Version 0.681a

[Teddy]

Summary: A little in-between patch with bug fixes and sounds for half of the inner shrine (the first cutscene and the final boss now has sounds)!

Recommended level: still around 21-23

Update Description

Copypaste disclaimer: This is one of those real Frontline updates, meaning the polish level is at maybe 80 % or so. Place holder sounds, some missing effects, etc! Old timers know what to expect!

Also note: Just like with the crafting recipes, the items sold by the shop NPCs will be changed a bit later on! We'll definitely add some new baseline equipment, and some new hats.

Mostly bug fixes, some minor changes, and half the sounds are in!

Note for translators: we've chopped up the dialogue after beating you-know-who, where the priests are talking on top of the altar. We wanted it to be more clear that they were talking about the crown when saying "this piece", so Fred whipped up a little animation, requiring a pause in the dialogue. I'll leave the original dialogue in until the Stable update, so you can use that to copy-paste your translation!

Here are the humble patch notes:

Additions

• A rather easy to reach chest has been added to the final part of Tai Ming
• The first cutscene and the Mimic battle has received their sound effects!

Changes

• Solving the puzzle in the mimic room during the battle now grants the puzzle reward immediately
• Jumpkins should now function better in multiplayer with high latency (100+ ping)
• Shroomies should now function better in multiplayer with high latency (100+ ping)

Bug Fixes

• A certain timed boss encounter's HP Bar should now render properly even with custom fonts
  
• Fixed a bug where certain dead enemies would leave their HP bars behind when HP Bar setting was set to Always On
• Shroomies should no longer get knocked out of the map on death by powerful skills
  
• Insect Swarm can nog target the second Mimic stage properly
  
• If Shadow Clone is active during a certain cutscene where the player is lifted into the air, the shadows no longer stand on the ground
• Angel's Thirst now properly applies its ATK bonus if equipped when loading a character
  
• Player pets (slimes, rabbys etc - not summons) should now properly fade out on clients when watching cutscenes
  
• Rolling barrels should no longer be able to get stuck in walls
  
• Rolling barrels now have smaller hitboxes (roughly half, placed towards the direction they're rolling)
  
• Moving dead Living Puzzle Blocks (wait wat) should now be synced correctly between server/client
  
• The caged statue in Puzzle World no longer becomes invulnerable if caged again after being incapacitated
  
• If forced into IP network option due to Steam being down, the game now changes back automatically when the game is restarted (if Steam is up)

 

[Own]

Purple Kimono description: String not found.

 

[Shady C]

"Insect Swarm can nog target the second Mimic stage properly"

I assume you mean "now" rather than "not," despite G and T being closest?

Thanks for the patch though! (First reply AND view, woot!)
Welp. First view, anyway. I took my time with the reply

 

[Teddy]

Purple Kimono description: String not found.

Deeerrrrp

 

[res7less]

Well, women back then weren't wearing strings.

 

[res7less]

Um, I'm getting piracy messages during loading screens all of a sudden. Not sure when exactly it started, though.

 

[Teddy]

Um, I'm getting piracy messages during loading screens all of a sudden. Not sure when exactly it started, though.

I made a mistake that triggered the detection erroneously! It should be fixed in a new, epic 200 byte update!

 

[res7less]

It should be fixed in a new, epic 200 byte update!

As long as it's easy to fix

Just adding some more random thoughts after almost only speaking up if something's broken. There should also be positive feedback!

- I find it amazing how after three updates, which were some time apart, numerous hours of translating with the game in the background and three zones of Tai Ming, I still love its music. It's so melancholic, bittersweet and really fitting.
- When playing coop yesterday through the second and third parts of Tai Ming, the lag issues were noticably less severe and several issues like dead effects, summoned pets and all that stuff worked almost completely smoothly. A great deal of multiplayer improvements made the experience way better than I remember it from the Cursed Priestess fight, which was simply frustrating in multiplayer.
- There was one instance where I unexcpectedly froze a monkey while another monkey was throwing a key to it. Worked smoothly - the key just traveled until the border of the area, landed on the floor and could be picked up. Just thought it was neatly done.
- The whole mimic battle is a whole lot of fun to play. It's super chaotic and well-designed. Also like the new sound effects for it.
- Except for the Cursed Priestess boss battle, the whole Tai Ming is my favourite part of the game so far, story-wise, art-wise, character-wise, design-wise, sound-wise and all other things. Really, really great stuff. If there was an equivalent of licking your fingers after a tasty meal for a gaming experience, I would certainly do it.

 

[Ulithium_Dragon]

Additions

• A rather easy to reach chest has been added to the final part of Tai Ming

Well you certainly weren't kidding: that WAS rather easy to find. XD

- When playing coop yesterday through the second and third parts of Tai Ming, the lag issues were noticably less severe and several issues like dead effects, summoned pets and all that stuff worked almost completely smoothly. A great deal of multiplayer improvements made the experience way better than I remember it from the Cursed Priestess fight, which was simply frustrating in multiplayer.

