Since the birth of time there have the Arcana, 22 essences that act as both creators and overseers of the world. The give life, hope and happiness, but also take away all a person has when the time is right.

Upon birth, all beings are approached by the Arcana, and any one of them may become part of that being's soul, dictact that being's lifestyle and traits. Sometimes, the Arcana can also be awoken from within, giving people tremendous abilities when faced with a horrific crisis.

When Einar and Alexia are returning home through the forest from running an errand for a neighbour, bu chance they find themselves taken to a dark and disturbing version of the forst. They are subsequently attacked by a hideous creature which forces their Arcana, the Moon and the Empress respectively, to awaken to aid them in survival before returning them to the normal world. With a feeling of relief they go home to rest.

However, when Einar wakes up the next morning, Alexis is nowhere to be found. Now, with the aid of the Moon Arcana he sets out to find his sister, only to end up in a much more disturbing turn of events.



Name: Einar
Age: 19
Born in a small forest village, Einar spent his youth caring for his sister Alexia after their mother passed away. He is often very energetic and willing to take risks. However, even he has to acknowledge his ignorance.

Name: Alexia
Age: 16
Alexia is the younger sister of Einar, and has spent almost all of her life in his care. She is a feisty young girl who is quick to anger, but she is also very happy to help people. Wanting to protect her brother, her Arcana awakens at the same time as his to act as support.

Name: Haze
Age: 16
Haze was born and raised in the small, isolated and unnamed village located at the bottom of the Lucia Valley, reffered to by most as the Lucia Valley Village. The only experiences outside of the village she has ever had are from collecting fruit and vegetables from the local area.

Name: Isaac
Age: 26
A Drifter by nature, and hired hunter by trade, Isaac often comes across as cold. However, those who know him well know that, in truth, he is a kind, caring and understanding individual.

Name: Rachael
Age: 27
After the fall of the once great Kingdom of Kiro, Rachael and the other surviving soldier of Kiro were forced into hiding. She believes that everything should be in balance and that the existence of a group known as the Inquisition is causing the world to become unbalanced in a less than favourable way.

Name: Aeon
Age: Unknown
A seemingly dangerous man who appears to have lost his mind. He is strangely obssessed with Haze, as well as someone he only ever refers to as "Her".



The graphic style of the game is a mix between Mack's Tilesets, some RTP tiles and Kaduki sprites. I also chose to keep the standard battle system with a few cosmetic changes via Star's ATB system.

"Magic", known as Arcana abilities, will only be available after a character has "awoken" their personal Arcana, by either finding the corresponding it (know as an Arcana Drop) or through events of the story.

As well as this, each character will have and learn non-Arcana skills via leveling, although some will require the use of an item to be obtained.

As for the general feel and style of the game, it takes place in a semi-medieval world. However, it will use modern day social structures as well as having a mild influx of Steam Punk style.

The overall colour, style and story progression will striver for a surreal style, including distorted world areas, and "odd" mixtures of textures and colours. This will also be achieved by the inclusion of the "Dark World."



* Front view ATB battle system.
* Hidden dungeons and boss battles that require planning and strategy to beat.
* "Secret" Arcana abilities that must be found before they can be used.
* Surreal world and enemies.
* Dark and mature plot.
* Over 200 weapons and armor to find and collect.
* Limited number of skills in battle means you need to think ahead.









http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNljzIyasI0 - Splash Scene Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWAYRFewn4Q - Main Title Theme



Enterbrain
Mack
Sakura
Kaduki
Sony
Skaylae
Suichi
Moghunter
Mr. Anonymous
Reijubv
Reperawin
Star
Synthesize
Yanfly
Woratana
Obsidian Dawn


Chapters 1 and 2 are currently being reworked including a better battle system, more eye candy, comicbook style cutscenes (similar to max payne) and better dialogue. However, the old versions of both chapters are available below.

Chapter 1 and 2, version 1.2: http://www.mediafire.com/?nl3nilyfz3j



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This is... awesome! You really have talent, and I see you have put many work in this. Definitely downloading. =p~

Thanks. I hope you like it. ^_^

As it says in the main post, the download is out dated now in terms of look and feel, although the plot will remain the same.

The new additions that have been finished so far are:
* Entirely remapped opening village, now 3x the size.
* New, animated front view battle system, using character sprites.
* Rebalancing of enemies to make the game both more challenging in some places and more plausible in others.

Just thought I'd post some new screenshots of Arcana. All of them are night time screens though.



In the first forest (completely remade), lit by fireflies.





Two areas of the opening village, also completely remade.

Wow! That looks amazing!

Heh, thank you very much. ^_^;; It's taking a long time though. Took me practically all day to map one forest and village (although that equalled out as 16 maps... )

Sounds good
*downloading it*

Weekly Update #1
So, first order of business... I decided I'm gonna set myself the target of having at least one important update per week. That way people can know that something is happening and what that something actually is.

Anyway, on to the update:

I have spent the past couple of days making a start with completely (and i mean completely) remapping the game. I have currently finished remapping the following:

Caim Forest - from 3 large-ish maps to 10 small maps, giving a more attractive and deep forest feel to it.
Dark Caim Forest - from 2 large-ish maps to 8 small maps, same effect as Caim Forest.
Caim Village - from 1 25x20 map to 1 40x40 map removing the claustrophobic feel of the village.
Sailay (renamed from Saylae) - from 1 30x25 map to 1 40x30 map with a beach, adding character to the town. Added 2 new buildings as well.
Lucia Valley (North, South + Caverns) - From 5 large-ish maps to 15 smaller maps, giving the same affect as Caim Forest.
Lucia Valley Village - from 1 25x20 map to 1 40x35 maps, same effect as Caim Village

EDIT:
Oh, look! I'm actually posting a day time screenshot! This is of the center of the new Argent. I was never really happy with the old one, and this looks more like how I imagined a port city, probably due to my constant association of RPG port towns with Meribia in Lunar...

Wow, nice one EvenAngels!
I will download it!

Downloaded it. Cool game.

Thanks.

Here's an update of sorts. Ignoring the battlers, which are only temporary, I have managed to make the in battle status window into a HUD using a script I wrote.

Can you guys tell me what you think about it and how it can be improved? Oh! And I'll be changing the command windows to picture based ones soon, so don't worry about the ugly message box

Looks awesome! *downloads*

xanaphia brought to my attention that the opening topic linked to a version with a mapping area after Haze's village. Here's the fixed version.

http://www.mediafire.com/?m1hdmjyz2dj

Also, a little update on the new reworked version: the plot until chapter 4 out of 5 has been finalize, and mapping has been complete up to mid chapter 2.

This is great EvenAngels. I really look forward to the entire game, I'm downloading the demo right now~

So, I think I should really give you all an update here... This project is still alive, although it is progressing slowly now because I have a job and a wife now. However, here is a bit of detail about what it happening.

Firstly, to improve the maps further, I will using photoshop to place tilesets into a parallax map, enabling far greater and more intricate designs for mapping. As well as this, it will allow me to set up hidden passageways as well. So expect to eventually see a much more puzzle-based exploration of the world.

On top of that, I will be opening up the world entirely. It will be a full connected world, but also an open world where you can explore and do whatever you like. The only things that will limit you are your own strength and the amount of cash you have (whether you can afford the travel costs etc). Event based on the plot will only happen when the previous events have taken place, therefor allowing you freedom in your gameplay.

I will also be returning to the front view style battle system, but will continue using my HUD script as well as sorting out some extra features which you will see at a later date.