Everlong as i see it

[nova]

Before I begin .. there are 3 things I want to apologize for

1. Lame title of this thread ;D Nothing suitable struck my mind.
2. probably a long post.. I have lots in mind about the game and would like to share. So plz bear with me
3. For being so late posting in the forum.. i have been stalking the forums for quite a while now.I am usually the silent type in forums across RPG's. But it does not seem fair not to voice my opinion for one of the best creations i have come across and thoroughly enjoyed.

OK.. with that out of the way... IT'S GREAT TO BE BACK!!!!!!!!! almost one and a half year has passed since I last played everlong and it still remains one of the best (freeware or not) RPG's out there (IMHO).

Last time i played the game till virdis mons.. then for some RL issues and stuff left it there. After once leaving it behind for the time being, I could not bring myself to continue from the point I left it. During the time.. I got myself a new system and the old saves lost.. And around a month back I re downloaded the game and this time I promise to finish it.

Recently I completed the nevus aevum part and got the airship and now doing side quests and aeon/dragon hunting.


I do not want to repeat how awesome the game is and how I just adore it.. So i would just get on with the part where i want to pinpoint some of the stuff that I believe should be balanced.(Actually i had a long list of things I like about the game that I would have mentioned here... but bah.. I am getting lazy typing and there's so much more to tell)..

Plz bear in mind these are just my views and not necessarily everyone would agree.. So without anymore babbling.. here goes:



1. The cost and easy access to Miracle. I was saving these since the start of the game... used to be very cautious when to use them since these nifty dudes seem priceless beyond compare. But after getting the airship.. it's available for just 50k gp??? Really?? With money so easily available in the game.. 50k gp seem like a joke.. if they are to be given in unlimited quantity, atleast increase their price to like 500k. hell even 999k a piece. At least they are a bit costlier in battle arena and you gotta work for them(fight for BP). Same goes for hero drink. Think it's way too easily obtained but it's real value is much more.

2. Prices of herbs/vitamin. 33/50% HP for just 250/1000?? That is way too powerful for something so affordable. And i know it's impractical for me to ask for nerfing of the item effects and introducing more items which are expensive and powerful.

3 Money. It's so easily available, you can practically buy anything anytime. I believe this is all intentional, but a little extra run for the cash would make it more enjoyable.

4. Skills that induce bad conditions. it seems my party is the only one that can get these conditions. With so many powerful status affecting skills at the party's disposal, I am yet to find any particular use of skills like sleep/daze/bleed etc since the monsters that can get affected by them are not worth changing status, they just die in 1-2 turns anyway and pose no serious threat.. and the strong monsters (dragons/chimeras) on which these status affects do make sense are just almost always immune to them. But maybe it's just me and these monsters are designed keeping that in mind. BTW I do not include bosses in the discussion or skills like Migraine/Atrophy/Fragile, but cripple almost never works too.



Ok there were 1-2 more things i wanted to discuss in this section but I can't recall at the moment..


I also found a few bugs, but can't seem to remember right now. guess i should have reported them as soon as I encountered them, but oh well..
The one that i do remember and this happened in both my playthroughs, I don't remember the location now where i encountered this, maybe aurora temple when trying to cure brad??, but the laser beam puzzle just before the bird puzzle, where you are supposed to avoid the laser beams, i actually hit all the laser beams. All that happened was I was sent one step back and i could just continue the path again. i don't know what exactly was supposed to happen if you touched the beam but i am guessing you should be thrown at the start of the puzzle and retry. And i did get the bonus treasure for it too.




And after the bug... Here's me asking for a little help

I am at the stuck at the black dragon trial and i can't get past the second room. Any tips? Cuz i can't continue the game unless I acquire the dragon summon for drakeor( On my RPG all side-quest to be completed principle ;D). thanks








And in the end of all this wall of text, I want to say


[glow=red,2,300]Thank You DJC for a Wonderful gaming Experience[/glow]




And I will be waiting for the completed commercial version. I hope you do complete it someday






EDIT : Black trials Done! Took me around 2 hours to figure the third door puzzle with the number torches... And second door was so easy... dunno why I was stuck there for so long

[nova]

Oh... About the battles... I love the encounter rate in the game.. never too much, never too low and doesn't allow us to be overpowered by placing level caps. You can just never get bored of them unlike some other similar games. Although, sometimes i find that the random encounters are really easy. Maybe it's just me though.



About the Osama quest. i am pretty sure the journal entry is goofed up. the description is from an earlier version maybe?? because description in the journal somehow does not match the story. Also the inhabitants of the town of Sumi(where you get the osama quest i think) call it the town of dale

[DJC]

Thanks for the kind words and glad to hear you're enjoying Everlong. Allow me to answer your comments about the game.

