The beginning of a new journey

[jack1974]

Most people (also from other forums and from twitter) agreed the 2nd fits the character art style better So that's what I'm going to use. The art-side is going well since lots of new characters are being done:

[fleetp]

I love the artwork.

[Carmentis]

Love, love, looovveee the dwarf! She's adorable!!! <3 She reminds me of the dwarfs in Linage 2!

I have to admit I'm um, more happy with the manga style. Ya, I'm in that group.

Hmm, this one will be more adultish you say? Or will it be for all ages sorta like PS? Or will it even have the option like Undead Lily will have? The main character you play will be Saren or Elenor, right? So they'd be the ones with romance options?

Since/if this is going to be more adultish will the scenes be more hmm, what's the word, I guess hentai'ish or will it be tasteful like Mass Effects scenes and Dragon Age ones?

Hmm, that reminds me, will the armor/weapons change depending on the ones you get? Or will that be in another game, like Undead Lily, or none at all.

On the druid pictures, over all, I'd have to go with the middle one. The first one seems more fire'ish and the last one seems to.. simple I guess. Although the middle one should have more green hues I think.

PS. The Death Magic witch reminds me of Morrigan from Dragon Age: Origins. I can't wait to show my brother, he loved her! Heck we both did! We even bought her figure! I just wish they made one of my Alistair. I'll settle for Fenris of Dragon Age 2 if they make him to.
PSS. Out of curiosity who is the artist that is doing the manga work for it now? Their art reminds me of another manga series I used to read.

[jack1974]

Hmm, this one will be more adultish you say? Or will it be for all ages sorta like PS? Or will it even have the option like Undead Lily will have? The main character you play will be Saren or Elenor, right? So they'd be the ones with romance options?

Yes is more adultish, and no is going to be even more "hot" than PS. Of course, those scenes will be optional, or if time/resources permits, the romance will have not just 1 CG but TWO, like a sequence, with the first being less erotic, while the second will even feature some artistic nudity (nothing hentai-level though). So if you play in the "family-friendly" version you'll only see the "clean" CG, if you decide to play in adult mode you'll see the second and more adult stuff in general (blood, etc) during the game itself.
The main characters will be Saren or Elenor, you're right, and you'll be able to have romance with Loren with both of them, and also with other secondary characters (I don't want to reveal too much for now though!).

Hmm, that reminds me, will the armor/weapons change depending on the ones you get? Or will that be in another game, like Undead Lily, or none at all.

Heh, no I really don't think will be able to draw different armors. I am not sure yet, but considering you have LOT of characters (you can play with 12 characters, depending on the choices you make and the side you pick) is not very likely, but I'm not sure yet. The weapons instead might change, since is easier to draw only the changed weapon.

And yes Chambara is quite inspired to Morrigan, since was one of my favorite character of that game

[Carmentis]

I'm pleased to hear about the more adult scenes being added. I suppose that's why I love the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series is because their RPG for adults. They don't pull their punches and look how well their doing. Although they are owned by a big company so they're allowed some leverage. I just want some more mature-ness to my RPGs story-wise. I'm just spoiled now with romance options cause of those games to I guess.

Hmm, weapon changing is still very cool to me as well. I just think it adds more to the game and all. I mean for instance, your character starts off using say a staff and the graphic shows that but then you change to say a bow and their picture still shows them holding a staff and it's just off settling in a way. At least to me it is. Know what I mean?

Btw, how much inspiration have you gotten from the Dragon Age/Mass Effect series? I mean for one thing it shows how popular a certain character type can be. Alistair had a lot of fans. His personality is what people loved about him and I for one am in that crowd. Fenris is another one, his personality just so grabbed me that I adore him. In Mass Effect as well I stayed single in the first one cause I love Garrus that much! You have no idea how happy I was to romance him finally in 2. The devotion, romance and somewhat awkwardness/shyness I think is what gets a lot of people.

PS. not gonna tell me the artist or they want to remain secret?

[jack1974]

Yes I agree, I prefer more "adult themes" but I needed also to make people who want family-friendly stuff happy. Until now I tried to do one or the other thing, but with the new games I found a simple solution: that by default the game is family friendly and the adult part will be optional, and also can be password-protected in options (so parents can be sure their sons don't see anything they're not supposed to see!).
That game will be highly influenced by DA2, in particular the skills. I'll use a skill tree similar to the one of that game and characters will have a definite style, like two weapons, sword and shield, death magic, and so on

PS. not gonna tell me the artist or they want to remain secret?

Well his name is Jun Kung Lee is from South Korea, but he doesn't have a website.

[Carmentis]

That is a welcome addition I must say. It pleases both crowds but I just hope either one doesn't get treated less because of it. That tends to happen with that type of feature.

