Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

[Ωbright]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

That's good to hear. Shame you're still not gonna have any wandering NPCs in towns (or has that changed). The world seemed empty otherwise. But still, it's always so nice when you find a way to save a large chunk of memory like that. Especially when you're worried about memory constraints.

Thanks!

And no, sadly there was still not enough room for enough NPC's to really make a difference. Even if I only had 1 per town, that's still 7 NPC's...and I wouldn't have had enough room. Also, adding message boxes to an NPC will increase the data they use, so even if I'd had room, I'd still have had some pretty boring NPC's if they didn't actually SAY anything. Also, the new story events go a long way in explaining how Mercer's prior ravaging of the land has thinned the population. The world of Shadow of the Towers is sparsely populated, but it's supposed to be that way...there's a good reason for it. So don't blame me, or Agetec for that matter. It's Mercer's fault. Here's the address to complain to:

Mercer Khaminze
Dark Tower, level 11
QCD1134-M

Kinda makes you MAD, doesn't it...

GO KICK HIS ASS!!!!!!



Still, I'm amazed at how much bigger the world feels even with the addition of bright new faces (and some um...old haggered faces) in the shops and sanctuaries. Yup..the old system of default shopkeepers I was using is WAY gone. No 2 people are repeated in any of the 28 shops, sanctuaries, or inns in the game any more.

I just got through adding the last chest in the 4th tower...for a total of 52 new chests! Here's the rundown:

NEW CHESTS:
- 2 in the Ancient Ruins
- 9 in the Tower Complex
- 7 in the Amber Tower
- 11 in Terra Tower
- 14 in the Tower of Winds
- 9 in Vortex Tower

I'll have to playtest more, of course, and maybe take away a few enemy drops so as not to overwhelm players with too many items, but there is now MUCH more tangible reward for exploring the towers, as well as 2 other non-tower dungeons.

The 7 new story events each have 2 message boxes allocated, but my DU is at 99.7%, so if I have to add a message box here and there, I should still have room to do so. I also had room to add a treasure item when the bonus character joins...so that's the key to access the bonus game that I've been looking for. In the little bit of playtesting I've done, I can already tell you that the new story events help TREMENDOUSLY...they really did make a difference, at least for me.

There are several items that are up in the air...the scrolls. Did you use any when you played through before, Draygone? (If you remember, which...nevermind. It was a long time ago.) I've never enjoyed using them, but then I almost NEVER enjoy using the in-battle-only-1-use-stat-boosting-items in games anyway. I guess I need more feedback on them, because the mere fact that they exist in so many games is testament to the fact that at least SOME people enjoy using them. Maybe they would be better if they were more powerful? Hmm...if I get rid of them, I'll be able to make about 8 new items to put in all of those new chests I just made.

Oh yeah...the elemental system is RIGHT out. Aparently I did a good thing when I spent all those hours playtesting and tweaking stats, because the slightest alteration to it breaks it in half. Seriously...the addition of the elemental system threw the whole thing off horribly, so it's out. It was never intended to be such an extreme facet of the game anyway. If the battle system had been built around them initially, then things would be different, but I'm NOT starting all over again from scratch...no way.

All-in-all I must say I'm pretty pleased with the changes, and I'm VERY glad I didn't abandon the project like I almost did so many times for so many reasons...not least of which was the unpopularity of the battle system. Even if nobody ever plays this game...let alone enjoys it...I'll still be proud that I made it. It was an INSANE amount of effort.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

There are several items that are up in the air...the scrolls. Did you use any when you played through before, Draygone? (If you remember, which...nevermind. It was a long time ago.) I've never enjoyed using them, but then I almost NEVER enjoy using the in-battle-only-1-use-stat-boosting-items in games anyway. I guess I need more feedback on them, because the mere fact that they exist in so many games is testament to the fact that at least SOME people enjoy using them. Maybe they would be better if they were more powerful? Hmm...if I get rid of them, I'll be able to make about 8 new items to put in all of those new chests I just made.

Yeah, it has been a while. I think I did use at least one of them. Couldn't tell you which ones I used, though. I generally don't use 1-time-stat-boosting items myself, but they do come in handy at some points, especially bosses. Though I think I used it for a regular battle.

[Ωbright]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

Ok...I think what I'm going to do with the scrolls is beef them up a bit, and have only 2. I'll get rid of the other ones, and that will allow me to make some new items. There will be at least 1 item (sacrificial doll) that auto-resurrects.

