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Overview Started over 3 years ago, Quintessence is my first, and main, RM project. Unlike traditional RPGs, it has a primary focus on story-telling and atmosphere, delivering a unique experience as a narrative-driven "interactive show".
Music With an award winning original soundtrack comprised of over 60 songs composed by James Q. Zhang and Kan "Reives" Gao, music is not only an essential component of not only Quintessence's atmosphere, but also the plot itself. The opening and ending themes feature performances by the talented Laura Shigihara and Adam Mussell.
OST Demo Reel (Click Me) Contains sample clips from the following tracks in order: -Korbin Village [James Q. Zhang] -Shrine of Osiris [James Q. Zhang] -Beyond Mountain's Reach [James Q. Zhang] -The Last Moonrise [Kan Gao] -Battle Theme [James Q. Zhang] -Once Upon a Midnight [Kan Gao] -Kaire's Theme [Kan Gao] -Where We Part [James Q. Zhang]
Song Samples: To Realize (Opening Theme) Composed by Kan "Reives" Gao Cover and Performed by: Adam Mussell
Drift (Ending Theme) Composed by Kan "Reives" Gao Performed by Laura Shigihara
Story
The genre of the story is adventure, drama, and fantasy. Instead of a synopsis, here is the opening of the written version of the game's story. While the scene is not directly implemented in-game, the events surrounding it are.
Content Hidden
Act I
1327, 3rd month, day 5 Second hour and seventeen minutes past midnight
The vase met the ground with a loud clash as the young man dashed by. With trembling hands, he reached under his grass-sewn bed sheet and retrieved a notebook, a quill pen and a bottle of clear, oily liquid. Dampening the quill in the bottle, he flipped to the blank page, fleetly trotting down the words as sweat dripped down onto the tawny pages.
1327, Month 3, day 5
I knew something was out of place, but not like this. . .
What does it mean? No, I cannot state this here, for it is not safe.
But it is still her. In either case, it has been this way for who knows how long now, and nothing has yet happened. Perhaps I still have time.
Perhaps, just perhaps, I still have a chance.
He took a deep breath and wiped the sweat off his forehead. Redampening the quill in the chipped bottle, he signed briefly at the bottom of the page as the rough handwriting gradually faded into the thin air.
Reivier Wirt
The exhausted figure pushed himself up and darted through the opening of the leathery tent. He paused for a moment and stared into the dim lit night, only to hear the wind whistling through the trebled leaves. Dim, silvery moonlight sprayed upon the rustling branches, brushing gently against the autumn night's air. With another sigh, he began to saunter silently onward, but the sound of soft footsteps upon the grass made him stop in his track and turn around.
Turn around to face the familiar figure that was now a stranger.
"Why are you still up at this nightly hour?" The figure spoke softly, with a tone that Reivier had embraced countless times. "Do you not wish to have a restful sleep?" It added after a brief pause.
Reivier's brows lowered as he took a small step back. His trembling hand instinctively reached behind his belt for his hunting knife, but it was too late.
Under the cloaking shadows, the figure swiftly lashed out something colorless, shimmering in the reflection of the guiding moonlight.
Powders, perhaps.
But that was the last thing he saw.
Gameplay
Being an interactive show, game-play is delivered in a relatively limited quantity. However, it offers a wide variety of gameplay through puzzles, mini-games and its evented real-time battle system.
And there ends my WIP sales pitch; many thanks for your time reading.
Now, would you like to download this? Yes you would.
Thank you! Download link's at the top of the page.
Last edited by Reives on Sun Nov 29, 2009 12:19 am, edited 16 times in total.
In the future, if you want a thread moved, just Report it, instead of putting something in the title. That way the staff doesn't have to go through the extra step of editing your thread title for you.
I've had the pleasure of playing this game on another site. This is one of the few demos that I have played through completely in one sitting. Reives is a wonderful storyteller.
_________________ Please do not pm me to ask me to join your team or to ask a support question. There are forums to make such requests.
Thanks Alexia! And Shifter, I will look into that, thanks for the info.
Edit: [QUOTE=Reives;214548] I got a new CBS beta up now, it should work this time. Also, this time I implemented MGCaladtogel's Mode07. It might be a little laggier than usual, but should be fine on most updated computers.
If it's too laggy, I might just take away the Mode07 and leave it as is, though. But it's such an awesome script. :(
Link is now updated in the DEMO section on first post, and here are some new screenshots:
This was an absolutely excellent play. The way the game progresses is so well threaded. The story is solid, and I don't think I could recall one loose end in that department. An amazing display of consistency and concept. You have me addicted with that alone.
The characters are adorable, especially Vikon. As a whole they all have very solid personalities, you can distinguish them quite easy by their attitudes alone. They are also easy to like, which is something I don't find too often in RPGs period. I think in a way you wrote that demo to force the characters on to the player, because I can't recall many times that I've remember the characters on a first play. Very nice job.
The game's execution is top of the line. You get the feel that you're playing an actual RPG and not just another RMXP game. You did a very good job on the battle choreography in the beginning, that alone draws the player into seeing the rest of the game and wanting more. I can tell that the extra effort and time was put in to make sure this was as flawless as possible.
Overall, extremely good job. I'm quite impressed to say the least.
EDIT: Oh I completely forgot to comment about the music. You loss some point for where you stuck in the RTP music, but I take it they were place holders. Anyway, for the most part the musical arrangement was a very nice and soft touching one. Kept the mood right.