Skill tree's are very fun. Especially with mages which makes you chose for instance which element or type you want to go. Will companions have special ones like DA2 has and a friendship/rivalry passive as well? I loved how what they said changed depending on if you romanced them and their friendship. Mmm, hearing Fenris say 'I am yours.' or 'Tell me, and it is done.' and 'I remain at your side.' just sent shivers down my spin and made me squee with happiness!

Ah! That's why it's familiar! It's not manga'ish type but manwha'ish type. The korean term for their 'manga'.

PS. I showed my brother Chambara and he instantly thought of Morrigan to. He thought the dwarf was cute to but when I showed him Loren he was like 'she's hot and badass looking'. XD

[jack1974]

Skill tree's are very fun. Especially with mages which makes you chose for instance which element or type you want to go. Will companions have special ones like DA2 has and a friendship/rivalry passive as well? I loved how what they said changed depending on if you romanced them and their friendship. Mmm, hearing Fenris say 'I am yours.' or 'Tell me, and it is done.' and 'I remain at your side.' just sent shivers down my spin and made me squee with happiness!

For this game I am not sure about this, since you don't control the "leader" of the party, more the "second in command". I have to see if somehow could still do this. And by the way the game won't probably have so many skills as DA2. I have yet to think how to make the battle gameplay exactly, since I wanted something more accessible than Planet Stronghold.

PS. I showed my brother Chambara and he instantly thought of Morrigan to. He thought the dwarf was cute to but when I showed him Loren he was like 'she's hot and badass looking'. XD

Haha I think he might enjoy one of the enemies then, Jul, a succubus/demoness. Should have her finished next week.

[Carmentis]

If you can't fit the responses in for this one, maybe a future title, ne?

As for battle hmm, you don't want it turn based like PS? There is a couple battle systems that I thought were very cool and interesting and didn't use sprite graphics. For instance one is the Lily System in Hyper Dimension Neptunia MK2. The system is talked about here: http://www.andriasang.com/e/blog/2011/0 ... le_system/ . Having 4 active and 4 support characters is a very interesting concept. 4 can focus on damage while the others heal and buff.

Another system is sorta like the PS one but you can add more slots on the bottom. For instance from the game ToHeart2 Dungeon. The screenshot is here: http://www.andriasang.com/e/galleries/2 ... 132449637/ . As you can see they have 4 people in the corner and you see their face and hp/mp/name and stuff and there is two rows. Here is another screenshot of them in a different combination: http://www.andriasang.com/e/galleries/2 ... 132449635/ . On the right-hand corner you can see the turn phases to so speed would be a factor. The game is rather adultish as well if you can't tell by the other screenshots.

The last one I want to talk about off the top of my head is one coming out for a 3DS game called UnchainBlades ReXX. It's sorta like you have for PS but with different additions. For instance you can tame monsters with the charisma stats and it makes your team mates stronger. More about that here: http://www.siliconera.com/2011/04/18/ch ... ades-rexx/ . The actual gameplay and fighting I'm talking about can be seen in a video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2H3o0a8N ... re=related . Here's another screenshot of the battle layout: http://www.famitsu.com/news/201102/imag ... Bf21K.html .

[SpectralTime]

I'll be honest: when I saw the dwarf, my first thought was "DWARF WOMEN HAVE BEARDS THEY HAVE SINCE TOLKIEN WHAT IS THIS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA."

Then, realizing that she was a younger dwarf, and likely a surface dweller who wouldn't need the antennae, I began to relax.

As to the Death Mage Girl: she didn't really remind me too much of Morrigan, but that was a good thing for me. I didn't HATE Morrigan, per se, but I eventually realized that, unlike the other party members, there wasn't really a hidden decent side to her. Rather than being some kind of snippy, arrogant young lady with a heart of gold, she really was a hateful, spiteful b**** with a heart of jerk, braised in a tasty Jamaican jerk sauce.

I still liked her jokes, but I didn't like her, if you know what I mean.

As to Dragon Age 2: I never beat it, but I thought it was pretty cool that their young necromancer/demon summoner was a kindhearted young lady without the usual evil trappings that surround such characters.

Dunno about the battle system. I didn't see how Planet Stronghold was that unaccessible, save for the fact that many of the skills were a little imbalanced. If I had to change anything, it would be varying the amount of skill points you get per rank with difficulty. That just sucked, watching the enemies get stronger and stronger and knowing you wouldn't have any way to keep yourself at their standards.

Finally, I always wanted to see a dwarf with a mattock (http://www.benmeadows.com/images/xl/Handy-Mattock-Axe-BEN-_i_bmm161633z.jpg) for a weapon instead of an axe, like in The Hobbit.

At any rate, I'm glad work on this project is resuming, and I wish you luck in completing it.