in general!
Wow, that's a huge compliment, those games are all amazing! :DDD So glad you enjoy this one that much! ^_^ I hear you about the replaying, I love Mother 3 as well but you can only play it so many times, tho I haven't played it quite that many yet XD
trust me, about 70 of those times were me doing a randomizer or challenge run, there is no way i can play default mother 3 150 times without me losing my sanity, also, i found out that someone created a tvtropes page for this, so thats pretty cool
Haha Mother 3 randomizer sounds like fun, I should check that out! And yeah, I saw the TV Tropes page, I was really surprised!!! :DDD It's really amazing :D
i could give you the link to the mother 3 randomizer, since its very hard to find on your own and you'd have to go through the starmen.net forums, which is both depressing due to nostalgia and hard because the website is shittily designed
Sure, that would be great! :D Thank you!
Excellent choice of soundtrack *chefs kiss*. I mixed a 45 minute mashup of all of the battle tracks and uploaded it to youtube! I then realized on replay that The Verge was actually slown 25% in-game oops gotta do the mix over again lmao. Yooo I'm about to release my own rpg project this month; got any advice for getting anyone to know about it? I figured I would just do a YT trailer. Thx!
Thanks so much! I'd love to hear that mashup when you get it uploaded! :D
Unfortunately marketing and getting seen is not my strong suit. I think a video trailer will really help, but all the success I've had is just putting things out for years and having people spread word of mouth, so I'm afraid I don't have much in the way of advice there XD;;;
Aights no sweat I've got a couple YT subscribers that might be in to some jrpg shenanigans. I've warmed em up to it with this mix!
Also sequenced ProfKliq's Crystals into a stepmania song.Thanks very much, this is really awesome! :DDD
Incredible game. Just finished the full thing, with my final save clocking in at about 23 and a half hours. I hadn't the remotest idea it would be any considerable length at all when I downloaded it for free, let alone as long as a triple A game.
In terms of review I have quite a bit to say. I selected normal difficulty at the start, then promptly forgot I was given a choice, and spent most of the game thinking it was too easy. However even on normal I found Hell to be quite a challenge, and an enjoyable one at that. I'll likely revisit this game eventually and replay it on a higher difficulty; it deserves that. I beat Cephiti but absolutely could not beat the other boss in the area, so the balancing there might be a bit off, as you said Cephiti wasn't even meant to be beaten at all.
I love the writing in this game. You have a definite voice and it permeates the entire thing. Initially I wasn't a fan of how prominent it was causing it to affect the tone (though I didn't hold it against you, that tends to happen with indie games) but by the end it had fully won me over and I think the game overall is better for it. I do think the lighthearted and parodical tone of the game led to some of the big emotional beats, climactic moments, and plot twists feeling a bit more hollow than was probably intended, but honestly just playing around with the sounds, music, and pacing of those moments could probably fix every problem in that area. I'm also not a big fan of mysteries where the answer is "whatever you think the answer was" like some of the stuff in the ending looks to be, but the game was very good regardless. I hope Ellicide (I think that's the daughter's name?) returns in something in the future, since as far as I can surmise all Makyo-related content is non-canon. I'm not sure if all the meta talk and timeline reset is diegetic (my brain is poisoned from Undertale) or just a fun framing device to work Makyo in, but if it is diegetic I find it very compelling. Especially whoever it was asking me if I was satisfied with the game.
Oh, and the translation machine can go pound sand! I figured out both the codes on my own to the point that I could pretty reliably read any weird message I found. To be fair it usually took me a while to translate it out in my head, but I got to the point with one of them that some sentences I was reading like plain text. I think you should put some one-off dialogue in somewhere that's a mix of both codes just to throw any others like me for a loop. (This might not be possible, or it might already exist and I missed it.)
Anyway, lot of rambling to say amazing game and I'm definitely going to play more of your catalogue eventually.