Other than that, I've spent the last 3 solid days rearranging everyone's skills. It was a MAJOR pain in the ass...about 10 hours worth, and I'm not kidding. It was worth it, though...because now everyone's skills appear in the proper order in their battle menus. For instance, Aratos has 4 elemental attacks, with 3 levels of each. I didn't call them 'Fire 1-4', so now the one on the bottom is always the most powerful.

Probably the most major thing I added was an exciting end to chapter 2. It just makes sense in the story, and I don't know why I didn't think of it earlier. Oh well, there was that whole 'data crunch' thing going on then anyway. The event was already there, but now it MAKES chapter 2, and totally sets up chapter 3. I'm really happy with all of the new story events, actually.

I worked on the 4 optional bosses in the 'Cup of Valor' event. Now they are more balanced, and give the proper amount of EXP. If you're at LEAST level 35 when you first fight them, you can go up to level 50 after only fighting all 4 battles twice. Those bosses are immune to STOP and DEATH, but not to critical, poison, or SLOW...have fun. The Cup of Valor was meant to be an optional leveling ground at the end of the game, but also a means of getting 16 of the 18 legendary equips. The last two equips are awarded to players when they beat the Cup of Valor in 'Survival' mode, where they fight all 4 battles back-to-back. I just tested it last night, and it works great. It's pretty hard, but do-able if you prepare well enough ahead of time. There's a strategy to it, and that's just what I was hoping for. The chance of getting one or more of the 4 awards from the battles is fairly slim, but there are 4 things that can be dropped, so that increases the chance of getting at least 1 of them. After playing through those 4 battles about 10 times, I got at least 1 of the 4 legendary drops about half the time. Several times I got 2 of them, and once I got 3. That's just about the ratio I was going for. I'm pretty happy with the event as a means of training for those 2 reasons...but there's another which makes me happy in terms of replay. You can change the environment, weather, and time of year for the battles! This should make things a bit less monotonous when fighting those battles multiple times for the items, EXP, or gold.

The only thing I have left to do is fill some new chests, do a final playtest and tweaking, and send it to my friendly local playtester.

Thanks for your patience...I swear I'm going to put this damn game AWAY and work on Tree of Life just as soon as this final version of SotT is done. I also would like to apologise to anyone who's played/is playing the presently uploaded version. What you have is totally playable, but I was originally hoping I could simply have people update their game data while keeping their play data...but there are things that have made that a tenuous prospect, at best. It will probably be better to begin a new game, but you can try to update if you want. I SWEAR this will be the last update to the file, so strike me dead. I'm going to try my best to make damn sure it's as close to perfect as possible before I upload it.

I have 1 potential playtester, but does anybody else want to be sent the exclusive final version for play testing? The more people I have helping me, the faster and more complete the process will be. As soon as it's uploaded, I'll resume work on Tree of Life.

[Dusk Raven]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

The whole thing sounds facinating. If you ever get it done, then I would love to download it... once I get a Max Drive... and a spare memory card (dang, these games take up a LOT of space!)
EDIT: I don't think I'd mind there not being many NPC's... on the contrary, I think I like it that way... alone (somewhat) in a vast land... and being able to defend yourself. It's a dream come true.

Really, though, I'm eager to play any games I can, so I can see what makes them successful (or unsuccessful: you can always learn from failure), and get ideas for my own games.

It's important for me to make my games good... because I can't stand it if my work is anything less than perfection.

[Ωbright]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

The whole thing sounds facinating. If you ever get it done, then I would love to download it... once I get a Max Drive... and a spare memory card (dang, these games take up a LOT of space!)
EDIT: I don't think I'd mind there not being many NPC's... on the contrary, I think I like it that way... alone (somewhat) in a vast land... and being able to defend yourself. It's a dream come true.

Really, though, I'm eager to play any games I can, so I can see what makes them successful (or unsuccessful: you can always learn from failure), and get ideas for my own games.

It's important for me to make my games good... because I can't stand it if my work is anything less than perfection.

Well if you won't mind that the population has been thinned by a previous dark elf's attitude problem (and it sounds like you won't...THANKS for that! ), then maybe you'll enjoy the game!

