Castle Paradox

[Camdog]

"For those who balk at obedience, remember your childhood. Your parents gave orders for your own good, though you did not understand. We are like children before our Lord Tethiis, and must obey, though we do not always understand." - The Book of Medus

Colin lived his life believing this, until one day his beloved wife was selected as the sacrifice for the Ritual. Unable give up his wife on faith alone, he decided to find his God.

And stop him.

The complete version features:

• Multiple endings
  
• Additional side quests and secrets
  
• New monsters
  
• Updated graphics
  
• New music
  
• Improved gameplay
  

This is version 1.0 beta, which means it is complete but still may contain bugs. I've spent a good deal of time play testing, so I think I've squashed most of the major ones, and I'm 99% sure there's nothing game-breaking left in there. Regardless, it should be solid enough to be played as a regular player, not a bug tester.

The game has about 2 hours of game play, with multiple side-quests, secrets, and endings, so it's worth playing through more than once if you so desire. So, if you have a little time or a lot, you should check it out!

http://www.castleparadox.com/gamelist-display.php?game=757

[J.A.R.S.]

An interesting game... basically, its like an amateur development of a very good (although perhaps a lil cliche after the cyber-punk universe sorta raped that topic) theme. Revamped graphics look like the previous ones, and the levels are ... honestly badly desgined.
HOWEVER, balance of the game is very good. I found out that the 2nd level (the forest) was frustrating enough, requiring a lot of cunning to really cross, and a lot of money etc. Also, very good implementation of mini game/special systems. The story idea seems good thus far too, but to be honest, once in the big city, I didn't know where to go anymore, and since level design is rather weak, as I stated earlier, cities are hard to navigate, big, and boring... It started as a good game despite the graphics, but it quickly runs out of steam. I suggest you polish things up, not only graphically, but detail stuff in this game 'cause right now its a lot of walking, and a lot of "FIGHT"

ALSO, I wanted to turn into a good priest 'cause I realized health was a scarce resource, but then I raised my skills to Lv Heal which basically costs twice as much MPs but cures only 1 hp :S ?!?!? I suggest you rework the balances of your skills, 'cause right now, it seems as though leveling one's skills is worthless compared to raising stats.

Good job though, its nice to see a game like that, very deus ex's like too in a certain way.

[Camdog]

[Ysoft_Entertainment]

*sniff *sniff
"Smells like bad spirit" ~ Don Kanonji (Bleach)

I will give it a try.
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[J.A.R.S.]

ah sorry realize i didnt explain much. The forest is rather linear, and the dungeon is somewhat empty. One guy once said to me (and I believe it is the best level-design advice I've ever heard so here is why i repeat it): If you plan on having little detail in a level, try to make it smaller. The jailrooms are large and completly empty, you can't help but feel its repetitions of tiles and with little to do, also, there isn't even monsters to fight in that portion of the dungeon so it feels unnaturally long. I suggest adding details, such as torches (with the new layer system for example) for the forest, I think more paths would've benefited the level The towns are also big too and unless you plan on following the dirt road they're sorta hard to find.
Also, I didn't mean I was lost in the level, I meant I've lost interest so I didn't even bother talking to people in town, so maybe I expressed myself wrong: it isnot a confusing game, it just sorta gets boring ESPECIALLY since, at the begginning, you had this "cool" system where you had to push the pillar and all, I thought it was petty original, it sorta set the game design perspctive very high which wasnt exactly purued afterwads Butdo' get me wrong, i believe you're ne ofthe rare people with actually SOMETHING to say in that game, the idea looks neat, butthe execution s ify,and Iunderstand ou'Re not exactly an artist, and I recognize the effort there, and quite frankly, that''s one of the rare games I attempted to play (twice) that wasn't based purely on the graphics. For some reason, it outclassed most of the beautiful games too, storywise at least. The execution is a little naive (the hero's reaction to his wife's ... well you know what) but I think, although amateurish, it has a lot of potential somehow, and this is why i bothered writing here. I am under the impression that I gave you the opposite impression: if I did ditch the bad things, it was so you could perhaps make it better 'cause this game HAS an underlying idea that seems worth showing off. If you're up to adding stuff in the current levels, I'm not refering to chests or actual stuff that is useful, but to add variations on the floor tiles and the likes, just so that it doesn'T feel as repetitive, and also, and probably the most important thing, reduce the size, you need to pile up this stuff in a reasonably smaller environement. There is no feeling of confinement at all, it seems odd that people would build houses so big for two people and yet, furniture them so little. I think you get my point here?
The balance, though, is good. I liked getting my ass kicked in the forest, and I even died 2 times at first, so it wasnt exactly "too easy" which most rpgs fall into, yet it wasn't unbeatable, and the coolest thing, after leveling up 4 times, the monsters were still interesting fights where, if I didn't recover between battles, I could STILL die. But I recommend relying upon more skills than just fighting, because, although sometimes the target was a strategic decision, too often, holding down enter was the way to go.
I know what the problem is with the healing thing, but I just think it feels odd to play a game, try ot upgrade something, and basically having the same effect for twice the cost when you just spent that one level point on it... can't help but feel its a waste of assets.
Hope this helps

