Ghostlore News

In just a few short months, Ghostlore will be entering full release. This will be the last major update before then, and we have A LOT to talk about. Stay a while and listen.






The Institute of Paranormal Studies is a futuristic location that serves as a new post-game hub where the player can undertake missions.



At the institute, the player is presented with a random selection missions. Each mission has map modifiers which are also random, such as the amount of monsters/champions/elites that spawn, level of monsters, chance to find items, the size of the map, and so on.

In addition, Nadir will officially tell you to investigate Hell Gate Island. But in order to enter the Hell Gate, you now require a currency known as Hell Notes, which can only be found in Mission Maps. Once you are in Hell Gate Island, keep a lookout for rare items known as Map Data, which allow you to add further modifiers to your mission maps and change the odds more to your favour. The deeper you go into Hell Gate Island, the more slots for Map Data you unlock.






Besides Map Data, Hell Ingots are another rare drop that could be found only on Hell Gate Island. Hell Ingots are used as currency in the Hellforge, which allows you to reroll affixes on your items.






Remember the young girl you rescued from the Abandoned Old Hospital? She is the Psychic, and she provides the service of awakening spirits which lay dormant in items such as weapons, shields, hats, scarves and amulets (but not glyphs).



Awakened Items have an additional line of text and an objective to kill ‘X’ of a certain type of elite monster. After the objective is completed, the item will be granted an additional affix on top of existing affixes.






Based on actual Southeast Asian folklore, the Orang Bunian are nature spirits that you can meet in your travels. Interacting with the Orang Bunian usually provides a temporary buff.



However, on a very rare occasion, interacting with an Orang Bunian will open a portal to a hidden realm.



The Orang Bunian’s realm is a small, peaceful area with a large number of Treasure Chests. An Orang Bunian NPC crafter will bless an item of your choice.



Blessed items, like Awakened items, provide an additional affix.




[h2]SHRINE OF SPIRITS[/h2]

The Shrine of Spirits is a new asynchronous online multiplayer mechanic where a 'snapshot' of another player's current character (also known as their 'Ghost Data') can be temporarily summoned into the your own game as an ally NPC.



Whenever you summon another player's Ghost Data to assist you, your own Ghost Data is uploaded for other players to summon. Much like the Shrine of Balance, the power of the assist you get is dependent on the how effective your own assists has been for players who have used the Shrine of Spirits.




[h2]Other changes[/h2]
This update also brings about a whole host of minor improvements, far too many to list but here are some of them:

• Balancing of skills and skill modifiers
  
• Various improvements to pathing and map visibility
  
• Increased monster density in some of the more empty areas
  
• Simple glyphs can now roll alternative stats
  

We plan to launch the full version of Ghostlore on the first week of May 2023.

For now, our priorities are:

1. Tightening of controls, especially for alternate control schemes besides the default Point-and-Click, such as Gamepad and WASD.
   
2. Balancing
   
3. Localization and UI fixes
   

There are also some planned features we would like to add post release, but for now, there shouldn't be any more new systems added to the game, or major changes to existing systems.

Although we might be able to squeeze in some stuff that doesn't change the core of the game too much, like additional monsters ;)






I would like to say a big thank you for all our Early Access players for creating such a wonderful community. A lot of the changes we have made such as the Skills Overhaul and this recent update was not something that was initially planned, but us doing our best to give our players the things they most want to see in a game like Ghostlore.

But alas, the time is nigh. From now till May, we must focus heavily on bug-fixing and polish. To this end, we would be very very grateful if players could reach out to us if they encounter the following issues, starting with the most important:

1. Problems with key rebinding on any control scheme
2. Problems with getting stuck on the map especially at the edges or around corners
   
3. Problems with skills not working as they should
   
4. Oddities in the UI such as glitched-out descriptions, text overlapping or coming out of the text box
   

As usual, we're readily available on Discord, but as it is really really important to us that these issues are resolved, we will be starting several threads on the discussion board for people to post any problems they have encountered in the areas we have highlighted:

Problems with controller and button remapping? Report it here

Problems with default controls and keybinding? Report it here

Problems with WASD and keybinding? Report it here

Issues encountered in Maps

Issues encountered in UI

We are committed to solving these issues and making Ghostlore the best it can be, so players are encouraged to use these available resources to get your voice heard. The more problems reported, the more we can fix, and the better the game will be. Thank you.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from the Ghostlore team!

The Skills Overhaul update is leaving beta today! Check out all the crazy stuff from our testers!

Please read about the Skill Overhaul update here: https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1783280/view/3430079961712346389

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Hurry! Be sure to get Ghostlore while it is 20% off!

The skill system overhaul is currently live on the beta branch. This is by far the largest change made to Ghostlore to date, so we are going to be leaving it in beta for a month before updating the main game.

You can read the previous post to get an idea of how the new skill system is going to be like.

