some more help (black dragon trial)

[kalavera]

ok, I can't figure out how to solve the third puzzle in the black dragon trial dungeon (the one involving numbers). it seems complicated. I'm not complaining, though. i actually enjoy such puzzles, but this one has me beat. can you give me some tips concerning this puzzle.

by the way, for an RPG Maker 2000 game, this game is not bad at all. When it comes to gameplay and fun, no RPG Maker game can compare to this. The only minor "bad part" about this RPG that I can think of is that there are random battles in it. Random battles, even when not frequent, can be frustrating sometimes ... well, at least to me. But the monsters and the formations are very enjoyable to fight against.
I think you did a great job with this game

[DJC]

The third puzzle in the Black Dragon Trial is the single most difficult in the game, so don't feel bad if it stumped you. It takes a lot of surveying to discover the values for the doors and torches, and then some thinking on how to go about using that information to solve it. Below are the steps to successfully complete the puzzle:

1) Once you enter the room take the only open door.
2) Light the +3 and +5 torches inside, making 8.
3) Take the 8 door that just opened at the room top.
4) Light the +2 and +4 torches inside the room the tunnel took you to, making 14.
5) Exit the 14+ door that just opened at the room bottom.
6) Return to the first room you visited, the second door from the left.
7) Light the -1 and -6 torches, making 7.
8) Exit the room from the bottom and then enter the first door from the left.
9) Light the +10 torch in the room center and put out the -6 torch, which adds 6 and makes 23.
10) Enter the tunnel above that you just opened in the same room.
11) Light the -3 and -2 torches and exit the room from the bottom.
12) If you did the last step correctly the fourth door from the left should now be open and you must enter it.
13) Put out the +4 and +2 torches and light the -4 torch to make 8 and open the tunnel above, taking it back to the second room from the left.
14) Put out the +3 and +5 torches and then light the -6 torch, making -6 and opening the first door from the left.
15) Enter the now open first room from the left and put out the +10 torch, making -16 and solving the puzzle.
16) Take the now opened middle door and get the heck out of this dang room.

My focus with Everlong truly was making something fun while exploring what I could do with rm2k; it wasn't to tell a story, develop memorable characters, code complex custom systems, or show off eye candy. I'm also always looking for any feedback that helps me make the game more enjoyable.

You say you're not enjoying the random battles. What areas have too fequent or too few battles? Where did the fights become too challenging or hard? What causes the frustration? Too much damage being dealt, too many status effects, too many elemental attacks, not enough enemy weaknesses to exploit, monsters too fast or have too much HP?

There is a wide variety of monsters and formations (especially in the later dungeons) but quantity doesn't equal quality. Many people have said the random battles are easy, but then again they may not have played that far into the game. The more comments and suggestions you can give about the game the better I can make it for you and everybody.

[kalavera]

well, with the normal battles, the challenge is balanced ... not too hard and not too easy. This is a good thing. To me, the problem is not the challenge, it's the fact that random battles, whether in this game or in any other RPG with random battles, tend to make you lose focus when you're trying to explore every inch of a cave, dungeon, tower, etc. This is why I prefer event battles over random (like in Chrono Trigger). No doubt, that this isn't easy to change, since the game is already complete (and some players of this game may not want this part to be changed, anyway) But what I suggest is you create an item in the game that lets you choose whether you want to fight random battles or not. You can make the item to be obtained by the player as a reward for beating the game and to be used for the "New Game +" files only, since in the normal game, random battles are very important for leveling up and stuff

Also I suggest that you disable the save feature in the place where you meet the Sanctuary Keeper, since if you get there and you're not prepared properly to beat the boss, you can get stuck there since once you get there, you can't go back to the Forest to level up and find some treasures that you skipped.

[DJC]

Once all your characters hit level 50 an event is automatically processed where you receive a Moogle Charm accessory which you can equip to to stop random encounters everywhere. I think Bahamut's Lair and the Incultus Regnum Basement are the only two exceptions since those have custom encounter mechanisms. Once you reach (or is it finish?) Atlantis you can also go acquire one from the moogles inside the mines at occultus Gaza.

There are a lot of instances such as the caves with the Sanctuary Keeper where you can save and screw yourself over by not being able to backtrack to where you can gain levels or buy more stuff. The idea is to assume the player is smart enough to keep multiple saves so they can still backtrack if needed but also don't have to repeat events over and over every time they die. Of course players don't know what's ahead and can only guess, so it's a tricky situation. I prefer the save almost anywhere option because it also makes it so you can play a little or a lot depending on how much time you have. You don't get worried about reaching the next save point before you have to stop. I'll keep your suggestion in mind though.