Register a SA Forums Account here!
JOINING THE SA FORUMS WILL REMOVE THIS BIG AD, THE ANNOYING UNDERLINED ADS, AND STUPID INTERSTITIAL ADS!!!

You can: log in, read the tech support FAQ, or request your lost password. This dumb message (and those ads) will appear on every screen until you register! Get rid of this crap by registering your own SA Forums Account and joining roughly 150,000 Goons, for the one-time price of $9.95! We charge money because it costs us money per month for bills, and since we don't believe in showing ads to our users, we try to make the money back through forum registrations.
 
  • Locked thread
silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.


Story
The world of Nerth is a peaceful place, with brave knights, benevolent kings and content people. The Gurus, an cadre of Wise Old Men and Wise Old Women, kept watch over the world. Everyone was happy.

12 years ago, the great Guru clairvoyant Alistair had a vision...

"I have had a vision," said Alistair, "The Child of Light has been born!"

The Child of Light! While this is great news, it carries with it a dark realization... The return of Mephistocles, the Lord of Demons, is nigh. To prevent panic from gripping the world, the Gurus kept the vision a secret.

And then...the Void of the World opened. The barrier between the Demon World and Nerth was weakening.

"It is time for action," said the great Guru Grand Poobah Pablo, "Messengers, send word to all the Kings and Queens in all the lands of Nerth. The War of Darkness is upon us - send us your greatest heroes. The Forces of Light needs the bravest warriors, the most talented mages, and the pluckiest rogues if we ever hope to defeat the Forces of Evil."

And so the word was sent out, and the world awaits with bated breath for the return of the Lord of Demons...


The story is split into 5 chapters, with each of the first four chapters focusing on a new hero, and the 5th chapter bringing them all together.

About

Hero's Realm is an RPG Maker 2003 game created by kentona, a well-known name in the RM community being the Head Administrator of rpgmaker.net. The game itself is an ode to old 8-bit jRPGs and widely regarded as a fun romp in a familiar fantasy land by its many fans. Hero's Realm was started in 2006 and finally completed in 2009 (though it was still being fixed and edited into 2011). The game boasts 16 main characters, 22 different classes and many fun hours of play. A labour of love, Kentona cites Dragon Warrior and early Final Fantasy titles as inspiration.

You can find the game (and its assorted information) right here.





Updates

01 - Loot up and Suit up!
02 - Kung-fu Paladin
03 - Puff Puff Destruction
04 - Happy, Happy Fun Times
05 - A Night of Tales and Treasure (aka The Cantankerous Contraption)
06 - There and Back Again. And Again. And Again. And...

silversatyr fucked around with this message at 12:29 on Feb 8, 2015

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.
Game Information


Helminsk
A small town to the north of Stromholm. Some of the children there have gone missing and it's up to Blucia and her allies to find them. Has an abundance of shops - Weapon, Armour, Accessory, Item, secondary Weapon and secondary Accessory.

silversatyr fucked around with this message at 13:28 on Dec 22, 2014

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.
Update 01 - Loot up and Suit up!


Let's start with the typical title screen. As an RM2K3 game, there's not much you can do with the title screen - just change the window graphic, music and background image. That said, this is a nice piece, considering that 2k3 games are stuck with 256 colours. Yikes!


Gotta appreciate the choice. We're not going to be taking it, though, but thankfully the opening is pretty short, so...


The screen scrolls down, with the image of the main icon super-imposed over the map. There's a castle there. We'll probably visit it at a later date.



A better look at the logo. It's nice, considering the colour depth issues the engine works with.

The screen fades out and...

...into another area of the map. Cue credit roll~


We find ourselves in the middle of a desert as kudos to the inspirations that caused this game to be made fade in and out. It's nice to give appreciation!


Another place we'll be visiting. This isn't taking as long as you'd think as the game employs a fade out after each credit given, then showing up in another area.

Yeah, I know, this is riveting stuff. It'll get better, trust me~


Ice! Every RPG has that one town...

You may notice rips in this game. RPG Maker games tend to not care too much about where resources are gathered. It's an interesting phenomenon, so you'll probably be seeing more through-out the game. The game itself is free and any resources used are from old games, so most people don't see it as an issue as long as correct credit is given.


Always thank your guineapigstesters! That guy there will be coming in to play very shortly.


Welcome to chapter one! Why do the children need to be thought of? Let's find out shall we?


That dude is on the move. You can just see a house in the lower left of the screen. That's where he's headed.


Well, hello there! Just come on in. Make yourself at home.


There is a great crisis brewing in the kingdom, one that has all the citizens worried! Please go talk to the King! We are in need of a hero!

First game dialogue ahoy!


The main character of each chapter has their own special class. We'll get into the other classes a little later in the update, but just pointing out that this character will be the only Huntress you get in the game.


Time to get your participation on! Her default name is Holdana. Let's see if we can't do better. There are 10 characters in each name, so keep that in mind.


Okay, so no bets on who this mystery hero is going to be.


Ah, the ol' 2k3 menu system. Everything is pretty easy to figure out. A fast run-down, though.

Items are where you'll find all of your items. I'll show them off later.
Magic shows what spells you have (none so far).


Equip lets you mess with your equipment set-up and see how it affects your stats.
Currently we have a Club (+13 STR) and Leather Armor (+12 DEF). Not great stuff but enough to beat up furry animals with.


The Status screen shows character stats - pretty basic if you've ever played a jRPG before. Title won't be used, sadly. Frnt shows if you're in the back or front row.

Row will change whether you're in the front or back row. Back row will up your defence but lower your attack (unless you have a ranged weapon equipped) while being in the front will raise attack and lower defence.

Order will let you rearrange your party.

Active/Wait can be toggled to allow waiting while you choose actions in battle, or allow constant actions by the enemies. I prefer Wait just so I can think about what to do next, so that'll be what I use for this LP.

Save can only be used on the world map, and as the label says, will save your game.

Quit ends the game. Pretty self explanatory, really.


Mr. SoldierGary is really anxious that I get going, so of course...


...I'm gonna take my time and loot the place. It's my own home so it's not like I'll be stealing. (Though that's bound to happen some time in this update.)

As with Dragon Quest games, various containers can be searched in this game. When empty, you'll get this message. I won't be showing all these messages and try only show when I actually hit jackpot.


Mirrors, however, are always going to get a spotlight because each has something different to say. Some funnier than others. That said, NAME ME! had a good sleep last night and is really feeling her look today.


When you do find an item, a small item will pop up over your head. They can be hard to capture via screenshot though, due to them being pretty fast to vanish. I got lucky with my first, so here's the typical herb/medicine icon. I'll probably not bother screenshotting them, though.

This was a Medicinal Herb. They restore HP by 35. Not great, considering NAME ME! has over 80 HP at the moment, and will soon jump over triple digits, but we'll end up getting enough to spam heal if we need.


Case in point: our second Medicinal Herb, found in the barrel across from the last one. These should last us well enough for the moment.


That's all for inside the house, so out we go. It's a pretty piece of land and it's ours! We have a well AND a pond! Living the high life!


If you happen to come across any Beast Tokens in your travels, seek out a Token Market. You would be able to trade it there. Take care of yourself.

Yes, our mother lives. We're already ahead of the jRPG hero curve! True to motherly form, she dispenses wisdom - though we won't be seeing this nugget of wisdom come in handy for a while.


We are now free to explore the world map! And when I say we are free, I mean we can go anywhere we like (within the borders of the Kingdom, at least).


Hm... That place looks plot relevant. Screw that!


FREEDOM!


Oh.


Uh...


Oh dear.


Well... perhaps we shouldn't have done that just yet.


I actually forgot to drop a save and had to replay the start. Thank God for that Skip Intro option. This time I rectify that as soon as I hit the world map. Now, there was something...


