Shining Fanwork: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Community Project's Second Release

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valhalla
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by valhalla »

thanks for the great project!!

I have a question, maybe someone knows what happened.
When I unzip the game and run it, it works fine!
But if I try to move the directory to another path, it just show the dialog with "error occurs!!".
And then I remove it to the original path, it works fine again...

I just want to place the directory to my usb disk, and then I could play the game anywhere.

and sorry for my poor English...
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Broked »

@valhalla

There shouldn't be any hard-coded paths in the game that would prevent it from being moved around. Does it work when you place it in a different directory that is NOT on the USB drive?

Also, what operating system are you using (Windows, Linux, Mac) and are you using the .exe or the .jar to run the game?

If you're willing to dive deeper in to this, you can try moving it to the new directory and then opening up the command line and running it from the new directory to see if it has any additional error messages.
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by katgirlfeli »

I remember playing the demo a long time ago and it looks like its come a long way. While I haven't played the newest demo myself, watching a video someone posted earlier, its looking really good, especially with the sprites. Keep up the good work!
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by lavathor »

I started a let's play of part of the demo, is it okay to post the youtube link in here?
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by valhalla »

@Broked

I finish the game at original path, and I just try to move the path again.
But it just work fine at new path....
I don't know why....

thanks for your reply

I run the game using .exe file and my OS is Win 7 64bit
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Gizmo »

Hey there,

I've just discovered about Shining Force mods and then this project and i just took it for a spin.

Before giving my impressions, a bit of background :
Spoiler
I first played SF2 on my megadrive in the 90s, probably when it was first released in europe or maybe it was a US import.
It was probably my first T-RPG.
Later, i discovered UFO (playstation) and even later i played a lot of old SNES T-RPG (you name it) and i'm not mostly a blobber fan (Wizardry 8 probably being my Graal, with speed mods/enhancement project )

This said, i played SF1 & 2 quite a while over the years, even played the Maga CD version, the GBA version, SFIII ...
So, my impressions :

- First impression : town exploration - felt bad, empty of the secrets that i liked so much in SF1 / 2
Spoiler
I walked the whole city trying every single library / container only to find 2 or 3 chests containing nothing, one behind the trees on the left with a healing herb and a lot of barrels full of emptiness ...

At this point, i started to curse the dev team and was about to quit but i went forward.
- Second impression, dialogs : better, specially after i found out how to speed it up 3x but i find them well written and quite interesting.

- Third impression : Commands - Mixed feelings, it's probably tough or impossible but i've grown fond of playing SF through emulators, keyboard config, for once, is a nice thing ... Well, it works alright, keyboard config would be great but it's good enough, i guess.

- Fourth impression : Battle - first one started a bit rough but i managed, even used a healing herb for xp purposes (could have done without it on the first one, same on the second one, i guess), not sure how much xp it gave to the healer, though.

- Fifth impression : The plot - I like the garden cut-scene and the "altercation" in the hallway, afterward, it's quite weird if not inconsistent (and i've read i'm not alone on this one)
Spoiler
So, the imperial mage or something accuse them to be traitors, ok, on what grounds ? Because they were unconscious in the gardens ?

Are they not guards ?

Anyone with a minimum of wits would at least interrogate them before throwing them to jail because they were found unconscious on guard duty, i mean, seriously, isn't that the dumbest start ever ?

I didn't go any further but if at least a murder was committed in the gardens, it would have made little sense, still, unconscious guards would have had the benefit of the doubt, surely, the culprit didn't wait unconscious in the gardens.

So, something is missing here, i think, if the story doesn't make sense, i'm not sure i'll be able to follow for long.
Sixth impression : SAVING ! - this one got on my nerves, saves states are a nice thing and it's a safety net i really enjoy being a PC RPG player. So, emulation is nice in that regard.
Spoiler
At the end of the second battle, i waited to heal the hero, he had enough to sustain 3 hits, two enemies left, what could go wrong ?

So, i nait one of the two remaining guards, at least, i think i did but i didn't place the hero where he was supposed to and of course, both of them could hit.

Naturally, for the first time in this playthrough, the first guard double hit and the second plays right after him and doesn't miss ...

BACK to the beginning of a tedious battle ...

Well, i stopped at that point, will probably get back to it in a week or two (or three ...)
So, i'd really appreciate one or two saves per battle, so you can save mid battle at least.

Improvements suggested :

Strongly recommended :
- SECRETS (that's at least 25% of Shining Force 1 / 2 success, items everywhere so exploration is meaningful, secret promotion items, secret characters; without it exploration is just a waste of time so you could just tell the player, don't search for things that doesn't exist and loose some of the hype.

- PLOT consistency, it can be original, even odd, as long as its explained and plausible (all things considered)

- SAVING everywhere outside of battle, eventually (i'd really enjoy it) 1/2 saves per battle.

