I've been somewhat leery to actually put up my opinion here, because I can tell you now, it's not all good. Hopefully I can give you some insight to your game and maybe learn something from it. Other readers might learn something too.

Biggest strike is the story. SR went down a very familiar path of having chapetr 1 as a narrative to present events in chapter 2. I have to say though is it really isn't interesting throughout the whole first two chapters. I had to force myself to keep playing. The narrative was there, the story moved ahead pretty well, and that deserves some credit, because it's got that 'legendary feel' to it, which so few games can nail down.

The problem here is there's nothing that I haven't guessed has already happened. What I mean was, I was basically told dragons had come back, and Chapter 1 was going to tell how they came back. This sounds great on paper, but playing through it is an absolute chore. I already know dragons have come back, and I wanted something to spice up the action. Sadly, that never really happened. Sure, the pathner and old guy were introduced, but I was done long before then.

Then Chapter 2 showed up and I was a little excited. Finally, something new, I thought. New, yes, but still very boring. Having a town is no big deal, but when nothing is happening and you can basically guess everything before it happens, there's so little incentive to play more.

Many points are far too predictabe.

Then, we finally roll around to Chapter 3 and everything that was so slow and dull in the previous two are redeemed. When Slayer's Reign is formed and the battle between humans and dragons kicks up a notch, then I see SR really hits it's stride. New characters are introduced that I actually CARE about, unlike Chapter 1 or 2. It's the breath of fresh air that makes me enjoy these characters.

So, things are extremely slow. Chapter 3 picks things up and now things are getting good. Then, the demo is over. Drat.

Graphical side, I have no compliants. The rain effects are awesome, and the flash from a window cued with thunder is the coolest piece I saw. It really sucked you in.

Now the interactive parts I have problems with, such as building a bridge with twigs or throwing your partner over a river. These things added some coolness factor to the game, but my main issue was half the time I didn't know what I was doing. Let's say I grab a twig, so I can build a bridge over to the other side. I figured in order to build, I would simply go over to the spot and press X. Nothing. I wander around for a few minutes, get really angry and then realize I needed to use said twig as a key, to 'unlock' the bridge. These events add a lot, but they need to be streamlined.It shouldn't take me a couple of minutes to fihure out how to do these. At the very least, stick a sign somewhere that tells what you should do, or have the NPC repeat what needs to happen.


That's everything I could think of right now. Hopefully you'll use this to help motive you, and maybe make some changes. Like I said, it's slow going, but worth it if you stick to it. I'm interested to see where this game goes.

That's good. I am very accepting of complaints and suggestions. They can help me make the game better. And I'd encourage everyone who plays to give the bad comments with the good. Although the story being the worst part is a bit of a blow for me, considering it's the most important part of my game. But it's a welcome blow.

First, your comments on Mick's flashback. I guess I hadn't really thought about it that way. You're saying that the interesting (I hope) experiences of the characters involved in the invasion didn't matter simply because you knew that the dragons returned? Although I've heard that that was why some people don't like Pokémon 2000. They already know from the start that Ash is going to collect three magic balls, so they don't care about the details. Which I don't quite understand.

After Mick's flashback, admittedly, isn't really that event-filled until things start picking up at the end of Green Grove. Honestly, though, I can't have everything be action-packed. After a long and hard battle through Mick's flashback, I think things needed a chance to cool off a little. But sometimes I look at the town and wonder what I could've done differently. And come up with nothing. Just the exposition cutscene where Seth drinks all the water.

As far as predictability goes, that's due to inexperience. There's the intentional feeling of "oh, this is going to be just another good vs evil game", during which I tried to keep the events interesting, but I'm not sure how well I can prevent predictability in the story. I've had ample time to improve the story in my mind, but I've never finished a game where story was the primary focus. All I've got is the cliché "the story gets better as you go along" excuse, with no prior experience that allows people to say otherwise. So it's a big "we'll see" as far as how the full story is going to turn out.

Kinda sucky, actually. My dream project being held back by inexperience that no amount of planning can fix. I can only hope that I hit it lucky.

As for the interactive parts, sure I don't spell them out. I have no reason to. As long as you pay attention to your surroundings and the key items you're holding, you should be able to figure out that, say, those four multi-colored vases need to go onto the multi-colored tiles.

However, you make a good point with the stream involving Mick and Seth. You're not going to have an easy time figuring out what you're supposed to do if you somehow missed Seth's directions. So I'll first set it so he reminds you that he needs a boost while pacing back and forth, and allow you to talk to him from across the stream after you push him so he can remind you that you need to find something to grab. How's that?

And the puzzle in Benld Field, I guess it couldn't hurt to indicate that you're supposed to use the item from your inventory. It's supposed to be an introductory puzzle, anyway. I'll have it do that if you've found the item. If I say right off the bat to use a key item, that'll make it way too obvious what you're supposed to do at first.

Afterwhich, you'd already know that all key items need to be used from the inventory. Everything else should be figureable out on your own. Feel free to point something out if it isn't, though.


I welcome your furthur commenting on these things, and welcome anybody who's played to say what they thought about these as well.

Yes, that's what I saying.



I'm a little hazy on details about the game (since I played it about one or two months ago), but in the beginning it says how dragons had left to go to another dimesion. Having gone that much detail into that fact (and the excellent chase scene with the couple shows), I can already predict that dragons have made their return.

Easy for me to understand, hard for you to, eh?

I also noticed the intentional feeling of 'good vs evil', and thought it was rather fitting. It felt good, and that's important.

The problem I had would be I would skip over the important part where someone told me what to do. Any way to have them say it again would help out quite a bit, because I'm sure I'm not the only one who will do that.[/quote]

Personal preference, I guess. I still enjoy an entertaining story even if I already know the basics of what's going to happen. Looking from an outsider's perspective, sure I know that dragons returned some years ago, but what I'm wondering is how did Mick react to the situation, what exactly happened during this encounter, who else was there? And even moreso after the abrupt end of the flashback. What happened when they were confronted? Did Sarah die? What happened during the six years between then and now, especially to get Mick so riled against dragons? More than that, what does the dragon in Death Cave have against Mick?

That's what I'm looking at as I create this story. Go into details of some events while leaving unanswered questions at the same time.