mossbyte

Patch notes

TRAINING ARC 0.23.0

Alpha

TRAINING ARC is in Alpha. Every system the game will launch with is in. From here we make it right: balance, a bigger and clearer islet, new art. A lot has changed since the last build with notes (0.15.0). The highlights:

Combat

  • Grabbing works properly now. Tap LB (O on keyboard) when GRAB shows, even mid-combo. While you hold a foe, everyone else freezes for a few seconds so you can pick your throw: into the crowd, at the screen, or BACKSTAGE, which sends a grunt sailing off into the scenery. Nothing can hit you while you throw.
  • Grunts don't back away so fast, and your combo blows pull you in a step when a foe drifts just out of reach.
  • Juggles feel better: foes hang at the top, fall more gently, and air attacks chain faster.
  • The Flurry stuns every grunt caught in it until it's over.
  • Hitting a shot back is a RETURN TO SENDER now. The RB evade can't be spammed: a hop that dodges nothing rests a moment, a hop that dodges something chains.
  • New moves are taught inside the episode, with a quick try right there.
  • Every fighter has a real crowd-clearer, and Up + Y / Down + Y are much easier to trigger.
  • Emperor Hailcrown recuts his fight as it goes: THE EXTENDED CUT, then THE DIRECTOR'S CUT.
  • A boss you burn down fast stays down: emptying the health bar ends the fight, and everything the boss called in goes with it (no leftover acts playing out on an empty bar).

One Power Level

  • The BATTLE number is gone. You have one PL, the same on the islet and in a fight. Gear and forms make you hit harder, and against a boss you see how close you are ("VS BOSS 48%", then READY!).

Farming

  • Every zone counts its completions, played by hand or on Auto-Battle. Two completions open Auto x2 there, and twelve open Auto x4. Press LS (P on keyboard) to step through Off, x1, x2 and x4. Each zone remembers your pick, and a clear pays the same at any speed.

The islet

  • The islet from THE SHOW is the game's islet now: five departments that grow from junk, a call sheet with what to do next, crew who take chores over, and Energy you place yourself.
  • Easier to find your way around:
    • every sign names what its door opens (the Gadget Shop, the Training Drills, the Bean Garden);
    • B takes you back out in one press;
    • Pause > Departments says what each next level needs;
    • the call sheet tells you when a mentor can teach you a skill.
  • The islet is redrawn in pixel art at the fighters' scale, with a sun that moves with the hour.
  • Sleepy crew nap in the green room and walk back to work rested.

Looks and sound

  • Lighting: crisp shadows, rim light and lamp glow everywhere (Settings > Display > Lighting).
  • A deeper fight floor in every zone, more room to move up and down.
  • Many stages repainted and relit, and the fighters get new forms, poses and gear on every frame.
  • 31 characters have new voices, and the game starts quieter (every slider at 30%).

Also

  • Leaderboards: a Season speedrun, the Hourglass Tower and Boss Rush.
  • PREVIOUSLY ON: pick up your last save from the title with one TUNE IN.
  • The save slots are a studio control room.
  • Crash reports: if the game ever closes on you, the next launch offers a report you can paste into #bug-reports.
  • Fixed: at 125%+ Windows display scaling the screen no longer sits squeezed into a corner.