Most of my stortellers are around 50 keys on average, but I have some in the 100s, but the 208 one is the biggest one though. I have 2 other storytellers planned that will probably be even more then 208. I've been using the message display a few times for some dialouge, mainly for minor things, but seeing as how you get 100 story-tellers, I'll probably start using more that are around 30 keys or less.

Yeah I like Yuri, he's probably my favorite rpg hero. Shadow Hearts: Covenant is definatly my favorite game as well.

Yuri is one of my favorite characters in all fiction.

Shadow Hearts Covenant is one of the best games that I've ever played and THE best RPG that I've ever played.

I also like the original (which I essentially completed) and From the New World which I'm still playing.

I actually like the battle system more in From the New World, but overall, nothing comes close to Covenant.

Yeah, I love the storyteller. I've spent hours on my introductory storyteller. It's so rewarding to see all of your work unfold like a movie before your very eyes. I look forward to checking out what you've done with yours Yusuke.

Well I'm about 5 storytellers behind right now, so I've got some catching up to do. I did 2 more boss battles and set up all my events so I just need to write up the dialouge and make the storytellers to be caught up with where I'm at. Then once I do that I have even more storytellers to do to proceed with the game, so it's basically 5 to catch up to where I stopped. So I basically need to do 5+ storytellers in a row.

So...I'll probably take a break for a couple of days before tackling all that writing. Thanks for the replys guys, helps reinforce the motivation to finish my game.

Good Luck!!!!!

((pointer - nothing to say? then say nothing.))

Alright, I'm home now for the first time since Tuesday, so I've had plenty of time to recharge. I'm looking to make a big push this coming week, it's almost as if I can smell the finish, so I'm going at it hard this week.

Alright, I've come to a point where I need some input from anyone who will give it.

In my preview I said that there would be weapon shops, and possibly special items and things like that. As of right now, I have no plans to put in any weapon shops at all, I scrapped the idea because I just don't feel it's necassary for my game. I do have events that will power up the weapons however, and ultimate weapons as well. So basically you can get 3 weapons for each character, technically 2 because the first new weapons replace the originals. Is this a turn off to anyone?

I also have no treasure chests in my game, and don't plan to add any. I'm all for exploring and doing non-linear things in games, but the fact is I just don't have time to do it. Originaly, I wanted to go all the way and make a huge game, but that quickly changed when I saw just how time consuming it is, so I opted for telling just the story. So basically my game is a straight line from start to finish, save the one sidequest which I still plan to put in the game.

There will be item shops, though I'm not sure how many items there will be. Probably not very many, as I'm considering scrapping status effects all together as well. So basically what I have left in terms of gameplay is a simple battle system, simple level up system where you learn skills/magic, and a sort of hide and seek type sidequest, though it covers the whole game, where you have to find certain people and once you find them all you gain access to the secret field where you can get your ultimate weapons and stuff. You also have the story, which is hopefully good enough to keep you playing till the end. Anyway, just thought I would throw some of those things at you guys, and see if I can get some feedback on it.

No status effects, so long as you still have elemental weaknesses, the battle system shouldn't get too boring. (Well, excluding the fact that RPGM3's battle system is boring to begin with. 'Cause I know somebody's bound to make that remark.) (Don't start, Duelpro.)

Having no treasure chests, though, definately makes things less interesting. Not that you can't have things be interesting without them, but you'd have to make sure that the dungeons are given some decent scenery to make up for the lack of exploration. Don't throw in very many dead ends either, because I'm sure people would get irritated waltzing into a dead-end and only gaining lost time for the side trip.

That's what I think, anyway.

I prefer to see a variety of gametypes, some long, some short, some where you use traditional weapon shops, some where you don't, some where you use traditional item boxes, some where you don't, so it's all good.

I think that whatever you decide will be fine and you should make what you want to make.

Having said that, the game doesn't have to necessarily be fun if it is interesting or doesn't have to necessarily be interesting if it is fun.

Just give the gamer motivation to try it and make sure that you don’t include anything you wouldn’t want to have to put up with (i.e. impossible battles, cheap deaths, pointless dungeons, etc.)

I don't really see how an elemental type system would make it any less boring if you ask me. I realize it would make it a tad more strategic, but not enough to make it leagues more fun then not having an elemenatal system. Perhaps I won't scrap status effects all together, but rather just make only bosses inflict them. If I were to use a weakness system, it would probably be only bosses as well.



I agree, and I'll probably go through and spice up the dungeons once I get close to finishing. I don't have very many dead ends at all, theres one dungeon that has quite a few, but it ties in with the sidequest, so theres a purpose for searching each path.

Thanks for the input Draygone.

Thank you as well Bo, I'm hoping the story is motivation enough, but at the same time I want the other aspects to be enough not to bore someone to death. Personally I don't think it will be much of a problem, considering theres no random battles, you won't be overwhelmed with fighting, so as of now I feel confident that it will be fine.

Anyone else? Feel free to give your opinion, negative or not. I'll take anything in.

It's at least a little better than the only strategy being to Attack Attack Attack and occasionally Heal. Adds a bit of variety. And it means I won't be as likely to fall asleep while playing if I'm thinking about what I'm doing. 'Course one could potentially have strategy without doing elements or status effects.

Well I haven't really gotten much done at all. Things have come up, and I've had to put rpg maker on hold for awhile. Not sure if a release this month will even be possible, I've got some stuff to do right now though, so I'll get back to things when I can.

