Elysium (RPGVX) Version 0.12 - 3/10/13

[Seyser Koze]

ELYSIUM: RISE OF THE DARK KING ver.0.12.2 (3/10/13)

MEGA link: https://mega.co.nz/#!sAwDHD5K!b7P8NmZc3 ... zXxe7Dk1eQ
Alternate link: http://www.share-online.biz/dl/NK67BOJMSVZ/free/
Torrent (thanks to crimsonkirie on Hongfire): http://www.fapis.com/entry.html?id=43694
RPGMaker VX RTP (necessary to play): http://www.rpgmakerweb.com/download/run-time-package#vx

This is Elysium, a story-focused H-RPG made using RPG Maker VX. There's much more of a focus on the story aspect than the game aspect, making it more of a "more-than-usually-interactive VN" than an RPG. I'll be working at implementing some more active gameplay elements as I go, but any such additions are still a little ways off. The overall concept takes inspiration from commercial H-Games like Rance or Eushully's darker games, with a male protagonist facing off against (and eventually subduing) numerous female enemies.

There's a fair bit of non-consensual sex in it, although not exclusively so, and it'll eventually involve more tentacle/monster elements as the story progresses. If I ever get that far, anyway. The story's meant to have light and dark branches, but the early content is weighted towards the light side, while the most recent addition (the Arcanum) focuses more heavily on the dark.

Check it out, report bugs, and let me know what you think. This latest version has already had to be reuploaded twice due to unforeseen gamebreakers, but I'm sure lots of smaller and subtler things have managed to slip in under the radar.

The game offers the option to fastforward through some scenes. When the sword icon appears in the upper left of the screen, hitting the Q key twice will skip ahead through the current scene. It is not recommended that you do this while the screen is faded to black, or while characters onscreen are currently moving; the feature isn't entirely stable.

Link to original Hongfire thread (with walkthrough): http://www.hongfire.com/forum/showthread.php/291459

[Thaedael]

The best trick the devil ever pulled off, was convincing everyone that he wasn't real.

That being said, welcome to the forums, as per usual I will give my little disclaimer about the 10 post moderating period, either get the 10 posts done all at once so they can be batch-approved, or do them on your own time. Most people edit their first post with updated, during the 10 post period this will make your thread go invisible as it has to be re-approved each time, so if you want feedback early best bet is to wait until you have 10 posts. Good luck and welcome to the forums.

[OMGTANGERINES]

It looks really, really good. It seems like some of it is based on Shakespeare (Ophelia and Juliet); is the couplet that the monsters use directly from Shakespeare, or did you make it up? If it's yours, it's damn good.
One bug I noticed: the sword in the upper left corner persists during battles and sex scenes even though it can't be used, and hitting Q does nothing. It's just a UI thing, but I thought you might be interested in knowing.

After playing a bit farther, I've got to say, the story is really nice. This is probably the first time seeing someone being raped has actually made me feel bad, especially in a game. The dialogue is wonderfully written, and extremely evocative.

[pyro32]

Wow, this is awsome, The Ophelia bit was a little freaky imo. However, the story is amazing and very enjoyable its extremely unpredictable so good job there, btw Kathryn in the fort is really difficult!

[Seyser Koze]

It looks really, really good. It seems like some of it is based on Shakespeare (Ophelia and Juliet); is the couplet that the monsters use directly from Shakespeare, or did you make it up? If it's yours, it's damn good.

Haha, no, I don't think any of that appears in Shakespeare. Basically I read too many comics featuring Etrigan and decided it would be interesting to have a particular class of Nightspawn that always spoke in verse. Too late I realized that I hate writing in verse, resulting in the relative dearth of gargoyles compared to the much more common ogres.

The Ophelia/Juliet thing was actually an unconscious thing when I named the two characters. For a little while I thought I'd go ahead and make a theme out of it. Yolande was originally going to be named Desdemona. Then I decided that was a ridiculous name for a rough-edged bandit woman to have, and then I decided that the entire idea was too pretentious even for a plot-based H-game. Ophelia and Juliet had already been established by that point, so they stayed the same. Yolande's character sprite is still called Desdemona, though.

Which is not to say you won't see any other Shakespearean names in the future, if only because so many good fantasy-ish female names happen to also be names of Shakespearean characters.

