[M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO ●

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TimeAxis
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[M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO ●

Post by TimeAxis »

HALLOWEEN HERO
Winner of the "Super Scary" Competition

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"HALLOWEEN IS CANCELLED ! ! !"
Spoiler : Synopsis :
The story of one child's attempt to reclaim their lost Halloween.
Spoiler : Screenshots :
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Play it here!
Spoiler : Some Warnings :
There are a lot of high contrast images and flashing lights in this case. Play in a well lit room. Don't think too hard about the subject matter and you'll be fine. Also there are some things that could be considered "jumpscares".
Walkthrough
Last edited by TimeAxis on Wed May 17, 2023 8:35 am, edited 10 times in total.
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO ○

Post by Bannedfrom7 »

WOAHHHHHHHHH
I am Banned
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO ○

Post by Squidwarden »

This gives me the Shin Megami Tensei vibes :shock:
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO ○

Post by TimeAxis »

Squidwarden wrote: Tue Nov 01, 2022 6:50 am This gives me the Shin Megami Tensei vibes :shock:
While it is standalone, most of the sprites and spell names are from SMT. Full credits will be posted upon release.
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO ○

Post by GuardianDreamer »

Very exciting to see more things from the Super Scary comp get showcased, looking forward to the official release.
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by TimeAxis »

A little late, but the official release of Halloween Hero is now.

It's fully complete, but there's no walkthrough yet. I want to make it pretty thorough, so the walkthrough won't be ready for quite a while, but since the case is done, I figured I'd release it anyway and then I can release the walkthrough later. If you want some basic tips to not get stuck:
Spoiler : Tips :
- If you're going to use saves, use multiple. They can sometimes fail to load and crash your browser tab. This seems to be an AAO thing that I can't fix. Most of the time they're fine though.
- Don't put all of your levels into one stat. It may make you really strong short term, but it'll come back to bite you later when you hit something that stat isn't good for.
- Use SCAN to figure out enemy weaknesses. Use DIA to keep yourself healed up.
- Don't forget about running away. You can RUN from battles if they seem too tough.
- Explore. The solution to clearing a floor will always be on that same floor. If you're feeling like the enemies on a floor are too much for you, you can either run from them until you find something weaker, or go back up to a more manageable floor to grind a bit if you want to.
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by eerew »

As a playtester, the full entry is definitely still worthy of first place. The presentation and gameplay on display is matched only by the poker simulator that one guy made last year. Play it NOW
Spoiler : :
Make sure to put every possible stat point into attack. Upgrading health and defense is a sign of weakness.
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by The Fury Wraith »

I just beat this. Thoughts below in spoilers:
Spoiler : :
Whew, this was lots of fun! I'm a big fan of SMT, so this was right up my alley. (Again, just like how I'm a fan of Kaiji/poker when I played CoT) The story is simple but effective and the effects in both cutscenes and gameplay were done really well too. But the real star of the show here is the gameplay. I'm actually genuinely surprised by how well this was designed, especially considering this was made in freaking AAO. The RPG mechanics are simple and not too deep (which I didn't expect to be that deep to begin with, so this isn't a critique at all but): It's just level ups and basic spells you can learn, with a usual elemental weakness system. But the gameplay loop still manages to nail what makes any good RPG fun: That feeling of getting more and more powerful and being able to stomp enemies that gave you trouble previously. The guarding mechanic of where you can choose an elemental resistance was very interesting and I thought it added a great bit of tactical decision making. I also quite like how each floor introduced a new gimmick of sorts, which weren't groundbreaking per se, but they still kept the game fresh as I went through it.

Having SMT knowledge was actually a huge boon for me, since I could already reasonably guess what weaknesses enemies would have based on their SMT counterparts. It caused me to not need Scan for like more than the first half of the game and most of the time I could resonably predict what resistance I needed too. The huge exception that threw me for a loop was Arahabaki, though. In just about all SMT games I've played, which are the more modern ones, Arahabaki repels Physical while usually being weak to a bunch of elements, but in this game it was the opposite: He's weak to physical here for some reason.