Well, I'm still wrapping up a few things right now. I can't say when I'll get back to work on my game, it's hard to tell. I hope to get working on it, and finish it before August, because I plan on going to college finally(I'm 20, been out of high school for 2 years now). Anyway, hopefully I'll find some time for it soon.

Well, I've found some time to work on things finally. Though it's not much, but I have the rest of the day, and some of tomorrow to do some things. After that I'll be busy until sunday, but I should have some time next week as well.

If anyones even still interested, I still do intend to finish this game. Hopefully I'll make some good process over the next week or so.

RPGM3 battles are boring? Umm... Hmm... Maybe I should rethink my
whole game making strategy. The project I finished, the project I'm
currently working on, and future ideas for projects are all based around
fighting pitched battles with monsters. There's a lot of exploration
involved and looking for collectable items and spells. There's a lot to do
that goes beyond fighting monsters. But fighting monsters is the reason
for doing it all. You need money to buy better weapons and armor.
Potion ingredients to make potions. Keys to unlock areas that have bonus
items that increase stats. And so forth. Almost everything is based
around the fact that we need more cool stuff so as to improve our abilities
so as to have an easier time of it battling the monsters, who stand
between us and the next story scene.

And now I find out that RPGM3 battles are boring? I never realized that.
They're not boring to me. Hmph! I wonder if my talents for world design
and all that lush, interactive scenery are wasted because my games are
boring. Perhaps the better thing to do would be to hire myself out as a
field map designer for games that supposedly won't be boring. Er, not
hire. I'd have to do it for free.

@crythania

I wouldn't say RPGM3 battles are boring if you make full use of all the different class/magic/item/equipment possibilites, but there is no doubt that the slow pace in which they are executed causes them to drag.

Does everyone around here except me have ADD or something?

I mean, sure, the initiative bars can take a while to fill up... if you set your
character's Agi at 1! Yeah, sure, then you'll be waiting for... all of, like,
what? One second? Maybe one and a half?

I remember someone wanted to give every character and monster in his
game the "Swift" ability so as to speed up the initiative bars.

One of my beta testers who was playing my game dropped out because
the battles were too long and there were too many. I've got, like, eight
non-repeating event-based battles in the entire dungeon, and he wanted
me to cut it by half. There is just no pleasing some people. They're not
random encounters. They're events. And they only happen once!

Does anyone remember Xenosaga Ep 1 and other such games where
you'd cast a spell or skill, and then the guy spends, like, a half hour
performing this elaborate animation to cast his spell? I remember in
Xenosaga there was this one girl, and she'd lift her gun, then there were,
like, sound effects and stuff, and a big glowing rune would appear in front
of her, then finally... maybe after, I dunno, fifteen minutes, the gun would
finally fire and the bad guy would spend another fifteen minutes crying out
in pain from getting hit. It's almost like in those Sailor Moon animes
where the girl shouts out the entire name of her attack ("Super Ultra
Rainbow Flower Power!", and she shouts it out really slowly) and goes into
a fancy pose, and it takes like ten minutes of animation to do one attack.

The animations here aren't even close to that long. They're not even in
the same ballpark as that long. It's not like you have to sit through two
hours of cinematic to cast one spell.

I think I must have an unusually long attention span. Oh well. Whatever.

@Crythania
Well, if the battles are so short (and so fun), why don't you set the random battles to high and make a nice big dungeon? (sarcastic but serious question)

But yes, Xenosaga is a perfect example (as would be Shadow Hearts) the reason that they are fun is because you feel the power of casting the spells (or getting hit by them) because of the cinematography.

In RPGM3, instead of watching an awesome sound and visual effect and animation, you see a barely discernable ATK UP, here a slight swoosh sound, and watch the characters stand there and the bars fill up over and over again.

As I said before, the right combination of factors can make the battles challenging, but the cinematography is lacking, thus those few extra seconds every turn slow the pace enough to cause the battles to drag.

The standard battle music only makes it worse.

I LOVE the non-battle/non-boss music but the battle/boss music is mediocre. Therfore even event battles tend to drag notwithstanding the option to change the music.

I don't like random encounters. They interrupt my exploration.

I made a "nice big dungeon" with very few event encounters at logical
locations (you open a door, enter a room, and some guys who were
hanging out there see you and come after you). After you clear it, it
never happens again. So then you can explore said room, grab
whatever's there, and get out with absolutely nothing happening to get in
the way (such as more monsters popping up). Large portions of the
dungeon don't have any encounters. In any of my dungeons, you can get
much farther without something happening than you could if there were
random encounters.

I wasn't trying to say that the battles are short. They're not. The only
way they could be short is if on the first turn your guy
casts "Armageddon" and completely wipes out the enemy party (it'd be
even shorter if the "Armageddon" spell can also wipe out your own party,
in which case there wouldn't be any more battles to fight. Hey, problem
solved!).

So the reason why the battles here are so torturous is because the spells
don't come with flashing runes and fifteen minute cinematics and dancing
bologna to sit through? And because the music isn't very good. Umm...
No comment.

I think I'll make a game with a nice big dungeon where no battles happen
at all (event, random, or otherwise). Then someone will complain, "This is
boring! There aren't any battles here."

Yusuke, I apologize for hijacking your topic. I just didn't realize that
others found the battles boring. Sorry.

Yeah, sorry Yusuke.