Quintessence - The Blighted Venom

Started by Reives, October 03, 2008, 06:51:31 pm

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Reives

October 03, 2008, 06:51:31 pm Last Edit: May 24, 2009, 05:21:34 pm by Reives
[This was started over 2 years ago, and RMRK was its home for a long while, where Blizzard helped me out a lot on my way. I'd just like to take this moment to thank him for the project's success today - So thanks Blizz! And thank you guys for reading in advance.]



Download [New version]:
http://freebirdgames.com/Q_C1-10.exe
[Standalone file, does not need anything else to play. Chapter 1-10]

Site/Forum:
http://www.freebirdgames.com/
http://www.freebirdgames.com/forum/




Some of what to expect:


Original Soundtrack:
A widely recognized original soundtrack composed by your's truly (Kan Gao) and James Q. Zhang.
----------------------------------------------

Sample tracks:
Click me: [Instrumental, composed by Kan (Reives) Gao] BGM Sample
Click me: [Sang by Laura Shigihara] Ending Theme: "Drift"



Story:
General consensus from players state that the story is the most defining aspect of Quintessence, as well as its presentation. The directing and story-telling style is influenced by Elfen Lied, for those who are familiar with it. While I have never been keen on posting a summary of the plot or characters (and I do understand that this bothers some people), I will say that the genre is fantasy, drama, arguably romance, and all that generic category stuff; which doesn't say much.
"Image:": ShowHide



Overall, this is indeed a story-focused project above all else. With the help of carefully choreographed and attempted pseudo-cinematic cut-scenes as well as over 400 face-pictures and a metaphorically constructed custom soundtrack composed by the designer himself with involvement in the actual plot itself, story and characters are valued above all.

Beginning to sound like a B.S. sales pitch already? Then I've done my job. c:
*See end of post for a note on the requirements.

Game-play:
In the past, game-play has not been a focus in the project. However, with this new release, the intro and chapter 1 has been thoroughly revamped and much improved - including the inclusion of much game-play. From puzzles to its custom battle system, game-play is an aspect that has certainly began to sink with this new revamp.
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Misc. Screenshots:
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[Large]

[For more info, fanarts and the like, feel free to visit the project's home website and forum as noted in the top of the post.]

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And there ends my sales pitch; many thanks for your time reading.
Now, would you like to download this?


You would like to download this.

Oh yes, yes you would.


Thank you! Click the following to download:
http://freebirdgames.com/Q_C1-10.exe



*Regarding the character & story requirements for the forum:
Spoiler: ShowHide

I understand that it is an requirement for a list of character synopsis to be posted. My sincere apologies there, but I personally loath making character synopsis; it just feels fake to confine characters into outlining descriptions (especially when I don't know how to write them). :p Ultimately, it's what's in the game that matters rather than what's written here - The playable content's there, it'd be better for both sides for one to respond to what is actually in the game. Same with the story.

None the less, I will try to compromise story-wise by including this little (perhaps badly written :p) excerpt from years ago; an intro of the unfinished literary form of the project. While this scene was not directly implemented in the actual game, every event that caused it and its aftermath is still present in the RPG implementation, as well as its core story.

Act I


1327, 3rd month, day 5
Second hour and seventeen minutes past midnight


   The vase met the ground with a loud clash as the young man rushed by. With trembling hands, he reached under his grass-sewn bed sheet and retrieved a notebook, a quill pen and a bottle of clear oily liquid. Dampening the quill in the bottle, he flipped to the blank page, fleetly trotting down the words as sweat dripped down from his forehead onto the tawny pages.

1327, Month 3, day 5

   I knew something was out of place, but not like this...

   And if this is so, then where is the real her? And even worse, what if she. . .

   What does it mean? No, I cannot state this here, for it is not safe.

   But it is still her. If not the real her, she's been her for some time now... And nothing has yet happened. Perhaps I still have time.

   Perhaps, just perhaps, I still have a chance.


   He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off his forehead. After redampening his quill in the crude bottle, he signed briefly at the bottom of the page as the rough handwriting above gradually faded into the thin air.

Reivier Wirt


   Somewhat relieved that he has gotten it out of his head, he sighed and carefully placed the notepad, quill and ink back under the bed sheet.

