Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Discuss the sequel to Planet Stronghold here
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jack1974
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by jack1974 »

OK, BIG NERF INCOMING! :twisted: :twisted:
Haha sorry but this is almost like cheat mode lol, even only with 20 PP/HPRegen battles would be trivial even in Hard/Nightmare :lol:
I made already some tests, and I'll keep Speed/MORegen which are anyway rather useful in battles but keep the PP/HP/Psionic resistances in line with all the remaining equipment.

Thanks again for spotting this, I am not sure how I couldn't notice... :o
Limaral
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by Limaral »

So I've finally finished the game (thank you for fixing that Avae bug btw! :D), and I absolutely loved it!
Planet Stronghold holds a special place in my heart, since it was the first game made by you that I played, and it actually got me hooked not only on your games in particular, but the visual novel genre as a whole :D So it was only natural that I've been eagerly anicipating the sequel.
And it was great! I loved the story, which kept me intrigued and made me think a lot about my choices — I got really invested in what was going on, so the final decision especially was difficult for me. (I decided to go with Shiler for my first playthrough since, well, in my first and main playthrough of the first game I also played as an alien sympathizer haha... though Gustavo made some good points too, and even Cullen made me pause and think carefully about this... what I'm trying to say, you did amazing at writing the conflict!)
I loved the characters and the interactions between them, even though I didn't care for some as much as the others, none of them seemed annoying or out of place, and by the end I found myself attached to everyone in some way. They seemed alive, each with their flaws and virtues, and I really enjoyed uncovering some new details about them as the story progressed.
Also, Cliff's romance was really sweet and emotional, and I liked that it was to a degree integrated in the whole story — with other characters acknowledging the relationship and such. Though I'm not sure how I feel about the more explicit romance scenes... not that it was badly written, on the contrary! But perhaps I'm just used to a softer erotica than this :D Though I'm now curious to see the other characters' scenes. Not a bad thing! Just maybe not exactly what I was anticipating :D
I'm definitely going to play again to see other endings (and I also want to play on the King's side, though I'd have to replay the first game for the full experience... crazy but worth it!)

A few words about the combat: I, surprisingly for myself, really enjoyed it. In the first game, the combat seemed a little tedious and at times difficult (or perhaps I just had no clue how to play and level up the characters correctly :D), so I got through it only because of the great story and setting. And I was certain that I'd play the sequel in the VN mode, but I decided to try out the combat... and, well, it turned out to be really fun! Engaging and challenging, but not over-the-top difficult, at times requiring strategic thinking... and it also kept me from finishing the whole game in one night :D So in my next playthroughs, I'm also going to try out some different builds and use different characters (since for this one, I stuck with Rebecca, Philipp and Rumi for the whole game except personal quests and certain fights where I actually had to use others)

Overall, great sequel to a great game! Thank you for making it <3
(I kind of find myself wanting another sequel... but I understand this would require even more work so not going to happen, but perhaps simply another game in the same setting? Sorry, haha, I'm just so attached to this world!)
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jack1974
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by jack1974 »

Thank you for your kind words :)

I tried indeed to fill the world with "grey characters", I wanted people to question their choices every time and also not see Cullen as "the evil guy" (even if in some paths he REALLY is evil!!!) as opposed to "the good guys".
Regarding the explicit texts, haha I warned people that they'd be much more hard than my past games. I am considering doing an extra options, so you can choose to keep explicit/naked romance CG but still the "softcore" texts. It was a sort of experiment since I wasn't sure exactly what players really wanted and also depends on tastes :oops:

Cool that you liked the combat too, I agree with Franka that this system is getting old, but maybe if you didn't play my other fantasy RPG it was like the first time for you. I really think that, from a casual player point of view, the auto-combat helps a lot, and also the fact that I kept things rather "simple" with clearly defined roles, etc.

Regarding another sequel is unlikely, of course talking about years in future, but for example this artist doesn't work for me anymore so I couldn't use same art and I think this alone would be bad. But same universe, yeah I can't see why not, after all there's already PSCD :)
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Franka
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by Franka »

jack1974 wrote: Wed Feb 05, 2020 10:17 am Cool that you liked the combat too, I agree with Franka that this system is getting old, but maybe if you didn't play my other fantasy RPG it was like the first time for you. I really think that, from a casual player point of view, the auto-combat helps a lot, and also the fact that I kept things rather "simple" with clearly defined roles, etc.
Yes, it's not at all that the combat system is bad, it's just starting (or well on the way) to show its age. This is not necessarily a bad thing for people who haven't played your other games, or aren't used to RPGs in general. It might even be a nice gateway system to more "hardcore" RPGs. It's just a _bit_ old when you've played all the Winter Wolves RPG/VNs.
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jack1974
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by jack1974 »

Yes I agree, even if in this game like always I did a ton of changes like isometric map+fog of war, auto combat, possibility to "charm" enemies (for the first time in my RPGs) and so on, in the end the core stuff is the same. I think the biggest improvement could be switching to a "real battlefield" like on a map so there would be many other things to consider like distance, area of an effect, movement speed, directions, etc but of course such a big change needs a lot of time.
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Franka
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by Franka »

All right, finished four endings and four romances. I can now say that Rumi's scene was the only one of those that made me really uncomfortable, and I think it was because the writing/dialogue was very crass in that one.

Shiler and Lakadema were fine, Lakadema's a little uncomfortable for me personally. Even when I chose to focus on female Lakadema, it was still very male/futa, which isn't for me, but I didn't have any issues with the writing like I did for Rumi.

Rebecca's scene was a bit boring to be honest and, I think because I switched from Rumi to Rebecca, the romance felt very sudden, like I was dropped right in the middle of an ongoing relationship. That didn't really work, and I wonder if it's the same when switching to other characters from the first game.

Speaking of characters, I like the original cast better than the new ones. Avae I felt was barely in the game. Milo annoyed me, and I just wanted him to shut up most of the time (he was also the last character I put in the battle team whenever I had a choice). Lakadema was ok, but she was more of a plot device than a character.

Ok, break time before I start over with Lisa!
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jack1974
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by jack1974 »

Noo poor Milo! His jokes are the best!!! :lol:
Joking, I can understand, he's the kind of a character that either you love or hate :)

Interesting regarding switching romances, perhaps offering that option wasn't the best move and maybe I should haven't allowed it (replaying the game in VNMode is not too bad after all). As I already said, when I get to do Loren 2 you won't be able to change a previous romance, the one you pick at the beginning will last through the whole game so there won't be this issue.
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jack1974
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by jack1974 »

Today's update is a very BIG one and fixes some really uncommon bugs. Thanks for the reports everyone :)
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jack1974
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by jack1974 »

Another big update, I completely rewrote Damine's Fear Tactic skill since the current version was lame. I mean random chance to insta-kill an enemy is not fun (save-scumming power). Now instead deals explosive damage and its effect reduces HP/PP Regen of target, making it very useful when you face certain bosses later in the story that have crazy HP/PP Regen values.
Now it's a much more useful skill, one that might be good to have also for your main character! :)
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jack1974
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Re: Planet Stronghold 2 (full game content!) beta

Post by jack1974 »

Locking this thread since the game is no longer in beta :)
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