Third Weekly Update!

Weekly Update!

Hello everyone and welcome to our Third Weekly Patch Notes!

This is coming a little early as I unfortunately will be very busy with some life stuff for the next few days when I'd normally put the update out. I plan to return to Thursday/Friday Weekly updates starting next week.

Just like last update these patch notes are divided into the Default Branch and Beta Branch Updates. The previous Beta Branch has been rolled into the new Default Branch with some minor tweaks to help ensure stability. 

The new Beta introduces a lot of new features and polish focusing on abilities, combat, companions, and UI.

Hope you all enjoy the update!

-Lansdolli

DEFAULT BRANCH UPDATE:

NEW FEATURES

Companions are now fully controllable in combat. Companions are now also able to evolve and have access to the same ability pool the player has. For those who wish to do so you can explore multiple class progressions in one save this way.

In addition to companions there have been many bug fixes and UI changes that should make the game feel more polished and complete. There has also been more content added that should start to make the world feel more full of things to do.

The ability to "Wait" has also been added, so now you can regen by just holding Z while out of combat but be careful the world keeps moving while you wait...including zone bosses.

Autosaving is now in the game, set to autosave the game in a new "0" save slot every 1000 ticks. You can disable this if you so choose in the settings.

Thank you for playing the beta and I hope you enjoy the new features!

Companions

You now control companion turns in combat! The companion turn uses the same full combat screen as the player's turn. All combatants shown with the active companion marked with ◄. Actions: Attack, Defend, Use Potion, prepared abilities, and Flee are all available options for each companion.

Companions can use abilities in combat — All effects work correctly including Iron Shell, Cleave, heals, buffs, and elemental damage. The prepare abilities screen for companions matches the player's exactly. same category grouping, same slot limit, same markers.

The follower menu is restructured — Select a companion by number to open their submenu: Equip, Talk, Dismiss. The equip menu shows current gear at the top, accepts all wearable items, and stays open after equipping.

View Stats — Now available from the equip submenu showing the companion's full stat block and gear.

Dismiss Companion — Now requires confirmation.

Level Cap — Companions cannot exceed the player's current level. This doesn't affect hired adventurers.

Evolving — If a companion is ready to evolve and the player skips the dialogue, the prompt returns automatically when talking to them again. A ✦ marks the path from the context menu through the follower list to the Talk option so it is never missed.

UI Changes

Combat — All combatants now use a two-line format: name on the first line, then level, HP bar, HP, MP, ATK, and DEF aligned in columns on the second. Player, companions, and enemies all share the same column widths.

Player — The player row now shows their name and level with a health bar. "You:" is gone.

Levels visible — Companions show their actual level in combat.

Trailing grid coordinates eliminated — The long line of grid coords is gone for new saves. Unfortunately this doesn't apply to old saves. However it is the only part of the update that doesn't apply to old saves permanently (and it is a minor visual one) so feel free to continue playing your old save with no worries!

Combat messages — in group combat pause between phases so the player can read them.

Zone Map

Rebuild — The zone map has been rebuilt to be geometrically accurate. The player marker, roads, and location symbols now sit at their correct world coordinates, a systematic rounding error previously caused all three to be offset from each other.

Roads — Roads no longer render over towns, dungeons, gates, or the player base.

Gates — Gates now appear on the zone map.

Recolor of ?? Tiles — Undiscovered tiles render dim grey instead of bright white.

Location Key — Location numbers continue past 9.

Town Criers — Now report the zone boss's live position.

Warning Signs

Warning Signs — Appear on the road before higher-level zone boundaries. One sign per crossing, rendered as a gold S. Stepping on it shows a popup that requires 1. Acknowledge to dismiss. Acknowledging one sign clears all signs for that crossing.

Zone Bosses

Zone Bosses — Spawn on road tiles and patrol between towns in their zone. Their position and data are correctly preserved across saves and loads.

Autosave

Autosave! — The game autosaves to slot 0 every 1000 turns. Slot 0 appears at the top of the save menu. Autosave can be toggled in Settings and is on by default.

Inventory

Ordered Inventory — The inventory is now categorized: Weapons, Armour, Consumables, Materials, Books and Tomes, Quest Items, and Other. It should be much easier to navigate your inventory now.

Quests

Main Quest: The Serpent's Legacy

A main quest is now in the game! It begins automatically on a new game: reclaim Mount Greywind from Axel, find Raltre at Smuggler's Den, collect the three guardian keys, and descend into the Lair of Obcassus. Progress tracks in your quest log with coordinates and checkmarks.