Well, well, well.

:suicide:


Some wells will have little hidden areas in them. It's a nice throwback. There will be more.


Down here you can fight Peeps. They're pretty easy and a good way to introduce the battle scene. It's simple, really.


The bar to the far right will fill up and shows how long until you get to take a turn. Once full, you get to pick one of the actions to the far left.

Pictured: Me forgetting to get an image of the first half of the action box. You're bound to see the options eventually but it's pretty basic stuff - Attack, which allows you to hit the enemy with your current weapon; Skill/Magic, which lets you use skills/magic; Pummel, which is NAME ME!'s personal skill (it basically saves up a turn and double attacks on the next. It's more useful as it sounds as it sometimes bugs out and allows for a no-action turn to pick skills then have everything go off at once. This can make the difference between life and death sometimes, as your heroes often get their attack to go off first.); Defend, which takes a turn and cuts damage; Item, which lets you use an item in battle; Escape, which lets you run from the enemy, based on your party speed; and Row, which lets you move your characters from one row to the other.

:words:
Phew!


NAME ME! wails on the enemy with her club. Since this is a very small, very furry critter, it dies immediately.


NAME ME! rejoices in it's death.

Now, you'd think this would be a good area to grind up a few levels, but the experience and gold isn't worth it. They give 5 EXP each and only show up in one-monster packs but since you need 301 EXP until your next level... It's better to just use the monsters on the world map.

Not pictured: Metal Peeps which are very, very rare and give much more EXP. Unfortunately, I couldn't run in to one after grinding up to level two, so... They're basically a recolour with bigger stats. So much so that it makes it very hard to deal with them with a one-character party.


Right, enough piss-farting around. We don't want a repeat of the Greywolf incident, so we'll head straight to the castle.




We don't even get to say a word before being dragged off to see the king - whether we're ready or not.


Well, Your Majesty, I'm here. You wanted to see me?


I kid, I kid. Loot first, plot second!

These four chests are ours for the taking!
We get:
- a Life Acorn (increases MAX HP by 5)
- 120 Gold
- a Medicinal Herb
- a Warp Wing (returns to previously visited area)

Now, you might think that these would be the only items in the room but there are two hidden items in here as well!


Something found in the early Dragon Warrior games, the under-foot search is brought to Hero's Realm as well. Behind the throne we find the first of another Dragon Quest staple - Tiny Medals. I'll be explaining them in the next update.


You can also find hidden chests under water! This one holds a Knife, which we'll check out in the next update too. For... reasons~


Oh, don't worry, we'll be seeing the barracks very soon.

Since we found the chest you can now see it in the water, too. It'll give a generic "Chest is empty" message if you check it again, as with any spots where you grabbed treasure.




Looks like we have no choice.

Fine. On with the plot then.


You must have heard the rumour that children across the land have been vanishing recently. The parents from Helminsk have come to me this morning in tears, begging for help.
I cannot ignore this rumour any longer! NAME ME!, as our nation's greatest tracker, please find the missing children!
Our country is counting on you!
Feel free to visit the barracks. You may find companions to help you on your quest.


Sounds like something I'd be interested in helping out with. No good can come from kids being kidnapped, after all.

If you talk to the King again he will offer to save your game for you, and tell you that he's counting on you. No pressure then!


The advisor will now chat, though he hasn't got much to say aside from pointing out that speed is needed. Fine, then, we'll go.


Oh, hey! S'up Gary?

Yup! We figured that one out for ourselves. Thanks for the advice, though.

The castle has a few areas in it. To the far right is a doorway that leads to the jails and to the north is a door leading to the castle gardens. Let's check out who's hanging around here in the main area first, though.




:smith:


The King is a nice man.


Door! :argh:

We'll be back for you...


This means we're locked in the Kingdom. Don't worry, we'll get to escape eventually.


Good to know, I guess...?


Don't worry, random lore-building NPC, NAME ME! is on the case! They're practically home already!


Pretty~


Meta much?

There are some bugs through the game. Hopefully you guys won't deal with them in this LP, but for the most part the game is pretty bug-free. The issues are more problems with the engine it was made in, really.


Bikill - Doubles attack power.
Upper - Doubles defence.
Focus - Doubles magic power.
Speedup - Doubles agility.
Heroic - Doubles all stats.
Invisible - Immune to physical attacks.
Werewolf - Doubles attack, no control.
Ironize - Immune to phys/magic attacks.
Weak - Halves attack power.
Sap - Halves defence.
Discord - Halves magic power.
Slow - Halves agility.
Inept - Halves all stats.
Poison - Lose HP while walking.
Sleep - Cannot act.
Numb - Immobilized.
Surround - Unable to hit targets.
Stopspell - Unable to cast spells.
Chaos - Attacks allies randomly.


:words:

Yes, he tells us exactly all of that. Useful information but each condition name pretty much spells it out so we shouldn't get too confused.


Oh? Me too!

Oh, hey, what's that conveniently-looking odd spot down there?


Money!


But you never know what a Tarot card will do until you use it.

I don't mind using Tarot cards (and thus, Harlequins) but they can be a bit OP. Doesn't stop me from loving them, despite the random nature of their spells.


To open these chests in your inventory, simply use them like any other consumable item. The contents of the chest will then be revealed to you.
Alternatively, you can press the 0 key to automatically open all chests in your inventory.


This is an interesting feature of the game and I'll admit I'm kind of fond of it. Even if it doesn't really affect the game much, it's a funny little touch and depending on the chest you'll get different items at random.


This is found to the left of the main castle hub, which leads to the jail.


I'll be keeping an eye out for that!


Dooooor! :argh:

I'll be back for you.


Someone has the right idea.


Pssst! By the way, I would watch out for the guy in the cell next to me... He only wakes up at night.

Okay, I'll be sure to come back at night if I ever need to talk to him, I guess.


There is a tower on the island north of Helminsk.

To the left of the gardens door is a staircase going up to the King's room. I don't know why his tutor is chilling in his room. He's not very helpful - that's all he says. If you choose no, he just shuts up.


This is a nice find and will help us out in battle. Blaze Scrolls cast Blaze - a single-target, fire-based spell. It will come in handy.

That is all the King is packing, though. We can tick the castle off our 'To Loot' list for the time being. Now to check out the town!


FREEDOM!


You don't have to tell me, mate!

Greywolves! :argh:


The church will restore your allies back to life (for a price) or give a blessing (heal from an ailment)...also for a price. Uh, I mean 'donation', of course!


...but you're still ugly...


There sure are! Often in packs, too.


...let the looting begin!




Muahahahahaha!


Soon...


You bastard. I just know there's something in that cupboard! I'll be back...


Right, let's see what the word around town is then, shall we?


Nah, that's my job. And I'm expecting pay for it, too.

Goddess: Kristin. +1 Lore!


Allergies? I hate allergies.


Oh. Not allergies.


You'd better! I'd hate to rescue the kids only to have to go after them again because you dropped the ball.


Don't worry, Ma'am. NAME ME! is on the case!


:unsmith:


:3:


Sir. I think you need to lie down for a while.


Oh? Let me give it a go.


Cinch!


SCORE!



*GASP*


C-Could it be?!


SIDE QUEST GET!

I'll be dealing with that later. Mufufufufufu~


'Handsomely, eh?' I like Handsomely!

Spelling error count: 1


This is it guys... Participation time is up again!


Smells of loot in here...


This will be less useful to know than you think.


