Ren'Py Echoes of Mythria [v0.33] [Zesty]

[redsky_blue]

So I loaded the older save file and now it works. I can't even explain what was the problem with the last save. No idea. But I encountered another glitch: if you delete scout from your deck, there's no way to add him back, it should be on the second page, but it's not. I don't know maybe my game is bugged, but it is an older save file (before the softlock), so it should be okay, I guess (?).

I remember scout being left to the archer. Like one tile or two tiles left of her. He's not on the first page either. Yet, as you can see, he is in my deck. I just wanted to rearrange my deck and at that point I had not too many cards... And it's kinda annoying to shuffle the units around in the deck. You have to delete it and add it. For some reason you can't just swap the position. Again, maybe my game is bugged, but I think that's not implemented yet? Am I right?



edit: it appeared after I spent a point upgrading him and then reset the allocated points

 

[rb813]

But I encountered another glitch: if you delete scout from your deck, there's no way to add him back, it should be on the second page, but it's not.

Oh yeah, I noticed that when I was playing v2 as well.

 

[Rodrigo87o]

How do I find the last 3 photos?

 

[Napster1150]

So I loaded the older save file and now it works. I can't even explain what was the problem with the last save. No idea. But I encountered another glitch: if you delete scout from your deck, there's no way to add him back, it should be on the second page, but it's not. I don't know maybe my game is bugged, but it is an older save file (before the softlock), so it should be okay, I guess (?).

I remember scout being left to the archer. Like one tile or two tiles left of her. He's not on the first page either. Yet, as you can see, he is in my deck. I just wanted to rearrange my deck and at that point I had not too many cards... And it's kinda annoying to shuffle the units around in the deck. You have to delete it and add it. For some reason you can't just swap the position. Again, maybe my game is bugged, but I think that's not implemented yet? Am I right?

View attachment 4765390

edit: it appeared after I spent a point upgrading him and then reset the allocated points

There was a bug related to upgrading cards and the first slot. It has been hotfixed in 0.34.

 

[Moisthammer]

Hell yes! endless play! I was just starting to enjoy playing Mythria when the last update suddenly ends.

 

[balvenie1401]

Zestystory put off trying this for a few patches to give it some meat, enjoyed the project thus far, even the cardgame is enjoyable for what it is. My only gripe really is the plot twist regarding Jenna, her being presented as Ed's girlfriend and the potential conflict regarding how to proceed as the MC was the most interesting storyline BY FAR, might go as far as saying it was the only interesting one.. Seems like an awful waste to not keep that storyline :/

 

[Zestystory]

Zestystory
Areas for improvement
Context: I've beaten all the content in the game on Hard mode. These are improvements I would really like to see, because I think they are necessary. I've chosen to leave out my gripes about RNG mechanics

- Tod's shop sucks. I have a lot of money and skipped many days to find that he's shop inventory isn't changing. He only sells 1 unit card at a time, and it's one that I already have. It's also annoying that I have to keep visiting him everyday just to see if he's inventory has changed, but it doesn't. There needs to be a way to reroll Tod's shop inventory or he needs to have all unit cards available for sale at all times. It would also be nice if you could buy cards from your phone, that way, you're not limited to shopping only during Evenings

- Single-use Item cards feel bad. Single-use item cards discourages players from putting them in the deck at all. It's a hassle to maintain and it's expensive. It also discourages experimentation with item cards that you're unsure about. This mechanic limits deck options for a game that's already limited on options. I feel obligated to run a mono-unit deck, and only buy, and save the item cards that I know are good for exceptionally hard fights

- Can only save one decklist at a time. Most modern card games allow you to save several deck lists. It's annoying to have to add cards in or cuts cards out whenever you want to switch between a version of the deck that runs items and one that doesn't. I'm sure there will be more cards added to the game. Please let us have at least 5 separate decks that we can quickly swap

- You either have to run no copies or max copies. Not being able to fine tune the number of unit cards, which are the primary cards of the deck, is really bad for balancing the deck's mana cost. Especially when you want to run a few tech cards (specific cards to counter opponent cards to help with certain matchups) or a few expensive high value cards

- Checking card upgrades is a hassle. Currently you have to remove points from an upgraded card, to check what upgrades would look like for a new card. The deck builder should allow you to view the upgraded version of the card without spending points. I think point allocation should only apply to cards that you run in your deck

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback, it’s truly appreciated. You’ve raised some great points, and I’m happy to say that many of them are already in the works! This game is still a work in progress, and there’s definitely plenty of room for improvement.


