TLS 0.76.0 Release
Added 2024-10-18 22:03:07 +0000 UTCTime for the final optional dungeon! Plus I know some of you refused to play the final battle until this part, so I wonder just how much of a cascade of new players that will get too. XD Well, for those people, I should warn you that though I did try to add the changes to the final battle, I cannot confirm that those are all done properly and balance is final.
TLS 0.76.1: https://mega.nz/file/75EUlD7A#CIG9-pBHiJ37HnEI2pHsewnzuDBdeFAlqgpJUBW4f0U
TLS 0.76.0
- Final optional dungeon and last combat challenges.
- Final harem member with attached sex scene.
- Final base books and unique equipment.
- Minor changes to final battle due to optional dungeon.
- Improvements and bugfixes to the dialogue busts, thanks to Rachnera and Lamsey.
- Improvements and bugfixes to new skills thanks to Lord Forte.
- Three new illustrated scenes: Orilise x Altina, Rescued Erosians, Robin Transformation
TLS 0.76.1
- No real bugs, for once, but still good to put out an improved build.
- Final harem member now has dialogue busts.
- Minor additions to the final optional dungeon.
- Minor balance tweaks.
As I warned before, not everyone will be able to get the last harem member. Everyone can visit the final optional dungeon (it just requires an endgame save) and grab various goodies, but you need all five Incubus King items to get the last reward.
Aside from that, we hope the new version of the dialogue busts is both improved and stable, but we'll only see that over time. Hmm, do I have anything else to say? This update caps off various pieces of the game, like 100% books or harem members, but otherwise this isn't a huge or complex one. Just hopefully a fun time for everyone who likes the combat.
On that note:
I tried to make an interesting variety of bosses here. A few have relatively narrow options for beating them, while others were meant to be flexible. What I'm most interested in is if players discover paths that I never even considered. If you feel like you're cheesing a boss (ie ignoring its main mechanics) let me know so I can fix things!
Some of the fights involve a little RNG, but less than you think thanks to use of enemy AI. There are some cases where bad strategies could win with RNG, but the goal was to encourage a party that reduces the effect of randomness.
Comments
I've updated the skills listed here on the wiki to reflect their actual Hit Type as of 0.76.3.
Grim8P
2024-10-27 13:13:51 +0000 UTCThis does indeed appear to be fixed in 0.76.2, so thank you. :)
DukeLeto7
2024-10-24 01:09:15 +0000 UTCPretty awesome! I know that redoing maps can be discouraging, but it really does make a difference. The new maps are beautiful. I hope Feroholm is one of them. :) I am super excited about the idea of more info on investments as well! You have created a game that is deeper, and better, than games with entire studios behind them, IMO.
Pheebor
2024-10-23 03:27:42 +0000 UTCAs a general rule, I think it still makes sense to show the full bust when introducing a character, as an analogue to looking someone up and down to take their measure when you first meet them. Also, the dialogue busts often don't show the full extent of the image (although the new one isn't cut off too much) and they can be disabled in the settings (though I don't know how likely that is).
Lamsey
2024-10-22 18:05:52 +0000 UTCCombat graphics are the flashiest, but I also intend to do various polishing and additions to the early sections. More new maps, for example. New art for some scenes, eventually. Debating adding a feature that gives more information about investments as well.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-22 16:25:20 +0000 UTCIIRC you mentioned this before. Could you give us a hint about what those new features might be to help us decide whether we want to wait for them before a new playthrough? Are they the various combat action doll graphics?
Pheebor
2024-10-22 15:23:56 +0000 UTCGlad to hear you enjoyed it! It's true that Nothingness adds an element of RNG, but with LUK affecting status effects so much more now, I actually worry that this makes it too easy to neutralize the risk. Good suggestions otherwise, just not sure how long it will take me to get to things. I have dialogue for the tablet... but I see it only triggers if you already read the first conversation. Will fix, thanks.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-22 12:13:33 +0000 UTCWhoops! Removed, thanks.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-22 12:11:18 +0000 UTCI have edited the event accordingly, but like the first change, I'm not going to be the one to test it. =/
Sierra Lee
2024-10-22 12:11:04 +0000 UTCThe wiki is less likely to be correct, but you're right about changing the text on Bonded Fantasy and I agree about Sexpocalypse.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-22 12:10:41 +0000 UTCThanks for checking things! I'm... still not entirely sure about displaying the busts, now that they're in the dialogue system.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-22 12:10:14 +0000 UTCJust completed the update. Man, that was a good one. Sadly, I don't think I have much new to add. I think the balance on the bosses is pretty immaculate. Just the right level of difficult, and it was fun figuring out their weaknesses and breaking the statues, one by one. I think the Scion of Magic felt a *bit* unfair, since the RNG of Nothingless can screw you over with bad rng, with no perceptable way of playing around it. On the other hand of the difficulty spectrum, Endbeast went down easily to a conventional party-set up. Never even figured out what it's gimmick/weakness was. Death is wonderful. Like everyone else, I just want to hear more from her. I wish we saw her interact more with the rest of the harem. Or potentionally even better, give her some location-triggered dialogue, to get some insight into her character from her conversations with Simon, and her opinions on some of Simon's actions, kinda like we did with Uyae in Chapter 3. How does Death feel about the Yhilin invasion and it's consequences? Simon's choice to accept becoming an Incubus King? Incubus Kings like the Lustlord, who seeked immortality? Hester and Xerces's plan for the world? Suicide as a concept, in context of the long-dead Goddess of Wind? The opportunities are endless! Minor bug: If you interact with the stone tablet in front of Death's coffin *after* fighting death, you still get dialogue from Aka and co. indicating you haven't fought Death yet.
