fangame Verdant Tales: Symphonic Horizon

[Dylanrockin]

Yes it does, very much so, agreed

Also glad the vocaloid crap has no actual lyrics or it'd have been butchered

Well, I actually like vocaloid stuff, so meh!

Also, Cameo boss fight with a character from the anime! This fight has no story significance, whatsoever. This is purely in here for the sake of it being a funny, optional thing you can do. This event can only be triggered, once Allan and Hiro are unlocked, and when you watch the skit about Vice and Allan arguing about who gets the last Tauros Steak in Horizon Fields. After you watch the skit, this scene activates.

Now Allan can fight someone who is as equally aloof as he is!

Also, his Blast Burn attack has it's own Tales cut-in, if you happen to get hit by it. Also, this is the first out of 3 fights with Alain that you can do, and are all purely optional.

Having Second Chance for this fight is a must, since it's a one-on-one fight, and you're at a type disadvantage.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Dylanrockin]

In more recent news, sorry for the double post today, my apologies to everyone ;w; But, I've been tinkering around with Luka S.J.'s Battle System, otherwise known as EBS, and I've been working on some new battle system changes. Most of which are used for event battles, such as boss fights and optional fights. These new changes, which I'm going to hint at now, are to be used as a way to make these fights more dynamic, and interesting, so that way they can be differentiated more from normal Trainer battles. I did that so that way the battles didn't feel so "samey." That said, I won't be putting much time into this side-project, until the Ability Matrix is complete, which... is going to take a little bit of time, since I'm trying to work on getting story events finished as well.

The Ability Matrix has now been updated to include several new features, such as being able to scroll the screen, and zoom in. But, once I finish about... a good few more events for the story, I will be putting 100% of my time into the Ability Matrix and getting it all to work in my favor. I'm working on bitmapping the text to the new display at the bottom of the screen so that way it doesn't use the default windowskin that you have assigned.

Several new abilities have been created, and once I finish programming all of those, then that is -1 problems on my list of things to take care of.

1. Pay-Day - Compound Ability: When playing as Vivian, at the end of a battle, the amount of money gained is increased by 1.5x.

2. Twilight Shield - Compound Ability: If you take a hit that does super effective damage, the overall damage is reduced by 25%, while playing as Marissa.

3. Divine Blessing - Normal Ability: When playing as Hiro, the first hit taken does 25% less damage for all Pokemon. Every hit afterwards does normal damage.

4. Dark Boost - Normal Ability: When playing as Marissa, Dark Moves gain a 25% boost in power.

5. Passive Healing - Normal Ability: When playing as Krista, every 6 steps heals the Pokemon in the first slot, but will not revive that Pokemon, and only works for the Pokemon in that slot.

6. Sharp-Eyed - Normal Ability: When playing as Vivian, and your current Pokemon's HP is less than 1/6th, your accuracy will increase by 20%.

Edited April 3, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Dylanrockin]

Oh hey, it's been awhile since I last posted another one of them Skit viders ;D

This new type of Skit is one where Vice, in his Verdant Attire can be in! You do not necessarily have to be wearing his clothes, in order to see these Skits. But, they're only accessible, once you obtain Verdant Transformation.

You ever wonder where his new clothes come from? Well, so do they XD

Edited April 4, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Masquerain]

Abilities be lookin good so far (but I'm not clickin on vids so that's as far as comments go)

[Dylanrockin]

Update, and shiz. So, because Nova's face is the size of the internet Nova suggested a couple new character ability ideas that will be implemented into the game. These will be the last few abilities for Vice.

Vainglory - When defeating an enemy you regain 1/8th of your HP.

Hyper Flinch - When using ONLY Eevee, after defeating an opponent, the next turn will be a guaranteed flinch.

Salvaged Power- When defeating the opposing Pokemon, 1PP is restored to all your moves, with the exception to Verdant Artes, since they CANNOT be recovered by normal means in battle, and they cannot be increased with PP Up's.

Damage Drive - When your HP is below 1/3 your attacks do 1.3x damage, and your HP decreases by 1/16.

So, that is that done, in terms of new character abilities for now. As for the Ability Matrix, I programmed in new areas within it, as well other cool stuff.

As for story progress is concerned, I haven't done much, because of the character abilities and the Ability Matrix and shiz.

Edited April 6, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Commander]

Salvaged Power- When defeating the opposing Pokemon, 1PP is restored to all your moves, with the exception to Verdant Artes, since they CANNOT be recovered by normal means in battle, and they cannot be increased with PP Up's.

