Alora Fane

We're nine weeks in now, gasp! This week, I've been working on battle mechanics stuff like buffs and status effects and skills, which I shall talk about here!!

It's the end of February now! This month, I made the decision to focus a demo on the third chapter of Divine Dreams' story, which is based on the Gem Mine incident in MARDEK 2. Rather than a Gem Mine, though, you explore a place called the Dreamcave, and while the characters you control are essentially the same ones that appeared in MARDEK, they've been considerably revised.

Here's how it looked around the start of the month, when I was figuring how best to represent a cave using the tile system I'd built:

It took a couple of days to end up with this, which felt more enchanting, but still looked blocky and inorganic:

Various little improvements over the following weeks have led to this:

This isn't the final layout of this dungeon; I'll likely completely remake the areas eventually, but first I wanted to make a temporary/demo layout just to get familiar with the building process and to make sure everything worked as I wanted it to. And it does! I'm quite pleased with these results.

I actually planned this out in a drawing before building the areas:

I don't remember doing this with the MARDEK areas, but I think I did with at least some of the Taming Dreams ones. It seems to help.

As you can see from this, I've added treasure chests, as I feel they're a JRPG staple, MARDEK had them, and they give the player something to do in each room. I felt more engaged just randomly running around with them included. In Taming Dreams, I did include treasure chests, but since there weren't really any trash items to clutter your inventory up with in that, I gave them a different purpose instead (they contained 'poem fragments' which, when assembled, allowed you to acquire an empowered version of a certain monster species). In this, though, I imagine they'll mostly contain food items, and maybe some items that grant XP to skills or something.

Isn't this the most exciting image you've ever seen?!

I originally modelled it as a very square box, but looked into how other designers had tackled the problem, and used what I saw as inspiration for what I feel is a far more pleasing design.

This is one of the many things players don't really think about, but which developers have to devote more time than you might think to!

Another thing which you can see on that map is purple 'auras' surrounding monsters.

This is how battles would be triggered. Monsters appear on the map, and each one has a circular aura of variable size which triggers a battle when you touch it. Simple enough. Maybe it'll turn out to be a bit too garish if the auras are visible like this, but so far I quite like it.

Monsters also currently make a comment when you touch their aura. I'm not sure whether to just replace this with a bland "!", or whether to use it as an opportunity to have them say silly things. Why wouldn't these mind-made monsters speak? They're not alive, they're just thoughts given form. So maybe what they'd say would be a thought (though I'd likely tend towards comedy over seriously plumbing the depths of relatable despair... usually).

I personally wouldn't mind if the monsters were just static, unmoving obstacles you battled if you touched but could otherwise avoid, but maybe they'll end up roaming or patrolling eventually, we'll see how it goes. Currently I'm imagining them as barriers you have to fight through for the most part, but once cleared, they're cleared for good. As I've said before, each dungeon would have a limited number of monsters, and you'd get essence items for clearing all members of a certain species. You wouldn't necessarily be able to tell which species any encounter contained though, since they'd do the 'four blokes' thing, with each individual field monster containing a party of up to four once battle commences.

Finally, before getting to the main part of this post, another thing I added is saving and loading games, which also involved making a title screen. It looks like this:

EXCITING.

Perhaps the most interesting development this week for you as potential players is some changes/additions to the battle mechanics.

Actions in JRPG battle systems typically have one or more of three possible effects: either they deal or heal damage, they inflict or remove status effects, or they buff or debuff stats. MARDEK had all of these in a fairly straightforward way, but I've not been sure about how to handle them in this. That's been something I've tackled this week.

First, I tried giving characters numerical modifiers for their attack and defence for both Body and Mind, as seen in this mock-up:

The basic idea was that the upper right numbers were simply added to or subtracted from Mind damage delivered, while the upper left were added to or subtracted from any Mind damage received; the same for the Body stats at the bottom. This meant some skills could, say, add 'Break Mind 10', which would subtract 10 points from the Mind defence modifier, or 'Piercing Body 10', which would add 10 extra points to each attack the target used.

The main problem I had with it though (apart from the lack of GUI clarity, though it's just a mock-up) was that you could essentially alter these stats without any real limits. MARDEK did this too, and in my recent playthrough I ended up relying on reducing powerful bosses' stats to 0 with stat-modifying skills, which felt cheap and unsatisfying. It feels like it'd remove all strategy if all battles could be won by boosting your stats to ridiculous levels and the enemies' to so negative they'd go down in one hit and be unable to damage you.

With the idea of limits in mind, I wondered instead whether buffs could be finite things that each character could only gain a fixed number of. I imagined them displayed as petals to go with the recurring flower/aster motif, perhaps encircling characters' status circles. Maybe attack petals would be sharp, defence ones rounded, with both coloured according to Body or Mind to show their effect at a glance.

Having the petals surround the main circle looked garish, I thought, but having a separate, smaller flower did look a bit more acceptable. The core of the flower could be an additional status effect, which would work differently to the buffs surrounding it.

So I played around with the look of that a bit:

I like keeping images like these because I find it interesting seeing how things take form gradually rather than instantly, without effort or error.

Here, I started playing around with denoting the Body/Mind association with an icon (eye for mind, a star shape for body), while the colour determines the positivity or negativity, since maybe that's more valuable information at a glance?

I was using green for positive and red for negative for obvious reasons, but they're similar to the Body and Mind colours, so it seemed a bit unclear. I wondered whether yellow for positive and purple for negative might work instead:

I do like those for the petals, but they feel a bit weird for the stat modifier numbers from essences at the side there. HMM.

Having the flowers floating above the status circles was quite ugly, and I'd never really liked having the Body and Mind numbers and character name quite messily on top of the element glyph anyway, so I experimented with some different arrangements:

The smaller petal and larger glyph - seen in Deugan's here - seemed like there was more wasted space, and it reduced clarity for the already-small petals. These screenshots are smaller than the resolution most people would play at, so I'm hoping the petals would be less pixelated at larger sizes so their icons and shape can more easily be discerned at a glance. Still, it's better to have them larger rather than smaller.

This layout isn't as pleasingly perfect as I'd like, but it works, I feel. For now, at least.

That's the process; here's what I have at the end of it:

Characters can have a number of buffs, with a number of slots determined by essences.

Each essence grants 0-3 slots. It seemed most sensible to bind this to essences, since they're the main thing you'd customise about characters, and people have commented that there should be more to each one to aid in strategising.

"Buffs" can either be positive or negative, and essentially they result in cumulative multipliers.

For example, one buff is called Sharpen Mind. This multiplies all outgoing Mind damage by 1.2. As it's cumulative, if a character had two, they'd have a damage multiplier of 1.2 * 1.2 = 1.44 (I'll likely need to tweak the exact numbers).

The inverse would be a Dull Mind buff, which multiplies outgoing Mind damage by 0.8 (again, I'll need to tweak the numbers to balance things eventually; it's a cumulative multiplier so then it doesn't get to 0). It's not possible for a character to have both of these at once; inflicting Dull Mind on a target with Sharpen Mind would just remove the Sharpen Mind (otherwise two slots are wasted).

Similar buffs exist for defences; Shield Mind reduces incoming Mind damage by a multiplier, Break Mind increases incoming Mind damage by a multiplier. And of course there are equivalents for Body.