DankPotatoes
2024-10-22 10:02:04 +0000 UTCI'm not sure if it has been fixed in 0.76.1 but in 0.76.0 this note stills appears: https://imgur.com/a/SC7aYjH
lostone2
2024-10-22 09:33:52 +0000 UTCWhaddya know, I'VE got a bug report for the Final Battle content. Not sure why I'm experiencing it now in the 0.76.1 content and not in my previous playthrough, I just debugged the code and found what I think was a fix instead of looking at a diff comparison of the version event dumps. It may have to do with the save editing I resolutely deny having undertaken. In map 21: The Final Battle/Final HQ/Final Push in EV003 at (001,000) there are two loop conditionals set up where it appears the intention is to move the Hester and Xerces racing pin events to the right by a count equal to one less than the value of variable [001: Random Number]. Unfortunately, the way the code is written the MoveLoop labels are positioned under the code that decrements Random Number by 1, so once the program gets into one of those loops, it gets stuck there infinitely. Moving the MoveLoop labels up by one line allowed me to continue the game apparently as normal. One point of anal retentive programmer advice: I wouldn't use MoveLoop as the label for both loops. I would name them HesterMoveLoop and XercesMoveLoop. I don't know if labels are scoped to within the conditionals and you CAN safely do what you've done here without fear of the code jumping from inside the loop for Xerces Pin Final into the loop for Hester Pin Final and potentially getting ensnared in another, longer, infinite loop, but I wouldn't risk it.
DukeLeto7
2024-10-22 06:45:41 +0000 UTCIn the 76.1 version, I like the new labels on the (Cannot Miss) skills, but I think a few still need the label (assuming that the wiki is correct). Ginasta's Burning Impulse Ginasta's Tyrant Strike Ginasta's Faux Retribution Lilith's Sexpocalypse (not sure if worth labeling this one) Nalili's Kiss of Steel Nalili's Blade of Lust Varia's Destined Blood Also, Yarra's Bonded Fantasy skill should be (Limited 1)
Innocuous
2024-10-22 05:24:23 +0000 UTCIt always worked before, maybe adding the dialog busts somehow messed things up. Checked my score in a save editor it was one missing. Losing out value in the chests for the better end of challenge reward was the optimisation was the trade off I always went for.
Q-Riff
2024-10-22 03:23:04 +0000 UTCMade a quick .1 pass - the updated anti-cheat no longer triggers, as expected, and the Swordechoes are much less frustrating now that it's clearer how to deal with them. I found the final battle a bit of a slog the second time around; it'd perhaps be good if her maximum HP decreased a bit (5-10% maybe?) each time she regenerates. This could also make in-world sense in terms of representing her increasing corporeality. You normally show a character's full bust image on their first line, but not here. Assuming that's not intentional, it would need to be the first line after the battle ends, which is this one: https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/zudrj30ps1v0adgkv3z3r/Screenshot-2024-10-21-21.30.11.png?rlkey=epurq3c2nuefcqry8jdsd3td7&dl=0 Note that her updated full-size PNG is 288px tall, so needs displayed at x=0,y=10.
Lamsey
2024-10-21 21:05:35 +0000 UTCDidn't change the gauntlet and I don't think anything else would alter that section. Maybe check the details again? I haven't thought about this in a while, but IIRC opening the chests beforehand is not the path to the best reward.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-21 19:30:59 +0000 UTCDid you change the Anak Gauntlet? I can't seem to get the liquid sex by opening the chests beforehand anymore..... More specifically I can't seem to open some of the chests.
Q-Riff
2024-10-21 13:55:14 +0000 UTCMy first thought was in how much Sierra has improved making maps. My second was swap members, what the...., lol. I haven't touched the game since the 0.73.x and the whole thing with swapping members has left me both speechless and bewildered. Some of the new spells (for me at least) are awesome and a great motivation to replay the whole game again. The new dialogue system is also pretty nice.
lostone2
2024-10-20 17:15:35 +0000 UTCYup, sure did. Have had this save for a long time, and been playing around with the save editor a lot off and on between versions to see what shenanigans I can pull. Good to know though, thanks!
Firang
2024-10-20 16:19:41 +0000 UTC> So I tested it once and Yarra did not go before the Lust Bomb so I figured the AGI boost wasn't enough. I think I saw this too, but with Nalili. I suspect it's because of the unicorn applying debuffs.
Lamsey
2024-10-20 10:04:43 +0000 UTCI saw in another comment that you were open to suggestion for other characters interacting with the new harem member so here are my suggestion (spoilers obviously) Lilith. I know Death made the joke about hating Carina, but I feel as if Lilith might actually have reason to hate Death. As Death is the absence of life, and the dead don't often do anything "chaotic". Only the living can create chaos. Every living being, without fail, ends up dead eventually, which is the type of rigid order Lilith likely doesn't like. Wynn: I imagine she'd totally be asking for some necromancy pro tips. The Empress. Look, Esthera has long fetishized death from a distance, now she can do it up close!
WaxerRed
2024-10-20 05:14:26 +0000 UTCSounds like you hit the anti-cheat, which is perhaps a bit too broad. Did you by chance enter the optional dungeon with an unusually large amount of Sx or ProN?
Sierra Lee
2024-10-20 02:49:43 +0000 UTCOkay, I think my years-old save across multiple versions is broken, or my brain is, even odds on which. I beat all the bosses, place the 5 items on the pedestals and get... A Victor's Sword, no final boss? Am I supposed to take this somewhere? There is also a chest with an Emblem of Triumph key item, that also doesn't seem to do much. Tried talking to every object in the area, couldn't seem to find any hidden interaction. Tried looking in the Tower base to see if there was something there, no Dice. I feel like I'm missing something obvious, but no idea what.
