It is indeed a frustrating and rigged experience! Poor video game bosses.
Funnily enough the hit boxes do stay the exact same (unless you experienced a rare phase two invincible hero bug, which I've yet to figure out how to fix). The way it works is that the Hero is coded to dodge all attacks perfectly, but those dodge fuctions only have a random chance to run based on how many times the Hero has seen the attack and how far along the game is.
Prove it, release the debug build, lol. I think the mace smash sprite make it seem larger than it is and the early hero pattern makes him easy to hit thus giving the illusion that the inflicting damage area is larger in the beginning.
For real it was an amazing experience.
Surprisingly, I beat him without going into phase 2. I cheesed him by standing in place near the throne and spamming spell and mace, the spell forced him to move closer to me and the mace made him move away, if he ends up trapped between the spell and the mace it is guaranteed hit.
Luckily he was not programmed to spam arrow in retaliation, otherwise I would have been cooked.
Also, thanks to your game, I now have the boss perspective and I can see bosses as a sequence of patterns that can be easily dominated one by one. Thus I was able to defeat Lucine after 160+ deaths, 5+ hours over the span of 5+ months.
Phew, this is a lot, but it was a unique experience :)
Edit: Fixed the amount of hours. I read the game time wrong
Interestingly, I've had the hero dodge attacks after having never seen them before, just so long as the game has progressed far enough. Is that on purpose?
Potential oversight: In the scenarios where you refuse to fight and the hero walks away, it's possible to kill the hero as they're walking away. The game still behaves as if the hero simply walked away and did not die.
Honestly if you have any intention of adding more content to this game, it might be fun to turn this bug into a feature, teehee.
Dang, I thought I'd set the Hero invulnerable for that because I knew someone would try to get sneaky! So many bugs in these alternate scenarios--I did not test them thoroughly enough. Thanks for the report, I'll add it to the fix list.
There's a surprising amount of variation in the dialogue depending on what I've done and said before. There was one where refusing to fight towards the end would usually cause the Hero to ask the Queen if she was really that "proud". During one playthrough this was changed to "bored", and I couldn't figure out what triggered it. The amount of detail in this game is amazing.
I adored this. I loved the models for the characters, the music is epic, enjoyed the dialogue and bond the hero and queen formed as they fought. Very beautiful game and the art is fantastic.
idk this game has more one ending besides the basic history so... how i can see that sequence about the bug, the proposital bug i guess...? i don't know what to do and i want to experience this game in all if i can do it.
tldr: i want to do more endings, but i don't know who the get the ending the queen wins and the hero give up, i don't know how many endings this game has, i got the "don't move and let the hero kills you" and the normal one "fight the hero until he kills you"... what i can get or i don't have tried ?
If it helps, this game's narrative isn't really about multiple endings. It's meant to work a linear story, with those two extra scenarios covering for player behaviour that steers away from that path. Still, I believe someone uploaded a youtube video of the tactic they figured out to beat the Hero. It's in the comments somewhere
Fantastic game so far! I got softlocked before I could see the ending, though; after the third time I transformed (the first proper second-phase fight), I hit the hero once, and after that they stopped making attacks and nothing I could do registered as a hit.
For years I've been thinking about making a game where you play as the boss and keep having to fight the same hero over and over but I never ended up comitting to doing it and now someone else did it and they did a really good job at it! How annoying!
I'm kidding, I love this game and it is pretty much exactly what I had been envisioning all these years and more. This will inspire me to actually create the art I want to create.
That's really cool! I've also been mulling over this game for many years--we must've been going at it concurrently. There were so many game design problems to solve that I thought the idea would never work in practice; but over time various solutions presented themselves so I had to do it :D
It's great to hear you feel inspired. I'd love to see the games you'd make.
Love this! I'm wondering I've seen all the endings, besides the "glitch" one where you can beat the hero. I got the one where The Queen dies to the hero, and I got what felt like a "sort of" ending by refusing to fight and then having the game end by not being able to move.