Other buffs include:

Regenerate Mind/Body - Restore a percentage (10%?) of that stat each turn.

Degenerate Mind/Body - Same, but a loss (basic DOT)

Haste/Slow - Adds multipliers to the speed stat; like all buffs, can fill multiple slots

(Element) Affinity - eg Courage Affinity. Would increase damage of that element and resistance to it and the element it's strong against, but would also increase vulnerability to the element it's weak against. So Courage Affinity would boost outgoing Courage damage by 1.2, incoming Courage and Fear damage by 0.8, and incoming Sorrow damage by 1.2, or something.

Null (Element) - Like in MARDEK, blocks an incoming attack of a given element, then expires. Unlike MARDEK, they could be stacked (so you could have three Null Courages), but obviously that would take up multiple buff slots.

Taunt - Draws attacks to self.

Apart from Null (Element), none of them would naturally expire (except at the end of battle, when they'd all expire - so no lingering poison or obnoxious status effects). Plenty of skills would remove them though.

Skills would likely have different rules for overriding other buffs if there were no slots available. Some might just not work, others might remove the oldest buff, a random negative buff, a random buff of any kind, or whatever; I've not planned this bit properly yet, but I'll need to.

Having more slots isn't always the most desirable thing; you could gain more buffs, but also more debuffs. But reducing the number of slots to avoid debuffs would also mean you couldn't gain buffs. An interesting thing to strategise, I think!

In addition to these buffs, characters could also have moods. I had these in Belief and Taming Dreams since I feel they work well with the psychological elements and the facial expressions, so I want to use them again.

Unlike in those, characters would only have one mood at a time. They're still a work in progress at the moment and haven't been implemented, but I imagine that one of their primary roles would be to alter the effectiveness of the buffs. In the GUI, the centre of the flower would show the mood (currently they're just random element glyphs), so it makes sense that it'd affect the bits surrounding it.

Here's a table:

Perhaps the buffs would count as double if the corresponding mood was in effect. So someone Brave would get twice the 1.2 multiplier from every Sharpen Mind, while someone Depressed might get double the effects of Break Mind.

Each of the moods would have additional effects that make it like a status effect though:

Brave, the Courage mood, would grant a 1 in 3 chance of scoring a critical hit for double damage (there'd be no critical hits on attacks otherwise).

Panic, the Fear mood, would give a 1 in 3 chance of freezing up and missing a turn entirely. So it's basically stun/paralysis.

Serenity, the Bliss mood, would clear all buffs/debuffs and lock the buff flower from gaining any more, but would also halve speed.

Crazed, the Destruction mood, would decrease Mind at the end of each turn (in addition to any Degenerate Mind debuffs), but would also deal extra damage when hitting with any damaging skill equal to the amount of Mind lost. Speed would also be doubled.

Inspired, the Creation mood, would give a chance of acquiring a random buff each turn, or of the mood expiring (they don't expire naturally otherwise). Speed would also be doubled.

Depressed, the Sorrow mood, would halve all incoming and outgoing damage, and halve speed.

I've not implemented or tested these yet, so they might be completely under- or overpowered! I'm not sure about all of them, but these are the ideas I've had so far.

So to reiterate, characters could have one mood at a time, and a number of buffs determined by their available slot count, the potency of which would be affected by the mood, which would also grant additional status-like effects.

I like the idea of effects being double-edged, so that's the direction I've gone in with the moods. Many of the buffs are straightforward though.

With this system in mind, I've given some thought to some potential skills that the four demo characters (Mardek, Deugan, Emeela, Steele) could have. Some notes about possible skill effects first, though:

Some - but not all - skills allow for a reaction. If they do, then the bar you react to has a golden part and a blue part (I've explained this in previous posts). You'd need to hit either for the attack to land, otherwise it misses, and if you hit the blue bit, you trigger the skill's Bonus Effect.

In MARDEK, you chose a skill's target after selecting the skill, but in this, you instead change a global aiming cursor before choosing a skill. You also don't choose any allies to aim at for friendly skills; anything that affects allies does so based on criteria (eg most injured).

You can also increase skills' levels by using them, or by spending certain XP items on them (these would be one of the main things you'd find in chests).

As explained in a previous post, each skill would be bound to an equippable item, and apart from essences, this would be the sole purpose of equipment.

Apart from damage, buffs, and moods, some skills could modify "time" directly. Each character needs to reach 100% 'time' before they can take their turn, and the rate at which they gain time is determined by their speed. Some skills can alter targets' time directly to delay or hasten turns.

Here's what I've got so far:

Mardek

Slash
Deals basic Body damage. Bonus effect: increased damage. Increasing the skill level increases the damage output.

Heal
Restores some Body to a number of allies with the most damaged Body (that is, the lowest Body%). Potency is based on Mind points remaining, and it costs Mind to use. Level ups increase the potency and the number of targets affected (from 1 at level 1 to the whole party eventually).

Purify
Clears debuffs from a number of allies. Greater levels would increase the number of allies affected and the number of debuffs removed (starting at 1 for 1 ally and maxing at either 2 or maybe 3 for the entire party).

Cheer
Gives all allies a Sharpen Body buff, and increases their time slightly. Increased levels would lower the cost to use, and increase time more (from 5% at level 1 to 10% at max).

(Passive skill)
I'm not sure about this yet!

Deugan

Ward
Remove Taunt from self. Inflicts Fear-elemental Mind damage (it's a spell) and lowers the target's time slightly. Higher levels would increase damage and time delay effect.

Protection
Adds a Body Shield buff to all allies. Increased level would lower the cost.

Guard
Grants Taunt to self. (It doesn't expire naturally, which is why Ward removes it.)

White Knight(Passive)
Intercepts attacks aimed at Emeela, even when not Taunting. (Maybe; not sure about this.)

Emeela

Despair
Sorrow elemental skill. Costs and damages Mind. Bonus effect: inflict a Break Mind debuff.

Hate
Destruction elemental skill. Costs and damages Mind. Bonus effect: inflict a Degenerate Mind debuff.

Enemy Empathy
Deal elemental Mind damage of the target's elemental weakness, but also deal damage of the same element to own Mind (with half power).

Depression (Passive)
Chance on turn of gaining the Depressed mood.

Steele

Smash
Deals Body damage to the target. Bonus effect: inflict Break Body.

Ultraviolence
Gain the Crazed mood, then attack the target for big damage.

Hot-Blooded (Passive)
Gains an additional Sharp Body buff every turn.

Everything's subject to change as I actually test things out, since what seems interesting in my head might not actually be balanced or fun in practice. I've seen other games where players love coming up with builds like this for characters, but it's not been something I've really actively done myself, so hopefully I'll get better at it with practice.

I've implemented Mardek's skills, but not the others' yet. I'm working on them one at a time, and it takes a while!

There's also an additional system I want to add based on the connections between characters, but I'll talk about that in another post since it's still a very airy idea at the moment!

It took longer than expected to plan and add these mechanical things to the game, and I imagine tweaking them will be an ongoing thing. I'm curious to hear other people's ideas about them since I know many of you care more about the gameplay technical stuff than I do in this kind of game, but do keep in mind that you'd really need to play the game to get a feel for how they work in practice. We all need to, and I've not got to that point in development yet, annoyingly!

