Hey, y'all! Between my long stretches of waiting on console builds to finish and definitely not playing Persona 5, I've been brainstorming ideas for a new, middle-of-the-road difficulty mode to bridge the gap between the current Easy and Normal modes. In essence, the "Normal" mode right now would be more akin to a "Full" mode, and the new mode would be a bit closer to a more simple JRPG experience.
These are the differences I have in mind specifically:
Weapon levels automatically "train up" to the cap when they're acquired, so, training with items is not necessary. No bonuses.
The Power Flow system would remain as the primary means of leveling. Item drops from enemy encounters (other than unique boss rewards) would be greatly reduced or eliminated, so items would only come from treasures and Gilded shop purchases.
Enemy stats would be reduced across the board.
All specialties would be removed and would remain at their "baseline" values. (Not sure if Rik's Quiver would count for this too).
Tox can cycle his breath weapon any time in the world using the Left Trigger button, while Right Trigger remains the "use skill" button. This can also be done in battle during the Command phase. His current affinity would effectively be +50, and the rest would be zero.
Increase character speed and jumping power like it is in Story Mode.
Post-game challenges would be unavailable, but New Game + would be an option.
Do these ideas seem pretty sound? I can probably get it roughly implemented in a few days, barring some light testing and designing a new "status" type screen, so I'd like to turn it around soon before I have to commit to the console versions if possible. And of course, I am opening the floor to specific suggestions/additions on this here discussion board: http://steamcommunity.com/app/575940/discussions/0/135513549092726897/
Thanks! :red_dracon:
Version 1.0.6
Some minor updates coming up today. Read on!
Gameplay
Changed a puzzle in the Silkwind Crossing area to be less easy to skip outright.
Purple power! Tox's teleport effect will now remain purple throughout the game. Originally, it became green after the "Dragon Fetor" skill was unlocked. Changed due to surprising demand!
Tweaked "that jump" (you know which one) in The Blanket Part 1 to be less harrowing.
Interface
The skill selection menu in battle now moves faster when you have more cards to choose from.
Balance
Adjusted the stats of post-game bonus battle foes, making them less tanky in general and reducing their damage somewhat.
Look for the update in the next little while!
Version 1.0.6c Additions:
Fixed an issue that could sometimes cause boss foes to not shout their voiced defeat lines.
Fixed an animation glitch with the final superboss character's super attack, and reduced the number of total hits it can potentially deliver.
Fixed a glitch in the final superboss fight where an "empty" turn could occur.
Minor Update + What I'm Up To
Happy Friday, y'all! I'm doing a quick update to the game this morning with the following changes:
You can now place an item in Rik's Quiver specialty if the combined bulk of the old and new items does not exceed the total limit.
Greatly increased the rare item drop rates off Champion enemies in the post-game.
Fixed an issue where sound and music volumes would be set to 0 when starting a New Game +.
Difficulty level will now persist if choosing a "normal" difficulty run of New Game +.
So, look out for that soon! In the meantime, I am also plugging away at getting ready for the multiplatform release, so if you come across any more bugs during your travels, let me know as soon as possible! I'll also try to work in other promised features when I have a chance, so, sit tight on those.
Thanks!
Version 1.0.5 is Live!
A quick update that fixes a few bugs and adjusts some balance. Here are the full notes:
Gameplay
Fixed an issue where having triple ammo with Rik's "Spread Shot" skill could result in a failure to throw anything if attacking too quickly.
Increased the damage of Sonya's attacks.
Interface
Increased the intensity of the target colors in battle. Still working on an elegant way to separate this from status effect tinting!
You'll now receive a random hint about the current battle on the "Retry" screen if your party is knocked out during a boss battle.
Re-wrote on the effects of the Princess' "Fury/Forgive" mechanic on the training screen context popup.
Fixed an issue where Bonus training indicators (the white bars) were sometimes incorrect for Rik when using Sharp items.
Balance
Reduced the maximum HP of the final post-game boss.
Tox can no longer fully resist elemental damage by having -100 affinity of an element. Instead, the minimum cap is now 25% damage taken at -100 affinity.
Version 1.0.4?!
Good morning, friends! I am uploading a new patch right now that fixes a few (somewhat glaring) issues, and adjusts the balance a bit again. Someday I will stop poking at these numbers and be satisfied, but that day is not today.
Interface
Fixed a UI issue when canceling the Specialties tutorial in the Tangle.
