Early Access Weekly Challenge #15 - Holiday Echelk Challenge
Hey all!
Last challenge of the year is here! Last time's Atomic Clock challenge has been won by... Discord user Ink Mastor#6836 with their monster 'Obsidious'! https://discordapp.com/channels/477125612562284566/681492758556704773/784640621843447859
Holiday Echelk Challenge Ahh, the holidays are almost here... But what's that? Why does that Echelk look so majestic in these holiday themed colors? That's right, there's a special Echelk skin in the game now, and this week's challenge is all about taming it and showing it off! It's simple: tame an Echelk with the special Holiday themed skin, take a screenshot and post it in the #monster-crown channel of the SOEDESCO Discord server (https://discord.gg/soedesco) and use #HolidayEchelkChallenge by Monday December 28th 3PM CET and win the Monster Crown player of the week title + this special Monster Crown care package of in-game items including a BRILLIANT GYN! :O. Of course the more creativity goes into the screenshot (like the monster's name), the more chance you have to win!
Entries are limited to 1 per user, please only post 1 screenshot. Winners will be picked in consultation between @devotedtoneurosis and SOEDESCO. Good luck everyone! If you have any questions, feel free to ask :D
Good luck & Happy Holidays everyone!
-Marten
Holiday Echelk is Here!
Holiday themed Echelk is here!
He looks sort of like a Christmas tree right?
Head over to the Frost Province to tame this exclusively colored Echelk, and breed this color onto your favorite crossbreeds! Also, if you're looking for a monster in general to guide you through the storm, check out Arakiruby - the monster that glows in the dark - same place, same time :)
In this build there are two additional fixes:
v0.1.54 ===== +Jump ramps popping you back to the base sometimes fixed +Tamer respect certification level can no longer be downgraded by doing chiefs out of order.
#Please note that we want to keep the primary EA build stable so new builds will be uploaded to the EA-BETA branch for several days before being moved to the main stream. Anyone can access this branch, just right-click Monster Crown in Steam, go to properties and select the EA-BETA branch to have the up to the minute, bleeding edge updates.
Patch 0.1.537 - Big Update!
Hi Tamers,
You may have noticed there was no patch last week, that's because last week's patch spiraled out of control and now rivals some content packs. That being said, the next content pack will arrive after the holidays and this isn't a true one, but there's definitely plenty to sink your teeth into!
Side Quests
This patch contains several new side-quests, a few of which offer brand new exclusive monsters that could not be obtained before. Some are also tucked away or quite tough to win. I think you're gonna have fun with them :)
Balancing
The currently playable content has been combed over with an eye to balancing and pacing, so a new play-through with the new content will offer more hours of play than ever before, at a much smoother pacing and challenge level.
Monster Respect System
Maybe you've heard about our new Monster Respect system, it's a cool new system that adds a little more challenge and much better pacing to Monster Crown. First thing you need to know is that Monsters will not level up in a way that exceeds your current respect level.
You start the game at certification level 0, which means your monsters cannot exceed level 9. Level 1 means you can reach 19, 2 is 29 limit, and so on. This may sound like it slows things down but due to the implementation, it won't. This new system is very loose, and isn't restrictive at all to the average player.
See, there is a type of player that likes to grind and level up as much as they can, or to tame a boss that isn't meant to be tamed until much later in the game, and then they wish that the rest of the game was more challenging. Most players play naturally, levelling up in a pretty predictable way, for those players, you will never hit this wall before unlocking the next level.
However, if you are the sort of person that has reached level 70 before meeting Beth (you know who you are! ;) ) this change is for you, and will ensure that even if you go all out, you will feel challenged by the game, without making it completely punishing to new and casual players. As you may remember from a previous update Bosses no longer care about your level, and unlike wild monsters, the biggest factor is the level of HP remaining. You can still tame them, but it'll be much harder, and if you tame a monster that exceeds your current level, they will be scaled down.
You may be wondering if when you load your file all your monsters will be scaled down, no, they won't (unless they exceed level 200, in which case they will scale down as that's the final game's limit).
Additionally, as you fight tamers and level up you will earn monster respect points, which are consumed when you breed monsters. Monsters are interested in growing strong, so there's a limit to how long they want to sit around making WEAK BABIES (Yuck!) and want to get back to growing strong. This also sounds limiting but trust me, due to the implementation only min-maxers are going to run into a situation where they have to go intentionally earn points.