The game mostly didn't give me much problems to beat it and I went through it rather quickly, though I think that's also just because I'm very experienced in this type of game. I wouldn't exactly call the game a pushover, though. In fact, I thought it was very well balanced. I only got a game over at the first eyeball encounter which I figured out soon afterwards, and a few game overs at the final boss, Doppelganger, which is perhaps the only nitpick I have about the game.

It was the only boss where I felt like it's a bit unclear what you're supposed to do, and even after beating the game I'm really not sure how I did it or if I did it right. He copies your every move (except for Scan), and swaps his resists/repels to the ones you switch to. I was level 20 when I fought/beat him and I just could not figure out a really viable strategy for him. He had around 1070 HP, and since his Dia heal was around 490 and my damage before I needed to heal myself was around 530, I just thought I'd keep looping that with a net 40 HP I'd cut off each loop... But needless to say this was very slow and so it really felt like I did something wrong here.

Then for some reason when I tried Agi, it ended up doing 700 damage all of a sudden (I had a Bufu resistance up, if that matters?), which is a bit weird because the times I casted magic before, it really only did about 250 to 300 damage. I'm kinda confused why my Agi did so much damage all of a sudden, but that's how I beat him and I'm still not sure what the supposed strategy is for beating Doppelganger... But oh well. EDIT: Okay, after some testing, I figured it out, I guess: Switching elemental resistences does not only make Doppelganger adopt that as a repel, he gains the opposite element as a weakness. (And for those who aren't aware how this typically works in games like SMT: Agi (Fire) and Bufu (Ice) are each other's weakness, and the same goes for Zio (thunder) and Garu (Wind).) Alrighty, never mind that last nitpick, then. It was just on me for not figuring that out sooner.

Regardless, this was a really enjoyable experience and really well made, so huge props to TimeAxis. Not only was this very impressively made, but it felt really well-thought out too. I can definitely see how this won the competition it was in. This, along with CoT, really makes me curious for any future projects you might still make. Thanks for making!
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by TimeAxis »

The Fury Wraith wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 3:05 pm I just beat this. Thoughts below in spoilers:
Spoiler : :
Whew, this was lots of fun! I'm a big fan of SMT, so this was right up my alley. (Again, just like how I'm a fan of Kaiji/poker when I played CoT) The story is simple but effective and the effects in both cutscenes and gameplay were done really well too. But the real star of the show here is the gameplay. I'm actually genuinely surprised by how well this was designed, especially considering this was made in freaking AAO. The RPG mechanics are simple and not too deep (which I didn't expect to be that deep to begin with, so this isn't a critique at all but): It's just level ups and basic spells you can learn, with a usual elemental weakness system. But the gameplay loop still manages to nail what makes any good RPG fun: That feeling of getting more and more powerful and being able to stomp enemies that gave you trouble previously. The guarding mechanic of where you can choose an elemental resistance was very interesting and I thought it added a great bit of tactical decision making. I also quite like how each floor introduced a new gimmick of sorts, which weren't groundbreaking per se, but they still kept the game fresh as I went through it.

Having SMT knowledge was actually a huge boon for me, since I could already reasonably guess what weaknesses enemies would have based on their SMT counterparts. It caused me to not need Scan for like more than the first half of the game and most of the time I could resonably predict what resistance I needed too. The huge exception that threw me for a loop was Arahabaki, though. In just about all SMT games I've played, which are the more modern ones, Arahabaki repels Physical while usually being weak to a bunch of elements, but in this game it was the opposite: He's weak to physical here for some reason.

The game mostly didn't give me much problems to beat it and I went through it rather quickly, though I think that's also just because I'm very experienced in this type of game. I wouldn't exactly call the game a pushover, though. In fact, I thought it was very well balanced. I only got a game over at the first eyeball encounter which I figured out soon afterwards, and a few game overs at the final boss, Doppelganger, which is perhaps the only nitpick I have about the game.

