Skirjasaga - Tale of a Heifer (Chapter 1 PUBLIC Release)

so i play the game and it was very good to me the most thing i like in the game was the gameplay it was quite good and i think the music all things was good expet the game its to short i end all things in half hour it was sad to end the game like this cuz the game start to be good but in the end it was good game and i hope you keep the hard work and i wish if there anything new about the game tell us about it i gave the game 10 and thanks again to your hard work

i think theres nothing you can do for now

I played this a while ago and I mean to comment then, but the time slipped away from me and I only just remembered what I meant to say here.

This is absurdly polished for an RPGM submission here, and Iā€™m impressed by how much effort goes into the prologue alone. In fact, by the prologueā€™s end, I entirely forgot this was supposed to be a kink game. I was genuinely hooked on Noraā€™s story, that dark turn caught me totally unawares because I figured, ā€œAh, itā€™s alright, everything will be fine, itā€™s a fetish game, nothing bad will happen to the characters, her armā€™s off, itā€™s just a flesh wound, itā€™s not a flesh wound ITā€™S NOT A FLESH WOUNDā€ and the ending implying that Nora comes back as aā€¦Draugr?..is a pretty ominous setup.

ā€¦which made it a pretty jarring transition when we IMMEDIATELY go from that to ā€œnaked gay monstergirl in a shack in the woods.ā€ Like, we just watched a child die, and then BAM! HORNY! I wasnā€™t mentally prepared for that, and I donā€™t mean that in a good way. The easiest workaround for this, I think, would be to introduce Sylvi without anything sexual, show her relationships to other characters so we have a chance to get invested in her before the smut, and then let us see her nekkid. That would be less jarring after the EDGE.

And, of course, itā€™s nice seeing some integration of folklore and history in this. It helps ground this narrative in a time and place and make it more interesting.

Side note: Maybe itā€™s because I suck with names, but I see people saying Nora is reintroduced after the timeskipā€¦is she the drunk chick who rejects Sylvi? Like, I genuinely missed the part where she was still alive and I was expecting a decaying, 20-foot-tall child to roll up as a boss at some point.

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Ayo, this post perfectly conveys my thoughts on the game as well. I appreciate you posting it cuz I suck at putting my thoughts into words XD

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[Sylviā€™s introduction]

The start of Chapter 2 definitely represents a huge tonal shift. Ideally it should defuse the tension of the previous ending, but the change may have been too dramatic and leaves the player with a sense of emotional whiplash. Iā€™m not sure whatā€™s the best way to address this, but Iā€™ll keep in mind the option of potentially starting the chapter off slightly earlier.

Nora comes back as aā€¦Draugr?

I really love to hear your enthusiasm about her story and being invested in what happened! By middle of Chapter 1 (the current end of the game) the game still hasnā€™t given a clear answer to whatā€™s up with Nora. An explanation of her ā€œdeathā€ scene is alluded to in certain ways, but a definitive answer is only given later.

I can confirm that Nora from the prologue and the drunk girl that rejects Sylvi are one and the same though :laughing: She says her name when they sit down to talk for the first time.

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Just here to heap a ton of praise onto this game, because it deserves it.

Love how engaging the combat system is, which is something I canā€™t say about most RPG Maker games. Itā€™s simple to learn, hard to master, and the rules are clearly laid out for you.

The writing is compelling and I love the fact that you chose to flesh out the characters and world before even dipping into the fetish stuff, which makes it hit all the better when you finally get to it. Makes it feel like an actual world that facilitates the fetish-y scenarios, but isnā€™t solely built around them. Way more immersive and fun that way.

Reality change stuff is one of my favorite things, ever, and I canā€™t think of another game that does it better than this one. Getting to see the exact points in time in which Sylviā€™s life was altered is so fucking genius. Iā€™ve replayed that one section like three times now because itā€™s just that well done. Pushes all the right buttons, 10/10, no notes.

This is one of the most polished RPG Maker projects Iā€™ve seen on here, and I cannot wait for more. Keep up the good work!

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so i donā€™t do much rpg maker coding
but i think the easiest solutions

would be an if/then with true = easy false = normal for difficulty in the intro, then your fighting function could read the t/f at the start with another if/then and change the timing for a slower or normal pace

an if/then for boss fights at beginning to set all boss hp to 1 for easy, or do nothing for normal

or inherit an instakill item, does enough damage to 1 shot, set its damage to = targets hp

How are you, dude, Iā€™m sorry for what I did earlier when I asked you about the release of something new in a game without talking about a game and a story after I finished the game.
he first thing I want to say is that I hope you will forgive me for what I did before. I did not mean that my style would become like it or something like that. All I wanted was a continuation of the game because it was very fun and interesting, especially a witch fight. After I finished the game, I was overwhelmed with enthusiasm and forgot to talk. About my experience of playing it So now Iā€™m going to talk about my full experience, I hope you can bear with me.I liked the special music in a game. I liked it very much. Because of it, I was able to go deeper into the atmosphere of the game, and I liked the story, Nora and Sylvie, and the most thing I liked about the game is of course the style of play because it depends on skill and challenge. With a difficult leader, he makes the experience more and more enjoyable for me, at least, and I hope that you will add more difficult leaders in the end I hope you will forgive me once again for what I have done, and I wish you success in this project and your other projects

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I donā€™t think anyoneā€™s that upset about it, donā€™t worry. Itā€™s a forum policy though, and like you noticed, asking for updates quickly gets your posts flagged.