_________________ ~ J-Street ~
Last edited by Jstreet on Sat May 26, 2007 11:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Definitely a game I'd play, just because I'm a music freak. I'll go ahead and play the demo, then give you some feedbacks. Seriously, nice work bro. I can tell you're extremely dedicated.
EDIT: I.. am amazed. This game is probably the best I've played, granted that I don't download many games, so my opinion may not matter much. Aside from a few grammar and spelling mistakes ("familiar" not "familliar"), everything is almost flawless. Amazing job, definitely get a 10 from me.
Last edited by Mezmerize on Sat May 26, 2007 11:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Wow, thanks for the detailed review, Panda. I'm very glad that you enjoyed it. :D I did focus greatly on developing identifiable characters; in fact the whole story is a modified version of an attempted fiction I was writing two years ago (but every teen had one of those things :p I stopped at a bit over 100 small pages). In fact I found out about RMXP because I wanted to turn it into an interactive story and searched for such a tool, so I'm very happy that the storytelling was decent.
And Mez; rock on for music freaks. I'm not sure if it's your prefered genre of BGMs, but hope you enjoy it.
Oh and yes, the 3 RTP BGMs are stuck there for now sadly, but they are in fact place holders. Actually, I think I am able to put some of them out for now. They will decrease as of next demo.
~~~
I got a new CBS beta up now, it should work this time. Also, this time I implemented MGCaladtogel's Mode07. It might be a little laggier than usual, but should be fine on most updated computers.
If it's too laggy, I might just take away the Mode07 and leave it as is, though. But it's such an awesome script. :(
Link is now updated in the DEMO section on first post, and here are some new screenshots:
I keep putting off what I want to play! :< I'll get to it soon, Reives, the screenshots make it looke just so nice and it just sounds very interesting! *downloads*
*Edit: and as for an opinion: please don't use mode7! ;.; I think it would be just fine without it!
Last edited by Rye on Sun May 27, 2007 12:57 am, edited 1 time in total.
Ah Rye, the mode07 thing was only planned to apply to part of the Intro Music Vid and Battle System to clarify, not the whole thing. Or did you refer to those specifically? :o I am somewhat vacillated with whether to use it for the CBS, but it's pretty good for some specific cinematic effect kind of use, at times.
.-. I dunno, I think it would be terribly odd to have it on battle and nothing else. But, that may just be me. :X Either way, the game is lovely so far. ^^ Can't wait to finish (when I am more awake <.<)
@Rye: Oh I see. I personally thought that battle system was one of the few places where it could be somewhat different from the game-play though. :o Hm, I don't know; I'll have to see on that. Though the lag factor is sorta suppressing me from using that in the final version. I'll definitely keep that in mind though, thanks for the advice!
Edit: I just discovered a critical bug with the script that messes me up completely; so I probably won't be able to use it anyhow. :D
You have created a very pleasing game, with magnificent storytelling, and you also seem to have a rather great knowledge of RMXP. I'll be watching this! ;)
One of the things that caught my interest was the mention of original music (!).
The screen shots are very, very nice. You definitely have a lot going for this project, so it'll be great to see how it continues to progress.
I'm always in for a good story too, though I think the character profiles are lacking just a bit. I know you may not want to reveal any spoilers, but if you work your way around the spoilers, you can still come up with some intriguing profiles. Just a suggestion, of course!
I'll be downloading your demo(s) and checking them out later tonight, and I'll be sure to provide some feedback as well.
@rataime I'll try to find those passability problems; thanks for the heads up!
@DawnWanderer Thanks, hope you like the original music! :D As for the character detail spoiler part; I'm not really sure. I understand that thread-wise it is a nice touch, but what I feel is that writing a description about a character on a thread is like treating them as a project's subjects each with their attributes/personalities and etc. labeled; where as I want the player to explore their traits themselves in first-person. I definitely see your point though, but I'm a little vacillated right now, heheh.
I just made another 30 facepics with FM, including Lunair's mother's set 10 years ago. So just a quick question, does this seem to match in terms of mother-daughter trace? (Keep in mind the mother is portrayed as 10-years ago, hence looks relatively young. Oh and also, one of Lunair (the daughter)'s 10-years-ago child face pics is in the first screenshot in the below spoiler, could ya see if that passes as a child pic for her? :D
I just got done playing the demo and I have to say I'm inpressed. I loved every second of the demo. It kept me glued to the monitor, even when my parents said i have to go to bed XD I love the music, and the battle in the beginning, and just everything! lol I can't wait for the next one =) You give me inspiration for my series.
I've played the demo and thought it was excellant :) im liking the screens for chapter 2 also but just as a little idea. I always hated it in game where the screen is black and white and the faces are in colour. I don't know if its just me but they seem to be an eye sore to those moments
-Redblade-
Thanks for teh feedback~ :) @Redblade: Ahh good point, I'll fix that for the black and white flashbacks. Thanks for the advice!
@Mezmerize: Heheh, I know that purple eyes + golden hair = mary-sue cliche; but basically what I have is a whole ethnic group(Aerians) are defined by the said physical traits, and considers themselves superior (raging a war of independence in the past from the rest of the society; somewhat relatable to Nazi in WW2).
In the flash back back to Aeria's central, every Aerian has those inherited hues, and is one of the foundations for the story.
Last edited by Reives on Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:54 am, edited 1 time in total.
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