One bug I noticed: the sword in the upper left corner persists during battles and sex scenes even though it can't be used, and hitting Q does nothing. It's just a UI thing, but I thought you might be interested in knowing.

Yeah, the event skipper skips some commands but not others. Battle processing is one thing that doesn't get skipped, although I tried to place most of the tags so they didn't overlap with battles.

[BlueBody]

Ooooh. Cannot wait to try this out later! Will come back with feedback!

[Wonderful Hawk]

Oh my goodness this is brilliant. Brilliant enough for me to make a second post! Eight more and maybe I'll actually start posting regularly! Though knowing me, not likely.

Anyways! The strategy! I love it. So many games... well, most every game... is about pounding the enemy into submission and moving on to the next, but this one really makes you work for it! It can be difficult, it can be a bit tense, and it's always a lot of fun! Came for the 'H' stuff... stayed for the gameplay. Love it love it love it so much.

[pyro32]

Well I finally beat Kathryn (twice). I'm actually pretty sad thats the end of the release since I was really getting into this game, I'm looking forward to updates + more of your work. kinda hope there more Kathryn but I think she'd be kinda mind broke by now

[JackalMask]

Awesome work so far, looking forward to the next update. One thing I'd like to suggest is an unlockable H-scene gallery.

[Raio10]

awesome work with this new version i love it now i cannot wait for the next version whenever that will be to continue Darius' adventure.

[mycrors7]

i really like this, i cant wait for more progress. the storyline is awesome so far

[Vid]

I must be extremely stupid, but I cannot for the life of me figure out what you're supposed to do once you gain control, at the "stretching your legs" part in the prologue. I can talk to people and stuff, but it doesn't advance anything. What are you supposed to do?

[BlueBody]

Wow. This game is REALLY interesting, hope there is more to see soon!

A bug I noticed was that after your first encounter with the Kathryn, you can walk through the north gate. That results in the game freezing because it's a cutscene that's intended to be played out later. Better block it off i guess.

[Insomniac]

What music is that that plays at the start of Ch 2?

[Seyser Koze]

What music is that that plays at the start of Ch 2?

The world map music (and a couple of other non-RPGVX tracks) were shamelessly lifted from Utage's games (Seven Prison, Dancing Phantom, etc.) Very nice moody tone compared to the cheerful "let's have us an adventure!" tone that the default music has. You can check them out on DLSite.

[SpectralTime]

Huh... playing the prologue. The main character seems like kind of a tool, between his cheating and his low work ethic, but... well, I suppose the game IS just starting.

And, hey. Doing the walk around and talk to people thing is always the best part of any game, to me. It's like Mass Effect: The JRPG... but medieval, and hopefully with a better ending.

Also, the Standard Video Game Jump Sound at the very end of the Prologue is hilariously inappropriate. Kinda wish his portrait would turn a little darker too, it's kinda... weird to see them so obviously different. Suppose the background could use more layers. You know, ring Ophelia's house and the clearing in the woods with trees... that sort of thing?

Oh dear... poor Ophelia. She really does just get deal s*** hand after s*** hand, doesn't she?

Why CAN'T I help people? I mean, I was a LITTLE miffed when Darius just stood there and watched as a horde of monsters stormed the village while making their intentions perfectly clear, but why isn't he helping out the townsfolk? Is the PLAYER supposed to agree with what's happening, or something?

...And now I'm killing the only person who seems to be wanting to help everyone. Wonderful. I know she's a conspirator, or something, but the main character's personality seems a little... schizophrenic here. On the one hand, he points out that Ophelia's deepest, darkest desires aren't necessarily everything about her, but... Ah, nuts, I dunno.

...Dude. The last girl you had sex with birthed purple slime and sex demons everywhere. I'd keep it in my pants, man. ...Huh. Well, that entire scene was UNCOMFORTABLE to watch. Which was probably the point, really.

I hate Electra already, and kudos if that was the point. I THINK it was, but you never know. I mean, apparently the Demon Lord of Monstergirl Unlimited was supposed to be sympathetic, and SHE'S a genocidal tyrant who demands absolute mastery over the very thoughts of all sentient life. Hope there's an option to give her the finger whenever she tries to go all, "Come back to the Night, my child," or something. And freeing Ophelia from her madness while we're at it... though, considering her name, the best I can probably do is convince her to drown herself in the well.

So, Yolande... pretty attractive. Wish it didn't have to be nonconsensual, but it probably will. Dunno which play SHE'S from... and neither does Google.

