User:Merlinsorca/sandbox

Mardek RPG is a series of flash-based role playing games developed by Pseudolonewolf. The Mardek series is divided into chapters, with each chapter continuing the previous story arc. As of August 2012 three chapters have been released.

Gameplay
here are informations about gameplay; please avoid using words such as "unique", "interesting" etc.; something like "well-received" would be more objective, I think

Here's something written by Frostblade:

''The MARDEK series utilises many aspects of traditional role-playing games, but it also features many significant differences from these. The first apparent distinction is the absence of the character creation. This is due to the game's plot being more restrictive on the characters' personalities than most similar games. For similar reasons, the player will find that there is little or no choice in dialogues; the player is unable to change the course of the events to a notable degree, aside from a few exceptions.''

''One of the most remarkable differences lies in the statistics. All of the characters come with an own set of these statistics, and there is no way to change them permanently. The only way to alter them is to equip items that may have bonuses to attributes or to activate passive skills with the same effect. The four vital statistics are Strength, Spirit, Vitality and Agility.''

''There are four more statistics, which are not the properties of the characters themselves; they can only be gained from items, or from spells for the duration of a single battle. These are Attack, Defence, Magic Defence and Evasion.''

''The games also feature a skill system. Skills can be learned from certain items. The characters need to have the weapons equipped to be able to use the respective skills, unless they have mastered them. The only way to master a certain skill is to use it. Each skill has an AP counter, which increases by one whenever the skill is used. When the AP counter of a certain skill reaches the required limit, it is mastered by the character and can be used without the respective item equipped. There are three main types of skills: Active, Reaction and Passive. Active skills can be activated during the character's turn, using up his or her action. Most of the time, they cost Magic Points (abbreviated MP) to use, but there are exceptions. Reactions are divided into four subtypes, Physical Attack, Physical Defence, Magical Attack and Magical Defence. They need the player to press the X key at the proper time to activate, and they provide a bonus (for Attack reactions, this usually increases damage or provides a chance to inflict a certain status effect, while for Defence reactions, it reduces incoming damage or even gives a chance to evade it completely, or a chance to resist certain elements or status effects). Passive skills, as their name shows, are not activately used during combat, so their AP increases by one for each battle the character has participated in. Passive skills usually provide some general bonus, like increasing attributes, hit points or magic points. It is not possible to equip an unlimited number of reactions and passive skills, though. Each character receives one Reaction Point for every two levels, and every reaction and passive skill has a Reaction Point value. Combinations of these skills are only allowed if their combined Reaction Point value is less or equal to the Reaction Points the character possesses (but they are calculated separately for each category).

''People, monsters, skills (and several items) have elements as well. The games use eleven elements. Four Natural (Fire, Water, Earth and Air), two Moral (Light and Dark), two Spiritual (Aether and Fig), two Neutral elements (Physical and Thauma) and one Deific (Divine). Divine is never used as the element of active skills, only for some rare passive ones. Elements generally have strengths and weaknesses; amongst the Natural elements, this shows a circular pattern (Fire is weak against Water, Water is weak against Earth, Earth is weak against Air and Air is weak against Fire), the Moral elements are bipolar (they are both strong and weak against each other), and there is no generic correlation between the Spiritual or the Neutral elements. Characters and opponents also possess elemental resistances, which decrease (or, in case of negative resistance, increases) the damage taken from an attack having the respective element.''

''Similarly to many games of the genre, the MARDEK series uses different status effects (which are negative) and buffs (which are considered positive). Status effect resistances provide a chance to negate them when they would be inflicted on a character or a monster, and they also provide a chance (equal to one fifth of the resistance value) to remove them on the beginning on one's turn.''

''The games focus relatively heavily on combat, though the party is given the possibility to avoid fighting with significantly lower-levelled opponents. Battles use a different screen from the one on which the exploration of the areas is done. They are entirely turn-based, the sequence is determined by Agility, one of the base statistics. There are two main types of attacks: Physical and magical. They are affected by different statistics and reactions; moreover, physical attacks are boosted by the equipped weapon's Attack attribute, while magical attacks are not. Similarly, they are reduced by different statistics of the recipient. It is possible to use certain items during combat, to wait or to flee (only from random encounters, though).''

