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Neverspring Chronicles: Phoenix Down
A streetwise thief on the run from his past must become a Paladin to find redemption in a dying world.
:: Neverspring Chronicles :: (Formerly Durance of Magic) v2.0.0
This game was released on Steam Early Access in December 2021 and subsequently taken down for a complete re-development in November of 2022. As of now, April 2023, the re-development is nearing completion. The download link provided is a Demo of this re-development. It includes roughly the first hour of gameplay.
Synopsis
Marrick and Natasha were just kids when a violent coup in the Imperial Senate took their father's life and split them apart. One became a street-wise thief on the run from his past. The other, a prodigy sorceress raised in secret behind monastery walls. But fate will bring them back together when a mysterious relic offers them a clue to their father's murder.
Note From The Developer
This game is my love letter to JRPGs of the 1990's. It has been through a few drafts and iterations but this past year I redeveloped the entire game from the ground up because when I had initially finished the project, my writing and dev skills had evolved so much that I couldn't help but notice every little newbie mistake, every little plothole or piece of bad dialogue and it drove me crazy. I have really put my all into this project and I can finally say, I'm proud to share it with you all.
While this game is heavily influenced by classics like FF4, FF6, and Chrono Trigger, I made it a point to do a lot of research on modern JRPGs. I wanted to stay as true as possible to a SNES-era JRPG but I also wanted to have fun. There were a few things I couldn't decide on so I adopted the philosophy of "when in doubt, make it an option". Players can see this philosophy played out through options like enemy difficulty, random encounters vs map encounters, and two different combat systems (ATB and Standard). That philosophy is woven into the mechanic design as well. Players can build their characters to fight as more classic-style JRPG battlers or they can build their characters to utilize the Attack Chain mechanics for a more active combat experience.
I'm supposed to write "changes made" here... It's everything. Everything has been changed.
This game has been through a few drafts and iterations but this past year I redeveloped the entire game from the ground up because when I had initially finished the project, my writing and dev skills had evolved so much that I couldn't help but notice every little newbie mistake, every little plothole or piece of bad dialogue and it drove me crazy. I have really put my all into this project and I'm posting it here because this is what I consider my "best" given the circumstances of development (solo dev, no artist, no budget). I want my work roasted, please. Literally the single best fedback I've ever gotten throughout this project's development so far cam from somone roasting a previous version of this game. So I'm back with the result of that feedback.
Neverspring Chronicles is currently in the final stages of development.
Looking for constructive criticism on RoastMyGame:
https://www.roastmygame.com/game/durance-of-magic
Want to help with development?
Now on Steam Early Access:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1747220/Neverspring_Chronicles/
Roasts
kodesuper 3 years ago
Game Graphics Level DesignWhen I first booted up the game, I thought, "Wow it's quite polished!" so I went an optimistic route. And yes, I do like the cutscenes, but it takes a bit too long because, in a game, players want control as soon as the play it. As I played the game, I found that the story is a bit bland, and needs a hook, just to give players that this game's story is important for them to follow. In other words, you need to be personal with the player. Yes, I do think Marrick's past and loss is quite personal, but it doesn't quite connect with me. For me, its more or less the generic RPG that many devs fall into. The story needs more work, as the combat system. Nobody likes random encounters except you're playing a Pokemon game. The random encounters should be divided into different regions in the game, not 3 encounters at the starting area after the village. The character introductions, however, are quite neat, like the monster hunter elf girl. Besides, that, there are some misplaced character portraits in the dialogue box, and also please be consistent whether you want to utilize the name box or not. This COULD be a good game, but I can't help but put it down after just 10 minutes into the game. I also encountered that I cannot save the game as it always denies. However, besides the issues, the combat animations and graphics are impressive. So, I think, with a better fleshed out story, your game can be better!
DuranceGaming 3 years ago
Thanks for taking the time to write this. It's probably the most helpful feedback I've gotten so far.
Slackey 4 months ago
Tutorial/Learning CurveI don't really play a lot of JRPGs, but I really like the visuals and the user-friendly design for beginners. I also have to really pay attention to the combat timing and the hacking puzzles to get them right. If that was your intention, good job! I want to point out a couple of things though. I found a naming error before encountering the Artificial Evolution boss when Sparks is speaking. The second issue happened when the game crashed during aforementioned boss fight though it could just be my slow computer. (Thankfully, I saved at a pretty good point.) I might consider buying the full game when it releases, and I think it has a lot of potential.
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