Here is a preview at some of the new skills:
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In order to participate in the beta, simply right click 'Ghostlore' in the steam library list, go to 'properties', and in the ‘Betas’ section simply switch over to 'beta':



We have decided to release this beta so players can theorycraft and plan out their builds with the new skill system. But many things in the beta are work in progress. Tooltips are a little bit messy and skills are totally unbalanced. But rest assured that we are working as hard as we can to fix these issues. Here is a look at our Trello board which we use to track bugs:



If you encounter any issues with the beta, or simply have an opinion or suggestion regarding the new skill system, please let us know on our Discord.
Ghostlore is currently 20% off on Steam so get it while you still can!

For this monthly update, we have changes to some of the maps, as well as a highly requested change involving Alkahest (finally!). We are also excited to share with you our plans for the skill revamp.


We have currently made some changes to the various maps in the game.

Pulau Pasir Puaka now has some industrial stepieces.

Batu Sinaran now features a crystal cave complex.

The leadup to the final dungeon has seen an expansion too.

In addition to all this, certain maps have been redesigned to have more open areas as well. For those of you who have already tried the game but have not picked it up in a while, you might want to start a fresh save so that you can see some of these changes yourself firsthand. The game is also story complete and playable from start to finish.


This is something that keeps slipping our minds, but we finally changed Alkahest so that broken down items give Alchemic Reagents (Impure Essence, Frozen Flame, Radiant Dark, and Demon’s Blood) that is proportional to the rarity of the original item.

• 2x materials for Uncommon
  
• 4x materials for Rare
  
• 8x materials for Legendary
  

This month’s update is not as big of a change as the previous months. It is a bit of an interim before the big skill revamp, which we are still working on, but are excited to share more about below.



One of the main criticisms of Ghostlore that we see coming up in reviews, streams and discussions was how basic the skill system was, especially compared to other ARPGs on the market. Because of this, we have decided to do a complete overhaul of Ghostlore’s skill system to be more in line with what players expect and deserve.

This new skill system is going to be complex, but we know that ARPG fans are discerning and intelligent, they rarely complain about a system being too difficult to understand. The opposite, however, is far more likely. Complaints arise when systems in long running franchises get dumbed down in order to appeal to the lowest common denominator. That said, the most important thing is to provide a skill system which is deep, invites players to think about their options and tradeoffs, and gives them a chance to showcase their ingenuity and creativity with builds.




The idea for the Skill Link system came about when we asked ourselves the question, “what if players were allowed to build their own skill trees?”. We also looked at the comparatively more well-received Glyph system that we had for stats. Here is a walkthrough of the new skill system.



Each class comes with a “skill set”, a pool containing active skills, skill modifiers, and class bonuses. Skills must now be assigned to a grid in order to be usable. More grid spaces unlock as you level up. Things can be placed in or taken out of the grid at will.

In addition to their own active skills, each class comes with a set of skill modifiers that you can use to change the characteristics of any skill from any class.

Skill modifiers link together with skills both across and down. (see green highlighted area in image)

Some skill modifiers have tradeoffs. For example:

• Increased skill damage, but increased MP cost
  
• Reduced skill cooldown time, but reduced skill damage
  
• Increased skill damage, but you take damage on cast
  

In addition, some skill modifiers are trigger modifiers. Trigger modifiers allow a skill to be used automatically, as long as there is enough MP, the skill is not on cooldown, and the modifier’s specified conditions are met. Examples:

• Trigger on Critical
  
• Trigger on Kill
  
• Trigger on Transform
  
• Trigger on Movement Skill
  

[h2]Combo Skills[/h2]

Each active skill is also now able to combine with two other skills across classes to form an advanced skill that incorporates the characteristics of both base skills. Combo skills are created when two compatible skills are placed adjacent to one another in the skill grid.



For instance, the Exorcist’s Mandala, a skill which creates a circle on the ground where your damage and the damage of allies are boosted, could combine with the Adept’s Mind Over Matter defensive barrier skill to create Battle Aura, a skill which forms an aura around your character that boosts yourself and allies with both offensive and defensive properties.

Alternatively, Mandala could also combine with the Sentinel’s Summon Crows ability to create Summon Doves.

Personally, I am most excited about the skill Maelstrom, a combination of both the Sentinel’s Chakram and the Geomancer’s Thunderstrike. The result is an electromagnetically charged chakram that levitates slowly across the battlefield while releasing sparks of electricity along the way. Fun stuff.

[h2]Class bonuses[/h2]
Class bonuses are essentially the passives from the old skill system, but you now have 6 to choose from instead of just 4. They also now have a component that functions as Skill Modifiers. Much like before, Class Bonuses have an additional requirement of investing a certain number of active skills and skill modifiers from a single class onto your grid, before you can place them.

[h2]Estimated Time of Arrival[/h2]

This is a very big change and we will need another month to work on it. In addition to the required art assets, we are still iterating on the systems design and working out all the loose ends. For now Ghostlore is still 20% off, so get it before time runs out! You can drop by our Discord if you have any questions about the new system. Thank you!

Andrew