The story sounds simple, and in a way it is. When I first was conceptualising the game, I was racking my brain for a story that was not cliche', or a parody, or just plain boring. I've played over 100 RPG's, so...I didn't want to repeat something I'd already played verbatim. I also had the logistics of RM3 to consider...I had to work within the limits of what the editor was capable of doing. I always was a bit disappointed when games ended...I wanted to be able to follow what happened to the characters AFTER the last battle. Some games have a great post-game world, and that...in essence...is what SotT is. A post-game. The previous installment was not made into a game, but alluded to in this one. I might make that game...one day, but probably not. That game WOULD be pretty cliche'. I mean look at Troy, the main hero of SotT...now take 20 years off of him. He kinda looks like the cliche 16-year-old-pretty-boy-knight-main-hero, doesn't he? I did that on purpose. What can I say, I'm a sentimental sap. In any case, I like the fact that the other characters have joined Troy not because the felt like they HAD to, but just because they wanted to. That's a pretty good character relationship-building device.

I often wonder what characters get up to after the game, and I sometimes think they should get together for a reunion. That's pretty much where I went with SotT. It represents nearly every RPG I've ever played in some small way or another, so it has a bit of the cliche' in it already...but with a twist.

Again, sentimental. Sap.

And in spite of the fact that the initial catalyst for the game story was not necessity, but a drunken DARE, the story still develops pretty well. I sometimes hate the single-mindedness of game plots anyway. I much prefer to investigate a mystery, so if the story of SotT develops a bit slowly, that's fine with me.

So about the MAX drive, are you having trouble finding one?

I'll be finished with the final version in about a week, and then I'll need some play testers. All I have left to do is put some money/items into some chests and playtest/tweak. The new chests begin showing up only in chapter 2, so I've already got 3 concurrent play saves going. I figure I'll add items in chests as I need them. It's pretty rough taking into account 32 different beginning parties...but having 3 games going, with all characters used at least once, helps a lot.

Here's hoping I can keep all 3 play saves going until the end this time...

I can already tell you that every single playthrough will be different. After playing through multiple times, and having 3 concurrent saves, I can tell you that all of the little things that can make the differences between playthroughs add up. For instance, 2 of my playthroughs were almost EXACT in terms of level, money, and time played, right after finishing the 2nd dungeon. However, my Dark Scholar didn't learn 'Hell's Gate' during my trip through the ruins in one playthrough, so I had to hang out in the entrance chamber of the ruins...and try...and try...and TRY to get that damn skill for Joseph. For some reason I just COULD NOT get it during that playthrough. It's set to be dropped 'OFTEN' so, wtf? Anyway, because I had to stay and fight until I found the skill, that playthrough now has about 10 more minutes, 1 more level for everybody, and about 500 gold. This is why writing a walkthrough is so difficult, because every game will be different depending on who you picked at the beginning, which skills the enemies use, your other game choices, etc. etc.

Also, I've added much more rare enemy drops. Most items in most shops have 2 tiers, at least. Weapons, armor, and shields usually have a lower-level selection and a higher-level one for each weapon type. Now, almost all enemy parties have a rare chance of dropping the lower-level equips for the next chapter, and some have a very rare chance of dropping the higher-level one. In one of my current playthroughs I've gotten a rare suit of armor, and in the other 2 I've gotten a Bronze Sword for Troy a full chapter early.

Since I'm adding about 60 chests AND adding all of those new enemy drops, I'll have to play test carefully to watch for item overload. Still, with the item upgrades later in the game, and with a bit of careful inventory maintenance, it shouldn't be a problem. I mainly don't want players to have to run back to town to sell extra stuff in the middle of a dungeon all the time. All of the new enemy drops are 'rare' or 'very rare' anyway.

I know some people might ask why I'm playtesting it so much if I'm trying to get other people to do the same. Well for one thing, I want the version I send out to be as good as (I think) it can be already. That way, when people tell me it's not...in ways I never even thought of...the game will be better as a result. It's the whole 'many eyes aiding in a search' thing. In addition to that, there's no way I can play all 32 different possible beginning parties and get the game out before I'm 50. I've played several, but I never did try it with Troy and the three mages...or with all 4 fighters, etc.

[ErikaFuzzbottom]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

That's actually a good idea with playtesting it yourself before sending it to other playtesters. Otherwise it'll be a mess with everyone trying to tell you all the bugs and stuff and you're trying to fix it and send out multiple versions of the game.

Anyway, I just thought of something. I haven't really played your game since I previewed it, so maybe you already did this, but since your game's population is so empty, do you have all those empty houses locked up? It seems wierd to walk into 50 different houses and finding nobody in any of them, not to mention it's a waste of time, yet one finds himself going into them all just in case there's actually something worth going in for.

