Ephemeral Tale News

This week, we deepened the gameplay of Ephemeral Tale through the addition of a skill tree. These changes went through a good 3 weeks of testing, but you guys will easily eclipse that amount in the first day of playtime under this system, so I’m sure there’s going to be hiccups and bumps along the way with regards to balance. Feel free to tweet at me, email me, ping me on Discord, or post in the forums with feedback! As of today, you should find that there’s a new balance feedback thread up for these sorts of things, if that's more your style. Now, shall we hop straight into the juicey-juicey?

[h2]Ephemeral Tale 1.13.x Changelog -- Major Update #4[/h2]

• You now level up in a more traditional manner
  
• There is now a skill tree that spans from Lv. 1 to Lv. 50 (cap)
  
• You can acquire skill points from the Keeper
  
• You can spend these skill points at any bonfire
  
• The Mute Mountains are now available for exploration once all three major companions have been unlocked
  
• As such, there's new gear to be found and enemies to be fought
  
• Adjusted the color grading of different item rarities to improve legibility for the colorblind players out there (I gotchu, boo)
  
• Fixed an issue where Shelldon's quest could reset during certain combat encounters
  
• Adjusted drop rates for Shell Fragments during Shelldon's quest to improve consistency between post-battle reports and final results
  
• Fixed an issue where players had 15% lower hit rate if they were by themselves
  
• Fixed an issue where Darune had a significantly higher hit rate than intended
  
• Fixed a bug where the game could crash if this._footSteps was instantiated incorrectly on legacy saves
  
• Lowered Bouldercrash damage output by 5% per hit (from 0.25 damage multiplier to 0.2)
  
• All enemy weaknesses are now set to 150% (was 140%)
  
• Freeze now has a chance to fall off on damage taken
  
• New methods for rendering critical hit texts and Arcane Bolt’s attack animation, these should be significantly less resource hungry on legacy hardware
  
• Changes to window assets to improve contrast
  
• New graphic for the smol-gurl fairies in the Forgotten Forest
  
• New graphic for the skully-bois in the Corrupted Castle
  
• Another round of balance & gameplay adjustments for the Lost Caverns
  
• The primary trio of companions have gotten a significant buff to their health pools (roughly ~25%)
  
• Further changes to address pixel size discrepancies (I see your feedback, ”7th Guest.” Working on it!), mostly in the following regard:
  
• A bunch of revamped & replaced animations
  
• NOTE: I’m not done changing animations yet, but there’s a lot that goes into the process. This will continue to occur intermittently for at least a few more weeks. Feel free to point out any that I miss!
  
• Changes to passability settings throughout various areas
  
• Yet another sound effect pass
  
• A handful of minor bug fixes

[h2]SAVES STILL LIVE[/h2]

There’s a lot of tech behind the new skill tree that I wrote about a couple of weeks back-- lots of loading new files, attaching them to the save file, stuff of that nature. While wrapping up this patch, I began to experiment with a re-instantiation method, as I wanted to test out what would realistically happen if I had to change the skill-tree in a future patch. This experimentation part of development is always crucial, as it helped me learn a number of things:

1.) Tweaking the skill-tree in a "live-fire" fashion causes issues
While hypothetically tweaking the skill-tree should be as simple as swapping out the file behind the tree, in practice this causes pretty substantial crashing. However...

2.) If we let the tree live on the character itself, we can just "reset" the character
I'm not gonna lie, this one surprised me! Turns out, you can have multiple versions of the skill-tree living in harmony by having the characters data hold the tree, rather than just holding a reference to it. Then, if you need to update the tree, you just treat it as a new tree entirely by re-instancing the player character! re-instancing the player character is a lot easier than you'd think-- granted, it still has its caveats.

