Wow, this game is very impressive. I got all the way to the spider boss before I stopped playing. I just couldn't beat him. I had a hard time telling which parts of the spider I could hit for damage. I had the same problem with the little spiders too. Maybe I'm missing something about their design or clues that indicate where to hit them. I'd have stood a better chance if the health refill respawned in the room before after each death.
The intro story scene was really touching. I was not expecting that when I booted it up. It got me invested right away. Well done.
The graphics are looking great. I love the skeleton sprites! And the colors that the NPCs wear having significance to the story is great world building!
Another thing I noticed was on the first screen you can see that little dude across the water but you can't get to him yet. Was that an homage to
Dragon Quest? When you start the game you can see the Dragon Lord's Castle but can't get to it right away; I may be grasping at straws here, but that part made me smile.
I agree the font is hard to read. Some of the characters have seriffs while others don't, because of this they don't read easily next to each other. It seems like you're going for an elegant italicized text. I haven't come across any nes fonts like this that I can remember off the top of my head, but the font in
Link's Awakening on Gameboy might be a good place to start. (attached below)
The difficulty spike was high as soon as I got in the basement. I had trouble with those super fast blades too. I'm playing on the AVS so there is probably some input lag, but it felt too fast. It required such precise inputs, it felt like maybe those obstacles would be better later in the game when the player is a bit better at the game.
Also, I went through the top right path before I got the shield so there is that to consider. Do you want the player to find the shield before they get to those fast death blades? Even with the shield they felt too fast imo.
Those stationary spinning blades slow down when you hit them, can you stop them completely, or are you meant to use the shield on those?
The shield was a cool new gameplay mechanic. Very cool how it will make you invincible for a few seconds, hence blocking the attacks. The sound effect that plays when using the shield is jarring at first, it sounds like the player is being hurt. I would choose a different sound effect that lets the player know straight up that they aren't being hurt.
Also, having the enemies get some invincible frames is neat. It makes the combat feel more important. It kind of reminds me of the combat system in the
Secret of Mana, where you have to wait to strike your enemies. Oh yeah, I killed that super strong bat. I was hoping for a bunch of acorns but all I got was a spirit drop and I didn't even have the shield yet
I found one graphic glitch part in the dungeon. I walked to a screen on the right and got hit by a rat and got knocked back to the other screen. When I immediately went back to the rat screen there were some missing sprites on the left side of the floor. I also saw a grey heart Sprite in a wall in the dungeon, I'm not sure if that was intentional or a glitch?
The music is wonderful. Well done there also.
Good luck on the next part of your game! I'm looking forward to it!