Firang
2024-10-20 02:06:33 +0000 UTCOh, yes, definitely, we need more talky to establish the newest member better. Lilith and The Mother were other late additions, and they have entire additional quests focused largely on talking to them AFTER their initial recruitment quest (Trin/Orilise quests respectively). Simon barely says anything to the newest member :S
Duncan Lutz
2024-10-19 23:31:58 +0000 UTCIt was only reading this comment thread that I went to the character pages on the wiki and realized [Certain Hit] was a tag on a number of skills, and thus, was an option to consider in combat. So yeah, it would be great if these were clearly labeled. As far as Nalili is concerned... apparently damn near everything she has is labeled [Certain Hit.] Basically, all her native attacks are [Certain Hit] with the skills she gains from other characters lacking the tag (other than buffs.) The only exception is the recently added ones "Hip Check" and "True Cleavage." The later is even more bizarre as Cleavage has the [Certain Hit] tag when it's upgraded form does not. Even more bizarre when I realized that "Sex Appeal," the junk skill that Simon helps Nalili upgrade into "Cleavage" during Ch2, is also [Certain Hit]. So only the ultimate form of the ability lacks the tag. So her core move set was tagged entirely with [Certain Hit] but then additional abilities were not? I can see this being an oversight. Oh, and yeah, I'm well aware that "Orgy of Blows" can whiff an attack or two as it chooses targets BEFORE striking. If a target dies before an attack lands, it's just lost. However, I was getting increasingly frustrated with the fight and just latched onto the first ability I found to work. It worked pretty damn well, though. Sometimes I wouldn't kill an echo, but it was consistent enough I rarely had more than two + boss to deal with. Carina + Aka made sure that was entirely manageable... and honestly I don't even remember who my 4th member was. Likely someone to help focus the boss.
Duncan Lutz
2024-10-19 23:22:25 +0000 UTCI guess I really did get lucky with the Eliminator. I won on my second attempt, as my first attempt tried to swap 'eliminated' characters. When that didn't work, I called a mulligan, retreated, and just considered the fight as a dps race. I didn't even realize the "eliminations" happened at HP thresholds as I won on my second attempt and just moved on. And yeah, Varia was my last one standing. With a sliver of HP as she basically just used her Blade Dance attack every turn with the help of that instant self-heal of hers. The whole fight was maybe 4-5 turns, tops? It really couldn't have been much more as I didn't bring a healer and Varia's Blade Dance has a 33% HP cost. Other than "Destined Blood" to self heal just enough for a final Blade Dance on the 4th/5th turn, and MAYBE a "support allies " from Simon the second, that was it for healing. Perhaps I was doing so much damage I never had to deal with more than 1 of the "Focus" attacks? IIRC, I had Simon pop 'Support Allies" on the second turn to revive someone, and that was mostly it? I had an easy time with this one, winning by largely winging it, so the exact details didn't stick in my mind besides Varia Slicing and Dicing her way to an easy victory. From the sound of it, the boss may not damage the party much if you burst it down fast enough. As such, "Dps race" may be a way to cheese the fight? That or I just got really lucky.
Duncan Lutz
2024-10-19 22:40:56 +0000 UTCDerp, I am apparently blind. I don't see anything obvious wrong with the AI script, so I'll leave that to those more experienced with RPGM internals. Orgy Of Blows is already prone to stalling out if targeted enemies die early, so making it also capable of missing might be an unpopular change. I barely use Nalili so I don't really care :-P
Lamsey
2024-10-19 22:31:46 +0000 UTCThose are good suggestions! The elementless skills are largely logical, I think, but the Certain Hit mechanic is completely opaque to players without specific knowledge. Including tags for both would be an improvement, I think. ^-^ Pretty sure that it's an accident that Orgy of Blows is Certain Hit, though.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 22:28:51 +0000 UTCAh one more note I forgot to include. My biggest problem with the update is definitely not getting enough dialogue with the new character either solo with Simon or with the rest of the harem. She is great and i want more of her!
Grim8P
2024-10-19 22:02:19 +0000 UTC> You know, I didn't try this. If you mean the new person doesn't have the status, that's fine, but if you mean something else let me know. Just taking an action removes the status effect from themselves yes. > Claw Fight: Huh, didn't expect this. While this is different from my experience testing, I do see that many of them have 125% weakness, and bumping that up to 150% seems harmless. I tried this again with a party of Robin, Altina, Lilith, and Carina. They don't need to be replaced to hit the elements. My results were still meh. Didn't feel like a proper solution with how well I didn't feel I did compared to the other fights. I did notice that they can be inflicted with Silence and Corrupted which is why I was originally swapping people and using Simon. Silent Dark can inflict Silence but the consistency isn't there. I feel like I'm missing something with this fight but I'm not sure what. I win consistently but each time it feels like a slog no matter what I try. I've done this fight more than any other by like 5 or so. > there is a synergy skill that you can use to take out the second Lust Bomb before it attacks So I tested it once and Yarra did not go before the Lust Bomb so I figured the AGI boost wasn't enough. After this comment I tested it five more times and Yarra went first all five times. >.<' I updated my document. > I intended this fight to be about figuring out a swap order and I'm sad it's so easy to burst down. Interesting, I would have expected Varia to get targeted earlier. I don't remember who I swapped in but she was targeted third for me and by that point enough damage was done that I didn't feel the need to elaborate.
Grim8P
2024-10-19 21:56:26 +0000 UTCI had completely missed "certain hit" as well. Largely by accident I realized Nalili's "Orgy of Blows" could reliably take out the echoes and provide additional splash damage on the boss. Orgy of Blows is definitely a "certain hit" attack, but it seems to defeat the spirit of the "No AoE" design philosophy since I was regularly killing echoes + damaging the boss every turn with a single skill. I... am also embarrassed to admit I wasn't even aware "certain hit" was a thing. The skills aren't clearly labeled as such, as Simon's "Precise Strike" just says "aims for an enemy's weak point." I had just assumed this meant it had some form of defense-ignoring or higher critical chance? And never thought much more about it. The Invincible Slime/Non-elemental damage could be similarly frustrating. While those few skills are labeled, the terminology isn't consistent. Are "Pure Damage" and "Elementless" the same category of attacks? Probably, but I can see someone not making the connection since it's such a rare typing, arrives late in the game, and has not really been emphasized before now. The new skills recently added all include various labels on them like "Warmup" and "Limited." These labels are consistent and you quickly pick up on exactly what they mean. Have you considered adding additional tags like [Certain Hit] as well as [Elemental Typing] as clear labels on all relevant skills? This would not only make sure players were aware of which skills had what properties but anchor those properties as options in combat.