This quest is currently not old save compatible but I plan to be fixing that in the next couple days and pushing an update. UPDATE 6/12 IT HAS BEEN FIXED. Players with old saves just need to talk to Raltre to start the chain.

Chain Quest: The Shape of Things

A second quest opens at level 60 for players who have met Raltre. He will ask you to visit all four corners of the world. The reward is permanently expanded vision for your character!

Quest Log

Live Grids — The active quest screen now shows your current coordinates next to the header.

Quality of Life & Misc

Wait — Pressing Z now allows the player to "wait". Enemies advance, zone bosses patrol, and regen ticks exactly as if you had moved. Holding it down accelerates this effect.

New Items — Steel Dagger, Axe, Spear, Bow, and Staff now available at weaponsmiths.

Rest at Mount Greywind — now always free and restores full HP and MP.

Intro Fix — The new game intro scrolls from the top of the screen. Pressing Enter while it prints skips to instant.

Item Descriptions — Arcana XP text removed from book descriptions in the inventory to reduce bloat.

Difficulty rebalanced — Normal is now the default with unmodified stats. Easy is 0.8x HP and damage. Hard is unchanged.

Scaling Rewards — Dungeons now reward the player the deeper they go! Every 10 levels a new modifier is applied increasing their loot.

Bug Fixes

Fixed fleeing from a corner guardian triggering its death sequence and granting loot.

Fixed tavern quests not working correctly

Fixed messages clearing to fast for the player to read

Fixed a crash caused by talking to a specific traveling NPC

Fixed companion abilities not appearing in the combat menu despite being prepared.

Fixed companion MP being deducted twice when using an ability.

Fixed companions always displaying as level 1 in combat.

Fixed armor always equipping to the chest slot regardless of item type.

Fixed companions being able to exceed the player's level.

Fixed the evolution dialogue having no way to return to the theme selection.

Fixed companion ghost entities remaining on the map after dying and reloading.

Fixed teleporting leaving followers behind.

Fixed zone boss spawning a duplicate copy on every load.

Fixed dead hired adventurers reappearing in the guild roster.

Fixed enemies moving on the same turn they first detected the player.

Fixed combat messages clearing before the player could read them in group combat.

Fixed town crier reporting the wrong coordinates for the zone boss.

Companion ghost entities no longer remain on the map after dying and reloading from snapshot.

Teleporting through a gate or using the Teleport spell now brings followers with you.

Fixed some stability issues and crashes tied to ability menus

Fixed some save file issues affecting old saves regarding companions

Fixed duplication issues

BETA BRANCH UPDATE:

NEW FEATURES

This week's update focuses mostly on companions, enemy abilities, Mount Greywind, ability balance, combat polish, and several important save and progression fixes.

The biggest changes are aimed at making companions feel better long term. Their early stats have been toned down, a bonding system has been added for companions that unlocks more dialogue as well as an individual companion quest. Companion XP has been reworked so its awarded to each party member individually now allowing for a high level player to still level low level companions.

Abilities had a large overhaul specifically regarding buffs, debuffs, and status effects. Some abilities have been rebalanced to better fit their tiers and color coding as well as visual icons have been added to help easily identify when someone is under the effects of a buff, debuff, or status effect.

Mount Greywind has also received a base upgrade pass. The old Infirmary upgrade has been removed and replaced with several store upgrades, letting you build useful shops directly at your base.

There are also several fixes for zone bosses, saving and reloading companions, combat messages, ability descriptions, and duplicate prompts.

Mount Greywind

Base Store Upgrades: The Mount Greywind Infirmary upgrade has been removed and replaced with several new store upgrades.

You can now build the following shops at Mount Greywind:

• General Store

• Weaponsmith

• Armoury

• Forge

• Alchemy Lab

• Arcane Repository

Each upgrade opens that shop directly at your base, making Mount Greywind much more useful as a base you can operate out of.

Companions

Companion Starting Stats Rebalanced: Xen, Elara, and Una now start at 1 attack and 1 defense. They were too strong early and could carry the player harder than intended.

Companion Bond Progression: Companion loyalty and bond thresholds have been added. Unlocking deeper dialogue and companion personal quests.

Companion Quest Log Section: Companion personal quests appear in their own Companion Quests section in the quest log.