Tod's Shop: It rerolls twice a week. More shops and things are coming that should solve at least part of the issues


Single-use items: Totally understand your perspective, it’s already something I’m actively working on improving!


Decklist suggestion: That’s a really cool idea, and one I hadn’t seen brought up before. I love it — it’s now officially on my list, and I’ll look into implementing a feature like this. Thanks for the inspiration!


Card copies / deck restrictions: Another interesting point that hasn’t been mentioned to me yet. It’s a bit more complex, but I’ll explore the possibilities.


Card upgrades & stats: A full card “encyclopedia” is planned for Chapter 4, which will let you browse all card stats across tiers at any time.


Once again, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and ideas and for your patience as the game continues to evolve. I know there’s still a lot to polish, I’m doing my best!

 

[Zestystory]

My feedback: the card game still feels unpolished. I guess I am in minority, I can't see many people criticizing it, but to me it just doesn't feel right. I hate the items system. How to explain it... So imagine this game IRL. You have these item cards and they are one time use. How does it make sense? Do they oxidize on air or something? Or the opponent takes it? But if so, why can't I take the opponent's items? I guess that would be a bit of a better mechanic. Like if you use an item, it goes to your opponent, and if your opponent uses it, you take it. But I don't like to use them? What should I do with them? I can't sell it, I can't destroy them for points or something, like an additional... not the currency, but material (like in gacha games, or more precisely, like in mahjong soul, lol - because that's the only gacha game i play and the gacha stuff is not necessary for the full experience). So my take is - make it make sense and more flexible. The odds of winning (for me, given that I don't use items - about 50/50 when the opponent starts first and about 70/30 when I start, or from 60% to 90% depending on the opponent's level)

Also I encountered a weird glitch. I can't leave home. It says "I don't want to leave now" - and no hint to why. I still have tasks (or quests) to do. I tried everything, clicked on everything, waited for random events to occur (the bathroom scene and the Iris' nighttime fun scene with Luna sleepwalking) - no effect. I guess I missed a cue to do something and got softlocked. the version is 0.34 from itch, so all the fixes included.

Thanks a lot for playing and for taking the time to share your feedback!


You're right, there's still work to be done, and I’m actively improving things. This game is a work in progress.
The item system is being reworked as well. (If you're curious, my latest post, just above, includes a reply to another player critics about the game.)


Regarding the first/second turn balance: this is something I’m still fine-tuning, with help from a few dedicated playtesters that keep tracks of every game including many variables.
Interestingly, I now get a mix of feedback, with some players saying that going second is actually stronger — even without items. That said, I feel the balance is in a decent spot in Chapter 3 and shaping up even better for Chapter 4, but I’ll definitely keep monitoring it and adjusting as needed.
Regarding your winning rate, consider joining the community discord, where DRGnapster actually posted a detailed guide to his strategy/deck. He has a 100% win rate in hard mode without using items.


As for the softlock issue, I'm really sorry about that! Could you let me know your current progress percentage (as shown on your phone/save) and which objectives are listed? I’ll look into it right away.

 

[Zestystory]

So I loaded the older save file and now it works. I can't even explain what was the problem with the last save. No idea. But I encountered another glitch: if you delete scout from your deck, there's no way to add him back, it should be on the second page, but it's not. I don't know maybe my game is bugged, but it is an older save file (before the softlock), so it should be okay, I guess (?).

I remember scout being left to the archer. Like one tile or two tiles left of her. He's not on the first page either. Yet, as you can see, he is in my deck. I just wanted to rearrange my deck and at that point I had not too many cards... And it's kinda annoying to shuffle the units around in the deck. You have to delete it and add it. For some reason you can't just swap the position. Again, maybe my game is bugged, but I think that's not implemented yet? Am I right?

View attachment 4765390

edit: it appeared after I spent a point upgrading him and then reset the allocated points

You did exactly what needed to be done to fix the issue. That was smart! I'll look into why you ran into this error. I'm really sorry, but glad you found a way to fix it!

