Finally time for a review from myself. I've been putting off looking at this for a while simply because it was getting so much good press. I didn't want to be disappointed  . The good news is I wasn't for the most part.
On with it then:
I have to start this with a few simply requests:
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setscreen ("nobuttonbar;position:middle;middle")
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And don't give me the excuse "Oh noes! I won't have the Stopzor button any more!" You're a perfectly capable programmer and it would be no stretch at all for you to add an 'exit' condition to the in-game menu. Or for that matter an exit condition to the Main Menu!
As an RPG, your game has a few of the classic elements - leveling up, random battles, obscurely named characters with more than their share of history to which they subtely allude. It would be nice to see the introduction of more of a story line, some NPCs and the like, but this is a work in progress and for now this is still quite impressive considering it is Turing.
Your movement system is good. Just because I can, I tend to move through the, uh, World Map only on the diagonal since it appears faster (but is it!?). The in-game movement is good for the most part, but at lower levels the lack of speed is very sticky. But I'm sure that's how it's supposed to be.
I'm no big fan on dual mouse-keyboard control for anything, yet I seem to be seeing it rather frequently these days. Perhaps you did it to make your life easier, or because it suited your needs better. Whatever your reasons, it's a good thing you did it well. The addition of the lag-time between mouse-clicks that are converted into actions is useful and adds a little realism - as opposed to being able to shuttle out a thousand bolts of lightning at a whim.
You really might want to look into a way to cycle through weapons more effectively. Perhaps if one could access the Middle Mouse Button...? In the heat of battle against numerous opponents one may need to switch between mêlée and distance magic...and this is not the easiest thing to do while performing Evasive Maneuvers at the same time.
Jumping is a nice addition (and looks best when using Surround Lightning at the same time), though not one I had time to use very much. Battles tend to be very intense, hence one has not the time to incorporate such strategies too often. Sure, against a few opponents jumping is cute - but otherwise I found it mostly pointless.
The in-game menu system was practical and did its job. Again, I'd like to see the addition of a 'quit' function to it, and any other set of fcns you'd like. Would keyboard-only control make this easier for the User? I don't know, but perhaps you should try it out. (Or if you're feeling particularly whimsical, a combination of both keyboard and mouse).
The Main Menu was, again, functional. One bug I found was that it would crash upon 'Load' if no game existed to be loaded. Remember, the User is ultimately really stupid. Work around that.
As for the save files themselves...I guess it's a good thing they aren't too craftily, uh, encrypted. I probably wouldn't be finished it yet if I weren't able to, uh, customize my character's attributes.
The artwork is minimalistic, but a good change from your initial version of coloured-blocks. Not that there was anything wrong with that, and your engine has not changed too much, only what the eye perceives. I find it interesting that you've included the base pictures needed for the next two acts, though they haven't been developed yet. That's a good strategy if you're planning on releasing the acts as seperate add-on files for the game.
Sounds are fun, though don't always play.
Maps are a little confusing - an overall map showing explored terrain (perhaps from the in-game menu) would make life easier - especially since many screens look the same.
Magic system is one of the strongest aspects to the game. No need to comment much on its, since it's done very well. Perhaps having enemies capable of accessing some of the higher level magiks would be a good idea too (of course they'd have to be affected by the same delayed use as the User).
One thing I personally didn't like was how the energy bar would scroll when it got filled (for some magiks). This meant that all that time spent powering up was of no use. For those that had the auto-fire on max-energy...what if I wasn't pointing at the right spot at the time?
It would be interesting to see what you'd be able to do with this if you incorporated keyboard-only controls.
As an addendum to that...if someone powers up to the 'level 2' mark, and then attempts to attack, why should there be no attack if they only have the 'level 1' attack available? It seems little counter-intuitive - perhaps just an indication that the higher-level attack failed?
Randomness in battles is sometimes fun, often just weird. Not sure what some of those random circles are supposed to do, but they're there and add a little spice. One thing I'd improve on is making sure that the hazards are not created directly upon either the main character or any of the side characters. Adds too much of a handicap from the get-go.
So, what's with all the bandits? I mean, it's not like we meet anyone else other than bandits. Who are all these bandits robbing!? And why do they need to rob if they have such awsome weapons? 
The first Boss (the one with wayside lightning) was the most interesting. The second was just a little odd, what with the appearing besides my character thing going on. Especially since one of the others threw fireballs
that could potentially hurt his own.
Apparently you have a Store planned. Perhaps it's already in there and I just didn't find it. Same comment as the whole 'explored world map' thing.
I'm curious to know if you're using Classes for this. A lot of things point to the answer being "yes", but I'm sure this could be done with more primitive objects too.
Just remembered: What the hell was that "weapon broken" thing all about in the first battle you encounter...?
Anyhow, overall a solid submission. It's good to see it progressing - shows that you're not giving up too easily. I've said (mostly) all that I wanted to.
+ bits (quite a few). |
Press space bar to access the stat menu. From there, i'd suggest you get at least 1000 vitality, at least 30 ish speed, and from there, specialize what you want. The skills are on the next page, and I made it so skill points and stat points are common, so upgrade your skills before upgrading your stats if you don't remember very well (Like me 
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thats a lot to digest. Thank you for the comments. I've been working at it, and i've fixed some of the things you suggested, but I need some clarifications to continue.