All of these mechanisms are primarily for players that want to grind, min-max and still be challenged. Casual players will rarely be reminded they even exist.
Chief Tamer Certification
Do you remember Vyrnia from Empathy who helps you get Gyn? She mentioned she's a chief tamer right? Rodney from Frobec is the same. These chief tamers in each town will offer you a high stakes battle - beating them earns you the next respect certification level and a free monster (some have never been available before today!) but if you lose, they will take one of your monsters! For these battles I recommend saving and reloading if you lose, or turning on Easy Mode to remove the penalty for losing (see below), but if you're hardcore, feel free to subject yourself to this all-stakes battle!
Only one of these chief battles are required, and if you like the current level of challenge, or would like to auto-adjust a "hard mode" on yourself, feel free to skip them, they are optional and can be done in any order.
Easy Mode
Long requested Easy Mode is here! It offers:
Free Healing
No Item Loss
100% flee chance
Chiefs do not take your Monster
Lowered Foe AI
Increased EXP gain
So if you're interested in a more easy-going Monster Crown experience, give this option a whirl! You'll find it under Settings > Difficulty
That's a lot of reading, a lot of clicking, and sure slows down battle! From now on, these messages will be batched into a quick display so no matter how stat crazy you get, it won't slow down your battles.
Other Miscellaneous fixes
EA v1.537 ---------------------- +Monster respect system added +Breeding now requires enough monster respect built up +Can now only battle wild tamers once +Defeating a tamer awards monster respect +Defeating a chief tamer awards a new tamer level +Can only level up monsters to the attained respect level +Newly tamed monsters scaled to max respect level if exceeding +Store door color adjustments +Orphan shadow in the intro removed +Raining rate reduced +Gaps where EXP would not increase fixed +Party EXP boost +Ambient Shoreyu added to Mill Town +Gems to find and sell added to Dew Cave +Campfire log icon added +Gualop Cowboy added +Drangus, Hyna and Gualop nerfs +Party experience boosted +Easy mode added, free healing, 100% flee chance, no item loss +Domigon killing sidequest +Humanism kingdom visual revamp +Ambient Madis added to Humanism +"Spore" overworld sprite added +Crawkaedga nerfed
As you can see there's never been a better time to start over and try out the game from the beginning again. This build is currently in EA-Beta branch but it's so involved that we're going to wait until Sunday to push it to the main branch, this one touched so many systems and grew so big that the extra week to do some more play-throughs and have our lovely publisher Soedesco give it a spin is something I really felt we needed. Scattered around are new items, NPCs, moves and monsters, have fun catching up on Monster Crown and tune in next Friday for the special holiday-colored Echelk :)
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Are you a player with a lot of super-grind level 200+ monsters? Never hurts to do a save backup, you can find your saves here: C:\Users\YOURNAME\AppData\LocalLow\Studio Aurum\Monster Crown\Resources\Saves
#Please note that we want to keep the primary EA build stable so new builds will be uploaded to the EA-BETA branch for several days before being moved to the main stream. Anyone can access this branch, just right-click Monster Crown in Steam, go to properties and select the EA-BETA branch to have the up to the minute, bleeding edge updates.
Early Access Weekly Challenge #14 - Atomic Clock Challenge
Hey all!
It's another challenge! Last week's Super Gro Challenge has been won by... Discord user Epicdoom #6836 with their monster 'Stahmp'! https://discordapp.com/channels/477125612562284566/681492758556704773/781476990146314240
Atomic Clock Challenge Okay so, remember last week? I hope you do, because we're gonna do the same with the newly added Atomic Clock! What is the Atomic Clock? Learn all about it here: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/830370/view/2923362221814575250. Transform one of your monsters using the Atomic Clock item, take a screenshot and post it in the #monster-crown channel of the SOEDESCO Discord server (https://discord.gg/soedesco) and use #AtomicClockChallenge by Monday December 7th 3PM CET and win the Monster Crown player of the week title + this special Monster Crown care package of in-game items including a BRILLIANT GORGEM! :O. Of course the more creativity goes into the screenshot (like the monster's name), the more chance you have to win! Don't know where to find the Atomic Clock item? Ask around in our Discord server ;)
For more info on Atomic Clock, check out these posts: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/830370/view/2923362221814575250 https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/830370/view/2939123552828872228
Entries are limited to 1 per user, please only post 1 screenshot. Winners will be picked in consultation between @devotedtoneurosis and SOEDESCO. Good luck everyone! If you have any questions, feel free to ask :D
Good luck everyone!