As I wrote about in ∞ the paired personal post ∞, I think I'll take the next week off development to try and focus on some other related things like researching promotion and playing other indie games. So next week's post might be about stuff like promotion, or maybe I'll relegate that to a 'personal' post instead.

Thanks for reading!

20 COMMENTS

MarninPL33~5Y

I like what I see so far! Although the interface can still be a little bit confusing, I believe it's something that you can learn by playing. Moods are a great addition and tactics centered around buffs/debuffs tied to essences are fantastic!

However, I would still consider giving essences potential passives, maybe sometimes at a cost of lower stats (additional possibilities, but it would be also harder to balance). Apart from that, combat looks really solid and I can't wait to try it out!

On the other hand, Deugan's shield/rod combo still bugs me. I mean, it can be explained by his lore, but so could him using a greatsword or that blade-shieldy thingy. In my opinion, in a state that he is now, he is too similar (or rather nearly identical in terms of weaponry) to Eemela, and Mardek also using a shield doesn't help very much. Also, considering future additions to the party (Mereadyth, Gloria and Elwyen counterparts) another caster in form of Deugan is not really necessary. I always loved in MARDEK that characters, mostly, really varied in terms of weapons that they used. I just think that this is something that can be reconsidered.

However, I would still consider giving essences potential passives, maybe sometimes at a cost of lower stats (additional possibilities, but it would be also harder to balance). Apart from that, combat looks really solid and I can't wait to try it out!

On the other hand, Deugan's shield/rod combo still bugs me. I mean, it can be explained by his lore, but so could him using a greatsword or that blade-shieldy thingy. In my opinion, in a state that he is now, he is too similar (or rather nearly identical in terms of weaponry) to Eemela, and Mardek also using a shield doesn't help very much. Also, considering future additions to the party (Mereadyth, Gloria and Elwyen counterparts) another caster in form of Deugan is not really necessary. I always loved in MARDEK that characters, mostly, really varied in terms of weapons that they used. I just think that this is something that can be reconsidered.

Tobias 1115~5Y

Giving essences passives is a possibility, but what kinds of things could they be? If I have any ideas - or anyone, like yourself, suggests any! - then it's something worth considering!

My thinking behind giving Deugan a wand was that I'm imagining him as fairly nerdy, and more inclined to think his way out of problems rather than bashing them like a brute. I also liked that he'd think of it as something he has in common with Emeela, which means they're meant for each other in his eyes, and mechanically it means they could exchange weapons, giving some choice about who to equip a wand to if you find a new one.

I'm not actually sure though. I've thought more about the original Deugan's use of a greatsword, and how that wouldn't not fit here, but I'm also trying to stress the whole protector angle so he definitely needs a shield, which is incompatible with that. I considered just giving him a shield and no weapon, but it felt a bit naked.

Ha, one possibility is to give him a shield in each hand! I mean, why not??

Giving essences passives is a possibility, but what kinds of things could they be? If I have any ideas - or anyone, like yourself, suggests any! - then it's something worth considering!

My thinking behind giving Deugan a wand was that I'm imagining him as fairly nerdy, and more inclined to think his way out of problems rather than bashing them like a brute. I also liked that he'd think of it as something he has in common with Emeela, which means they're meant for each other in his eyes, and mechanically it means they could exchange weapons, giving some choice about who to equip a wand to if you find a new one.

I'm not actually sure though. I've thought more about the original Deugan's use of a greatsword, and how that wouldn't /not/ fit here, but I'm also trying to stress the whole protector angle so he definitely needs a shield, which is incompatible with that. I considered just giving him a shield and no weapon, but it felt a bit naked.

Ha, one possibility is to give him a shield in each hand! I mean, why not??

MarninPL33~5Y

Hmm, suggestion you say. Maybe passive regen of body/mind, chance to gain a mood status every turn, additional affinity to some monster types (if that's even a thing, like goblin-type or something like that), increased damage from spells from certain element, additional body damage at the cost of mind per turn. Or maybe some more fun effects, like chance to drop an otherwise unobtainable items from mobs in a given area (that could be used for a questline, for example), chance to drop more currency, chance to stun, poison (that I believe should be in the game, as I'm certain that many monsters could use it. Of course, without that weird outside-battle part of it), etc. That's just some of the ideas.

When it comes to Deugan, in my eyes the concept of shield-blade was very interesing and fitting. Not only it is a really original concept, but also you would keep your vision of him being a protector - without him being too similar to Mardek, or too similar to Emeela.

Tobias 1115~5Y

There are definitely tons of different possibilities, but the difficult of the decision comes from it being early game and him being the protagonist. It feels like that means it should be something that, while active, wouldn't make battles run in a non-'vanilla' way, but it also feels like it should be something significant given his role! So it's tough finding a balance.

I might rethink and revisit the bladed shield thing, then! What would he have in his other hand slot though? Or would his shield have two skills, filling both slots?

MarninPL33~5Y

Hm, considering that characters will, probably, have two-handed weapons in the future (like staffs or something like that), you need to decide how two-hands will work. In my opinion they should either fill both slots... Or you could drop items (gems, maybe?) that you could only insert in two-hand weapons for additional skill. I dunno, the first option sounds more reasonable.

I'm glad that you decided to reconsider the shield for Deugan! I just really wanted to see how it would look to fight with something like that, and what other designs you can think of for this kind of weapon.

Ampersand68~5Y

I actually do think that a big two-handed sword would make sense in the context of Deugan being a "defender" kind of character. The zweihander was not just used for attack, but also to ward off blows and keep enemies back using big swinging motions. [LINK]

Building off of that, I think Deugan's passive could be a kind of "Active Defense" ability, where he has a chance to deflect an incoming attack if he has not attacked that turn- this would synergize well with his Taunt ability and his support skills.

Ampersand68~5Y

I noticed that the Panic mood didn't have a "positive" and acted as a pure debuff. Perhaps it could also grant a 1/3rd chance of dodging attacks as well (alternatively, a "thorns"-type damage reflection- a man is at his most dangerous when cornered)? An equivalent debuff for Brave could be increased chance that an enemy attacks that character (i.e. the character draws aggro).

I'm not really hot on the name of the White Knight skill (too on-the-nose)- I think something like "Champion" or "Intercession" would sound better. Intercepting -all- attacks against a specific character seems a bit unbalanced as well, given that you basically wouldn't have to worry about Emeela's health bar. Perhaps it could proc only when a party member is Depressed (usually Emeela), though that'd conflict with the damage reduction from that Mood...

Though speaking of the Depression mood, it seems like it'd synergize badly with Emeela's playstyle (presumably, squishy DoT-dealer)- perhaps as the Sorrow counterpart to the Bliss mood Serenity, it could instead apply debuffs twice, both when attacking and when defending- the tradeoff being stronger debuffs for slower attacks (and thus less direct damage), and being more vulnerable to enemies with similar debuffing attacks.

I also notice a lack of Mind regenerating abilities, which seems like a bit of an oversight given how many party members rely on Mind for damage output. Perhaps there could be a "Meditate" skill (basically a wait/skip button) that allows party members to regain a small amount of Mind at the cost of a turn?

