Reviews for Arcane Maiden

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2021-03-05 08:54:17

gud

2021-03-05 00:30:43

Pretty neat game! I'm not really a fan of turn-based RPGs that much, and while this game can be a bit slow at times, with some long animations and long waits for bar filling, it actually seemed to have some decent strategy in place that I enjoyed: using delay strikes to buy time, deciding whether to heal or save up for a big lvl 3 strike to end it, neat stuff! I still think it is a bit slow and grindy for my tastes, without enough story to keep me hooked, and with enemies that didn't make me have to change my strategy up enough, but overall a positive experience for me.

In terms of feedback, I do feel like the game lacks a lot of information and could do with a more polished presentation to help with that. For example, the skill tree was very confusing for me at first: I didn't realize that the SP next to learn wasn't how much the ability cost to learn, but how much SP I currently have in total. I wish the skill requirements weren't just a boring list you have to read and figure out: I'd like it if when you try to learn a skill you can't, it would make an error sign and highlight the nodes you need in glowing red or something to help the player see. Just all sorts of stuff like that: helping direct the player with more visuals and sounds. Also, I wish there was more info in general: I'd like it if I could strategize my battles by seeing if I could intentionally plan for a level up to get my health back after a fight, but since I can't see my xp bar during combat, it's a no go. Got some weird bugs here and there as well: for example, I dunno why my player name is "<TEXTFORMAT LEADING=", haha! Also, I wish the story would do more to hook me: felt like it petered out quickly and didn't introduce any new info in the grass levels as I went. Also I felt like the graphics were a bit mish-mashed: different graphics of varying quality (like the difference between the MC and their partner) gave it a bit of an unprofessional feel, like it's just slapped together from a bunch of mixed-up asset packs and such (not that there's anything wrong with asset usage, but it can lead to a non-cohesive style).

Anyway, like I said, despite all those complaints that I'd love to see fixed or polished up to make the game even more beautiful, I did feel it had an interesting take on turn-based strategy that I had fun with, so kudos for that as it ain't easy to make me to play RPGs nowadays!

MidNightMaren responds:

You make some very valid points. The Skill trees could use some more indicators that's true, I'll try to make it happen.
Also the 'Exp Needed' on the battle UI was something I realized was missing when I was almost done with the game. I notice a lot of games do have that feature. I'll look into it also.

The <TEXT FORMAT> bug is something related to Ruffle I'm still trying to figure out. On Flash Player while testing locally it works just fine; but I get it that input text on Ruffle is either something not yet implemented, or I'm just calling it wrong somehow.

The story is something I said before. The structure of the game didn't give much room for one. And also, all and all, this game was a try out of a mechanic I didn't have much clue if it was going to be well received.

You can read in the credits this game uses assets from countless authors. I too felt the difference in quality of the sprites was something bugging me to no end. I even resized characters on stage so that the pixels looked the same size. Cut of some in-between frames to make it seem the same frame rate, etc.
Who knows on a possible sequel I can get a couple of artists to help me design some unique assets. And also go and address all the flaws this game presented.