Castle Paradox

[Moogle1]

http://castleparadox.com/ohr/gamelist-display.php?game=642

You may or may not like this game. It is offered as-is, with no warranty, expressed or implied.

On the other hand, it's Jim's twentieth birthday today, so why not download it, play it, and tell him happy birthday, eh?

As a side note, the battles in this game are at what I like to call "a satisfying difficulty level," so read the readme BEFORE playing the game and save often. I've made it through the entire game, so it's definitely possible.

I'll also go ahead and apologize that I didn't do more clever stuff with the last area. It's just begging for a great puzzle and I was too tired to put one in. This is what happens when you work on a deadline. I'll put better dungeons in the next episode, I promise.

Anyway, enough said. It's a half-hour game and I enjoyed playing it, which is rare for my games. I guess it's indicative of my attention span. Play it, review it, whatever.

(RMZ and TD: Did not get your playtests. I'll give you a 12-hour grace period.)
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Ssalamanderr]

Ok, downloaded and played it, so here is my mini-review.

First of all, I like the humor. Especially the ending. The gameplay was more interesting than the average OHR game, but I don't think it was very hard at all. I didn't come close to dying except in the first battle with the italian chicks. The length was good for this type of game, but it could be a bit longer to tie up the sotry. I guess that's what sequels are for. The only character I really felt was useful was Jim though, the other two were just there to take hits. The enemies didn't last long enough for Huuuuuugs to really be useful. The dog's lunge was ok. Anyway, the gameplay worked well enough, and I liked the training system. So I'm looking forward to the second episode.

(heh, fatal attraction...heh heh)
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Ssalamanderr's Journal!: http://www.livejournal.com/users/ssalamanderr/

Ukelele no good!

[Moogle1]

Wait, did you actually beat the Italian Babes the first time around? That's not made to be winnable (though it doesn't affect the story either way). Also, I found Huuuuugs really, really useful in certain battles.

Anyway, thanks for the comments. Suggestions for the next episode are more than welcome.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Charbile]

I liked it. It took exactly as long as you said it would, and satisfied my hunger for a new ohr game to play. The dialogue is witty without being vulgar, the battles have a lot of heart to them, and the dog buddy is a nice touch. So long as one goes into it with good humor, I'm sure they'll find it charming. It is exactly what the 'for your eyes only' document makes it out to be--(except when I read it, it sounded like I could save whenever in base, which would have been nice.)

There were a few nitpick things I found, but they didn't detract from the overall experience because I had to look to find them. Things like if you use the magnet, a blank textbox appears (a scrapped feature?), and there seems to be a foemap on the last map but it only triggered one time for me, and when it did, I was moving the dog and within the battle the other heroes were there and not the dog.

[Iblis]

[Moogle1]

Yes, your other party can be attacked while you're not looking. I guess I should've panned to the other party like the multi-party battles in FF6, but... hindsight, eh?

I hear the textbox for the magnet works sometimes, doesn't others. I'll try to fix it. It's just Jim talking to himself about the magnet, in any case.

And you CAN save in HQ anytime. It's "Record" in the menu.

Also, NOAH'S CAPE. (It's been an in-joke between Jim and I for years -- there was a Noah's Cape item in Knight of the Ages.)
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Ssalamanderr]

No, I didn't beat the italian chicks, but they almost killed me before I was able to escape.
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Ssalamanderr's Journal!: http://www.livejournal.com/users/ssalamanderr/

Ukelele no good!

[Tsunamidog]

It's definatly not your standered OHR game.
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The Following Statement is True.

The Above Statement Is False

[Mike Caron]

[Charbile]

I stand corrected. That battle bug makes sense now, should have been obvious to me. For some reason (playing too many games that do not allow saving via the menu), upon reading the document, I was expecting to find some NPC like a super computer or desk that would bring up the save menu.

NOAH'S CAPE!!

[Moogle1]

Oh, so that's it. Maybe I should've slapped one in to avoid any confusion.

Well, in any event, there's Noah's Cape from the save menu once you beat the game, so even those who missed the save option at HQ should be able to continue their characters into Ep 2.

This brings up an interesting question that I've been rolling around in my head: what to do with those who don't bring their own save files? I've narrowed it down to A) starting them out at level 1 and no equipment (suckers!), but maybe a good amount of Mad Cash; B) starting them out at level 5, all abilities from the first game, but no equipment; or C) not letting them play without a save file. Leaning towards A, since I doubt anyone got Dog and Nancy to level 5. (I'd start them out somewhere in between, but which trainings would I give them?)

The magnet mistake is probably an incorrectly-linked text box. I'll take another look at it.
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Eggie]

So, I have played a little bit of it (I just beat the ninja master), and I must say it's a very enjoyable game. Sure the graphics aren't great, but they're overrated anyway. I like the way the characters level up. That's a nice touch. It has a EXTREMELY enjoyable sense of humour that's not over the top with stupid sex jokes. The opening sequence is very delightful with it's movie credit style. This is less a game, and more of an interactive action-comedy. I like the "limitness" to the money and the enemies. It reminds me of Camdog's "Bliss".

It's kinda hard, though (Or maybe I'm just bad).

[Moogle1]

I'm surprised at how sick people are of sex jokes. Now that I think about it, though, many of the "joke games" and other humorous games have blatant sexual references. For the amount of "babes" in SpyJim, you'd expect some of that, I guess. It's certainly harder to come up with clever dialogue than it is to slip in toilet humor and hope everyone laughs.

The game is not as challenging if you know what you're doing. I'm fairly certain that you could beat the game with your character levels at 2/1/1 (if you chose the right training for Jim) and I know you can beat it at normal levels regardless of your choice in trainings. In any event, the challenge level was intentional and will only increase from this point on (to the chagrin of some and delight of others).
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Slime Salad :: Independent Game Design

[Charbile]

You could handle the format like JSH handled the episodes in OHR House. And allow them one or how many levels per episode, bringing up the level up screen at the start, letting them choose which stats to improve.

Besides that, I agree with you on A), but see C) as a good option too. You could also 'preset' the level and stats for each episode, or start the player out at 1 for them all, and only allow the items and equipment to carry over.

[hireintelligence]

Any clues as to when spyjim 2 will be out?