Usually a lurker, but made an account to give feedback. Was presently surprised to see the demo out so had to give it a shot.
First impression was that it looks pretty feature rich for RPG Maker, especially when compared to the classics made in the engine like "To the Moon". So that was nice. I have also never played fire emblem, or any other "trpg" either, which I really don't know what that means, so I didn't really know what to expect. But I have played my fair share of regular RPGs, rhythm, and strategy games.
Difficulty:
The biggest surprise here was how easy this was. Never came close to death once, no need to save. Just basically attack and go. Hoping that in the future I'll need to implement more strategy then just running behind the enemy and pressing Z. The rhythm minigames make the team pretty OP. Pretty sure I only ever got hit on a crit double-tap from behind when it was really small for a double tap. Although I have no worries at all about the main game being difficult considering who is in charge, but thought it should be stated anyway.
Gameplay:
-Battle Mechanics: Combat and Rhythm
--Combat: Mostly feels slow. Fighting through a bunch of weak enemies felt mostly tedious once I got a hang of the mechanics, especially when it would take 2 attacks to kill one enemy because the enemy was left with 1 hit til death, then having to waste someone's turn to finish the enemy. Classes and other powers can help fix this. Maybe an enemy damage bar over their heads so we know their health at a quick glance? Less powerful area effect attacks for dealing with multiple weaker enemies or finishing blows? Make use of the attacking space more with secondary effects like knockback/switch position/teleport? The game that came to my mind most when battling was surprisingly South Park: The Fractured But Whole (Amazing Game!), an RPG that uses powers and spatial awareness in a similar fashion. Where the SD demo seemed to focus on flanking as the main component of space in battle, SP:TFBW actually felt more tactical to me as there is much more going on in the battle area in maneuvering your characters into a position to be successful.
--Rhythm: I'll restate from others that it is very imbalanced, and also not very fun. Getting into a minigame for EVERY battle is just a chore. Spatial awareness strategy is far more interesting than playing DDR with a keyboard. I would vote moving more toward how SP:TFBW did it then continuing with minigames. Maybe keep the minigames just for bosses or to call upon a special ability? When the player is annoyed after an hour long demo, it is not a good sign.
-Exploration: Beuller? Movement was only dictated through battling and "cutscenes," which was very clunky to begin with. But will our character be able to explore the world freely? Discover secrets? Find hidden items? Unlock Doors? Solve Puzzles? I hope so, but nothing of the sort was shown in the demo.
-Movement: SLOW! Moving the characters around the map felt very tedious. The whole segment of running away from the executioner was just not fun. Going 8 spaces at a time per player per turn. Ugh. There needs to be better game flow for sequences like this. Freedom of movement can come in handy here.
Story:
When I read the early descriptions I was pretty excited about the concept. But from the demo, I felt pretty underwhelmed with the execution. As others have stated, it feels like Angel and Demon cosplay over everything else. I can get by the character design if we had a little more world-building and lore. The sexism elements are NOT subtle and serve no purpose. Lines like "It's biology men are stronger than women" have no place in this world....they aren't men and women, they are Angels and Demons. What biology are they referring to if we have no frame of reference? Why mention science in a faith based storyline at all? Science (Gender included) is an Earthly concept, not a divine one. Stereotypes can be done much better with more subtlety and world building, which would feel like a fresh take. Give Angels and demons specific stereotypes, or add different class levels to the Angels and Demons instead of focusing on gender, which just feels cliché and lazy. A small change that could go a long way, make exposition more interesting, and immerse the player more in the world.
Characters:
Not much to comment on, there just wasn't enough time in the demo to comment on motivations / personalities. But just as before, should be based on Angel/Demon types rather than Earthly concepts.
Music: All good things here, no surprise. Don't need to linger.
Art: All good things to say about the sprite and environment designs. The world looks good. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the dialogue character designs, too much of a "human" feel. This however does become a very small problem with an engaging story and good dialogue.
I hope this helps. And I wish you the best of luck with it! I'm definitely still interested in seeing how it turns out, so I'll be around to play any new releases.
TLDR: Has the bones of an interesting game. Still needs all the muscles, blood, organs, and skin.