I'm not really hot on the name of the White Knight skill (too on-the-nose)- I think something like "Champion" or "Intercession" would sound better. Intercepting -all- attacks against a specific character seems a bit unbalanced as well, given that you basically wouldn't have to worry about Emeela's health bar. Perhaps it could proc only when a party member is Depressed (usually Emeela), though that'd conflict with the damage reduction from that Mood...

Though speaking of the Depression mood, it seems like it'd synergize badly with Emeela's playstyle (presumably, squishy DoT-dealer)- perhaps as the Sorrow counterpart to the Bliss mood Serenity, it could instead apply debuffs twice, both when attacking and when defending- the tradeoff being stronger debuffs for slower attacks (and thus less direct damage), and being more vulnerable to enemies with similar debuffing attacks.

I also notice a lack of Mind regenerating abilities, which seems like a bit of an oversight given how many party members rely on Mind for damage output. Perhaps there could be a "Meditate" skill (basically a wait/skip button) that allows party members to regain a small amount of Mind at the cost of a turn?

Tobias 1115~5Y

Thanks for the useful, specific comments! I'll definitely be keeping all of them in mind.

I like the idea of Brave drawing attacks, and maybe Panic's effect wouldn't be freezing/being stunned 1 in 3 turns, but 'hiding', meaning they miss their turn but can't be hit (effectively the same as your dodging suggestion)? Though the counter damage is good too!

I'm thinking Deugan needs a different passive entirely; I just haven't had any better ideas yet! I'm definitely open to suggestions there.

With depression, I was thinking of the real effects of depression (reduced feelings about anything and lower energy), but I like the idea of doubling up debuffs. I might experiment with both and see which seems the most balanced/interesting/useful. Or maybe it could make buffs cost less, or more likely to land, or consume less than the entirety of the 'time' value when used (that is, they allow the next turn more quickly)?

That's true about there being a lack of Mind regenerating abilities! Currently the main way to restore it is through items, which don't cost a whole turn to use so you can often act straight after using one. But of course they're finite in supply so that's less than ideal. I'm unsure about a universal Mind regenerating ability, but it's definitely something I'll consider for balancing reasons if other alternatives don't work.

There's another feature I've not talked about yet, where characters essentially have emotional bonds with others in the party which develop as you use them together. Maybe Mind regeneration could be tied into that in some way, like social/emotional support from allies?

Thanks again for this kind of feedback; it's definitely valuable!

Thanks for the useful, specific comments! I'll definitely be keeping all of them in mind.

I like the idea of Brave drawing attacks, and maybe Panic's effect wouldn't be freezing/being stunned 1 in 3 turns, but 'hiding', meaning they miss their turn but can't be hit (effectively the same as your dodging suggestion)? Though the counter damage is good too!

I'm thinking Deugan needs a different passive entirely; I just haven't had any better ideas yet! I'm definitely open to suggestions there.

With depression, I was thinking of the real effects of depression (reduced feelings about anything and lower energy), but I like the idea of doubling up debuffs. I might experiment with both and see which seems the most balanced/interesting/useful. Or maybe it could make buffs cost less, or more likely to land, or consume less than the entirety of the 'time' value when used (that is, they allow the next turn more quickly)?

That's true about there being a lack of Mind regenerating abilities! Currently the main way to restore it is through items, which don't cost a whole turn to use so you can often act straight after using one. But of course they're finite in supply so that's less than ideal. I'm unsure about a universal Mind regenerating ability, but it's definitely something I'll consider for balancing reasons if other alternatives don't work.

There's another feature I've not talked about yet, where characters essentially have emotional bonds with others in the party which develop as you use them together. Maybe Mind regeneration could be tied into that in some way, like social/emotional support from allies?

Thanks again for this kind of feedback; it's definitely valuable!

SafiyaMukhamadova11~5Y

A big concern with non-respawning enemies is that your total potential experience points are fixed, so enemies should respawn (maybe when you leave the zone and re-enter). A lot of games have non-respawning boss or pathway blocking enemies, but all other enemies will respawn.

Also, some quality of life requests based on my current save file of Mardek (365 hours, I must add!):
1) Please make sure that the number of limited quantity items matches the number you need to craft everything; gold and silver ore are making my obsessive hoarding hurt!
2) Please add a colorblind mode. This isn't just to help colorblind players, it's also useful if, say, the reds in the lava cave get too painful for you eyes after a while.
3) Please make sure identical equips stack in player inventories. 30 maces and nowhere to put them without filling up my own precious inventory space or the limited space of a vendor? Yikes!
4) Speaking of vendors, a +10 button in addition to a +1 button would be super helpful, 99 is a big number to individually click the plus sign for each time.

Ideas about this new update:
1) Maybe instead of just negative words like "depression", "hate", and "despair", you could make the emotions slightly more nuanced: "sorrow", "righteous fury", "desperation".
2) I think Steele is more of a white knight than Deugan; Deugan actually cares about Emela, he just doesn't always know how to express it. White knight kind of implies an Incel level of adoration /"nice guy" behavior mixed with an equally strong level of loathing if turned down (see also his dreamstone entry about Emela). Also, it could quite easily be turned to Dark Knight if there's a Mystery Man fight, which would work the same was as a Taunt--focusing all his attacks on Emela or other female party members.
3) One way of implementing Dull Mind for Mardek could be having some sort of pissed off Rohoph ignoring Mardek animation. That would be kinda funny.
4) Mardek's passive could be "Father's Gaze" where his father does some sort of astral projection to watch him or something; it's hinted that Mardek and his mother have some sort of innate bond that allows them to sense his aura, so that would be cool, and could lead to cool end-of-story dialog. Deugan's could be "Smith's Strength" where he gains a buff to physical damage when using swords his dad can sell or upgrade.
5) Instead of 0 damage, 50% damage, 100% damage for hitting the timing bar, I suggest 25%, 50%, 100%. Also, could we get an auto-battle feature where it always does 75% damage (perhaps not available during boss fights)? Sometimes you just want to grind or get back to reading the story lol.

Also, some quality of life requests based on my current save file of Mardek (365 hours, I must add!):
1) Please make sure that the number of limited quantity items matches the number you need to craft everything; gold and silver ore are making my obsessive hoarding hurt! 
2) Please add a colorblind mode. This isn't just to help colorblind players, it's also useful if, say, the reds in the lava cave get too painful for you eyes after a while.
3) Please make sure identical equips stack in player inventories. 30 maces and nowhere to put them without filling up my own precious inventory space or the limited space of a vendor? Yikes!
4) Speaking of vendors, a +10 button in addition to a +1 button would be super helpful, 99 is a big number to individually click the plus sign for each time.

Ideas about this new update:
1) Maybe instead of just negative words like "depression", "hate", and "despair", you could make the emotions slightly more nuanced: "sorrow", "righteous fury", "desperation". 
2) I think Steele is more of a white knight than Deugan; Deugan actually cares about Emela, he just doesn't always know how to express it. White knight kind of implies an Incel level of adoration /"nice guy" behavior mixed with an equally strong level of loathing if turned down (see also his dreamstone entry about Emela). Also, it could quite easily be turned to Dark Knight if there's a Mystery Man fight, which would work the same was as a Taunt--focusing all his attacks on Emela or other female party members.
3) One way of implementing Dull Mind for Mardek could be having some sort of pissed off Rohoph ignoring Mardek animation. That would be kinda funny.
4) Mardek's passive could be "Father's Gaze" where his father does some sort of astral projection to watch him or something; it's hinted that Mardek and his mother have some sort of innate bond that allows them to sense his aura, so that would be cool, and could lead to cool end-of-story dialog. Deugan's could be "Smith's Strength" where he gains a buff to physical damage when using swords his dad can sell or upgrade.
5) Instead of 0 damage, 50% damage, 100% damage for hitting the timing bar, I suggest 25%, 50%, 100%. Also, could we get an auto-battle feature where it always does 75% damage (perhaps not available during boss fights)? Sometimes you just want to grind or get back to reading the story lol.

