Sanctaea Chronicles (SRPG Studio, Fully Playable)

[Von Ithipathachai]

12 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

Bout to give this a try! 😄 looks great btw. I will post feedback when I am finished.

Thanks for giving it a go!  Don't forget to also fill out the character popularity poll when you post your feedback.

[Thorgrun]

On 2/22/2021 at 4:29 PM, Von Ithipathachai said:

Thanks for giving it a go!  Don't forget to also fill out the character popularity poll when you post your feedback.

Done. 

Also wanted to mention now, as maybe it can be fixed fast lol. xD But half the heroes don't gain wep rank, and if they do its the wrong wep lol. Can't use Rosa, Fritz, Cami, Marcela and others I'm sure I haven't noticed yet. I'm on chapter 13 and they are still rank D 0 XP lol. painful. 

Is there no way to save in the chapter at all? Having to restart the whole thing because of a lucky boss crit is also painful lol. 

Edited February 24, 2021 by Thorgrun

[Von Ithipathachai]

3 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

Also wanted to mention now, as maybe it can be fixed fast lol. xD But half the heroes don't gain wep rank, and if they do its the wrong wep lol. Can't use Rosa, Fritz, Cami, Marcela and others I'm sure I haven't noticed yet. I'm on chapter 13 and they are still rank D 0 XP lol. painful.

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this.  Do you mean that they don't gain Weapon Ranks, or that they don't gain WEXP?  It appears that the Weapon Rank increase message may play at the wrong time if you skip battles where somebody gains a Weapon Rank.  E.g. if you skip a battle where Manzarek gains Dark Rank, but you don't skip the battle right afterwards, the message might show up in that battle instead.

I'm currently doing an ironman run of the game and so far not gaining WEXP isn't an issue I've seen on anyone.  That said, the WEXP plugins for SRPG Studio seem to work differently than normal for FE.  Instead of gaining WEXP for every single attack you make with a weapon, you instead gain WEXP for every single battle you enter with a weapon.  The upshot of this is that if you're equipped with a weapon that gives 1 WEXP, you'll only gain 1 WEXP in that weapon type per battle regardless of how many times you hit, but you will still gain WEXP even if you're attacked by an enemy and can't counterattack.

About the specific characters, Fritz, Rosa, and Cami all start below Rank D in their respective magic types, so only being at Rank D in them where you are in the game now might be normal depending on how strenuously you've been using them.  As for Marcela, she actually starts with base E in Swords AND D in Axes, so I'm not entirely clear which of those you're having issues with.

Nevertheless, thank you for reporting these.  I'll add them to the Known Issues and investigate them for v4.0.1.  Your v4.0 save files will be compatible with it, should you still be working on beating the game when it comes out.

[Von Ithipathachai]

27 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

Is there no way to save in the chapter at all? Having to restart the whole thing because of a lucky boss crit is also painful lol. 

Limited mid-chapter saving is something I've been wanting to implement for a while now, but I haven't been able to get it to work how I want.  The most viable solution at the moment would probably be calling the Save screen at regular turn intervals, with the intervals varying by chapter since some chapters have turn limits for gaining BEXP.

[Thorgrun]

5 minutes ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by this.  Do you mean that they don't gain Weapon Ranks, or that they don't gain WEXP?  It appears that the Weapon Rank increase message may play at the wrong time if you skip battles where somebody gains a Weapon Rank.  E.g. if you skip a battle where Manzarek gains Dark Rank, but you don't skip the battle right afterwards, the message might show up in that battle instead.

I'm currently doing an ironman run of the game and so far not gaining WEXP isn't an issue I've seen on anyone.  That said, the WEXP plugins for SRPG Studio seem to work differently than normal for FE.  Instead of gaining WEXP for every single attack you make with a weapon, you instead gain WEXP for every single battle you enter with a weapon.  The upshot of this is that if you're equipped with a weapon that gives 1 WEXP, you'll only gain 1 WEXP in that weapon type per battle regardless of how many times you hit, but you will still gain WEXP even if you're attacked by an enemy and can't counterattack.

About the specific characters, Fritz, Rosa, and Cami all start below Rank D in their respective magic types, so only being at Rank D in them where you are in the game now might be normal depending on how strenuously you've been using them.  As for Marcela, she actually starts with base E in Swords AND D in Axes, so I'm not entirely clear which of those you're having issues with.

Nevertheless, thank you for reporting these.  I'll add them to the Known Issues and investigate them for v4.0.1.  Your v4.0 save files will be compatible with it, should you still be working on beating the game when it comes out.

