To Arms! Episode One [RMVX]

[Devon]

Riddle: Where do you go that you can't come back from until the fields run red with blood?


Answer: TO ARMS!

To Arms! is an episodic, tactical RPG created by Ghostlight Games in RPG Maker VX. Playing as Janos and Horace Blackthorne, the leaders of a ruthless, amoral band of mercenaries, and their lieutenants, you will adventure for glory and gold across the nine provinces of the Graylands. To survive, you'll have to recruit, equip, and command a party of up to fifteen characters in large-scale, strategic turn-based battles.

In this, this introductory chapter--Episode One: Deceive, Despise, and Murder Men--you will go back to a simpler time, when the Blackthorne brothers served the Duke of Rydony and witness the blood-soaked events and betrayals leading up to the birth of Blackthorne Company.

To Arms! Episode One: Deceive, Despise and Murder Men (Vanguard Edition) is somewhere between a public beta and a final, definitive build. All of the gameplay and 90% of the other assets are in place. The most important thing missing is the original sound track. Of course this doesn't mean the game has no music. The same placeholder tracks used throughout development are still in place for those songs not yet completed. Perhaps more accurately, think of this as the full version, with the final build with the O.S.T. as a Deluxe Edition/Director's Cut.

FEATURES: (All Present In This Episode)

A brief note on features list. There is nothing I hate more than when a project boasts tons of features and custom systems it doesn't need and probably won't wind up happening. To Arms! wound up needing a lot of custom systems...and fortunately, I was able to fit every single feature I wanted to into the game. The result is a long list of features, for which I'm still counting my blessings.

* Tactical, turn-based battles with up to fifteen party members. (The largest party available in Episode One is seven units.)
* Fully implemented class-changing system. The class of all generic units can be changed at any time outside of battle, changing their appearance, attributes, and available skills! (You can have any number of any class. Want 10 Knights? You've got it!)
* Eight unique and finely balanced classes for all generic units to choose from!
* Full-featured JP System! Earn JP in battles and spend it to learn the class skills of all characters in any order you choose!
* Custom-tuned front-view battle system with alternate skill costs, cooldowns, enemy AI, aggro/aggro management, and much more!
* Accelerated battle messages and animated status icons streamline the process of controlling large numbers of units with lots of skills.
* Some handsome custom graphics and many native edits.
* Fully custom sound track (final build only) paired with pulse-pounding instrumental versions of classic metal tunes.
* Engaging, episodic "low fantasy" storyline, inspired by George R.R. Martin and penned by the creator of Backstage and Iron Gaia.
* Detailed online instruction manual and helpful in-game tutorials to help you learn the game's many strategic elements.
* Highly challenging battles and dozens of different equally valid strategies that can be used to conquer them!

SCREENSHOTS: (Most but not all of these are current)


Throne-room intrigue.


One of the not-current ones--Horace has far more skills than this now.


Katarpillar (c) system shows exactly what kinds of units you have in your party at all times.


These sweet monster graphics are from hot toke/wild pudding.

More Screenshots

DOWNLOAD HERE

Approximate Play Time of First Episode: 1.5-2 Hours
Estimated Replay Value: Very High, or so we dare to hope.


CREDITS
Concept, Dialogue, Battle Balance, Map Design...Max McGee (Devon Oratz)
Character/Sprite Design...Mr. Nemo, arcan
Original Scripts & Programming Lead...Racheal
Additional Scripts...KGC, Yanfly
Title Screen and World Map Design...Kentona, Sir Subtle, Aprilschild
Original Sound Track (PEnding)...Sir Subtle
Other Music...Bad Company, Iron Maiden.
Lightmaps and Testing...Aprilschild
Monster Graphics...Qut, Wild Pudding (Hot Toke)
Tilesets and additional Sprites...Mack and Enterbrain

FULL CREDITS INCLUDED AT END OF GAME.


Hints and Tips

* To Arms! is very hard, especially if you are used to games where you would almost have to actively try to lose. Save early, often, and in multiple slots! While the creator and head tester can complete the game standing on their heads blindfolded at this point, we don't imagine it will be this easy for people who didn't make the game and haven't played through it hundreds of times!
* Some battles give you a full-heal before hand, and others don't! While this may seem erratic at first, the reason is that your characters receive a full heal whenever they have significant time to rest and recuperate. When trying to determine if you are 'ready' for a difficult battle, look for cues in the story as to whether or not your characters have had time to rest,
*In Episode One alone, your main characters each have ten or more skills to choose from, and you will only be able to unlock some, and you have four generic units each of which can join any of eight classes each of which will have up to ten different skills to unlock. That means that the party and skillset combinations in To Arms! are astronomical. If the game seems too hard, change your strategy! Go back to your last save and assign your classes, equipment, and JP differently! There are dozens of different, valid, proven ways to win To Arms! but even more ways to lose. Just because you are getting your ass kicked doesn't mean that the game is necessarily too hard--try building your party differently!
*On subsequent play throughs, it's possible to skip the introduction...you are encouraged to try different combinations of classes and skills after beating the game the first time. My testers tell me it should be possible to beat the game with every possible combination of classes, including 'four of' everything. Some will definitely be harder than others.
*Save your game at the end for use in To Arms! Episode 2.