Black Magic does direct damage to an enemy, and is typically of the Fire, Ice, Lightning, Earth or Magic variety.
White Magic is used to heal or revive companions, as well as cure status ailments. Also, the Bless attack type of spells are very effective versus the undead.
Effect Magic is used to change the status condition of monsters or allies. You can double your stats, or halve enemy stats, or afflict them with conditions such as Sleep.
Poison Magic deals damage per round to enemies, typically 1% of their total health per round. It can be useful for long battles or for enemies with lots of HP.


:words:

Thanks info-dump-dude. This info is relatively more useful than the previous guy, but still pretty self-explanatory.


Well, I know where I'm headed!


LOOT!

We grab another Club, some Wayfarer's Clothes (+7 DEF) and a Leather Cap (+2 DEF).


This guy will come in useful for when you lot decide on our party.


I don't know that NAME ME! will be visiting this place any time soon, but I'm sure someone will... We will probably need an all-woman party for it, though, so keep that in mind (there will be another chance for an all-woman party later on).


Nothing I didn't already know, bud. Thanks, though. Reminders are appreciated!


Aw yeah~


More loot! In the two pots and cupboards we find even more treasure!
- a Stamina Seed (increases Max DEF by 5)
- 4 gold (...yay)
- a Tiny Medal (Yay!)
- a Firebal Scroll (casts Firebal - a fire-based spell that attacks all enemies)



Now for the real fun! You guys get to screw me over build the party!

There will be three characters that need to be created. You get to choose gender, name and class.
Gender is pretty much just cosmetic, though it should be pointed out that there is an optional area for all-women party and women have more options when it comes to armours.
Name can have up to 10 characters.
Classes will be detailed below.



















































Our current group.

Pick a name, gender and class. The chosen ones will be the most voted ones, but I reserve the right to veto lovely choices.

That said, I'd recommend at least one character that can use Bless magic. For... reasons.

So... give NAME ME! a name and create three characters for our party!

silversatyr fucked around with this message at 09:19 on Dec 14, 2014

Dr. Tough
Oct 22, 2007

You might want to use a different image host than photobucket

Finlander
Feb 21, 2011
Hero's Realm. I heard a lot about this game when I was still dealing with RPG Maker years ago, but I never really played it. I heard this game was pretty massive, so this ought to be an interesting ride.

Well, our heroine's hair is blue, so call her Blucas. Blucas the huntress.
Besides that, get either a Warlock named Donald or a Harlequin named Yamaha in there. It looks like those two classes are the most interesting of the bunch.

Ramos
Jul 3, 2012


Going to recommend LPix for image hosts. Beyond that, still need to read the update.

Scaly Haylie
Dec 25, 2004

Ramos posted:

Going to recommend LPix for image hosts. Beyond that, still need to read the update.

Seriously, do this so that your images don't fizzle out and die in the middle of the LP.

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.
I'll slowly change them as I go and add the ones from now onwards on it as well. Pity it won't allow for batch uploads, though.

Thanks for the suggestion (and link).

SystemLogoff
Feb 19, 2011

End Session?

silversatyr posted:

I'll slowly change them as I go and add the ones from now onwards on it as well. Pity it won't allow for batch uploads, though.

Thanks for the suggestion (and link).

If you check the tech support thread in LP, you'll see rightload instructions for batch upload.

Sketchie
Nov 14, 2012

NAME ME! (obviously not a Faris rip-off) looks to be a DPS class (unless you can actually change her class), so that's one role fulfilled. If possible call her Faris. Honestly, I think Holdana is decent enough. Maybe Goonanna? Goona?

Finlander posted:

Well, our heroine's hair is blue, so call her Blucas. Blucas the huntress.

Actually, I like this the best. Blucas works. If you want to make it more feminine, Blucia would work.

Looks like the Druid is pretty much the only class that can actually heal worth drat, so let's include him. It does have the Bless line of spells you want as well.

Having a tanky class will help, so I vote for Paladin.

The last slot depends on what you want... do you want another DPS, or a support? If you want a DPS, go Engineer. For support, go Harlequin. Although if you do pick the latter, you HAVE to name him Spoony. :allears:

Sketchie fucked around with this message at 03:35 on Dec 14, 2014

AweStriker
Oct 6, 2014

I'm going to go with Blucia as well for Miss Huntress.

As for the party, I'd like to see a Druid, Black Knight, and Engineer, only one of whom is a man.

vilkacis
Feb 16, 2011



"I don't want to be an NPC any more! :qq:"

Hey, more RPG Maker, I can dig it.

silversatyr posted:


Oh. Not allergies.

Hey, this is a fantasy setting, it could still be an allergy!

quote:

Poison Magic deals damage per round to enemies, typically 1% of their total health per round. It can be useful for long battles or for enemies with lots of HP.

Man. That's pretty stingy.

quote:

So... give NAME ME! a name and create three characters for our party!

Holdana is okay.

Grab a druid, a paladin, and a harlequin, and let's just go with the all-chicks party if there's extra content for it. Uh. Drusilla, Cecilia (for obvious reasons), and Harley? ...I'm bad with names, okay.

NewMars
Mar 10, 2013
I say we name her Atermis. As for part members: how about a mighty Ronin named Strongus (the strongest), an insane, possibly dwarvern (or is that the other way around) Engineer named Ragnar and finally, a useful druid named Velka.

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.
After messing around a bit I've finally got all screenshots where they're supposed to be (and on a host that won't die on me. Yay!)

Thanks for the advice guys!


Finlander posted:

Hero's Realm. I heard a lot about this game when I was still dealing with RPG Maker years ago, but I never really played it. I heard this game was pretty massive, so this ought to be an interesting ride.

It's a good time sink, yeah, but it is a lot of fun as long as you enjoy the older DQ and FF (say, IV, V and VI). I do, so it's all gravy to me.


vilkacis posted:



"I don't want to be an NPC any more! :qq:"

Thus, shall he be named Gary.

vilkacis posted:

quote:

POISONS!!! :argh:
Man. That's pretty stingy.

It actually works pretty well when needed. On certain bosses 1% is a lot more than your party members will be doing, damage-wise (depending on classes and set-up, of course). Especially since it's based on Max HP and not current HP. I've cheesed my way through one of the super hard bosses by inflicting Sleep and Poison at the same time and it was glorious!

(The game might have seen an update since then, so whether we'll be able to see that happen this time around is doubtful.)

That said, there's more to poison than just the damage output, but I'm sure we'll see that at a later date.

Ramos
Jul 3, 2012


NewMars posted:

I say we name her Atermis. As for part members: how about a mighty Ronin named Strongus (the strongest), an insane, possibly dwarvern (or is that the other way around) Engineer named Ragnar and finally, a useful druid named Velka.

I'll second all of this stuff.

GulagDolls
Jun 4, 2011

hte name of the mightiest hunter in all the lands.....steve....

BlazeEmblem
Jun 8, 2013

Uh oh. Do I use Ariadne thread or Goho-M?

The hunter definitely isn't Faris, so lets name her NotFaris.

I can't think of anything funny enough for the other party members, though.

Cyflan
Nov 4, 2009

Why yes, I DO have enough CON to whip my hair.

Oh hey it's this game. I was going to try it, but never did, so looking forward to seeing what I missed.

Oh and the votes:
Blucia seems like the best name suggestion so far, so I'm voting for that.

vilkacis posted:

Grab a druid, a paladin, and a harlequin, and let's just go with the all-chicks party if there's extra content for it. Uh. Drusilla, Cecilia (for obvious reasons), and Harley? ...I'm bad with names, okay.

For the rest, I'll just go with this since those classes seem pretty cool and I'm bad with names as well.

Gloomy Rube
Mar 4, 2008



Get a male paladin named Cecil, a male Black Knight named Cecil, and a male Engineer named Cid

Yapping Eevee
Nov 12, 2011

STAND TOGETHER.
FIGHT WITH HONOR.
RESTORE BALANCE.