''Each character has an own, separate inventory. They can equip items to six slots (main hand, off hand - which is disabled for certain party members -, armour, helm, and two accessory slots). Each character has a single weapon type of choice, and can equip weapons that belong to that category. There are also consumable items, some of them can be used both in battles and from the Inventory screen, others are usable only during battles. Items that are related to quests ('critical' items) are not visible from the Inventory screen; the games use a separate section to display them. It is possible to view the properties of the items on the inventory page, also the skills they teach (if they do; some items teach no skills, others may teach several ones, even to different characters) and the descriptions. Aside from the party members' inventories, the Save Crystals provide a vast amount of additional room to store items.''

The menu also has an Encyclopaedia section, which records all monsters the party has fought, the people it has met, locations it has visited, and artifacts it has learned of.

''Occasionally, puzzle elements can be found in the game - these usually involve gem gates and gem platforms. Gem gates are opened when the gem switch they belong to is turned on, but gem platforms - which are essentially bridges between areas between which otherwise there would be no connection - appear only if the gem switch of their colour is turned off.''

''The game contains relatively large amounts of optional content, such as secret dungeons, sidequests; the second and third chapters feature an Arena as well. These also give tremendous rewards.''

'''I think it's a good starting point, though some details could be rearranged. I think that status effects and stats could be put in the table rather than raw text. ~ Sun'''

Finished with the tables and added some bits of information, now I'll go on to something else.

'''Are the tables really necessary? I would think that it would be better for a Wikipedia article to talk more about the plot than to talk so much about details of the mechanics.... - LurkingShoelaces'''

'''I'm not sure. If the people think that if they aren't, feel free to delete them; It seems that it's just me, I'm prone to start wandering around to details when writing. I'm sorry if I'm causing any inconvenience.'''

Chapter I
Mardek RPG is set on a fictional preindustrial world known as Belfan. Two young boys, Mardek and Deugan, discover a fallen spacecraft containing a dying light elemental alien known as Rohoph. To survive, Rohoph transfers his soul into Mardek, who is also a light elemental. Rohoph's soul transfer allows him to communicate through Mardek's body and gives Mardek new abilities. It is revealed that Rohoph was a member of the Governance de Magi, the ruling body of the worlds dominated by the Annunaki race. The Violet Crystal was a small meteorite that fell into the possession of the Governance de Magi, corrupting the minds of each member. Rohoph attempted to destroy the crystal. He did not succeed, however, and he fled off-world after the Governance sentenced him to death.

Chapter II
When Mardek and Deugan grow older, they enroll in the Royal Guard of Gonzor and begin training to become knighted. They develop a love interest with Emela, who is also enlisted in the Royal Guard. Rohoph remarks that he may have sensed another member of the Governance de Magi on Belfan, most likely in order to destroy him. Moric, a member of the Governance de Magi, arrives in Belfan on a battleship. Using his necromancy, Moric intends to conquer Belfan in addition to his main mission of slaying Rohoph. Although Mardek, Deugan, and Emela kill Moric in Gonzor, Moric survives by taking the body of a fallen hero and returns to his battleship. The trio enlist the help of the Gonzor shaman to teleport onto Moric's battleship. After they slay him a second time, Moric manages to trigger the ship's self destruct sequence before Rohoph seals his soul. The group heads to the escape pods but is stopped by a cybernetic and zombified Dracelon, Moric's personal guard. Realizing that they would not have enough time to defeat the Dracelon before the ship is destroyed, Deugan remains behind to distract it while the others escape. Moric's battleship explodes, and Deugan is presumed dead. For their deeds, the King of Gonzor promotes both Mardek and Emela to Royal Guards, but Emela rejects the promotion and quits for reasons unbeknownst.

