Happy New Year everyone!

I'm going to go back to weekly updates soon, but I had to fix a few things that were bothering me. I also wanted to share some screens I have of part 2! Compared to the original: a new dungeon awaits, Hrelda gets a little bit of a facelift, and the battle arena is open! These are not available live...yet.

Change log for the newest version is below. I had to cut some things I really didn't want to in the name of performance/stability, but that's life I suppose. The battle system had to be tweaked quite a bit in how turns are processed, but I think I managed to keep things feeling roughly the same.

I'm on the lookout for beta testers! I can beta test your game in exchange. Right now I'm looking for bug testers primarily. I have a group of 3 excellent beta testers who have given me critical feedback and helped me out tremendously, but the more the merrier.

Change Log 1/1/2022

----PERFORMANCE----

Visual TP gauge on boss is gone, in place of a display window each turn (what he had before). There was a weird memory leak. Might implement it when I figure out why. If that fight was lagging, that's probably why.

Made a minor tweak that won't let an ability's sequence start until other animations have been cleared from memory. If you hit buttons fast or use auto battle, this might cause a brief pause between actions. If you select a little slower, you won't notice anything. This was done to stop an animation buildup in the background that was contributing to FPS loss in battle.

--- BATTLE ---

Battle system changed slightly. There are now "rounds" where everyone acts one time. This was done to prevent a soft-lock bug, which had to do with the way turns were being processed. Because of this change, certain abilities and stats were modified and agility has an expanded functionality.

All expose element damage reduced by 10%, due to crit changes.

Base crit chance increased from 4% to 8%.

Agility now increases critical hit damage, as well as critical hit chance. This is a custom formula and I need feedback to see how this feels. You should be critting for roughly 5-15% chance, depending on how high your agility and crit chance are. The formula starts to take off at higher levels, so you may not notice a dramatic difference in part 1. Still, agility is also is a factor in who goes first in a round.

Critical hits increase Focus gained by 1. 

Standard attack damage increased.

Reduce Stat Buff max to 5 turns.

Most states will now expire at the end of the turn (when all allies and enemies have completed a round), except specific buffs like Alchemy. This means that status effects will last longer than before.

Awakened (the immunity state that Divine Star gives you) now also restores 1% HP before expiring. This is to prevent a 0 HP hero from immediately dying again.

Due to combat system shift and the lesser impact of agility, Chill now reduces ATK and AGI by 30%.  Enfeeble reduces MAG/AGI by 30%.

Added in some new screen effects on crit, guard, and certain abilities. I shouldn't say new, they were there. I just forgot to turn them on >_<

---SKILLS---

Brace now grants high "speed." This ensures you will be act more quickly in the next round.

Inner Focus buffed to 10% HP/MP/1 FP. Additional effect removed.

Wither changed: costs 3 FP, instant use ability (does not consume a turn).

EXPERIMENTAL: Motivation replaced with Guardian. Aarlin can taunt enemies for 1 round. Cost: 5 FP

Crusade does more damage and restores an extra 1 FP.

Sniper changed. It starts with the aim ability, which consumes a turn. The following turn, you can use Snipe, which does high damage. Aim can be interrupted by damage.

Predator changed. It now lets Quinten do double auto attacks the remainder of battle. This works with Snipe, but it will remove Predator (it can then be reapplied).

Kara's Wild Spin talent is now Siegebreaker, a powerful weapon ability that does massive weapon damage, consumes expose weapon, and stuns Kara. It's level 14 so...unlikely you'll see it yet. But it's a pretty cool ability anyway! :)

Improved Kara's Spin animation sequence.

Added a projectile to Kara's stun bomb ability (there are Strong Potions hidden in the cave. You can use Alchemy on them to try out the stun bombs!).

Alchemy effect for "Potion" is now a 60% HP heal. The difference from the previous version should be minor in the early game, but will make it useful later on. All items will have some value!

Chillwind Brew MP cost reduced from 40 to 30.

Recover - 30% MP for 1 FP.

Mana-Gorged Spider's buff Unstable Energy properly calculates now. It's gonna hurt...good luck!

---OTHER----

Remnant in the caves has a short story sequence attached, setting up for bigger things in part 2 and beyond.