I'm not sure where the extra shield is coming from -- must be a bug in the eventing. I've had another look while writing this post, and I don't see anything wrong with the event, but I'll try to find and fix the bug.
If I recall correctly, I think the tutorial contains one in a chest somewhere. My best guess is that this wasn't taken into account.
Probably the simplest way to handle the tutorial items, under the assumption that playing and skipping the tutorial should result in starting the game on equal footing, would be to completely clear the player's inventory after the tutorial then add in the intended starting items (though I don't remember if there's an easy way to do this).
It is absolutely intended that the game will focus on acute difficulty (individual encounters are dangerous) rather than chronic difficulty (encounters gradually wear down player health / resources over time). I might slightly tweak some enemies, but after playing through the dungeon and watching namida play through it, I think the balance is close to what I'm aiming for.
Fair enough. This can be a bit RNG-vulnerable of an approach, however, so be careful with it. If there's a VX Ace version of the Yanfly AI Core plugin, that might be a good idea to use to get a little more control over how enemies behave to try to avoid players getting completely destroyed by AI roulette having an above-average run of choices (one risk with this is that you could make enemies too predictable). Alternatively, you could add an option to flee and restart the encounter if things go too south too quickly. Healing often doesn't keep up in these types of games. Another option might be to consider booting the player from the dungeon upon defeat rather than restarting from the last save. Feeling the need to save after every encounter gets old quickly, and there were multiple enemy groups where the first time I fought them was a total trainwreck, while the next time everything was just fine despite no major change in strategy.
Stephanie's healing magic, together with 4 Amethysts (2 initial, 2 in a chest) and two full-healing crystals, are definitely enough resources to get through the dungeon.
This strategy is common with lighting in horror games, and I can't say I agree with the approach. The issue isn't really the amount of resources you're allotted - usually, if you know what you're doing, there's plenty to go around. But for a first playthrough, you don't really know how much you can afford to expend your resources, and because they are finite, using resources now means I have less resources to use later - and what if I need those resources more later?
It is my opinion that resource management approaches like this are best left to individual level-based games in which nothing carries over from one level to the next. These games are better for the approach because the amount of progress you lose if you don't properly ration your resources is limited, and a player who struggles through Level N will start Level N+1 on equal footing as the player who has no issues with Level N (other than the differences in their skill). When resources from Level N carry over to Level N+1, then the struggling player who finds themselves needing to burn through a lot of their resources is given an objectively harder Level N+1 than the player who breezes through Level N.
Feel free to ignore this if you want.
If the game is structured as school lessons, I wonder how an approach where an allotment of use-it-or-lose-it healing items is given at the beginning of a dungeon, while all equipment can be sold for 100% of the purchase value would work. In theory, this would allow players to swap around equipment as they please given that it does not exceed a certain financial value, so struggling players can swap around their equipment and try again if the next dungeon is too hard, all without resorting to putting each save in a separate file. It would also address the problem of players who manage to save on healing items early on having more healing items to complete later challenges.
In regards to the font and boxy-looking maps, for what you're doing here it's fine. It is something to keep in mind if you do a more serious project. It's mainly advice for how to set your project apart from the hundreds of other RPG Maker projects out there.
As before, I apologize in advance if some of my statements come across harshly. That is not my intent.
So, it's been a while. I've been busy with other things (Hollow Knight in particular has taken up a lot of my time lately) but also, I haven't released an update because I want to get the first dungeon to a point where I'm satisfied with it before moving on.
So I thought I should at least let you know what I've been working on, by listing the changes you can expect to see with the next update.
Game structure:
* After the lunch cutscene where Stephanie joins, instead of being pushed into the shop, the player will have freedom to explore the school. There won't be much to do in other parts of the school for now, but having it all mapped out will make things much easier for me later on, when moving around school will be an important part of the gameplay.
* The other students in the lunch canteen will all be interactive. I've named them all and allocated them to classes. This will avoid the misapprehension that it's an all-girls' school simply because the first six students with speaking / playable roles all happen to be girls.
Mapping:
* I've bought the Ancient Dungeons tileset pack, and I'm using it to revamp some of the existing maps.
* Bridges and archways work more intuitively: you walk under or over them a tile at a time instead of being teleported.
Game balance:
* After each combat, all actors recover 1/4 of their maximum HP and 1/8 of their maximum MP. (I'm also thinking of adding a "Hard Mode" where this is turned off.)
* The healing crystal in the first dungeon has three uses, and won't consume one if you interact with it accidentally while at full health already. Chests with Garnets have had their number reduced slightly as they are much less needed, now that it's easier to refill Stephanie's MP for healing spells.
* The Wraithwing, Evil Eye, Wood Golem and Firesoul enemies have lower attack stats.
* Stephanie starts with a Buckler.
* Ranged weapons are no longer available in the first shop, as their gimmick (lower hit chance but higher critical / stun chance) is too risky when the player is at such a low level, and could lead to frustration, especially if the player doesn't realise this is how ranged weapons work in this game.
Other changes:
* As mentioned above, there are now only three shopkeepers in the school shop: one for weapons, one for gems, one for other equipment. Fewer of each category are available before the first dungeon.
* The slime sprite for non-flying troops now has four colours to indicate varying threat levels, allowing the player to know when they're coming up on an encounter they should prepare for.
* The "121" puzzle will be replaced by something that leaves a better first impression for the game's first Xorb puzzle.
* There are some more stealable items, including one from the Rock Golem boss.