Duncan Lutz
2024-10-19 21:54:48 +0000 UTC>Curious about the choice of appearance. It was all based on the battlers that take off their hood, which existed before Annikath was even part of the project. I wanted her to have bone-white, not-quite-natural skin but otherwise her design isn't too inhuman. >Possible to add an infinite healing spot near the entrance of the dungeon? This would be mechanically equivalent to going back to the base for a full heal but less tedious. You're actually healed as soon as you walk out of the main doors. Someone else complained this isn't signposted, so in .1 there will be a conversation about it.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 21:44:58 +0000 UTC>There's an anti-cheat mechanism? I guess I'm lucky the file I tested on had 99,496 Sx. New threshold in .1 is 300k. >Yeah, it feels like a bug to me. I can't even find the relevant script in the database, so not sure what the problem is. It's "Lone Wolf: Enemy AI", somewhat higher up the list. No idea about the details, though, I just hope it does what the documentation says.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 21:42:22 +0000 UTC> AI Yeah, it feels like a bug to me. I can't even find the relevant script in the database, so not sure what the problem is. > Certain Hit Ah, that's what I was missing. Their 100% physical evasion made me just ignore physical attacks completely. So from a quick scan of the skill list, we're looking for Simon's Precise Strike, Vhala's Targeted Shot, Ginasta's Tyrant Strike / Faux Retribution, Nalili's Orgasmic Strike, or Yarra/Hilstara's Forceful Kiss.
Lamsey
2024-10-19 19:55:56 +0000 UTC**Spoilers not only for the update but also for books from an author who has fallen hard from his pedestal as of late** [quoting from memory, so expect some butchering] "We may be called Endless. But we aren't. The concept we represent are. But us, their avatars... We too must one day die." *silence* "Well, except for our sister." / The Riders were thankful to have them on the team of course. It's just... It was like having the world champion playing with the local high school team. They just weren't on the same level. Famine, War, even Pestilence, they had evolved alongside humanity, changing, adapting, growing. Them, they had remained the same absolute since the universe was born. Curious about the choice of appearance. To quote a more sympathetic author (and as the white hair is a bit reminiscent of Susan Sto Helit), Death is allowed to look like whatever they like, as they really are beyond such concern and the people they interact with tend not to not really care anymore anyway. But tradition is in favor of them always having an uncanny element at all time (Death can never truly be grasped, etc.). Here, when the black eyes of oblivion are off, she looks like a standard human. On the gameplay side: - Possible to add an infinite healing spot near the entrance of the dungeon? This would be mechanically equivalent to going back to the base for a full heal but less tedious. - Speaking of tedious, the final harem member fight quickly felt quite repetitive. I understand the gimmick that she's not really trying to killing you (thinking of it, I didn't test if she actually can; taking a life tends to be the only thing psychopomps cannot do in a lot of stories). But it nonetheless takes forever.
Rachnera
2024-10-19 19:50:50 +0000 UTCThere's an anti-cheat mechanism? I guess I'm lucky the file I tested on had 99,496 Sx. I have a different pre-final battle file where I hoarded a lot more and haven't bought end game gear, which has 229,749 Sx. Another file that is post Incubus Prison but pre-harem quests has 138,359 Sx. In all of them, I have either a sizable amount of ProN (9 Mil +), or smaller amount (400K +) with nothing left to spend it on except ProN-> Sx conversions, which could easily become an additional few 100K Sx. I think breaking 250K Sx would be doable, but challenging, without bank conversions. With bank conversions, a player could theoretically have millions of Sx, but are probably unlikely to do this and then carry all that money around (but then again who knows).
Innocuous
2024-10-19 19:40:58 +0000 UTC>This is definitely broken - see the below video. Well, I tried to set up the AI script right. T-T >It looks like they strongly resist everything except Sex, and the standard single-target sex attacks (Sexual Torment, Succubus Kiss, Sexual Lance) are of type Magical Attack, not Certain Hit. No resistance to physical, so skills like Simon's Precise Strike were the main intended method.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 19:28:47 +0000 UTC> I've already increased the Sx threshold once on my end, but how much do you have? 144,569. I've bought a number of Sublime items, so I wouldn't be surprised if hoarding players have significantly more than that. > Specifically, they target mages This is definitely broken - see the below video. Riala and Qum's actors both have AI_tag: mage, but they almost always pick Yarra, and when she's down, they pick Simon. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2xzrawrsus6jpaugjc4hh/swordechoes-hate-yarra.mp4?rlkey=a7pcvn76b1xfyos0i5qn7jrgx&dl=0 > which I intended to nudge the player toward trying Certain Hit skills instead of casting AoE and hoping it hits. It looks like they strongly resist everything except Sex, and the standard single-target sex attacks (Sexual Torment, Succubus Kiss, Sexual Lance) are of type Magical Attack, not Certain Hit.