Optionnal :
- Key mapping

Well, it's interesting overall, still, there is one thing i don't like about video games since i'm not 12 anymore and i've played my share it's when a game is wasting my time (meaningless exploration + not being able to save ).

I'm probably not alone on this.

Of course, you're doing this on your own time, at your own pace and probably first just for yourselves as you're distributing for free, still, i think you should give this some thoughts.

Thanks for the demo and all your hard work.
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Omega Entity »

It's a demo, so there's a shitload of things that aren't implemented yet. It's kind of silly to get super angry over things in an early demo game. Think of it more like an Alpha version demo.

That said, to answer this question:
Spoiler
So, the imperial mage or something accuse them to be traitors, ok, on what grounds ? Because they were unconscious in the gardens ?

Are they not guards ?

Anyone with a minimum of wits would at least interrogate them before throwing them to jail because they were found unconscious on guard duty, i mean, seriously, isn't that the dumbest start ever ?

I didn't go any further but if at least a murder was committed in the gardens, it would have made little sense, still, unconscious guards would have had the benefit of the doubt, surely, the culprit didn't wait unconscious in the gardens.

So, something is missing here, i think, if the story doesn't make sense, i'm not sure i'll be able to follow for long.
Spoiler
Mistal (the woman who accuses them of being traitors) is actually the traitor, and is plotting against the crown. Her accusation is to deflect suspicion off of herself, and since she's in a far higher position than the guards, no one would take their word over hers. Therefore, it's easier for her to accuse them and have them thrown in jail than it would be for her to outright kill them, as it'd be much more difficult to explain away (and leave us, the players, with a very, very short game, lol).

As for the rescue, the people that come to rescue them are well aware of Mistal's scheming. The arrest of our hapless heroes, however, has forced their hand earlier than they would have liked.
Hopefully that clears that bit up.
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Stordarth »

Thanks, Dani.

Yeah, it's still essentially Pre-alpha, even now. There's still so damned much to get done. We have plenty of features and secrets planned, including stuff like keyboard customisation, maybe joypad support etc; they're just not the focus at the moment.

Remember as well that we have zero budget. Literally zero. We're doing this on our own time for fun because we love the original Shining Force games, and having been starved of them for so many years, we wanted to pay homage to them, whilst also stamping our own identity on it. We want it to be as good as possible, but we can't cater to the tastes of everyone on every aspect. Doing that slowed us to a crawl in the early days when literally every decision was done by polls, so we now make decisions within a small group. That includes which critiques to put the most emphasis on. We value and appreciate all feedback, but when comments sometimes conflict, we have to decide which direction to take.

The save state idea won't be required once we get the save function fully implemented, as there will be a save function in battle. Unlike SF1 and 2, we'll have it behave more like SF3, where you can save without quitting. But I'm glad that the main elements you found annoying were mainly either WIP features or random chance (in the case of the double attack - seriously, that's a tough break.), and that you found enjoyment in a lot of it.
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Reaver Ind. »

I'm not very good at reviews nor do I make them at all so this is probably just a long winded first impression, but I felt that I had to say something after just playing Demo 2, so here goes nothing.

I really haven't been following this game, but I really wish I had though (was following the SFII remake then it fell off the map for a year). I was literally filling the gap with PSO2 (Phantasy Star Online 2) and Shining Resonance Refrain for the past months until I got into a argument with a coworker between the classic Phantasy Star series and the Shining Force series, to then search for something, someone or anyone that was working on a game that tries to capture the spirit of the beloved classic SF and to quench my after work rage.

There was so much that was updated and tweaked from the last version I had on my PC, the game gives me some deep nostalgia of how I felt when playing SFCD and SFIII. The characters that's been presented in the demo, though brief it was I find myself wanting a little more interactions with them, Huun is that person that I can relate to for I also can concentrate better with closed eyes.

This is something that I'm glad to have come across and will definitely follow to see more. The next thing was the art style that I felt resembled something from SFIII, It didn't give off a complete trace of SFI, II, or gaiden's art style or something from Dragon's Lair, they seemed more detailed and defined, not looking like a carbon copy from the games that inspired it.

The animations and events are all what I expect from a classic SF game, especially when it came to expressing emotions and it felt a lot like SFII, though battle animations being as fluid and expressive it was a major surprise to me, it briefly broke me from my nostalgia a bit to tell me (its not the same, its different... and that's okay).

The sound effects and music kind of threw me off a bit, I had placed my expectations on having the sound effects when talking to be like the other SF games (I'm starting to see my contradictions). The music feels like I'm listening to a arranged soundtrack of the game when I was expecting 16-bit music, but I wasn't expecting to hear the music for characters that were already promoted early on in the demo though (very unexpected).

This is a project that I can get behind and follow and support, I will keep in mind that its not finished yet and it will have everything that the other SF games had, to not have it become a carbon copy. The work that has been put into this has really made an first impression on me and feel like if I track this, I wont be dissatisfied at all.