Downed Companion Dialogue: Downed companions now use a unique line about falling back to Greywind where they can be added back into the party.

Companion XP Rework: Companion XP has been reworked. XP from a kill is now split across the active party, then scaled based on each party member's level compared to the enemy. This means lower-level companions can continue gaining XP even when the player is far above the enemy's level. In some cases, under leveled companions will receive a catch up bonus. This fixes companions earning little or no XP when traveling with a high level player.

Save and Reload Fix: Fixed companions dismissed to Mount Greywind resetting to level 1 after saving and reloading. Their level, stats, and bond now persist correctly.

Enemy Abilities

Enemies now have their own assigned abilities. They require mp to use just like the players and all enemies now have their own mana pools and mana regen mechanics to allow for this to happen. 

There has been a lot of work to make sure enemy abilities function correctly and are somewhat balanced. However this is likely still the buggiest part of the update.

After defeating an enemy you can now see their ability in the Grimoire. 

Combat

Color Coded Buffs and Debuffs: Debuffs and buffs now change the color of the value they’re affecting. This should make it easy to tell at a glance what's currently being affected by buffs or debuffs.

Buff and Debuff Rebalance: Buff and debuff values have been rebalanced to scale by tier.

Strong Buff Drawbacks: Powerful buffs now come with drawbacks where appropriate. For example, Blood Frenzy now costs HP.

Elemental Debuff Icons Restored: Elemental debuff status icons are back and now appear next to the affected character's name.

Last Stand Reworked: Last Stand now makes the user unkillable for 2 turns, once per combat.

Iron Body Reworked: Iron Body now grants +15% defense for the rest of combat. Its message also no longer clears instantly.

Enemy MP Regen: Enemy MP now regenerates 2% of max MP per turn, matching the player.

Class Ability Restrictions: Class-defining abilities are now locked to their correct classes. This includes Frostfire Bolt, chromatic spells, and Venomblade signature abilities.

Ability Description Fixes: Several inaccurate ability descriptions have been corrected, including Titan's Blow.

Steel Weapon Text Cleanup: The Steel tag has been removed from steel weapon descriptions.

Combat Menu Polish

Ability Preview Cleanup: Removed the cluttered inline preview text that appeared after combat abilities.

Not Enough MP Message Fix: Fixed the Not enough MP message flashing by too quickly to read for both the player and companions.

Added More User Prompts to Avoid Disappearing Messages: Many combat messages were clearing before they could be read. This fixes that issue!

Duplicate Prompt Fix: Fixed the duplicate Press Enter to continue prompt appearing in dungeons and after using a damaging ability in group combat.

Zone Bosses

Road Patrols: Zone bosses now patrol strictly on roads instead of wandering across open terrain.

Chase Behavior: Zone bosses can still leave the road to chase the player, but will return to their road patrol afterward.

Existing Save Correction: Existing saves will auto-correct zone boss patrol behavior.

Zone Center Spawns: Zone bosses now spawn closer to the center of their zone instead of appearing near the starting area.

Bug Fixes

Fixed companions dismissed to Mount Greywind resetting to level 1 after save and reload.

Fixed companion level, stats, and bond not persisting correctly.

Fixed companion XP failing to scale correctly when the player was far over-leveled.

Fixed low-level companions earning no XP in some high-level player situations.

Fixed the Not enough MP message clearing too quickly.

Fixed duplicate Press Enter to continue prompts in dungeons.

Fixed duplicate Press Enter prompts after damaging abilities in group combat.

Fixed zone bosses spawning too close to the starting town.

Fixed zone bosses wandering across open terrain instead of staying on roads.

Fixed zone bosses not returning correctly to road patrols after chasing the player.

Fixed several inaccurate ability descriptions.

Fixed Iron Body's message clearing instantly.

Fixed elemental debuff icons not appearing next to affected characters.

Fixed companion personal quest confrontations triggering outside their intended zones.

Fixed downed companions reusing the dismiss dialogue line.

Future Plans:

I have three clear goals at the moment:

-Make the game stable and bug free

-Balance abilities and skills so the game feels like it has an appropriate difficulty curve

-Remove any existing clunkiness, this means further standardizing Space+Enter across all menus and default enter = 1 as well as bringing some things more in line with their systems like reworking alchemy and blacksmithing

Overall I'm really happy with the core systems of the game now and I feel as though the game has a great amount of content while offering the player maximum freedom to enjoy that content as they choose.

Have a great rest of your week!