I believe somebody said they were going to post about this but I didn't see it anywhere.
That would've been me! I was just logging back in to make this thread. Lost my chance to reach fame I guess : )
One thing that I believe you guys haven't mentioned so far is the fact that NS is, hands down, the absolute best Ryona game out there, as far as gameplay is concerned - it's routinely mentioned when someone rounds up the best firmware games, and, when it isn't, it's mostly due to its controversial content rather than its bugs.
Your character can go through a great deal of combos, making fighting satisfying even against the somewhat samey mooks, and I think this is the best metroidvania out there as far as vertical elevation is concerned - Relm will eventually get a megaman X like wall jump, multiple air jumps and dashes, and quite a few fun vertical moves - it's really satisfying to jump all around the boss room pulling toghether all sort of dodge-move chains.
The rape/ryona element is pretty well integrated in gameplay in my opinion. First of all, it's very easy to skip! A skilled player will barely see any, since most attacks are easy to avoid and/or break out of, and even if you're not a gaming wiz, you'll probably see very little unless you purposingly look for it. Same holds true for the opposite - you can confortably warp to your most arousing enemy through the save points, and a convenient jail will gather all the game's bosses in an easily reached spot for you to throw yourself at when they conveniently turn red.
It's also fairly important story-wise - your morality meter will determine which of the (three?) endings you get, and the power of some of the weapons - but also as a gameplay device. I usually laugh in the face of enemies in games like this, but the thought of even the lowliest goblin being able to rape my character (and drain not-so-easily-refilled morality form her) manages to keep me on my toes - make me hate them. And, if you choose to let some enemies have their way with Relm, she'll get the ability to rape human characters herself!
Finally, a couple of suggestions:
1) Start upgrading your weapons by spending 2 points on the sword's up+attack move; it'll be your first double jump. Down+attack should come next, since it chains nicely with the above. The hammer's down attack is especially powerful, and it makes pretty much everything in the game soil its pants.
2) Spend points in Strength and Quickness first, but don't max out anything - you'll find power up spheres around that boost a stat, and those are points that'll go wasted if you maxed out.
3) Be careful not to forget a boss! The game doesn't keep track of which of the many dead ends you'll eventually have in the map have a living boss to their name, and you might end up leaving very useful stuff behind (happened to me with the wall jump).
4) Relm is (somewhat) invincible when she's engaged in her special moves (such as up + attack), and completely untouchable when she uses both attacks at the same time. Game'll get a lot easier once you figure it out.
Well, hope you enjoy this little jewel despite my very late contribution... writing about it made me feel like going through a few bosses myself, in fact. Off I go!
EDIT:
Now, if anyone has a solution to it crashing every 5 minutes, please let me know.
Happened to me on my new Windows 7 installation (just after posting this, as a matter of fact). The game used to work smoothly when I had Xp, so I figured the problem would get fixed by setting the game to run on compatibility mode with Xp (right click, proprieties, compatibility). Worked perfectly for me, give it a try, let me know if it still doesn't work.
Myself I have an issue playing this game where if I hold down a key, the game randomly acts like I let go of the key very frequently making the gameplay rather frustrating
It's a pretty common issue apparently. For most people, it's triggered by changing locations, especially when the music changes, so, although there's no fix, you can reduce frustration by anticipating when the interruption will occour.
I believe the freezing detailed above takes place due to music related issues as well, so turning off the music might work? It would be a pity though, this game has a splendid soundtrack.
I've tried this game, but my computer is too old to run it.
And that's a real bi*ch.
Gamemaker games are terrible resource hogs. You could see if performance improves a little by changing the compatibility mode (iirc Gamemaker was fairly popular 10 years ago), but, honestly, I wouldn't know. I am sorry.
