Shepherds of Haven (WIP) (DEMO UPDATE: 3 Aug 2021)

What a great chapter this was! And it was also nice to revisit the whole game - it has been so long since I first played it, and some things have been tweaked in the meantime, so it was a great experience all over again.
And I’m SO split as to what I’ll do about the romances, now… I always wanted to pick Blade, which is impossible for my male MC, or Croelle which is impossible, period. So I kind of defaulted to Trouble, whom I like a lot, even if he wouldn’t have been my first choice, and I really really got attached to him and I adore him… And then, with this new chapter… I really fell in love with Red - I didn’t even consider him as a possible RO with only the character descriptions, but I liked him the second he appeared… And now I’ll have that weird love triangle going on and I don’t even know which one to pick when route selection comes, between Red and Trouble… help :rofl:

It doesn’t help that I was specifically looking for games with a RO that’s MC’s ex, and it is possible with Red, if the player chooses so…

Some issues I had (not necessarily errors) - beware SPOILERS!!!:
After chapter 1 - or well, at it's end:

The first time I’ve played, my MC’s magic was not high enough to defeat the Faceless Lord without a Word, so I went for that. And well, during the ending parts of the chapter, it was mentionned how the MC slept for days and felt more hollow after the whole thing. I assumed it was because it they just used a Word. In this playthrough, my MC’s magic was high enough so I didn’t use a Word, but I still got that segment, which surprised me a bit. I checked the code and it seems that occurs if the MC has used any Word at this point (aside from the mandatory one, of course). And I’m wondering if this is intended or if it was meant to occur only if a Word was used in this specific fight?

"Secondary" skills:

This is something that only truly started bothering me this time around, but wouldn’t it be possible to have the secondary skills of the MC somewhere in the Stat Screen? I mean, the exact skill level with each weapon and type of magic. Not being able to keep track of it is pretty bothersome sometimes since I don’t know exactly how good my MC is with them and what I should make him train.
It’s no big deal if that’s not something you’d want to consider, though!

Chapter 2, after the factory mission:

The thieves actually were setting up explosives inside the factory
The “actually” makes it seem as if the MC didn’t know what they were doing before, and only learned about it after it happened, but Chase and Trouble explained that plan before the fighting started.

Blade's romance points:

So, in Blade’s interlude 2, at some point there is the option to say “Lucky me, then. I get you all to myself.”, which gives a romance point for female MCs. And then one of the follow-ups is “No, I like you for you. The fact that you’re Commander doesn’t have anything to do with it.”, which also gives a romance point. But that second one gives it no matter what gender the MC is, instead of giving the point for girls only. And while I’d love for my male MC to be able to romance Blade, alas this is an error :rofl:

Chapter 3, if revealing the truth:

The MC says: “It’s only sometimes that I get the sense that I’m supposed to say one. Like with the Faceless Lords. Or that Endarkened in the church at Prihine’s wedding.
But my MC never used a word against a Faceless Lord in this playthrough - only used one to save both Caine and Prihine.

Chapter 3, "sweetheart question":

This is not an error nor an ACTUAL issue, really - just something I’ve been stuck on because of the peculiar situation I found myself in, in my playthrough (the whole Red situation)…
When “Zori” asks the MC if one of their companions on the trip is their sweetheart, wouldn’t it make sense to add an answer that would convey the MC being confused/conflicted about that, not knowing what to think or something, instead of just avoiding the question or saying they are holding out? In my case, I’ve been pretty consistently getting romance points with Trouble, but I have also picked the school sweetheart background with Red, and at that moment in the story, my MC is very confused about that I think (very much as I am :rofl:).
Like, maybe that could be an option restricted to people who have Red as an ex, even? It’s a pretty peculiar situation to find yourself in, if your old sweetheart that may or may not have been your first kiss reappears and you may still harbor feelings, but at the same time, you’ve been getting closer to another person recently, but there’s still “nothing” concrete between you… :thinking:
Obviously, this is only a suggestion based on my experiences while playing the game!

I think that would be it!
I’ve also completed all the chapter surveys you linked in the update post. I don’t know if the ones from prologue to chapter 2 were already there before, but even if they were, I didn’t know about them so yeah, I did all four.

And now, more than any Faceless Lord, I dread the return to Haven and the actual start of that weird love triangle :sweat_smile:

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Question. In chapter 2, can I permanently destroy the Faceless Lord without using a Word of Power?

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They will reform eventually

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Hm I get where you are coming from but I read it as just the feeling of "now would be the time " that does not mean that the mc used them. But I am not a native so take it with a grain of salt

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If your magic is high enough, yes you can. Or well, at least you can get the same result as with using a Word of Power. The game and characters say the Lord is dead / erradicated, so yeah… Now, we don’t know if it could not reform, but well, if it can, then using the Word shouldn’t change anything…

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if you are talking about the drug lord then so far i havent found a way to do it without words and my magic stat was HIGH so i dont see it happening without using words p.s i managed to defeat it using magic as well which resulted in it being banished to hael (not destroyed) words do the job permanently

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i think my data vanished again

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My magic was at 54 and I manage to do it

Magic > 35 should be able to do it I think.

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My magic was over 50 and I only banished him. Is there a specific weapon I am supposed to be using? What weapon and what percentage do you use?

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You also need over 20 of astral magic so that you can choose to set it on fire during the initial confrontation.

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It needs to be at 50% of it’s HP or less when you deal the final blow. Setting it on fire in the first round with decent astral magic and then doing a group attack with decent weapon skill is perfect.

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Ahhh I have to say, the end scene of the new chapter of the public demo was really wholesome! Like you can see the bonds built up to that point as a whole and it just made me feel warm and fuzzy inside. :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

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I put off on playing the demo for a while and I’m glad I did!! I was hoping we’d get to meet Halek but… oh well~

I only have one question, can you save both Prihine and Caine? I could’ve sworn I managed to when I first found the demo years ago but… my memory is bad.

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Yes you can, you need to say a Word of Power to save both.

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> Faceless lords can be killed with high magic stat, and yes permanently eradicated, even without using words of power. It’ll be like a nightmare level but it is quite possible and they’ll only reform again if they are just banished to Hael rather than destroyed entirely by magic.

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OMG, WAIT— LENA- This came out the day before my birthday! Yay! Practically a birthday present~! WHOOT

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Sherry is still as cute as ever. She’s so…cute…

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Just came across a little continuity bug, I felt like it was a bit much to ask how Trouble left the gang. But here he refers to it as though we’d ever touched on the subject matter before.

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And I’m back for for questions, sorry 4000+ comments are a lot to read through. My first one is what does the magic percentage have to be at for the mc to kill the Endarkender under the church?

Two, how injured can you get in the demo that regulars can read? I saw hints of more on tumblr but for patreon only.