I also notices some large amounts of lag trying to play coop in Tai Ming. I think my friend musta had something like 30 seconds of latency lmfao. n.nU

 

[Own]

Noticed some people co-opping Tai Ming. Four bad multi bugs.

https://player.twitch.tv/?volume=1&video=v134135372&t=05h38m00s Left unable to find a way past the crumbled statue, returned, saw a 'sleeping' statue with a full HP bar and a gate only visible for P2. Had to quit and log back in.

https://player.twitch.tv/?volume=1&video=v134135372&t=08h10m55s P2 doesn't see Mimic Phase 2 HP bar lowering.

https://player.twitch.tv/?volume=1&video=v134135372&t=08h12m55s P2 is revived in the transition from room 2 to 3 while also being hit with a bomb. P1 transitions to room 3, P2 is stuckin room 2 while seeing room 3.

https://player.twitch.tv/?volume=1&video=v134135372&t=08h13m35s P2 quits and rejoin to fix the above issue, loading into mimic room with the bottom bars missing. Boss battle music never starts and boss's HP bar empties to 0 in the middle of the fight without it being anywhere near dead.

In non-bug discussions: Why is Angel's Thirst a 2H melee weapon? Areas tend to be pretty good about having weapon diversity, spacing them out, but the Toy Axe and Angel's Thirst are both obtained in the same 'temple' and are both 2H melee weapons. Tai Ming lacks a 2H magic weapon, and the area before it only has one as the hardest to reach chest in an area most people miss because the game never indicates you can go there.

Unless the Angel's Thirst is meant to be the strongest 2H weapon in the game when you have all the cards. But it's not exactly hidden if that's the case, as super weapons typically are in games. You see the rune tile when you first enter phase 3. If it's meant to be a secret, possibly overlooked superweapon, then it seems like the rune tile should only be exposed after mimic's final barrage. The floor covering the rune tile is blown away, or something.

Or if it's a matter of redundancy... making it a proper, epic, defining 'hybrid' weapon is something we're lacking. Keep the card buff special, but also give it the special of flipping it's bonus from ATK to MATK / MATK to ATK with every skill use. Ex: Heroic slam with +100 to ATK, it switches to +100 MATK. Use meteor, it switches back to +100 ATK. Skill juggling becomes viable.

 

[KoBeWi]

If it's meant to be a secret, possibly overlooked superweapon, then it seems like the rune tile should only be exposed after mimic's final barrage.

It would be fun if there was a guaranteed Living Block during the fight, which you then use to solve the puzzle.

 

[Own]

It would be fun if there was a guaranteed Living Block during the fight, which you then use to solve the puzzle.

Isn't that what already happens?

 

[res7less]

Or if it's a matter of redundancy... making it a proper, epic, defining 'hybrid' weapon is something we're lacking. Keep the card buff special, but also give it the special of flipping it's bonus from ATK to MATK / MATK to ATK with every skill use. Ex: Heroic slam with +100 to ATK, it switches to +100 MATK. Use meteor, it switches back to +100 ATK. Skill juggling becomes viable.

I can see why you're suggesting this, but the problem with having such a hybrid weapon in combination with its power is that everyone would (be forced) use it, which would result in a loss of late game diversity. If its power level was lower, then one could have it that way during a phase of the game until better equipment appears, but having it as the "ultimate weapon" would limit the choice of weapon to 1, which is never a good thing. I was actually thinking whether or not it would be a good idea to have the player decide whether the weapon is 1h or 2h when picking it up, but I guess what I said earlier would go for that too. I think it's best left the way it is, although I agree with two strong 2h weapons dropping in one place is redundant. Perhaps it can be solved with crafting later.

You see the rune tile when you first enter phase 3

When fighting the mimic for the first time, I actually thought that it was the key to defeat the boss or would help somehow, so I pushed the damn block there across the whole blasted enemy-filled area mid-fight But alas, nothing happened until the end of the fight, which was "fixed" a couple of days later.

 

[KoBeWi]

Isn't that what already happens?

I don't know, you said the block can be seen when you first enter the phase.

 

[Own]

I can see why you're suggesting this, but the problem with having such a hybrid weapon in combination with its power is that everyone would (be forced) use it, which would result in a loss of late game diversity. If its power level was lower, then one could have it that way during a phase of the game until better equipment appears, but having it as the "ultimate weapon" would limit the choice of weapon to 1, which is never a good thing. I was actually thinking whether or not it would be a good idea to have the player decide whether the weapon is 1h or 2h when picking it up, but I guess what I said earlier would go for that too. I think it's best left the way it is, although I agree with two strong 2h weapons dropping in one place is redundant. Perhaps it can be solved with crafting later.