Well.. in order to gain Wep Rank you have to max out the WEXP for that rank. lol so if one isn't working neither is the other.. maybe its just my file?   I use Rosa a lot, even just healing tiny injuries she's always healing, yet at level 11 she is still D rank staves 0 WEXP, she still cant use a Mend staff but Chaucer can and hes only level 6, so i benched her last chapter. Admittedly i cant remember what rank she started with but i don't recall it taking the first half of the game for just a single rank in staves. I could be wrong though. I used Fritz for 5 chapters, and he didn't gain any WEXP at all, and as the only mage he saw a lot of battle, benched him at lv 10.

You are right however about Marcela, after playing another chapter and sending her in for chip damage constantly she gained some WEXP so she's all good. 

Anyway, I've played all the FE games/hacks i understand how it all works or is supposed to work lol. But nevertheless for me things are not working xD I might just restart the game anyhow tbh, so i can use the heroes that work and not babysit the ones that don't work rather than waiting for a fix. I tend to be impatient though when in midgame so that's my problem not yours lol. 🙂

 

[Thorgrun]

31 minutes ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

Limited mid-chapter saving is something I've been wanting to implement for a while now, but I haven't been able to get it to work how I want.  The most viable solution at the moment would probably be calling the Save screen at regular turn intervals, with the intervals varying by chapter since some chapters have turn limits for gaining BEXP.

Call the save screen? How do I do that? 

[Von Ithipathachai]

5 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

I use Rosa a lot, even just healing tiny injuries she's always healing, yet at level 11 she is still D rank staves 0 WEXP, she still cant use a Mend staff but Chaucer can and hes only level 6, so i benched her last chapter. Admittedly i cant remember what rank she started with but i don't recall it taking the first half of the game for just a single rank in staves. I could be wrong though. I used Fritz for 5 chapters, and he didn't gain any WEXP at all, and as the only mage he saw a lot of battle, benched him at lv 10.

Could you send me screenshots of your Fritz, Rosa, and Chaucer's Weapon Ranks and inventories?  Again, Rosa only starts with Rank E in Staves, so having Rank D in them by Chapter 11 might be normal.  Rosa not being able to use Mend despite having D in Staves is incredibly odd, however.

7 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

Call the save screen? How do I do that? 

I wasn't describing something you're able to do at the moment, but something I need to set up for the next release.  Sorry.

[Thorgrun]

Hmm, if she starts at rank E then i must have missed the rank up.. i only skip battles if im replaying after being defeated, as you mentioned its possible to miss them doing that (didnt know that before posting about this), so i laugh if thats when she ranked up lol. ill use her for 2 more chapters and keep an eye on her. Was Fritz E rank as well? If Fritz started at E rank ill send him in next chapter and see if it continues. (in chapter right now) 

[Von Ithipathachai]

Just now, Thorgrun said:

Hmm, if she starts at rank E then i must have missed the rank up.. i only skip battles if im replaying after being defeated, as you mentioned its possible to miss them doing that (didnt know that before posting about this), so i laugh if thats when she ranked up lol. ill use her for 2 more chapters and keep an eye on her. Was Fritz E rank as well? If Fritz started at E rank ill send him in next chapter and see if it continues. (in chapter right now) 

Yes, Fritz also starts with Rank E in Anima.  Cami's a little better off than him because she also starts with Rank E in Light with an extra 25 WEXP in it.

[Thorgrun]

 

13 minutes ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

Yes, Fritz also starts with Rank E in Anima.  Cami's a little better off than him because she also starts with Rank E in Light with an extra 25 WEXP in it.

Thats why hers is ahead, alright. Thank you, i will send screenshots if the issue continues. 

[Thorgrun]

Alright, I've encountered a different bug, as shown in the screenshot she is trying to heal Elma. 

It happens every time Rosa tries to heal someone on Ch 9 (i restarted). this crashes the game every time, I've tried different strategies but it keeps happening. The last playthrough I didn't have this problem. 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Thorgrun

[Von Ithipathachai]

37 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

Alright, I've encountered a different bug, as shown in the screenshot she is trying to heal Elma. 

It happens every time Rosa tries to heal someone on Ch 9 (i restarted). this crashes the game every time, I've tried different strategies but it keeps happening. The last playthrough I didn't have this problem. 

Oh, grief.  I encountered this problem before on one of my playtest runs and had no idea how to fix it properly.  Only after starting a brand new file was I able to avoid it.  Nobody else I've talked to who I know is also playing the game has encountered this crash to my knowledge, so the only possible explanation I can think of is that your save file got corrupted somehow.

I'm very sorry you've been having so many issues with the game.  I wish I could offer better help, but I'm not sure what else to say, at least until more people give me feedback on this version.

