I've been a bit obsessive since I launched my game last week, I'll admit. While I haven't recorded every minor change I've made, I've been at work pruning through as much as possible to streamline the experience (and change things with what feedback I've been given). Some things of note in this latest update.

• Mountain pass normal enemies HP reduced again, while increasing their damage output.
• If Spider Boss absorbs crystals' energy, buff changes from HP Regen to an increase in Thunder Spit's damage for 8 turns. This fight should drag on much less, but don't slack off; this spider hits hard.
• Several tweaks to numbers for fights in the next area as well.
• Typo/bug fixes.
• Fixed a bug in a scene in Hrelda.
• Direct healing spells can now be used out of combat. Due to how MP works, you'll have to enter combat to restore MP again, but this should hopefully help to avoid entering combat with very low HP when you run out of items.
• More animations/sequences sped up.
• Introductory fight reduced in duration.
• More flavor text/interactions added to the world.

On difficulty: While I may add a difficulty option later on, right now it's not on the table. I'm aware that for some people, the boss fights might be really hard. I'm still waiting for more feedback, but I'm kind of okay with it right now. When designing boss difficulty, I'm attempting to recreate that feeling as a child (or even in some cases as an adult) where you're nearly sweating because the boss is almost dead, but dang it is he still putting up a fight! Balancing between that and the fights being outright frustrating (and for some that, a snoozefest) can be difficult, but I'll be making adjustments as I go along. I also really wanted to emphasize items. I know some RPG players try to go through games without using any, and I think in many older JRPGs it feels like (for the most part) that items feel like "cheating." It kind of seems like a waste of a slot, then.

So, while skill healing in my game is pretty good (especially when you build Aarlin as a support/healer, which you can do later in the demo once he has access to more +magic equipment. You'll get a sword in the last dungeon that can help with this. The nice part is, if you Alter Cascade into Deliverance, he still puts out solid damage.), items are going to be necessary unless you're spot on with mechanics. Even then, I have to use items when I test my bosses.

Thank you to everyone who has downloaded. If you liked it, great. If you hated it, don't feel bashful!