Concerning the cost of Miracles or Hero Drinks, I'm assuming you refer to Erus Caminus (Master Forge) and the Battle Arena. The prices for prizes and items at both of these venues are definitely unbalanced. I was unable to tweak them in the last major revision. The time it takes to adjust the picture files that contain the information was prohibitive and better spent on other tasks. It's not so simple as changing integer values due to the implementation of these systems. This is also why the Character Book and Tactics NPC were not updated.

I was never able to satisfactorily balance the healing items due to engine limitations. I opted for them to continue to be useful throughout the game (percentage based) rather than become obsolete items. I didn't want to introduce a myriad of progressively stronger healing potions and bloat the item list further. I'm also not a fan of unnecessary gold sinks.

Money is more readily available since the cost of equipment and weapons was not adjusted after I last revamped monster GP drops. I simply didn't have the time, and decided for money to be more available rather than too restricted. Instead there are some side quest gold sinks, but they are unimportant to gameplay.

Bosses cannot be inflicted with most conditions because this would massively cripple them in battle. Most ordinary monsters, except those encountered solo, have at least one significant weakness. Unfortunately it takes considerable effort to probe and find this condition. I would have liked to introduce a Scan skill mechanic, but that wasn't feasible given the engine limitations. It's true most monsters are now too weak to make conditions particularly worthwhile. There were previous complaints with battles being too long, and too many of them. I opted for shorter battles and less of them, but with greater rewards to keep the level system flowing.

I believe I changed the laser beam puzzle in The Void at the Temple of Aurora to no longer return the player to the start upon failing. That was too frustrating. The player can still opt to skip the puzzle, and hence miss the bonus chest.

Sorry I didn't have a chance to answer earlier and link you to the solution for the Black Dragon trial. The third room is very challenging, and the second requires some planning and swift execution. Well done figuring them out yourself.

The encounter cap apparently has a bug late in the game I still haven't tracked down. It serves it's purpose, but I would have liked more levels to stretch out between dungeons. It was a compromise fix.

I'm sure several of the quests have outdated information, since like other custom systems it is difficult and time consuming to change. I might have missed some of the Sumi dialog that referred to the old town name. Maybe that's sitting on my current bug list.

Thanks again for all the feedback, and I hope you continue to enjoy the game!

[nova]

Thanks for the quick reply. I was afraid the forums were not active, but good to know the creator is watching over us ;D

Yeah, the third room one was surely a b**ch, i was on hit and trial spree before I saw the uselessness of it, then had to write it all down and do the math. No other puzzle in the game was that hard.

I'd say I like my monsters strong and battles stretched out a bit so i could use some strategy rather than wiping then out on the 2nd turn... but oh well, opinions differ. And the difficulty of the bosses pretty much keeps me on toes and I like it, so no complaints there.


I don't really get engine mechanics and stuff, I just like to play the game, but i guess when you say about the picture file thing, i believe it's something complicated , I thought price fixing would be like changing a value in an excel sheet and a variable value, little knowledge is a dangerous thing I suppose ;D.


Anyways, right now I am somewhere in the phoenix cave. interesting place this. I've always loved the party split dungeons in FF games and this one is no exception, I just wish there were more of such dungeons in every such game, helps realize your party build and potential, since you actually use the other characters than your usual ones. Then there is issue of equipment distribution. just lovely.

Another great thing about this cave is the monster encounter. Finally some good place for a fight that's moderately challenging compared to most of the random encounters. Wish the other areas had tough fights as the phoenix caves.

the only thing i fear is I am around lvl 95 in these caves and I believe I will be 99 by the end of it. Hope I don't get overpowered for the aspect hunt, that would take away some fun from battles. I haven't started with the aspects yet.

And do I need to be at max level before facing Beomast?? I know the grand dragon fried my drakeor @ lvl 93 and I am guessing he has to be done @ 99. Is it the same with beomast?

And since i am already close to lvl 99, does that mean the game is about to be finished soon?? Because the story seems like lots of it is remaining before the final dungeon. Is it OP to be max level before the final dungeon? It is in other games

[DJC]

There's enough characters and equipment in Everlong that multiple party dungeons work well, but it takes a fair amount of code that doesn't always execute consistently in the engine.

It should be as simple as changing an integer value to balance prices and such, but the custom systems use static graphics. The newer engine versions support draw functions, but RM2K3 does not.

Phoenix Cave is balanced for level 95. I'm not sure if you're supposed to reach top power before the final dungeon, but due to a bug you definitely can in the current version. You still have at least five full dungeons and additional bonus dungeons to complete. Reaching maximum level does not make your heroes overpowered, and you'll continue finding useful equipment in dungeons. It's difficult to be over powered in Everlong except when abusing Might in conjunction with Ultimate Weapons.

Fighting the Grand Dragon and Beomaust at level 99 isn't necessary, but the additional HP can help you survive. Strategy is far more important, though.