Eevees play for free.
Hey, an interesting-looking RPG Maker game! These are usually pretty fun, and this one seems to have actual effort put into it.

vilkacis posted:

Holdana is okay.

Grab a druid, a paladin, and a harlequin, and let's just go with the all-chicks party if there's extra content for it. Uh. Drusilla, Cecilia (for obvious reasons), and Harley? ...I'm bad with names, okay.

Voting for this as well.

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.
Update 02 - Kung-fu Paladin


Here's our team. The majority of you went for an all female party, so that's what we got!


First off is Blucia. She's going to use a mix of physical and magical attacks. She's also pretty fast on her feet and sturdy, so she'll be kept in the front lines.


Next up is our Harlequin, Harley. She's going to be mainly magic-based, depending on what Tarot cards she gets. Otherwise she'll be hitting things. She's fast, but a little fragile.

She starts out with a few neat skills.
Lullaby is a group sleep spell and will be hella useful. It hits fairly often and is one of the best spells for crowd control.

Tarot card items are interesting. Only Harlequins can use them and they teach one of the random Tarot cards to the user when applied. Harley starts with some already, but we'll get more. When used in battle the card will randomly activate a spell tied to it and randomly pick a target to apply that spell to. Some cards are better than others, as expected. These are what she started with and I'll show off any new ones she gets as well.

Star Tarot is decent. It won't target the enemy, which is great, and applies one of the four buffs to the Harlequin: Upper, Speed, Focus or Ghost. It can fail, though.
(Ghost doubles attack and intelligence, and doesn't allow physical attacks to hit on you, but you can't control the character.)
Jester Tarot is iffy. It applies Laughter to a group, which stops them from making any actions in battle. It wears off pretty fast, but can backfire and hit your group which isn't great.
Fool Tarot is another hit or miss. It can do nothing or apply Heroic or Confusion to the target. The target is, again, random.

The Card we had in our inventory taught us the Eurayle Tarot.
Eurayle Tarot isn't great. It applies either Numb or Poison to the target. Once again, target is randomised so it can backfire.


Our Druid, Velka, is pretty fragile and can be a bit slow, but her healing is going to come in handy, just like her ability to use the Bless spells later on. She starts with two spells already - Poison and Heal.
Now, Poison may sound bad but it's actually pretty decent. The spell has a chance to inflict poison to the enemy but also does some pretty decent damage - more than she can currently deal out, even with a weapon. She will be kept in the back row, though, due to her fragile nature.


Cecilia is our Paladin. She's sturdy and while she's not the fastest, she'll be able to take some hits while also healing up our group when needed. In fact, her healing is on par with Velka's, though it takes her a while to get some spells. She will also get Bless eventually, which means that we're going to be overpowered for this chapter. I'm perfectly okay with that, though.


When we last left off we had just gotten the crew together so now it's time to check out what we can buy. You'll notice that the gang already have some goodies equipped - these are the items that we'd found before. To the Shops!


The weapon and armour shops in Stromholm are in the same building.


The weapon shop has some weapons that are upgrades and some that we can't buy or can't equip. On the right you can see how the items compare to what is already equipped.
Green arrows mean that the main stat for that item is higher than the current equipped item.
Red arrows mean that the main stat for that item is lower than the current equipped item.
For weapons, the STR is what it's judged by. For armour, DEF is. Other stats aren't taken into consideration on this screen, so it's hard to know whether one item has other aspects to it.



The item store has a few non-typical items.
Antidote Herb removes poison.
Moon Herb removes Numb.
Wolfbane will revert Werewolf status.



Next up is the alternate item shop. Here you can find things for different classes and accessories. The Recipes are for Witches/Warlocks and the Tools are for Engineers. We don't currently have any, though. The Viper Amulet will nullify poison attacks when equipped and while it would be useful, we have better things to spend our money on. Like armour.


Speaking of...

Most of this stuff is an upgrade to what we found, bar the Cloth Tunic. Each of our current classes can use a shield, which is nice.

I picked up a few Wayfarer's Clothes (7 DEF) and a Copper Sword (24), which I gave to Blucia.


Lady, not everything is about you.

Now, some of you might notice we skipped a house in the last update. The reason for this is because we've a small sidequest there, but will need a party. Thankfully, we now have one! Time to raid!

In the bookshelf to the right we find a Heal Scroll which casts Heal (+45 HP, one target).


Blucia stops to flex in front of the mirror and check out her epic muscles. She's been lifting, brah.


Good good. Having a well-balanced party is crucial to survival these days.

Okay, fine, that's about all we're getting here. Let's check out these rats in the basement the lady mentioned.


My loot senses are tingling.

I see something of interest, though. Let's check that out first, shall we?


Hitting this switch...


...will open this hidden door.


Loot now! We grab a Ticket here, which will be explained in the next episode.
We also find an Antidote Herb in one of the barrels and a Cloth Tunic in one of the other cupboards.


We also check out the mirror for more epic flex time. Sadly, it's too dirty be be of use. Oh well, maybe next time, Blucia.


Aw, our first dungeon!

Granted, it's a small dungeon, but a dungeon non-the-less! So... let's go!


Most dungeons will have branching paths. It's easy to get lost if you're not good at directions (not something I have an issue with, thankfully) but shorter ones shouldn't pose a problem for people. That said, I'll just be showing off points of interest and giving general directions.

Let's go! There's a branch up and one down that leads both left and right. We're going to head up first, because it doesn't seem to lead anywhere. Dead ends before progress~


We find a dead end and a treasure chest with a Leather Cap (2 DEF). I hand it to Velka, since she has the lowest DEF so far and we'd like to keep our healer alive.


Rats!

...and a Mouse. These are the only enemies we'll find in this dungeon. They can do a bit of damage when you run into larger groups, but for the most part they're pretty tame, though the Rats do have Plague Bite, which can poison an ally.

Heading back to the central area, we go down and to the left.


Where we find another throwback to classic jRPGs, in the form of a monster chest.


Crud.

Blucia is poisoned by one of the rats, while Cecilia heals up. White numbers indicate damage, blue indicate healing.

We're still on level 1 in this fight, so it can be easy to get overwhelmed, especially if you don't have a good party. The Firebal scroll that we picked up earlier can help take this battle down.


Thankfully we have Harley and her great singing voice. She busts out a Lullaby (consequentially sending all bar one Mouse to sleep. I love this spell! :allears: ) while one of the enemies attack Blucia and miss.


From there we pick them off one by one. Some of the rats woke up and dealt some poison to us while we wailed on them, but they went down pretty fast.


For our trouble we nab this pretty little lovely - a +10 STR when equipped.

It was at this point I realised I'd not gotten Cecilia a weapon and that she was punching enemies. I figured, "Hey, kung-fu Paladin, why not?" and gave her the ring to bolster her attack a bit more, in lieu of a weapon.

The way forward in this area is blocked by a hole, so we go back to the initial fork and follow it down and to the right.


Aha! Following the path leads us here and those stairs will lead us...


...out here.
We are free! Take that, walls! Blucia laughs in the face of your boundaries!


Nothing else out here but a guard, chilling instead of working. Touching the edge of the screen in any direction will teleport us to the world map.

It is what it is.


O Holy of Holies, O great goddess, Kristin! Please remove the foul venom inhabiting our heroes!

Poison will deplete your HP little by little each turn in battle, but also every couple of steps outside of it. Sleeping at an Inn will not remove afflictions, so only items and the church will rid them.


We head out to the world map to grind a bit and get surprised. Our rows get reversed and we're weaker to damage. This group will kill us if we're not careful.

Fortunately, we have a Harley and she hits them with a Lullaby.


While they're sleeping, I decide to show off the Tarot skill, using the Eurayle Tarot.