   The exhausted figure pushed himself up and darted through the opening of the leathery tent. He paused and stared into the calm night abyss for a moment, only to hear the wind whistling through the trebled leaves. Dim, silvery moonlight sprayed upon the rustling branches, brushing gently against the thin, autumn night's air. With another sigh he began to saunter silently onward, but the sound of soft footsteps upon the grass made him stop in his track and turn around.

   Turn around to face the familiar figure that was now a stranger.

   "Why are you still up at this nightly hour?" The figure spoke softly, with a tone that Reivier had embraced countless times. "Do you not wish to have a restful sleep?" It added after a brief pause.

   Reivier's brows lowered as he took a small step back. His trembling hand instinctively reached behind his belt for his hunting knife, but it was too late.

   Under the cloaking shadows, the figure swiftly lashed out something colorless, yet shimmered in the reflection of the guiding moonlight.

   Powders, perhaps.

   But that was the last thing he saw.[/color]
:~

Fantasist

I'll say this again, this game is AWESOME!! And whoohoo! New chapters! *starts download*

I would've loved this game even more a couple of years ago, because melancholy described me back then. But the presentation and the work put into it is very impressive.

I highly suggest this game for more-story-based RPG lovers.
Do you like ambient/electronic music? Then you should promote a talented artist! Help out here. (I'm serious. Just listen to his work at least!)


The best of freeware reviews: Gizmo's Freeware Reviews




Reives

October 09, 2008, 05:27:51 pm #2 Last Edit: October 09, 2008, 06:14:01 pm by Reives
Thank you very much Fantasist. :) And don't forget to start from the beginning 'till the end of C1 before going to the new chapters! There are some very major changes/revamps.

Here's a gorgeous recent fanart by Sakura Phoenix/Kieara Phoenix; wow, many many thanks to her:
"._o": ShowHide

^

:~

Aqua

I just finished Arc I and... WOW!

This game is really fun.  I like how the puzzles are challenging, but I'm able to solve them but randomly doing stuff... :P

The battle system is also very unique; it's like a combination of Blizz-ABS and a TBS... or something.

And the graphics... yum! XD

Only thing that really irks me is the vast amounts of run-on sentences.

A lot of the dialogue has run-on sentences, they are joined by a comma like this one.
Mmm... to make them not run-on, you either need a conjunction after the comma, a semicolon instead of the comma, or make them two seperate sentences.

Other than that... I <3 this game! ^.^
I might even be motivated enough to draw fanart! ;)

legacyblade

whoooo, people from CP are playing it too. Great game Reives

KRoP

Yay Quintessence! :rockit:
Spoiler: ShowHide
I still want that haunted house skipping item though. :V

legacyblade

Just turn off the sound, and the haunted house looses all of it's marginal creepiness

Aqua

Na uh!!!

That girl creeped me out too!!!

Mostly because... I get scared easily by stuff popping up XD


Oh yeah... I'd also like to say that I completed Chapter IX and can't wait for the next chapters!!!
It's such a good game! :)

legacyblade

lol, you've joined the ranks of those who wait for quintessence chapters, eh? Join the club, we have pretzels, XD

KRoP


Fantasist

QuoteNa uh!!!

That girl creeped me out too!!!

Mostly because... I get scared easily by stuff popping up XD


I REALLY enjoyed what happened next :rofl:
Do you like ambient/electronic music? Then you should promote a talented artist! Help out here. (I'm serious. Just listen to his work at least!)


The best of freeware reviews: Gizmo's Freeware Reviews




legacyblade

Yeah I laughed at what happened after the girl showed up. "STOP DROP ROLL" XD Though the ending to that chapter (I think it was C7, white lie) was depressing.

Reives

Thanks for your time guys. :) Much appreciated. The new chapter is under production, hopefully it will be completed faster than the last release.
In the mean time, here are some screenshots of some new interiors.

Spoiler: ShowHide


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:~

KRoP

Reives your dynamic lighting is always GORGEOUS.  What method and graphics program do you use to make them?

Diokatsu

Hurrah! I finally got around to playing this and I regret not commenting sooner. Thanks for making this game XD

Reives

Thanks very much guys. c: For lighting, I use Photoshop CS2, and do it the Calibre way via erasing off a dark overlay.

