I've had a lot of inspiration this past week or so to improve the game, including setting the stage to add ~225 progress graphics with the next release (16 stages for females, 4 stages for males, 21 characters total with one alternate).
The game should feel a lot less grindy and more enjoyable, and there's a lot of new mechanics and amazon content.
It's been 18 months since I've released an update of this game, and a lot has changed:
* improved dialogue randomizer, should now prevent consecutive duplicate messages (extended to support arbitrary # of messages)
* the normal girls can now also break down locked doors, if their level is high enough, but only if no one is watching...
* buffed healing spells slightly, should scale better now
* tuned xp down a bit, levels were going way too quickly (level ups were happening practically every fight)
* red bones/blood skeletons now have a new ability (check the Belmont Family Bestiary for details...)
* Azumi can now be recruited in-world
* fixed a bug that was preventing recruitment of the Myrda for some parties
* Added a new scene with several branches and a possible confrontation if Myrda is in the party when recruiting Azumi
* improved chances for Roger's special messages to proc
* finally gave the queen a bit of dialogue...
* fixed the encounter areas (they had not shifted when the map was updated for v0.51)
* added Z-II style wandering mobs (easy, hard, fairy, +treasure)
* added % RNG for spawn chance on wandering mobs
* Li Chen can now be encountered and recruited in-world
* Added the Glorious Handmirror (will allow progress pics to show), calculations are complete (F: 0~15; F: 0~3), just need renders/pics to show
* New Enemies and Encounter Groups added, some secret bosses updated
* Amazon Athletics now also boost movement speed
* Tweaked gold cheat, overuse can now cost gold instead of gaining it
* the Witchammer secret dungeon is now populated with wandering patrols, and a powerful boss
* Glorious Handmirror now grants a tiny xp/hp buff when used
* Amazon Athletics now also grants the girls an extra level in badassery
* Unarmed ability now auto-scales and detects equipment, 5th power magnitude added!
* Progress Detection now follows base stats, rather than equipped ones
* All of the Secret Treasures now have a power/function and most can be equipped
* Amazon Athletics now remains active when you change maps
Was having trouble coming up with promo ideas for the new features and content... didn't want to replace the dialog screenshots from the last one... so we just held it in front of the new Glorious Handmirror!
I did hit a lot of walls/limitations of RM2k3, some I was able to code around (such as getting square roots, detecting party members and equipment, etc.), while others (such as detecting who the damned part LEADER is) just weren't worth the effort (to get the Leader and Order, you have to roll your own Party Sorting Menu... and to do that, you have to roll your own Menu System entirely and override the Menu Call button with Parallel Key-listeners)
The next release will have the 200+ FMG images, dialogue for other towns, and a few other odds and ends... then this game goes on ice for awhile again until I add new worlds to visit. Anyway, the graphics are in the queue/pipeline, and I should have the next one out around December 2019/January 2020.
(No worries, work is still going steadily on HardLife- but I had to strike while this iron was hot... [never let inspiration go to waste... there's no telling if/when it will hit again])