- Despite the less frequent content updates, significant progress is being made on the new and completely redone Story Mode
- There will be less of a focus on generic missions and more of a focus on a linear set of story-mode battles.
- Currently, there doesn't feel like there is an objective to train or get stronger. I want the player try the next mission, fail, take on a generic mission or two, and then succeed.
- Currently, there doesn't feel like there is an objective to train or get stronger. I want the player try the next mission, fail, take on a generic mission or two, and then succeed.
- There will a greater focus on variety. I want each mission to feel different. I will achieve this a few different ways:
- Enemy or Allied bosses with unique abilities: ones that target all enemies, that target multiple areas, or do other powerful things.
- There will be more variety in objectives. Defending certain characters, reaching destinations, surviving.
- In-battle bonuses. Some missions allow your character to gain stats and heal by taking out certain enemies. Additionally, pickups have been added: some missions will allow you to walk over a pickup and immediately gain a bonus, cast a spell, or summon a unit.
- Having interesting allied units
- Enemy or Allied bosses with unique abilities: ones that target all enemies, that target multiple areas, or do other powerful things.
- There will be less units on the screen at once. Battles will be closer to 6v6 than 7v7 or 8v8.
- Oftentimes the battles seem too cluttered
- I want many missions to have AI-controlled allies, but the battles felt like there were too many units on-screen already
- Oftentimes the battles seem too cluttered
- Reinforcements
- Many missions will have fewer enemies on screen, but enemies will enter battle over time. The same can occur for allied players
- It is simply more fun for the player's 6 allies to destroy 20 enemies than it is to destroy 6 more powerful enemies
- It is simply more fun for the player's 6 allies to destroy 20 enemies than it is to destroy 6 more powerful enemies
- Similarly, bosses will have more HP but have less enemies on screen at once (the rest will trickle in)
- This allows the user to experience the boss more throughout the battle without having him be too powerful or too vulnerable.
- This allows the user to experience the boss more throughout the battle without having him be too powerful or too vulnerable.
- There will be battles where you selected, say, 7 characters, but only 4 will ever be on-screen at once. The rest will enter the battlefield whenever you lose an ally.
- Many missions will have fewer enemies on screen, but enemies will enter battle over time. The same can occur for allied players
- The Party-Upgrades will only be granted to you in Survival Mode. Epic mode will require the player to unlock the bonuses through completing certain missions (which will be available at any time in its own mission list).
- Other features may be added to the game before I have a chance to finish this story-mode
- A time travel ability, that rewinds the game, inserts an action, then fast-forwards the game.
- Limit-Break-like set of abilities for the protagonist, certain enemies, or certain classes.
- New Tier 2 or Tier 3 classes. I have many ideas.
- More job-upgrades
- A time travel ability, that rewinds the game, inserts an action, then fast-forwards the game.
- Lastly, I will be continuing to eliminate bugs, improve AI, optimize loading times. All of which have had drastic improvements over the last year.
- There will be less of a focus on generic missions and more of a focus on a linear set of story-mode battles.
Cascade Tactics
Goals for 2023. Story Mode Revamped
Patch
- Fixed issue where scenes do not start and the user is stuck
- Fix issue where battle doesn't end if the last character to act was Auto-Turned
- Fix issue where camera moves too fast
New Job, New Treasure, More Fixes
- New Outlaw Job
- Accessed through a new Tier 4 accessory
- Throw Knives at a short Range
- Summon Bandits onto the Battlefield. They immediately charge up for an attack.
- Accessed through a new Tier 4 accessory
- New Treasures
- Celestial Pendant grants access to the new ability: Meteor. A long range AOE spell with high cast time.
- Silencer's Gem reduces cast time of Retarget by 50%
- Enchant's Staff changes Enchant to deal AOE damage.
- Celestial Pendant grants access to the new ability: Meteor. A long range AOE spell with high cast time.
- Fixes
- Fix issues when upgrading accessories that are already equipped
- Fix many issues where turn order is not correct
- Fix issues with Defender's Strike not working as intended (changed in the last patch)
- Fix crash that would occur while trying to pause the game after letting AI take control of the unit turn
- New Recruits now have JP based on their level (Instead of 0)
- Frozen/Stopped Units will not take a turn (happens on rare occasions)
- Fix issue with Mind Control and the crash that can occur when letting AI take control of the unit turn
- Special jobs are no longer removed as Secondary Jobs when you unequip the associated item
- Fix issue where some missions would crash because of new items added in the last patch
- Fix issues when upgrading accessories that are already equipped
- AI Fixes
- AI Less likely to cast a spell when an enemy is nearby
- More optimizations on AI
- Improved AI processing time. Late-game enemies with large ranges now takes as much as 80% less time.