[Dylanrockin]

So, a little update for today: I've taken a small break from programming, mainly because when I focus on one thing for too long, I get burnt out Also, programming double battle abilities are... really annoying, especially for critical hit modifiers, which are stupid af. So, I've been working on progressing the story, even further, and with that said, I think I've managed to make the longest cutscene in the game, even longer. Before it was about... 30 minutes, assuming you were reading it. NOW the scene cuts back and forth between certain characters, and it's about 45-50 minutes long, assuming you read it. And the only input from the player are the battles, during those scenes. Which... there is only 1 or 2 battles in it, so long story short: it's long.

But, after that long cutscene it will then locate to the northern continent, see map below:

And no, you will not be going to all 4 continents in the game. You will mainly be going through about... 2 1/2 of it. The third half of the game takes place on the western continent, which I am practically finished with. The other third is on the northern/north-eastern continent, as well as some of the nearby islands, and the floating island.

In a few days I will be picking back up working on the new abilities and Ability Matrix. For now, I will be mainly focusing on story and skit stuffs.

As a side note: I will also be focusing my time on my studies, in the coming Fall, which means that I may be updating a lot less than usual. That said, I plan on hopefully, HOPEFULLY, getting my game finished in the coming year. Fingers. Crossed.

[Dylanrockin]

Also, here is Krista' Pirate costume ;D

And... to complete the set of Pirate Costumes:

Edited April 9, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Masquerain]

As I thought, as sad as it is to say it, I can't bring myself to like the pirate ones.. Maybe just Marissa's, but that's about it. But all is well, because many other costumes exist

[Dylanrockin]

As I thought, as sad as it is to say it, I can't bring myself to like the pirate ones.. Maybe just Marissa's, but that's about it. But all is well, because many other costumes exist

There be a huge plethora of costumes to decide from, once the game is released Even some costumes that are blatant references to several Tales character. However, those costumes as well as all the ones that are being worked on, won't be in, until at least a couple more months.

Also, possibly within the coming month or two, there will be some... weird things going to be added to my game XD If you thought a witch that can transform into a Pokemon was weird, just wait until I reveal something... else.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Dylanrockin]

So, I wanted to make a huge update for today.

First off: I've programmed in new stuff for the Ability Matrix, and spent a lot of my day eventing more story stuff. However, I wanted to update a lot of you of new content that will be available, when the game comes out.

And just to let a lot of you know where that is, word count wise: My whole game is comprised of more than 300,000+ words, if not more at this point, what with additional content, currently I am at the point in the story where the word count extends past 160,000 words. So, a little over half way done with the entire game.

As far as story arcs and saga's are concerned, even though it's never addressed in-game which arc or saga you are in. These are the ones that are currently completed: These are rough estimations, since I'm too lazy to highlight everything in word and see the word count at the bottom. Sue me uwu

Dark Fang Resurrection Saga:

Awakening Arc - Completed (Word count 0 - 60,000)

Attack on Namira Village Arc - Completed (Word Count 60,001 - 130,000)

Hidden Potential Arc - Completed ( Word count 130,001 - 160,000) - Literally one big cutscene, there is very little user input, aside from getting out your reading glasses and let the plot unfold.

Monochroma Siblings Saga - Northern Continent

City of the Timeless Arc - In progress (Word Count 160,001 - 190,000)

So, that is where I am at in the story, so far. The word count excludes NPC dialogue, and optional bosses and other stuff dialogue. I am also not going to post future sagas or arcs so that way you don't get spoiled, too much of what to expect.

Secondly what I wanted to make mention to were the future "Movie" sagas. Where, in the Load screen for the game, after you get to a certain point in the story, you can activate optional sagas that are extremely long and are, "mostly", non-canon to the story of the game. They are essentially just the equivalent of Pokemon movies, except without the movie part. Some are canon, but below here I will be posting the current movies that I will be working on, once I finish the Monochroma Siblings Saga. I will be soon posting more information on this, as the artwork becomes available. They are NOT actual movies, and are is just a creative way of saying "New stuff, now go play."