EDIT: For what it's worth, I have noticed that antivirus software may interfere with how the game runs, so it MIGHT be possible that your antivirus software did something to mess up the save file, but I can't say for certain.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Von Ithipathachai

[Thorgrun]

3 hours ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

Oh, grief.  I encountered this problem before on one of my playtest runs and had no idea how to fix it properly.  Only after starting a brand new file was I able to avoid it.  Nobody else I've talked to who I know is also playing the game has encountered this crash to my knowledge, so the only possible explanation I can think of is that your save file got corrupted somehow.

I'm very sorry you've been having so many issues with the game.  I wish I could offer better help, but I'm not sure what else to say, at least until more people give me feedback on this version.

EDIT: For what it's worth, I have noticed that antivirus software may interfere with how the game runs, so it MIGHT be possible that your antivirus software did something to mess up the save file, but I can't say for certain.

Awwwe :( I wonder if skipping had anything to do with it. I skipped player battles and enemy phases, was trying to speed my way back to Ch 13 but using Fritz and all of them this time. 

Well fine lol I shall try again, cuz damnit you WILL let me use Rosa if it kills me lol. :P

[Von Ithipathachai]

1 minute ago, Thorgrun said:

Awwwe 😞 I wonder if skipping had anything to do with it. I skipped player battles and enemy phases, was trying to speed my way back to Ch 13 but using Fritz and all of them this time.

I'm not 100% sure how skipping battles factors into it.  Before encountering that crash with Rosa, I kept encountering it with all of my combat units.  For them I was able to avoid the crash by skipping battle animations manually, but I wasn't able to do that for Rosa when she healed someone with a staff.  Meaning I had to start the whole test playthrough over again for it to be valid, which seemed to fix things.

I've already notified everybody on my Discord server about your issues in case any of them might be encountering the same problems.  So far, nobody else has, but you never know unless you hear from them.

Speaking of the Discord server, you're always welcome to check it out if you want to keep up with the game's development more closely and get early looks at Furan's new halfbody portraits.  The link is in the OP in big text.

6 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

Well fine lol I shall try again, cuz damnit you WILL let me use Rosa if it kills me lol. 😛

Rosa is one of my favorite units to use.  She can top people off a lot more easily than Chaucer can, and she becomes an incredibly potent magic nuke after promotion, especially if you make her a Druid.  Keep an eye on her Staff WEXP/Rank, because I can also tell the WEXP bars seem to be rather rigid in their display increments compared to regular FE ones.

[Thorgrun]

I'll look into it at some point :) I like those half bodies, really hope those get implemented soon. I'd do a whole new playthrough just for that lol. 

I'm a huge fan of clerics tbh, I also like Rosa's personality lol so I really want to see what she can do. 

I'll admit early on my only complaints so far are I never did like the animations for SRPG studio games. It just feels clunky. And also I keep having to restart lol, hoping for good luck this time though. Third times the charm right..? xD

[Von Ithipathachai]

7 hours ago, Thorgrun said:

I'll admit early on my only complaints so far are I never did like the animations for SRPG studio games. It just feels clunky. And also I keep having to restart lol, hoping for good luck this time though. Third times the charm right..? xD

Ideally I'd like to replace the RTP class graphics with custom ones reminiscent of Fateswakening like the halfbody portraits, but I don't exactly have the money to commission such a huge undertaking nor the artistic ability to do it myself.  So far, my only real solution is to just wait for MarkyJoe's SRPG Studio community asset project to reach the charchips/motions stage and see what they're able to do for those.

My own artist who's doing the halfbodies volunteered to do them for free since he liked my game's story so much, but I severely doubt I'll be able to encounter anyone else willing to help me with the game for free.

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

On 2/25/2021 at 3:18 PM, Von Ithipathachai said:

Ideally I'd like to replace the RTP class graphics with custom ones reminiscent of Fateswakening like the halfbody portraits, but I don't exactly have the money to commission such a huge undertaking nor the artistic ability to do it myself.  So far, my only real solution is to just wait for MarkyJoe's SRPG Studio community asset project to reach the charchips/motions stage and see what they're able to do for those.

My own artist who's doing the halfbodies volunteered to do them for free since he liked my game's story so much, but I severely doubt I'll be able to encounter anyone else willing to help me with the game for free.

...that also depends on what's needed to be done, i guess.

creating stuff from 0 such as battle sprites is one thing, but editing pre-existing sprites in order to make new custom ones is already a different story, and it's probably way easier to achieve than the first option.

otherwise, you could eventually try your luck asking around. while this site is sadly pretty much dead in terms of spriters/editors, you might have better results asking other artists at FEU.

