Patch 0.599i - Let Imbalance Begin!
Summary: SKILLS! Another way to summarize this patch would be SIGNIFICANT CHANGES.
I don't think there's been a single patch that's been so full of stuff that could potentially break the game, both balance wise and software wise! On the plus side, there's plenty of pretty cool stuff in there!
So, yeah, every non-support spell has gotten a Gold Charge. A few spells have also been reworked to different extents (see notes). Wind Slash has been replaced by Static Touch. Shadow Clone has been nerfed. Whirlslash has been nerfed a little bit as well. All charged up version of spells have been buffed, both directly and indirectly. Every charge level brings some bonus Armor Penetration, and we've also increased the movement speed while charging, which is a buff to the entire concept.
Note: The graphics are not final for a lot of these things. The Static Touch cubes is currently missing a lot of different colors, has some missing or unpolished animations, etc. Same goes for a number of other spells, so until I've removed this notice, only severe visual bugs should be reported!
Don't forget the /respec command, people! There's a time for having a genuine experience and paying for those skill points, but this ain't that time!
A little weird detail I'm adding for the heck of it is the ability to turn on slower diagonal walk speed by typing "/debug Diagonal" in the chat. This makes the diagonal movement of the character more mathematically correct. I'm curious to hear how people feel about that! It's still not entirely right, since the perspective should make characters move considerably slower along the Y axis, but... let's not go there!
@Own, if you have time to check out the Gun-D4m fight to see if my changes had any effect, please report back here so I know if it worked!
Translators! Every detailed spell description for the updated spells (SpellBasic, SpellC1, etc) has been changed to become more generic (and to reflect new properties). This is good news for everyone, since you won't have to update the translation if we change the EP cost or duration of something! I haven't flagged these entries, however, since that makes the tools delete your old text and that might not be desirable. I'll change that for you after the Steam Early Access release!
Anyways... behold! Actual patch notes!
Additions
Lab time! By typing /debug Diagonal in the chat, you can try out slower diagonal walk speed - see forum patch notes for info on why
All cards from Seasonne and Temple of Seasons now have working effects!
You can now open the gift boxes dropped by the Gift enemies
Prototype gold charges have been added to all spells
The air spell Static Touch has been added to the game (replacing Wind Slash)
Changes
Increased damage on GUN-D4M's blue shots - now comparable to the other types of bullets
The Frostling Boots have been removed from the Arcade Mode drop pool and instead added to the shops
Chain Lightning's damage reduction per bounce has been reduced to 20 %, down from 30 %
Chain Lightning can now bounce back to the player if lacking enemies to bounce at
Flame Thrower's silver charge can now be canceled out of by attacking
Shadow Clone has been reworked to block out less EP, and deal less damage but having a chance to proc debuffs
Summon Plant's silver charge is now a ranged minion (and very cute)
Frosty Friend now has a bunch of player commands that unlock with charge level
Frosty Friend's HP now partly scales with player level
Frosty Friend will now automatically resurrect after a while if dead - this goes faster if player helps
Movement speed while charging has been increased to 40 % (up from 20 %)
The number of character slots has mysteriously been increased to 9
The air spell Wind Slash has been removed from the game
Whirlslash has had its damage slightly reduced on silver charge
The Dodging Strike attack animation is now attack and spell cancelable
If you get a Perfect Dodge when using Dodging Strike, the next spell or skill used (within 1 second) will auto charge to the same level
Bug Fixes
GUN-D4M, Phaseman and the Arcade Bullet Machine's bullet hells have all been optimized a bit
The bosses on the later Arcade Mode floors should no longer be impossible to obtain S rank for
Fixed a rare crash while talking to the shopkeeper on the highest floor in Arcade Mode
Leveling only a talent before seeing the quicklevel box for the first time no longer crashes the game
Getting knocked out of the Smash animation will no longer leave behind an eternal hitbox of death
Naniva no longer start talking when you level up, despite not having her along anymore
The Fishing Gods now lets you fish again from the same spot even if you failed or cancelled your previous attempt
Fixed a typo in the Small Clock description
The reticle for targeted spells should no longer have trouble traversing certain areas
The Living Puzzle Block should no longer be able to jump out of bounds
It's now possible to push the Living Puzzle Block after its defeat even if it died airborne
A cutscene can no longer be interrupted by a Game Over, resulting in missed story content
The Multitasking talent no longer needs points on Shield Bearer to become active (oops!)
You can no longer use the Prismatic talent to reduce the cost of Shadow Clone
Next Patch: I'll patch 0.599i at least one more time, to update the visuals. I'll also be throwing in much of Vilya's menu reworks (sadly not the equipment part) before 0.600a. In reality, we'll probably have a number of i-iterations due to bugs
Ideally, I want a week of stability before publishing the game on Steam Early Access.