Chapter III
Three years after the events of Chapter II, Mardek (and the newly knighted Donovan and Sharla) are sent to the Sun Temple to aid High Priest Shamash. They eventually reach the Dark Temple located beneath it, and on their way they encounter Clavis (a man telling them about the importance of 'keystones') and Sslen'ck (the chieftain of the Reptoid village of Xantusia). The latter becomes their ally and accompanies them. After failing to prevent the Mystery Man from stealing the Dark Crystal, they are summoned by the King of Goznor. He appears to be possessed (as his eyes glow), and he orders that Mardek brings him the elemental crystals. He and his companions decide that they collect the artifacts but only to prevent the monarch from obtaining them. Mardek recruits several allies before heading out to find the temples. At first, they visit the Water temple under the surface of Lake Qur (with the assistance of the Goznor Shaman). After battling the Water Guardian, he is allowed to take the crystal. He learns about the location of the Fire temple - inside the volcano of Crimson Peak. He visits the temple, and manages to acquire the Fire crystal as well after defeating the Fire Guardian. At this point, Gloria is capable of animating Meraedor's metal man, but due to the inventor's stutter, accidentally four souls are summoned into the body instead of one. With the automaton's aid, they can enter the Lost Monastery, where they take the Monastery Stone and give it to Vudu in the Aeropolitan monastery in exchange for a runestone, which they use to enter the Earth temple. After fighting with the guardian and Muriance, they collect the Earth crystal as well, and are preparing to enter the Air temple when they are stopped by two other knights of Goznor that the King ordered that they head to see him immediately. They do so. It is revealed that Qualna was controlling the king all the time. Due to Rohoph's fervour, Mardek and his companions fight and lethally wound the monarch. Clavis turns out to have been nothing else than a disguise of Qualna. After the Annunaki fails to convince Rohoph to go with him, he leaves through an astral tunnel. Rohoph follows him in his anger and slays him in the Astral tunnel.

Characters
short informations about characters - heroes, villains and others: where in plot they appeared, if they participate in battles, what are their weapons and such

''In MARDEK, additional party members play a crucial role regarding the advancement in the plot; especially in the second chapter, where two of them (out of three) cannot even be removed from the party. In the third game, the selection is much more free, but certain locations can only be accessed with the members related to them in the party; similarly, accepting some quests may need certain party members being in the active party.''

Heroes, permanent party members

 * Mardek: The protagonist of the series. He appears in the beginning of the first game, as a kind-hearted, imaginative and passionate child who strives to become a hero one day, to be like his ideal, Social Fox. He appears in the two other installments as well, having lost nothing of his kind heart and passion. He occasionally appears careless, but his intentions are genuinely good and is completely loyal to his friends, upon whose guidance he relies most often.
 * He uses swords and can equip off-hand items. He is allowed to wear the heaviest armour, and generally he plays a supportive role, his skills consisting mostly of healing, buffs (shields, regen). In Chapter 3, his arsenal is widened with additional support skills and attacks in all four natural elements.


 * Deugan: Mardek's childhood friend. He is the one of the few later prominent characters who appear in Chapter 1. At first, he appears to be similar to Mardek, but eventually it turns out that he lacks his friend's carelessness and confidence; he is full of doubt, fear and self-loathing, but is no less enthusiastic than Mardek. After his sacrifice and supposed death at the end of Chapter 2, he is not seen often in the next installment, appearing only several times in disguise, but it is possible to learn his story from the Dreamstones.
 * He fights with greatswords, and is not allowed to equip shields. His skills are more oriented towards attacking, providing increased damage, disabling defences or boosting his own Strength.