Thanks very much for the kind words and for all of the feedback! :DDDD
As for the writing in the game, I'm very much an amateur and still have a ton to learn, and I owe so much to my cowriter and editor Sooz, who took a lot of my dialog and made it 100% more readable and snappier. Tone is hard to nail down and this whole game was an experiment in contrasts, so I understand that it's pretty rough, but I'm very glad it gelled with you in the end!
*SPOILERS below for anyone who hasn't beaten the game yet, but...*
As for the post game ending stuff, perhaps I explained it badly in a previous post. Rather than "whatever you think the answer was," I feel like the mystery of what's going on is more compelling than a straight answer. The Outer Evocations now have a brand new dimension as their playground and that may or may not be such a good thing, cosmologically or otherwise. I feel like going into any details beyond that defeats the purpose. Not to mention that keeping it vague leaves open doors if I do sequels or spinoffs. Perhaps it's not satisfying to have the ultimate future of what the Outers will do absent in-game and perhaps that's a mistake on my part, but that's ultimately what I came up with for the ending.
As for the diegetic and meta talk, the person who asks you if you are satisfied is very much a character in the narrative, someone who finds the temptation of exploring more of the forbidden infernal regions too tempting to leave alone. Did the rewind actually happen in the narrative? I doubt any of the characters would make that choice, but they weren't the ones being asked. As you said, I don't consider anything from Makyo to be canon within the ending going forward (as it could conflict with possible sequel ideas) but I still agree that exploring more of the Firstborn Child in some other game could be a lot of fun, I'll definitely keep that in mind :D
Congrats on the pro translating! The organic translation machine exists because, when I released a version of the game with about half the content (up to the end of the school) I noticed no one had been attempting to translate the ciphers. On top of that, a few people had requested a way to do it automatically, so the organic machine was put in there for them. Since then, however, I've been delighted to see a small handful of people take up the ciphering quest and mastering it. That was super fulfilling! You have my respect for that as well! And yeah, it would have been fun to combine the languages to really throw people for a loop, but I didn't think of it XD;
Thanks again for all of your comments and I'm so happy you liked the game! :DDD
No problem, and cool!
I see where you're coming from with the story, I like the mystery of it. It also did seem from that last cut off line of dialogue that there was a very real answer that was just being left off as a sequel hook. I'm not personally a fan of stuff where the meaning behind an action or a metaphor is entirely up to interpretation, because then it just seems like it was put in without any actual meaning. A mystery as the intended meaning, though, is far more preferable to me.
Very cool to know I wasn't just speculating wildly about the mystery character. And yeah, I figured Makyo wasn't canon because the way Zlonyth interacts with the party very heavily conveys it, as well as the decisions and power scaling of the firstborn being pretty inconsistent (one ending she rises and immediately destroys the matriarch and then the earth in seconds, the other ending she rises and fuses with the matriarch to gain a form that is able to be defeated by the party regularly?) so it's pretty clear that it only exists because the environment and extra battles are cool.
It was really fun translating, though like I said I never quite got to mastering the language, I usually had to re-decode it based on what was implied by the letters I already had memorized. One of the main reasons I started is because I didn't actually know there would be a translation machine later to help me out, so it not being originally intended makes sense.
Finally got around to playing this. Figured I'd stream it for posterity and for recording purposes. It's been a blast so far.
Oh, wonderful! :D I'm really glad you're enjoying it and thanks for streaming the game! :DDD
This is fantastic.
Thanks! :D
Hi, I've been loving this game and am currently going through my second playthrough at a harder difficulty. I was wondering if there was a way to be deemed "worthy" by the npcs inside the hidden sewers?
Ah, sorry about that, there's no way to get in there, I just had them say that in an effort to imply there was more to the sewer than what you were able to explore. I'll make that clearer in the text.
So glad you're enjoying the game so much :D
Ah okay, thank you! And this is definitely one of my favorite games I've played in a long time.
Hello!
I wanted to say that I absolutely loved how vast and unique this game is. I was surprised at how big this game is, there are so many layers from finding each of the party members, to the vastly different settings. IT's great!