3.) Re-instancing the player causes minor inconveniences
This isn't actually that shocking, to be honest. Considering what re-instancing a player character means, minor inconveniences are kind of anticipated. In lay-mans terms, here's the whole process:

• Remove all companion party members
  
• Save the players most important information (their name, and level) in a drawer somewhere
  
• Additionally, save how far they were in the skill-tree
  
• Un-equip the players gear, sending it to the inventory
  
• Remove the player* from the party
  
• Re-add the player to the party as a new version of the player, like if they started the game fresh
  
• Go to that drawer, grab their old level and slap it on the new character, same with name
  
• If this is a future patch that involves changing the skill-tree, grant skill gems equivalent to how far they were in the skill-tree (since as it's a new character, the tree is reset)

All of this ties into the biggest revelation:

4.) Through this method, we can actually maintain compatibility with legacy saves
Yes, it's true! I've tested this across several of my own saves, and saves from the community. I've had a 100% success-rate in being able to get these up and running under the new patch, so the previously announced save-file breaking is officially cancelled.

Yep, your legacy save files will continue to work! I didn't think that they would (hence my saying as much a few weeks ago), but I was able to get it functioning. There will still be sore spots, of course-- for those who are pretty deep into their runs, you may find that Scrolls of Power are now a fantastic way for you to put a dent in the skill tree.

[h2]TIME FOR CHANGE[/h2]

We're finally at what I believe to be a major turning point in the development of Ephemeral Tale-- the major gameplay systems have continuously been improved & iterated upon over the past several months, and I'm now able to buckle down and develop side content to continuously deliver fresh items and gear on a more regular basis. Next week will bring another new quest, and I presume balance changes as well.

So, if you would be so kind, leave me some feedback! What you like, what you dislike, what you wish for, and I'll see what I can do! Until next time, stay safe and have fun!

-- Ryan
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/jpStbUf

This week, we have a new sidequest in Ephemeral Tale! Additionally, after the break we're gonna talk about the upcoming Major Update #4, and what I hope to bring to the game over the coming weeks. Before we hop into this weeks Pupdate, a reminder! We have a public-facing Discord server, should you want to give easy feedback, just talk the talk, or what-have-you! You can join us anytime: https://discord.gg/jpStbUf

[h2]Ephemeral Tale 1.12.x Changelog[/h2]

• Frozen Thorn is no longer available from the enemies it once was, and now comes from an upcoming enemy type
  
• In the meantime, it’s still available from treasure chests
  
• Updated the icon for Bow of the Ascendants
  
• The game logo is now on the splash screen
  
• Florence’s quest will now be available after choosing the first path
  
• Added a new side quest for players to enjoy, that includes a new unique piece of gear
  
• Additionally, this piece of gear can be farmed for once the quest is completed

[h2]A NEW HORIZON[/h2]

Let's start simple: back in Pupdate #14 (3/10/20), we spoke about an imminent price increase coming to Ephemeral Tale. At the time, I noted that it would arrive shortly after Major Update #3. Due to Major Update #3 being more of a major "Quality of Life" patch than a proper major content patch, and the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to delay that increase. It simply wasn't appropriate to increase the price during such a critical juncture for most folks-- but after nearly half a year of patches, the time has come for Ephemeral Tale's price to rise. When exactly? It will officially change within the next week or two. I'm not sure yet exactly in that span of time, but soonTM.

If you're reading this, chances are that you already own the game-- nice! Thank you so much for your support, energy, and feedback! Let's talk about what we've added to the game thus far, shall we?

• Complete overhaul of the gear system (Major Update #1, expanded in Major Update #3)
  
• Complete overhaul of the vendor system (Major Update #1)
  
• New quests (Major Update #1, 1.4.1, 1.12.3, Major Update #4, beyond)
  
• 40+ pieces of gear
  
• ~15 new enemies (Major Update #2, Major Update #3)
  
• 3 new bosses (Major Update #2, Major Update #3)
  
• "Jelly" treasure rooms
  
• Complete overhaul of all 3 major companions, including new abilities (0.98, 0.98b2, 1.3.2, 1.7.3, 1.8.4, 1.9.3, 1.11.2, Major Update #4)
  
