Arvale:TM Episode II is coming along quite nicely and I just thought I’d share some screenshots with some of the new locales and describe some of the new features in the upcoming game.
Above is a shot from the Melonchi Mines. A mystical place where Dwarves hang out and mine precious ores all day. Why they mine precious ores all day is kind of a mystery, even to many of the Dwarves.
The Melonchi Mines are located on its own continent in the middle of the ocean. Notice the neat crescent shape the continent makes on the MiniMap. Oh yeah, there is an optional MiniMap available in the game now. Quite handy in larger towns and dungeons.
Of course the new MiniMap is completely optional and can be turned off from the brand-new options menu. The options menu can be accessed from the regular in-game menu and also allows you to adjust the Music, Sound Effect, and Ambient noises separately from each other.
See? Now the MiniMap is off for you purists who like having no MiniMap like in Arvale: Treasure of Memories, Episode I 😉 Above is a shot of the Soneros part of the Soneros-Ivyl continent, which used to connect to the Invyl half of the continent…
Ages ago it was the same continent, but then they split apart and their climates drastically changed with Soneros being mostly desert and Invyl being mostly snowy. Although lately… no wait, I won’t spoil that 🙂
In any case, to travel between the two continents, you take a ferry from a small town named Queous. They recently tried to build a bridge to replace the ferry, but that didn’t work out too well.
In any case, it’s still a long journey to the town of Invyl. Which is full of Elves who are the best blacksmiths in the world of Arvale. Elves have a really long lifespan, so that probably allowed them to practice a lot. That, and there is nothing else to do for fun when it’s so darn cold out.
You’ll have several opportunities to use your full party during battles. Notice the slight changes to the battle menu, which is much easier to view your entire party’s stats. Also the battle backgrounds will reflect where you actually are on the map now, instead of the trippy whirlwind thingy from the first Episode 🙂
And of course (I know some of you have been waiting for it)…
The game will have plenty of Wheelbarrows to speak with. You know, if you want to. It’s entirely optional, of course.
That’s enough sharing for now. Expect more sneak peeks of stuff over the next couple weeks. 🙂
Oh, and it should be noted that all of the above screen shots are s work in progress, do not represent the finished product of the game and can change into cheesecake by the time the game is finished. While unlikely, it is completely possible according to quantum physics.
Anything else you want a sneak peak of? Any other juicy tidbits of the story you want to know? Let me know and I’ll try to post them in the next update.