Thanks again—this was a really interesting game! :)
The refusal to fight "ending" has been buggy in so many different ways I've had trouble catching them all--this seems like a new one. (It's not a fully fledged ending like the main story, but still t he game should eventually get to the end credits no matter what you do.) Sorry about that, but thanks for the report. I'll see if I can fix it for the future.
AWH my hearrrrrrrrrrt! This does so much in so little time, and I loveeeeeeeee it. The writing between the Hero and Her Majesty, it just really pulls some strings, and some of the words just hits close for me. There's just a part of me that wants to just go on forever, but that sure does go against the idea of the story. The art and animation is so good and fun to look at toooooooo
Very great game! I usually hate this type of games but it has such a great lesson and perspective about change with the hero and the queen. Such a great game, I love it.
in a sad turn of events, i got softlocked. the game got to the part where the hero is beaten (i dont even have to attack!) and comes back saying "oof", and your only choices are "i have fight still left in me" and "what happened?", and either choice brings me to the fight, which the hero cannot win. a fitting but sad end, the hero can't win after all... i know this is most likely a bug, but this was a lovely end.
Oh man, i love my doomed loop yuri! I hope someone make a monocromatic game where you play as a enbie acidentaly getting theyselves trapped in time, and everytime their fighter is going to propose, something happens and he can't at all.
This was an amazing game!! The animations are beautiful- I love everything about the queen's animations, from her attacks to the way she walks off of her throne in the beginning. The story is wonderful too, I love the relationship that was built between the two characters. I managed to only find one ending, though. I was wondering if there were any more? Either way, this is a fantastic game.
It is meant to work a linear story. That said, technically there are two additional "endings" written to account for player behaviour that breaks the linear path, either by refusing to fight the Hero or by figuring out some exploit to keep beating them forever.
Great game, but I did find a bug, when you manage to defeat the hero and you sit back on your throne, you end up sitting on air facing the throne. Great Game though loved it.
I only found one ending. Stopping fighting just leads to an infinite "retreat and return" loop with the same dialogue, no conversational paths seem to make a difference.... I loved the basic story through once, but now... fittingly, honestly, I feel like I'm struggling against an unchanging fate trying to find any alternatives. Any hints?
Just after the first transformation fight, stop fighting after that, and reply "I no longer wish to hurt you", it creates a repeating loop every fight after.
"Look, I want to see you try. I want to see you." "I no longer wish to hurt you" "If staying unscathed was my priority, I would not be here." "I have my purpose." "Even if it means being killed by you a hundred times, I'm alright with that." <FIGHTO><do nothing> "Are you sure this is the note you want to end on?" "I want to do this right, think about it." <retreat> <return to start>
Oh, and if I fight after that, it repeats the dramatic holy shield cutscene.
Ceasing fighting in following fights gives "I have no need for your pity." and then loops back to "I want to see you try"
I've also gotten two minor variations of "the queen refuses to fight, dies anyway" (before first transformation, the 'respect' lines, and after, with "don't want to hurt you", then locked controls and <dead>)
Interestingly, once in the previous bugged/looped sequence, the method of incinerating the body never changes. It just stays at 'keel down and touch' and never moves to picking up the adventurer's body, even if continuing the fight sequence. Dunno if that gives any clues as to the source, but just in case it might help!
I ran into a bug, though! The second time you transform, after the hero gets the shield, if you only damage them one time, you un-transform and the whole cutscene plays out again. (Edit:) Similarly, if you refuse to attack the hero after that cutsceen first plays, and they leave and come back, the whole transformation cutscene will play again the next time they fight you instead of skipping to the transformed phase.
Thank you for the bug report! I'll try to fix the issues. Not sure what the first one is about; do you mean it happens if you damage them once and then stop attacking for a while?
Actually, they took one hit and stood back up, then immediately I un-transformed and then went directly back into the transformation cutscene. It was really weird.