(SPOILERS)
I do have a question on the "bonus fight" in NeoVinclum. I cannot for the life of me defeat these three, am I missing an item or something? Still looking for the invisible guy ;) Love the references too
Great game and great work!
Thanks so much! :DDD
I may have gone overboard on that bonus fight, it's extremely rough. I may tone it down a little. The only reward for it is an accessory, so you're not missing much.
As for the invisible guy, he's very well hidden XD
Thanks again for playing!
(Spoilers)
Wait a second! Are there 2 invisible guys? One where you first encounter NeoVinclum earlier in the game, and then is there another guy hidden in the Neo Vinclum in Makyo?
Yes, the invisible guy shows up both when you first visit Vinclum and also again in Neo Vinclum in Makyo :D
I also solved the triangle's secret, watched the regular ending, and the hell ending. How do you watch the 3rd ending?
If you've been to the bottom of Makyo, and then go back and beat the game again, there is a slightly altered ending
Thank you.
(Spoiler)
I saw the third ending, too. What is the meaning of the scene where you die at the bottom? And spiders are definitely that person, right?.... Thank you so much for making a fun game.
You're very welcome! :D
I'm going to avoid discussing the endings, as I feel like it's a lot more fun to let people discuss their own theories rather than spell everything out, so all I'll say is that the thing at the bottom of Makyo is very very bad XD
Nice typo; v116 unplayable!
"But the bigger and badder monsters might resist Dread, reducing the changes it can be applied to them." That should probably be 'chances'.
This game is godlike. It has encouraged me to finish an rm2k project. I'm on my 2nd playthrough, this time feeding Miriam every stat up and obol.
I feel dumb asking, but do you remember where in-game that text is? I'm having trouble finding it XD
Thanks for letting me know, no matter how many typos I fix, there are always more.
So glad you're enjoying the game so much, and best of luck with your own game!
Yeah, I know the feeling! Turns out I was bad at spelling 20 years ago and didn't care to fix a lot of it 10 years ago.
Here's a screenshot of the bug you're looking for, a bit before Dott's place:
Perfect, thank you! :D
Hi. I think the game is awesome so far. I've collected the right and left pieces of the triangle, but I'm not sure where I need to take them. I'm at the point where I can proceed to Daybreak, but I don't know if going there will lock me out my chance to use them
First off, congrats on finding both pieces! They're probably the most hidden secret in the game :DDD
They aren't used until the post-game in the bonus hell dungeon, so feel free to go ahead and proceed to Daybreak. And don't worry, going there won't lock you out of anything ^_^
Thank you!! I've been playing these types of games since SNES, so I tend to trace all the walls looking for secrets so it wasn't too bad except for the trial and error in the mine.
Have you considered releasing on Steam? I think people would pay for this game.
Haha I went overboard on the mines, they are way huge XD
And yeah, I'll consider Steam for the future. Thanks! :D
Hello. How can I see this word in automatic translation from the beginning?
Start a new game. You will see the camera pan up to Dottie's house. During this time, press or hold Q. This will open the secret password menu. From here, input the password you get from beating the game.
I'm playing this now, only about 5 hours in, but I absolutely love it and I can't wait to see where the rest of the story goes and how I meet the new party members!
Confession: I have a big crush on Elothu. Need more well-spoken creepy god gentlemen in video games. 11/10 highly recommend everyone acquires a companion like Elothu.
Also bug report: You can stand on a table upstairs in Dottie's house.
Thanks very much, and you aren't the first to have a crush on Elothu :DDD I'll get that bug fixed too, hope you continue to enjoy the game ^_^
I'm enjoying it a lot! I'm using a notepad to write down notes and the code for the alien language. The combat is fun and exploration feels very rewarding! I just got to the creepy diary section last night and it really felt like a descent into insanity.
After I finished Luxaren Allure, I started playing this and I'm so glad I did! It ended up being one of my favorite games ever and I'm really happy that it exists. <3 Thank you for making it! The characters, art, music, etc. are all amazing!