[Artimus Bena]

I enjoy reading an opinion that is actually thought out JARS, but could you start using paragraphs, to make it easier to read? : p
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[J.A.R.S.]

ah sorry realize i didnt explain much:

The forest is rather linear, and the dungeon is somewhat empty. One guy once said to me (and I believe it is the best level-design advice I've ever heard so here is why i repeat it): If you plan on having little detail in a level, try to make it smaller. The jailrooms are large and completly empty, you can't help but feel its repetitions of tiles and with little to do, also, there isn't even monsters to fight in that portion of the dungeon so it feels unnaturally long. I suggest adding details, such as torches (with the new layer system for example) for the forest, I think more paths would've benefited the level The towns are also big too and unless you plan on following the dirt road they're sorta hard to find.

Also, I didn't mean I was lost in the level, I meant I've lost interest so I didn't even bother talking to people in town, so maybe I expressed myself wrong: it is not a confusing game, it just sorta gets boring ESPECIALLY since, at the begginning, you had this "cool" system where you had to push the pillar and all, I thought it was petty original, it sorta set the game design perspective very high which wasnt exactly pursued afterwads But don't get me wrong, i believe you're one of the rare people with actually SOMETHING to say in that game, the idea looks neat, but the execution is iffy.

I understand you're not exactly an artist, and I recognize the effort there, and quite frankly, that''s one of the rare games I attempted to play (twice) that wasn't based purely on the graphics. For some reason, it outclassed most of the beautiful games too, storywise at least. The execution is a little naive (the hero's reaction to his wife's ... well you know what) but I think, although amateurish, it has a lot of potential somehow, and this is why i bothered writing here.

I am under the impression that I gave you the opposite impression: if I did ditch the bad things, it was so you could perhaps make it better 'cause this game HAS an underlying idea that seems worth showing off. If you're up to adding stuff in the current levels, I'm not refering to chests or actual stuff that is useful, but to add variations on the floor tiles and the likes, just so that it doesn'T feel as repetitive, and also, and probably the most important thing, reduce the size, you need to pile up this stuff in a reasonably smaller environement. There is no feeling of confinement at all, it seems odd that people would build houses so big for two people and yet, furniture them so little. I think you get my point here?

The balance, though, is good. I liked getting my ass kicked in the forest, and I even died 2 times at first, so it wasnt exactly "too easy" which most rpgs fall into, yet it wasn't unbeatable, and the coolest thing, after leveling up 4 times, the monsters were still interesting fights where, if I didn't recover between battles, I could STILL die.

But I recommend relying upon more skills than just fighting, because, although sometimes the target was a strategic decision, too often, holding down enter was the way to go.


I know what the problem is with the healing thing, but I just think it feels odd to play a game, try to upgrade something, and basically having the same effect for twice the cost when you just spent that one level point on it... can't help but feel its a waste of assets.
Hope this helps

---
hope this is easier on your eyes?

[Artimus Bena]

Muuuch better. But you could've just edited your post : p
_________________
SACRE BLEU!

|||Compositions!
|||Eldardeen Soundtrack!
|||Red Mercury!

[Camdog]

J.A.R.S:

I'm not sure if I understand your complaints. You're saying despite the good gameplay and interesting puzzles, you got bored because the maptiles were not varied enough? I mean, the pillar puzzle which you liked so much is encountered 10 minutes before the point where you quit, so I hardly think it can be said that "interesting design" wasn't pursued afterwards. There are more nifty puzzles in the game, I promise.

Further, the fact that you say Torvald needs to be more fleshed out makes me wonder if you even looked around. For the record, Torvald has:

-New music
-An entirely new set of maptiles (the outskirts look like other towns, but the downtown and docks are totally different)
-Two sidequests
-A unique store
-A Library
-Gambling
-Tons of people to talk to, none of whom say filler stuff like "Welcome to Torvald!" or "Hi!"

What more, precisely, should be done?

I'm not trying to whine about the negative stuff you said, but you seem to contradict yourself a lot and it confuses the hell out of me.

Also:

[J.A.R.S.]