Thanks for playing, and have fun! Be sure and let me know what you think! Feedback is always welcome!

[mccleverly]

Everyone play this game, yo!

[Emily]

God, I am so bad at tactics games. I'm going to need a lot of time to try and tackle this one.

[JazzTear_VII]

I wouldn't know if this would be considered a bug or not, but whatever it was, I shamefully exploited the hell out of it. I was able to gradually heal my party to full, the ones you can change classes, by switch back and forth between recruit and knight.

I know I was warned on how hard this game is, but man, it is challenging! I "think" I am near the end of the demo and I am eager to play more of it when available.

[mccleverly]

I wouldn't know if this would be considered a bug or not, but whatever it was, I shamefully exploited the hell out of it. I was able to gradually heal my party to full, the ones you can change classes, by switch back and forth between recruit and knight.

I do not quite get how you did this... is it because Knight has more HP than Recruit?

I know I was warned on how hard this game is, but man, it is challenging! I "think" I am near the end of the demo and I am eager to play more of it when available.

I am so glad you are enjoying this game! But it isn't a demo... its a real, live episode, kind of like watching a miniseries/television episode, but in game form. Maybe a strange way to do it, but I assure you, this game is complete (save for the OST).

Annnd I will let Devon speak for himself now. :X

[JazzTear_VII]

I think it was because the Knight had more HP than Recruits, and my bad for calling it a demo, I even saw the word "episode" everywhere. lol

[Devon]

I guess I was aware of that but I always thought that:

A) The game is easy enough and...
B) The 'sploit is tedious enough...

That no one would exploit it that way.

I guess if it enhanced your enjoyment of the game, I have nothing to complain about. : )

[JazzTear_VII]

Yeah, it is tedious as I would have to re-equip my party over and over once I got them back to my desired class. Also, I only happened upon this exploited by chance because I thought I was able to use some skills outside of battles, and I notice I healed when I first switched from a Knight back to a Recruit. It's a great money saver. xD

[mccleverly]

I am going to write a gigantic freakin post about playtesting this thing/every different skill and party matchup. But not right now.

Right now I just got my computer back from having its hard drive wiped/replaced yet again (twice in 2 months, folks!) and need to get all my bookmarks/programs in order!

Maybe maybe just maybe I might do some original art for this too, if Dev wants some, to be finished around the time Sir_Subtle is done with the music. I'm itching to try out my new Photoshop and Bamboo, yo!

[mccleverly]

OK! Here I am.

So, I was apparently the lead playtester on this game, though I think edchuy played it more times and with more combos. I'd love for him to weigh in on this too. But since I am here, I will give it my shot.

First off, I have terrible luck in games and I rarely had trouble with this one. Sure, there were a couple times when luck got the better of me/my party. Sometimes I'd just have a bad go of it - all enemies would unleash their super powerful power attacks and hit with all and totally decimate me in round one. But these times were few and far enough between to be notable/unusual. For the most part, what skills I picked and how I used them had an effect on how I did in battle.

This isn't to say I could win with only a certain set of skills... far from it! During several of my playthroughs, I completely eschewed the use of the "best" skills and still had a good, un-frustrating time beating the game.

But since you were wondering... here is a list of what I think are the best skills/skill combos in To Arms!

Hold the Line/Bull Rush Combo: This is Devon's favorite, which is actually the only reason I put it up here. Bull Rush, one of Janos' skills, does damage based on defense... and Hold the Line buffs defense. I actually didn't use this that much, not because I didn't find it useful. I did. But I like for my guys to be more agility based, which is why I preferred...

Keep Moving! Keep moving is great. With the right equipment on all of your guys, some of them can go right after Cutjack, and before almost all enemies. I found that it was strategically important to outfit my dudes right. Usually, in a "balanced/normal" party, you're going to have your tanks, and your softer targets. War Priests and Knights are tanks, and will always go last/later in the turn. Archers, Engineers, Alchemists and Arcanon are less weighed down by stuff, and will generally go first. Berserkers, who wear NOTHING, go very early, if not dead first. Others are in-between. If you have your soft targets in light armor, and you put this buff on them, they will go first.

