Everlong: New and Old

[JJ]

Everlong was one ofthe first RPGs I'd played. I had played the old version of Everlong way back in 2006. I couldn't believe how much I was just loving it. I remember, I was really sad when the game was over. I was browsing for other RPGs, but none of them even came remotely close to Everlong.
You might not remember it, but I was really stuck at the ship graveyard puzzle and I'd emailed you desperately for help. I was grateful that you'd answered so promptly!

So I decided to give the new version a try just to see the changes. Right now I've reached the point where Sammie, Julia and Drakeor visit the temple of Aurora. I can see you've added many new titbits to the story. For instance, Sammie revsits his old village outside the Valiantide hideout. A few new scenes with the emperor of Cirigorn.

But I'm really curious to know the reason behind the personality changes of the characters,specifically Brad and Julia. For instance, in the old Everlong, Brad had come across as quite a noble and nice guy who was being hated and mistrusted just for his Cirigoth past, which he was trying to leave behind desperately. He had come across as a victim. But the new Brad is portrayed as a bloodthirsty murderer, who is revengeful and not capable of feeling any "good emotions". He insults the Knight of Eridwell and threatens Julia.

Also, speaking of Julia, she had come across as a under-confident shy girl, but who was very dedicated and aspired to be great and useful to others. The new Julia comes across as a bit cowardly and self-centered in the scene just outside Aurora temple. She doesn't care what happens to Brad or Sammy.

There are a few more things I'm wondering about:

- You have changed the names of potions,hi-potions, ethers etc to Tincture, Ammonia etc.
- The price of MP restorants has risen astronomically and Tents only restore HP.
- While playing the old Everlong, I had mostly relied on Magic and spells targeting multiple enemies. But in this version, multiple enemy-targetting spells (so far Sammy's) are weak and since Mana restorants are costly, I'm having to rely on melee attack only which the characters miss a lot.
- The encounter rate in the worldmap I find, is very very less. I hope its not a bug in my part.

Also, I wonder why you've removed the introduction cutscene about the Cirigoth empire, Tyr-Annox and Valiantide. I had loved it and it had drawn me in this game right then.

I hope I've not pestered you too much with my questions.I was really curious so I wrote this. Everlong has and will always hold a special place in my heart. I'm off to play some more now.

[DJC]

Hey JJ, good to see you back and playing the current version of Everlong. If you're looking for RPGs with a similar style, Final Fantasy 4, 5, and 6 and Chrono Trigger on the SNES are what served as models for me. While there are other RPG Maker games I could recommend, there aren't any quite like Everlong.

There have been many changes to Everlong since 2006, both in gameplay and story. Other players have also remarked on the character changes I made. I originally put little effort into developing the heroes, and wanted to change that. The new direction I took with many characters diverged from their previous incarnations, and I understand how some fans might be disappointed. I had to follow my desire, however, to make a darker, more mature story with realistic characters.

Unfortunately the vast majority of character development and story additions I had planned were cut from the final version due to time constraints. Sadly this makes the characters feel incomplete in addition to being unfamiliar. For example, Brad was supposed to be struggling with his last shred of humanity, teetering on the brink as a psychopath, but able to be saved at the end of the game depending on player choices. Julia was to have an entire backstory in Seraphia involving her noble parents and their betrayal of the kingdom to the invading Cirigoth and Tyr-Anox, but that was never written. I only managed to include a few scenes exploring a traumatic experience of her past. There were massive amounts of character development similar to this for each hero, but almost all of it was left out.

I changed the names of many items to add a little originality rather than copy the defaults from Final Fantasy. It's definitely confusing for previous players, though. Skills and their costs have been mathematically balanced, which necessitated making MP restoratives much more expensive early in the game. I also made Tents only restore HP to make Inns meaningful. Once you gain access to MP stealing spells like Osmos and Psyche, however, your casters will be much more effective. Unfortunately, physical attacks are still overpowering due to the nature of the battle algorithms and abuse of the spell Might. Multiple target spells have been nerfed significantly because they were simply too powerful. Now they are most useful for massively inflicting conditions, rather than damage. If your heroes are missing with physical attacks, make sure you're not overloading them with heavy equipment that reduces their speed. I wanted to do something radically different with skills in general to make them more useful and balanced, but I don't have the power with the current game engine.

All encounter rates are now tied to a level adjusting system. Each point in the plot is balanced for a specific level. If your party's average level is below expected, you receive more encounters. If you're above the average level, expect few or zero monster battles. This is due to the length of the game, the level cap, and the inflexible algorithms for determining experience amounts to increase levels.

I removed the old introduction cutscene because it revealed too much of the story at the very beginning. That was throwing out too many names and places at once. I wanted to get the player into the game quicker with less story elements overloading them. It's better to reveal the mystery a little at a time to keep the player interested in unraveling the truth without being overwhelmed.

As you progress through the game I'd love to know what you think about the other changes. It'll be a different experience, but I hope it's still fun.

[coren]

It's a bit disappointing that Brad and Julia's pasts didn't end up in the final release, but I enjoyed it all the same. It would've been nice to be able to save Brad, though. He really grew on me.

[DJC]

Sept 5, 2012 7:34:02 GMT -5 coren said:

It's a bit disappointing that Brad and Julia's pasts didn't end up in the final release, but I enjoyed it all the same. It would've been nice to be able to save Brad, though. He really grew on me.

It would have been even nicer if you could get Brad back since I did all that work on battle animations and his Skill Shard page. Same with Cirus. :-P

[coren]

Aww, you should've let him come back! Aside from the fact that I was sad that he died, it'll still be a very nice and homely surge of nostalgia to have a character that you only played as at the beginning of the game rejoin the party.

Are you still planning to make anymore new versions? In case you are searching for one, I will be willing to contribute art for the characters.

[DJC]

Sept 6, 2012 7:00:06 GMT -5 coren said:

Aww, you should've let him come back! Aside from the fact that I was sad that he died, it'll still be a very nice and homely surge of nostalgia to have a character that you only played as at the beginning of the game rejoin the party.

Are you still planning to make anymore new versions? In case you are searching for one, I will be willing to contribute art for the characters.

Thanks for the offer, but at this time I'm not working on a new version. There is a list of bug fixes I might patch in the future, but nothing immediate. I don't have the time right now to update the game.

[coren]

Ah, I see.

By the way, I always found it a little strange how Marowit can be saved, but not Brad. Being able to let Marowit live was a very refreshing turn of events, but was there any way to save Brad that I overlooked?

[DJC]

Sept 7, 2012 0:46:17 GMT -5 coren said:

Ah, I see.

By the way, I always found it a little strange how Marowit can be saved, but not Brad. Being able to let Marowit live was a very refreshing turn of events, but was there any way to save Brad that I overlooked?

There's no way to save Brad in the game currently. It was planned, and that same event would be the final decider, but I didn't have the rest of the pieces in place since he would have rejoined the party in that case. There's simply a massive amount of additional events, content, and dialog that was cut because I ran out of time.

[coren]

A pity. Ah well, I look forward to any point of time in the distant future if you might decide to add in that content after all. It was really tragic - I really just wanted him to live, heh. He had such a messed up life, after all, and to have that end so painfully really made me feel terrible.