[Von Ithipathachai]

1 hour ago, 𝙵ᴇɴʀᴇɪʀ said:

...that also depends on what's needed to be done, i guess.

creating stuff from 0 such as battle sprites is one thing, but editing pre-existing sprites in order to make new custom ones is already a different story, and it's probably way easier to achieve than the first option.

otherwise, you could eventually try your luck asking around. while this site is sadly pretty much dead in terms of spriters/editors, you might have better results asking other artists at FEU.

...Eh.  I guess asking around on FEU is worth a shot.  I should probably do some calculations first on just how many charchip/motion sets I'm going to need, though.

[𝐅𝐞𝐧𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐥]

12 minutes ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

...Eh.  I guess asking around on FEU is worth a shot.  I should probably do some calculations first on just how many charchip/motion sets I'm going to need, though.

since i had some spare time, i've decided to show you some examples in terms of custom charchips.

keep in mind that what follows is pretty much all about palette swapping for the most, with just few details added in:

[ reference material ]

 

[ sprites comparison: default SRPG Studio set vs custom ]

 

to be honest, it's not that hard.

it does take some time to process, but just changing colors can already make a visible difference.

probably not the best solution in terms of unique material, but at least it's a bit different from the default presets.

Edited February 26, 2021 by 𝙵ᴇɴʀᴇɪʀ

[Thorgrun]

On 2/26/2021 at 2:50 PM, 𝙵ᴇɴʀᴇɪʀ said:

since i had some spare time, i've decided to show you some examples in terms of custom charchips.

keep in mind that what follows is pretty much all about palette swapping for the most, with just few details added in:

[ reference material ]

 

[ sprites comparison: default SRPG Studio set vs custom ]

 

to be honest, it's not that hard.

it does take some time to process, but just changing colors can already make a visible difference.

probably not the best solution in terms of unique material, but at least it's a bit different from the default presets.

That looks awesome!

[Thorgrun]

Well I have finished my first playthrough. Third time was the charm lol. Overall I enjoyed your game. It did feel like a Fire Emblem game. There is also very few grammar/spelling issues, which is rare. Your story-line was good, I liked it.

I enjoyed the battle music, actually most of the music I enjoyed, some felt a little muffled, but overall it was decent. 

Characters I also enjoyed, though I didn't care for the reskins, those half bodies will greatly improve this when you do get around to them. I would like to suggest you get your artist to make half bodies for enemies as well, most are obvious reskins. I loved the Wonder-woman reference lol Hippolyta and the Amazons.

Gameplay was exactly what id expect from a fan made Fire Emblem game, all the elements and events were in working order, unless of course you come across that 1 game breaking bug, but with the skipping features restarting doesn't take long at all thankfully.

Game design was pretty good, an upgrade from the old GBA games everyone's always remaking lol. Not that remaking GBA favs is a bad thing, I enjoy them, but sometimes we want something new for a change. 🙂

Now for the Cons and bugs:

- As mentioned before, animations are choppy with SRPG studio games.
- There is a game breaking bug that can force you to restart. It is rare and random, but it can be annoying.
- Some characters are reskins, including enemies and bosses. This can turn a lot of people off before even playing the game. 
- While I liked the wide variety of weapons, some felt unnecessary, I didn't even use steal weapons because the lack of accuracy didn't feel worth anyone's time. But that's my opinion.
- Character sprites could use an overhaul.
 

I think that's all for the cons, Ill be doing another playthrough shortly. Also you were right, Rosa as a Druid just kills everything. 😄 I love it when clerics rule the game lol. Thank you for your effort in making this and sharing it with us, also I am surprised it hasn't gotten more of an audience, hopefully that changes for you.  I cant wait to see the half bodies for magic users!

Edited March 1, 2021 by Thorgrun

[Von Ithipathachai]

I'm glad you were able to finish the game properly and that you enjoyed it.

30 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

I enjoyed the battle music, actually most of the music I enjoyed, some felt a little muffled, but overall it was decent.

The music used in this game is SRPG Studio's default music.  One of the planned additions in the next release alongside minor bugfixes and mid-chapter saving is a new soundtrack to give the game a more distinct identity.  Presentation in general is something SRPG Studio games have been criticized heavily for in comparison to GBAFE hacks (more on that later), so new music should help alleviate that a bit.  I still need to search for places where I can download free custom music.

38 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

Characters I also enjoyed, though I didn't care for the reskins, those half bodies will greatly improve this when you do get around to them. I would like to suggest you get your artist to make half bodies for enemies as well, most are obvious reskins. I loved the Wonder-woman reference lol Hippolyta and the Amazons.