Unfortunately, we have a Harley and she is clumsy.


Okay, let's try the Jester card instead.


Goddamn it, Harley...

That must have been some joke. :/


To the east of the city we can find this small place. It's the border guard. Let's check it out!


Seems peaceful enough.

Under this tree we can find a hidden spot. Doing an underfoot search, we find our first Chest item!


Hitting 0 opens all chest items in our pack.


BONZAI!

Let's check what we got~


Ah, the Moon Tarot - Randomly applies Sleep, Sleepmore or Werewolf status to a random target.
Sleepmore is an amped up version of Sleep with higher chances of not waking up over time or after being hit.

Let's explore the area and see if we can't find some goodies.


Guard-man knows his business.

When in hills on the world map, enemies will come more often. This can be a curse and sometimes it's better to take the long way around than to cut through hilly areas.


For the record, we are currently in the country known as Norsland. You may notice a little theme when it comes to country and town names. This will become a lot more apparent over time...


And the king has the country on lock-down. Amber alert in full effect, I suppose. the dirtbags who took the kids won't be leaving the country easily, that's for sure.


Inside the house we find a small inn. Grandma is resting her eyes here. I think she's sleeping even if we come back at night. In fact, she might be laying comatose for all we know.


Tell us something we don't know.


Cadana is to the south-east of Norsland. It's a pretty big country and we'll visit it later.


Noice!

Mystic Acorns will increase your Max MP by 5.
Speaking of... I gave Velka the Life Acorn we had on hand and passed the Stamina Acorn to Cecilia. Sure, we could have given it to one of the flimsier characters, but a tank needs to have defence to be a tank. We can bolster the others' DEF with armour if needed, and they're in the back row, so they should be okay.


To the south of the border we find another small area.


I think I hear loot calling me.

As per jRPG rules, we leave no optional areas unmolested!


To the right we find this guy. There's a cave entrance just off screen but we won't go there yet. This information is handy, though, and will come in useful some time next update.


Gimme that! It'll come in handy later.


Something smells a bit... side questy...


Definitely getting that side questy vibe...


It's almost as though this would be a job for some sort of group of travelling heroes... or something like that.


You look strong, why don't you try to clear out the monsters?
>Yes
>No


If you say Yes->
I can only hope you succeed.

But if you say No~


Saying no here will present you with that most classic of dick moves - the eternal 'But Thou Must!' choice. Picking yes will just repeat the previous Yes line.

Now, this is a little bit of a dick move because you can come here at relatively low levels, jump on in and get slaughtered very easily. This sidequest is for when we beef up a bit more, I'm afraid.

So, let the beefing commence!


On level 2 Blucia learns Blaze, the fire element spell. It does small damage to one target. Not a bad spell by any means.

That's one thing about this game - kentona made sure that spells were useful, even status effecting ones. We'll see more of that as the game goes on, but for the most part there won't be many spells that don't have their uses.


Here we have the opposite of a surprise attack. This time we get the upper hand.
Oddly enough, our accuracy takes a hit when this happens, though by all rights it shouldn't. It's an engine issue, though, so it can't be helped.


We managed to best the enemy, though. Our allies gained a level this fight. The party tend to level up together until a few deaths have occurred.

Velka became more useful by learning the Puff spell - an all-enemy earth elemental spell. It's pretty good and can help out in desperate situations.

Cecilia also learned the Heal spell, which we'll put to good use.


Night falls, so we head back to town and check out the different NPCs.


Heh, sorry kid, but we took that already. This is the kid that was trying to push the rock in the last update.


:3:


Most shops are closed at night.


Mr Snuffles finally gets some much needed rest from his allergic reaction to being talked about. The other guy is snoozing in the room above.

...that reminds me...


You bastard! I knew it!

This is mine~ :yoink:


Uh... Ma'am? Are you... sleeping? In a chair?


:smith:


This guy says something new. It would have been helpful if he'd told us that beforehand but whatever. We've got a good party so far - accident-prone Harlequin and kung-fu Paladin aside.


This guy's awake, but he doesn't say much.


Really? Hm...


I wonder...


The gently caress is this?


Um, hello? Sir? Do you have a permit to live in a loving well?


Uh...


Yeah, I did. And they're mine.


Wait, what? Hey! Gimme back my shinies, you rear end!


Did you say... RARE ITEMS?

Deal.

I will bring you ALL the shinies!


Ah, nice. Let's see what we can get, shall we?

5 Medals - Boomerang
10 Medals - Bladerang
40 Medals - Staff of Jubilation
50 Medals - Shield of Wisdom
55 Medals - Crosserang
60 Medals - Immunity Idol
70 Medals - Fixed Dice
80 Medals - Chakram
95 Medals - Hero Ring
100 Medals - Lightsabre


Ah, Tiny Medals~ I do so love them.
:allears:
A staple of the Dragon Warrior/Quest series, you find the hidden medals, redeem them to the Tiny Medal King/person/thing and get you some nice loot. Thankfully, this game will give you all the items on the list as your raise your medal amount, instead of making you save up for them over and over again.


Not tonight, Blucia. We've got training to do! :black101:


RedCabbage are cousins to the Leafers and area a bit more hardy. They've more HP and will heal when needed. They will also use Surround.

Surround is effectively a renamed Blind that will hit the whole party. They're not a problem, and even if you do get Surrounded, spells aren't affected by the miss rate so you can kill them easily enough that way. Or wait for the ailment to wear off.


Let's try out our new Tarot!


...goddamnit HardisonHarley... :bang:


Thank God Velka's on the job. That Puff spell isn't powerful, but it can come in useful for whittling down a group's HP.


Ourson's (our son???) have a lot of HP. Most enemies will take two hits and die, maybe three. Oursons take a whole round of beating and then some, but they are quite slow so by the time they get a turn you can get them out - which is a good idea because they can hit for decent damage.

That was a critical hit from Harley there, by the way. Yes, our frail little Harley can lay down the hurt with a knife.

Harlequins. :allears:

Ravens are fast and can do some fair damage with their Double attack. Otherwise, they're pretty bland.


Blucia is supposed to be the main hero and she's getting a bit upset at how much screen time the other girls are getting, so she shows off her muscle. Her mind muscle, that is.

She's flexing that brain of hers and drat, can she flex! Someone's been hitting the books because that Blaze spell hit for triple digits.

Vamplants are weak to fire and come in large parties. They can wipe an unlucky party, mainly because they have a numbing (basically paralysis) attack. When all four members are paralysed, it's game over. Luckily, they don't break out Numbing Thorns too often.
They also have a poison attack but that's not much of an issue for a well-prepared party.

You do want to fight these, though because...


That.

That is why.


That also makes a convincing argument.

With that experience boost came new levels!
The girls each go up to level 3. Booyah! :dance:


Blucia learns herself how to poison foes. Now she can deal even more damage with her mind!

The other ladies are content with their stat increases. They are independent ladies who don't need no skills!


Heading north, through the mountains and hills, we find this small area. Let's get our explore on!


I will need a new Dilithium crystal to recharge the portal.

Good luck with that. We've got other business to attend to.


Namely stealing from nuns.


Just checking!


Why you...! :argh:

Door count: 3

We will be back and we will be bringing the hurt, Mssr Door!


Across the bridge and to the south we can see a cave.


A little north and we find the small village of Helminsk.



Next time:

Things do not look good for our heroes! :ohdear:


Discussion time: Should we keep Cecilia as a kung-fu Paladin?
Now, our party is pretty decent for this chapter. In fact, probably one of the best parties we could have for it. Cecilia, without a weapon, is dealing half the damage that even Velka is doing. That's... about 30-40 damage a pop.