Symphonic Horizon - Movies

The first two movies will be available after completing the Monochroma Siblings Saga

Movie 1: "World Kings Tournament and the World's Strongest!" - Written (Available after Monochroma Siblings Saga)

Synopsis: Vice and Allan receive an invitation from Helena Brennan to take part in a new Pokemon Tournament referred to as "The World Kings Tournament." The tournament is set within the south continents Safari Zone, which comprises half of the region, and contestants must defeat previous Gym Leaders and Champions from across the world to see who can be deemed "World's Strongest." However, everything doesn't sound exactly as it may seem, as the leader behind the tournament has issued a strange request for Allan Monochroma to defeat all of world's strongest Champions, to test his power. For what purpose does being deemed "World's Strongest" mean? What could be in store for Allan, and his friends?

Word count: ~78,442

Movie 2: "Princess of the Forgotten City of Time" - In progress, not going to be working on this much, but, I will at a later date.

Synopsis: Vice and co. find that several temporal stones have disappeared from the City of the Timeless, and soon find out that a mysterious woman has been gathering them all. Soon after, the party find themselves several hundred years in the past, when the City of the Timeless was no longer in ruins, but find themselves greeted with a girl, who has just been chosen as the next Keeper of Time, by Dialga. However, the mysterious woman from the future intends to re-write time by eliminating the chosen Keeper of Time, and taking the role for herself.

NOTE: THE PRINCESS IS NOT HIRO.

Word Count: Currently at 12,373, won't be working on this for awhile.

So, that is something to expect for when the game finally is release. I know there is a lot to swallow here, but, with all this new content that I've been extremely hard at work to produce, it will all be worth it in the end d=u=b If I continue to work, undisturbed, then I will hopefully be able to start on newer parts of the game.

Edited April 10, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Commander]

...I don't think any of you guys can wrap your heads around how huge that word count is. Nanowrimo considers it an accomplishment to write around 80,000 words which is usually considered a book. 130,000 words is generally considered the length of a good sized story (sometimes considered a thick book). That aside, the amount of words here is considered normal for a story heavy RPG so don't let that scare you away from this game (hell, I love really long stories).

I'm also wondering how you haven't gone crazy yet from the sheer amount of text needed.

[Masquerain]

Will, dedication, working with enthusiasm and being interested in your own project help a crapton I know that much from having comic that is several notebooks long

[Dylanrockin]

...I don't think any of you guys can wrap your heads around how huge that word count is. Nanowrimo considers it an accomplishment to write around 80,000 words which is usually considered a book. 130,000 words is generally considered the length of a good sized story (sometimes considered a thick book). That aside, the amount of words here is considered normal for a story heavy RPG so don't let that scare you away from this game (hell, I love really long stories).

I'm also wondering how you haven't gone crazy yet from the sheer amount of text needed.

It is quite a lot, considering. Most of the dialogue is well spread out, so that the game's pace doesn't drag as a result.

That said, I had to make the Hidden Potential arc entirely dialogue, for the sole reason of one thing: I can't make the player do arbitrary tasks as a means of training. That is something that would have no meaning and no value, and I'd rather not make the player do ridiculous objectives, for no reason. And I don't want to cut that dialogue out, either, since the characters unlocked powers would raise further questions. Rather than leaving the attaining of their new abilities up to player speculation, I had no choice but to make it a long scene so the player wouldn't question where they came from. At that point, doing something like that would be considered horrible writing, and is a bold yet pretentious move, on the writers part.

Will, dedication, working with enthusiasm and being interested in your own project help a crapton I know that much from having comic that is several notebooks long

Indeed, that and I've been working on my game for years now, about 4 to be exact, but I didn't start taking it seriously until I understood the ground work from which I was working with. It wasn't until 2 years ago that I started working more intensely on my game, and making decent headway. The first 2 years was a lot of learning, mapping, and writing.

Edited April 11, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Dylanrockin]

SO, I actually did a stream, for once in a long while, and got a lot of progress done. I got a whole map completed, and several NPC Events finished. The finished product is below. This is the Horizon Valley area of the game, which leads up through Horizon Fields, and ultimately to Renma, which is a large city, just like Skycrest, but not nearly as taxing on me to make. This is one of the many 2nd Continent maps that I've been working on, but at the moment, mapping isn't my biggest concern at the moment. Progressing story events are.

[Dylanrockin]

Here's a question for those who keep up to date with my game:

When the game is released, and I want to know what you guys think, do you plan on playing to just beat the game, or do you intend to play the additional content that I put in it? Because, there are, surprisingly, a lot of people who play Pokemon fan-games to just play and beat, but don't bother too much with the additional, optional content. And, for those of you who know me, I love putting in pointlessly optional stuff into my game, especially cameo bosses and whatnot (see Allan vs. Alain video ;D). But, I was just wondering, because, I spend a lot of time putting in really fun, optional stuff that a lot people would enjoy, but when I watch LP'ers play other people's games, they don't really bother with it, and I wanted to know how you guys would feel about it. Plus I'm from the J-RPG camp, where optional stuff is always fun to do, regardless of how challenging it is.