Lamsey
2024-10-19 18:06:22 +0000 UTCThanks for your feedback! All simple bugs/typos fixed, and I'll implement some of those suggestions. >The interactions after finishing the dungeon are fun - just different enough from Sabitha to feel fresh - but it feels like a missed opportunity that there are so few of them. I don't know, I'm not opposed to adding more, but that was what I had. >You'll only earn [spoiler]'s affections if you master every aspect of the game, and I imagine that's intentional. Indeed, I have been building up toward this all game. ^-^ >Is it intentional that only one of each statue colour is required to open the doors? It seemed odd to me that there are four blue statues and you only need to beat one to advance on both sides. Yes, in case players got frustrated, I wanted the dungeon to make unlocking new areas easy. Also lets players get to the end if they're stuck on a boss. >I don't know why the party gets reorganised, and that could be annoying if someone ducks out to heal up before reattempting a battle. Necessary to make sure Simon is in the primary position. >I appear to have been affected by what looks like an anti-cheat mechanism? I've already increased the Sx threshold once on my end, but how much do you have? >After returning from the island, the Sult map could perhaps be added to the menu in the teleporter room; for aesthetics, probably better to use the centered version instead of the above-text-box version used in the intro event. If you'd like an updated copy with the ??? label replaced by [name of spoiler's island], let me know. Hmm, good thought. Sure, email me that. >This is a copy of the brief notes I took for my own future reference - hopefully they're sufficient to discern if I approached the fights the way you intended. Appreciate this! Your strategies were all in the right neighborhood, but I'm happy to see some variations in there. >Echoes always hit Yarra first, which is really fucking tedious because it disables Mass Kiss and Riala's sex AoEs aren't effective. Specifically, they target mages, which I intended to nudge the player toward trying Certain Hit skills instead of casting AoE and hoping it hits.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 16:56:24 +0000 UTCCombat notes: This is a copy of the brief notes I took for my own future reference - hopefully they're sufficient to discern if I approached the fights the way you intended. Lurid Stallion: Nalili, Yarra, Qum, Riala. Use Yarra's Lash Of Torment and Nalili's Orgasmic Strike to take out the lust bombs quickly. Use AoEs to lock down and pummel the minions, and Bolt of Lust to incinerate the unicorn. Immortal Phoenix: Varia, Qum, Altina, Robin. Use Disrupt and Poison immediately. Build up both Frenzies and Channeled Luck on Varia, and two stacks of Arousing Aura. Unleash hell: Blade Dance, Pretty Lance, Atmospheric Jolt + Earth Lance, Ice Lance. Annihilator: Simon, Hilstara, Carina, Vhala. Use Hold The Line, Shield Of Purity, and Unperson Aura immediately. Guard every other turn to avoid AoE wipeouts. Support Allies and Mass Heal between AoEs. Once its special state expires, punch it in the face. Endbeast: Simon, Qum, Aka, Robin. Aka debuffs, Qum buffs, Simon heals/revives as necessary. Use Corrupt, Pretty Lance, Flaming Stab and Fire Lance for damage. Claws: Simon, Carina, Ginasta, Altina. Corrupt only partially resisted. Ground -> earth; Venom -> poison; Flying -> neutral, maybe wind?; Shadow -> dark; Shining -> holy. Inevitable Eliminator: Simon, Hilstara, Riala, Robin. Need people who can heal themselves and deal damage. Won with Hilstara last person standing, might be RNG luck since I doubt more fragile characters can survive Focus. Ultimate Rat: Simon, Aka, Carina, Robin. AoE seems to always reduce party to ~10% of HP? Weak to fire, poison. Herald Of Purity: Ginasta, Carina, Vhala, Robin. Buff defence, apply debuffs, use AoEs on summons. Weak to Lightning, Holy, Unskills. Invincible Slime: Simon, Ginasta, Lilith, Qum. Use Neutral Strike and Boring McBoring. Controlling Visage: Carina, Aka, Qum, Robin. Buffing/debuffing duel. Weak to lightning, sex. Firstborn Lamia: Hilstara, Carina, Varia, Robin. Weak to ice. Use party swap abilities to clear out petrified allies. Goes down fairly easily, only a couple of swaps should be needed. Uncorruptible: Simon, Yarra, Riala, Qum. Weak to sex. Echoes can't be hit physically, spells are partially effective. Echoes always hit Yarra first, which is really fucking tedious because it disables Mass Kiss and Riala's sex AoEs aren't effective. Behemoth: Simon, Hilstara, Aka, Carina. Apply buffs/debuffs, keep health up, knock out arms before body - Right Arm (our left) first to disable Charge prep. Scion of Magic: Carina, Altina, Riala, Robin. Weak to Holy, doesn't resist ice. Second stage weak to ice. Mana potions/skills required. [spoiler]: Simon, Aka, Riala, Robin. Keep debuffed and keep pounding away.
Lamsey
2024-10-19 16:12:56 +0000 UTCBugs/typos/suggestions: Hidden enemies appear while the player is retreating, which is a bit of a spoiler as to their eventual arrival, and I imagine many people will see them because the hints provide an incentive to retreat instantly from the first attempt at each battle. Is it intentional that only one of each statue colour is required to open the doors? It seemed odd to me that there are four blue statues and you only need to beat one to advance on both sides. Leaving the temple map silently full-heals and reorganises the party (which resets the formation). Full healing is good, since this is a puzzle section rather than an endurance challenge, but it would be good to add some flavour text so that the player knows it's an option (especially since the final battle can require a fair amount of mana, and the jester is likely to have wiped out some characters' MP pools). I don't know why the party gets reorganised, and that could be annoying if someone ducks out to heal up before reattempting a battle. I appear to have been affected by what looks like an anti-cheat mechanism? My current pre-final-battle save has significantly more than 100,000 Sx, because I long since ran out of things to spend it on. I ended up hacking it because the mechanism triggers as soon as you enter the dungeon, and I'm not replaying all those fights to test if the Sx bug is the only problem. After returning from the island, the Sult map could perhaps be added to the menu in the teleporter room; for aesthetics, probably better to use the centered version instead of the above-text-box version used in the intro event. If you'd like an updated copy with the ??? label replaced by [name of spoiler's island], let me know. I will look into updating the bust system for [spoiler]. https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/2z96yjn8cqhkwzd05a6lf/Screenshot-2024-10-19-09.19.53.png?rlkey=zmu9i5j2ho72exknfl96y6xco&dl=0 monster -> monsters https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/3vmh9ajhjg44xbgb5fqt8/Screenshot-2024-10-19-15.31.52.png?rlkey=dc3mxmpxgen5xv89gyc0nz1gj&dl=0 abruptly pushing -> abruptly pushed https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/b1m8ohqm566sbovxo0sb0/Screenshot-2024-10-19-15.36.30.png?rlkey=m9lzrkux21j3d74793lokvt0e&dl=0 This line should probably be updated after returning from the island with .
Lamsey
2024-10-19 15:59:47 +0000 UTCIn-depth feedback in replies as usual.