We could keep her off weapons and just use her as the heal-tank she's shaping up to be (her healing is on par with Velka and she will get Bless eventually. Velka is using a lot of her magic on Puff and deals a goodly amount of damage just by whacking things on the head, even in the back row.)

It'd give the chapter a bit of a challenge and make things interesting, that's for sure. Besides, kung-fu Paladin. What's not to love?

You guys decide.

vilkacis
Feb 16, 2011

quote:


Hey, we have two Lennas! ...I'll just assume they're twins.

quote:

5 Medals - Boomerang
10 Medals - Bladerang
40 Medals - Staff of Jubilation
50 Medals - Shield of Wisdom
55 Medals - Crosserang
60 Medals - Immunity Idol
70 Medals - Fixed Dice
80 Medals - Chakram
95 Medals - Hero Ring
100 Medals - Lightsabre

Quite the gap there. Hope that staff is worth the trouble...

And of course we should keep the kung fu paladin :black101: uh I mean

Word on the Wind
May 23, 2014
Perhaps I'm blind, but i didn't see a link on where to pick this up. I'm finding this to be rather interesting so far and am in anticipation for more.

As for the Paladin-At-Arms question: Can you dual-wield shields?

Sketchie
Nov 14, 2012

Hmm. Well, I'd imagine the game will amp up quite a bit later on, so we'd better actually give Cecilia a weapon.

Also, that Harley. Her luck is just so bad with the tarot cards. This will be amusing. :allears:

Word on the Wind posted:

Perhaps I'm blind, but i didn't see a link on where to pick this up. I'm finding this to be rather interesting so far and am in anticipation for more.

Also, this. I'd like to try my hand at the game as well.

Sketchie fucked around with this message at 22:34 on Dec 17, 2014

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.

vilkacis posted:

Hey, we have two Lennas! ...I'll just assume they're twins.


Quite the gap there. Hope that staff is worth the trouble...

And of course we should keep the kung fu paladin :black101: uh I mean
He probably could have recoloured their hair easily enough, but, welp!

The gap won't matter too much. The way the game is set out, there are five chapters. The first four chapters are each played as a different group and the fifth combines your forces. It's a really interesting mechanic - a lot like Suikoden III's way of telling the story, but without any jump back and forth. So each chapter we'll be getting about 10, until the last chapter where all of them will be added together, thus jumping to around the 40 mark.


Word on the Wind posted:

Perhaps I'm blind, but i didn't see a link on where to pick this up. I'm finding this to be rather interesting so far and am in anticipation for more.

As for the Paladin-At-Arms question: Can you dual-wield shields?
I just added a link to the OP. I had actually thought I'd added one there already but on double checking it seems I forgot. Sorry! You may have to install some fonts if they're messed up, but the information (and link) for that is on the actual page.

Sadly, you can't dual-wield shields. That would have been awesome, though. She could have strapped a shield to each arm and gone holy barricade on the enemies. SHIELD PUNCH ACTIVATE!

Sketchie posted:

Hmm. Well, I'd imagine the game will amp up quite a bit later on, so we'd better actually give Cecilia a weapon.

Also, that Harley. Her luck is just so bad with the tarot cards. This will be amusing. :allears:


Also, this. I'd like to try my hand at the game as well.

It should be safe to keep Cecilia without a weapon until Chapter 5 at least, so there is that.

And yes, poor Harley is great at the stabby, but not so great at the Tarot. I'm not sure whether she's unlucky, accident-prone or just a massive troll.

Link has been added to OP~

vilkacis
Feb 16, 2011

silversatyr posted:

The gap won't matter too much. The way the game is set out, there are five chapters. The first four chapters are each played as a different group and the fifth combines your forces. It's a really interesting mechanic - a lot like Suikoden III's way of telling the story, but without any jump back and forth. So each chapter we'll be getting about 10, until the last chapter where all of them will be added together, thus jumping to around the 40 mark.

Sounds like fun. Do the different characters get different rewards for the first 10, or does it mean we'll have four boomerangs by the time they meet up?

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.

vilkacis posted:

Sounds like fun. Do the different characters get different rewards for the first 10, or does it mean we'll have four boomerangs by the time they meet up?

We'll have four boomerangs, if we haven't sold them for supply money by then. IIRC boomerangs and bladerangs are the only ones on the list that we can get multiples of. They're rather at the lower end of the cool weapon scale (though they do have their uses), so it makes sense. The rest of the list is pretty decent stuff, though.

NewMars
Mar 10, 2013
If there's one thing this game does really well, it's replicating something not found in JRPG's so much, but in really old western RPG's, especially might and magic, where having references to things like Star Trek not be easter eggs, but important parts of the plot and incidental parts of the game world without comment. I always thought that was pretty funny, actually.

Can Of Worms
Sep 4, 2011

That's not how the Triangle Attack works...
This game has some neat class ideas. The Harlequin's gimmick is cute, although some of these spell lists are inflated. Does the Mesmer really need all those spells? :stare: In any case, I'm excited to see how much FF5 has influenced the game design! :dance:

A good representation of the best country in the world, minus the typo. :canada:

silversatyr posted:

Ourson's (our son???)
Ourson is the french word for bear cub (Ours being french for bear.) The more you know! :france:

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
You gotta name somebody Ragnar, because this is eerily similar to that.

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.

Glazius posted:

You gotta name somebody Ragnar, because this is eerily similar to that.

Knowing kentona, there's probably already a Ragnar in the game somewhere... As NewMars said, he likes to include references as part of the plot - the game is an amalgamation of all things JRPG, Geek culture, classic games and nerd-heavy reference.

That said, I'm sure we'll get a chance to name someone that, but whether everyone agrees on it or not is another matter altogether~ You'll have to make your case when the time comes.



Can Of Worms posted:

This game has some neat class ideas. The Harlequin's gimmick is cute, although some of these spell lists are inflated. Does the Mesmer really need all those spells? :stare: In any case, I'm excited to see how much FF5 has influenced the game design! :dance:

A good representation of the best country in the world, minus the typo. :canada:

Ourson is the french word for bear cub (Ours being french for bear.) The more you know! :france:

I didn't know that Ourson meant that. It's a neat little bit of trivia.

I'm rather partial to the Harlequin class, myself, but the others have enough to make them each unique. Kentona did a good job in making them stand out from each other - even the magical classes are different enough from each other that they don't feel like the same thing over and over. It's quite a feat, considering that it was only one person working on every aspect of the game.

He often jokes about remaking it and going commercial but he's not a very serious person. If you do like games like this, though - very classic ones - he's got a few others that are alike and also completed. They're a lot of fun, too, and I've considered LPing at least another of them when this one is done. Of course, that's quite a while away, since HR is pretty long. (Personally, I'm hoping he finishes the one with the awesome classes like Technoviking, Guitaromancer, Beekeeper, and Facepuncher by then.)



Anyway, in case anyone wanted to know, I'll be trying to keep this LP rolling at a decent pace - an update every couple of days is my goal.

silversatyr fucked around with this message at 14:42 on Dec 19, 2014

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.
03 - Puff Puff Destruction

Last time, on Hero's Realm:


Yup.




Helminsk is just ahead. Let's loot the place before we start progressing any plot, shall we~?


Yeah, we rock in as night falls.

This game has a very simple day/night system. Time will progress while you're on the world map and different things will happen in towns depending on the time of day (of which there are two - day and night). While in town and dungeons time will stop, so you don't have to worry about racking up the clock.


I tried to tell her, "But Momma, only 12-year-olds have gone missing!", but she won't listen!

Kid, you are just begging to be kidnapped. Seriously. You're talking to complete strangers in the middle of the night about how your mother doesn't know you're not in your bed... :pedo:


Wait... What the?! :catstare:

We'd better check this out!