• A new explorable, hidden zone: the Sunken Summit (Major Update #2)
  
• A renovation to the final area, the Great Palace (Major Update #3)
  
• New Game+ (Major Update #3)
  
• UI overhauls for combat scenes + menu scenes (.99, 1.1.5, 1.4.1, 1.4.5, 1.9.3, 1.11.2)
  
• Performance improvements + bug fixes (I'm not listing these, you're crazy if you think I'm going through that many patches whew)
  

So in plain English, what does this mean? We've expanded the game a TON-- new bosses, areas, quests, everything. Content has been patched up and improved continuously, as well. Seriously-- this was intended to be a short game! It's called Ephemeral Tale-- it literally means short story! But... I think we can do better, especially if we're at a higher price point. That's why I've waited until this point to raise the price of the game. I knew that when making that transition, I would want you guys to feel like you got what you paid for, and then some. My goal, ultimately, is to give you the best version of Ephemeral Tale that I can. I currently, and will continue to, strive towards that every week, with every update. So let's talk about what's coming next, shall we?

[h2]MAJOR UPDATE #4 + BEYOND[/h2]

One area where I've felt that I've let you guys down has been in the optional content department. There's currently an entire zone that's optional, a few hidden bosses, a big ol' lot of secrets, and things of that nature. Up through the past few weeks, the way that I've viewed content additions to the game was pretty straight-forward: add new zones, new enemies, new items, call it a day. To cut to the chase, I no longer view that as the end-all & be-all approach. Let's dive into why.

In the past, I've talked about one dilemma I face when adding new content to the game: the Traveller's Respite has a very particular design, and so adding new zones requires playing to that strength. A few of you have pointed out that due to the nature of how the main dungeon entrances are built (what with them mostly being portals and doorways), I could hypothetically just... add more floors. There's a couple of issues that I take with that approach, however.

One of the issues with that approach to content addition is simple: the main dungeon is (more or less) where all of the non-optional content lives. By adding content there, I'm mandating that you complete it. This can introduce pacing issues, as parts of the "write your story" element of the game comes from the non-linear elements (like choosing what order to approach the content in). Simply put, it's not a great place to put non-optional content. That directly leads into the next issue as well-- if the content that lives there is non-optional, how many zones do I have to add in order to fill out a floor? Simple having a second floor with one additional door would be silly, especially as more zones become available. Consistently moving and changing the shape of the dungeon hub as we add content would also be kinda weird, and maybe even a bit jarring.

The Dabby quest is one that most players miss, ensuring that they won't have a vendor to exchange goods with throughout their journey. It's my duty to ensure this is more evident moving forward.

So far, my approach has been to find interesting ways to add content into underutilized areas of the Respite, such as the Pond of Respite being the entrance into the Sunken Summit, the Pond also serving as the home for Florence's questline, etc. Really, I view Florence's questline as a great success-- and I that more quests in that vein could do a world of good for Ephemeral Tale.

Over the course of the coming weeks, I'm going to be focused on expanding the amount of optional content in the game. This process begins today, with patch 1.12.2. At some point in your journey, an adventurer much like yourself, named Shelldon, will arrive in the Respite. By helping him craft his ideal helmet, you'll be rewarded with a new unique item that can then be farmed for in the Oasis after completing the quest (in case you want to farm for a crazy roll, y'know).

Next week, this process continues with the arrival of Major Update #4. Yes, it'll be here that soon! Major Update #4 not only features the awesome new skill tree (which I'm sure we'll have to change and adjust over time, as you guys inevitably break it & simultaneously my spirit), but also the new leveling system, and an entirely new zone to explore: the Mute Mountains. As you make your way through the harsh climate of the Mountains, you'll challenge & conquer new foes, acquire and master new pieces of gear, and maybe even make some friends along the way! The entirety of Mute Mountain is completely optional, and the way forward will open once you've befriended all three of the core companions (Merlin, Siegfried and Clarke).