Lamsey
2024-10-19 15:55:59 +0000 UTCI certainly didn't see the final reveal coming, and I'm struggling to think of any earlier hints about it. Assuming I'm not missing something, I'm not sure how I feel about it being a bit of a deus ex machina, but I guess it doesn't matter since it's not important to the plot. The interactions after finishing the dungeon are fun - just different enough from Sabitha to feel fresh - but it feels like a missed opportunity that there are so few of them. The majority of the harem has nothing to say about literal [spoiler] joining the party? At the very least, I'd expect everyone in the HQ to have some dialogue about it. It would also be good to get some more exposition about the island, the temple, and the people who built it. I haven't played through the entire final battle to see if there are any more interactions, so maybe I'm missing something there. The consolation bonuses for players who're lacking one or more items are a nice thought. Looking back, it's good that those items are all earned in different ways: exploration and daring in Devil's Pass, political manipulations at the Ardford Summit, strategic efficacy in the Third Arclent War, economic prowess to unlock the Givini Ruins, and puzzle-solving/optimisation in the Incubus Prison. You'll only earn [spoiler]'s affections if you master every aspect of the game, and I imagine that's intentional. If anyone reading this is being distracted by the already-reported bug with the wind SFX not being cleared, there's a workaround while we wait for an updated build: go to Withered Mountain and leave again.
Lamsey
2024-10-19 15:55:51 +0000 UTCFirstborn Lamia - I didn't even think of swapping in this one, lol. Mostly because it didn't work in the Inevitable Eliminator fight, then I tried the lamia fight and won without too much hassle. Qum's line about 'running around' first read to me as 'buff evasion', but when that didn't work I tried the burst strategy. Claw x5 fight - I agree with everything Grim8P said about this one, although clearly I've done something terrible to Lilith because she's not nearly as strong in my file. Inevitable Eliminator - Playing through the fight a few more times, I think the problem attack is 'Focus'. It does a lot of damage and hits 4 times. It can easily kill 1, sometimes 2 characters in 1 attack. It makes trying to stabilize between restrictions undesirable because it's just giving the boss more chances to use Focus, and with 1 or 2 members already restricted it can wipe the remaining members in 1 turn. I've won a few more times, and when I do the fight seems almost trivial, because usually the boss never used Focus, and Varia remains alive and unrestricted and just does her thing. - There's also the status effects (silence, lust stun, etc) that can effectively eliminate party members, but I think these are more manageable if Focus can't kill half the party at any time. Immortal Phoenix - I tried this fight a few more times, I think it's fine the way it is. Feels more like a "10% chance you get unlucky with crits and don't kill it" moreso than "need to get lucky and hit 10% chance to stack crits and kill it". Endbeast - This is probably the most unremarkable boss. If you're in the market to 'tune up' any of the bosses, I would recommend this one.
Innocuous
2024-10-19 15:18:37 +0000 UTCAdditional notes after having read your tips for others! There are a few wrinkles remaining, and I won't try to raise them all, but I did want to address a few things. Lurid Stallion: You didn't have any trouble (and this was meant to be an easier one) but I just have to note that there is a synergy skill that you can use to take out the second Lust Bomb before it attacks. That way no one dies. Inevitable Eliminator: Wow, you identified exactly the strategy I intended, but chose completely different characters. Glad this one is more flexible than I thought. I picked my testing party for survivability in case the boss got a strong attack. Firstborn Lamia: One fun detail: the lamia will target the strongest character every time (though with some variation given swapping). I intended this fight to be about figuring out a swap order and I'm sad it's so easy to burst down.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 12:29:23 +0000 UTCThanks for your thoughts on the update! Glad you enjoyed it. ^-^ >Instant skills remove 1 turn debuffs which can be used in some fights, especially to deal with the increased MP status effect. I think this is fine and a cool use of them but FYI in case that is not desired. You know, I didn't try this. If you mean the new person doesn't have the status, that's fine, but if you mean something else let me know. Claw Fight: Huh, didn't expect this. While this is different from my experience testing, I do see that many of them have 125% weakness, and bumping that up to 150% seems harmless.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 12:08:24 +0000 UTC^-^
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 12:02:23 +0000 UTCThe new harem member's bust needs to be configured by Rachnera or Lamsey, so I couldn't give her one without spoiling them. In the .1 version, maybe! Really appreciate your in-depth thoughts, even if I can't reply to all of them. I went back and forth on the Immortal Phoenix's HP. I actually had a build with 100% immunity to crits, which almost completely removed chance, but felt like that wasn't much fun. This way there's some RNG, but your LUK and crit stats matter. >The buff/nerf in this fight seems to clear if a character dies and is revived (not sure if intentional). Unfortunately, this is a limitation of RPG Maker I've never been able to overcome. Inevitable Eliminator: Yeah, I was concerned people might hate this one. My intended strategy was to use four characters who are very self-sufficient, so that no matter who gets restricted the remaining one can still win. Firstborn Lamia: Oh no, I wanted this boss to be about swapping out stone party members. T-T I'm so sad this can be burst down, but haven't made any changes. Glad to hear you enjoyed it overall. ^-^
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 12:01:59 +0000 UTCAlright, you got me. That was both a surprise in terms of who the final harem member would be, and a surprise in terms of what the incubus gear was for. I have to admit, I was half expecting someone to make a joke about expecting the incubus king stuff to be a key to ultimate power, and then Yarra to firmly retort that a harem member is even better.
Nicholas
2024-10-19 10:37:56 +0000 UTCSo the 5x Claw fight. Here is my interpretation before I look at RPGM: - Each enemy is weak to one specific, rarely used element. - You probably are intending for people to swap between different harem members to do so. The enemies have a ton of health and don't take that much damage from the element they're weak to. Outside of Lilith obliterating the Flying Claw in three hits, the rest felt like they took a long time to down. With the damage the enemies output I needed to take it a bit slow to not die which obviously slowed things down further. I think this fight will be a lot better when an optimized route is figured out (of which I have one but it could definitely be better) but for someone playing blind I think they're most likely to have the same experience I did. I'd recommend turning up the elemental weaknesses for all of them except the Flying Claw so that the fight doesn't take quite so much time. Other thoughts on the fights: - None of them stumped me although some took a few tries and the hints when escaping helped save me some time. That was a nice addition. - I have very few notes on what I did to win these fights: - Endbeast - Inevitable Eliminator - Controlling Visage - Ultimate Rat (lol) - Herald of Purity - Final Boss Which isn't a problem, but I found them to be the easiest. - Outside of the 5x Claw fight I really enjoyed figuring out everything. I think you did a good job of creating some really interesting fights and did a good job taking advantage of what RPGM supports. This was a really fun update. Thanks for all your work.