 * Emela: The first character appearing in Chapter 2 besides Mardek and Deugan (both of whom appear to feel affection towards her). She is shy and quiet. She is difficult to anger, and strongly disapproves of using violence. She departs at the end of the second game, and is seen only once in the third chapter, not recognised by Mardek.
 * She focuses entirely on casting spells. She uses wands as her weapon, which aren't capable of causing much damage but restore Emela's Magic points with what they deal. She is allowed to use off-hand items. Her skills are completely about offence; she has a spell in each of the natural elements, making her the most versatile attacker of the second game. She is agile, likely to act first in battles, but also fragile as she cannot wear armour, only robes.


 * Donovan: He appears in the second chapter as a fellow guard of Mardek, he cannot be included in the active party until the third game. As it turns out, he is the heir of the throne of Goznor, concealing his parentage to be treated as equal to the others, to be capable of gaining fame by his acts and not getting it unconditionally due to his blood. He appears to be a talented leader.
 * As a Pyromancer, he only possesses Fire-elemental skills. He uses spears (and is not able to equip shields). He relies mostly on magic, but is more likely to land successful weapon attacks than Sharla. Most of his skills deal heavy damage, but he is capable of both inflicting and curing numbness, boosting others' strength and reducing defence.


 * Sharla: She is introduced in the second game with Donovan as a friendly, quiet Royal Guard. Similarly to Donovan, she is not playable in Chapter 2, but is one of the initial characters who appear in the third instalment. Little is known about her as she barely speaks, if she does it at all. She seems to have a genuine intention to help others.
 * She is an Aeromancer and wields spears. Her skillset is very similar to that of Donovan (albeit she is restricted to Air elemental skills instead of Fire), but hers is slightly more oriented towards defence (she has only two spells to deal damage and is not able to inflict status effects, but she has a potent healing, is able to cure confusion and paralysis, and can increase defence).


 * Vehrn: First appearing in Canonia in Chapter 2, he is a slight exaggeration of the archetypical Paladin. While he means well and is driven by the intention to serve the good cause, he is rather fanatical, arrogant and self-righteous, possessing a high image of himself.
 * He is a Paladin and uses swords and can equip shields as well. As it can be expected, he excels at Light-elemental attacks, devastating against Dark-elemental and undead foes. His skills have an unique aspect - despite being physical attacks (aside from a few exceptions), they are boosted both by his strength and - in certain cases - by his spirit as well, allowing him to deal immense amounts of damage to single opponents (and making a portion of his damage bypass physical Defence). In Chapter 3, he gains access to two Earth-elemental attack skills and healing.


 * Zach: A mercenary who is first encountered in the tavern of Canonia in the second chapter. An optional character who can be hired to join the party for 1,000 gold pieces. He appears to be a cold-blooded killer; he insists that his contract is for combat purposes only, and refuses to talk about his past for a long time. When he finally does, it turns out that he is from distant lands, whence he was banished when he left his tribe for an adventurer who was only using him and left him soon. In Chapter 3, he can be recruited again but now for 10,000 gold pieces. He is the only optional character in this installment.
 * He uses an exotic type of weapon, double-swords. His skills are entirely restricted to physical attacks, but in those he is remarkably versatile. He can inflict Berserk on himself, or increase his damage by unconventional means (such as gaining damage from the number of opponents he has killed, or from the number of status effects on his target).


 * Sslen'ck: He meets Mardek in the Sun Temple for the first time; He is the chieftain of the Reptoid village of Xantusia, he is mistrustful but completely loyal to his people, ready to make sacrifices for their sake.
 * His weapon of choice is the greataxe. He is the more or less archetypical 'brute' fighter, possessing sub-par agility, but capable of dealing immense damage to single opponents and withstand heavy punishment. Most of his skills are physical attacks with different elements or side-effects, but he has some Fire-elemental magical attacks and is able to boost his own strength.