 

[Zestystory]

How do I find the last 3 photos?

Only the first two are in Chapter 3 (sorry) by succeeding the hardest shifts in the Diner (The third one, and then the fourth that will be unlocked when finishing the third).

 

[redsky_blue]

There was a bug related to upgrading cards and the first slot. It has been hotfixed in 0.34.

Well, this card was in the third slot as you can see. And the version I was playing was 0.34. So the bug is still there. But it is related to upgrading, yes. IIRC it showed level 0 at first. Then after spending a coin it turned into level 1 and then after resetting the points, it stayed at level 1 while giving me back my point. I wonder if it is a possible exploit

 

[redsky_blue]

Thanks a lot for playing and for taking the time to share your feedback!


You're right, there's still work to be done, and I’m actively improving things. This game is a work in progress.
The item system is being reworked as well. (If you're curious, my latest post, just above, includes a reply to another player critics about the game.)


Regarding the first/second turn balance: this is something I’m still fine-tuning, with help from a few dedicated playtesters that keep tracks of every game including many variables.
Interestingly, I now get a mix of feedback, with some players saying that going second is actually stronger — even without items. That said, I feel the balance is in a decent spot in Chapter 3 and shaping up even better for Chapter 4, but I’ll definitely keep monitoring it and adjusting as needed.
Regarding your winning rate, consider joining the community discord, where DRGnapster actually posted a detailed guide to his strategy/deck. He has a 100% win rate in hard mode without using items.


As for the softlock issue, I'm really sorry about that! Could you let me know your current progress percentage (as shown on your phone/save) and which objectives are listed? I’ll look into it right away.

I don't use discord... It would be interesting to see the strategy, but I don't think I would adapt anyway. It is reassuring that there is a way to win without using the items, but my main point is - maybe I am too autistic for that, - but where do they go after you use them? In the game world, I mean. Like you tear it into pieces or something? Then... why? Imagine playing like a poker and just tear a card into pieces. That's silly... I have ideas how to make the items work, but that would unbalance the game. I think the best one is the one I proposed earlier, when you give a card to your opponent after using it. You can kinda clog the enemy discard pile. And if you implement the mechanic to use the discards, that might become an interesting strategy. But you would need a way to sell the item cards or exchange them somehow between the fights.



Now about the softlock.

So the softlock happened at chapter 3, at 3.1% progress. I missed the afternoon meeting with Jenna and the softlock happened after the exam if i am not mistaken (so her place wasn't unlocked)... But the objective to meet her is still there. Anyway, the full list of objectives:

* Study with Jenna (completely forgot about it)
* Beat Ed lvl3 (didn't do that, hate Ed)
* Visit Jason (was about to do it, got soflocked)
* Talk to Anya (diner). But I remember talking to her. That was about meeting in the afternoon... Maybe I got timelines confused.

So yeah. I think the softlock happened because I progressed too much (did the beach event and the exam event), while forgetting to progress the earlier stuff. So I reloaded an earlier save file and did the studying with Jenna and fight with Ed... Now there's another problem though. When i am trying to open the task list, it breaks the game. Here's the error message

Spoiler: Renpy error info

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

I probably forgot to do something again... Or maybe the task list is empty and that's why it misbehaves? Or maybe it's not empty and I missed the meeting with whoever the sauna_girl is... idk. Ah! The game still works, by the way. It only gives me an error when trying to open the tasks list

 

[ankorahil]

I just found this game and played through the first 3 chapters.

Wow.

What a blast this was, the story was interesting and the characters intriguing (everybody has a mystery or something to discover, and in my opinion at least are pretty and sexy). And the card game which the whole thing is centered around is really fun (others have mentioned Gwent, and maybe in the layout of the rows and columns, but I think there's more Hearthstone in here). I enjoyed playing and building my decks and the difficulty is adjustable.

I have a few things to suggest or mention, and read through 7 pages of this thread to find out what I've missed and what's changed and what is coming, that's how interested in this I am. This developer now has my attention! How does such a fun game have so little buzz around it?