It is when some of your guys go first that the whole "luck" thing goes out the window. If someone was seriously in need of healing/rezzing, I would invariably give healing duty to my soft targets. If someone was REALLY fucked up, I would have more than one of my more agile dudes heal them in a turn. That way, I rarely if ever ran into the "this guy died before I had a chance to heal him due to turn order" issue that others are claiming to be luck-based.

Honorguard/Over Here! Damage control and tanking. Not absolutely necessary, but it is really good to pull heat away from the soft targets I mentioned above. That way, the softies can focus on healing and doing massive damage.

Squire: I might be weird but I liked having a Recruit in my party. They go pretty soon in the turn, and they have three REALLY USEFUL skills. Squire is the best. If you have a Knight or Berserker the combo is unbeatable. If you have neither of these, squire Janos or Grenn. If Janos has "Let Them Have It!" up and you Squire somebody, it only gets better.

Blitz Shot: MY FAVORITE SKILL. It is literally the best skill in the game. It is offset by the price, which is high enough that Blitz Shot is not broken. But Blitz Shot rarely misses, always goes first, and doesn't take up your turn. I used it to pick off little dudes in the Cutjack and Rhea fight, or to hit Rhea over and over... they never knew what hit 'em

Mephitic Cloud: This skill is VERY hard to get in this episode, if not totally impossible. However, due to the magic of cheating playtesting, I was able to experience the wonder of this skill. This skill confuses, blinds, and poisons ALL ENEMIES ON THE FIELD. Do you understand how good this is?

Lightning Bolt: My other favorite spell. Reasonable price/mp cost, high damage, rarely misses. You can basically one-hit some guys with this, as long as they aren't knights. Which is important when you're escaping the castle as Horace and Janos... getting rid of Alchemists is particularly necessary during this stage.

Cauldron of Pitch/Incendiary Shot: Literally every single one of the Engineer skills is diesel. Every one. You can never go wrong with one of these in your party. However, I like Cauldron of Pitch the best because it a) draws less aggro and b) allows the Engineer to become a team player! When your Engineer throws Cauldron, he not only increases the damage for his next Incendiary, but also opens the doors for Alchemists with Alchemist Fire, Arcanons with Flame Burst, and Grenn (with his axe). Now anyone with a fire ability gets to join in the fun!

All Berserker Skills: Yes. They go early in a turn and kick serious ass. Moving on.

Beastmaster: Another thing I do not know if it is possible to get in this episode. Pikemen have this awesome skill though and they do tonnes of damage to beasties. More useful in the earlier portion of this game, I admit, but I find it to be a very awesome and fun/flavorful skill.

Wrath of Kryllor: It has NO COOLDOWN. Next.

Shield of Kryllor: I love this skill, even when it wears off. Bestow it on your tank. A knight with honorguard, this, and Hold the Line is ACTUALLY invincible.

Alchemists: Have one in your party. You will never have a problem with healing items ever again. They go early in a turn. They cure physical maladies and they can make soothing balm during battle. Also they make healing items more effective. I'm serious. You can have a party without an Alchemist easily, but I like them so much!

I have probably forgotten a lot. But I think this should be enough to show that every class in the game is useful, and which of their skills are MY favorites. There are no bad/useless skills in this game, but Dragonslayer and Smite are things I would warn against for this episode.

-Mik

[mccleverly]

A few more things to be said... I can't/won't reply on other sites that this game has been posted to, but I do read the comments and reviews I see and I have to disagree with some of them.

The first thing I keep hearing is this (mis)understanding that you have to "choose only one right way to build your party and can make no mistakes or else you will lose!" This is patently untrue!

I am rubbish with video games. The first time I played through this one, yes, I was a little challenged, and maybe I lost once or twice. But I was never in any kind of "unwinnable state," and whoever finds themselves in such a state, I have to believe is not utilizing the game to its fullest. I don't mean "only use the skills I listed above" when I say this. I mean, are you sure you are always spending your Job Points when you have enough to buy a skill? Are you paying attention to how the skills your party has can work together? Something Fallen Griever said on RPGMaker made me wonder if he gets the point... he mentioned "breaking" the game by using two skills in concert with one another (In a way I hadn't even done, enfeeble + hold the line). Now, forgive me Dev if I am wrong, but isn't that the whole point of this game? The strategy lies in the player's ability to find combinations in the skills and use them for maximum badassery!

There were times during my playtest - and I know I said this before but I feel the need to repeat it - that I intentionally said to myself, well, these are my favorite skills in the game. I am not using any of them this time through. Now I will only use the skills that are "bad." And even doing this, I was still never in any kind of unwinnable state in the slightest!