---------------------------------------------

As an aside to that, I plan on giving all 6 characters 2 new sets of costumes, which will be the final 2 sets for the entire game, minus their Christmas and Halloween clothes, which will come at a later date. As well as announcing a plethora of new characters, and a new transformation that has no gameplay significance whatsoever, but it has a lot of plot significance. If you thought a human with a Pokemon tail was weird, just wait till you see what's coming up, next week

Edited April 14, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Ice Cream Sand Witch]

I'd definitely play the extra content! That's actually something that I like in games a lot.

[Caz]

I tend to do a small amount of optional content in games. Not 100% completion, but a fair bit. Most people, myself included, would certainly play optional content as it comes along so long as its interesting and not repetitive, so in this case I imagine it'd be fine. I for one will play all the content I can find.

[Dylanrockin]

Oh, and one other thing I wanted to ask: I was planning on changing the mechanics for the Healing Items, such as Potions and whatnot, to closely match how they work in the Tales series.

For those of you who're unfamiliar with Tales, basically there are Gel items that are essentially used as means of healing HP or TP. Each gel heals a set percentage of HP/TP - Apple Gels heal 20%, if memory serves me correctly, and so on.

Basically what I'm trying to get at here, is that I'm going for authenticity, instead of going with the standard Pokemon Potion functions, which heal a set number of HP. But with this, I feel that having it heal a set percentage would be okay, depending on how it is used. What do you guys think?

[Masquerain]

Personally, I play anything in a game that provides me with a story. Whether it's the main plot or a side-character story, doesn't really matter, I am a reader so I like my stories ;x If there's nothing like that in a game, I just ditch it after I beat it

[Commander]

I'll have to be honest as all of the optional stuff is going to have to be up to you. I believe the reason why many lpers don't do a whole bunch of extra stuff is because they can only spend so much time on a game before moving to the next project. There a few exceptions like Chuggaconroy who does 100% completion LPs (most people just play through a game's main story as it save video editing and is less space on their computer).

I can't really tell you what to do as I've done both plow only through the main story and others where I 100% completed them. A game where I can only plow through the main story is Xenoblade Chronicles (not to be mistaken with XB X) because the main story is quite engaging and the side quests are quite tedious and can make the main story way too easy. Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (or really any of the trails games) puts so much detail into a huge amount of NPCs, especially students, along with sidequests taking no more than 10 minutes, really made me want to do all the side stuff as it is very rewarding (you're really hurting yourself if you don't), but there's so many easy to miss stuff that it's almost impossible to 100% the first time without a guide. There's even books, like one is even a children's book, that you can read just for fun. They aren't too bad tbh.

I mean we could argue all day about this as not everyone who plays the game, or even the majority, may even speak. Obviously, there are people who are going to do everything, do some of the side stuff (I mostly only do quests that deepen the story), and some people who will straight up focus on only playing the main story going from point a to b instead of smelling the flowers. I think it boils down to how much you work you want to put into them because there'll always be people who enjoy them and others that say "skip it".

As for Gels, I have a love hate relationship with them. On one hand, I really like them as they always restore 30/60% of my health so they'll never be a waste. On the other hand, I rarely can fully restore my HP in the tales game and I start to feel apple gels are worthless. Considering I'm the guy who uses super potions when testing leaders even in the mid 60s (no seriously, not kidding about that), I can honestly say it'll make the game harder as people will have to think about their times to heal. Mostly though, it'll make healing Blissey not a complete waste. I say go for it.

[Personthing]

Personally, I'd probably check out most of the optional stuff. Go for it if you'd like, but be wary if you are feeling burnt out.

As for the healing items working more like the gels in the Tales Of series, I can't say I'm particularly fond of that. Healing after battles would become much more of a pain (having to spend money on multiple healing items rather than just being able to use one item), and it would get a bit grating in battle as well. Perhaps have some items heal set amounts while others heal based on percentage? But it's your game, and I'd certainly be willing to give that a shot, this is one of the more interesting projects I've checked out around here.

