I still haven’t finished the playthrough, but I looked on here again and wanted to apologise in case that last post was a bit presumptuous. I don’t think it was formatted as well as the original one, and I really shouldn’t have assumed you enjoyed writing. I found a post by you saying you found writing a motivation-drainer, and I didn’t mean to belittle that.
When I wrote ‘enjoy being creative in that way’, I was thinking of deriving happiness from one’s story ideas rather than the process of writing, and probably also projecting. My thoughts don’t magically become important because you thanked me for them, or anything like that.
(Having played a bit more, I also think I was wrong about Yewande. She’s a really cool unit.)
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I didn’t change anything I believe; you’re probably just more experienced with modern LT games. Absolution runs on a very old and outdated version of the engine where the debug command is the Info + Aux buttons pressed at the same time (I believe those are the c and a keys by default?)
No worries! Your post really didn’t read that way. Sorry I never replied to it, I have a bad habit of reading messages, getting distracted before replying to them, and then forgetting about them altogether 
To answer your question from that post…
Mostly the latter! If I saw a good real-world analogue for a dish based on the combined ingredients I would use it, but having realistic cooking wasn’t my main priority.
Even though writing definitely is a huge motivation killer for me, I wouldn’t bother doing it if I didn’t feel passionately about the stories I want to tell. Knowing that someone enjoyed Absolution’s story thus far in spite of its flaws makes getting through writing the rest of it easier, so thanks again for your feedback!
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I finished the second playthrough and am here with more feedback!
Unit feeling and balance
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Ramon is really fun. He was consistently only just able to one-round enemies using his personal, so the tiny STR growth boost seems like it was a good idea. I didn’t use the Ridersbane on him, despite having a spare material: it seemed more fun to use the Axereaver and Master Lance, which he can defeat most cavalry enemies with anyhow. Maybe you could make the Master Lance his favourite, for a bit more flexibility with damage for those on random growths?
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Trudy’s guaranteed hit pairs well with her high STR. I’d have liked to try the Master Bow and Steel Longbow on her, but she only has D rank after promotion and I didn’t think a Steel Bow would benefit her much. For reference, Zahir was the first to promote (middle of Ch14) and consistently used a Steel Bow since then, but still didn’t reach C rank by the end. I’d suggest giving her C rank, but I might have misjudged the Steel Bow. Has anyone else tried using bows on her?
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I felt similarly about Sanite’s sword rank given the benefit of limiting her inventory space. Getting it all the way to A rank for a Brave Sword would take ages.
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Reese began by dealing chip damage and ended by critting everything at 1-2 range. Myrmidon/10.
I was initially unsure why the heavier ranged swords are her favourite, but the Storm Sword worked better than expected as a way of making up for her low STR. I think it would be fun if she started with B rank for the early Silver Sword: it would give her an way to finish off enemies on player phase, makes the item more consequential, and fits with the theme of myrmidons having high weapon rank. -
The Iron Sword being Mackenzie’s favourite is incredibly funny, but her hit rate problems aren’t THAT bad. My first experience of it was being 1 damage short of one-shotting a mage in Ch18, which doesn’t feel right at all. If this doesn’t ruin the joke for you, I’d make the Steel Sword her favourite as well.
Or reduce mage HP by 1 haha
My favourite units from the new playthrough were Ramon, Zahir, Dayo, Idowu, Reese, Ojala, Yewande,
and Mackenzie.
Miscellaneous gameplay feedback
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On my first playthrough, I was confused by the description of the enemy dancer’s items in Ch17. My first thought was that ‘for one battle’ meant for the entire map. I’d change it to ‘for one round of combat’.
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I had an odd bug in Ch14x with Delilah’s Vantage. When an enemy sage attacked her and she was below half health, she attacked first and then the combat immediately ended, saving her from death. Maybe this is a problem with one of her other skills?
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I didn’t use Xavier, but I noticed a confusing case with his personal: if he fights Strega, does ‘convert penalties into bonuses’ or ‘convert bonuses into penalties’ take priority?