-Marten
Content Pack #4 - Atomic Clock and more!
Happy Friday!
Content Pack #4 is here.
Of course the thing everyone's been waiting on is the magical Atomic Clock which cause a dramatic transformation in Dracoyle, Darwhol and Gorgem!
Where can you get your hands on your very own Atomic Clock? Well, in a cave just north of Empathy Kingdom, you can find one here:
You'll also be able to explore a fun, Atomic Clock-oriented surprise quest somewhere in Empathy Kingdom. It features a monster many of you have had your eye on for quite some time!
After the quest, the Atomic Clock will begin appearing in the wild in deep-wilderness Tamer Packs just like Super Gro did last week.
But that's not all, we've got two more interesting new mechanics!
Synergy Attack Upgrades
So, a few months ago a couple of people came to me asking for special attacks be added that could be unlocked via the breeding system, and to add a little more strategy to the synergy system, so there's one unified solution that I think you're really gonna enjoy.
There's a new attack, Dragon Tackle that will upgrade to Dragon Tackle 2 in the presence of synergy. This move is your first introduction to the mechanic so it's pretty clearly named to make the upgrade easily understood. Additionally, the move Swipe can now upgrade if you have built up synergy into the move Full Slash.
Additionally, if you breed two monsters that know Dragon Tackle the offspring will be born knowing Dragon Tackle 2, so this provides a new layer to battle and breeding alike. Let me know your thougths on these mechanics. There are plenty of great possibilities in breeding especially in move combination, we could have moves that combine the effects of two other moves, or take influence from the presence of another.
I'll be looking at all the attacks in the game and the monster movesets over the next couple of months to create more balance and fairness in the battle system and just make things more fun overall.
One last synergy-related note, at long last the game will pop-up prompt you to let you know the benefits if you attack at each synergy level, so no need to memorize what buffs/debuffs are associated with each level of the synergy gauge.
Oh, Myedin and Madis are now available in the wild, and there's a new move, Swallow Power that lets you absorb attack power to gain synergy. Do you think you can find them all? ;)
Misc Fixes:
EA v1.532 ---------------------- +Wild monsters, if the species is capable, can fly over obstacles +Following monsters no longer jump "In front" of player when getting control back +Rain graphics extended to fix visual oddities +Tanukrook Brute crossbreed added +Move learner now keeps the moves you know checked +Player shadow now not lost when entering house/dungeon +Monster transformation now multiplies base stats properly +Monster transformations can now receive new moves to their learnset
PS: Work on Achievements is under way, let us know what sorts of achievements and stats you'd like to see. Some people seem to want achievements that anyone could do easily, others like very difficult to obtain achievements, what's your take?
Early Access Weekly Challenge #13 - Super Gro Challenge
Hey all!
We're back with a new challenge! Last time we had a recruiting challenge and the winner of that one was... dro ghost#1995! With their monster 'Aw Chucks'
Super Gro Challenge All right, listen up. Last Friday the Super Gro transformative item was added to the game. What does this mean? Learn all about it here: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/830370/view/2923361588267019419. Transform one of your monsters using the Super Gro item, take a screenshot and post it in the #monster-crown channel of the SOEDESCO Discord server (https://discord.gg/soedesco) and use #SuperGroChallenge by Monday November 30th 3PM CET and win the Monster Crown player of the week title + this special Monster Crown care package of in-game items including a BRILLIANT JUNGRO! :O. Of course the more creativity goes into the screenshot (like the monster's name), the more chance you have to win! Don't know where to find the Super Gro item? Ask around in our Discord server ;)
For more info on Super Gro, check out these posts: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/830370/view/2923361588267019419 https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/830370/view/2939123552828872228
Entries are limited to 1 per user, please only post 1 screenshot. Winners will be picked in consultation between @devotedtoneurosis and SOEDESCO. Good luck everyone! If you have any questions, feel free to ask :D
Good luck everyone!
-Marten
Super Gro is HERE! + Patch
Hey folks!
It's time to get half a content pack a week early, introducing, SUPER GRO to the world!
