Altare Birthday DLC

I really enjoyed this; it works great as short sequel/side story to the previous game! You did a good job introducing the new characters in this game, and the art on all of their sprites is amazing! There is a lot of attention to detail throughout the game and it’s fun seeing all the references to the boys’ streams!

This game is definitely more substantial than the Dez Birthday story in the previous game, and I really like how you have been adding to the original game map! While playing Dez’s Birthday I noticed that—along with the new pumpkin area added to the west—there was also a new lava lake area in the south, and I wondered what that was for: turns out it was for the new dungeon in this game! It’s really cool to see it used that way!
I was also really happy that I could finally enter the building in the top-left of the town (the casino)—we never got to go inside that building in the previous game and I really wanted to!

I was really impressed you programmed a playable slot machine at the casino as well! This has no bearing on the actual game (besides being fun!) since you could ignore it, but the fact that you put the effort to include it is genuinely really cool!

As for the gameplay itself, I had fun being able to use the full party in a dungeon! I love the new skills you added too, especially Axels’ magic attack which can covert Axel's MP into TP for the selected party member (I’m really honoured that you added this after I mentioned it in a comment last time!!)
I think previously Axel was the weakest party member because he had to wait to build up TP to do anything besides a regular attack, but this new support move (and his Thunder attack!) gives him more options during his turn and allows for more strategy (since you need to decide on if you want to use his turn to support or attack). I had loads of fun using it, however, I did notice an exploit: it makes Altare OP during boss fights!

I replayed the boss a few times to test it, and by using Axels’ MP>TP move on Altare 3 times, Altare can use ‘Switch to Regis’ at the start of Turn 4. Regis being really strong is normally balanced by how difficult it is to raise TP, so this move bypasses that. Now since this DLC is for Altare’s Birthday, I think him being extra powerful is quite fitting! But in case you are planning to make more games in the future, I have this suggestion:

1.) Nerf Axel’s move so he can only use it on another party member ONCE per battle. I tested this out, and if I restrict using the move on Altare to one-time-only, I could activate ‘Switch to Regis’ at the start of Turn 7. I think this is balanced, since by that point the other party members has had a chance to set-up and take away half of the boss’s health.
TLDR: Each battle Axel can use the move once on Altare, once on Magni, once on Vesper, and unlimited times on himself.

2.) I noticed that once Regis is activated, all enemy attacks now only hit him. So the boss’s Fire attack normally hits each party member once, but when Regis is active, Fire instead hits Regis 4 times. I think this is a bit too strong, since it means the party members aren’t in any danger and all I need to do is get Magni/Vesper to heal Regis each turn to win.
TLDR: I think Altare can still keep his strong stats and moves as Regis, but remove the feature of making all enemy attacks target him only. So in this case, boss’s fire would hit Regis, Magni, Axel & Vesper in one turn, and not hit Regis 4 times in one turn.

I didn’t encounter any other exploits during my gameplay though!
The current move loadout seems really solid, so any other suggestions I have would be unnecessary, but if you’re interested I was thinking of ideas that would allow Magni and Vesper to use TP (since both of these characters can build TP—and be given TP by Axel—but are unable to use it). I will write these ideas in a reply to this comment though.

Finally, I noticed a few minor typos at the end of the game (when giving gifts at the casino). Altare says “Thinks for joining the guild.” (Thanks for joining) to Flayon. And Vesper says “We fine some Premium Coffee Beans […]” (We found some) and “There is my favorite type of oolong.” (Here is my favorite) to Shinri.

Thanks for reading this, I really did love this game! I hope nothing I said came across as negative, since the game is amazing as it is! When I write my thoughts on things, I always like to add a critique in case it's helpful, but I don't want to distract from the fact that this is really impressive! I can't believe you made this for free in your own time, it's incredible!!