(Off topic, but I also think they could have a battle quote: does Xavier think Strega’s actions are against Lunarism? But he saved Urbano, who Xavier didn’t want to fight… plus they share the flaw of being varying levels of pretentious) -
When the description of the Hoarfrost Knife says ‘ranged melee weapons’, does it mean any ranged Sword, Axe, or Lance? Why not just say that instead?
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In my first playthrough, I used the Arms Scroll on Hati. Is this reflected by Rafael in any way?
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Not about my playthrough, but what you said about the source of cooking intuition: seems like descriptions for the augmenting items would fit into that very well! Right now, the only basis for which of them to use is real cooking. Also, I still like my suggestion of the ‘streak’ system, which I would like to formally rename ‘Food Casual Mode’
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Looking at the game files, weapon experience gain doesn’t vary based on the weapon, number of attacks in the combat, or whether you killed the enemy. I like the first two, but the last one means that killing enemies with more rounds of combat results in much more weapon experience. This leads to unintuitive biases in weapon rank gain between characters and weapon types, and I think it was a cause of me being behind on weapon experience on my first playthrough. Also, I worry that on Normal mode where enemies die quicker, players will be unable to use weapons at the same pace. Quite possibly, this isn’t a big enough deal to justify any rebalancing effort. That said, I’d prefer if killing an enemy gave double weapon experience (and the thresholds were increased if needed).
I hope that last one wasn’t too idea-person-y… I still love the game, I promise!
Maybe this is proof of that…
- Ch22 is heartbreaking and still enjoyable in both plot and gameplay, which is a really good job! Also, not to discourage making Act 3, but I think it’s cool how some players might not realise the gimmick but would play as intended anyway because it’s the last map. My only criticism is that a lot of enemies you must fight to get the rewards give no EXP, and I’m not sure this is necessary for balancing. Thematically, I think the enemies giving no EXP should happen later on in the map, as Valentina loses hope of a victory. Maybe it could be communicated by whether they are reinforcements or not, and more enemies could be on the map initially? For players that don’t realise there’s no benefit to killing the later enemies, could the enemies that give no EXP not deplete your weapon uses?
Story and presentation, curiosity about Act 3
This first one fits into gameplay as well, but is mostly plot-based.
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I was looking forward to using Hildegard (or at least trying her Runesword on Rhapsody), but was surprised when she wasn’t recruited. Looking at the game files, I think I must have missed the talk with Zephyrine in Ch14x. I don’t see why this is a requirement. As far as I can tell, the impetus for Zephyrine speaking up to Mitzi is just seeing Wolfram, who speaks to her in the outro of Ch14x anyway. If the reason she wouldn’t speak if the talk didn’t happen is that she felt Wolfram didn’t understand the idea of commitment to family, this wasn’t clear to me. In any case, it makes sense that Mitzi would ask for Wolfram’s location regardless of a conversation she wasn’t part of.
In the intended context, though, I really like this recruitment. The writing is entertaining and helps characterise Hildegard and her family. -
I like Hati’s character and his interactions with Valentina, but I think he’s treated a little strangely by the plot and presentation.
Plot-wise, I’m not certain of two things: why the voice wants Hati to confront Valentina in her darker moments, and why her other friends can’t do the same. I think the latter could be addressed by mentioning Valentina’s disappearances in a support of someone like Ojala or Eduardo. I don’t want to mess with your plot here, but maybe someone could discuss the former with Toussainte: did the Griffon really want to comfort Valentina in any way? Did the voice somehow know that their meeting in Ch9 would incite a battle with the Serpent? Even if this doesn’t end up being in the game, I’d like to hear your thoughts on it if any.