Thanks so much for playing, I'm so glad you found this game and enjoyed it so much! :DDD
So, uh, I am a fucking idiot so i cant find the Key of Regret and the Princess Zone Triangle, so, im sorry for asking this, but can i atleast have a pointer to where those 2 are at? I am sorry for the trouble, so uh, Here's a Sprite Group of Jeff, i guess.
Don't feel bad, these are about the most hidden and hard to find items in the game.
The princess zone's triangle is in a secret area. In the top left corner of the zone (the hall that connects to the princess' cell), you'll see a pillar at the left portion of the hall. Behind that pillar leads to the secret area, though you'll need the Blue Face item to enter.
To get the Key of Regret, you need the Princess Heart, which is hidden in the Mind Mines. Bring the heart and offer it to the Princess and you'll get the Key of Regret.
If you need help getting the Princess Heart or Blue Face, let me know.
Yeah i need help with those 2, sorry for bothering.
Princess Heart:
When you start the mine mini-game, choose the grey door on the upper left. Continue north thru a door. Then take the door on the right. Then take the door on the left. If you continue on this path, you'll get to an area with a glowing red outline.
The red-outline-area connects to a bunch of dead-end rooms, and one of them has the heart. You'll know you've found the right room if you find a chamber with grey mine floor and an item in the center in something that resembles a mine-cart.
Blue Face:
In the Forest (Flower) Zone, in the tree stump just south of the statue room, is a coffin that requires 2 bones to open. The first bone is located on the very second screen from Uratheul's original entrance. The second bone is in a safe in the Snake Zone.
Random Bug: sometimes a safe's last number will start as 1, this just happens randomly and is very rare, but doesnt effect gameplay, its just very funny for no reason. Also would be funny and extremely unbalanced if the Randomnomicon randomized everyone's skillset, so we can finally see Alicia have Pale Luna and Miriam have Batting Stance
Haha yeah, there are still a few random bugs I'm not sure how to iron out XD
Hey all! My hardrive died and I lost my saves. Would someone be willing to share the language code and how to activate it at the beginning? Not super keen on the idea of doing another playthrough, so I can do another playthrough.
When you start a new game, press or hold Q when you see the screen scrolling up to Dottie's house.
The code is (a secret)
Thanks so much! I have it written down again ( I will NOT lose it this time), so if you want to delete your comment to keep it a surprise for new players, I have it.
Haha, good idea. I've edited it out. Cheers! :D
First off, really had fun, great game and even finished the special final dungeon.
Having major combat options rely on pickups dispersed throughout the game is not comfortable as a player. With Miriam, I underused the items early, then overused them late. The concept that you were aiming for was probably a feeling of scarcity, but as players we won't know how you as a developer are going to distribute them. Something like having a maximum clip size, but more common bullet drops from enemies might given a more smooth experience. I'm griping, butI really enjoyed the combat, this was just something that bugged me enough to want to bring it up with the dev.
Again, wonderful game and thanks to you and all who helped. Hope you and the team find lots of success (and can get a steam release someday!)
That's a very good point. I was really aiming for things to feel scarce, but I can completely understand your frustrations here. In the future, I'll be sure to avoid design decisions like this, as battles are more fun when you don't have to guess how many drops you're going to get in the future. It also can cause the "elixirs are too rare, never use them" problem with some players where they just don't engage with consumables at all because they feel compelled to horde them, which is just reinforced when you don't know when they are going to drop.
Thanks for playing the game (and the bonus dungeon, super cool :DDD) and for the feedback, and glad you enjoyed it overall ^_^
Not just 'enjoyed it overall', I loved the game. Best RPG I've played in a long time and I finished it in marathon sessions over a few days. The feedback was only because I thought I knew what you were attempting, and I felt like it was really close to achieving that so I wanted to weigh in. Don't reply to this!
First, play this game if you haven’t already. It’s great!
Second, I am stupidly attracted to Elothu and I am not ashamed to admit it. He’s hot. It had to said and it was said.