Okay then... good to know the Apocalypse won't be starting tonight. Still, that's no mean feat - Timberwolves can be dangerous for lone travellers! (We've yet to meet one.)


If we indulge in a little grave-robbery, we find some nice loot.

Wizard Potions will restore 60 MP. This will be the only item this group will have that can heal MP. Thankfully, Wizard Potions will do fine for MP healing for quite a long time.


Probably a town or something, mate. I wouldn't worry about it.


Oh, hey, the armour and weapon shop is open at night. Inside we find another Tiny Medal, and a few sleepers. They just ZZZ the night away.


This guy, though...


He sells poo poo! It's decent stuff, nothing awesome but they can come in handy if you don't mind the RNG (random number generator) too much.

I'm gonna start just detailing the items that our group can use instead of all of them. I'm sure we'll get to see the others later on, though.

Cypress Stick (3 STR)
Lucky Dice (6 STR; +50% Crit)
Poison Needle (20 STR; 10% Crit; 15% Death)

I nab a Poison Needle for Velka and head back to the search for epic loots.


You don't say...?


I like this guy. :allears:


Yoink! Can never have enough Blaze Scrolls. I promise, they will come in handy later.




They just celebrated their 12th birthday, too. *sniffle*
:smith:

Let's leave these two to their grief and check out the Inn.


There was a raid on them a while back - their leader was taken prisoner!

Sounds interesting. I'm sure this won't come into play at any point in the future.


Thieves have started to run amok in a cave south of here, to boot! It's sad times, my friends, sad times...

I feel like I need a drink or something. This place is downright depressing.


Loot should help us feel better!


You can miss this if you don't do a bit of night burglary, since the way to the back of the shop is blocked during the day.


We'll check those stairs a bit later. Let's see what the well has to offer.


WANT!

Remember that guy in the last update who talked about ladders being placed across gaps? This is the first instance of it coming in useful.

Certain areas have gimmicks - usually dungeons. This gimmick is comprised of finding ladders and placing them down so you can reach other areas that are blocked off. The stone we're standing on shows where a ladder can be placed and there's another on the other side of the gap that shows how far the ladder will go.

Just off screen you can see a path leading to the left. Let's follow it and see if we can't get to that chest by another route (or find a ladder).


We are now in a real dungeon. This means...


Monsters! :ohdear:

Beaktrots are fairly tame. They can cast Sap (defence down) on a single ally or Upper (strength up) a target on their side. They're easy enough to deal with by themselves, though they can cause a little hassle when in groups with other enemies. They also drop Chests at a rather low rate.



Spakles are lightning-elemental spirits. They're pretty fragile and aren't much of an issue. They have a lightning-all attack which is pretty weak, and a sleep spell that hits one target.


Is that...? :confused:


Someone is living here in the bottom of the well? I mean, that shouldn't surprise us considering that this is not the first well-dweller we've seen but at least the other guy had a house! This guy doesn't even have walls to keep the monsters out!


I actually feel a bit guilty taking this - the poor guy probably needs it since he lives with monsters all around him and all.


Wait. They know you're down here? Who lets their grandpa live in a loving well?!


...I see? And you couldn't write it in the comfort of a real house? Dude...


Yeah, okay, sure. Tell me about the Big Bads of the game, Mr Well-Dweller.

Mephistocles
Ah, Mephistocles, the Lord of Demons...
He is a fearsome demon, that one. He rules the Shadowlands from his Throne of Skulls. He and his demonic ilk were caged in ages long past within the Void of the World, separating his Shadowlands and Shadowspawn from our world.
He struggles to break free from his prison, and will do so for all of eternity.

Balthalas
Balthalas, the Undead Mage.
He is a pompous fool, that one, though that does not make him any less dangerous. Balthalas fancies himself as being Mephistocles' second-in-command, but it is unclear if this is so.
Like all other demons, he was locked away behind the Void of the World in ages past. Which is fortunate for us, for his undead army would ravage the world...

Murzhor
Murzhor, the charismatic manipulator.
This crafty and vile demon is a master of deceit, illusion and magic. He is brilliant in his own evil way. Though shrewed (shrewd*) and conniving, he was no more able to escape from the Void of the World than the other demons.

Urok
The fierce demon Urok is a force in and of himself.
Massively strong, and massive in size, this Goliath is truly frightening. He leads the Demonlord's armies mercilessly and with a cool conviction. Despite his ferocity, he is utterly loyal to Mephistocles.

If you tell him you don't want to read his book he says:
Ah well, waiting for the final draft, are you? I don't blame you. Who'd want to read a half-finished book anyways, ho ho ho?


:getin:


Eyeballers can be a pain. As you can see, they are perfectly capable of destroying your team if you're not careful. They used Blaze on poor Harley and it destroyed her. They also have a pretty long list of skills they can hurt you with - Poison, Surround, Heal and Shadow Flame. The others are pretty self-explanatory, bar Shadow Flame, which removes all buffs from a target.
Thankfully they aren't too buff, so they go down fast. They usually show up together or in a group with other, stronger monsters. They drop Demon Tokens and decent EXP.


Lizarders come in a group. They can call for back-up and hit hard. They also have a draining attack, though it doesn't do much in the way of damage. They have middling health, too, and drop Dragon Tokens.
They can be a hassle since they're often found in large groups.


I was worried until dear, sweet Velka pulled out Puff and destroyed them all. This is why Puff is a great spell.


Heading to the right of gramps' study nook is a small passage that heads up and to the left, transitioning back out on the other side of the initial room.


Inside we get this. It can't be used, sadly, but it will come in handy very soon.


To the south we find a room with a Ladder...


...and use it immediately. Let's get out of here.


Harley is dead, so we need to get that seen to. The price required is levelx10 for each dead character. It's a pittance to pay most of the time, though if you forget and spend your money on something else, it can be a pain.


Yes, please come home, Harley. We need our resident Harlequin to keep spirits high!

She may mess things up when it comes to the cards sometimes, but she's quite good at stabbing things.


Nice and sunny out. (Yes, I slept at the Inn.) First things first...


...we have a lady to talk to. Bet you guys can't guess where it is!


If you guessed in our pack, congrats! You were right! The brooch we picked up earlier is hers.

For our troubles we get...

Booyah!

That experience shoots us up a level each.
Blucia learns Heal. It's the same spell that our girls Cecilia and Velka have. She'll only use it when the others can't. She's better off using Pummel. A correction about that skill - it does cause the bug in question, but it also inflicts Blucia with double-attack. For the rest of the battle she will attack twice each turn. It's a great skill to use, especially when she's got a good weapon.
Velka also learns Antidote - a spell that removes Poison from an ally.


Happy to be of help, Ma'am! :salute:

Let's do the rounds now that shops are open and people are awake.


Hm... Sounds like we got Rovers up north. That could be interesting to check out later.


>Yes
*whispering*
It's not safe to talk about them now. Come back at night.

>No
You haven't? But they are the most notorious gang this side of the Alberich mountains!


(More like the only gang on either side of the Alberich mountains...)


Sorry, kid, but I think you're going to be a bit upset when next you check there.


Remember the stairs near the well? Here's where they lead.


DOOOOOR! :argh:

Soon.


Thanks! Nice doing business with you.

Wow, this will come in handy when we head to the southern caves.



Oh, please, like we weren't going to go there at some point.


Oh. Uh. drat.


Shopping time!


We can find some of these in treasure chests. I tend not to buy them, myself, but I can see that they'd be useful if you're wanting to boost your characters a bit more.

We already have a Ring of Might.
Ring of Warding (+10 DEF)
Ring of Readiness (+10 AGL)
Ring of Energy (+15 INT)
Ring of the Sky (+3 STR/DEF/AGL/INT) This is a downgrade to the Ring of the Stars that we found in Stromholm's rat nest.
Goggles (Immune to Surround)


Hm, I'm not so sure, but I guess we'll have to check it out eventually anyway.


