Collecting suggestions for TSE-3

[Bluegrass]

A sequel is in the works? Oh happy day!!!

As for suggestions, well, I'd like to see some more randomness, although a suggestion to make it so doesn't come to mind right now (that have not been already said, like alternate paths and so forth).

A personal favorite feature of mine is when character growth is reflected in their appearance and stats (like, say, Breath of Fire II/III when Ryu grows up). But I'm not sure if that would add much to the game...

Oh, I know! Make it so that however you specialize your character, his appearance/gear selection changes! (e.g. if you make your knight a heavy damage dealer he'll carry a beefy claymore, if you make him a tank he becomes a slow, armored turtle. Or if you make your musketeer a dodger he turns into a gunslinging cowboy, if you, instead, jack up his aimed shot he becomes a sniper (of course, easy respecs should be, again, in order))...

Too much work?

[reggie999]

oh finally a sequel!
By the way, I heard that all the characters from TSE2 supposed to have a special end game story which shows all the char's life five years later but somehow, due to time constraint, the special char's endgame story didn't make it in the final product. I was sadly disappointed when I heard about this.
I would to like to know more of my favorite chars (Iona, Endusu and Ferwin) after five years later.

So here is my suggestion, how about letting some or all the chars from TSE2 making a special cameo appearance in the next sequel and some of them will temporarily join your team as a fourth team member

[Daft19]

I think it would be interseting to have more character classes than there are party slots. So instead of having 3 classes and 3 party slots there would be 4 classes and 3 slots. This way you would always miss out on one class making party selection play a greater role in the game.

[Dareloth]

Hooray for a third spirit engine
Loved the first two games, so I'm really looking forward to this.

So id like to throw in my two cents here, giving some feedback on Spirit Engine 1 + 2. Perhaps it helps with part 3.

The skill chain system is great, and should definitely be maintained.

I personally liked Tse 1 more than the second game though, because the battles felt more balanced and challenging.
It was also a lot harder to decide which skills to pick - which was a good thing in my opinion.
I played the game several times, trying to find a perfect built for the party, and could not get to an absolute conclusion.
In Tse 2 however, it was a lot easier to find out the best strategy for each fight - boring.

Another problem with Tse 2 is that in battle most of the time all actions happen in the same instant, which i found confusing - made it hard to understand everything that had just happened.
I prefered the Tse 1 system with different cooldowns, so that the characters were striking at different times. I would like the differences in cooldown length to be even stronger.

Also i liked the story of tse 1 more because it was more funny, and the locations were more diverse and surprising(roaming ancient tombs in the desert, then suddenly fighting robots in a skyscraper).

[Tiavals]

Oh, there's one more thing I've forgotten to say which came upon me as I was replaying the game yet again.

The weather.

The fact that it's really Autumn and the leaves are falling in the wind, and at times it's raining snow gently, is a great way to add immersion and atmosphere to the game. It would be most grand if such things would be in TSE3 as well.

Little things surely, but very important things that make the game so very enjoyable.

[Grubber]

Well, when I finished it for the first time, only thing I felt that should of been improved, was the size and style of the bosses. The final boss, and most other bosses, were rather small. Cloud child was awsome, because he was massive, and had crazy splashing attacks. In TSE-1, the devil boss you fight in Pensalvanyai was amazing, want more bosse like him,

[AlphaPrey]

Just reading through the thread and recaping some points...

[xegnma]

[AlphaPrey]

5 years later, I've decided to replay the series. It's been difficult, MMF constantly crashes at several points. But the fun is definitely still there. I would buy the third game without a moments hesitation if it came to Steam. Much worse games have come through greenlight, I'm sure you could blast through.

This post has close to 50,000 views, so I'd say there's quite some interest in a sequel. Now I'm just waiting for the answer.

[AlphaPrey]

5 more years later, I still think of The Spirit Engine time to time. The story, the music, the world, the characters. Thanks for making such a great and impactful game Mark!

[devastator-tse]

So do I, albeit daily! I have the patience of a sage--we believe in you, Mark

Also AlphaPrey, are you on any social media / direct messaging services (e.g. Twitter, Discord etc)? I do speedruns of both TSEs on YouTube under 'Aquellex'

[Mark Pay]

Thanks guys! I still dream of getting back into game development some time. Maybe once the mortgage is paid off and I can semi-retire to have more free time again.

I've tried going back to MMF/Fusion a few times, but I can't stand the event editor any more. I'd like to find a games maker with the level/graphics editor of MMF but a proper scripting language (like say python) at the back end. Sounds like GameMaker Studio is close to what I want, so I might check it out.

Best wishes to you all!