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Within the Mute Mountains lies a series of cave systems with the most unfortunate RPG trope of them all: ice puzzles.

Afterwards, this process will hopefully continue for a few weeks, bringing new adventurers, friends, and faces to the Respite that require your help in some fashion or another. Sidequests are a fantastic way for me to utilize the massive list of enemies we currently have in the game (seriously, it's over 60 at this point), using the zones that are currently available. Ultimately, I don't want new zones in Ephemeral Tale to feel like rehashed versions of zones you've already done. Unique enemies play a big part in that, but we've got a LOT of enemy variety at this point. Riding that line moving forward will, ultimately, be something that I'll need you guys to guide me on in order to ensure that I'm doing right by you, every week, with every Pupdate.

-- Ryan
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/jpStbUf

Last week, we participated in Itch.io's Bundle for Racial Justice and Equality, and along with the help of 1,300+ other developers and creators, we were able to accumulatively raise over seven MILLION dollars for charity! While we're just a small, small fraction of the community that made that happen, I'm so proud that we could be a part of such a cool moment in the history of games. At the end of the day, games are a way for a lot of us to explore worlds and viewpoints outside of our own. The perspective that we gain through each and every interaction with people outside of our own social circles, and even in the media we consume can help make a gigantic difference in how we view the world that we share and call home.

I don't wanna ramble on or come off as preachy, so I'll just say this: If you helped support the cause because of Ephemeral Tale, thank you. If you're joining our community because of the bundle, thank you, and welcome! Regardless as to how you've come into our circle, I'm glad to have you, and hope you'll enjoy this weeks Pupdate all the same! Before we hop into this weeks Pupdate, a reminder! We have a public-facing Discord server, should you want to give easy feedback, just talk the talk, or what-have-you! You can join us anytime: https://discord.gg/jpStbUf

[h2]Ephemeral Tale 1.11.2 Changelog[/h2]

• Fixed numerous cases of improper ellipsis use
  
• Highlighting targets in the main menu for Potions and other consumables now has a fading effect like every other menu (thanks, fmoo!)
  
• New implementation of “screen shake” that should feel substantially better (thanks, fmoo!)
  
• Jellies are no longer consumed if you attempt to eat them outside of their respective dungeons
  
• New & improved social buttons (thanks, Tim!)
  
• Changes to text rendering methods to improve performance in text-heavy scenarios (thanks, fmoo!)
  
• Adjusted the color palette of several item icons
  
• Fixed an issue where several enemies didn’t properly reward Power
  
• Fixed an oversight where in situations that the player received a hidden defense buff, there was no magical equivalent
  
• Siegfried’s Rally skill has been buffed to heal for 33% of damage done, up from 20%
  
• Siegfried’s Taunt skill has been buffed to lower his incoming damage taken by 20%
  
• Buffed Merlin, Siegfried, and Clarke’s starting statistics across the board
  
• Wallaboots now have a new attack meant to put emphasis on their speed
  
• Ariella now has slightly harder-hitting magic attacks, weaker normal attacks, and takes more physical damage
  
• Whenever HP or MP is added to a piece of gear, those additions will now yield twice as many points
  

This week has another big group of not only performance-focused changes, but QoL focused changes as well. In the past, there have been reports of a bug that I think we've squashed regarding item use in the menu, but it's been hard to tell due to another long-standing bug! At the very least, those changes should be able to inform us if we've indeed conquered the initial issue, and at the very worst improve the legibility of the menu. Additionally, we now have a new and improved screen shake implementation! This is a BIG one for me, personally. I've wanted to make this switch for some time, but haven't been able to until now. The largest difference is in how the screen shake functions: prior to this week's patch, screen shake was only on the horizontal (X) axis, and not the vertical (Y) axis. This made it feel kinda rigid, stiff, and less satisfying than it could feel. Now, it's active on both the X and Y axes, in addition to having some easing algorithmic goodness applied to it. For information on that (if you're a nerd like me), check out this great talk from Squirrel Eiserloh:

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]

Additionally, we've got some fun buffs to Siegfried to bring him more in line with the other companions as they exist today, and a universal raise across the board for the other major companions (sorry, Jackson!). As I've mentioned in previous Pupdates, when working on something larger, I can tend to be a week or two ahead of the live version in order to ensure that I have time to test things properly before pushing them out to you guys. With that said, I wanted to let you guys know ahead of time: Major Update #4 will NOT work with existing save files of Ephemeral Tale. There are some technical reasons for this, so let's go through those, shall we?

So Ephemeral Tale was built with a huge array of possibilities in mind, and the tech behind it has proven incredibly solid to this point. The game is incredibly stable (most crashes are due to missing assets in the packaging process, and that's not even a hard crash), runs on a ton of legacy hardware (and will run even better with some of the changes coming down the pipe), and has seen incredibly massive overhauls in it's systems since launch without even batting an eye. With your help, I've managed to restructure the entire gear system, the entire save system, the core combat mechanics, and add a ton of playable content-- items, quests, NPCs, bosses, enemies, zones, just loads of great stuff. But to really take the game from where it is now to where it could be, requires adding a certain brand new element to the game that frankly, doesn't play nice with old save files. That's the Skill Tree.

Last week, we spoke for the first time about the skill tree, how I came to the conclusion it was a good fit for the game, and why I think it's the best way forward (if you haven't read that Pupdate, feel free to!) for the game to advance. The problem lies in how the engine itself initializes players and the skill tree; it's added to the player at the very beginning of the game, using a reference from within the player characters code, pointing it towards the tree. The catch is that save files use an instance of this data, or a copy. Those copies don't have this data, and so they don't update automatically when that particular data is changed (as it doesn't know to do this, as it doesn't exist in the first place). It's possible to overcome this problem alone, but there exists some other issues as well.

See, in addition to the above, one of the fundamentals of the skill tree is player choice. One of those choices is going to be given to you very early on in the game: Double Strike, or Arcane Bolt? These abilities will no longer be a standard, out-of-the-bag thing, but now earned by playing the game (granted, it's at like level 5 or something like that, so it's not very long until you get it). But existing save files already have these skills. Again, it's possible to overcome this issue, but even the solution presents its own problems (i.e., it requires EXTENSIVE testing to ensure that the method is NEVER, EVER, EVER under any circumstances, bugged or not, called on save files instantiated post-skill tree, as it would render those abilities unobtainable). It's a big risk to all save files if there exists a bug like that that escapes out into the wild.

Finally, the last issue lies in stat distribution: under the new skill tree system, stat distribution as it's known in the current version of the game won't exist. To clarify: it will be there, but it'll instead be a node that you select on the tree. You want to raise all your stats a little bit? That's 1 Skill Gem, please. Oh, you wanna raise just your Attack, but by a lot? Sure, 1 Skill Gem, please. This ensures that "gaming the system" by always packing stats into one stat doesn't rampantly destroy the gameplay experience or balance, but also addresses feedback of these choices feeling inconsequential due to their frequency. But... Scrolls of Power present a problem. See, as they exist today, they serve as level ups (but without the level going up bit). In a post-Skill Tree world, they'll reward you with Skill Gems instead, but this means that for existing save files that have gone a bit bananas on their stats? They might just run wild all over the game.

Hypothetically, that last issue is the easiest of the bunch to fix (especially considering I've already done it once): reset the character stats to their normal values, and leave nature to run its course. This would be a perfectly fine solution if it were the only issue bringing old save files over presented, or if players had only been playing for maybe a week or two-- but we're just over 5 months into our Early Access period! Some of you guys have clocked in some impressive play time, and have just completely broken the game to your whim. To throw all of that away feels disrespectful to your progress, your time, and your passion for Ephemeral Tale. To that end, when the skill tree goes live in Major Update #4, the final patch before it will go into the Previous_Build branch on Steam (I can add something similar on itch, as well) to ensure that any players that have no interest in restarting the game, don't have to.