[Ωbright]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

That's actually a good idea with playtesting it yourself before sending it to other playtesters. Otherwise it'll be a mess with everyone trying to tell you all the bugs and stuff and you're trying to fix it and send out multiple versions of the game.

Yup. It STILL might wind up being a mess...lol!!...but the chances are lessened this way by a LOT.

Anyway, I just thought of something. I haven't really played your game since I previewed it, so maybe you already did this, but since your game's population is so empty, do you have all those empty houses locked up? It seems wierd to walk into 50 different houses and finding nobody in any of them, not to mention it's a waste of time, yet one finds himself going into them all just in case there's actually something worth going in for.

All of those houses are long gone, along with the people who were in them. The only buildings now are shops, inns, and sanctuaries...until the last town. If there's any space at all left when I'm done, I'll put some decorative elements back into the towns...those always help to fill them out.

[Red Dragon]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

I hate you Obright I hate you sooo much.

WHY CAN'T I EVER MAKE GREAT GAMES!!!

It sounds cool man, I'll have to try it out one of these days if i ever find my AR Max disk.

[Ωbright]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

LOL!! You can do it if you set your mind to it...I have faith in you.

...And thank you...I hope my game really IS great.

There are some new things to reprt...

- The scrolls are OUTTA here. I tried buffing them up. I just hate them. They had to die. They don't even have (what I would call) the proper battle animations associated with their use anyway, and I can't change them. So there. INSTEAD of those items, I now have added the following items to Shadow of the Towers:

*Sacrificial Doll - Auto-revive 1 person upon death
*Heroic Effigy - Full auto-revive all allies upon death
*Silver Hookah - Heals all allies for 200 HP
*Golden Hookah - Heals all allies for 500 HP
*First Aid Kit - Auto-heals 1 person for 200 HP when critical 3 times
*Survival Kit - Auto-heals 1 person for 500 HP when critical 3 times
*Magic Kit - Auto-heals 1 person for 100 MP when MP is critical 3 times
*Deluxe Magic Kit - Auto-heals 1 person for 300 MP when MP is critical 3 times
*Warhead - Uber-powerful 1-use attack item
*Lamp of Purity - Unlimited use stat-clearing item

A lot of those items are ones I've been thinking about for ages, but didn't have room to add until now. In any case, they all really needed to be there anyway...MUCH more than those scrolls did.

All 3 of my playtest games are saved right before the Amber Tower, and everything's pretty much great so far. There have been a TON of little changes here and there, but the main one that I like is the new enemy drops. I managed to bag something rare in all 3 games, and it was something different each time.

Aratos' skills now have a MUCH better MP-use curve, and...

...fanfare.......

The elemental system is BACK!! Yup. In a small way, anyway. Each of the towers is of a specific element, and so are all of the enemies within each tower. The only reason why that is even an issue is because each of Aratus' elemental skills are now designed to be more powerful against another element. This was a good way to introduce the elemental system in a small way (as I wanted) without breaking the flow of the game, and adds interest to the mage character as well. Here's a rundown of the elemental system:

Water beats Fire
Fire beats Air
Air beats Earth
Earth beats Water

I haven't play-tested it yet, but it's set up...and I'm about to. One of the 3 play saves in front of the Amber Tower that I keep talking about has Aratos in it. We'll see how much extra damage his water spells will do in there.

The way I had it before, characters had inherent elemental weaknesses and strengths, but especially at low levels, the effect was either unperceptable, or totally overpowered. Putting the elemental attributes on spells and a few weapons (instead of on characters) is hopefully a much better way of intoducing the elemental system.

Well all of the new chests in the Amber Tower are filled...some with brand new items, and that feels pretty cool. I'm about to playtest the Amber Tower!

Playing through the game with 3 different parties is a pain in the ass at times, but so far it's been REALLY cool to see how different each game can be! Also it's helped me test a lot more at once, so I've been really productive. I think I can safely say that I'll be done with the final version (and therefore looking for play testers) in about 1 week, or less!

[Wavelength]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

Just a word of advice from a friend...

Don't be hard on yourself about not being able to tear yourself away from this... personally I'm in awe of your patience and thoroughness about the post-launch editing. You're clearly enjoying it on some level, and you're also making your game even better for others to play, so it's a win-win.

Tear yourself away to work on ToL and visit the other boards... but ONLY when you feel like doing so.

