Midweek Devlog # 8 Nearly There

So this week, I'm not done but very close to done with TOM's revisions and an update should be out within the next week or so. Like we really are that close. Here's what's going on this week though.

I've playtested the game and I've observed the following:

• Guardian of the Queen needs a rework - he feels a little too hp sponge. I think if I shrink his HP pool a bit more and/or make him more vulnerable to Morgan's attacks he will be balanced better.
• Nixies are still getting fixed - I'm going to mess with them and Sprites. There needs to be more Fairy enemies in the actual fairy location, so I'm going to split up some of the Nixie abilities with one or two other Fairies. Sprites need to be buffed, and Nixies slapped silly.
• Boiling Crawlers are NOT an issue. Here's what's my thoughts are about it - Boiling Crawlers by and large are far less problematic than made to be, especially if you equip the equipment that was given to you by Guardian's defeat. I made those drop for the specific purpose of handling the increased difficulty. In both cases I've seen, not equipping the weapons I gave directly led to a much harder time downing the Crawlers. It got considerably easier once it was equipped. 
  • However I will concede that more could have been done to ease into the higher difficulty of Fire Realm. Therefore, the following changes have been added:
  • Player Stats have been buffed for both Awakened Blaze and Phoenix God Classes - More on this later
  • Multiclassing gives you more options to control the battle with. Spy skills remain even during the Primal Realm segment of the game. This allows for greater disruption tactics against these enemies.
  • A warning reminding you to equip your new gear is now implemented before you enter the main part of the Fire Realm
  • Scald will be buffed to 85% infliction instead of 75%. All of these things should make the Boiling Crawlers feel more balanced
• Primal Beast mini boss needs rework - He's freaking boring and Morgan is nigh useless. It's annoying rather than a cool fight.
• Sivestal is getting completely reworked from the ground up. Same basic narrative flow but improved, and hopefully more concise mechanics.

Beyond mere gameplay then, I'm going to be adding a few buffer areas and optional paths here and there, you'll have to actually find them, but doing so will reward with treasures and lore tid bits. Some previous lore bits will be moved elsewhere into these side areas, allowing people to not burn out as hard on these things. By and large, most of my work balancing is done. I'll need to do maybe one more playtest after I've tidied up the remaining balance issues and the new areas, and then we should be largely good to go.

Let's have a word on the multiclasses. The original stats such as HP, Magic Attack, and so on, have been fleshed out, the Awakened Blaze and Phoenix God classes cause you to have a notable stat jump from Spy, and you should feel more powerful than before (because you are) in the Primal Realm segment. All Primal Realm enemies however are naturally resistant to Spy type attacks, meaning you're not going to use those skills for damage but utility. The notable lack of damage is on purpose, as your human skills pale in comparison with your newfound powers. You can switch which class you are focusing at any time, but your priority should be your elemental classes as the level cap is level 10, and you get very diminishing returns for leveling your Spy class. There is a few skills that would be useful, but that is the Player's choice.

I do have some art commissions pending with the character artist Mori, so hopefully in the next few weeks we'll start to see those come out in time for the update. Unfortunately that's all for today, sorry that I'm a bit late, but I had an unexpected livestream of SR:MT happen that delayed me (I'm certainly not complaining about that). You all have a great week, and I hope to have promising news for you all next week!