1. The UI is occasionally hard to make out; the time of day is especially tricky; obviously things you do advance time, but trying to remember if it's morning or noon is sometimes not so simple, especially when 'one more game?' appears and after you win a hard fought battle realize that it's night and you missed a chance to do something else. The phone has a little sun which indicates the time of day (morning, noon, night), but it's hard to see and the day/night positions look the same (the screen is darkened, at least, so you can tell it's night there). A clock or maybe a 'Friday Morning' text widget or something might be easier than having to open your phone all the time to check (all the info is there, the developer clearly put a lot of thought into all this stuff, it's just a little hard to find quickly).
2. The card game is super fun. For me, anyway; some will find it too easy, and a few too hard. That's fine, since the difficulty is adjustable and I gather a lot more cards (higher cost and various abilities) will be coming in the future chapters. But just about right for me personally (I love games of all kinds, board, card, video, but adjustable challenge levels are really good and allow us to enjoy the game as we like). I enjoyed playing to get better cards and different cards and also to get the pictures. However, one small suggestion I have is that the cards have their abilities printed on them rather than just flavor text which suggests what they do (we can examine the percent chances of things triggering but I think simple keywords like 'Dodge, Stun, First Strike,' etc. which can be checked in a glossary or hovered over with the cursor would be a lot better. It's a little frustrating fighting something and having no clue what it is or just reading some flavor text (which is nice text, by the way, I know it's hard to choose whether to keep descriptive things or mechanics things), and thinking, 'maybe this has synergy with dogs? Or some sniping ability or something?' And also the items are expensive for one time use; maybe they can just be 'once per battle' kind of things instead. I like items and the idea of spells and equipment, but it seems sad to have 'armor' being a one-time use thing, and after level one battles I never used any items again.
3. AI art is something I personally really enjoy and play around with a lot (not that I'm good at it but I've been messing around with it for more than a couple years by this point). I understand how others may not like it (yeah, it is kinda 'samey' and there are finger issues and stuff), but I myself quite like the art in this game (another nice AI one is Moonripple Lake). AI art is never as good as a professional and talented artist, of course! It is, however, better than most artists and people scribbling adult art (same goes for AI poetry, which people prefer to the 'real thing' whether or not it's better). Not here to argue for or against AI since I understand several sides of the issue just saying I like it and it's a lot better than old DAZ or honeyselect stuff by this point (which I enjoyed tons in the past; but it's time to move on, I think...). I wonder, if the fantasy/sci-fi elements of this game could be used to incorporate various other fetishes (in card form or whatever, not real necessarily, and possibly even 'filtered' in the preferences section I see for other games); everybody is fine with tentacles on the internet or other things. Like these, which I made

Spoiler: NSFW tentacle and bondage nonsense

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Anyway that wall of text is about all I have to ramble on about for now, much has already been said in earlier pages. But man, I really like this game and enthusiastically encourage others to try it out if they have a little patience; I never felt a 'grind' since every battle could be played just once at every level and I like the ladies too! Not really my thing but Ed could possibly be a male love interest if people wanted. Seems like a harem ending is possible, so why not bi-orgies? Oh the possibilities. I don't know what the developer has planned but I like what they've made so far, and they engage with the community very respectfully and address concerns and feedback thoughtfully. Awesomeness. Looking forward to what's coming next. And yeah, just over 3 percent of the game content is 'completed' at the end of chapter 3, so... yeah... I'm here for a long and happy ride, I think.... Thanks, Zesty, for making this game (with a small team and for free, to boot!)! I understand limitations of small passion-made projects and appreciate everything they accomplish. Good luck!

 

[Zestystory]

I don't use discord... It would be interesting to see the strategy, but I don't think I would adapt anyway. It is reassuring that there is a way to win without using the items, but my main point is - maybe I am too autistic for that, - but where do they go after you use them? In the game world, I mean. Like you tear it into pieces or something? Then... why? Imagine playing like a poker and just tear a card into pieces. That's silly... I have ideas how to make the items work, but that would unbalance the game. I think the best one is the one I proposed earlier, when you give a card to your opponent after using it. You can kinda clog the enemy discard pile. And if you implement the mechanic to use the discards, that might become an interesting strategy. But you would need a way to sell the item cards or exchange them somehow between the fights.



Now about the softlock.