Tobias 1115~5Y

I'm glad you enjoyed MARDEK enough to play it for that long!! Hopefully you'll like the reimagining too.

I've changed a lot in the reimagining though, so some concerns about stuff from the originals should hopefully no longer be an issue.

I want to avoid grinding, so progression isn't about accumulating XP and levels; I'll likely make some way to 'grind' anyway since there are some things that develop from battles (skills level up, but characters don't). It'll probably involve a completely optional spot in dungeons where you can trigger random battles at will; I've seen things like that in some other games before.

Characters don't have individual inventories, and I'll definitely be making efforts to make all the item-related stuff more user-friendly and less frustrating!

The spells are named as they are because they're a particularly strong manifestation of their element. Three of the elements are more inherently 'negative' (Sorrow, Fear, Destruction), while the others are more 'positive' (Courage, Creation, Bliss). So, much as a Water element might produce a Tsunami (not a pleasant thing in the real world; those kill lots of people!), the Destruction element would produce the also-vicious "Hate". I planned these years ago for an earlier project, but I like reusing them here because it means that the bit in MARDEK 2 where Emela zaps Steele with a lightning bolt now has her zap him with a Hate spell. Seems more interesting to me!

I'm glad you enjoyed MARDEK enough to play it for that long!! Hopefully you'll like the reimagining too.

I've changed a lot in the reimagining though, so some concerns about stuff from the originals should hopefully no longer be an issue.

I want to avoid grinding, so progression isn't about accumulating XP and levels; I'll likely make some way to 'grind' anyway since there are some things that develop from battles (skills level up, but characters don't). It'll probably involve a completely optional spot in dungeons where you can trigger random battles at will; I've seen things like that in some other games before.

Characters don't have individual inventories, and I'll definitely be making efforts to make all the item-related stuff more user-friendly and less frustrating!

The spells are named as they are because they're a particularly strong manifestation of their element. Three of the elements are more inherently 'negative' (Sorrow, Fear, Destruction), while the others are more 'positive' (Courage, Creation, Bliss). So, much as a Water element might produce a Tsunami (not a pleasant thing in the real world; those kill lots of people!), the Destruction element would produce the also-vicious "Hate". I planned these years ago for an earlier project, but I like reusing them here because it means that the bit in MARDEK 2 where Emela zaps Steele with a lightning bolt now has her zap him with a Hate spell. Seems more interesting to me!

Trav3~5Y

EDIT: I apologize in advance if I have read some info wrong.

Hello Tobias,
Firstly, I need to say that the level design is great. I think it really works well. Only minor concern is that the purple rings around monster spawns might clash too much with the background design.
Mosters making comments are unneccessary work I think, unless you are going for something non-serious - which might be off-theme of your mental combat scheme. (Or that might just be me talking theoretic nonsense, though I feel even with using silly humour it is not suposed to be; creative instinct, I wonder?)
Have you considered making it like the old randomly-appearing monster formations from MARDEK?
I have not dived in enough to comment about the UI, I will still have to think about that.

My chief reservation is what you are doing with the skillset and equipmet. I am hoping that one would find trinkets, equipment, spells in treasure chests, quests and so on.
For example like a "condolence ring" that would enable the right bearer of the right "character/element" to have a boost in mindpower when an ally is low on mind.
You can also have equipment/trinkets that amplify or reduce the effect of mood.

Spells and such, in my honest view, should have a visible and notable component rather than just buffing stats. I mean something like "enthusiasm whirlpool" which gives haste to all allies in combat. Spells and such, should also I think, involve more user input and training involved.
Part of the old MARDEK's success is its use of the skillset, and really think it is a good idea to conjure something at least simular. Rather let it not be something trivial like simply finding a new skill and it is automatic mastery.

You are making something impressive with this. Please consider my advice, but please use your own creative sense of things. You know where you are heading.
Despite, I am confident that I plan succeeds best with many counselours (more than two people!!)

With blessings,
Trav

EDIT: I apologize in advance if I have read some info wrong.

Hello Tobias,
Firstly, I need to say that the level design is great. I think it really works well. Only minor concern is that the purple rings around monster spawns might clash too much with the background design. 
Mosters making comments are unneccessary work I think, unless you are going for something non-serious - which might be off-theme of your mental combat scheme. (Or that might just be me talking theoretic nonsense, though I feel even with using silly humour it is not suposed to be; creative instinct, I wonder?)
Have you considered making it like the old randomly-appearing monster formations from MARDEK?
I have not dived in enough to comment about the UI, I will still have to think about that.

My chief reservation is what you are doing with the skillset and equipmet. I am hoping that one would find trinkets, equipment, spells in treasure chests, quests and so on.
For example like a "condolence ring" that would enable the right bearer of the right "character/element" to have a boost in mindpower when an ally is low on mind.
You can also have equipment/trinkets that amplify or reduce the effect of mood.

Spells and such, in my honest view, should have a visible and notable component rather than just buffing stats. I mean something like "enthusiasm whirlpool" which gives haste to all allies in combat. Spells and such, should also I think, involve more user input and training involved. 
Part of the old MARDEK's success is its use of the skillset, and really think it is a good idea to conjure something at least simular. Rather let it not be something trivial like simply finding a new skill and it is automatic mastery.

You are making something impressive with this. Please consider my advice, but please use your own creative sense of things. You know where you are heading.
Despite, I am confident that I plan succeeds best with many counselours (more than two people!!)

With blessings,
Trav

Tobias 1115~5Y

This isn't the best dungeon to showcase the purple auras, really; they do blend in a bit! I may or may not make them animated to address that, though I think they should be okay when you're actually in the game rather than just looking at shrunken-down screenshots.

Regarding the seriousness, I'm aiming for something like the original MARDEK; that was full of really crude, stupid comments! But it also had some deeper, more moving bits too. I'm aware though that the general vibe I'm giving off for the game (with the title screen, for example) doesn't exactly scream 'this is full of silliness', but I suppose MARDEK didn't immediately give that impression either? I'll see whether writing monster comments is fun for me or just a chore, and base my decision on that.

Your "Condolence Ring" suggestion sounds like a Passive, which would be available on some equipment characters could get in place of an action skill. So I'll definitely be including things like that. Someone else suggested binding passives to the essence items characters can equip, so I'll give that some thought too.

I'm not sure what you mean about spells! Each one would mix and match the possible effects: damage, healing, buffs, debuffs, or moods. So one skill might inflict damage and change mood, another might only inflict a debuff, or only damage, or whatever. Like pretty much every game in this genre, really.