Fixed a UI issue when applying items to Rik's quiver that stemmed from the item stacking addition.
Balance
Scaled back the defense rating and damage on late-game foes a bit.
Lowered the soft cap on damage. This should help curb outrageous amounts of damage without harming underpowered attacks/characters.
Boosted the Forgiveness healing factor a bit closer to its original value.
Added in 1.0.4b
Increased a character's ability to resist status effects due to their DEF stat.
The Princess now gains 25% more resistance to status effects if she's blocking an attack.
Added several item packs available during the post game. These items can be purchased as many times as desired. Some are not unlocked until after finishing the bonus dungeon.
Foes affected by status effects will now alternate colors between status colors and targeting colors if they're also targeted by ally attacks during the Command phase.
Let me know how things work out now! And thanks, as always!
Version 1.0.3
Version 1.0.3 is now live! It addresses many features requested by the community, and tweaks a few balance issues. Here are the full notes:
Gameplay
You can now press the R3/Right Stick button (Keyboard: Left Ctrl) to have allies follow your current character while you're exploring the world. Only allies that are within battle assist range (a couple of screen lengths away) will get the signal to follow. Be aware that they will run toward you and not jump or avoid hazards - that's still up to you! They will stop following if you press the button again, switch characters, or encounter something (like a battle or cutscene) that interrupts your journey.
(A quick note: if you're using a keyboard, you'll have to first use the Reset Controls option in order for Left Ctrl to start functioning, since it's a new binding. Sorry about that!)
You can now exit an area with just one ally at the end if you've completed the Treasure Hunt quest for the area.
Assist characters can now be called to attack any time during the Attack phase, including as the initial attack.
Rik can no longer use his Super Defense move after having dodged once when the "Fast On Your Feet" skill is unlocked.
Interface
You can now adjust the audio levels of sounds and music on a sliding scale. Volume levels will default to 0 if your old setting had them turned off.
Items will now stack in your inventory. The inventory is still navigated the same way.
Added a "View Manual" option to the main menu. Visit this option to open the manual in a browser window. Tutorial recaps are still to come, once they're thoroughly polished.
Removed the "Close Menu" option from the main menu. You can still use the menu button (Default: GamePad Y, Escape key) or cancel button (Default: Gamepad B, C key) to close it.
Changed the "super" trigger prompt during the Defense Phase so it's less obtrusive and presented more like an option.
Fixed a typo in the training tutorial.
Technical
You should no longer lose special assist characters you had purchased during a previous run of the game. If you are on a New Game + run and have lost them already, the option to buy them back should be offered immediately in the "Spend Gildeds" screen.
You can no longer buy item packs with Gildeds if your inventory is full.
You can no longer loot chests containing quest-critical items if your inventory is full.
Balance
The Princess' "Air Whip" skill now hits multiple times, and provides a significant pop-up effect.
Rik's "Quiver with Rage" skill now deals more damage and has less spread.
The damage boost applied to Rik's Quiver/elemental thrown attacks has been increased from 30% to 50%.
You can now hold down the attack button during "Quiver with Rage" to attack automatically. The attack rate is a bit lower than hitting the button naturally.
Rik's super defense now prevents flying foes from attacking, making it useful in more situations. Affected foes will "flash" briefly when the skill is initiated. This does not work on flying bosses.
Reduced the potency of Forgiveness healing somewhat.
Increased the soft cap on Fury's SP restoration.
Capped Tox's SP gain for absorbing powerful magic to 5 SP per hit.
Boosted HP and damage of late-game foes some more.
Greatly boosted stats and damage of post-game optional bosses.
Boosted the enemy stat bonus granted when playing a New Game + on "Hard" difficulty.
If you run into any issues, don't hesitate to let me know! This is a whole lot of changes, so I'll try to be vigilant in making sure everything goes over smoothly.
Thanks for reading!
End of Week 1 - What's to Come
It's Friday! I somehow survived the first week of my first commercial release mostly intact, so here's a brief look at what's coming up in the next patch (either tonight, or this weekend).
Quick reminder: the Early Adopter Edition Sale ends today at noon EDT, so, in about two hours. Be sure to get in on that while you still can!
And finally, these are the updates that are either in and working, or are on the way:
Command party members to follow you in dungeons! They won't jump or actively avoid obstacles, but it should be a nice time saver to keep your party together when necessary.