Presentation-wise, Hati went from a Mercenary in the Ch21 intro to a Hero in Ch21x and Ch22. Why is the game using his real class sometimes and assuming he is promoted other times? -
I have a mixed feeling on every Ch22 boss retreating, since the ability to kill them here would be emotionally interesting. Skoll needs to survive, and Strega living or dying by the player’s actions seems too plot-significant to change, but maybe it should be possible to kill Horatio and Iris? Though, I wonder if the ‘him’ Reese and Gabriel mention is the same one Strega mentions to Horatio…
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I killed Carmen and was disappointed that Davide’s death quote didn’t change. Is it even possible to get her Lucky Clover?
Thank you for making such a cool game!
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Hello again! Thanks for the feedback.
Units
Others have expressed dissatisfaction with the low weapon ranks on promotion, so I will likely be adjusting them to all be at least C, perhaps even better.
Buffing Reese’s initial weapon rank to let her use the silver sword early is something I’ll consider. Most people seem really discouraged by her earlygame performance as it is (despite her lategame power), so she could probably use the slight boost.
I’ll also consider the favorite weapon adjustments, though tweaking them isn’t a huge priority at the moment.
Gameplay
Hmm, never encountered this bug before. I’ll keep an eye out for it. Thanks for the report!
For simplicity’s sake, I’ll call ‘coverts bonuses into penalties’ “Panic” and ‘converts penalties into bonuses’ “Unity.” Panic can only affect actual bonuses (green numbers on the stat screen) and, likewise, Unity can only affect actual debuffs (red numbers on the stat screen). So Strega’s Panic effect does nothing to Xavier’s ““bonuses”” (which are really just inverted penalties) he gets from his Unity effect.
If Xavier had any genuine bonuses when fighting Strega, they would get converted to penalties by Strega’s Panic. Xavier’s Unity would have no effect on those ““penalties”” because they are really just inverted bonuses.
Hope that clears things up!
Yes, that is what it means. I can change the description to be more clear.
Not at the moment, no. That’s an oversight on my part. Thanks for bringing it to my attention! I’ll change it so that if you used the arms scroll on Hati, Rafael will join with his Arms Scroll combat art.
Once Act 3 is out, I’ll start collecting data and opinions on weapon exp to see if there is a prominent issue. It is definitely something I’m keeping an eye on though.
This could be the case, but given that there’s still quite a few chapters after 22 I’m wary of giving players too much experience lest they hit the level cap before the end of the game. I’ll keep chapter 22 as it is for now, and if people generally aren’t hitting level 20 promoted at the end of the game I’ll consider removing some void curses.
This is fair, but I’m concerned that making weapons not lose durability might trivialize the challenge of the chapter (getting all the rewards before dying) by encouraging using powerful weaponry.
Story
This is fair. In the future I’ll consider removing this requirement or adjusting the relevant conversations to be more directly related to each other.
At the beginning of Hati and Valentina’s relationship, he is essentially just an enabler for her poor coping mechanisms and self-destructive quest for redemption. Valentina responds positively to this and lets Hati into her personal life while she shuts others like, say, Eduardo out because she doesn’t feel that she is worthy of the genuine support and forgiveness that they would try to offer her. This is why Valentina frequently remarks in Act 1 that if people knew what she was “really like” and the things she has failed at they wouldn’t treat her so kindly. In her mind, Hati is the only one who understands her philosophy and why she needs to do what she does.
This is why Valentina has no supports with the initial starting party; her self-loathing and unwillingness to accept emotional support makes her wary to get close to them. For what it’s worth, I do intend for her supports with Hati and Ojala to tackle this in more explicit detail, but I chose to leave it mostly implied throughout the main story. That brings me to…
The answer to the first question is no, and the answer to the second question is, he saw an opportunity to incite a battle with the Serpent in Valentina. Though the people of Aletheia still worship both beasts, and followers of the Griffon believe him to be benevolent, both of them have gone completely mad and want nothing more than to rip each other apart. The Griffon sensed Valentina’s extreme self-loathing and desire for redemption and possessed Hati in order to channel those feelings into a campaign against the Serpent’s people. Hopefully that answered your questions!
This is an oversight on my part where sometimes I hard coded his appearance to be a hero or mercenary in cutscenes and other times I coded it to use whatever class he actually is at the moment. It should always be the latter but it sounds like a missed a few cases of the former.