Skills aren't automatically mastered. Skills have levels, which increase by using them or by using skill XP items on them. Each additional level changes the effects of the skill, so for example a (completely hypothetical and not-at-all balanced!) skill at level 1 might inflict 100% Body damage and cost 10 Body, but at level 6 (the max), it might inflict 160% Body damage and a Break Body debuff for a cost of 6 Body.

This isn't the best dungeon to showcase the purple auras, really; they do blend in a bit! I may or may not make them animated to address that, though I /think/ they should be okay when you're actually in the game rather than just looking at shrunken-down screenshots.

Regarding the seriousness, I'm aiming for something like the original MARDEK; that was full of really crude, stupid comments! But it also had some deeper, more moving bits too. I'm aware though that the general vibe I'm giving off for the game (with the title screen, for example) doesn't exactly scream 'this is full of silliness', but I suppose MARDEK didn't immediately give that impression either? I'll see whether writing monster comments is fun for me or just a chore, and base my decision on that.

Your "Condolence Ring" suggestion sounds like a Passive, which would be available on some equipment characters could get in place of an action skill. So I'll definitely be including things like that. Someone else suggested binding passives to the essence items characters can equip, so I'll give that some thought too.

I'm not sure what you mean about spells! Each one would mix and match the possible effects: damage, healing, buffs, debuffs, or moods. So one skill might inflict damage and change mood, another might only inflict a debuff, or only damage, or whatever. Like pretty much every game in this genre, really.

Skills aren't automatically mastered. Skills have levels, which increase by using them or by using skill XP items on them. Each additional level changes the effects of the skill, so for example a (completely hypothetical and not-at-all balanced!) skill at level 1 might inflict 100% Body damage and cost 10 Body, but at level 6 (the max), it might inflict 160% Body damage and a Break Body debuff for a cost of 6 Body.

Trav3~5Y

EDIT: Rereading this, I seem to do have done little better than expand on what you have just said! Still, have a good week.

Hello Tobias!
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, I am a bit tired and preoccupied for now. I will look to give a better response over the weekend.
For now I will simply comment that humour does not eliminate seriousness. But complete wacky silliness will, simply because each seems to have its proper place. (Like a serious comment following a funny joke without changing the note.)
Depends on what you are going for. MARDEK had its silliness and it had its seriousness.
(Deugan's actions in chapter 3; dreamstones; debating ethics of killing others). It was certainly more serious than say - Clarence Big Chance!
Perhaps some topics are more inherently serious than others.

Cheers,
Trav

kalkra19~5Y

I was not at all aware that the term "White Knight" had any kind of negative connotation.

Anyway, the caves look a lot better, but the light blue areas could maybe benefit from a bit of texture. Unless there is texture, and it's just hard to see because of the poor resolution and obscuring glow.

Also, the glyphs on the petals might be easier to distinguish if you changed their colors to reflect their respective elements. Depending on the color of the petal there might not be enough contrast, though, and they're probably too small for an outline.

On the whole I really liked it, though. I suspect that as the designer you're a lot more in tune with the nuances of various things, but to be honest I thought that all of the flower placement options looked good. In short, don't worry too much if you feel like you can't get it to be completely perfect.

Tobias 1115~5Y

I'm aware of what "White Knight" brings to mind for many people, but I'll likely change that anyway!

I'm going for a lot of flat colouring rather than textures where possible (see the character models for example), since I like the look of it and it's far less time-consuming!

Most petals aren't elemental; the icons on the purple and yellow ones show their Body/Mind affinity rather than element. Some would be elemental, and they would be coloured according to their element! The icons being difficult to discern is still a concern though.

I suppose it's hard for me not to strive for COMPLETE PERFECTION!!!, but thanks!

SafiyaMukhamadova11~5Y

Most of the entries on Urban Dictionary for the term include the whole "until they're turned down" dynamic. The way I've always understood it is that it's a subset of archetypal "nice guy", but with a greater emphasis on violence or attacking those who the white knight perceives as "threatening" the woman even though 90% of the time they're not; the other 10% of the time, the only reason the white knight is getting involved is because he thinks the woman is hot, and as soon as she turns him down, he will follow it up with the same violence he just "rescued" her from, and in over half of those cases the first person to assault the woman was the White Knight's wingman.

To put it another way, people who are genuinely kind/caring/compassionate don't need to bend over backwards to prove it because it comes naturally. The further out of your way you need to go to "prove" what a wonderful person you are, the less good you actually are. The detour from your actual personality is unnatural, so as soon as you see a path to end the detour, your real personality will assert itself and you're back to just being a regular jerk.

Every time I've had someone tell me he is "better than all those other guys", he has taken under 15 minutes from hearing me tell him "I'm not straight" to prove he is significantly worse than the average guy.

To put it another way, people who are genuinely kind/caring/compassionate don't need to bend over backwards to prove it because it comes naturally. The further out of your way you need to go to "prove" what a wonderful person you are, the less good you actually are. The detour from your actual personality is unnatural, so as soon as you see a path to end the detour, your real personality will assert itself and you're back to just being a regular jerk.

Every time I've had someone tell me he is "better than all those other guys", he has taken under 15 minutes from hearing me tell him "I'm not straight" to prove he is significantly worse than the average guy.

Tobias 1115~5Y

Interesting; I know about those connotations of "Nice Guys", but assumed "white knight" just meant any guy who was quick to 'defend' women at any opportunity to show how desirable of a partner he is (in his mind).

So for example I've seen videos/gifs of a girl repeatedly hitting a guy while nobody around them does anything, but the moment he lays a finger on her in retaliation, several or all of the ("ordinary") surrounding guys suddenly come alive and attack him. "White knight(ing)" is the term commenters use to describe that behaviour.

I've never heard of that deliberate wingman-based hassling though. What a world.

SafiyaMukhamadova11~5Y

I'm sure I've seen Men's Rights Activists showing and shaming examples of this because they're trying to distance themselves from Roosh V and other pick-up artists.

SafiyaMukhamadova11~5Y

Here's another suggestion: could we have a more intuitive categorization of enemies? Requiem is supposed to damage the undead, but it doesn't include Forgotten Faces or Whims, both of whom seem to clearly fit into that category on account of being parts of beings that were once alive and are now not quite. I broke down the existing types of monsters plus some missing spots to create the following list:

1) Living status: ALIVE | UNDEAD
2) Boss status/type: NULL | ABERRATION | ANNUNAKI | DEMON | DRAGON | TERRESTRIAL | GUARDIAN
3) Elemental form: AERIAL/FLYING (AIR) | ICTHYD/OOZE (WATER) | PLANTOID/NATURE (EARTH) | FLAME (FIRE) | FIGMENT (FIG) | ILLUSION (AETHER) | SHADOW (DARK) | RADIANT (LIGHT)
4) Physical type: BEAST | CONSTRUCT | GOBLINOID | HUMAN | INSECT | REPTILIAN | REPTOID
*OR*
Aetherial/Mind type: CRYSTAL | ELEMENTAL | FEY | MAGIC BEAST | SPIRIT

So to break down a couple of old enemies by this new categorization:
-- Whim would be an Undead/Null/Fig/Fey
-- Centaur would be an Alive/Null/Nature/Magic Beast
-- The Master Stone would be an Alive/Null/(Shifting)/Crystal
-- Annihilator : Karnos would be an Undead/Aberration/(Shifting)/Insect
-- Annihilator : Animus would be an Undead/Aberration/(Shifting)/Spirit
-- Moric would be Alive/Annunaki/Nature/Spirit
-- Moric after possessing Social Fox would be Undead/Annunaki/Shadow/Human
-- Droma would be Alive/Null/(Shifting: Depends on Annunaki in chapter)/Constructs