A bit of an extremely delayed update: New release!

Click:


QuoteChapter X: "Sleeping Angel"; <Quintessence - The Blighted Venom>



Well, it's been the most ridiculous delay in the project thus far due to numerous unexpected factors (including the production of "Do You Remember My Lullaby"). But I am happy to say that after half a year, Quintessence is now back on track, and Chapter X is finally up and ready!!



Not only that, the entire game has received several notable mechanical improvements that have been demanded by you! Including:


  • Auto-Save Archives
    Ever had a particular scene somewhere that you wanted to watch again, but didn't have a close save file to go from? From May 16th on, Quintessence will contain an archive folder that collects save files that are automatically generated at the beginning of notable cut-scenes, of upwards of ~5 save files per chapter. These records will be conveniently named after their respective chapter and the scenes' key words, and can be simply copied over to the main game folder to be loaded.

  • In-Battle Transformation Improved
    Lunair's in-battle transformation system will now effectively pause the battle and actions, so you can thoughtfully and carefully select your desired form in peace without being bitten on the tail.

  • Intro Smoothened
    We've realized that we went overboard with the game-play complexity and difficulty in the revamped intro last release, and it is now mended accordingly. The intro is now shortened and much less confusing, which should provide a much smoother entrance to the project's main focus of story. So if you know someone who attempted Quintessence and gave up due to the difficulty of the intro, let them know that we heard their feedback and spearheaded into fixing the problem for them!

  • New music tracks!

  • NPC #26 in Aeria is now wearing a red hat instead of blue.
    Fixed.



And now, some more info on Chapter X:



Length: ~1 hour 20 minutes.

While Chapter IX was somewhat vanilla, Chapter X is more progressive as far as story goes. It, like most of the chapters, is cut-scene heavy with some game-play to the side. However, our new auto-save and save generator functions should accommodate it well.

The pace of the chapter is mostly mild and mellow. However, as it reaches a climax towards the end, there are a chain of critical heavy action sequences - something that hasn't happened since Chapter 6. I personally feel that they're some of the best scenes in the game thus far, but you be the judge.

The battle system does make an appearance again in the chapter. However, it doesn't happen for a while. But when it does, remember that the new Bear form is now available to Lunair! While it is quite slow and lacks variety in attacks, it gains a bonus of +500HP - that's more than double the human form's HP, and acts as a great tank.

And lastly, I'll leave a few more preview screenshots:





:~

G_G

I love the new chapter tho it took me a long time to get to it ;__;

Oh well I still love the game Rieves its awesome!!!

Any more chatpers almost here?

Calintz

May 23, 2009, 11:28:57 pm #17 Last Edit: May 23, 2009, 11:31:15 pm by Calintz16438
Wow!! This looks amazing!!

I don't mean to be rude, but I think your character sprites are reducing the quality of your game. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think your characters have been sprited to perfection, and it's bugging the hell out of me, because this game has wicked potential. I would hate to see this game even blemished due to something like that.

BTW:
Very clean. I love how it looks to this point.

Sally

i think that all rmxp characters are too tall and not thick enough...

great game thou, it looks really ggreat and i think it has alot of potential...

Reives

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated! Oops, I forgot to update the links in the first post. It linked to the Chapter 1-9 download, where as the new one is chapter 1-10. Fixed now. c:

@Calintz:
Ah, is there anything in particular that bugs you about the sprites? I might try to fix them up in the future, but not sure where to start, heheh. Thanks for your time in advance!


P.S.
Here's a Where's-Waldo-esque screenshot (very large file). Have fun!
:~

Calintz

I can't get over how beautiful the gameplay looks ...

Blizzard

Lol, I found a mapping bug. I really have an eye for those. xD The tree on the top far left; its shadow is going over the fence on one tile.
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Quote from: winkioI do not speak to bricks, either as individuals or in wall form.

Quote from: Barney StinsonWhen I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead. True story.

Calintz


Reives

@Blizz:
Lol, great catch! I'll have to get that fixed up. And thanks for dropping by, I'm flattered. c:

(Just quoting it to this page):
QuoteHere's a Where's-Waldo-esque screenshot (very large file). Have fun!

:~

Calintz


Spaceman McConaughey


G_G