It was the only boss where I felt like it's a bit unclear what you're supposed to do, and even after beating the game I'm really not sure how I did it or if I did it right. He copies your every move (except for Scan), and swaps his resists/repels to the ones you switch to. I was level 20 when I fought/beat him and I just could not figure out a really viable strategy for him. He had around 1070 HP, and since his Dia heal was around 490 and my damage before I needed to heal myself was around 530, I just thought I'd keep looping that with a net 40 HP I'd cut off each loop... But needless to say this was very slow and so it really felt like I did something wrong here.

Then for some reason when I tried Agi, it ended up doing 700 damage all of a sudden (I had a Bufu resistance up, if that matters?), which is a bit weird because the times I casted magic before, it really only did about 250 to 300 damage. I'm kinda confused why my Agi did so much damage all of a sudden, but that's how I beat him and I'm still not sure what the supposed strategy is for beating Doppelganger... But oh well. EDIT: Okay, after some testing, I figured it out, I guess: Switching elemental resistences does not only make Doppelganger adopt that as a repel, he gains the opposite element as a weakness. (And for those who aren't aware how this typically works in games like SMT: Agi (Fire) and Bufu (Ice) are each other's weakness, and the same goes for Zio (thunder) and Garu (Wind).) Alrighty, never mind that last nitpick, then. It was just on me for not figuring that out sooner.

Regardless, this was a really enjoyable experience and really well made, so huge props to TimeAxis. Not only was this very impressively made, but it felt really well-thought out too. I can definitely see how this won the competition it was in. This, along with CoT, really makes me curious for any future projects you might still make. Thanks for making!
I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Spoiler : :
And yes, Doppelganger is basically a puzzle boss. One of the few things in the game that aren’t meant to be cheesable by grinding enough. Nice job figuring it out. And congrats on f̴͍̒i̴͉̾n̶͓͠i̶̳̇ṣ̷͂ḥ̸̀i̵̜͊ṇ̶̓g̸̘͊ ̵̟͒t̵̳̳̪̰̜̎́͆ḧ̸̲͓̭̩́͜ẹ̶̢̛͓̰͉ ̷̜̥̣̥͉͊g̸̨͔̖̔́͌̂à̷͙̞̭͑̍̈́͝m̶͈̮͈͇̘͂͐̈́͂e̸̹̜̲̹͇͊.̶̘͎͊͛
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Champion of Turnabouts ★
HALLOWEEN HERO
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by Bannedfrom7 »

I'm playing right now.
Spoiler : :
WHAT!? HOW DID YOU MAKE THIS?! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by TimeAxis »

Bannedfrom7 wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 9:47 pm I'm playing right now.
Spoiler : :
WHAT!? HOW DID YOU MAKE THIS?! THIS IS INCREDIBLE!
Spoiler : :
It was very tedious and I learned a lot while making it, but I'm happy to answer any specific questions people might have about how I did certain things.
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by GuardianDreamer »

Oh hey it's out. Excitement. I'll be sure to take a look at this later, though I might wait for the walkthrough to be posted just in case I need it.
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by Trybien »

Halloween Hero has been praised quite a bit, and for good reason. This game is something truly special.
Fury covered most of everything I'd have to say as a fellow SMT enjoyer; however, I must also point out the story is no slouch.
While the narrative seems rather simple, there is quite a bit more going on underneath its hood.
Whether you are a dungeon crawler fan or not, you owe it to yourself to see everything that this game has too offer.
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by TimeAxis »

Good news. I've completed the walkthrough. It can be found here or in the OP.
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Re: [M][CE] HALLOWEEN HERO

Post by Grounder »

TimeAxis wrote: Mon Jan 09, 2023 4:52 am Good news. I've completed the walkthrough. It can be found here or in the OP.
Spoiler : :
Nothing on Beatrice? Keeping it a secret, or a simple brain fart?
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