Third, Farudon is so adorable!
Now, that that’s been said, I have to admit I was feeling neither Alicia nor Miriam, to be honest. So, I was super excited when Lamar joined the team. And Dottie is adorable, too. I’m glad to see a child character written as an actual child—not obnoxiously precocious, just an adorable little girl.
By the time I got to the memory sparks, I liked them all well enough—don’t feel the “I’d die for you” feel like with Luxaren Allure, though, except for the Outer Evocations (yes, they’re using me; no, I don’t care, haha), Lamar, and Dottie.
Lamar is also hot, by the way. Not sorry, either. Had to be said.
(spoilers below!)
I wasn’t expecting Vi and Erick to die. I’m glad this game doesn’t play around. Nobody is safe. It’s weird because it made me sad when they were revived as zombies more than when they were actually killed—likely because they were there-but-not-really-there.
Fighting Amethyst pulled on my heartstrings HARD. And now that I think about it… I didn’t check if there was an escape option that could’ve triggered a different resolution. OH GOD I COULD’VE NOT KILLED AMETHYST?!
I knew something was off with Sadie, but I thought she was going to be a surprise party member eventually, not the big bad. Colour me shocked.
If I had to nitpick I’d say the Snake Zone got a bit tedious after I defeated the Inner Evocations and was trying to just uncover the secrets and the little things that I’d missed the first time around. Maybe a third level of “don’t bother me” after the bar turns yellow would be a nice addition. A blue bar of really, really infrequent encounters after one has defeated a certain number of enemies or has a certain number of successful fights, at least on that level? I didn’t run away from any fight, by the way, and I feel stupidly proud of that fact, haha.
This is a first time, actually, but I’d love it if this game had an official guide. Not that I didn’t like the game—I love it—but I’d rather not have to play it all over again for the different endings or the things I’ve missed and I must absolutely, definitely see because I love this game’s lore and will not stop till I know everything.
I don’t even know which ending I got, to be honest, haha. The first time I got the “Daybreak gone, but you survived” ending, which I thought was cute and is probably the normal/standard ending. I was satisfied with that ending, honestly, but because I knew there were things that I hadn’t done the completionist bug bit me and I had to go again.
Makyo feels like a bit of a drag, though. I don’t know if it’s because I’d already “finished” the game and was happy with the ending I got or because the enemy-encounter bar isn’t my favourite, but finishing it felt like a chore. And the ending is a bit underwhelming, considering the nice boss fight before it and the lore with the primordial child.
But, again, I’m just nitpicking. This was a joy to play and I cannot believe it was free.
If I have to ask a question it'd be: what happened to the cultist the team leaves alive and is seen still alive in the endings where some people survive? She was shady as fuck, but I'm kind of curious about her.
FYI: I didn’t find the second Primordial Bone or the Makyo Triangles. I am most likely missing at least two endings and so much lore. I failed OTL
Thanks so much for playing this as well! :DDD
To answer some things, I did a lot of experimental stuff in this game, not all of it were the best ideas in hindsight, though most of them have gone over alright regardless.
For example, Makyo was made in response to a small but loud group of players who complain that my games are too easy, even on the hardest difficulty. I tried to make it very clear that it was for challenge only, with an NPC saying there's nothing good down there and a lot of "hey, this is a bad idea" warnings, but I suppose that's really not going to deter people who want answers and/or more lore.
I also put a lot of secrets in the game, mainly to see if anyone would be able to find them, but have been pretty open to just telling people how to get them if they ask, you can find the location of the bones and the triangles in responses to other players pretty easily on this page.
As for endings, I've never been huge on offering multiple ones. The first ending you get is *the* ending as far as I'm concerned. The "ending" for Makyo is more of a joke game-over, and there's technically a second ending if you go back and beat the game after completing Makyo, but it's a tiny tiny addition that I consider more of a "fun" bonus and don't consider canon.
In future games, I think I'll make any post-game content more meaningful to all players, rather than just a big challenge. Making these games is always a learning experience.