Glad you enjoy the game :+1:

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Just wanted to pop in and say that your work is really, really good. Exceptional innovative mechanics, great story structure, compelling lore, multi-faceted characters, thoughtful dialogue, and perfect pacing. I have no notes, this was fantastic. I canā€™t wait for more!

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A small bit of constructive feedback: I think that Atla needs a scornful/sneering expression for her character portrait while sheā€™s mocking/feeding Sylvi. Right now she wears a neutral expression throughout her scenes and it doesnā€™t entirely line up with her actions and dialogue.

I finally got around to actually trying this out andā€¦ I canā€™t. The game runs in half speed for some reason, and Iā€™ve no idea why. No other RPGM game does this for me, and Iā€™ve never encountered this issue before. The only thing I can think of is the music files are encrypted which may be causing it? But since I havenā€™t seen anyone else with this issue that theory is very shaky.

Thereā€™s probably an amazing story and killer fats sealed away here. I will never experience them. The combat is miserable and tedious, the exposition dump makes Concerning Hobbits look like a pamphlet, and the game repeatedly locks you into chain after chain of events without a chance to save. This is especially frustrating when combat begins, and because, like others reported, this game chugs like hell and crashes randomly.

I really like the characters and want to like this game, but thereā€™s too much all at once. Did there need to be 20 different minigames for different actions and stats, did combat need to be this timing-precise to make me bludgeon my skull because Iā€™m off by 1 frame, and did a lengthy cutscene need to play just before the first difficult fight?

Just disappointed, thereā€™s too much here that actively chases the player away.

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Iā€™m not going to get into most of these criticisms, but suffice to say I canā€™t agree with them.

I do have one thing I want to comment on though:

the exposition dump makes Concerning Hobbits look like a pamphlet

Setting aside that the wording amused me, my game truly features no exposition so far. The world is filled to the brim with its own internal workings, background lore, powers, gods, and a whole host of story elements that are left unexplained.

The prologue is lengthy, but it only ever deals in character interactions and genuine story moments. When characters talk they do so in natural conversation, that only ever hints at any of these things. Iā€™m a big fan of maintaining the sense of mystery and discovery, and I think seeing characters act naturally is more interesting than say - having a narrator stop for 15 minutes to explain whatā€™s going on.

The only thing that resembles exposition are the lore pages, which are optional exploration rewards, but if you donā€™t like them just look hit [x] to move on with the game.

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The story, though it starts on the heavier side, I did like how it is being presented. I think it fits a game that is trying to get some worldbuilding and lore in.

Also, regarding the not being able to saveā€¦ you know there is a ā€œsuper skipā€ button that makes text and scenes fly away in seconds, rightā€¦? Like, if you happen to need to start the game, you can skip the whole first scene in just a couple seconds.

Then regarding performanceā€¦ I donā€™t know about you, but Iā€™m using an okayish laptop from 2016 and it runs flawlessly, so it sounds like its a you thing.

Did there need to be 20 different minigames for different actions and stats

Soā€¦ you would rather have a generic RPG Maker game thenā€¦? I think this is one of the things that differentiates this game from others, sure it isnā€™t perfect, but its the first version of the game as well for gods sake. I think it gives it a very needed variation.

Regarding combatā€¦ you get used to it, it isnā€™t very hard at all once you start getting more used to it. Specially later on a specific battle, it starts throwing newer things at you showing you the potential of variations that could entail having such battle system. In my opinion, its quite a lot of fun.

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Happened exactly the same to me as well with a different game. Updated sound drivers and that did it.

I do wish to apologize for my original comments. I would describe myself, at the time, as ā€œtilted as all hellā€.

I like aspects of the game and appreciate what itā€™s doing, but for a fetish game, at the end of the day, getting boxed out by skill issues and technical issues was a new and miserable feeling.

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in some ways? yes I would rather have a generic rpg maker game, purely because I donā€™t find the gameplay all that compelling, I find it non-immersive, and my skill level and computerā€™s tech specs meant that I was tilted during a fetish game, which seems wild to me, right?

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You should totally let the hatred guide your hands work for the good content! lol

Joking aside, I think the game would lose without them, but still, when the game is done or on the way there maybe they can put some sort of ā€œeasyā€ mode or skip of some sort?
Those things take time to make and test though, so totally up to Seren to do any.

For what itā€™s worth, I really like the mechanics, the storytelling, the combat, and the pacing. Different strokes for different folks I guess.

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