So to break down a couple of old enemies by this new categorization:
-- Whim would be an Undead/Null/Fig/Fey
-- Centaur would be an Alive/Null/Nature/Magic Beast
-- The Master Stone would be an Alive/Null/(Shifting)/Crystal
-- Annihilator : Karnos would be an  Undead/Aberration/(Shifting)/Insect
 -- Annihilator : Animus would be an Undead/Aberration/(Shifting)/Spirit
-- Moric would be Alive/Annunaki/Nature/Spirit
-- Moric after possessing Social Fox would be Undead/Annunaki/Shadow/Human
-- Droma would be Alive/Null/(Shifting: Depends on Annunaki in chapter)/Constructs

Maniafig222~5Y

Nine weeks of uninterrupted blogs! I hope you keep up this winning streak!

You've gotten a lot done when comparing the first and current versions of the Dreamcave!

Would the boss of the cave be Murias then? And would there be enemy Cultists? Hm, would there be humans who fight alongside Miasma? Random thoughts!!

I think the Taming Dreams dungeons were well-designed! I'm not sure whether I ever mentioned that while testing, but the structure of the dungeons as well as the pacing of the cutscenes was well-laid out! Good to see you're taking a similar approach here.

There better be Mimic enemies in the game at some point! Mimic Chests! Mimic Doors! Mimic Healing Crystals! That could be a dungeon gimmick all on its own! Ha, I believe I even requested those things in AF:C, which would've also meant being able to play as a chest, door or crystal due to the way the engine worked.

A thought I had was to have the aura of the monster on the map correspond to the sentiment of the monster in the overworld. So Fear enemies use the purple aura, but Bliss ones have a yellow aura and Destruction ones a cyan aura and so on.

I like the idea of making enemies say something before battle! You did that with Miasmon and CRPG, and there's a lot of potential for funny dialogue that way, as well as a bit more flavour for all the different Miasmon. The eggs could all make horrible egg puns!!

The title screen is actually very reminiscent of the old MARDEK one! On purpose, I assume? I wonder what it's meant to represent, I always imagined the MARDEK one was largely meaningless, but I'm wondering whether this one is meant to represent the Nexus or the realm the Aolmna went to or something. I really hope this game finally explains all that Alora Fane lore, I've been wondering about that for ages now!

Are there going to be oddball skills that don't fit any of the categories? Thinking of MARDEK, I think the only skill that didn't fit one category was Ballad of Balance, unless you see it more as like a temporary global "share all damage/healing" status applied to everyone.

Hm, I think there is something to be said for being able to reduce an enemy to being able to do nothing through sheer persistence. It's certainly more rewarding than a basic "nuke the enemy with as much damage as quickly as possible" tactic, getting Elwyen to 100 MND to nullify Animus's attacks, or beating the Security Demon with a low level parties without reactions through clever use of statuses feels very rewarding! [LINK] [LINK]

How do body and mind work? Is either one being depleted a KO state? When out of body, does mind also get reduced to 0? Would revival items/spells discern between physically KOed and mentally exhausted?

This is more of a side note, but are the elements being called "elements" just a thing where their original name of "sentiments" have been lost to time? I also notice characters are back to being resistant to their own sentiment like in AF:C, rather than weak to it like TD. Would healing spells also work based off sentimental affinity somehow like in TD or would they be simplified and more like the original MARDEK's?

What does the Speed stat do? If it's just turn order then manipulating it generally doesn't seem that worthwhile.

Elemental Affinities remind me of how they worked in TD!

Nulls in MARDEK were really potent, being able to stack them might be imbalanced, but I guess that remains to be seen.

Interesting, most moods stayed pretty similar, but Courage's Anger became Brave, and Destruction's Hatred became Crazed. Very different connotations! Serenity and Crazed are definitely more opposite to each other than Serene and Hatred were.

Characters in Taming Dreams only could have one mood at a time! They didn't come up very often in TD though, sadly. We never got to see some of the mood expressions!

Hm, it seems like it'd fit better for Creation to have both Regenerates and Destruction to have the Degenerates. Maybe it'd also make more sense to tie Depression to Break and Dull Mind, Panic to Break and Dull Body, Brave to Sharpen and Shield Body and Serene to Sharpen and Shield Mind? Somehow I associate Courage/Fear more with Body and Sorrow/Bliss more with Mind. Lots to think about!

But under the current system, does that mean someone with the Panic mood is only more susceptible to Dull debuffs, or do they also apply more powerful Dull debuffs?

Panic sounds annoying!! Random stun effects are always annoying when applied to players, it was annoying in MARDEK and it was annoying in AF:C with Anxiety/Melancholy!

Crazed sounds the most interesting, a high-Mind character with Crazed could do a lot of damage.

I like Depression flavour-wise, it's similar to being low excitement in TD. I think it'd make more sense if it only halved Mind damage though! Would it halve incoming/outgoing healing too? If not then it would be a very effective low-risk turtling strategy.

Not being able to target specific allies with friendly skills sound like it'll be very frustrating when you want to use it on a specific person but you're forced to target someone else. It also leads to annoyances like whether you want to heal the person with the most lost HP, the least HP remaining, or the least HP% remaining! Taking control away like that seems like it would reduce depth rather than add it.

Okay, so Time works similar to ATB in Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 10! In games like FFT, Speed was kind of the god stat that you always wanted to prioritize, so it'll be a tough balancing act!

For Mardek's passive, maybe something similar to how it worked in TD? After joining with Rohoph for some time, Mardek's Jolly rune shifted towards Grave, my assumption was that over the course of the series it would gradually keep shifting as Rohoph took more and more control. Maybe in this game the passive would also gradually shift Mardek towards being more like Rohoph? Maybe it'd slowly enhance his Mind skills but weaken his Body skills, mind over matter?

Does Deugan's Ward damage the enemy or himself? I might be too used to TD, in that game you'd often use offensive skills on the part!

It seems Deugan's caused the most discussion in the comments! I agree that the wand doesn't really seem fitting, I couldn't see MARDEK or TD Deugan with a wand. I also don't think a Greatsword fits! I personally think his weapon being a Shield would fit the best, kinda like Steven Universe. His desire to shield himself, falsely projected as a more noble goal of wanting to protect others. It fits his Fear sentiment very well I think!

I actually think the White Knight skill fits well! At this stage of the story Deugan probably has a kind of puerile view of Emeela where he wants to prove himself worthy to her by wanting to protect her, not really realized Emeela wants someone who understands and empathizes with her rather than someone who wants to protect her.

Interestingly, White Knight was also a passive skill in the Bravely Games for the Merchant, where it acted as a reverse Cover Ally that forced allies to protect the one with the skill when at low HP. That actually references the meaning of the term in the business world as all Merchant skills did, where a company that's about to be taken over by a hostile company chooses to get taken over by a friendly company instead, that friendly company being the White Knight.