Head over to Empathy Kingdom and swing by the flower bed just outside the Duchess's Tower, there you'll find your one free Super Gro.
With it, you'll be able to unlock the Super Gro transformations of Laz, Apo or Jungro:
If you use the item in-battle, you'll be able to activate a mid-battle transformation and keep your Super Gro item for re-use, but if you use it on a monster outside of battle the Super Gro will be lost, in exchange for making the transformation permanent.
If you want more, better get searching! The deepest wilderness tamer packs have a low chance of containing one.
Tune in next week for Atomic Clock!
Some additional fixes:
EA v1.53 ---------------------- +Boss monsters no longer respect level difference when attempting to tame (must deplete HP) +Message stating if a transformation item does not work on a monster +Transformation items no longer used up if they don't have an effect on that respective monster +Water now animates in caves/underground +New Molkuran Overworld sprite +Cleaned up code for the breeding slots, more stable and reliable now. +Transformation animation improved
Super Gro, or Atomic Clock? You decide.
The time is here to learn about Content Pack 4 and cast your vote!
[previewyoutube="KuzI56l8rkE;full"]
Atomic Clock will transform Dracoyle, Darwhol and Gorgem
Super Gro will transform Laz, Apo and Jungro
So Tamer, are you team Super Gro? Or Team Atomic Clock?
Tweet with the above hashtags and vote on our twitter post to cast your vote.
Both items will be released on the 27th for Content Pack #4, but the winning team will have their transformation released a week early to everyone on November 20th.
Let us know what transformation is your favorite!
Early Access Weekly Challenge #12 - Recruiting Challenge
Hey all!
New week! And it's a new challenge. Last week we had a monster riding challenge and the winner of that one is... Sleepy Nàna#7347 with their Echelk, and some friends eating snowy trees ♥
Check your DMs on Discord to claim your prize! Let's check out this week's challenge.
Recruiting Challenge Another simple, straight forward one! As you may know, there's been new monsters added to the game, so I challenge you to recruit one of them, take a screenshot and post it in the #monster-crown channel of the SOEDESCO Discord server (https://discord.gg/soedesco) and use #RecruitingChallenge by Monday November 16th 3PM CET and win the Monster Crown player of the week title + this special Monster Crown care package of in-game items including a BRILLIANT ECHELK! :O. Of course the more creativity goes into the screenshot (like the monster's name), the more chance you have to win!
For more info on Content Update #3 and the list of new monsters, check out this post: https://store.steampowered.com/newshub/app/830370/view/2953758982265343266
Entries are limited to 1 per user, please only post 1 screenshot. Winners will be picked in consultation between @devotedtoneurosis and SOEDESCO. Good luck everyone! If you have any questions, feel free to ask :D
Good luck everyone!
-Marten
Patch 0.1.487
Hey guys,
Hope you all had fun running around the next portion of the island and collecting Halloween Harveskin, which is now back to its default colors.
Here's the patch list:
EA v1.487 ---------------------- +Campfire no longer visible in battle +Player off-grid after stopping riding fixed +Scrave, monster without yet complete data, removed from random monster pool +Frost Province Storm no longer cleared after leaving caves +Brutus riding position fixed +Monsters save slot id (Organization fans, it's time to party) +Echelk sprite polishing +Frost Hooper sister no longer looking the wrong direction +Harveskin is back to normal coloration in the wild +No longer stop running after scouting
Two big things you might enjoy with this update are that:
A) You no longer stop running after scouting, which could sure wreck your momentum when scout-grinding!
B)The box system now remembers specific slots, not just boxes, so you can organize to your heart's desire.
With B, you will notice (especially if you have a TON of monsters) the game will hang the first time you open your box system. This is the game going over every one of your monsters and assigning them a box and slot id, this may shuffle things around, and will recover any monsters that were previously lost to the "void between boxes". From then on wherever you lay a monster, it will be there when you come back!
Expect some information on Content Pack #4 a little earlier than we usually share info on content packs this month, I can't wait to see what you think (and which side you choose ;) )
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One last thing, a little art gift for those of you that chose Canite :)
#Please note that we want to keep the primary EA build stable so new builds will be uploaded to the EA-BETA branch for one week before being moved to the main stream. Anyone can access this branch, just right-click Monster Crown in Steam, go to properties and select the EA-BETA branch to have the up to the minute, bleeding edge updates.