Who knows? Maybe between now and then, I'll come up with a brilliant solution to the problem that solves every issue it presents. Not likely, but it could happen! With that said, I've gone on for long enough this week, so I'll let you guys get back to playing the game after one last little announcement for you: 1.) there's an Ephemeral Tale demo in the works, and it will likely be the first chance you guys get to play with the new skill tree 2.) Next weeks patch will be our first minor content patch that we've had in a few weeks, involving a new quest and a new piece of equipment.

Can't wait to share more with you guys, but until then, stay safe and have fun!

-- Ryan
Join our Discord: https://discord.gg/jpStbUf

Got another fun patch for you guys this week! We've got a bunch of changes to bosses, some long-overdue fixes (lookin' at you, Lucky Scrolls), and some new aesthetic features to help with inventory management! Then after the changelog, we can talk about some of the changes coming soon to Ephemeral Tale!

[h2]Ephemeral Tale 1.10.4 Changelog[/h2]

• Gribbler is now more resistant to normal attacks
  
• Psychopomp Empress is now more resistant to magical attacks, and weaker to normal attacks
  
• Bobbity-Boo now does ever-so-slightly more magical damage, and less normal damage
  
• Tyranis is now significantly beefier, and is much more resistant to normal attacks
  
• Darune is now slightly weaker to magical attacks
  
• Darune’s fight is now possible to be Escaped should players accidentally trigger it
  
• Lucky Scrolls now improve the quality of item drops for the duration of that fight
  
• Mire’s Gambit has had its point distribution adjusted
  
• Gribbler’s boss-specific loot pool has been adjusted to lower those rates a pinch
  
• Touched up a bunch of attack animations for both current and future pieces of equipment
  
• Moved item generation function off of items into a separate file for better save file sizes moving forward
  
• Adjusted enemy scaling to be a better fit for the current state of Ephemeral Tale
  
• Adjusted placement of some chests
  
• Enemies of the Great Palace have received a balance pass
  
• Enemies of the Great Palace are now weaker to their weakest elements by an additional 20%, bringing the weakness to a total of 40% (this varies, depending on the enemy)
  
• Noryuto is now more resistant to normal attacks, and weaker to magical attacks
  
• Miresite is now more resistant to magical attacks, and weaker to normal attacks
  
• Miresite now deals Shock damage instead of Physical
  
• Doorky now deals Spirit damage instead of Physical
  
• Additionally, Bootwalla has had it’s evasiveness tuned to be more forgiving
  
• Bibbity also now deals Fire damage instead of Physical
  
• Candlenap & Upholstergeist now deal Spirit damage instead of Physical
  
• New items will now show a new item indicator

[h2]The Path to Progress[/h2]

Ephemeral Tale has changed significantly during its time in Early Access thus far, and continues to every week. In fact, next week will mark our FIFTH MONTH in Early Access! This week is our 27th patch, and the amount the game has changed from your feedback is astounding. Last week, I said that we’d speak about a plan to address some inadequacies in the gameplay loop, so let’s do that shall we?

Soon, it will be time for another fundamental shift in the bedrock that we stand upon. Over the past few weeks, I’ve been working on a new approach to leveling up, attribute distribution, and player progression. It’s not ready for the big time yet, but will be a fundamental part of the next big patch for Ephemeral Tale: Major Update #4. With that update will come a new element of crafting the perfect loot-hunting Hero: the skill tree.



This is a big change in my approach to the game, and has far-reaching implications and consequences. So let's talk about how we got to this point, shall we? As said previously, consistently outpacing your gear is a bad feeling. It can also lead to players not wanting to level up, or feeling like it's actively a detriment, and the point of RPGs is to serve as a power fantasy first and foremost. You should feel yourself becoming stronger! The current system of leveling up, choosing an attribute, and doing this a bunch of times doesn't feel rewarding, it doesn't give you proper visual feedback that what you've changed is fundamentally important, and is in general very much... not satisfying.