[Dylanrockin]

I'll have to be honest as all of the optional stuff is going to have to be up to you. I believe the reason why many lpers don't do a whole bunch of extra stuff is because they can only spend so much time on a game before moving to the next project. There a few exceptions like Chuggaconroy who does 100% completion LPs (most people just play through a game's main story as it save video editing and is less space on their computer).

I can't really tell you what to do as I've done both plow only through the main story and others where I 100% completed them. A game where I can only plow through the main story is Xenoblade Chronicles (not to be mistaken with XB X) because the main story is quite engaging and the side quests are quite tedious and can make the main story way too easy. Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel (or really any of the trails games) puts so much detail into a huge amount of NPCs, especially students, along with sidequests taking no more than 10 minutes, really made me want to do all the side stuff as it is very rewarding (you're really hurting yourself if you don't), but there's so many easy to miss stuff that it's almost impossible to 100% the first time without a guide. There's even books, like one is even a children's book, that you can read just for fun. They aren't too bad tbh.

I mean we could argue all day about this as not everyone who plays the game, or even the majority, may even speak. Obviously, there are people who are going to do everything, do some of the side stuff (I mostly only do quests that deepen the story), and some people who will straight up focus on only playing the main story going from point a to b instead of smelling the flowers. I think it boils down to how much you work you want to put into them because there'll always be people who enjoy them and others that say "skip it".

As for Gels, I have a love hate relationship with them. On one hand, I really like them as they always restore 30/60% of my health so they'll never be a waste. On the other hand, I rarely can fully restore my HP in the tales game and I start to feel apple gels are worthless. Considering I'm the guy who uses super potions when testing leaders even in the mid 60s (no seriously, not kidding about that), I can honestly say it'll make the game harder as people will have to think about their times to heal. Mostly though, it'll make healing Blissey not a complete waste. I say go for it.

What you say is very true, but sometimes I feel those LP'ers don't do the game justice by just going to complete it, and not doing even a percent of side-stuff, but that's just me tho. But, I put in extra content into the game to give an incentive for the player to learn more about the characters, and how much they know about the world around them; as well as giving opportunities for cameo fights from other parts of the franchise, such as Alain being an optional boss. But, I do this stuff because I want people try and do more with the game, and understand the level of depth and emotion that the characters possess, even on the optional aspect of it all.

As for Gels, you do know they add +30% and +60% of your total max HP right? So, basically it doesn't just heal only a percentage, it adds a percentage that is based off of your total max HP. So, if you have used a Lemon Gel, which heals 60% HP, and you have currently 50%, it will heal you up to 100%. It adds a percentage that is based off of Total Max HP and TP. I wanted to use them as a way to make the gameplay feel a little more varied, and not so samey as other games, while also being geared towards the main goal of making this a hybrid Pokemon-Tales game.

So, even when the game is done and over with, the characters will be fully developed, and will still have more to show for themselves in the extra content. Some of which hints at the next game.

What I was thinking is this:

Potions would heal - +20%

Super would heal - +40%

Hyper would heal - +70%

But again, even I'm on the fence about using the Gel mechanics for my game.

Edited April 14, 2016 by Dylanrockin

[Personthing]

What I was thinking is this:

Potions would heal - +20%

Super would heal - +40%

Hyper would heal - +70%

But again, even I'm on the fence about using the Gel mechanics for my game.

The problem here (from my perspective) is that while these may be fine late game parameters, this seems a bit... Unfair for the early game? Like in Tales games characters usually start with +100 HP, correct? (Memory is a bit shaky here), while in the early game Pokemon will have around 20 HP, so a single potion would heal about 4 HP...

Unless I'm just being a dunce and haven't properly been paying attention if the game starts with all available characters stronger than the typical starting trainer, like in Pokemon Colosseum.

[Dylanrockin]

The problem here (from my perspective) is that while these may be fine late game parameters, this seems a bit... Unfair for the early game? Like in Tales games characters usually start with +100 HP, correct? (Memory is a bit shaky here), while in the early game Pokemon will have around 20 HP, so a single potion would heal about 4 HP...

Unless I'm just being a dunce and haven't properly been paying attention if the game starts with all available characters stronger than the typical starting trainer, like in Pokemon Colosseum.

That is true... Hm... maybe I won't use it, after all. It would be nice, if the stats were scaled up to a higher level, mainly the HP. To where HP could exceed 999 and go to 9999, while the other stats would stay the same. But, that ain't happening, because screw that noise.

The game starts you off at level 7, with an Eevee that has slightly higher stats than a normal one.