May 12 Update

Apologies if I haven't responded to messages or comments lately. I am trying to knuckle down and focus an even larger percentage of my time on the final battle of TLS, otherwise I'm afraid development will extend too long. But meanwhile I have a prepped post for you about fights.

What's the purpose of an RPG Maker battle? Well, it's obviously a core game mechanic, and so while different players have different opinions, I try to make things intrinsically fun to some degree.

But aside from mechanics, the fights are an element of the story. Even at the most basic level, they're narrative units that convey what kind of conflict the characters are engaged in. Beats that might be handled otherwise in a book are covered by gameplay in an RPG. I actually think this is a strength of games, because they can address conflicts that are longer and more involved than could be sustained in a non-interactive medium.

That said, the purpose of a fight is not always to be difficult. There's a section of the final battle where, if players grasp the strategy, they should be able to blow through a section. I worry that people will play this and think I just completely half-assed the balance, but the intent is really to make the player feel powerful. After so many fights against enemies with scaling challenge, there should be an opportunity to flex the party's strength.

Likewise, I hope that the recurring enemies will feel right. I'm aiming for a balance of continuity and discontinuity: some familiar enemies and some new ones. After setting up the Chosen throughout the entire game, it would be wrong if Hester didn't use them in the final battle, right? You'll also see some familiar demons and entities, playing one last role and hopefully making the game feel like a coherent world. But there will definitely be a bunch of brand new enemies that I hope will make the final battle feel fresh overall.

Think that was all I had to say. Doing a lot of battle work lately.

As mentioned, I will be a bit absent from the internet while I work. To keep you company, here is another comic, this one about the TLS characters playing cards. Qum has a nebulous understanding of the rules of the game, but it seems to involve everyone giving each other gifts of little pictures and she likes that very much. ^-^