The Dreaming Path

Ever since I played the early Final Fantasy games, I've wanted to make an RPG. The biggest thing standing in my way has always been a complete and total lack of technical skill in coding, programming and art. Enter, RPG Maker.

In this image, Arthur, our first character, uses a spell.

As you can see, RPG Maker has solved a lot of these problems for me. Finding a script from their Wiki to make the party's sprites appear in combat, we currently have a fairly solid system for an old-school, turn-based J-RPG. But, we really want to try and make things different than other games. The first thing you'll notice is that the title implies that dreams are going to be a powerful theme.

That's true, in more ways than one. Right now, I've only finished the first floor of the starter dungeon. It is a bit surreal, a bit silly, and fairly simple. The enemies there are basic starter monsters. They just attack you. As you're all alone, though, you'll need to guide Arthur to safety. The first dungeon will take you from level 1 to 7.


Starting you on your quest is Arthur the Brave, a Knight of Eleria. As a knight of Eleria, Arthur gains access to the Chivalry skillset. This is a tanking set of skills based around your Max HP, while also allowing you to provide heals and buffs. You can't tell below, but Elerian equipment provides bonus HP, further increasing Arthur's ability to tank and synergizing with his kit.

Arthur's stats show he's a tough nut to crack.

The Sarah from the ring is Arthur's lady fair. As you progress, you'll learn more about her, Eleria and the world Arthur lives in. The name Sarah is a side-reference to Final Fantasy, though this Sarah is not a princess. In RPG Maker games, characters have three resources: HP, MP and TP. TP builds during combat and is required for certain skills, while MP and HP act like you're familiar with.

Arthur's kit lets him outlast his enemies while sustaining through dangerous dungeons. The skills you will unlock for him through the first chapter are:

1. Infuse Armor
This ability is Arthur's bread and butter. It heals him a flat 10% of his current Maximum HP. It then adds a HP Regen status. It also buffs his Maximum HP (this can stack up to twice.) If he casts Infuse Armor before the last infusion ends, note that his heal will be larger. This skill uses TP.

2. Elerian Healing
This is a spell that makes Arthur unique to other characters. This is a small, single-target heal that will, at best, be background healing, as you notice his magic stat is pretty pathetic. But, it also provides a buff to Defense and Magic Defense. So, pretty dull, right? Here's what makes it unique: Arthur can use this spell out of combat to set up the buffs prior to a fight. So, when you see the dragon on the map, you can cast it before you initiate the boss event to help mitigate early damage. This skill uses MP and generates TP for Arthur.

3. Elerian Tactics
This is a TP-based skill, and isn't particularly useful while Arthur is alone. The target gains some TP and gains some Agility; it also recovers some of its hefty TP cost for Arthur. This is a useful skill for making sure your healer can go first, or to empower a TP-based damage dealer. Using it on yourself isn't that great (you still net-lose TP), and agility isn't particularly useful for Arthur.

4. Blade of Eleria
If you make it to Level 7 in the first dungeon, then Arthur gets access to his primary damage spell. This damage spell scales off Max HP, meaning it builds up damage as you stack Infused Armor. In addition, the attack cannot miss and sets Arthur to provoke enemy attacks, which is obviously not needed while he's alone.

5. Passive: Immune to Max HP Debuff
Obviously, this will come in useful in the obligatory area where enemies manipulate your HP to kill you faster.