- AI Less likely to cast Ice Shards on his teammate
- AI Less likely to cast a spell when an enemy is nearby
New Jobs
- New Jobs!
- Vampire Knight, Tempest, Warlock, and Time Mage
- Stronger than all previous Jobs, but can only be attained through certain accessories.
- Have more upgrades, but the upgrades require more JP
- Mystic Knight has been drastically buffed and now requires the Mystic Cape
- Vampire Knight, Tempest, Warlock, and Time Mage
- New Items!
- Warlock Tome, Time Mage Tome, Vampire Tome, Tempest Tome. Tier 4 versions of their corresponding spellbooks. Grant access to the new jobs.
- Tier 4 item that grants immunity to status effects. Same effect can be upgraded from Mystic Knight.
- Tier 4 item that changes your weapon into a ranged-weapon attack. Same effect can be upgrade from Time Mage.
- Warlock Tome, Time Mage Tome, Vampire Tome, Tempest Tome. Tier 4 versions of their corresponding spellbooks. Grant access to the new jobs.
- Auto-Turn button and hotkey added. Have AI take control of the current character's next turn.
- Added Hotkey to open Job-Upgrade screen directly from Party screen.
- Added ability to page-up / down most menus to more easily traverse. Also fixed many other issues with scrolling.
- Added a note indicating when a player has an empty accessory slot.
- Enemies in Roguelite Mode Drop bonuses for the remainder of the battle.
- Fix issue where items that were equipped would not show as eligible for merging.
- Fix difficulty with mouse when multiple floors exist.
- Enchanter has upgrades for Haste
- Fixes to AI involving Warlock spells. Also prevent AI from using Ice Prison when down to 1 unit.
- Fix issue where you can no longer jump a 1-width chasm.
- Fix issue where Arena Skirmish only had 6 characters on the field
- Fix issue with Gust blowing in the wrong direction
- Can Push / Gust up a half-tile now.
- Fix issue where clicking forward/back quickly might crash the game.
New Mystic Knight Job and Steam Deck Optimizations
- New Mystic Knight job
- New Mission appears later in the game that when completed unlocks the Mystic Knight
- Mystic Knight uses both Magic and Strength to deal damage with powerful new abilities
- Mystic Knight was inspired by Final Fantasy Tactic's Holy Knight
- New Mission appears later in the game that when completed unlocks the Mystic Knight
- Controller Improvements
- Added Game Icons for more controllers
- Remapped some controls. No longer need Joystick Buttons.
- Enlarged controller icons
- Fix issue where character stats frequently popup when using a controller
- Added Game Icons for more controllers
- Added Hp Meter and CT Meter to character's stats window
- Fixed issues with Cast Time and Turn order panel related to Double Cast, Combo, Guard and Infuse
- Sped up AI processing when characters are casting Ice Shards and Combo
- Nerfed Ice Shards from 70% magic to 55% and cast time from 250 to 300.
- Slowed the leveling up Jobs
- Fix issues related to Guard
- Fix issues related to Lines and relative targets
- Scaled Turn Panel down on smaller resolutions
- Fixed issue where AI frequently uses actions with no targets
Faster Load Times
- Faster Load Times! More than 100% Faster to start up the game or load up the next scene.
- "Back" Button will appear on screen during battle in the lower right. It was not clear to the player that he can do things like "View Scene", "Undo Move".
- Other fixes
- Fixed problem with High Scores not showing
- Fixed Ice Prison position (on things like Bomb)
- Fixed issue with HP Meter appearing during a scene
- Fixed problem with High Scores not showing
Hp and Cast-time Meters
- Watch HP of a unit drop when he takes damage with new HP Meter.
- HP Meter will appear over all units when you are choosing a target
- New Cast-Time Meter shows the progress of a spell being cast.
- Fix some issues with Casting Colors when using Charge
- No longer add AOE to Quick (was potential to get infinite turns).
- Fixed issue with Judgement and Charge.
- Fixed issues with Guard (direction and AOE).
Time Mage Spellbook
Time Mage Spellbook grants three new Abilities
- Slow: Status effect that reduces target's speed and focus
- Stop: Set Speed / Focus of target to Zero. Can also no longer block. Has a cast time.
- Quick: Immediately progress target unit's turn and casting progress
Other New Features:
- Option to Upgrade all items automatically
- Can upgrade items that are equipped to a character (it will remain equipped when upgraded)
- First few missions below level 6 in Saphrat will always be capped at 4 or 5 units
- Can no longer use Control Magic on Guard: Weapon
Many other fixes included.
Battle Interface Improvement (Lines and Edges)
You can now play at lower resolutions
Reactivated a feature that sped up AI processing time.
Fixed issue where some menus would not scroll down if you were using a controller.