The hidden ending most unlikely to be found is a "Hero gives up, Queen wins" scenario written in case the player discovers some kind of a bug that lets them keep killing the Hero indefinitely.
I seemed to get into this loop but it was unending. I killed the hero about 10 times in a row without even doing anything (hero took damage for no reason) before I quit.
Oh I really loved playing through this! The combat was fun, the style was gorgeous, and I love love loved the story. It made me feel hopeful....we all have the capacity for change!
The pixel art and animations are gorgeous! I think I've already seen that concept in another game. But the tone of yours is interesting. I enjoyed the storytelling and the queen's evolution, both through the dialogues and her animations.
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easily one of the best games i've ever played
They didn't go on a picnic, I'm sad :(
My doomed love story...
That's what fanfics are for.
indeed
I did find one bug in one of the endings
The ending where you beat the hero I for some reason end up sitting in the sky
Amazing game, with a bit of frustrating and aggravating aspects that are not the strength of the hero.
[the image is a spoiler]
Still the game was rigged from the start and you can't convince me that the hitboxes and attack damage areas don't change.
And now if you'll excuse me, I am going to beat the sit out of Lucine, her defeat has been long overdue.
It is indeed a frustrating and rigged experience! Poor video game bosses.
Funnily enough the hit boxes do stay the exact same (unless you experienced a rare phase two invincible hero bug, which I've yet to figure out how to fix). The way it works is that the Hero is coded to dodge all attacks perfectly, but those dodge fuctions only have a random chance to run based on how many times the Hero has seen the attack and how far along the game is.
Prove it, release the debug build, lol.
I think the mace smash sprite make it seem larger than it is and the early hero pattern makes him easy to hit thus giving the illusion that the inflicting damage area is larger in the beginning.
For real it was an amazing experience.
Surprisingly, I beat him without going into phase 2. I cheesed him by standing in place near the throne and spamming spell and mace, the spell forced him to move closer to me and the mace made him move away, if he ends up trapped between the spell and the mace it is guaranteed hit.
Luckily he was not programmed to spam arrow in retaliation, otherwise I would have been cooked.
Also, thanks to your game, I now have the boss perspective and I can see bosses as a sequence of patterns that can be easily dominated one by one. Thus I was able to defeat Lucine after 160+ deaths, 5+ hours over the span of 5+ months.
Phew, this is a lot, but it was a unique experience :)
Edit: Fixed the amount of hours. I read the game time wrong
Mosu, feel free to delete this reply if you don't want mentions of other games on your page.
The name of the game where Lucine is from is infernae by Anuke.
Interestingly, I've had the hero dodge attacks after having never seen them before, just so long as the game has progressed far enough. Is that on purpose?
thank you! such a wonderful game
Took several tries but I got all three endings. Last one took several tries but I've defeated a Dark Souls Protagonist.
Lovely game! :3 The pixel art is beautiful.
Potential oversight: In the scenarios where you refuse to fight and the hero walks away, it's possible to kill the hero as they're walking away. The game still behaves as if the hero simply walked away and did not die.
Honestly if you have any intention of adding more content to this game, it might be fun to turn this bug into a feature, teehee.
Dang, I thought I'd set the Hero invulnerable for that because I knew someone would try to get sneaky! So many bugs in these alternate scenarios--I did not test them thoroughly enough. Thanks for the report, I'll add it to the fix list.
Glad to help :]
There's a surprising amount of variation in the dialogue depending on what I've done and said before. There was one where refusing to fight towards the end would usually cause the Hero to ask the Queen if she was really that "proud". During one playthrough this was changed to "bored", and I couldn't figure out what triggered it. The amount of detail in this game is amazing.
If I recall correctly it's controlled by a variable called mentioned_annoying that gets flagged if you complain about the fight :)
this was really really good! They're very cute together <3
truly a fantastic game! great premise and execution.
this game absolutely rocks
Ohh thanks good catch, I'll get that fixed!