It’s hard to really explain my reasons without spoiling the rest of the story, but I don’t want any of Strega, Horatio, and Iris to die in chapter 22. I can understand that letting the latter two perish would give the chapter a bit more emotional oomph, but I also don’t think it would add too much to the story I want to tell.
It is not. I don’t particularly want to reward the player for killing Carmen, but I leave the challenge of defeating her as a fun thing the player can do if they really want to.
Thank you for playing through it again! I’m glad you enjoyed it. Hopefully I should have some new stuff for everyone to play through sometime soon!
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Your responses are all very good, thank you! Looking forward to Act 3.
Last two thoughts:
- It’s quite funny to me that killing Carmen doesn’t do very much, but having an unobtainable Lucky Clover just seems mean.
- The ‘green/red numbers on the stats screen’ definition is helpful. Are bonuses and penalties ever referred to like that in-game?
You may already know about this, but whenever I use Femi in combat and his combat art is going to fully charge after a battle, it causes a game crash.
How hybrid mode work?
Very important question, that I seem to not be able to find for miss, but can you play this on a phone?
Probably not, as it is a Lex Talionis game and not a romhack.
Hi! Is this game still under development? I recently discovered it and I already love it!
I am writing to report some bugs I have encountered during my gameplay (I am currently in chapter 12):
- Sometimes when I manage my formation I cannot see the movement range of some units
- In Chapter 12, the attack range of Kleiman’s Moonblast tome is not displayed (and I realized it the hard way)
I hope to see some new updates soon!
Does anyone know where ZessDynamite went? This hack seems too cool to let go.
Heyo! I’m still around - mostly. Just haven’t been checking FEU frequently like I used to. I was hoping to avoid making a post here until I had a proper update ready to go, but since multiple people have asked at this point I don’t think it would be fair or right to leave you all in the dark.
To make a long story short, where I’ve been is grad school! I’ve spent the last year and a half pursuing a Master’s degree in mathematics. Taking graduate level math classes and performing duties as a TA eats up a lot of my time and energy, the latter of which is something I already don’t innately have a lot of sadly. Frequently in those moments where I do have some free time, I find myself just wanting to simply relax or work on other, much smaller projects rather than Absolution.
That’s not to say I haven’t been working on the game at all. Just this week I’ve finished writing all the main dialogue for chapter 25, and am currently working on writing chapter 26. Chapters 23-26 are nearly fully functional gameplay-wise.
I’ve also been making additions to the soundtrack here and there, which you may occasionally catch glimpses of on my youtube channel:
I’ve also been doing the usual bug fixes and balance changes in the background, while some incredible friends of mine have continued contributing their amazing art assets to the project even in the midst of its extended public hiatus. I truly cannot thank these people enough!
All this is to say that there will be an update sometime in the not-too-distant future! When exactly will that update drop? It’ll drop when it drops, is unfortunately all I can really say at this point. I have one more semester of grad school left before I get my degree, and during that time development will continue to move glacially.
I want to offer my deepest gratitude and apologies to those people who have been looking forward to seeing the project continue. It really means so much to me that this silly hobby project I started in High School still means something to people even as the community has moved on and released banger campaign after banger campaign. I hope the final act of Absolution won’t disappoint you!
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very common zessdynamite win
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I only played a lil bit of this but
I like it so far. Has quite a few skills but doesn’t seem overcomplicated like some lt games can be.
Hi, is there a way to play it on full screen? I wanna play the game but small screen is pretty hard for me to play.
there’s a screen size adjustment in the options menu in the extras menu, did you look there?
Nice thanks a lot. I didn’t notice it. How to save state in this game?
Afaik you cannot create save states, but most chapters feature mid-battle save points that you can use and load from once you reach them.
shoot the screen size didn’t maximize to my laptop for some reasons
@Zarg
cool thanks
@ZessDynamite
Good luck with your last semester. Hope you get a degree.
No need to triple post