Audio sliders for sound effects and music volume.
Item stacking.
Added an option to view the manual straight from the main menu. Tutorial re-visiting is still to come (once I get the tutorials polished enough and where I want them).
Rik's quiver damage bonus got a buff, and his super move now has less spread. Also, you can now perform his super by just holding the button, rather than spamming the key (though you can still hammer on it if you like - it will probably do more damage that way).
Tweaked the potency on the "Forgiveness" healing mechanic.
Buffed late-game and post-game enemies significantly.
Things that are still to come: Tutorial recaps, Steam Cloud features, additional achievements.
There is also a strange issue where level loading is taking longer than it did previously. It could be due to an unexpected Unity update, or (more likely) something I did. Rest assured, I've noticed it too, so if I stumble across the cause in the next little while, that will be fixed in the update too.
Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy your weekend!
Version 1.0.2
Version 1.0.2 is now available! It addresses some of the issues suggested by the community. The others are still to come!
Interface
Buttons can now be remapped from the Options screen! Choose "Bind Controls" and go through each button to bind it to a key. You can also reset keys to their defaults on this screen. Bindings will persist across all save games.
If you forget certain buttons, or accidentally create a situation that you can't correct, the arrow keys are always mapped to navigation, and the left mouse and right mouse are always bound to confirm and cancel (along with middle-click for opening the menu), so you should always be able to navigate back to the options screen to fix it.
You can reset key bindings to their defaults by choosing the Reset option on the Options screen.
Added a new "Colors" option for button prompts that gives a blank slate for prompts; useful when defining your own keys. Proper labels will be a bit of an undertaking, so, that's still to come.
Tutorials are now more concise, and highlight relevant parts of the screen.
Technical
XInput controllers are now supported.
Increased collision sensitivity to hopefully remedy characters being able to phase through "trigger" areas.
Capped the target framerate to a finite value to avoid issues where the framerate was too high and caused video card issues. This setting is ignored when VSync is enabled (which can be turned on with the "Launch Configuration Tool" prompt).
Balance
Added additional Sky-elemental drops to enemies in the River Valley area.
Tweaked the difficulty of the boss in the River Valley area.
Increased the maximum limit on items carried from 200 to 500. Item stacking is still to come.
Slightly boosted attack and defense ratings of late-game foes all over.
Other
Fixed some formatting issues in the manual.
Week 1 Update!
First off, thanks so much for the great reception so far! I'm so thankful my experimental, esoteric RPG ideas are appealing to so many of you fine folks. I'm working hard this week to incorporate several little fixes and quality-of-life additions to the game, so please keep the feedback coming!
Here's a brief list of what I'm working on right now. I don't want to over-promise, seeing as I'm just one guy, but ideally I'll have all of this ready to push out in the next major update later this week. Here goes:
Rebinding controls (especially for keyboards)
Tutorial improvements: more graphics, fewer words, and "highlight" spots
Tutorial and manual options on the main menu
Audio volume sliders
Item stacking, and inventory size increase
A "follow me" button press that can be used in dungeon areas to make party members temporarily follow your current character. (Thinking of using L3 right now). This will only make them run toward you; no jumping or anything.
Some minor bug fixes
Some minor balance tweaking in the earlier chapters
Steam Cloud support: Coming eventually. It's a bit more complicated than I first thought!
If that sounds like a lot... well, it is! I'm prioritizing the most commonly-requested features first, so, if you have anything to add or report, feel free to post a reply or start a discussion any time. I've enlisted a couple of volunteer moderators to help out when I'm unavailable or otherwise incapacitated by a mound of C# code, but I definitely wish to continue cultivating the positive, helpful atmosphere I've seen so far. You guys are the best!
Version 1.0.1
Good morning, friends! I am uploading a quick update to address a couple of semi-urgent concerns. A more substantial update will come eventually; please keep the feedback, technical issues, and other goodies coming, and I'll address them as I can! (I'm just one man, so, your patience is a blessing!)
Change log:
-Defeating all foes on the field will now automatically end the attack phase, unless a "super" attack is being performed.
-Added I-J-K-L as a keyboard option for the D-Pad. Actual key re-mapping is coming later!
-Added the option to enable VSync. You can do this by launching the configuration tool and choosing a VSync option from the quality settings drop-down.
Coming later:
-Button remapping
-Steam Cloud support
-Other things! I'm new to this, so let me know!
