[ Exalted Journey ] Time to play the Spanking Game (playable)

[zae]

Okay, here you go: (removed link, sick of constant requests to share with Chinese accounts on google)

Now a few notes: it's very much based on the Sidereal faction of Exalted. So knowing about that might help. Or might not.

If you rush through, you are likely to be killed by enemies. Contrarywise, if you spend a bit of time doing side quests or getting your stats boosted, you will find that you walk all over opponents.

Shift runs, Z is the generic select/use/activate/talk button, X is the menu/cancel button.

Sewuxi can dual-wield whips. Also, don't just automatically assume that an item is better or worse based on the "+1" it shows. This normally means "It's better than your current (item in same slot) by +1 in (one measured stat)". These things will often play with multiple stats and change resistances and immunities and so on. But more expensive is usually better

This game uses many status effects in combat, which again can alter your resistances and all that. Certain special abilities apply status effects out of combat, allowing you to interact with scenery in special ways.

To get to the spankings (which you've already seen in the gallery), go to the Grand Hall, then go to the room on the left. You can see the various hand spankings by choosing different options, however as soon as you choose "I plead guilty -> To accept and pay for my offence!", you won't see those options any more - any future visits just give you a list of how many offences you want to pay off. To unlock the groove strapping, you need a current rating of 125.

[zae]

Basic info on what people can expect next time I update it (though that may be some time away).

-Keeping the pictures up for longer rather than just for one second at a time
-Adding some more one-off pictures here and there for fan-servicey moments
-Fixing a missing picture in the court
-Getting into the first chapter proper, where you go to Creation (Earth) to interfere with mortal affairs

[aka]

You're still planning on working on it? Oh. I thought you said in one of your image descriptions that this has more or less become Abandonware. In that case, I'll have to go and play it a bit more thoroughly so I can give some proper feedback.

[aka]

Ok, so I've had a chance to play the game, and I've thought about it some.

First the bug:

When the protagonist is spanked by her mentor, the game doesn't display the image (which I believe is the OTK hand spanking).

The good:

I absolutely LOVE the spells. In particular, I love the emphasis you put on status and buff spells, rather than direct damage or healing spells. The whole point in the combat is to make it as hard as possible for your enemy to damage you, and as easy as possible for you to damage them. I love it when games do that.

In particular, I think the spell where the main character (Chifuwe?) can transfer her negative statuses to her enemies is awesome. Didn't really have a chance to use it, but I've never seen a spell like that and thought it was totally cool.

Furthermore, once I got a hang of the spells, I felt the difficulty was in a good spot. The ants were challenging without being overwhelming, and right about the point where they started to become easy enough to be boring, one of the characters learns a spell that one-shots every ant on the screen. That's really nice because it means I don't have to waste time with battles that are a foregone conclusion.

I also thought the ability to get drunk at the party was a fun touch. A few of the characters' drunken declarations had me chuckling. Though, I think they should have earned a few more offenses than just one. But I guess everyone was in a pretty good mood, so most people were willing to let their rudeness slide.

Now the bad:

It is VERY easy to find yourself in an unwinnable situation. First, the strength of the monsters in the first dungeon is an order of magnitude higher than the monsters in the garden. I was able to just mash the attack button by level 3 in the garden, but at level 7 the ants were giving me a good fight. This plus the fact that there is no healing to be had at the graduation party means that it is very easy to be caught off-guard, and therefore forced to restart because either you're not strong enough, or you underestimated your opponents and two of your party members wound up knocked out (both of these happened to me). In both cases, this forces the player to either load a backup save (and who makes those?), or restart from the beginning. Putting people in an unwinnable situation is a GREAT way to make people not want to play your game.

I know you recommend to people that they explore, both in-game and when you posted the game, but the difficulty in the garden lulls us into a false sense of security. Plus, the impression I got from the main character's mentor was "completing all the sidequests will make the next dungeon easier, but it's not strictly necessary." You need to be MUCH more adamant about making sure the player does the sidequests than you are, because you risk putting them in an unwinnable situation.

I can think of several ways of mitigating this:

1. Jack up the strength of the creatures in the gardens, so that once the party is a high enough level to cream them, they can at least put up a good fight against the ants.

2. Automatically make a backup save before the party begins (and inform the player of this), so that the player can just reload that and try again.

3. Add someone to the graduation party who can heal the players.

4. Throw in some sort of meat barrier before the party begins (perhaps you have to "defeat" your mentor in a sparring match before you're officially allowed to graduate). Then, balance the meat barrier so that if the party can defeat them, then the ants are beatable.

The subjective:

I'm not a big fan of how heavily you have to rely on consumables, but that's mostly because I find inventory management to be a hassle (I don't like shopping in the real world, and I don't like shopping when I'm playing a video game either).

[zae]

Well, if you're sufficient level you can activate a charm and speak to the spider, then it will join the party as a meat shield. But I think I do need to add something to heal the player in there. Aside from the charm that opens an item store wherever you are.

Also I might weaken the ants but have them use more status effects. Honestly, I had no problems with them in my playtests, without even visiting the garden - by doing all the Loom of Fate stuff (and getting stat boosts from the spankings) I beat everything easily.

Healing magic comes online later on, and if you're in any way strong enough, you can ignore the items. I did, however, make various items required in the Loom. You need alertness incense and the seal breaker (along with stuff you find in there).

[aka]

I didn't have to visit the garden either to be strong enough to beat the ants. The point I was trying to make there is that the garden is the only thing the player has (other than the dragon) to gauge the strength of their party. So when they see that they're creaming the garden monsters they might be like "Hah! This is easy, I'm totally ready to move on to the next thing" when maybe they're not.

This is important, because not everyone has the time or patience to turn over every rock in search of sidequests. By making the garden creatures so weak, you run the risk of tricking someone into thinking they're ready to move on, when they're not. That's why I got burned twice.

Also, truth be told, I didn't really need the items, except for a few healing potions. A careful use of status spells and Chefuwe's double attack were enough for me to take down the ants before they could do serious damage.

[Zekel]

Just got raped by ants. Was there a save point, or did I just miss it?

Anyway, after the frustration is gone, I'm certainly going to try again. I don't know Exalted, but I like the setting and backstory. RPGMaker's combat system is sadly rudimentary, but the spells seem like they could make the best out of it. The way you handled the spanking content is very nice too: it's there to be found for those who want it, without being distracting.

Some lines were too long to fit in the box - I noticed the dragon's at the party, as well as the girl's who wants to get you drunk.

[Izumi]

I beat it (by getting beaten ) and you can save when ever I save before entering the office after getting the third party member

[zae]

Yeah, the beauty of pc games is that you can save wherever you like. Save points shall be a thing of the past!

[aka]

Honestly, I never understood the point of save points anyway. There's nothing special about saving that requires a special "place." Near as I can tell, the only reason they exist is to keep people from save scumming. Which only makes sense until you realize that not everyone has butt tons of free time to dedicate to gaming.