 * Solaar: Encountered first in the Dark Temple, Solaar is a Celestial Runare from the planet Kalhu. He has a canine appearance, speaks quickly and in an unconventional manner, adding unnecessary suffixes to many words he speaks. He appears to mean well; He's also remarkably energetic and loquacious.
 * Solaar uses Claws as weapons, and cannot equip off-hand items or even armour (with the sole exception of stoles). That and his low vitality make him a fragile character. On the other hand, despite the fact that his attack skills are of one element (Light) only, he is a very versatile character, capable of causing massive damage on single opponents initially, has access to a very potent spell that heals every party member and removes sleep and blindness, and the only character who can revive fallen characters or - effectively - recharge their Magic Points (via increasing their Spirit) using only active skills. His high Spirit attribute bolsters his capabilities even more, and he can hold his ground with physical as well. His agility is also one of the greatest of all party members.


 * Elwyen: She is introduced in Chapter II, found crying at Lake Qur at the loss of her parents. When Mardek did all that he could to reverse the curse, Elwyen developed a deep affection towards him, which is one of her huge motivations to set out on a journey with Mardek (the other being her boredom with village life and lust for adventure).
 * Elwyen uses harps as weapons. Her skills are completely different from those of the rest of the available party members. She can play songs, which do not cost her Magic Points, and provide continuous benefits to her allies or detriments to her enemies - but only as long as she is playing the respective song. As a consequence, only one of her buffs can be applied at a time. She is fragile, and albeit elusive against physical attacks, she is vulnerable to magic.


 * Gloria: She meets Mardek in Chapter II for the first time, as her family adopts Elwyen after the loss of her parents. She is generally kind and cares for others. In Chapter III, she is seen again as the new shaman of Canonia.
 * Gloria can equip only staff-type weapons. She relies heavily on magic, but she is more versatile than most characters doing so, using skills of all four natural elements. Not only she can cast spells to deal damage and reduce the attributes of the target, she is capable of healing, removing all negative status effects and nullifying Fire, Water, Earth or Air elemental incoming damage.


 * Meraedor: He is seen first in Chapter I, when he gives a sidequest to Mardek and Deugan before they set out to investigate the Fallen Star. He is a relatively typical 'eccentric, stuttering inventor' personality, spending most of his time alone in his house, working on his machines. He speaks with a stutter, and despite the fear that the people of Goznor feels towards him, he appears to be a friendly person who means no harm (especially considering the fact that he is a pacifist).
 * The way Meraedor can be used in battle differs drastically from anyone else. Instead of using weapons or skills, he uses his inventions that can be crafted with his Workbench. He can equip one of these items in his 'Weapon' and 'Shield' slots. All these inventions provide a single skill each, which cannot be mastered. He does not have a default attack either, so he is inert when under the effect of berserk or confusion. He also has a special combat option, Repair, useable only on Legion, restoring his Health and Magic Points and increasing his statistics.


 * Legion: He is Meraedor's magnum opus, an Automaton with unparalleled prowess and capacity to learn. He has four souls trapped within him; Baron von Doomkill, who used to be a Crystal Tyrant and intends to use Legion's body for his own evil means; Deena, who, in life, was a shaman of Canonia, a wise and kind woman; Miserable ol' Martin, a depressed and immoderately pessimistic person complaining about everything and Bostolm, who appears to have been a Yalortian monk once and to have become completely deranged with the rest of his monastery as a result of the "mysterious rock from the sky".
 * He uses Robotarms without shields and can equip only a specific type of armour as well. Instead of learning skills from items, he masters them immediately when he is targeted by them. He can learn the biggest amount of active skills, and has a wide arsenal of both physical and magical abilities, though all of them are of offensive nature only. He is the most versatile member regarding elemental attacks, especially when considering that he is the only playable character capable of performing attacks of Fig or Thauma elements.

Governance de Magi
The Governance de Magi is a council that rules the world of Anshar. It consists of the seven most powerful Annunaki (the race that inhabits Anshar) - one of each element. They are the main villains of MARDEK RPG. As it turns out, they used to be honest and well-meaning before their corruption by the Violet Crystal.