Oh, well, if your bones say so I'm sure it's true.


>Yes
Isn't it a blast? I can't wait until I get my hands on another Ticket so I can go again!
>No
The Amazing Funhouse has just opened, down the coast from here. If you have the time and the tickets, you should go.



Hm... should I tell him or let him keep thinking the best of his idol?


Armour shop~ Let's kit up!


Leather Shield (9 DEF)
Bronze Shield (18 DEF)
Leather Armour (12 DEF)
Leather Dress (15 DEF) This is the first of the extra armour that women get. It's female only and thus, our whole party can equip it... if we had enough money to purchase them.
Wooden Helm (10 DEF)

I grab a Dress for one of the girls (probably Velka who is still low on defence), and a few Leather Shields.


Oh, hey, it's that dude from the night before. So, he sneaks in while these guys are sleeping and show off his (more interesting) items to... burglars? His clientele is a bit suspect, methinks.


Weapon store has a few new stuff to offer us.

Scimitar (29 STR)
Short Bow (32 STR) This bow is nice since it always hits.
Long Sword (43 STR)
Iron Spear (51 STR)

Blucia picks up a Short Bow for herself, upping her damage output.


There's a secondary Accessory shop here. And just down from where we stand is the item store - no new items.


I'm just showing this off to say I did. We can't get anything here so...


Oh, you again. Yeah, troubles, doom and gloom. Got it.


:smith:


So... I take it the fish aren't biting then.


To the north-east we can see the Funhouse. It's an interesting place. We'll be visiting there next time.

Here's the group as they currently stand:

Blucia is our best physical damage dealer at the moment. Using her high strength and the Pummel skill, she can destroy enemies quite easily. Her Blaze spell is good for times when her physical attack won't work - ghost-type enemies, for example, so she's a great all-rounder at the moment.


Harley has been getting crits pretty often - I'm not fast enough to capture them but she did get 400 down in that minidungeon which made my jaw drop a little.
I'll be getting her some better defensive items soon, too. Her Slumber spell continues to be an asset.


As you saw in this update, that Puff spell can be very helpful. Combine it with Harley's Slumber spell and trash mobs aren't much of a challenge. I gave her that Poison Needle because, while she doesn't attack much, if she does I won't mind if there's a chance of instant death in the mix. I'm sure it'll pay for itself in the long run. Maybe.


Cecilia is still weaponless. That's fine. Her spells are what will matter most when it comes to battles, so we'll let her keep her kung-fu for now. If need be, I'll keep a weapon on hand just in case we need her attacks, but for this chapter it shouldn't be an issue.



Next Time on Hero's Realm:

:swoon:

vilkacis
Feb 16, 2011

All those FF6 enemies are giving me flashbacks :argh:

A 15% instakill chance this early on is pretty nice! I'd have expected the needle to inflict, you know, poison or something.

quote:


That's an edited RTP chipset, right? As I recall, the original ones only have walls at 90 degree angles, but I don't have RM on this machine and can't check.

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.

vilkacis posted:

All those FF6 enemies are giving me flashbacks :argh:

A 15% instakill chance this early on is pretty nice! I'd have expected the needle to inflict, you know, poison or something.


That's an edited RTP chipset, right? As I recall, the original ones only have walls at 90 degree angles, but I don't have RM on this machine and can't check.


Nope! 2K3 (RPG Maker 2003) had diagonal cliff tiles as part of the RTP. The 2k3 RTP is really good in breaking the grid (unlike Ace, sadly).

And yes, that instakill is really nice. It's a pity that the only person in our party who can use it will be using spells most often. It'd go really well on a non-mage character who attacked all the time (thus giving a larger chance of getting it to hit). ^.^

Word on the Wind
May 23, 2014
For the sake of conversation, I started a game and chose a team consisting of a Wizard, Bandit and Paladin.

As a result I've stolen a bunch of Wizard Potions to the point I can sell then without repercussion. I gave Huntress a Spear, Bandit has a Boomerang, Wizard has the needle and the Paladin has a sword. I lack rather drastically in terms of status-dealing, but due to my Bandit scoring Wiz potion my actual Wiz can just blow up everything with relative impunity. I am a touch short in terms of support spells though I haven't had it bite me bad enough that I've ever had a character get dropped.

On an unrelated note I am curious: The game made a point to mention female-only gear and locations, are there any male-only gear/locations or should just every player-character in this game be woman?

silversatyr
Jul 29, 2014

Go on an adventure ordained by fate?
-->Okay! I'll grab my stuff!

-->Eh.

Word on the Wind posted:

For the sake of conversation, I started a game and chose a team consisting of a Wizard, Bandit and Paladin.

As a result I've stolen a bunch of Wizard Potions to the point I can sell then without repercussion. I gave Huntress a Spear, Bandit has a Boomerang, Wizard has the needle and the Paladin has a sword. I lack rather drastically in terms of status-dealing, but due to my Bandit scoring Wiz potion my actual Wiz can just blow up everything with relative impunity. I am a touch short in terms of support spells though I haven't had it bite me bad enough that I've ever had a character get dropped.

On an unrelated note I am curious: The game made a point to mention female-only gear and locations, are there any male-only gear/locations or should just every player-character in this game be woman?

Just be sure not to post spoilers for beyond the current update and I have no problems with people talking about their own plays. In fact, I'd be interested in hearing about them as well.

Oddly enough only women get those bonuses. I have no idea why. The female-only clothes tend to cost more than their all-gender counterparts, so there is a reason to have men. Also, you only really need one party of women so making up your parties how you like is part of the fun.

I usually play with a bandit in my first chapter so that I can steal all kinds of items. They're useful - all classes are, thankfully. As long as you have someone who can deal fire, you should be set for the end of the chapter, but again, Bless-casters are more recommended. As long as you don't leave your Paladin weaponless your party should be fine.

vilkacis
Feb 16, 2011

silversatyr posted:

Nope! 2K3 (RPG Maker 2003) had diagonal cliff tiles as part of the RTP. The 2k3 RTP is really good in breaking the grid (unlike Ace, sadly).

Huh! I don't remember those at all. Well, then again it's been a while since I messed with 2k3.

Word on the Wind
May 23, 2014

silversatyr posted:

Just be sure not to post spoilers for beyond the current update and I have no problems with people talking about their own plays. In fact, I'd be interested in hearing about them as well.

Oddly enough only women get those bonuses. I have no idea why. The female-only clothes tend to cost more than their all-gender counterparts, so there is a reason to have men. Also, you only really need one party of women so making up your parties how you like is part of the fun.

I usually play with a bandit in my first chapter so that I can steal all kinds of items. They're useful - all classes are, thankfully. As long as you have someone who can deal fire, you should be set for the end of the chapter, but again, Bless-casters are more recommended. As long as you don't leave your Paladin weaponless your party should be fine.

Had no intention of doing so. By your distance in updates I'd say I'm at the end of the next update you make.

If there's no particular incentive to make a group with dudes, then I'm just gonna keep going with lady-squads. Aren't enough of those in games.

I was thinking about making use of a Witch and whatnot, but I figured I'd get used to the system before I try anything particularly complicated.

Glazius
Jul 22, 2007

Hail all those who are able,
any mouse can,
any mouse will,
but the Guard prevail.

Clapping Larry
I like the idea of a weapon shop fanboy who does his own knockoffs at night.

Adbot
ADBOT LOVES YOU

Senerio
Oct 19, 2009

Ooh! Are we messing with Adora?



This game looks neat. I'm gonna try it out myself when I have the time.

  • Locked thread