Hit me with some chapter names at least my man.

Chapter one: Don't waste my time.
Chapter two: Why I'm not into escapism.
Chapter three: Your story sucks and you should feel bad.
Chapter four: Reward schedule oriented design is patronizing and evil.
Chapter five: Separating good gameplay design from bad gameplay design - the Devil is in the details.
Chapter six: Gameplay > graphics - I will play your Excel spreadsheet RPG and like it.
Chapter seven: Why small studios making small focused games is my favorite thing and why big studios making sprawling epics is not.
Chapter eight: Jonathan Blow and his influence on my approach to games.
Chapter nine: Gritty and grim makes me grouchy.

There actually aren't any random encounters. Every battle is preset, and you can see all enemies before you fight them (or avoid them).

The music is really fun. I can't remember the name of the person who made it, but it's someone who has done a lot of other work.

The battle system is a bit different. Instead of MP or SP, each character has a bunch of skills that they can basically only use once before they have to rest, which replenishes their moves. And you deal more damage as the fight goes on and you develop more momentum. So instead of just immediately using your strongest attacks, it's best to save them for when your momentum hits its peak. There are also some customization options, with different shields that characters can equip to gain access to different skills. And after each battle, you get all your HP back, so you don't have to worry about running back to town for a heal 'cause you're out of potions or whatever.

Nice. Exactly how I want it!

Fingers crossed that it's Alexander Brandon!

Sound like quite a lot of interesting design tweaks that could well help solve some of the issues I have with more standard JRPGs. I really like that you get your HP back. In most JRPGs, potions are so cheap that it was just pointless busywork to go into the menu and fix your team after each battle. The resources are usually so plentiful that there isn't any reason not to do it.

The skill system sound interesting too. Curious to see how that works out!


Funny how a couple things here seem to be a lot like in that game I'm working on in my spare time: Finite, preset battles and one-use skills that require resting to replenish.

I might get this game if it's still on sale on Steam later today when I get home.

.

I answer a question half seriously/half jokingly and you tell me to calm down?
Umm... ok?


Oh and Ori, I bought the game. Haven't installed it yet, but I'm gonna get around to it maybe next week where I've got a week off and plan to play some games.

:beer:

What do you mean by escapism? Are you anti-lifeskills in video games?

Just got my first 2 kills in Apex. This game is great.

I can't answer that before you explain what you mean by "anti-lifeskills".