I adored this. I loved the models for the characters, the music is epic, enjoyed the dialogue and bond the hero and queen formed as they fought. Very beautiful game and the art is fantastic.
idk this game has more one ending besides the basic history so... how i can see that sequence about the bug, the proposital bug i guess...? i don't know what to do and i want to experience this game in all if i can do it.
tldr: i want to do more endings, but i don't know who the get the ending the queen wins and the hero give up, i don't know how many endings this game has, i got the "don't move and let the hero kills you" and the normal one "fight the hero until he kills you"... what i can get or i don't have tried ?
If it helps, this game's narrative isn't really about multiple endings. It's meant to work a linear story, with those two extra scenarios covering for player behaviour that steers away from that path. Still, I believe someone uploaded a youtube video of the tactic they figured out to beat the Hero. It's in the comments somewhere
Fantastic game so far! I got softlocked before I could see the ending, though; after the third time I transformed (the first proper second-phase fight), I hit the hero once, and after that they stopped making attacks and nothing I could do registered as a hit.
Thank you for the bug report! I thought I'd managed to fix this issue, but clearly not... I'll have to do more testing to figure out what's up with it
Great and very interesting experience.
For years I've been thinking about making a game where you play as the boss and keep having to fight the same hero over and over but I never ended up comitting to doing it and now someone else did it and they did a really good job at it! How annoying!
I'm kidding, I love this game and it is pretty much exactly what I had been envisioning all these years and more. This will inspire me to actually create the art I want to create.
That's really cool! I've also been mulling over this game for many years--we must've been going at it concurrently. There were so many game design problems to solve that I thought the idea would never work in practice; but over time various solutions presented themselves so I had to do it :D
It's great to hear you feel inspired. I'd love to see the games you'd make.
Love this! I'm wondering I've seen all the endings, besides the "glitch" one where you can beat the hero. I got the one where The Queen dies to the hero, and I got what felt like a "sort of" ending by refusing to fight and then having the game end by not being able to move.
Thanks again—this was a really interesting game! :)
The refusal to fight "ending" has been buggy in so many different ways I've had trouble catching them all--this seems like a new one. (It's not a fully fledged ending like the main story, but still t he game should eventually get to the end credits no matter what you do.) Sorry about that, but thanks for the report. I'll see if I can fix it for the future.
I got the same bug. My character was already near the throne when it happened...maybe its a bug if you're already touching the throne?
AWH my hearrrrrrrrrrt! This does so much in so little time, and I loveeeeeeeee it. The writing between the Hero and Her Majesty, it just really pulls some strings, and some of the words just hits close for me. There's just a part of me that wants to just go on forever, but that sure does go against the idea of the story. The art and animation is so good and fun to look at toooooooo
played it normally the first time through, second time i just ended up in an endingless limbo by not doing anything, cant even move. love it 10/10
Very great game! I usually hate this type of games but it has such a great lesson and perspective about change with the hero and the queen. Such a great game, I love it.
in a sad turn of events, i got softlocked. the game got to the part where the hero is beaten (i dont even have to attack!) and comes back saying "oof", and your only choices are "i have fight still left in me" and "what happened?", and either choice brings me to the fight, which the hero cannot win. a fitting but sad end, the hero can't win after all... i know this is most likely a bug, but this was a lovely end.
Oh man, i love my doomed loop yuri! I hope someone make a monocromatic game where you play as a enbie acidentaly getting theyselves trapped in time, and everytime their fighter is going to propose, something happens and he can't at all.
This was an amazing game!! The animations are beautiful- I love everything about the queen's animations, from her attacks to the way she walks off of her throne in the beginning. The story is wonderful too, I love the relationship that was built between the two characters. I managed to only find one ending, though. I was wondering if there were any more? Either way, this is a fantastic game.
Thank you for the kind words!