Man, she's tough. Hits like a truck too, right through the resilience. Just glad there's no level grinding, or I'd be nervous.

...Okay, THAT was pretty funny.

One of the bushes outside the Fort is on the wrong sprite layer, and shows up in front of you when you walk over it. Just helping.

Inside, a question. If the only way to proceed is to steal the robe and cowl, why not just make that a thing? Also, you know, try to spare the poor pilgrim and his family what's waiting for them up ahead, what with the bandits blocking the only road, and the town full of rape monsters and what not? I mean, sure, Darius'll get killed if he's found out, but... I dunno, can't he warn the guards that something freaky's going on there?

Poor girl... and poor Kat too. (Heh. Kat. Just got that.) No wonder she's so screwed up... I swear, if I get railroaded into helping Electra knock off a ton of people much more sympathetic than HER evil grey arse is...

Oh, they're going through the other way? Whew. And they escaped all the rape monsters too... lucky break, that. And an even luckier break that poor Kat didn't end up spraying slime and rape monsters too.

Kinda fun, walking through unfinished cityscapes. Didn't expect the mountain to be passable though.

I always find it funny when JRPGs (or RPGs, for that matter) DON'T automatically let you walk into every house and loot the place. It's a nice touch.

...Wait, Darius KNOWS about Nightspawn? And the kids playing have enough knowledge to say that they'll give them "cooties?" ...I feel a chance for exposition was lost somewhere along the line here.

Heh. April Showers Thrust got a smile. Getting beat up for walking between the guards got a chuckle. Actually warning someone got an outright laugh and a nod.

Oh. Ophelia's husband's lover... Hamlet's lover? Who is... also Ophelia? Anyway, that brought down the good mood pretty quick.

Huh... stuck. Talked to the pretty brunette with the hat, then to the scholar in the bar, and now I dunno where to go. Tried the Terrace Gardens... no dice. Talked to everyone a couple times.

What? That's... arbitrary.

...Up a few paragraphs, I almost called her "mage girl" instead of "scholar." But, I didn't want to make stereotypical assumptions. Of course, now... here we are. Wonder why she was studying a sex-change spell... or a hermaphroditism spell, at any rate. I suppose that'd be a nasty one to get hit with mid fight.

Yay! Mother Maugerite! I'm always happy to see a churchman not get slapped with an automatic "evil" label just because people only like to read about the interesting parts of religious history, and not the boring ones where ordinary people completely failed to be fanatical, murderous zealots. ESPECIALLY if a moral about "tolerance" gets hypocritically shoehorned in.

Would have liked to see her portrait in the earlier scenes, and I KNOW there's a decent "nun" portrait in the repertoire, if only because I've seen most of your portraits in "Labyrinth of Despair" already.

Oh, hey. Boner-killer magic. That sounds... oddly useful, considering the whole "bone a woman and create a crawling plague of rape-abominations" bit. She's a nice looking lady, but... I'm not sure I'm willing to risk it.

Heh. Permanent... that'd be one way to keep it from happening.

...Yeah, I'm with the church here. Sure, people'd be "happier" as mindless rape slaves... just like my drug-addicted little brother's pretty happy when he's got himself a fix.

...Hmmm. I was pretty engrossed there, but, once I'd realized I'd likely missed out on some of the plot by hitting up the library first, I tried to F12 for a reset and it crashed the game.

You wanted glitches, so... using the skip function screws up the hit detection for all the sprites. Makes them... goofy. I do appreciate that the conversations have layers though, and you don't just skip them all in one go.

A geas? A chronic traitor TO the other traitors? God, what a dick. And, what's worse, a dick I won't get to beat up for a while yet. Also, as someone who doesn't understand the appeal of lesbian scenes to straight men... eh.

Oh dear. Bella. And... Bella whom sexing would be disastrous. Nuts.

...Well. That simplifies matters.

Aaaaaaand... now I'm in a bind. Couldn't I have... I dunno? Napped?

...Oh. Hopeless fight. And now I'm railroaded into helping these monsters... nuts.

...Well, at least he's too exhausted to fight the raping. That's... better. Like, at least the railroading's been sugarcoated.

...Even my walking's faster now. A good game design choice, if nothing else.

And now I'm going to beat up my rape victim who justifiably wants revenge, who never wanted any of this, and rape her. Again. For the plot.
...BALLS.