So the softlock happened at chapter 3, at 3.1% progress. I missed the afternoon meeting with Jenna and the softlock happened after the exam if i am not mistaken (so her place wasn't unlocked)... But the objective to meet her is still there. Anyway, the full list of objectives:

* Study with Jenna (completely forgot about it)
* Beat Ed lvl3 (didn't do that, hate Ed)
* Visit Jason (was about to do it, got soflocked)
* Talk to Anya (diner). But I remember talking to her. That was about meeting in the afternoon... Maybe I got timelines confused.

So yeah. I think the softlock happened because I progressed too much (did the beach event and the exam event), while forgetting to progress the earlier stuff. So I reloaded an earlier save file and did the studying with Jenna and fight with Ed... Now there's another problem though. When i am trying to open the task list, it breaks the game. Here's the error message

Spoiler: Renpy error info

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

I probably forgot to do something again... Or maybe the task list is empty and that's why it misbehaves? Or maybe it's not empty and I missed the meeting with whoever the sauna_girl is... idk. Ah! The game still works, by the way. It only gives me an error when trying to open the tasks list

Thanks again for taking the time to write back.

I'm really sorry about the softlock issue, I’ll be looking into it as soon as possible. Apologies for the frustration and time it surely have caused


Regarding the to-do app error, I didn’t manage to fix it properly in the 0.34 update, but it will be resolved in the upcoming 0.35 update, which should be out in a few days.
In the meantime, just so you know: the app suggests checking out the Sauna in the morning (Garden) and reading in the Library during the afternoon, if you haven’t already. There aren’t strict objectives there, more like little hints to help unlock some extra content.

 

[Zestystory]

I just found this game and played through the first 3 chapters.

Wow.

What a blast this was, the story was interesting and the characters intriguing (everybody has a mystery or something to discover, and in my opinion at least are pretty and sexy). And the card game which the whole thing is centered around is really fun (others have mentioned Gwent, and maybe in the layout of the rows and columns, but I think there's more Hearthstone in here). I enjoyed playing and building my decks and the difficulty is adjustable.

I have a few things to suggest or mention, and read through 7 pages of this thread to find out what I've missed and what's changed and what is coming, that's how interested in this I am. This developer now has my attention! How does such a fun game have so little buzz around it?

1. The UI is occasionally hard to make out; the time of day is especially tricky; obviously things you do advance time, but trying to remember if it's morning or noon is sometimes not so simple, especially when 'one more game?' appears and after you win a hard fought battle realize that it's night and you missed a chance to do something else. The phone has a little sun which indicates the time of day (morning, noon, night), but it's hard to see and the day/night positions look the same (the screen is darkened, at least, so you can tell it's night there). A clock or maybe a 'Friday Morning' text widget or something might be easier than having to open your phone all the time to check (all the info is there, the developer clearly put a lot of thought into all this stuff, it's just a little hard to find quickly).
2. The card game is super fun. For me, anyway; some will find it too easy, and a few too hard. That's fine, since the difficulty is adjustable and I gather a lot more cards (higher cost and various abilities) will be coming in the future chapters. But just about right for me personally (I love games of all kinds, board, card, video, but adjustable challenge levels are really good and allow us to enjoy the game as we like). I enjoyed playing to get better cards and different cards and also to get the pictures. However, one small suggestion I have is that the cards have their abilities printed on them rather than just flavor text which suggests what they do (we can examine the percent chances of things triggering but I think simple keywords like 'Dodge, Stun, First Strike,' etc. which can be checked in a glossary or hovered over with the cursor would be a lot better. It's a little frustrating fighting something and having no clue what it is or just reading some flavor text (which is nice text, by the way, I know it's hard to choose whether to keep descriptive things or mechanics things), and thinking, 'maybe this has synergy with dogs? Or some sniping ability or something?' And also the items are expensive for one time use; maybe they can just be 'once per battle' kind of things instead. I like items and the idea of spells and equipment, but it seems sad to have 'armor' being a one-time use thing, and after level one battles I never used any items again.
3. AI art is something I personally really enjoy and play around with a lot (not that I'm good at it but I've been messing around with it for more than a couple years by this point). I understand how others may not like it (yeah, it is kinda 'samey' and there are finger issues and stuff), but I myself quite like the art in this game (another nice AI one is Moonripple Lake). AI art is never as good as a professional and talented artist, of course! It is, however, better than most artists and people scribbling adult art (same goes for AI poetry, which people prefer to the 'real thing' whether or not it's better). Not here to argue for or against AI since I understand several sides of the issue just saying I like it and it's a lot better than old DAZ or honeyselect stuff by this point (which I enjoyed tons in the past; but it's time to move on, I think...). I wonder, if the fantasy/sci-fi elements of this game could be used to incorporate various other fetishes (in card form or whatever, not real necessarily, and possibly even 'filtered' in the preferences section I see for other games); everybody is fine with tentacles on the internet or other things. Like these, which I made