Regarding one characters' death, you cannot change that. It will happen even if you try to stall it.
Thanks again for playing and sharing your thoughts :DDDDD My next big project will probably be something more like Luxaren Allure was.
Pssha! The game was awesome. As I said, those were nitpicks. I am exceedingly pleased to see how well you take constructive criticism, though. My respect for you as a developer is shattering the fucking roof, haha.
WRT the game's difficulty: I just finished the third ending, with the primordial daughter possessing the mother’s body, and it was the toughest boss battle in the whole game. So, I was not disappointed. The game definitely offers a challenge to those looking to unveil lore secrets or find the hardest fights. Will try to find the triangles and the bones and all those little deets I might've missed at some point. This is one of those games I can see myself revisiting.
It's funny because I don't know if I can honestly tell you I'm a fan of multiple endings. I've played games that have them and have enjoyed them—the Silent Hill series comes to mind—but I think it depends on whether the game is intriguing/fun enough to play, because that's what would make me want to go back and try for the other endings in the first place.
When you say "more like Luxaren Allure" you mean the genre? I'd be kind of disappointed if that's the case, haha, though I'd still play it, of course. I am actually not a fan of the fantasy genre and only played LA due to the sapphic/gay/LGBT content. The whole existential horror/reclaiming Lovecraftian from Lovecraft's grimy racist homophobic hands genre is more my thing, and you excelled at it.
Anyway, thanks for TWO amazing games, and for the lovely replies. Wishing you the best in your career as a game developer!
how many secrets are there in the mines?
so far i found the heart.
There's one more. There's a locked door down there in the green cave section. You'll need to trade that heart for a key to get in first, though.
:)
got recomended this game , had no idea you made another game after luxaren allure.
itch.io discovery failure.
Haha, glad you got a chance to check it out :DDD!
Hello, it's been a while since I checked and finished an rpg maker game. I enjoyed every second of this (maybe except on some parts I got stuck for a while).
The thing is the art style and music choice for battles and maps caught my interest and after checking the comments you were actually inspired by earthbound (I only know the meme audio used for exe. videos lmao).
Amazing experience overall, I might've missed some content (before I was stuck searching the key of regret, left and right triangle pieces, and the area to use the blue face) if I missed the thread here.
I wish the lore itself and for extra characters were more complete and specific with no open endings unless you are planning to make a sequel.
To be exact there are three endings I encountered and while having questions left unanswered is also interesting, I prefer my curiosity satiated.
Special mention for Cephiti. Goosebumps all over, that woman was DANGER itself even the door before her room has a warning. Poor girl though, still alone.
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#SPOILERS #MAKYO #NEOVINCLUM #QUESTIONSFORUNITY
I got goosebumps after finishing the third ending.
Okay to start things off, after unlocking makyo and burning the agares seal pots with infernal horns to ashes except the last seal, Progress Nautilius, Daybreak is saved.
Though unlike the first ending, the Observer Zlonyth's purpose for Vi and Erick as personal "assistants" and goal after casting a mysterious spell coated in blue made me ponder as to why he seems on cloud nine at the time.
After that, the interaction between four outer evocations (Elothu, Farudon, Ginyagu, Isanir) made me wonder why Farudon was the only one who didn't genuinely know what to rejoice about after asking Elothu as they float on space. Elothu's answer to Farudon's confusion is such a well done cliffhanger and will be the one to decide whether these three are benevolent.
As for first ending readers(assuming some of you got intrigued) this comes along with a surprise in this ending, they are accompanied by the firstborn child of Xelanyel(name not mentioned) after breaking the last seal on her own and possessing Xelanyel on her final form.
Though her line in this ending might be somehow relaxed, in the second ending where the main characters broke the last seal, the firstborn child of Xelanyel was shown to be as someone who seeks destruction, vengeance, and she even obliterated earth while laughing maniacally on her own out in space.
Now it left me these questions,
The firstborn child could possibly be the next evocation villain?
or will there be more twists?
The firstborn child seems acquainted with the outer evocations?