If ya'll ever thought about starting a patreon to get any sort of funding, I will throw money at this venture cause I see a butt load of potential. I just don't want a project this like this to fall into obscurity and be forgotten.
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Stordarth »

Thanks a lot for the review, Reaver.

I'm glad that it checked all of those boxes for you, as that was exactly our goal - to give it the feel of the classic, with some fresh ideas of our own in the mix.

regarding sounds, many of the sound effects aren't necessarily finalised. They've all been made by us using bfxr. The voice sound effect in particular is a placeholder. We might try and implement multiple voice sounds in the future. We'll see.

Keep watching this space. We're hoping to release more frequent developer updates that aren't as polished, to show what we're working on and give a more definite sense that we're progressing. We're currently working out a few kinks that have arisen in the battle system since Demo 2 launched, but once we have, testing on Battle 3 balancing will begin.
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Gizmo »

Thanks for answering and it's good to hear it'll be possible to save during battle, crit/counter/double hits are nice when they do not mean to restart a battle from the beginning.

Good luck, i'd be glad to support and to advertise when you feel you need more visibility.
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Corsair »

Just hopping in to say we're still at it!
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Stordarth »

The first tests have been done for battle 3 and it seems to be good. We need to edit the map a bit and apply the new indoor background (I'd totally live in a house like that) and we'll see about a fresh update once those are completed. There is some new scene data that follows on from the jail break but it is in need of editing and polishing. But with our focus on battles, no reason not to push it once b3 is good.

Also thanks Gizmo. Your critiques made me double check the damage data and I found that double attacks were still doing 100% damage, which is not intended. Our second attacks are only meant to deal 50% damage to make them less likely to unfairly destroy the player, so that will be changed.
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Gizmo »

Stordarth wrote:The first tests have been done for battle 3 and it seems to be good. We need to edit the map a bit and apply the new indoor background (I'd totally live in a house like that) and we'll see about a fresh update once those are completed. There is some new scene data that follows on from the jail break but it is in need of editing and polishing. But with our focus on battles, no reason not to push it once b3 is good.

Also thanks Gizmo. Your critiques made me double check the damage data and I found that double attacks were still doing 100% damage, which is not intended. Our second attacks are only meant to deal 50% damage to make them less likely to unfairly destroy the player, so that will be changed.
I'm here to serve, if my humble testing experience can help to make the game slightly better, it was worth it.

I'm keeping an eye on your project and will test further your next release, keep up the good work. :-)
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Corsair »

News coming soon...
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2.5 Release

Post by MXC »

Image
We have an updated demo for everyone to try out. We've shifted our focus to now put out more demos that aren't as hefty as the past two have been. As we add in additional battles and towns, we will allow our fans to dive right in and give us feedback rather than wait for big chunks of the game to be released at a time. We hope to continue this trend and use it as a way to get our demos out faster for all to enjoy!

Please find our newest demo here (Windows version only at the moment). A list of changes can be found in the spoiler tag below.
Spoiler
Adjusted Battle 2
Changed the UI to make magic selection clearer
Changed the Move area to be nicer to look at
New scene and location after Battle 2
Access to the World Map
New location and Battle 3
As usual, please comment below!

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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Pullover »

Hi,

I haven't played the demo but watched a few videos on youtube and I'm really impressed. The game looks great - especially the animations during the fight scence - stellar work! The soundtrack is nice too - do you have one composer working on the score or is there a group of musicians working on the project?

They only thing I didn't like were the sound effects as they weren't snappy and punchy enough. As those are not finale I do not worry too much though. ;) Oh, and the font used for the title feels rather gimmicky...

Looking forward to the upcoming updates! =)
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Corsair »

Not sure what you mean by Gimmicky tbh. I actually hand designed and shaded the entire thing to better evoke an old-school aesthetic. Not shooting for Game of Thrones here ;)

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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Pullover »

To be clear, I am impressed by the game and I'm sure it was a ton of work. It's just the font and title of the game I am not too font of. Imo the font looks a bit like melting butter. If you have a look at the Shining Force logo you can see that it's working with perspective and symmetry. That is not true for your font. It looks a bit confusing (especially the o is in fact difficult to read). Though I love Landstalker and its logo i don't think that it is visually that much pleasing. If I saw this in a shop nowadays I wouldn't pick it up.

You are going for a retro feeling but that doesn't mean that you have to copy mistakes from the past as well. A good example are the beautifully enhanced animations during the fight scences. It still feels retro yet not as stiff as it used to be back in the days.

I'm just wondering why you made the font the way it looks. Whereas I got a feeling of strength and order from the Shining Force logos your logo makes me think of chaos. (The shading looks great though. =))
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Re: Legacies of Veridocia Demo 2 Release

Post by Corsair »

hey, could be worse
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I might have a look at it at some point; pretty low priority at the moment though.
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