It is meant to work a linear story. That said, technically there are two additional "endings" written to account for player behaviour that breaks the linear path, either by refusing to fight the Hero or by figuring out some exploit to keep beating them forever.
Amazing game, loved it from start to finish.
peaaaaaaaaaaak
Great game, but I did find a bug, when you manage to defeat the hero and you sit back on your throne, you end up sitting on air facing the throne. Great Game though loved it.
I only found one ending. Stopping fighting just leads to an infinite "retreat and return" loop with the same dialogue, no conversational paths seem to make a difference.... I loved the basic story through once, but now... fittingly, honestly, I feel like I'm struggling against an unchanging fate trying to find any alternatives. Any hints?
You may have found a bug; the retreat and return loop should not be infinite. To figure out what's going wrong, what dialogue are you stuck on?
Just after the first transformation fight, stop fighting after that, and reply "I no longer wish to hurt you", it creates a repeating loop every fight after.
"Look, I want to see you try. I want to see you."
"I no longer wish to hurt you"
"If staying unscathed was my priority, I would not be here."
"I have my purpose."
"Even if it means being killed by you a hundred times, I'm alright with that."
<FIGHTO><do nothing>
"Are you sure this is the note you want to end on?"
"I want to do this right, think about it." <retreat>
<return to start>
Oh, and if I fight after that, it repeats the dramatic holy shield cutscene.
Ceasing fighting in following fights gives "I have no need for your pity." and then loops back to "I want to see you try"
I've also gotten two minor variations of "the queen refuses to fight, dies anyway" (before first transformation, the 'respect' lines, and after, with "don't want to hurt you", then locked controls and <dead>)
Interestingly, once in the previous bugged/looped sequence, the method of incinerating the body never changes. It just stays at 'keel down and touch' and never moves to picking up the adventurer's body, even if continuing the fight sequence. Dunno if that gives any clues as to the source, but just in case it might help!
i loved it! are you planning on adding more languages?
It wasn't my original plan, no, but once I've fixed all the bugs and if people are clamoring for it, perhaps!
that's great! i'm a Spanish localiser and it would be a pleasure to do it!
oh this game is incredible!!!!
This game is great!
I ran into a bug, though! The second time you transform, after the hero gets the shield, if you only damage them one time, you un-transform and the whole cutscene plays out again. (Edit:) Similarly, if you refuse to attack the hero after that cutsceen first plays, and they leave and come back, the whole transformation cutscene will play again the next time they fight you instead of skipping to the transformed phase.
Thank you for the bug report! I'll try to fix the issues. Not sure what the first one is about; do you mean it happens if you damage them once and then stop attacking for a while?
Actually, they took one hit and stood back up, then immediately I un-transformed and then went directly back into the transformation cutscene. It was really weird.
Oh the same thing happened to me!
fantastic game, once it's been out for a bit more I'd love to see the script. I'm really curious about some of the possibilities
Really interesting! I found two different endings; I was wondering if there are more?
The hidden ending most unlikely to be found is a "Hero gives up, Queen wins" scenario written in case the player discovers some kind of a bug that lets them keep killing the Hero indefinitely.
I seemed to get into this loop but it was unending. I killed the hero about 10 times in a row without even doing anything (hero took damage for no reason) before I quit.
seconded! just got this game today and this happened to me, had to restart.
awesome game! loved it!
Wonderfully done! I will absolutely be recommending this to others!
Oh I really loved playing through this! The combat was fun, the style was gorgeous, and I love love loved the story. It made me feel hopeful....we all have the capacity for change!
Had a great time playing, the relationship is really interresting and everything so pretty !
This is great. I'm so glad I played it
The pixel art and animations are gorgeous! I think I've already seen that concept in another game. But the tone of yours is interesting. I enjoyed the storytelling and the queen's evolution, both through the dialogues and her animations.
Adored my play through <3 This anti-game deserves time, recognition, and donation if you can afford so.