Why did the outer evocations not use all of their reasoning and control over the main characters to absolutely stop them from breaking all the seals of Makyo?
What is the true agenda of the outer evocations and the observer?
Is the Anima Eater(The one that consumed amethyst) some kind of natural parasitic evocation or an artificial one made by the inner evocations?
I didn't encounter the invisible guy in any area yet. Is he an important piece to the story?
If sequel comes, will Cephiti get a redemption arc and possibly be a key connector to some mysteries still unsolved?
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Unity, thank you for creating this game. This might've been too long, but I hope this shows how much I got invested in your work. Props to you!
I would love for a sequel to come.
P.S. I was hoping I could save the assumed second child of Xelanyel(Princess) but she wanted to be left to her fate just like her mother. Yes, I do simp for reasonable fine angelic alien women.
Thanks so much for the detailed comment, and I'm so glad you loved the game! :DDD
I'm not going to answer too many questions, as I feel like it's a lot more fun to let people discuss their own theories rather than spell everything out, and I do have loose ideas for a possible sequel and/or maybe a side-game, but those are very much in a "if they happen, they happen, but it probably won't be really soon" state, as I have other games I want to make, too!
Again, I'm going to pass on answering most of the questions, but I'll answer a few:
"I didn't encounter the invisible guy in any area yet. Is he an important piece to the story?"
He is completely an easter egg. He has no importance to the story and is more of a "wonder if anyone will find him" secret.
"Is the Anima Eater(The one that consumed amethyst) some kind of natural parasitic evocation or an artificial one made by the inner evocations? If sequel comes, will Cephiti get a redemption arc and possibly be a key connector to some mysteries still unsolved? "
I have ideas about possibly working Cephiti and maybe even Anima Eater into future games, so maybe there'll be a chance to learn more in the future :D
And yes, unfortunately you have to leave "the princess" to her fate.
Thanks again for getting so into this game and the detailed post! :DDDD
Hi, I wanted to report a possible bug and post three spoilery questions:
First, my compliments to the game. Everything, I think, was extremely well done (I especially had a lot of fun with the cipher). If there's any flaw, I think it is that the enemies get a bit too bulky HP-wise toward the end.
Now, the possible bug I found by digging around to see if there was something I missed:
There's a certain invisible being in a certain area. They give you a choice of rewards. If you say no to them, they do not add 4 to the Magic Number like taking a reward does. I mean, you DID find them, so I presume it should add to the number, no?
Finally, the three questions, all spoilery:
Is the invisible person somewhere else, like in Neo Vinclum?
There's a bit of dialogue... somewhere I can't remember referring to the Goddess Lumera or Lunera, saying they are not all-powerful. Nowhere else is this goddess mentioned if I remember. I am wondering if this was maybe some early name of Xelanyel that didn't get changed in the dialogue.
I seem to have found everything except one thing and it is driving me mad: is the enemy named Cephiti fightable? I would like to beat it up because it looks cool and for the life of me I cannot find them.
Wonderful game, again. Thank you for the experience! The secret final boss was an extremely dirty trick you pulled and I appreciated it very much. And I don't mean the snail.
Thanks very much! That IS in fact a bug, good catch! :DDD I'll get that fixed!
The invisible being is in fact in Neo Vinclum. He's not easy to find. I don't know if anyone's ever found him.
As for Goddess Lumera, that was a reference to another game I was working on at the time (I like cross-promotional hidden stuff like that XD) but given that that game's production never got far before getting put on hiatus, I may change that dialog. It's not very fitting right now.
Cephiti is fightable but not made to be beaten, more as an easter egg (tho some dedicated people have beaten her). As a blatant homage to a game about dreams, there is a lightbulb you can turn on and off in Neo Vinclum. If you turn the lights off and on repeatedly, there is a chance _something_ will happen (you don't have to leave the room to reset either, but the chance is still very low).
Thanks again for getting so involved in finding all these secrets, and I'm so glad you enjoyed the game! :DDD