Everyone including enemies will be getting halfbody portraits, though certain minor bosses might find themselves sharing portraits to save time and work.  My current plan for introducing halfbodies into the game is to first add the playable character and generic class halfbodies in one release, followed by either Civilians or major NPCs in the next two releases after that.  The major NPCs will probably get halfbodies before the Civilians, since generic class portraits can be used as temporary stand-ins for Civilians with no alterations needed.

Hippolyta and the Amazons in SC (along with DC Comics's versions) are themselves references to the ones originating from Greek mythology.  One of Heracles's Twelve Labors was retrieving Hippolyta's girdle and bringing it to King Eurystheus's daughter.  She was also known as one of Theseus's wives, and their marriage is a central plot element of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream.  The Amazons in SC were also inspired by the Vikings from Mystery of the Emblem.

44 minutes ago, Thorgrun said:

- As mentioned before, animations are choppy with SRPG studio games.
- Character sprites could use an overhaul.

I'm still trying to do some calculations on how much effort will be needed to overhaul the game's class graphics.  For map sprites alone, 94 new sets will be needed, with a set consisting of idle and moving animations and different palettes for player, enemy, ally, and waiting units.  I haven't done any calculations for battle sprites yet, but replacing those will probably be even more difficult, since they'd ideally want a range of animations exceeding not only default SRPG Studio, but also GBAFE itself in both quantity and quality (think the Judgral games).  Worst case scenario, Furan or I can just create new battle palettes for the RTP sprites in the event fully replacing them turns out to be unviable.

1 hour ago, Thorgrun said:

I think that's all for the cons, Ill be doing another playthrough shortly. Also you were right, Rosa as a Druid just kills everything. 😄 I love it when clerics rule the game lol. Thank you for your effort in making this and sharing it with us, also I am surprised it hasn't gotten more of an audience, hopefully that changes for you. 

No problem.  Overall I'm fairly satisfied with the attention I've gotten from SF.  FEUniverse has been more hesitant to try out the game, because of its position in the community as hacking central, but I think traction is finally starting to pick up there now that the game's fully playable.

My ultimate goal as far as publicity goes is for one of the more well-known Fire Emblem YouTubers to do a playthrough of it on their channel.  Mekkah would be a fairly plausible choice, since he actually played SC for FEE3 2018 and was fairly impressed by what he saw even in its rougher state.  However, I don't think the game will really be ready for that sort of thing until I at least add in the playable character and class halfbodies.  Don't want to risk getting a C&D from Nintendo because I'm still using edited GBAFE mugs.

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

I've been enjoying this game so far! I am on Chapter 12, and, unfortunately, just suffered a bad case of RNG fuckery on that map. Just when I had this in the bag, Carol missed on a 97% chance of finishing off Crassus. Then he lands a critcal hit that one-shotted her, despite reduced odds from her supports.

Just want to throw that out.

 

[Von Ithipathachai]

52 minutes ago, BLSoldier said:

I've been enjoying this game so far! I am on Chapter 12, and, unfortunately, just suffered a bad case of RNG fuckery on that map. Just when I had this in the bag, Carol missed on a 97% chance of finishing off Crassus. Then he lands a critcal hit that one-shotted her, despite reduced odds from her supports.

Just want to throw that out.

Yup.  Sometimes it just be like that.

It is very frustrating when something like that happens.  I've had more than my fair share of taking unlucky hits and Criticals throughout my numerous playtest runs of the game.  But on the other hand, I find it very satisfying when one of your own units manages to land an unlikely hit or dodge a fatal attack that was very likely to hit them.

So yeah.  The RNG goddess giveth, and the RNG goddess taketh away.  Hopefully the implementation of mid-chapter saving in the next release will mitigate the problem somewhat.

[The Envoy of the Beginning]

48 minutes ago, Von Ithipathachai said:

Yup.  Sometimes it just be like that.

It is very frustrating when something like that happens.  I've had more than my fair share of taking unlucky hits and Criticals throughout my numerous playtest runs of the game.  But on the other hand, I find it very satisfying when one of your own units manages to land an unlikely hit or dodge a fatal attack that was very likely to hit them.

So yeah.  The RNG goddess giveth, and the RNG goddess taketh away.  Hopefully the implementation of mid-chapter saving in the next release will mitigate the problem somewhat.

Speaking of which, on Chapter 11, after I had Chaucer silence Shakur, I had Lee attack him to debuff him even though the hit would do no damage. Lee's Deathblow skill activated, one-shotting Shakur regardless. I got a good laugh from that.