Emeela the Emotional Dark Knight! There would need to be ways of healing Mind damage if her skills all damage her own Mind. It's fitting that they do, but players shouldn't feel like they're better off skipping her turn I think. Is Emeela depressed during the events of the Dreamcave? I'd assumed she'd get depressed after it's over and the whole conflict with Steele happens.

ULTRAVIOLENCE is a fun skill name! In the original MARDEK, Steele had Chakra which was a self-heal, I guess this new Steele is more about all-out offense though. I like that the passive suggests he gets really impatient if battles drags on and hits all the harder.

This is a long comment!!

Nine weeks of uninterrupted blogs! I hope you keep up this winning streak!

You've gotten a lot done when comparing the first and current versions of the Dreamcave!

Would the boss of the cave be Murias then? And would there be enemy Cultists? Hm, would there be humans who fight alongside Miasma? Random thoughts!!

I think the Taming Dreams dungeons were well-designed! I'm not sure whether I ever mentioned that while testing, but the structure of the dungeons as well as the pacing of the cutscenes was well-laid out! Good to see you're taking a similar approach here.

There better be Mimic enemies in the game at some point! Mimic Chests! Mimic Doors! Mimic Healing Crystals! That could be a dungeon gimmick all on its own! Ha, I believe I even requested those things in AF:C, which would've also meant being able to play as a chest, door or crystal due to the way the engine worked.

A thought I had was to have the aura of the monster on the map correspond to the sentiment of the monster in the overworld. So Fear enemies use the purple aura, but Bliss ones have a yellow aura and Destruction ones a cyan aura and so on.

I like the idea of making enemies say something before battle! You did that with Miasmon and CRPG, and there's a lot of potential for funny dialogue that way, as well as a bit more flavour for all the different Miasmon. The eggs could all make horrible egg puns!!

The title screen is actually very reminiscent of the old MARDEK one! On purpose, I assume? I wonder what it's meant to represent, I always imagined the MARDEK one was largely meaningless, but I'm wondering whether this one is meant to represent the Nexus or the realm the Aolmna went to or something. I really hope this game finally explains all that Alora Fane lore, I've been wondering about that for ages now!

Are there going to be oddball skills that don't fit any of the categories? Thinking of MARDEK, I think the only skill that didn't fit one category was Ballad of Balance, unless you see it more as like a temporary global "share all damage/healing" status applied to everyone.

Hm, I think there is something to be said for being able to reduce an enemy to being able to do nothing through sheer persistence. It's certainly more rewarding than a basic "nuke the enemy with as much damage as quickly as possible" tactic, getting Elwyen to 100 MND to nullify Animus's attacks, or beating the Security Demon with a low level parties without reactions through clever use of statuses feels very rewarding! https://i.imgur.com/o4YwCFp.png https://i.imgur.com/Oe9CNU6.png

How do body and mind work? Is either one being depleted a KO state? When out of body, does mind also get reduced to 0? Would revival items/spells discern between physically KOed and mentally exhausted?

This is more of a side note, but are the elements being called "elements" just a thing where their original name of "sentiments" have been lost to time? I also notice characters are back to being resistant to their own sentiment like in AF:C, rather than weak to it like TD. Would healing spells also work based off sentimental affinity somehow like in TD or would they be simplified and more like the original MARDEK's?

What does the Speed stat do? If it's just turn order then manipulating it generally doesn't seem that worthwhile.

Elemental Affinities remind me of how they worked in TD!

Nulls in MARDEK were really potent, being able to stack them might be imbalanced, but I guess that remains to be seen.

Interesting, most moods stayed pretty similar, but Courage's Anger became Brave, and Destruction's Hatred became Crazed. Very different connotations! Serenity and Crazed are definitely more opposite to each other than Serene and Hatred were.

Characters in Taming Dreams only could have one mood at a time! They didn't come up very often in TD though, sadly. We never got to see some of the mood expressions!

Hm, it seems like it'd fit better for Creation to have both Regenerates and Destruction to have the Degenerates. Maybe it'd also make more sense to tie Depression to Break and Dull Mind, Panic to Break and Dull Body, Brave to Sharpen and Shield Body and Serene to Sharpen and Shield Mind? Somehow I associate Courage/Fear more with Body and Sorrow/Bliss more with Mind. Lots to think about!

But under the current system, does that mean someone with the Panic mood is only more susceptible to Dull debuffs, or do they also apply more powerful Dull debuffs?

Panic sounds annoying!! Random stun effects are always annoying when applied to players, it was annoying in MARDEK and it was annoying in AF:C with Anxiety/Melancholy!

Crazed sounds the most interesting, a high-Mind character with Crazed could do a lot of damage.

I like Depression flavour-wise, it's similar to being low excitement in TD. I think it'd make more sense if it only halved Mind damage though! Would it halve incoming/outgoing healing too? If not then it would be a very effective low-risk turtling strategy.

Not being able to target specific allies with friendly skills sound like it'll be very frustrating when you want to use it on a specific person but you're forced to target someone else. It also leads to annoyances like whether you want to heal the person with the most lost HP, the least HP remaining, or the least HP% remaining! Taking control away like that seems like it would reduce depth rather than add it.

Okay, so Time works similar to ATB in Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy 10! In games like FFT, Speed was kind of the god stat that you always wanted to prioritize, so it'll be a tough balancing act!

For Mardek's passive, maybe something similar to how it worked in TD? After joining with Rohoph for some time, Mardek's Jolly rune shifted towards Grave, my assumption was that over the course of the series it would gradually keep shifting as Rohoph took more and more control. Maybe in this game the passive would also gradually shift Mardek towards being more like Rohoph? Maybe it'd slowly enhance his Mind skills but weaken his Body skills, mind over matter?

Does Deugan's Ward damage the enemy or himself? I might be too used to TD, in that game you'd often use offensive skills on the part!

It seems Deugan's caused the most discussion in the comments! I agree that the wand doesn't really seem fitting, I couldn't see MARDEK or TD Deugan with a wand. I also don't think a Greatsword fits! I personally think his weapon being a Shield would fit the best, kinda like Steven Universe. His desire to shield himself, falsely projected as a more noble goal of wanting to protect others. It fits his Fear sentiment very well I think!

I actually think the White Knight skill fits well! At this stage of the story Deugan probably has a kind of puerile view of Emeela where he wants to prove himself worthy to her by wanting to protect her, not really realized Emeela wants someone who understands and empathizes with her rather than someone who wants to protect her.

Interestingly, White Knight was also a passive skill in the Bravely Games for the Merchant, where it acted as a reverse Cover Ally that forced allies to protect the one with the skill when at low HP. That actually references the meaning of the term in the business world as all Merchant skills did, where a company that's about to be taken over by a hostile company chooses to get taken over by a friendly company instead, that friendly company being the White Knight.

Emeela the Emotional Dark Knight! There would need to be ways of healing Mind damage if her skills all damage her own Mind. It's fitting that they do, but players shouldn't feel like they're better off skipping her turn I think. Is Emeela depressed during the events of the Dreamcave? I'd assumed she'd get depressed after it's over and the whole conflict with Steele happens.

ULTRAVIOLENCE is a fun skill name! In the original MARDEK, Steele had Chakra which was a self-heal, I guess this new Steele is more about all-out offense though. I like that the passive suggests he gets really impatient if battles drags on and hits all the harder.

This is a long comment!!