Thursday, November 21, 2013

Prelude and Chapter 1 version 2.00

OK, I'm going to be irresponsible and not fully test them, because I've been doing it for the past few days and I can't do it anymore... I will upload the modules on the old vault soon, if it's working correctly.

I guess we will know if things are OK when the bug reports arrive.

Hope this works now...

11 comments:

  1. Ohboyohboyohboy, downloading it now, thank you for the update! :D

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  2. I'll give 'em a download, go through with a fighter this time maybe. Like that you unlocked persuade/bluff, since they are often a big reason of why I go Rogue in non-trap heavy settings.

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  3. I am so completely all over this. Thank you!

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  4. OK guys, as you can see in the version history, there isn't really that much new content... mostly some changes in the game system, plus 2 additional actions for the Brash haters (one of which can be fun even if you don't hate him). :)

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  5. The missing body parts bug was fixed in this version. My PC's body was amazing. :D I liked the response Brash gave like in the screenshot, and I was wondering, if I throw a torch on Brash, will it kill him for good?

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    1. It won't kill him for now (I guess Rivera found him quickly), but he won't be the same and he won't love you after that xD

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  6. It was my day off yesterday, so I went ahead and played through both 2.0 versions start to finish. I didn't notice any obvious bugs. Certainly nothing game-stopping anyway. Enjoyed some of the changes you made in the conversations and such. And I also didn't have any issues with missing bodies and heads this time around either. Everything worked great as far as I could see.

    I think I might have broke poor Brash's heart though. And as a bonus, I even cut it out as well. ;) Love to see what you have in store in future updates and chapters.

    I'll send you a couple of my characters via email if you still want to see their variables and stuff.

    And as an aside, just looking at their blog, I think Celeritas Eos just might (and I repeat MIGHT) just be ready by the next time Haley's Comet comes around. ;)

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  7. I understand stabbing Brash, but how do you break his heart? :D

    Characters are still welcome, as long as you tell me what the variables mean, that is, how you played those characters.

    Chapter 2's variable system is based on the beta's values and I consider everything after that to be a bonus, not wanting to force people to replay, since this beta was pretty much complete.

    Raze and Arana's variables don't really tell me what the player wants, so those will just be a small bonus to the values that should be gained in Chapter 2. Or I don't know. Haven't finished the "relationships", whatever they will be, since Raze and Arana are not rapist monkeys, unlike some. There are some random sex scenes, but it might be too early, especially for Arana, whom I really don't see jumping right into the DH girls *** after she has been kicked by Rivera and with all the strange things she's witnessed. She must be confused, and she doesn't think sex solves problems, so...

    There is also the point when the "romance" interests face each other, and it seems like a bad idea to give the player an option to choose one or lie to the others right now, since that's happening near the end of the module. Better to leave that choice for the beginning of the next module, I think.

    As for Celeritas Eos, that's how it goes when they are making a mega big module with several cities/towns. From my point of view, just generating random NPCs isn't so difficult to script, but the conversations, quests and everything...

    I've been thinking of announcing here how I've finally decided to focus on finishing the main plot and what decisions I've made. If I cut the crap, the entire series could be finished by next December (gasp!)... Though highly unlikely... xD Announcing things before they are finished, while I can still change my mind, hasn't proven to be smart for me. :)

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    1. Ok, later on I will attempt to email the character(s) to you. I basically tried to play as a frightened, confused little demonheart who was pretty much thoroughly overwhelmed by her situation and intimated by that brute Brash.

      Nice to know Raze and Arana aren't rapist monkeys. :) Especially in the case of Raze who is definitely scary enough as it is anyway. ;) Though I did wonder if Rivera might have been one with the way she initially reacted to my character. And I can understand Arana being a bit confused by it all as well. I tried to play it where both me and her might be somewhat confused about what we want at that particular moment in time. I figured my character was still pizzed off at Brash for what he said and did to me. And that Arana and I were both thrown into a huge life or death struggle together. One where we had to work together very closely or wind up perishing. So in my mind I'd feel both sorrow/confusion/empathy towards Arana. She might feel some of those emotions towards me. Especially some of the confusion part.

      And I find her cute in a witchy/gothy way as well. :) Though she looks like she also might fall hard for Raze too.

      I like that eventually the romance interests might face off to a degree. I hope you don't just have to pick one and stay with it. Though I realize that might add a heck of a lot more dialog options.

      Again, work on these modules at your own pace. I don't want you to feel rushed because of us. I also don't want you to burn out and ever wind up finishing this excellent series. You could always do what Valine did in the past -- release the modules and then keep updating them. But do as you see fit.

      And I hope that Celeritas Eos snarky remark of mine didn't put any additional pressure on you or anything. I just threw that out there since it looked like earlier they were done with beta testing and were close to releasing it. Doesn't look like the case now.

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    2. Don't worry, Raze will find other ways to frighten you. :D

      Rivera really is a rapist, but she was too excited about the girl's heart to do anything to her (and was still loyal to Arana at the time). She seduced the early-teen Arana into being her lover when she was brought/sold to her - that's pretty much a rapist.

      Raze is another reason for Arana's confusion, so yes...

      Tracking the relationships is getting complicated. I'm not using the standard approach (as seen in Baldur's Gate) - no romance, romance, serious (exclusive) romance, broken romance. Hm, maybe I should start using it. I'm sure they had a good reason to do it that way. xD So far, there isn't any single thing you can say to Arana or Raze to activate the "romance". Maybe there should be. For now, they are supposed to react based on the way you treated them, if that is even reliable.

      Anyway, I don't like mutually exclusive romances, because most of the time I can't decide which one I want. Then again, the romance interests here are two selfish pricks, one noble fool, one very sensitive thing and one whore (the only one who really shouldn't care if you are also with someone else). xD And one of the pricks has already had sex with the protagonist. We'll see where that goes when the time comes.

      The comment about Celeritas Eos only reminds me that I can't make a whole world of content if I want to finish my studies and have somewhat of a life...

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  8. Since I just played through Chapter 1 I thought I should at least mention some bugs I encountered: all of them during the last fight. On the first try, when presumably the fight should've been over, the conversation from before the fight looped and then the battle started again, which then lead the both sides being unable to fight each other. Might have been caused by my character being frightened and running away, but I'm not sure. Second time Raze didn't spawn (his portrait did but nothing physical). Obviously that was a short fight. Third time I got insta-killed and then Raze got slaughtered before I revived (well, no bug there I guess, but what's the point of losing a fight sequence you can't really influence anyways...). Forth time something kept damaging the witch (maybe she was set on fire or poisoned or something), so while everyone else went out of aggro at the point she should've ported away she kept one-sidedly attacking. Fifth time worked fine ^^;
    Perhaps there should be a bit more safe-guard there. Dispel all effects before the final teleport-away sequence or something.

    Otherwise: great job on the module, not really my piece of cake, admittedly, but I was positively surprised by the plot (so far) and the fact that I could set someone on fire. Something clearly missing from many other campaigns.



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