[Ωbright]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

Well my playtests are going fairly well, I'm at the start of the King's Shrine in two games, and just finished with the Terra Tower in the 3rd. Speaking of the Terra Tower...there's a puzzle room on the 9th (top) floor that's been giving me fits. There are 4 floor switches that turn off statues which block access to 4 events which are needed to get onto the roof of the tower. I had 4 invisible events placed onto the switches that actually turned the statue events off, because I had so much trouble initially getting the switches to work. When I was playing through I thought 'Why the hell are these invisible events there? I can get rid of those and free up some space for 4 other events somewhere else!'...which I did...and then I remembered WHY those events were there in the first place. They stopped working again. GRRR!!! After about SEVEN HOURS of doing absolutely everything I could think of (including clearing out the entire floor and starting again), with no luck, I finally was about to give up. There was just NO REASON that I could discern why that should have been happening, and I got really frustrated.

Now it's fixed, however...and I didn't have to put back the invisible events. This might help someone else, so I'll try to explain what I discovered:

When you place switches in a dungeon, it DOES NOT MATTER what order you make them in...that's not how the 'switch number' is determined. The editor looks at all of the switches on the floor, and assigns '#1' to the top-left-most switch, and the highest number to the bottom-right-most one. All of the ones in between are read like the page of a book. Once I figured THAT out, it was a rather simple matter to assign the proper switches to the proper statue events. Ok. Great. I play tested it...and IT STILL DIDN'T WORK. I was about ready to break the RM3 disk in half, set it on fire, and then form it into a disk again...just so that I could break it in half again.

THEN I figured out that the switches that are pressed AFTER the first one don't count unless you use an item, go into a battle, or go down the stairs and come back. I tried to add 'refresh display' codes, but they didn't work at all.

The result? The puzzle floor works fine, AS LONG AS YOU GET IN A BATTLE OR USE AN ITEM BETWEEN EACH SWITCH-PRESSING. Is this annoying? Yes. Oh well...if people have problems getting the statues to disappear after stepping on the proper switch, all you have to do is push the 'SQUARE' button and immediately back out...the statues will disappear. I really don't know why this should be happening...wtf? An even bigger question is WHY a 'refresh display' code is not fixing it. Since that's the case, I don't know HOW to fix it. I've tried everything. Players that are playing through without using an Intimidator (no battles) will probably see no problems, because they'll probably be getting into battles between the switches anyway...but players who DO use an Intimidator will have to use the 'square button' trick unless I figure out how to fix that.

Grrr....

It's really hard to playtest the game at times, because of the choices between characters at the beginning. For instance, you might not need to use as many HP-restoring items if you have a healer in your party, and instead will be needing to find more MP restoring items. If you have all fighters, you'll need almost all healing items, and almost no magic ones. in other words, you might get a backlog of extra items in some playthroughs more than others. That can be a bit annoying, but not as annoying as having nobody that can cure you of poison...and can't find an 'ether' to save your life. I'll really need someone to playtest the scenario where all three non-healing/non-curing people are chosen at the beginning. Since that playthrough will undoubtedly be difficult, I'll probably do that one myself. ALL of this is fine...I won't change the game unless things are IMPOSSIBLE in some playthroughs, but having some beginning parties be harder than others is more than fine...it's pretty cool. players can set the difficulty that way. I just have to make sure that players will be able to find/buy enough Ethers (cure status), Smelling Salts (revive), and healing items to finish the game with as little trouble as possible without loading down players of other scenarios.

The money is another thing that's hard to track between scenarios. If you have someone in the party with 'Cure', then you won't need the unlimited cure item in one of the towers...so you can sell it for 6000 gold. If you're playing a scenario with Troy, Loren, Aratus and Duggan (no healing or curing), you'd be INSANE to sell such a handy item. That's just one example, but here's another one: There's an item in the game called the 'Mercury Lamp', which if used will grant you a guaranteed exit from battle. Pretty cool, but if you have Joseph in your party, it's totally useless to you (he hes 'escape' innately). You can sell it for another 6000 gold, and that's 12,000 extra gold...just because you added Joseph to your party. Here's something else...Say you have Troy, Duggan, Brogan, and Loren in your party. You'll be spending a LOT of gold on armor, which is very expensive. If I make a playthrough perfect for one party, I'll be totally breaking it for other parties. I think it's just about perfect the way it is now, but like I said...I'll have to playtest a bit more to be sure. I was thinking for a long time that I wanted to have different characters join with different amounts of gold, but the financial differences were already there, so I'm glad I didn't now.