Grim8P
2024-10-19 05:28:10 +0000 UTCComment to not spoil a fight.
Grim8P
2024-10-19 05:20:01 +0000 UTCDungeon completed. I enjoyed all but one of the fights. Some feedback: - Qum's Protective Hug might need an agility boost to make sure it goes off before enemies attack the target anyway. This caused me some issues when attempting to use it to save someone for one turn. - If Hilstara targets someone with her Swap skill and they die between you using it and it going off, Hilstara targets whoever is in the first position which sucked for me since I just cancelled the use. - I think it is hilarious that I figured out how the rat's skills worked. Good job. Favourite boss. - I did not like the 5x Claw fight. I like the idea of it, but it felt like a slog even after I figured it out. I'll write more about this in a separate comment below as innocuous did to try and not spoil things. - Instant skills remove 1 turn debuffs which can be used in some fights, especially to deal with the increased MP status effect. I think this is fine and a cool use of them but FYI in case that is not desired. - I definitely did not figure out who the new harem member was going to be and I don't think I ever would have. I'm going to look for hints on my new run. Here are my very puzzle fight spoilery notes for people who are struggling: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BmucBSe-_BJHY1BMOwAN5w6JdW3U30pM/view?usp=sharing
Grim8P
2024-10-19 05:19:25 +0000 UTCMiddle, left (Behemoth) - Used Simon/Carina/Vhala/Aka - Simon/Carina heal/buff, Vhala/Aka debuff, guard vs. charge, attack hands when debuff in place - Main body 'bleeds' with damage after arms defeated, but they regenerate - Number tries: 3 * This fight felt really good, died a few times right away before focusing on debuffing to counter boss buff/high damage. Middle, right (Scion of Magic) - Used Qum/Carina/Robin/Riala - Buff/heals and attacks from Robin/Riala - Moved Transcendent Ring to Carina for Nothingness defense - Dark Lance, succubus kiss, etc - Number tries: 4 * This fight felt a bit 'off' to me, not entirely sure why. I would lose to everyone getting mana-shocked/nothingness and having to watch the whole party get eliminated. Used a few potions to supplement healing, but phase 2 would AoE nothingness the party and kill them before anyone got to go. Needed to look up what protected against it, and moved the Transcendent Ring over, which gave enough breathing room to recover and win. Final Side Boss (Death Itself) - Used Simon/Carina/Robin/Varia - Number tries: 2 * Technically reset once because I went into this fight the first time with my half dead party from the previous boss and couldn't run. Generally feels like this fight is going more for being cinematic over difficult, and I think it hits that well. Overall - I absolutely loved this dungeon. It's a perfect capstone of game mechanics, party compositions, and ability usage. It's a variety of combat puzzles and challenges to test a player's expertise in the game they've played through, and it nails the feel and difficultly of something that's challenging but approachable. Amazing work.
Innocuous
2024-10-19 05:12:19 +0000 UTCTop left, left (Ultimate Rat) - Attacks all seem % based, so can't actually kill party (although Vhala still died, somehow) - Used Vhala/Qum/Carina/Aka (literally same as last fight, don't think composition matters) - Number tries: 1 * So this is the joke fight (and not the slime one). I enjoyed the levity. Top left, top (Herald of Purity) - Used Riala/Vhala/Carina/Altina - Double Lightning Storm + Defensive Rain when adds appears, otherwise just burn down boss - Number tries: 3 * Quickly learned the boss isn't the threat, so just need to kill the things it summons before they wipe the party. Top right, right (Firstborn Lamia) - Used Simon/Qum/Varia/Robin - Qum buffs, everyone else attacks - Simon petrified first, then Qum, win on turn 3 - Number tries: 2 * Nalili says it would be easier if there was a lamia in the harem, lol. Feels a bit like a better version of the Inevitable Eliminator fight, although it could be I got lucky here and unlucky in that fight. Top right, top (The Incorruptible) - Used Simon/Carina/Uyae/Ginasta, switched out Uyae for Yarra - Focus on killing echoes as they appear and ignore boss - Ginasta's Tyrant Strike worked well - Number tries: 4 * First try I killed the boss and died to the echoes. Lots of stuff wasn't working on the Sword Echoes, but found Ginasta's Tyrant Strike could take them out. Figure there has to be a better way to do this fight.