 * Rohoph: He used to be the Light-elemental member of the Governance de Magi. At first, he was the least corrupted by the Violet Crystal, therefore he tried to reveal its true nature to the others, but he achieved nothing. Then he attempted to destroy the crystal itself, but he failed, and fled on a galloper from execution. He crashed on Belfan and did not survive the accident; however, he performed a Soul Transfer on Mardek who had arrived to the wreckage.
 * Being of the Light element, Rohoph lives to serve the good cause, but the Violet Crystal did not leave him untainted. By the end of Chapter III, it turns out that he is unable to trust anyone anymore, and does not refrain to use foul means to achieve the 'Greater Good' (such as making promises that he doesn't intend to keep in the first place).
 * His weapon of choice is unknown due to the fact that he resides in Mardek's body. He is a Healer, and possesses powerful healing and protective magic, some of which he lends to Mardek.


 * Moric: The Earth-elemental member of the council. He was the first to set out to find and assassinate Rohoph. However, he plans to conquer Belfan instead using the undead minions he summoned (as he was the leader of the undead army of Anshar). But in the end, he is killed on his own battleship and his soul is sealed within a gem by Rohoph.
 * Moric appears to be longing for power, also immoderately sadistic, feeling pleasure from watching someone's slow and painful death.
 * He uses Scythes. Moric is a Necromancer, capable of summoning undead minions or animating his fallen enemies as zombies, but he also possesses powerful Earth-elemental attacks.


 * Qualna: The Aether-elemental member. He seems to be the least affected by the Violet Crystal, probably due to the fact that his personality is based on neutrality, and lacks outstanding features that could be magnified by the corruption. Unlike Moric, he attempts to take Rohoph back to Anshar as a prisoner, and is unwilling to fight him. Yet he engages in combat when he is promised that his soul wouldn't be sealed as Moric's; but it turns out that he was lied to, and Rohoph seals his soul after all.
 * Due to possessing the element of Aether, Qualna's nature is completely balanced, thus he values order and balance above everything else. He cares deeply for the Annunaki and the Governance the Magi, and he is primarily driven by this feeling.
 * Similarly to Moric, Qualna uses scythes in combat. He is a Diviner, possessing the ability to create Astral Tunnels, examine the past or glimpse into the future. He is capable of Soul Transfer but he can also control other people regardless of their elements, or to create 'Aether clones' of his opponents.


 * Gaspar: The Fire-elemental Annunaki of the ruling body. Presumably he will be the main villain of Chapter IV.
 * He has an extremely short temper and appears to be enraged continuously. Similarly to Moric, he intends to slay Rohoph mercilessly. As described by others, he craves violence and shuns any kind of negotiation or peaceful solutions.


 * Balthazar: The Water-elemental member.
 * Unlike Gaspar, Balthazar is completely calm and collected. He appears to be somewhat obsequious, agreeing to everything said by Anu, but also intelligent and respectful.


 * Melchior: The Air-elemental member of Governance de Magi.
 * Melchior is capricious and incredibly chaotic. He scarcely pays attention to the discussions and makes completely unrelated remarks about various topics.


 * Anu: The Dark-elemental member and self-proclaimed leader of the Annunaki government.
 * Little is known about Anu. Probably he is the most tainted of the seven; he seems to show an obsession to kill Rohoph and about ruling the entire galaxy.

Development
here should go more detailed informations about development process; not from Pseudo's point of view, mind you, but rather more about release dates and also changes made to chapters over time, as well as chapter 3 mechanics being re-adopted to previous chapters

Reception
Jay is Games praised Mardek RPG for its length and light parody aspects while also expressing excitement over its complex storyline, saying "it's difficult to fully do justice to the storyline of this game without spoiling it...you can't believe how much I want to talk about [scene redacted] and how I screamed in real life when I found out that [plot twist redacted]..." Jay is Games gave Mardek 2nd place in a Best of 2010 competition under the Role Playing category.

here go informations about how MARDEK RPG was received; references to reviews would be greatly appreciated, I think; also, if I recall, chapter 3 won some award on Kongregate or so, so it would be worth mentioning as well; and remember, Wikipedia has some nice formatting thingies to make references!