The new items ROCK...especially the 'First Aid Kit' and the 'Magic Kit'! I put one of each in the Terra Tower, and they can be used to great effect against the boss there. You simply give it to a character, and when they get down to 1/4 or less HP/MP, the item is used automatically without taking a turn. I put the Magic Kit on Troy, because since he isn't a mage, he doesn't have nearly the MP of Aratus. As a result, he could do his most powerful skill 9 times during the boss battle, instead of 3. Joseph has the lowest HP, so I put the First Aid Kit on him. It kept him from dieing 3 times! If I had put those items on Brogan (who has lots of HP) or Aratus (who has lots of MP), I wouldn't have gotten as much out of them. There's a strategy to it, and that's just what I was going for.

I'm done placing the items in the new chests in the Ancient Ruins, the Tower Complex, the Amber Tower, and the Terra Tower. Those new items helped an insane amount in doing that.

Well now I'm off to playtest the Mountain pass, Galestrom Canyon, the Sunken Shrine, and at least get TO the Tower of Winds in all 3 scenarios I currently have going.

[Ωbright]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

I've been working on one or two things on the side, but I've also been working on SotT.

- There is now a sandy path on most maps of the game, which players can use to avoid enemy encounters if they wish. It looks nice, and has a use which many may enjoy.

- Current playtest at halfway through the Tower of Winds, and all chest items are placed in that dungeon.

I'm very close to being able to send this to anyone who might be able to play test for me...maybe 1 more week?

[hitogoroshi]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

If my fourth quarter is easier than third, I might get a chance to playtest this. I just realized that while I've played a few games I've never reviewed one XD

[Ωbright]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

Thanks Hito! If you can play test for me, then that's great. Just let me know when you're ready, and I'll send you the final version.

Yes...It's DONE!!! I just now finished with it, and I must say, I'm very pleased with it. It's probably still not perfect, and that's why I need some help, but apart from any last-minute tweaks that any play testers deem necessary, the final version is completely finished.

If anybody can play test (including the 2 that have already offered), then now's the time. If you decide that you'd like to test the game just say so here, and I'll send you a copy. You have no further obligation to do ANYTHING else with the file, but the further you play through, the more I'll appreciate it. Every little bit will help! Of course I'd like for some people to play all of the way through, but I'll take whatever I can get...and do it gladly.

My current play tests are at an end, and frankly I need a break from testing. Playing through once is one thing...but playing 3 scenarios at once means that I have to do everything in the game 3 times. Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of the game, and I'm fairly sure that I've done the absolute best I could do...but even my favorite games in the world begin to wear on me after a while, even if they have a high replay value. There are huge differences in each scenario of SotT that go beyond your ally choices at the beginning...things like rare enemy drops and huge repetoires of skills for most enemies mean that every playthrough will be different.

This is especially true with bosses. Many of the bosses have 16 spells/skills, and not only is it important which of them they use against you (they probably will not use them all in any one playthrough, nor will they use the same ones in all playthroughs), but the order in which they use them is also very important. If a boss uses a skill that nullifies a certain kind of attacks at the beginning of the battle, it will be a totally different battle than if they used it toward the end.

I put those things into the game on purpose to encourage replay, and they work...but even they can't stop me from needing a break for a while.

So.........will anybody else help me out by giving the final version of Shadow of the Towers a try?

[Wavelength]

Re: Ursus Quest: 'Shadow of the Towers'

Woooooooo! Woo! Congrats, Obi! It's been a long time coming and hopefully all the modifications you've made will turn a very good game into a great one. I'd love to play it, and I'd love to playtest it for you.

I should say that my time for the next four weeks will be limited, with the end-of-the semester crunch looming over my head. I might be able to pull away to play RPGM for a few hours on weekends, but that means I'm going to want to focus more on Playtesting issues than trying to navigate my inept ass around complex dungeons. At any rate, I'll have a LOT more time in the four weeks following--after school lets out and before my internship starts.

Again, CONGRATS. I know how hard you've been working on this, and what it means to you, and SotT deserves quite a bit of attention and praise.


EDIT: P.S.--I'm up to nearly two hours of playtime in Local Gods. I can't see what you were talking about with the scripting--so far I haven't noticed a single flaw. The battle balance is a little off but at least you've made them a lot of fun. I'm gonna keep playing, it's a neat little game.