Spoiler: NSFW tentacle and bondage nonsense

You don't have permission to view the spoiler content. Log in or register now.

Anyway that wall of text is about all I have to ramble on about for now, much has already been said in earlier pages. But man, I really like this game and enthusiastically encourage others to try it out if they have a little patience; I never felt a 'grind' since every battle could be played just once at every level and I like the ladies too! Not really my thing but Ed could possibly be a male love interest if people wanted. Seems like a harem ending is possible, so why not bi-orgies? Oh the possibilities. I don't know what the developer has planned but I like what they've made so far, and they engage with the community very respectfully and address concerns and feedback thoughtfully. Awesomeness. Looking forward to what's coming next. And yeah, just over 3 percent of the game content is 'completed' at the end of chapter 3, so... yeah... I'm here for a long and happy ride, I think.... Thanks, Zesty, for making this game (with a small team and for free, to boot!)! I understand limitations of small passion-made projects and appreciate everything they accomplish. Good luck!

I can’t overstate how much your message meant to me! Thank you so much for not only playing, but also for taking the time to share such kind words.

I still don’t feel like the game is quite “there” yet to be actively promoted (and I probably never will, haha), so that’s probably part of why there’s not much buzz around it. I just quietly uploaded it to Itch and left it at that (someone posted it here, so I asked to manage the thread to update it more frequently and answer people).

You brought up some great points — many of them are already on my list, and a few (like item upgrades and improving time-of-day readability) will be addressed in the next chapter. I really appreciate the suggestions, and once again, thank you for the kind optimism. You genuinely made my day and I'll do my best not to disappoint.

 

[rt8889]

I'm stuck in school and can't get out.
It is the day after finish the exam.

Same problem in the hotfix version 0.34
I can't continue the game.

I'm not sure but i think the bug appear after i try to use the "gps"-icon in the smartphone.

 

[Zestystory]

I'm stuck in school and can't get out.
It is the day after finish the exam.
View attachment 4780457
Same problem in the hotfix version 0.34
I can't continue the game.

I'm not sure but i think the bug appear after i try to use the "gps"-icon in the smartphone.

I'm working on it right now. I'm sorry this happened.
Do you remember what your last activity was?
And in the meantime, can you back and go home to sleep?

 

[rt8889]

I'm working on it right now. I'm sorry this happened.
Do you remember what your last activity was?
And in the meantime, can you back and go home to sleep?

After the exam i had a fight with Mrs. Elliot. Then i wanna leave the school with the second icon in the smartphone

But it doesn't work. Then i use the normal way to leave the school but it doesn't work.
I can't go home.

I had the same problem on the Sunday (the day before the exam).I click in the morning on the second icon in the smartphone but it doesn't work. Then i couldn't leave the whole day the house until i sleep/shik the day

 

[Zestystory]

After the exam i had a fight with Mrs. Elliot. Then i wanna leave the school with the second icon in the smartphone
View attachment 4783304
But it doesn't work. Then i use the normal way to leave the school but it doesn't work.
I can't go home.

I had the same problem on the Sunday (the day before the exam).I click in the morning on the second icon in the smartphone but it doesn't work. Then i couldn't leave the whole day the house until i sleep/shik the day

Thanks for the additional details. It’s possible you somehow managed to skip a forced event, which left some variables in an unexpected state, preventing you to travel. I’ll make sure to track down the issue and also add safeguards to prevent this kind of problem in the future. I'm working on it atm, Sorry again for the trouble!

 

[BOBtheboober1995]

Finally! This underrated game is getting some attention it deserves more. I'm so happy!