The skill tree is an effort to address multiple issues at once with the gameplay of

What's up, folks? Another round of balance changes this week regarding another companion! This week, Clarke is up! She's got some fun stuff to toy around with, if I do say so myself. Afterwards, we'll talk about the road ahead.

• Ephemeral Tale 1.9.3 Changelog
  
• Another balance pass to the tutorial experience
  
• Updated the turn counter to better fit the new UI elements that have been added over the past several weeks
  
• Supreme hits are now referred to as critical hits (since they, y’know, are)
  
• Escape is no longer in its own menu, and now sits w/ it’s big brothers and sisters in the normal battle menu
  
• The new player protection is now enabled for longer than before
  
• Jelly drop rates have been upped slightly
  
• Merlin’s base Attack value has been raised by ~43%
  
• Clarke’s base Attack value has been raised by ~50%
  
• Siegfried’s base Attack value has been raised by ~8%
  
• Clarke has been given a significant adjustment pass:
  
• At Lv. 15, she will learn Rejuvenation, a skill that applies a Heal-Over-Time effect to the entire party
  
• At Lv. 25, she will learn Revive, a skill that will revive a fallen ally from the deep beyond
  
• At Lv. 40, she will learn Confluence, a skill that will cause all allies to generate MP for several turns
  
• Enemies of the Occluded Oasis have received a balance pass as well:
  
• Enemies of the Occluded Oasis are now weaker to their weakest elements (Shock, Spirit) by an additional 20%, bringing the weakness to a total of 40%
  
• Vanilla Fish has been weakened slightly across the board
  
• Merman now slaps slightly harder w/ his increased Attack and lowered Defense
  
• Kame is now significantly harder, literally. Shell. Defense up
  
• Jellados is now more resistant to Magical attacks, and weaker to normal attacks
  
• Slugger is now more resistant to normal attacks, and weaker to Magical attacks
  
• Grumptoad is now more resistant to normal attacks, and weaker to Magical attacks
  
• Scorpeon, is now more resistant to Magical attacks, and weaker to normal attacks

This is another big week of changes for the tutorial experience. Over the course of the next few weeks, there's going to be more focused improvements to the balance of the remaining areas. There's more tutorial experience changes coming as well, but for now let's talk about the road ahead, and the next steps we're taking to improve Ephemeral Tale.

Last week we spoke about difficulty spikes in the game, but never really delved into why these spikes occur, on a systemic level. One of the problems with the approach taken with the initial balance rework in Major Update #1 is in how I decided to tackle the balance of enemies. As we've talked about in previous Pupdates, most enemies in the game fall within a certain range of stats behind the scenes-- so if the base enemy template has 100HP and 20 Defense, then a beefier kind of enemy is probably at most sitting at 130HP and 25 Defense. It's currently about a range of 30% (give or take), between the base amount and the high/low amounts. To keep the game engaging, enemies scale (to some degree) to match you, but this scaling was frankly, not aggressive enough. If the player was getting a hypothetical +5 in every stat every level, enemies were getting +3. So as that level differential grew, you inevitably became a murdering machine that could tear through enemies with graceful ease.

On the flip-side of this, if you were able to store your Power for long enough, you could eventually hit a point where when you leveled up you weren't just leveling once, but several times (even up to 5-10 times, in some cases)! So now your enemies were significantly stronger, but most of your strength was still assumed to be coming from gear (which hadn't changed in any meaningful way from the leveling process). Result? You got clapped, and hard. Thanks due to some discussions I've had with some fellow developers, the trusted inner circle, and some of you guys on our Discord server, there's a plan in place to address these things. We'll be talking more about that next week, as if we did it here this would be one LONG Pupdate.

Until next time, stay safe and have fun!

-- Ryan