I said a super weapon, not the 'ultimate weapon.' Super weapons are endgame weapons, which Angel's Thirst is likely going to be once you have all the cards since it grows as you go through the game.

The 100 was a generic number, since it's damage increases with cards. The only difference in how it currently works is it's damage would swap between ATK and MATK with every skill usage. Pure ATK users wouldn't use it due to their attacks losing effectiveness every other hit, pure MATK users wouldn't use it for much the same reason. The only people who would are those making use of the talents that boost magic when melee is used, or boost melee when magic is used. And I doubt the existence of such a weapon would make everyone flock to a hybrid build, considering very little other gear boosts MATK and ATK. And most people probably don't bother doing more than spamming the same max gold skill over and over.

Actually throwing hybrid fighters a bone so their builds can be viable doesn't invalidate pure melee or pure magic.

I don't know, you said the block can be seen when you first enter the phase.

I said rune tile.

 

[res7less]

The 100 was a generic number, since it's damage increases with cards. The only difference in how it currently works is it's damage would swap between ATK and MATK with every skill usage. Pure ATK users wouldn't use it due to their attacks losing effectiveness every other hit, pure MATK users wouldn't use it for muc the same reason.

I know the 100 was just an example, I was talking about the idea of stat switching on skills in general. What do you mean by pure MATK users won't use it? MATK users have only spells to rely on, so a weapon that switches to MATK on skill use (if we're talking spells=skills here as far as I can follow), would be the perfect weapon for them. You're right about the pure ATK users, though. At least about those lazy ones, who just button mash through the game, while yawning. Still, a powerful endgame weapon shouldn't encourage a playstyle, but be an extension of one instead. Unless there will be multiple endgame weapons, which synergize with different playstyles. But that remains to be seen.

 

[Own]

I use skill as a general catch-all for spells and skills. I suppose 'abilities' would be a better word. What I meant is:

Special: Flip the damage bonus between MATK and ATK after each (non-support) ability use.

Ex: Angel is +100 ATK. Player uses Heroic Slam, Angel is now +100 MATK. Player uses Heroic Slam again, Angel is now +100 ATK. Player uses Meteor, Angel is now +100 MATK. Requiring constant back-and-forth between spells and skills to get any benefit out of it, instead of going the Winter's Bite method of "Your spells and skills are okay." Wit and Battlemage talents actually become viable with a weapon to synergize with.

 

[res7less]

Special: Flip the damage bonus between MATK and ATK after each (non-support) ability use.

Ah! I thought you were talking about the stat automatically switching to ATK or MATK depending on the skill used. Guess that was my own interpretation (edit: Oh wow, that pun wasn't even intended) Now that I get it, yes, that would indeed make it a weird and impractical, but also interesting weapon not for everyone's use. This wouldn't combine well with the weapon's current bonus, however, since everyone has cards to benefit from, but not every player is a battle mage. It's a good idea for a separate weapon to support battle mages, though, to encourage hybrid builds like you said.

 

[Teddy]

Noticed some people co-opping Tai Ming. Four bad multi bugs.

Neat finds! Four less bugs lurking around before the so-called "Stable" bomb

In non-bug discussions: Why is Angel's Thirst a 2H melee weapon? Areas tend to be pretty good about having weapon diversity, spacing them out, but the Toy Axe and Angel's Thirst are both obtained in the same 'temple' and are both 2H melee weapons.

Unlike many weapons, that are usually placed at certain intervals, the decision just stemmed from us thinking it would be cool if the weapon in the painting was the reward for solving the puzzle! As for the power of the weapon, your final assessment is actually correct: when the game is complete, it will likely not be more powerful than the Toy Axe since players won't have all the cards. We're considering making a trinity of weapons that behave in the same way, but with different stats (but that's not set in stone yet)!

If it's meant to be a secret, possibly overlooked superweapon, then it seems like the rune tile should only be exposed after mimic's final barrage. The floor covering the rune tile is blown away, or something.

It's definitely more apparent to people than we thought, but we're not really that upset about it since it requires a loooot of card grinding to become that end-game weapon!

However, a "fun" (a.k.a depressing) fact is that it was suggested that the tile would be covered by a piece of wood, and that the wood would burn away after the final barrage. But it was voted down, or so I thought... in the end, apparently we all totally misunderstood what we were talking about when voting. So now we're going to do that after all, since it's better all around to make the puzzle solution unavailable until the battle is actually over (people can appreciate the solution a bit more, no more getting taunted into solving it mid battle hoping for a special effect as res7less did, etc).

As for your idea for a hybrid weapon, I think that sounds rather intriguing, though I agree with res7less that Angel's Thirst might be too niche a weapon to apply that, also very niche, special effect on!

 

[The G-Meister]

no more getting taunted into solving it mid battle hoping for a special effect as res7less did, etc

Can confirm I attempted this as well, so change approved by me