Innocuous
2024-10-19 05:06:02 +0000 UTCMiddle left, bottom (Ground/Venom/Flying Claw)(Shadow/Shining Claw) - Used Simon/Altina/Carina/Yarra, switching in Robin and then Varia - Poison the Venom Claw, then use earth-element Altina/Yarra on the Ground Claw - After they both die, switch in Robin for use on Shadow Claw - Switched in Varia for Yarra, who even through a damage resist did WAY more damage to enemies to close out - Number tries: 2 * Fights were very slow, eventually got a win but took like 20 minutes. After Varia crushed the last few it felt like maybe I should just use her and ignore the elemental weakness thing, but would need to experiment around with this fight. Also seems like the 'Flying' one is probably weak to wind, but not sure where to get that other than Lilith (who I tried and gave up on because it's like 1/3 of her mana for like 1/6 of the enemy HP). Middle left, top (Inevitable Eliminator) - Boss uses an unremovable stun-like status that lasts forever - Seems to trigger at certain boss HP thresholds - Can't heal, can't prevent/resist - Thought I'd be able to swap 'restricted' characters out, but can't - What worked: Simon/Qum/Nalili/Varia - Open with Arousing Aura/Combat Masturbation/Frenzy (hope no one is KO or stunned) - Simon switches Qum with Hilstara - Incubus Assault, Shieldwall, Orgy of Blows, Channel Luck/Blade Dance - Hilstara restricted - Simon uses AOE heal, Orgy of Blows, Blade Dance - Simon/Nalili restricted - Varia Blade Dance for win - Do not feel like I have a good or consistent strategy, no idea what I should be doing instead - Number tries: 27 * Took way more tries than every other fight, and it's not even close. I know Lilith insults me after the fight for trying to say the RNG is too much, but I think the RNG is too much. Switching in Hilstara to absorb a stun with Provoke seemed to help a little, but I still needed several things to all go my way to win. I hope someone else has a better strategy that I did not think of. Middle right, bottom (Invincible Slime) - Used Simon/Yarra/Ginasta/Lilith - Simon heals, Ginasta uses Neutral Strike, Lilith uses Boring McBoring - Number tries: 1 * Technically I ran a few more times to try different things, but never had to reset Middle right, bottom (Controlling Visage) - Used Vhala/Qum/Carina/Aka - Keep up buff/debuff and healing constantly - Pure Stab/Arrow Abstinance for a bit more damage - Number tries: 2 * Fight is reasonable but slow. The party to buff/debuff constantly doesn't have super high damage, plus with the boss heals makes the fight long. Feels like it could probably do with less HP, but if it did then I wonder if I could just circumvent the fight but bursting it down too fast so maybe not.
Innocuous
2024-10-19 05:04:50 +0000 UTCOptional Dungeon Boss Feedback - Below is the order that I fought all the bosses in, although the order didn't seem to make much difference. Used a file with everything complete and character's having good equipment, but definitely not as optimized as some other saves floating around. Far bottom-right (Endbeast) - Used Simon/Hilstara/Carina/Aka [swapped Aka with Robin] - Defense/healing with Hilstara/Carina, Simon heal/attack as needed, Aka/Robin damage (weak to fire) - Number tries: 1 * Not sure I 'got' this fight, but it was the first one I did and I won. I did select the party based on the recommendation to use targeted defense, so maybe that's all there is to it. Bottom middle-right (Annihilator) - Used: Simon/Hilstara/Carina/Vhala Turn 1: Buff DEF Turn 2: GUARD Turn 3: Heal & Buff (someone dies) Turn 4: GUARD Turn 5: Revive and heal Turn 6: Command switch Hilstara with Varia, full assault - Number tries: 3 * Feels reasonable once you get the mechanics and have a strategy, although the above hasn't exactly been thoroughly vetted. Bottom middle-left (Immortal Phoenix) - Used Qum/Varia/Aka/Robin - Buff party/debuff enemy, full unleash in one turn - Number tries: 1 (second attempt in same fight) * Seemed okay, but may be dependent on getting crits. I did a first full assault in this fight that did not kill the boss, then did the same attacks and it worked the second time. Still seems OK overall. Bottom left (Lurid Stallion) - Used Qum/Riala/Yarra/Nalili - AOE to clear out adds, and again when stallion at 1/2 health - Stallion weak to lightning - Number tries: 5 * This is the first fight that took some doing, because the Annihilator fight is one that you fail very fast. I kept dying to the revive of the adds in the fight, and even when I won I feel I got lucky. ** The buff/nerf in this fight seems to clear if a character dies and is revived (not sure if intentional).
Innocuous
2024-10-19 05:02:55 +0000 UTCFirst some general thoughts. - New partial transparency in the busts is great. - New optional dungeon area is small, but very visually striking. - I appreciate being able to run from every optional fight, with a hint as to potential strategies. - New harem member has a bust in harem menu but is not used otherwise. I assume it's being worked on. Seems like they have a nice face set so I'm sure it will be fun to see when it's ready.
Innocuous
2024-10-19 05:00:06 +0000 UTCFinished side dungeon. Combat feedback in replies so (hopefully) as not to spoil anyone about new content that still wants to try it for themselves.
Innocuous
2024-10-19 04:58:44 +0000 UTCWell lookie here, I just replayed Titan Souls and now I get this new boss-only dungeon to play around in! And I never once suspected that the reward for getting all the incubus gear was going to be meeting the God of Rats controlling everything like the dog ending of Resident Evil, no siree!
Jeffrey Lebowski
2024-10-19 01:39:40 +0000 UTCI have been having fun with them! A lot of good challenge fights, and I still have quite a few to go!
WaxerRed
2024-10-19 01:28:21 +0000 UTCYou're the first person to inform me you finished everything, so congrats! Hope you had some fun with the various bosses. ^-^ Wind noises will be fixed next build.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 00:33:17 +0000 UTCFixed on my end, thanks!
Sierra Lee
2024-10-19 00:32:34 +0000 UTCThe wind sound effect doesn't properly go away when you depart the island.
Joneleth
2024-10-19 00:29:34 +0000 UTCWhew! Beat the final boss! Those last two stages were something else! Not who I expected to find, but the final harem member seems fun! Bug Report: Ambient wind noise doesn't go away when teleporting out of the new location to the HQ.
WaxerRed
2024-10-19 00:28:18 +0000 UTCEnjoy if you play! Though FYI, if you're going to put a lot of time into a replay, you might want to wait for the new features coming in future versions.
Sierra Lee
2024-10-18 22:58:24 +0000 UTCMy first thought on going to the new dungeon is that I think this place looks beautiful.
TheShrubKing
2024-10-18 22:45:56 +0000 UTCThanks. Time to start a new game of TLS. Haven't actually played in quite a while as it kind of slipped my mind a bit as well as having too much other things to do. So yeah, that's kind of the reason I was just lurking for the last years. :)
Drakenclaw
2024-10-18 22:30:19 +0000 UTCThis is not the end, but it is, perhaps, the beginning of the end. The end of the beginning is over.
Makesin
2024-10-18 22:08:37 +0000 UTC“Final base books added” WOOOOOO THATS WHAT WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR! THATS WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT!
WaxerRed
2024-10-18 22:07:35 +0000 UTCIt has begun
Alistair
2024-10-18 22:05:41 +0000 UTC
