Penumbra Crystallis is my new project in RPG Maker MV, and it is a remake and reimagining of Blackmoon Prophecy. All graphics and music are now custom/original, and sound effects are from royalty free sources. There will be no RTP or rips present anywhere in Penumbra Crystallis.
"But UPRC, why don't you do something different? Why Blackmoon Prophecy again?"
That is what someone asked me on an RPG Maker Discord server, though not verbatim and much less sarcastic than the original wording. The simple answer is that this is not Blackmoon Prophecy. This is Penumbra Crystallis. The two are going to be very different things, and this is where the reimagining part comes in. If I intended on just straight-up remaking Blackmoon Prophecy as an original game and keeping the game entirely as it was (sans Final Fantasy references and rips), then what would be the point? No, this is something more than that. Not only are all Final Fantasy elements removed, but the game will also unfold in new ways and the actual gameplay and mechanics will not be identical at all.
"What is the same?"
Vahn will be out to save national treasures from the being known as Malacore. Vahn will be accompanied by friends such as Hans, Vera, and Nobumasa, and they will adventuring across the globe on their grand quest.
"What is different?"
Almost everything else. Again, this is a retelling of the events of Blackmoon Prophecy as a fully original story. Characters and places will remain intact, but a lot of events will unfold very differently. This is evident right from the beginning when the player chooses to start a new game because they will start in the town of Valla rather than in Branch Castle. In Blackmoon Prophecy, you couldn't venture to Valla for 15-20 hours and getting there required the airship, so things are clearly different now!
"What about the gameplay?"
Since this is a project that is now influenced by Final Fantasy rather than directly based on it, expect the gameplay to still feel familiar. From random battles and save points to three tiers of elemental magic and a suspiciously large type of animal for you to ride around on, lots of things will still ooze Final Fantasy while not being Final Fantasy. I want Penumbra Crystallis to be a love letter for fans of the old Final Fantasy games, but I suspect that those who appreciate the NES/SNES Dragon Quest games will also find lots to enjoy here.
There are two changes with the gameplay that I'll briefly mention that I think are very positive changes.
1. There will be much more balance and parity between party members. Blackmoon Prophecy was an unbalanced mess, and I attribute this to the fact that I did work on a huge chunk of the game back before I found my groove in RPG Maker. I was not experienced and was prone to making countless mistakes with balance and game design. All playable characters are going to feel useful and interesting immediately, and they will come with more dynamic abilities that do more than just "hurt/heal for X HP" like in the original.
2. The equip screen. Equipment is divided up like this:
Weapon
Shield
Head
Body
Legs
Ring
Trinket
Codex
Codex
Now, the major changes here are the last, well, four things on that list. Armor is being split up between body and legs so that characters can feel more diverse and appropriately geared, and I expect the overall armor gains to more or less match what the game would be like if I just had body armor.
Rings and trinkets will be where you get the majority of your extra stat increases, resistances, and cool bonus traits. Rings will be where you mostly get your elemental resistances and such while trinkets will more or less be Final Fantasy relics in everything but name.
Each character will have two codex slots. Over the course of the adventure, players will be able to purchase common codices from shops and well as find rare ones in dungeons and other such locations. Equipping a character with a codex will likely grant them a cool bonus of some sort that you won't normally get on other pieces of gear such as increasing evasion, critical rate, hit rate, and so forth. Some codices will also grant special battle abilities to certain characters, so make sure you equip them to the right characters!
That's mostly it, so I'll finish with screenshots.
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