The only times I ever found myself in a position where I couldn't beat an enemy were the times I had completely forgotten to buy more skills with my job points. A quick reload of a save fixed that nicely, but this is player, not game error. It is absolutely the player's fault if they can't beat a game when the game has given them the means to purchase skills and they neglect to.

I could be really misunderstanding the situation that some players are having, but after as many times as I intentionally dicked around and made "poor" decisions and still had a fine time, I honestly can't think of what else it could be.

Secondly: The FUCK thing. Anyone who says that the word "fuck" is classless and base and has no place in adult storytelling, PLEASE GO READ A MAMET PLAY.

Seriously.

Or McDonagh. Either one.

Fuck is a very old word and was first used to mean "to have sexual intercourse" in the 1400's. It was used as profanity by Will Shakespeare, the bard himself. It very much has a place in both high and low fantasy. And if you don't like that explanation (let's say, 'cause you know that Shakespeare was Elizabethan and not Medieval), I prefer to point to one David Milch, showrunner for the brilliant Deadwood series.

Milch, I believe, has stated that the reason for the incessant and percussionistic profanity throughout his show is because he wanted to give audiences the same feeling that someone might have if they were in the old west hearing the profanity of the day. The profanity of the old western era was, to modern folk, laughably tame. But at the time, it really MEANT something. Milch translated that feeling, and the meaning, derived from old-timey curses by using profanity we are more shocked by (or comfortable with, if you'll prefer). If Al Swearengen had gone around saying "Gee-hosephat" or whatever, no one would have taken him half as seriously.

I liken this to the novel "The Things They Carried," which is in many ways about this issue in storytelling. A very prominent character in this novel embellishes when he tells people stories about things that he witnessed in the war. The narrator comes to the conclusion, within the story, that this embellishment is more truth than the actual facts would be... it is a better conveyance of the character's feelings and experiences, and thus, more honest.

When Janos says "fuck" in this episode, he goddamn means it. His whole life has been assraped to the point of no return. Maybe you'd want him to say "oh forsooth, a blight upon myne eyes!!" But that would be awfully silly, in context.

And that's all I have to say about that.

[Devon]

Wish i could see any of the comments that precipitated this post, but the system is down @ rmn.

[Devon]

Plagiarism is a really serious allegation and one that I take very close to heart. Because ORIGINALITY is something I have always struggled with. (Long self generated self-directed guilt trip follows.)

Mikaela always says that no stories are 100% original and that everything in all of creation is a ripoff of everything else. To some extent she's right. At the same time...the vast majority of things I have made are heavily inspired by the ideas of others, or are written in someone else's universe. As much as I have always hated and derided fan fiction sometimes I feel like my entire catalog is just the same thing by a different name.

Systems Malfunction has the most diverse and diffuse inspirations and hence is the most "original", along with Iron Gaia on which it was based, but the former (SM) borrows a LOT from Shadowrun which I have always justified by saying that Shadowrun borrows a lot from William Gibson.

Backstage is a Silent Hill fangame by any other name and the same could be said of To Arms! for A Song of Ice and Fire. Everything Turns Gray is somewhere between Fallout and The Road. Mage Duel is "original" (it is also somewhat content free) but is set in the same universe as Between Two Worlds which completely lifts the premise of the novel Heroes Die...my tabletop RPG Splinter rips off the same thing. (The Tower was set in the same universe, and I can't remember what it was ripping off...Diary of a Madman was a definite inspiration I think.)

As for that "other peoples universes category" well, for starters there's everything I've ever DM'd/GM'd/ST'd but beyond that there's the majority of tabletop RPGs I've WRITTEN. Both the finished ones, and the not-so-finished ones. My Psionics RPG like Systems has loads of inspirations (Firestarter, Carrie, Akira, Galerians, etc.) but I wouldn't call it a lift of anything. The Phantasm RPG however is set pretty firmly in the universe of the Phantasm series of horror movies from the 70s, 80s, and 90s and borrows things from other contemporary horror movies like From Dusk Till Dawn, Hellraiser, and others.

And I guess that leaves my professional fiction...where Gilead borrows heavily from EVERY STEPHEN KING NOVEL SET IN A SMALL TOWN to say nothing of, again, Silent Hill, and its sequel, Hope In The Mist--still incomplete but by far the best thing I've ever written--borrows just as heavily from Stephen King's "The Mist" and The Stand.

If you are reading this, know that at the abrupt end of this ramble that thanks to someone I am having a very bad day.

[geodude]

i hope you learned a valuable lesson from all of this

(the lesson is don't get caught)

[Devon]

It's not plagiarism chief.