...And it's wrapped up in a genuinely interesting game mechanic.
...DOUBLE BALLS.

My soul is dying just reading the poor girl's dialogue. I am seriously not liking this plot twist, and I don't know if that was the point. I mean, sure, if it were one of those d*** generals... MAYBE. But... this? My sympathy's with THE PERSON I'M BEATING UP. And raping. Because a jerk told me to.


...God in heaven, Electra even TALKS like that damnable Demon Lord from Monstergirl Unlimited. I hope SHE ends up on the receiving end... but she won't. Not ever. Because the plot says so.

No kids! Stay away! Your town's been conquered by rape demons, and the lady in charge thinks brainwashing everyone to her point of view is a legitimate thing! ...Can't say THAT either.

Seriously. I HATE it when the villains are more likeable and have more of a point than the heroes. I mean, sure, doing that to the princess was awful. But... not as bad as THIS.

...WHY IS HE JUST GOING ALONG WITH THIS GOD I AM REALLY HATING THE PROTAGONIST RIGHT NOW AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Mass Effect 3 ending flashbacks.

...And now the protagonist, because I didn't pick the "jerk" option, is outright admitting that there is nothing sympathetic or likable about him. And Juliet is fine with this. And saying she wanted to be raped. But, because Darius has pried open her brain-box and f***ed with all the gears, that's as reliable as my car's shocks.

...And now one of the DEMONS, against a backdrop of awful things happening to people who, on the whole, were no less evil than any of us in the English-speaking First World, is telling the protagonist EXACTLY why he's an awful character for working with Electra, and he doesn't even have a comeback. Nuts.

...*sigh* I'm sorry. "Not for you, don't play," right? I appreciate the olive branch in the form of a LESS rape-y scene, but... I just can't, in good conscience, help a character I have no sympathy for help another character I hate and have NEVER ONCE been given a reason not to hate ruin the world for no good reason. (Seriously, why on earth is he just going along with this? This is like a bad session of Vampire: the Masquerade where everyone's fine with being a blood-sucking, brainwashing monster from square one.) SpectralTime, signing off.

[Lucky777]

I once heard about this, and I thought I heard it had little H-content.

I've also heard it has one or two bonerkills, for which reason I had resolved not to look into it at all, but with such a great review from Spectral Time, I've got no choice.

I'll chime back in with an opinion when I've gone through the game, probably in this post itself.

Wait, what's this?
Railroaded into interrupting a perfectly good gang-rape?
The objective quality of the writing's certainly all right, but if that sort of thing is going to happen repeatedly, I'm afraid it'll be quite unacceptable.
Still
The review. I'm going to sit tight for a while and assume it gets more relevant to my interests swiftly.

Edit: Well, that's better, but there ain't all that much detail in the random scenes, now is there? Hmm.

...Didn't even finish with the swordswoman? Tsk. Spectral Time had patience with a character that broke his immersion - enough to get to the end, or at least further than I
got - but I've not enough.
It's well written, objectively speaking, but the protagonist's lack of enthusiasm is REALLY not my thing.

That'll be all.

[SpectralTime]

...Great? I quit in a huff at the poor writing.

Edit: In response to HIS edit.

Soooo... you've accidentally created a game that offends the sensibilities of both the Guy Who Always Plays The Good Guy, AND the Guy Who Always Plays The Evil Guy? Nuts, man. I... dunno what to say. That has to suck.

...Maybe I'll try again later. I make no promises. I... GUESS there's technically a good path. Maybe I get to call out that jerk on her evil ways on it. Eventually. *sigh*

Why is he working for her? I asked it, characters asked it, HE asked it, but no satisfactory answer ever came.

[potmasiero]

Not related to the game, but when i opened the topic i was listening to Elysium by stratovarius.

[Seyser Koze]

Soooo... you've accidentally created a game that offends the sensibilities of both the Guy Who Always Plays The Good Guy, AND the Guy Who Always Plays The Evil Guy? Nuts, man. I... dunno what to say. That has to suck.

I think it's a pretty amusing situation, actually.

I'm not particularly satisfied with that scene with Juliet in her house either, though (with her pat "oh of course i forgive you for raping me" response). I've been meaning to go back and rewrite that one for a while, especially since that's the point where your decisions and responses start to have some effect on what happens.